22-23 General Thread

[Lost in LA]

Keep it up, lads

[codydaze]

Going to quote edit this every saturday morning.

Sacramento needs to go 14-13 the rest of the way to finish with 45 wins. For the teams below us, 4 need to jump us for us to not finish top 6. To match 45 wins they would need to finish:

Dallas 14-11
Phoenix 14-10
Clippers 14-9
Pelicans 16-9
Wolves 15-8
Warriors 17-10
Blazers 18-8
Lakers 20-6

[LightTheBeam]

Wiretap says Grant Williams has several interested teams this off-season. The Kings should absolutely be one of them. Be nice to come out with Barnes + Williams but that seems pretty unrealistic. Id pick Williams over Barnes long term, feels like a much better fit for this team.

24-25 years old next year
41% 3pt shooter
Can defend the 3-5 spots.

Think his counting numbers would be better on a team like Sac. Give him 30mpg and bump his 3pa from 3.5 to 6-7/game.

Murray - 23
Fox - 25
Huerter - 25
Monk - 25
Williams - 24
Sabonis - 26

Core of the team would be lined up nicely in age.

[codydaze]

With no games for the rest of the weekend due to the All Star break, I will update this today. Going to add OKC and Utah to this list and as a reminder this is the record required the rest of the way for teams to reach 45 wins. I've also included what the winning percentage would be as well as the season series record against us. Bolded team is one we own the tiebreaker against, italicized is one we have lost the tiebreaker to.

Sacramento needs to go 13-12 (.520) the rest of the way to finish with 45 wins. For the teams below us, 4 need to jump us for us to not finish top 6. To match 45 wins they would need to finish:

Clippers 12-9 (.571) [1-1]
Phoenix 13-9 (.591) [0-2]
Dallas 14-8 (.636) [1-1]
Pelicans 15-8 (.652) [0-1]
Wolves 14-7 (.667) [1-1]
Warriors 16-8 (.667) [1-2]
Thunder 17-8 (.680) [1-0]
Blazers 17-7 (.708) [0-1]
Jazz 16-6 (.727) [2-0]
Lakers 18-5 (.783) [3-1]

[codydaze]

Also, I wonder if Vezenkov comes over next year how much he would help this team? Probably not much defensively but another sniper from deep would be great, the guy can definitely score.

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[City of Trees]

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[BoogieTime]

I think the Clippers than going into Phoenix and safely handling the Suns who just looked flat out superior to us without KD illustrates the bubble that we have been in as the team with the fewest injuries taking advantage of a good situation to be a false third seeded team. We are going to be in a dog fight for the 6th non playin seed. I think we took the step we needed to take from last year, from being bad to being competitive, but we still have some steps/years to take before we truly are a top half of a playoff seed

[LightTheBeam]

Also, I wonder if Vezenkov comes over next year how much he would help this team? Probably not much defensively but another sniper from deep would be great, the guy can definitely score.

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This feels like the Lyles replacement right?

[BoogieTime]

Lyles is just a random bench player, and Vezenkov has the potential to be a lot more than that.

I didn't watch any of the all star festivities but I heard Huerter brought his inconsistency to he 3 pt shoot out.

[BoogieTime]

Fox bringing a low motor to the all star game? 1 missed dunk and two half hearted assists in 9 minutes? That’s so him

Hope he carries on his latest real game form though

[Lost in LA]

The All star game was a farce though, I would not read too much into that

[OxAndFox]

Also, I wonder if Vezenkov comes over next year how much he would help this team? Probably not much defensively but another sniper from deep would be great, the guy can definitely score.

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This feels like the Lyles replacement right?

I would hope the Kings retain Lyles as well. The Kings need depth and Lyles could become a good small ball 5 IMO. We would still need a back up 5, but Lyles would give us something a bit different and I wouldn't be surprised to see more of it down the stretch.

[LightTheBeam]

Also, I wonder if Vezenkov comes over next year how much he would help this team? Probably not much defensively but another sniper from deep would be great, the guy can definitely score.

Read on Twitter

This feels like the Lyles replacement right?

I would hope the Kings retain Lyles as well. The Kings need depth and Lyles could become a good small ball 5 IMO. We would still need a back up 5, but Lyles would give us something a bit different and I wouldn't be surprised to see more of it down the stretch.

I like Lyles, he's been good this year and I've wondered why they haven't tried him as a small ball center. But this team needs to start thinking defense. It's one thing to play Lyles next to a guy like Vanderbilt, a whole other next to Vazenkov.

We already have the best offense in the league. Defense should be a priority

[OxAndFox]

This feels like the Lyles replacement right?

I would hope the Kings retain Lyles as well. The Kings need depth and Lyles could become a good small ball 5 IMO. We would still need a back up 5, but Lyles would give us something a bit different and I wouldn't be surprised to see more of it down the stretch.

I like Lyles, he's been good this year and I've wondered why they haven't tried him as a small ball center. But this team needs to start thinking defense. It's one thing to play Lyles next to a guy like Vanderbilt, a whole other next to Vazenkov.

We already have the best offense in the league. Defense should be a priority

I completely agree. Lyles as a small ball 5 would be situational. The Kings need a defensive upgrade at the back up 5. Look at the Minnesota win a while back. Lyles was the main reason IMO we got the win in the end as he dragged Gobert out of the paint. It opened up the lane for the guards too. That was the first time they tried him in that spot.
These are the main types that Lyles can go up against. No offense inside (post) and a rim protector. Then there are the other small ball 5s he can certainly go up against.
He already should be playing more of Metu's minutes.

[LightTheBeam]

I would hope the Kings retain Lyles as well. The Kings need depth and Lyles could become a good small ball 5 IMO. We would still need a back up 5, but Lyles would give us something a bit different and I wouldn't be surprised to see more of it down the stretch.

I like Lyles, he's been good this year and I've wondered why they haven't tried him as a small ball center. But this team needs to start thinking defense. It's one thing to play Lyles next to a guy like Vanderbilt, a whole other next to Vazenkov.

We already have the best offense in the league. Defense should be a priority

I completely agree. Lyles as a small ball 5 would be situational. The Kings need a defensive upgrade at the back up 5. Look at the Minnesota win a while back. Lyles was the main reason IMO we got the win in the end as he dragged Gobert out of the paint. It opened up the lane for the guards too. That was the first time they tried him in that spot.
These are the main types that Lyles can go up against. No offense inside (post) and a rim protector. Then there are the other small ball 5s he can certainly go up against.
He already should be playing more of Metu's minutes.

Ya we really need to upgrade defensively across the board. But in the meantime I definitely like Lyles playing the backup 5, he gives us situational advantages like you mentioned and we are already getting smoked on the bench anyways.

I see the team moving forward as

Sabonis

Murray
Huerter/Monk
Fox

These are the 5 guys I would be certain are on the roster next season (barring a superstar trade for Murray). Not a single one of them is an above average defender.

With this in mind, everyone i'm putting around this team should be at least a capable defender. I really liked Vanderbilt and saw him as a future starting 4 on this team, that ship has sailed.

Id start by trying to find a trade using Mitchell/Holmes, I don't think that package has any positive value. So Id trade them for cap space.

Grant Williams would be my go to main target. Jerami Grant would be the backup option, but I think Portland overpays him.
I'd pick 1 of Lyles or Vezenkov for the backup 4 spot.
Nic Richards and Biyombo are the guys I would look at for the backup center spot. Richards would bring the energy Holmes did when he first got here, but with shot blocking.
Then we need a reliable backup SF, Josh Richardson would be nice, but I wouldn't be against bringing back TD for some consistency. Even both would be nice.
Sign Neto or Ish Smith type as the 3rd string pg for days when Monk is being careless or we have an injury.

Sabonis/Richards/Queta
Grant Williams/Lyles or Sasha
Murray/Richardson
Huerter/Davis
Fox/Monk/Neto

Of course this is with the mindset we don't make a big swing and instead try to build on the year we had. This team should be much improved defensively. Add 3 good defenders to the rotation. Davis gets consistent minutes and he's a solid defender. Add a shot blocker to the bench with 4 shooters to play around them.

[BoogieTime]

no game thread? Fox's consistency and game have really been on point. Brown and him are really managing that motor to a equilibrium, hopefully it bodes for the future. When that bench is doing its thing, Monk/Davis/Lyles, the team can really play with anyone. The starters always had good metrics, but give me consistency with that bench.

[codydaze]

Updating:

Sacramento needs to go 10-12 (.455) the rest of the way to finish with 45 wins. For the teams below us, 4 need to jump us for us to not finish top 6. To match 45 wins they would need to finish:

Clippers 12-8 (.600) [2-1]
Phoenix 12-8 (.600) [0-2]
Dallas 13-7 (.650) [1-1]
Warriors 15-7 (.682) [1-2]
Wolves 14-6 (.700) [1-1]
Jazz 14-6 (.700) [2-0]
Pelicans 15-6 (.714) [0-1]
Blazers 17-6 (.739) [1-1]
Lakers 16-5 (.762) [3-1]
Thunder 17-5 (.773) [2-0]

[LightTheBeam]

Updating:

Sacramento needs to go 10-12 (.455) the rest of the way to finish with 45 wins. For the teams below us, 4 need to jump us for us to not finish top 6. To match 45 wins they would need to finish:

Clippers 12-8 (.600) [2-1]
Phoenix 12-8 (.600) [0-2]
Dallas 13-7 (.650) [1-1]
Warriors 15-7 (.682) [1-2]
Wolves 14-6 (.700) [1-1]
Jazz 14-6 (.700) [2-0]
Pelicans 15-6 (.714) [0-1]
Blazers 17-6 (.739) [1-1]
Lakers 16-5 (.762) [3-1]
Thunder 17-5 (.773) [2-0]

What a start to post ASB. Team has to feel really good about 3-0, and very thankful about teams decisions to rest players/Zubac injury.

Expected a split between us and OKC but if Shai sits again that could be a great opportunity for us to grab another one.

LTB and lets go 3rd seed!

[codydaze]

Updating:

Sacramento needs to go 10-12 (.455) the rest of the way to finish with 45 wins. For the teams below us, 4 need to jump us for us to not finish top 6. To match 45 wins they would need to finish:

Clippers 12-8 (.600) [2-1]
Phoenix 12-8 (.600) [0-2]
Dallas 13-7 (.650) [1-1]
Warriors 15-7 (.682) [1-2]
Wolves 14-6 (.700) [1-1]
Jazz 14-6 (.700) [2-0]
Pelicans 15-6 (.714) [0-1]
Blazers 17-6 (.739) [1-1]
Lakers 16-5 (.762) [3-1]
Thunder 17-5 (.773) [2-0]

What a start to post ASB. Team has to feel really good about 3-0, and very thankful about teams decisions to rest players/Zubac injury.

Expected a split between us and OKC but if Shai sits again that could be a great opportunity for us to grab another one.

LTB and lets go 3rd seed!

I've been on the mindset of just stay in the top 6 but honestly (this should be obvious) but staying at 3 would be so huge for us. The worst scenario I can think of is we drop to 4/5 and have to play one of the Clippers or Suns in the first round. Golden State would be a brutal 3/6 matchup as well but if we got Dallas or Minny in the first round I like our chances a whole lot more to actually win a round.

[LightTheBeam]

Updating:

What a start to post ASB. Team has to feel really good about 3-0, and very thankful about teams decisions to rest players/Zubac injury.

Expected a split between us and OKC but if Shai sits again that could be a great opportunity for us to grab another one.

LTB and lets go 3rd seed!

I've been on the mindset of just stay in the top 6 but honestly (this should be obvious) but staying at 3 would be so huge for us. The worst scenario I can think of is we drop to 4/5 and have to play one of the Clippers or Suns in the first round. Golden State would be a brutal 3/6 matchup as well but if we got Dallas or Minny in the first round I like our chances a whole lot more to actually win a round.

Oh without a doubt. I don't think winning a round is really the goal, as awesome as it would be. Was always just to get in and erase the stink, avoiding the play-ins is a plus!

I really wouldn't mind playing Dallas or LAC. I feel like we always play the Clippers well. Last year we split with them, this year we lead the series 2-1. Of course playoffs are a different animal but I definitely want to avoid Warriors, Lakers + Refs, PHX, and Memphis.

Which leaves us with Minnesota, LAC, Dallas, Pelicans, Blazers. All of those series I think we can either win or at least make it to game 6-7.