Thought this was a good article from yahoo sports

[bajaden]

Except with a few of us it was not hindsight! A number of us were pushing hard for it on this board. A number of us also did not think that getting James Johnson addresses the most pressing need. I thought getting Brooks was a terrible move especially considering the roster. I also didn't think Robinson was the right guy for this team.

The front office has no vision. It has nothing to do with hindsight and everything to do with common sense. Now Brooks has partially worked but money could have been used elsewhere.

All of our aquisitions are cheap swing for the fences type moves which rarely work out. Two seasons ago we had a team that needed a couple of good signings and a new coach and we would be set for a while. We had a very good 3 guard rotation in Evans - Beno - Thornton who all showed a bit of chemistry and played well with each other. Then there was the 3 big men rotation that was kicking butts towards the end of the season in Cousins - Dalembert - Thompson. All that we needed to do was re-sign our own free agents (Dalembert and Thornton) and sign one of many available defensive SFs that could shoot a spot up 3.

What we did was pick up Westphal's option for next season (he was gone less than 10 games into the new season). Trade Beno for Slamons and trade down in the draft to pick Jimmer and blow a good portion of our spending money on Chuck Hayes. We didn't address one need but created 2 or 3 more in the process. Absolutely terrible decision making and we carried that into this off-season with extending Smart for another season on top of this one and getting JJ, Brooks and Robinson.

Like I said Brooks sort of worked and if push comes to shove, I still take Beno over him to play with Reke and Thornton. We still have no interior defensive presence and while Salmons has been servicable at SF, we still don't have a SF that can match up on the bigger SFs in the league and shoot a spot up 3. Oh and in the process we have blown all of the cap room we did have still have pieces that do not match. Its depressing. It has nothing to do with hindsight and everything to do with vision and basketball smarts. The teams that are smarlty run in the NBA would NEVER do what we did.

OKC burned Harden to keep Ibaka. If that were up to us, we would have kept Harden and burnt Ibaka despite the fact that you can get a scoring punch off the bench for far less money than what Harden costs. Our front office no longer has the smarts to runn the show and they do NOT know what it takes to win. They continue to undervalue the very things that differentiate winners and losers.

In regards to your last paragraph, they may not have multiple smarts, but they do have one Smart... Sorry, I couldn't resist!

[Dudeman23]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but a lot of the times the kings run plays they are never executed and we go straight to a pick and pop to cousins who shoots it right away..... All it takes is getting to the point where plays are ran and executed. Then when the play is executed look for that extra pass. Easier said than done with smart at the helm.

[spudfan]

Want to see something pretty amazing?

I went and did some hard data crunching, taking a look at each game in which the Brooks/Evans/Salmons/JT/Cuz quintet has been together as a starting unit, then going through the play by play and checking the scores when the group was broken up by subs, or put back in. Here are the results:

Game 1: vs. BKN -- 23-15 (18-13 first quarter, 5-2 after half)
Game 2: vs. LAL -- 24-22 (11-10 first quarter, 13-12 third quarter)
Game 3: vs. UTH -- 58-44 (27-18 first, 6-5 second, 25-21 third)
Game 4: vs. UTH -- 38-30 (16-16 first, 22-14 third)
Game 5: vs. MIN -- 27-27 (21-20 first, 6-7 third)
Game 6: vs. TOR -- 58-53 (21-25 first, 10-5 second, 18-19 third, 9-4 fourth)
Game 7: vs. OKC -- 26-23 (8-10 first, 18-13 third)
--------------------------------------------------------------
Total score: 254-214 +40/7gms = +5.7pts/game


Look at those numbers. Look at them. And you wonder why some of us have been calling for MORE of that five some? Why we are so pissed at the coach for not putting them back in on schedule, not lettig them close games? Look at the numbers! Six of those seven teams are likely playoff teams too. That group of starters has been matched with Kobe, Durant, Westbrook, Deron, Love...huge stars. And its won, handily. So you know how good a +5.7pts a game margin is? Let's put it this way: Miami only has a +5.0. It would be the 6th best +/- in the entire NBA.

The problem is not that lineup. The problem is everything BUT that lineup. That lineup has been doing great. if guys are healthy and not suspended, its won almost every encounter. Smart is an idiot for not just playing that 5 some 35 minutes a game with each other. its been working.

P.S. Somebody please forward this onto Dwyer. Somebody else over to Smart/Petrie. I don't trust any of those nitwits to figure it out themselves.

Can you give us the numbers for the point differential of our 2nd quarters during those games? It seems like we often get out scored by 10-15 points in the second. Off the top of my head I bet the games we won were due to not getting blown out in the second. If the bench keeps us within a few points there we seem to have success.

[Tyndel]

All of our aquisitions are cheap swing for the fences type moves which rarely work out. Two seasons ago we had a team that needed a couple of good signings and a new coach and we would be set for a while. We had a very good 3 guard rotation in Evans - Beno - Thornton who all showed a bit of chemistry and played well with each other. Then there was the 3 big men rotation that was kicking butts towards the end of the season in Cousins - Dalembert - Thompson. All that we needed to do was re-sign our own free agents (Dalembert and Thornton) and sign one of many available defensive SFs that could shoot a spot up 3.

What we did was pick up Westphal's option for next season (he was gone less than 10 games into the new season). Trade Beno for Slamons and trade down in the draft to pick Jimmer and blow a good portion of our spending money on Chuck Hayes. We didn't address one need but created 2 or 3 more in the process. Absolutely terrible decision making and we carried that into this off-season with extending Smart for another season on top of this one and getting JJ, Brooks and Robinson.

This was the failure of our rebuild. We needed to resign our free agents and we still would have had most of our cap to work with and we needed a sf(we could have maxed him or close to it). That was the only needs on that team that and time and coaching leadership. That off season still hurts.

Brick I agree and that is something that goes back further then even just those starting 5. Its not really one of the problems its the way they are subbed out and the guys who come in behind them being even more undersized and not playing any sort of focused play. The success in that lineup is more on Evans playing very good and Cousins having his games and putting up fairly consistant numbers and JT being rock solid. Brooks staying out of the way and hitting shots and Salmons doing whatever he does is a bonus.

We have the talent to win we lack the vision and focused leadership.

[bloom]

So…he wants to put Thomas back in the same position that I was against all of last season? No thanks. I like Isaiah and I think he’s a great spark plug to have but he’s not a guy I want in the starting line-up. Especially when I remember when I.T was ignoring Tyreke during stretches of last season’s games.

Now I’d rather have Jimmer play along side Tyreke, but since I haven’t been able to watch games and people here have said that Aaron Brooks is developing chemistry with Tyreke, I think it’s better to leave it like that…

Also, we seriously need to keep a line-up and stick to it. This is ridiculous. I can’t remember the last time we had a regular line-up. Eric Musselman had his “it takes 40 games to determine your team,” I can’t remember about Reggie Theus, Kenny Natt (what did he do?), Paul W. couldn’t decide either, and now with our latest one Keith Smart. Dude, find your players and stick with them. We’re not a rodeo show. You don’t need to play every player. Find a group that works & stick with them....And hire someone who knows how to manage players times because it seems like Coach Smart has no clue as to when his players should be coming in-and-out of the game.

[panda]

I wonder if this article contributed to that ugly Denver game. The Kings seemed content to do their own thing aside from a few passes scattered throughout the game. Maybe IT's frustrations manifested into selfish play?