The Sacramento Kings STILL NEED a point guard
Brenden Nunes joined Kayla Anderson to discuss his thoughts on the end of the Sacramento Kings season, priorities for their offseason, and which draft prospect is catching your eye.
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9 Comments
Go get Jaden Ivey, our fan base really wanted us to draft him, low risk high reward.
This is how i would proceed if i were Gm Scott Perry(10 steps)
#1) Attempt to trade the contracts of Domantas Sabonis and Demar DeRozan. I think there is nothing really bad about keeping them if you can't get fair trade value for their services because both are really good nba players and your odds of winning games increases by having good players.
The problem is possibly pushing the progression of Maxine Raynaud, Dylan Cardwell, and either the rookie lottery pick or Nique Clifford back for the first half of the season in 26/27.
With DeRozan's contract reducing down to only $10 mil guaranteed, The Kings should be able to find a taker for that contract in the offseason and could probably gain one or two second round picks.
I'm thinking there has to be a first round pick and maybe a bit more out there, for a player like Domantas Sabonis but maybe i have him over-valued?
I would not deal him for less than a first plus some extra compensation, especially if i were taking back a bad expiring contract.
Teams i am looking at specifically are: Atlanta, Toronto, and LAC……there could be others but those are the teams that i think that could use Sabonis as a starter.
Moving both Sabonis and DeRozan opens up opportunities to start young players and feature Zach Lavine in the offense for the first half of the 26/27 season.
#2) Sit down with Coach Christie and discuss replacing his two lead assistants. I would make retaining his job contingent on "either" replacing his two lead assistants or bringing in consultants for both the offensive and defensive sides of the court.
I'm a little concerned they are too 90's-centric in their basketball philosophies.
If Coach Christie resists adjustments to staff or bringing in consultants i would move on from him as head coach, if he's open to it, i would lock him up with a 3 year extension so he doesn't enter lame duck status as the younger players begin to take over.
#3) If and when Zach Lavine opts in to his $49 mil contract, make it a point to feature him in the offense for the first half of 26/27 to either increase the win total or increase his trade value. There is also a possibility of doing both.
I thought that should have been the plan to start this season but it looked more like they were planning to feature Sabonis and Murray.
Even if they can't move DeRozan, he and Lavine cannot and should not start together again.
DeRozan has to shift to a reserve role.
Around the trade deadline it should be clear whether teams are interested in Lavine and if there are still no takers for half his contract at that point, it's best to buy him out for a portion of the $24 mil that's left on the deal and let him become an unrestricted free agent.
I would not use the stretch provision on Zach Lavine….no point in paying for him over the next five years when you need to be adding talent around your 2026 draft lottery selection.
#4) This might seem like #1 but i'm fairly certain The Kings will get a really good player whether they pick #1 or #11……this draft is that deep in quality prospects.
Just take a risk on upside with the lottery selection.
Solid and safe is fine and many organizations have had success drafting that way but i think The Kings need to take a big swing because from what i see right now, The Kings have a nice collection of solid/safe young players but not one that i see as a future all-star level player.
Caleb Wilson, Keaton Wagler, Daryn Petersen, and a few others seem like risky big swing picks that are boom or bust types, so those types would be very appealing to me.
Absolutely nothing wrong with adding a player like Cam Boozer. He's just not a player i would be targeting for The Kings.
Josh giddey is available tripple double and pass 1st
#5) Find a way to bring back Russell Westbrook, Precious Aichuwa, and Daeqoun Plowden.
Try to resist trading Malik Monk unless someone wants a Sabonis/Monk package and is willing to give up a nice package of draft assets.
I see Westbrook, Monk, Plowden, and Aichuwa as ideal vets to have around younger players.
Bringing Russ back as a starting point guard/mentor just makes a lot of sense to me, especially if Sabonis and DeRozan have been moved.
My vision for this is the Raynaud/Westbrook two man game in half court sets surrounded by defense and shooting.
Trying to elevate Maxine Raynaud from a 12-16 pts per game player to a 22-25 pts per game player. I think at 32-36 mins per game he should be a double digit rebounder.
In transition it should be Russ and Lavine pushing pace and trying to get Lavine around the 24-27 pts per game range on his usual solid efficiency.
In this particular scenario Keegan Murray is more of a role player, a catch and shoot 3 and D type player which i think suits his game and personality better than a #1 or #2 scoring option.
So that's Max, Russ, Zach, and Keegan for now……this opens a spot for a Daryn Petersen, Caleb Wilson, AJ Dybantsa, or Cam Boozer….
This shifts Nique Clifford to a reserve with Monk, Hunter, Cardwell, Precious, Plowden and others….
If a point guard is the lottery pick, this allows the team to bring him along slowly and keep Clifford as the starting two guard(i do see him more as a reserve guard but he can definitely start and fill up the stat sheet)
#6) Shooting philosophy…..This is very high on my list as to what i am sitting down with the coaches and or consultants to hammer out.
I think this needs to be an organizational shift philosophically.
I am not a person that loves the 3pt shot at high volume ala The Boston Celtics but The Kings need to take more threes and teach their players the value of taking the open shot rather than always running themselves off the shot.
Right now when i am watching The Kings play, the only Kings playing a modern style are Malik Monk, Daeqwon Plowden, and Russell Westbrook.
Everyone else is either too hesitant to catch and shoot or simply running themselves off the open shot.
Teams like The Nuggets, Pistons, and Thunder are not high volume 3pt attempt teams and that can work if you have very efficient players who either dominate in the paint or 3pt shooters who are above league avg shooters(this is one reason The Nuggets don't need to take as many, they have really good outside shooters)
It's not likely The Kings are going to have a lot of above league avg 3pt shooters, so higher volume is going to be important to their offense.
At higher volume they can have a bunch of 33-36% three point shooters.
They need players to take that open shot more often.
#7) Consider adding either Keegan Murray, Malik Monk, or DeAndre Hunter to deals if it allows you to move the contracts of Domantas Sabonis and or Zach Lavine(at his opt in value of $49 mil) and brings back draft assets.
It would suck to lose another 3 and D young player like they did with Keon Ellis but is Keegan Murray really going to be worth the deal he was signed for, to The Sacramento Kings?
With this particular draft class being so strong, it would be fantastic if Gm Scott Perry was able to add another first rd pick to his lottery selection in this draft, while adding some extra minor draft assets for the future(remember these second round picks become extremely valuable later)
I like the idea of having Monk, Murray, and Hunter on the 26/27 roster because of the shooting potential and whether it's Sabonis, Raynaud, or Cardwell at C, surrounding them with shooters just makes a lot of sense but i don't believe 26/27 is The Kings target season for possible contention.
So some foresight and projection could be smart here with an eye towards the 27/28 and 28/29 seasons.