Can you help me with something Sactown Royalty?

by Omaha Sun on Aug 29, 2011 4:41 PM PDT

Hello Sactown Royalty, I am Omaha Sun, a Phoenix Suns fan and editor for Ridiculous Upside.

I am currently writing a series of articles for RU taking a look at the rookies and where they fit into their new teams' depth charts. I thought I'd stop by and ask you fine people for some help, as you know the Kings far better than I do.

Rookies: Jimmer Fredette, Tyler Honeycutt, Isiah Thomas

FAs: Marcus Thornton (R), Marquis Daniels, Pooh Jeter, Darnell Jackson, Samuel Dalembert

What are you guys expecting to happen with Thornton? Are you looking to basically bring him barring someone offering a max contract, or will you let him go if a team comes and gives him starter money on an extended contract?

I'd imagine Jeter is gone with the drafting of Thomas, but is there a chance he returns to fill out the roster?

Daniels is gone I'm sure. The bigs won't really factor into my write-up much.

What are you expecting from your rookies in terms of role, minutes, and stats? Does Jimmer start early, or do you go with an Evans-Thornton backcourt? Does Honeycutt crack the rotation?

Here's the last write-up I did, to give you an idea of what I'm looking for.

Thanks for your help.

(This is a FanPost from a member of the Sactown Royalty community. The views expressed come from the member, and not Sactown Royalty staff.)

Tweet Comment 24 comments | 1 recs |

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I hope this helps.

First off, I don’t believe Daniels will return at all. I fully expect Thornton to return, but I have no idea who the Kings are going to use to replace Thornton if he leaves, with Beno gone. I’d love to have Pooh come back, but I doubt that’ll happen unless Petrie believes that Thomas is not an upgrade over Pooh. I think Jackson is gone, and Sammy would probably leave if he gets a better deal from a playoff contender. I think Jimmer would slowly get that starting role probably by Christmas and Honeycutt would get whatever’s left from Salmons and Donte’s minutes.

I expect Jimmer to put up good support numbers, a couple of threes here and there, some assists. He’ll help to lift some of the pressure of Tyreke in the offense. I can’t wait to see Jimmer, Tyreke, and Cousins tearing it up on the court.

I hope this helps you!

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by DaT3rmin8r on Aug 29, 2011 7:19 PM PDT reply actions

My opinion

To be honest I never even thought about someone offering max money to Thornton. I´m pretty sure he´ll stay for something in the 6-8Mil range, maybe 9.
I expect Jimmer to be the 3rd guard in the rotation, have a strong start but slow down during the season (that is if the season is long enough to slow down).
Jeter signed a contract in Spain, and since he´s not under contract in the NBA it´s probably not lockout-protected. With Thomas in he´s gone. Thomas hopefully will see some minutes, but barring an injury not too many.
The sae goes for Honeycutt, although I have a feeling that in case someone gets hurt and Honeycutt has a chance to proove himself he might surprise some people including Westphal.
So that´s just my expectations, hope it helps.

by rubenho on Aug 29, 2011 7:24 PM PDT reply actions

The max contract thing was just hyperbole.

You’d spend close to $10 mil on him? For how long?

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by Omaha Sun on Aug 30, 2011 7:17 AM PDT up reply actions

Does it really matter what random people on here say in this regard?

How about $20 million a year. Why not.

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by wallywagon11 on Aug 30, 2011 8:10 AM PDT up reply actions 1 recs

charming statement, thanks

by rubenho on Aug 30, 2011 2:40 PM PDT up reply actions 2 recs

Hee hee

Don’t you know rubenho you’re not all-knowing like wallywagon? I mean we all know about probable salary restructuring and all but good grief Beno is due to make 6.5 mil.(!) this year. By that yardstick, Thornton is worth 8 or 9 mil., with the salary restructuring we’ll just have to see.

by blknblu on Aug 31, 2011 12:06 PM PDT up reply actions

Imho

Thornton is for sure going to be a King next year. After what he did at the end of last year, there is no way he is leaving. Dalembert is as good as gone with the addition of J.J. Hickson. Don’t forget the John Salmons addition as I look for him to start immediately at the 3. Daniels, Jackson and Jeter are gone. Hassan Whiteside is a wild card after spending last year mostly with the Reno Bighorns. I think he could see time at some point this year but he is still a project. Honeycutt and Thomas are up in the air as well. Judging by what the Kings did with Whiteside last year, I wouldn’t be shocked to see one or both of those guys start out in the D-League. Jimmer will be a 3rd guard starting out with the potential to start although I rate that as unlikely seeing that he is a rookie and Thornton proved his worth as a starter at the end of last year. I’d also look for the Kings to add another big in free agency, that’s just my hunch. I think that covers everything. I hope I helped out.

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by Cincy Kings Fan on Aug 29, 2011 8:49 PM PDT reply actions

Hi Omaha Sun

Marcus Thornton: 95% chance he will be a Sacramento King once the NBA Regular season begins. The Kings love him, his teammates love him, he loves that he gets playing time, and he’s a restricted free agent, which kind of limits his market anyway since the Kings can match all offers.

Pooh Jeter: Not coming back. He has already signed in Europe with Joventut Badalona.

Marquis Daniels: The only reason the Kings traded for him was so they’d reach the minimum cap space (yes, there is actually a minimum). He never even bothered to join the team and the team didn’t really even want him to. They were paid by Boston to take him on.

Darnell Jackson: Likely gone as the acquisition of J.J. Hickson increases our frontcourt depth much more reliably.

Samuel Dalembert: The Kings would love to get him back, but they couldn’t agree with Dalembert in terms of an extension so he’ll explore his other options first. I think he’ll come to the conclusion that the Kings can offer him the most money and he’ll end up re-signing. If not, the Kings will target one of the other free agent big men, Nene, Marc Gasol, Tyson Chandler and possibly David West, although he isn’t a need all that much. The Kings have the most cap space in the league and the Maloofs have said (note: I don’t take the Maloofs word on anything) they are willing to spend.

Jimmer plays 3rd guard off the bench behind Reke-Thornton. The only way he starts is if there’s an injury to one of those two, Westphal decides to go with a Jimmer-Thornton-Reke small ball lineup (I wouldn’t put any lineup past Westphal, he played Jason Thompson at the three), or in the very unlikely case that Marcus Thornton does not return. The Kings drafted Jimmer for his ability to contribute now. As such, I think he gets plenty of time. At the two guard positions you have 96 minutes available, Tyreke and Thornton will likely take at least 72 of those, which leaves 24 for Jimmer, plus probably a little more if he is playing well as we’ll see some of that aforementioned Jimmer-Thornton-Reke lineup.

Tyler Honeycutt is behind John Salmons, Francisco Garcia and Donté Greene in the rotation. Unless he REALLY impresses quickly, or we get injuries, he probably won’t see much playing time this year.

Isaiah Thomas will likely fill the role that Pooh Jeter did last year as a change of pace/garbage time guard.

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by Aykis16 on Aug 29, 2011 9:08 PM PDT reply actions 2 recs

Very sound on every point.

The only thing I would, maybe, disagree with, and even then I think it’s a matter of opinion more than fact either way, is with

The only way he starts is if there’s an injury to one of those two, Westphal decides to go with a Jimmer-Thornton-Reke small ball lineup (I wouldn’t put any lineup past Westphal, he played Jason Thompson at the three), or in the very unlikely case that Marcus Thornton does not return.

I think by far those are the most likely scenarios in which Jimmer starts. But I also think you have to consider the possibility that Jimmer proves to be the best ball distributor of the three and can play decent D. Big ifs, but I could see Jimmer earning a starting spot and pushing MT to the 6th man spot if that happens. I don’t think that the Reke/Thornton back court is guaranteed to be a long term solution.

But if I were a betting man, I would bet that 90% plus of what Aykis says is right on the money of there is a season.

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by SavageBeast on Aug 29, 2011 9:18 PM PDT up reply actions

A big if on the defense.

I know he’s pledged to work on it, but no matter what the excuse (his coach told him to conserve himself!), so far he has shown to be a poor defender. He’ll need to make major strides. As far as ball distributor, I think a healthy Tyreke will still have the ball in his hands most of the time and I don’t see 7-8 assists as an outrageous expectation of him.

Now there is a chance Marcus comes in off the bench if Westphal feels he needs a scoring punch off the bench and has Marcus as the 6th man. I don’t know if that’s a luxury a bad team (we’re bad until we prove otherwise) can afford though. Play your best players.

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by Aykis16 on Aug 29, 2011 9:39 PM PDT up reply actions

Yep and yep

It comes down to reality
And it's fine with me 'cause I've let it slide

by SavageBeast on Aug 29, 2011 10:04 PM PDT up reply actions

Although

I’m still not convinced Evans is a floor general any more than I am convinced Jimmer is a defensive stopper. Can he get better at passing? Probably. But I have yet to see anything that makes me believe he has the floor sense or desire to get guys the ball where they need it when they need it. When he has the ball in his hands, I think his first option will always be himself.

It comes down to reality
And it's fine with me 'cause I've let it slide

by SavageBeast on Aug 30, 2011 6:25 AM PDT up reply actions

Evans has floor general potential

But the desire? I’m not so sure. I would love to see him generate 7-8 assists and be proven wrong.

by blknblu on Aug 31, 2011 12:30 PM PDT up reply actions

He averaged over 7 a game

in his rookie year after the all star break.

Fun fact #1: Evans’ 5.8 and 5.6 apg over the past two years is the highest apg output for the Kings since Mike Bibby averaged 6.8apg in 2004-05.

Fun fact #2: The last Kings player to average over 7apg was Jason Williams in 1999-00 with 7.3apg.

I’ll agree with anyone that says that Evans needs to improve his floor vision and ability to hit his teammates. But I’m not going to hang an arbitrary number on him as a sign of success/failure. It would also help if the Kings weren’t one of the worst shooting teams in the NBA, especially from 3-point range.

With a low post passing threat like Cousins, Evans may never see high assist numbers. His improvement needs to be in simply moving the ball. If he does that, I really could care less about his final assist numbers.

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by section214 on Aug 31, 2011 12:51 PM PDT up reply actions 3 recs

Jimmer's defense might be questionable, but it doesn't mean it won't be worse then Thornton's.

I think Jimmer is the better ball handler of the two, but Thornton is the more veratile offensive player able to hit from outside and slash to the net. That’s why I like Thornton in the Mano role.

Also, unless the Kings make major strides in team defense, I’m not sure that the difference between Jimmer’s defense and Thornton’s will be that noticeable. Jimmer could start and fill the same role as Thornton, with Reke controlling the offense. But, when Reke leaves, I think that Thornton is more capable of filling Reke’s shoes in the offense. While if Jimmer were to sit, Reke could play the same role and Thornton could fill in for Jimmer as the outside threat.

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by HighTops on Aug 30, 2011 1:14 PM PDT up reply actions

correction: but it doesn't mean that it Would be worse then Thornton's

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by HighTops on Aug 30, 2011 1:16 PM PDT up reply actions

That would be a pleasant surprise.

Didn’t see Jimmer that much, just assumed Thornton was a little better handler in traffic, it would be awesome to see Jimmer grow into an all-around facilitator/combo guard with great handles.

by blknblu on Aug 31, 2011 12:16 PM PDT up reply actions

Good responses so far guys. Thanks.

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I also edit things at Ridiculous Upside. Check it out.

by Omaha Sun on Aug 30, 2011 7:18 AM PDT reply actions

"I am currently writing a series of articles for RU taking a look at the rookies and where they fit into their new teams' depth charts."

Fredette: 1st guard off the bench. Will see time with both Evans and Thornton individually, and there will be occasions where all three players are on the floor at the same time.

Honeycutt: Will likely be wearing a suit most of the season.

Thomas: Will get the garbage/injury minutes that belonged to Pooh Jeter last year.

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by section214 on Aug 30, 2011 9:46 AM PDT reply actions

Thornton will return. He’ll probably be our starter at Shooting Guard until Jimmer is ready to start (if it ever happens) and let him shift into the Super Sixth Man role he’s destined for.

Pooh signed elsewhere. No chance he returns with Isaiah being drafted.

Daniels won’t ever set foot in Sacramento.

Rookies:
Jimmer—first guard off the bench, eventual starter; 24 minutes at first, probably 28 or so by the end of the season. I don’t think a 12p/3a stat line on 45% FG, 38% 3P% is an outrageous prediction.
Honeycutt—Garbage minutes at SF, bench warmer.
Thomas—second guard off the bench; probably see most of this guy with Tyreke at SG so we don’t get absolutely torched, size-wise.

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by Donovan Jeska on Aug 30, 2011 3:30 PM PDT reply actions