Jon Brockman and the Changing Specialist Needs

1) Totally agreed about Nessie. A 6th big at 1.5 million dollars? No thanks. Never.

2) I’ve said for awhile that I thought the Kings would bring back Udoka because he can play defense and soak up those few minutes at the 2/3 defensively when Paul Westphal will ask him. Plus he’s a veteran and won’t complain if he doesn’t get many minutes. Udoka is still hanging onto his career and an opportunity here won’t hurt him long term.

3) Sam Amick talked about the issue with Sergio was multiple fold. One, he really didn’t improve over his time in Portland much. Two, he was brought in as a cheap 3rd PG option to help light a fire under Beno Udrih (which it did) and that pissed off Sergio. He wanted more of an opportunity. I never understood the Sergio love, but it’s not like the guy was in major demand in the NBA. There’s a reason he went back to Spain.

For whatever reason, a change of pace 3rd PG is nice. But those players want more minutes than they are likely to get and unless that player is like Udoka with his attitude, it’s not necessarily going to end well.

4) I wouldn’t mind if the Kings went after Jason Kapono. He even might be available depending on what the price is. It’s not like Kapono’s contract is beyond next year. I just wonder if the Sixers would deal him at this point.

Wish you nothing but the best.

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The Babysitter: Jack Haley may be the most famous babysitter of all time. This is the character guy who may not have a huge impact on the court personally, but does have a huge impact on the court vicariously. If SL showed us one thing it was DMC is talented and immature. He’s going to need that extra attention to make sure he stays on an upward path. Brockman was the perfect babysitter because not only does he lead by example off the court, he has the resume and skills to kick some butt on the court in practice when DMC isn’t hustling.

The PR Man: Old School PR man – Bobby Jackson. Not a new concept in the NBA but much more valuable in the age of social media. Fans want to be connected to players, they want to meet them, interact etc. JB was this guy for the kings. Sure you have access to many of the kings players via twitter etc. but as you can see by his sheer # of followers – Brockman was special. The guy oozes friendliness, character, and dare I say grace to the tune of 300K+ followers compared to other players that have less than 10K. Sure those folks aren’t all Kings fans – but ALL of them are getting updates on what the Kings are doing which continues to get the brand out there in the public eye.

And GP was a class act for making the right call for the team, and then doing what he could to do the right thing for Brock. Last year I talked about adding some vets. I may have been a year premature. But I believe that the Ninja is the perfect example of what we need this year—vets with good attitudes that are happy to come in and do what they do for as much or as little time as they are needed. Especially if the price is right and their contracts are not too long.

I was and am a fan of May for that very reason. Don’t know that we need another big man now, but May didn’t complain about minutes. He was always cheer leading. He did what he was asked. And he a couple of key assets that PW knew how to use. Plus he was relatively cheap, and he was willing to sign a short-term deal.

but is that his order of need?

I’d put them at:

1. Change of pace
2. Perimeter defender
3. Shooter

My Reasoning is that I believe that extreme change of pace serves a team not only on offense but potentially on defense as well, it upsets the applecart, makes teams adjust to you.

More or less tied in my mind I give a slight edge to perimeter defender as it is quite possible that if healthy, we already enough (adequate) shooting in Cisco, Casspi and Greene.

does the possibilitiy of a trade for a Courtney Lee become much less likely?

The Nyets are looking for another frontcourt player – JT or Carl Landry come to mind on the Kings – and now the Kings cannot afford to lose either one (with rookies DMC and Hassan Whiteside filling two of the spots and SammyD not a tradeable opton with his $13M deal).

The value of both JT and Landry may be higher for the Kings in any case. Landry is the Kings 3rd best player and a very reliable and consistent performer. JT is now in his 3rd year and primed to perform more as a veteran with more control and a better head for the game. Removing either from the roster would be a gamble, but you need to give something up to gain something and the loss of Jon Brockman limits the expendability, however unlikley, of either of those two frontcourt players.

In reading some comments and enjoying the volleys between PG and Everyone else I have thought long and hard about a our guard rotation, and barring an impact trade I feel we need to look to the D league to find someone, there have been many players that have bounced around in the D-League, CBA and Europe that come in and be very successful role players and make some impact a few years into their career. Guys like Mario Elie, Eddie House, Bruce Bowen, Parrgo, Arroyo, Calderon, Axabuike, Morrow.

I recognize that there is a reason they are in the d-league, but it cannot hurt to try and see what we can get as I am not super keen on bringing in another true rookie with our young team. At least a d-leauger might not be disruptive and might be game ready and will be cheap.