2015/16 Kings Predictions

I'm well aware of what system Karl wants to run and that isn't starting Gay and Casspi together. Say what you will but Karl has more pieces now than he did last year so that will change things in the line ups.
ok so than who do u think will start at the 3 and 4?
 
Rudy at the 3...where he belongs and either Willie or Koufos at the 4, depending what route Karl wants to go. Rudy will play the 4 at times, doesn't mean he will start there.
Ok and with Rondo starting as well how well do u think the floor is gonna be spaced for Big Cuz, the dude our entire offense runs through and depends on? Defenders are gonna sag of KK or WCS and Rondo ALL DAY to go double DMC.
 
Rudy at the 3...where he belongs and either Willie or Koufos at the 4, depending what route Karl wants to go. Rudy will play the 4 at times, doesn't mean he will start there.
I hope Karl realizes this. It is not like we still have low basketball IQ big players and lack options at the 4. Koufos and WCS should be more than enough for Rudy to consistently play at the 3 ALL or MOST of the time.
 
Ok and with Rondo starting as well how well do u think the floor is gonna be spaced for Big Cuz, the dude our entire offense runs through and depends on? Defenders are gonna sag of KK or WCS and Rondo ALL DAY to go double DMC.
So start Bellinelli and your problem is solved. He shot like .400%+ last season. Butler can be serviceable. Maybe Ben finally figures it out this season. Who knows. Ben is a big x factor for us. If things click for him... we suddenly look much scarier as a team.
 

kingsboi

Hall of Famer
Ok and with Rondo starting as well how well do u think the floor is gonna be spaced for Big Cuz, the dude our entire offense runs through and depends on? Defenders are gonna sag of KK or WCS and Rondo ALL DAY to go double DMC.
You don't need a starting unit of strictly all offense...you need to balance your line ups out to compliment your two primary scorers and that's whats going to happen with Rondo and WCS providing defense.
 

kingsboi

Hall of Famer
I hope Karl realizes this. It is not like we still have low basketball IQ big players and lack options at the 4. Koufos and WCS should be more than enough for Rudy to consistently play at the 3 ALL or MOST of the time.
The team has the luxury this time to be capable of playing both big and small depending on match ups...but I like the saying "make them match up with you" so it will be fun to see how Karl experiments.
 
So start Bellinelli and your problem is solved. He shot like .400%+ last season. Butler can be serviceable. Maybe Ben finally figures it out this season. Who knows. Ben is a big x factor for us. If things click for him... we suddenly look much scarier as a team.
With Bellinelli only shooting 2% (37%) better than Ben (35%) im not sure how much of a difference would be made. Yea Butler's serviceable as a backup. Yea im expecting Ben to sort of breakout this year hes showed all the signs.
 
So start Bellinelli and your problem is solved. He shot like .400%+ last season. Butler can be serviceable. Maybe Ben finally figures it out this season. Who knows. Ben is a big x factor for us. If things click for him... we suddenly look much scarier as a team.
I totally agree here, and to me it's the most exciting individual story line of the season. I love that we have the luxury of having and X factor. Ben is in the perfect spot right now: he has the potential and the environment to realize that potential, with a coach who coaches to the strengths of his game: transition game, three point shooting, flowing offense. His ceiling is still that number two or three offensive option. He can be a 15-18 point scorer this year or next if things click. If so, our three point shooting is very, very good.
 
With Bellinelli only shooting 2% (37%) better than Ben (35%) im not sure how much of a difference would be made. Yea Butler's serviceable as a backup. Yea im expecting Ben to sort of breakout this year hes showed all the signs.
Huh? Belinelli is a career .392% from beyond the arc and shot .423% last season. Check your stats.
 
With Bellinelli only shooting 2% (37%) better than Ben (35%) im not sure how much of a difference would be made. Yea Butler's serviceable as a backup. Yea im expecting Ben to sort of breakout this year hes showed all the signs.
Huh? Belinelli is a career .392% from beyond the arc and shot .423% last season. Check your stats.
I think I see your problem in assessing the Kings chances this year. You have no idea what you are talking about and your facts are completely wrong.
 
I think I see your problem in assessing the Kings chances this year. You have no idea what you are talking about and your facts are completely wrong.
and I also love how u draw that conclusion off of me predicting the Kings to be a 9 seed instead of an 8 seed. what a huge difference.
 
No idea what Im talking about LOLOL and yea man im so totally wrong about Bellinelli's percantge last year.

http://www.basketball-reference.com/players/b/belinma01.html
^^^^^
Well I was going off the other poster's information, which I didn't check, so you got me there. However I still think you are wrong and I ****ing love disagreeing with you. And there are a lot of you this year. We might run out of crow.
 
Well I was going off the other poster's information, which I didn't check, so you got me there. However I still think you are wrong and I ****ing love disagreeing with you. And there are a lot of you this year. We might run out of crow.
ehh I don't blame you for thinking im wrong we've got the most talented squad we've had in 8 years, number 1 center along with the league's most underrrated and skilled SFs and a good set of talented/expiernced/high IQ vets to support em. And maybe even a near all-star level PG.
 
ehh I don't blame you for thinking im wrong we've got the most talented squad we've had in 8 years, number 1 center along with the league's most underrrated and skilled SFs and a good set of talented/expiernced/high IQ vets to support em. And maybe even a near all-star level PG.
When I can't convince someone of my point of view, I trick them into convincing themselves of my point of view. #WINNINIG

:p
 
So start Bellinelli and your problem is solved. He shot like .400%+ last season. Butler can be serviceable. Maybe Ben finally figures it out this season. Who knows. Ben is a big x factor for us. If things click for him... we suddenly look much scarier as a team.
If you are talking about spacing starting Marco won't solve that problem.

What he mentioned is a real concern in terms of floor-spacing which is that players are going to sag of Rondo (had the lowest "respect rating" last year among PG's meaning defenses sagged of him constantly) and KK/WCS, starting Belinelli won't change that- even if he shoots over 40% from 3, because what this move basically does is taking of the floor your best (and only capable one other than Rudy) for a better shooter- and that can only help your defense up to a certain point.

No matter how you frame it, spacing should be problemetic in this lineup- but it's not like spacing is the only factor out there, and this lineup proved very good defensively and the offense can still function it will be worth it.
We'll just have to wait and see.
 
If you are talking about spacing starting Marco won't solve that problem.

What he mentioned is a real concern in terms of floor-spacing which is that players are going to sag of Rondo (had the lowest "respect rating" last year among PG's meaning defenses sagged of him constantly) and KK/WCS, starting Belinelli won't change that- even if he shoots over 40% from 3, because what this move basically does is taking of the floor your best (and only capable one other than Rudy) for a better shooter- and that can only help your defense up to a certain point.

No matter how you frame it, spacing should be problemetic in this lineup- but it's not like spacing is the only factor out there, and this lineup proved very good defensively and the offense can still function it will be worth it.
We'll just have to wait and see.
Yes thank you. Floor spacing isint always that important to some teams but when ur best player is a dominant post presence that needs space to operate down low it becomes EXTREMELY important hence the entire reason Karl put Gay at the 4 last year. BUT at what cost tho? It would hurt defense but help offense while KK at the 4 would help defense and make the offense worse so i suppose its a matter of what the coaching staff values.
 
Yes thank you. Floor spacing isint always that important to some teams but when ur best player is a dominant post presence that needs space to operate down low it becomes EXTREMELY important hence the entire reason Karl put Gay at the 4 last year. BUT at what cost tho? It would hurt defense but help offense while KK at the 4 would help defense and make the offense worse so i suppose its a matter of what the coaching staff values.
Do you think that starting Gay at the four had more to do with the fact that all of our PFs sucked last year? Gay will certainly see minutes at the 4 I agree but I don't see how he starts at the 4 with the big men we picked up over the offseason. Rondo can't shoot that's def true, but you're putting out a sniper from the 3 in Bellinelli along with Rudy at the 3 spot, who is respectable from distance. If WCS can hit the occasional shot I don't see the floor spacing being a big issue.

Also, Cousins himself can take the outside shot as well. We aren't talking about a regular low post presence here. If they double down low you run a different play for him for a little pick and pop jumper. It really wouldn't be much of an issue I think.
 
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If I recall correctly, Cousins is better in the high post than in the low post, so its acceptable to have at most two players out there that can't shoot.
 
While not ideal, i do not see floor spacing as a bog issue.
Do not remember Cousins having any problems when Daren was injured, and I would not call McCollum floor spacer at pg.
If some team really gives us problems by cheating off Rondo, put Collison in to break the spell.
collison, ben/belinelli, Rudy, WCS, Cus.... No spacing problem at all.
Unless back in all star "what injury" mode, Rondo should not be playing more than 30 minutes anyway.
 
While not ideal, i do not see floor spacing as a bog issue.
Do not remember Cousins having any problems when Daren was injured, and I would not call McCollum floor spacer at pg.
If some team really gives us problems by cheating off Rondo, put Collison in to break the spell.
collison, ben/belinelli, Rudy, WCS, Cus.... No spacing problem at all.
Unless back in all star "what injury" mode, Rondo should not be playing more than 30 minutes anyway.
Collison/Belli or Ben/Gay/KK/Cousins would be an ideal lineup but everything ive been saying about spacing as all been because of and under the premise that Rondo is starting (therefore we'd only have 2 shooters if KK started). But yea with Collison out there i would prefer the 2 traditional bigs and spacing wouldnt be a problem as our 1-3 would be able to shoot.
 
With most of the guys in our team having at least having good basketball IQ, spacing should not be that much of a problem with just one or two good shooters playing at the same time - especially that we have a very good basketball coach in Karl. Also IMO, with all other things Rondo can do with the ball, spacing should be the one of the least of our problem. It will still be a net-positive with him playing.
 
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I can realistically see this team making the playoffs. As has been said earlier in this thread, the west after the first 5 teams is not as strong as it has been. The Kings have made improvements. I can see those improvements adding to the win total. I am pretty sure they can get to 40 wins. There is a lot of energy locally, even if they are written off nationally. I ignore the National media mostly because they are ignorant and almost always wrong.

12. Sacramento Kings
Projected record: 31-51

Last season: 29-53

They made way more improvements to the team to only give them a 2 game improvement. One thing that isn't discussed much is the addition by subtraction of Jason Thompson. He was rated either the worst or second worst PF in the league every year he was on the Kings. He was an anchor dragging the ship to the bottom. Not the only reason but he never made a difference on the winning end.

I think that if Rondo is serviceable, they might have an outside shot at the 8th seed. I cant see 50 wins for this team quite yet. Lack of perimeter defense and proven reliable outside shooting will lose them some close games. But they will be exciting to watch and they will challenge till the very end for that playoff spot. Early success would be wonderful, but much like last year the schedule makers did us no favors (and when have they EVER?) At least the first 10 are not too bad:

Wed, Oct 28 Los Angeles 10:00 PM Tough Opener
Fri, Oct 30 Los Angeles 10:00 PM Trash the Lakers !
Sat, Oct 31 @ Los Angeles 10:30 PM Clippers 2 times
Tue, Nov 3 Memphis 10:00 PM at least its at home
Wed, Nov 4 Phoenix 9:00 PM should be a win
Fri, Nov 6 Houston 10:30 PM possible win
Sat, Nov 7 Golden State 10:00 PM at least its at home
Mon, Nov 9 San Antonio 10:00 PM see above
Wed, Nov 11 Detroit 10:00 PM possible win
Fri, Nov 13 Brooklyn 10:00 PM possible win

I can see a 6-4 record after 10. we need a strong start and build up momentum for the road because that is a home heavy schedule to start.