OK SO WHAT DID WE LEARN ABOUT THE KINGS THIS PAST SEASON?

CruzDude

Senior Member sharing a brew with bajaden
#1
Note: this is a summary of the past season from one KF looking at the organization and team.

OK SO WHAT DID WE LEARN ABOUT THE KINGS THIS PAST SEASON?

You can’t win many games in one year if you have 3 different head coaches.
You can’t win many games in one year if you have 3 different playing styles.
You don’t win many games when your all-star goes down for a couple of weeks and your starting PG goes down for rest of the season.

Demarcus Cousins is one of the best centers in the NBA. He is “the” best center if he and the playing style are integrated into a dynamic unit.

It did take the new owner a year and a half to learn how to deal (or not deal as the case may be) with an NBA team on the verge of getting to the next level. NBA 3.0 is not nearly as important as the Kings growing into a playoff contender and having the support of a great fan base. The owner did not realize that soon enough.

The New Arena finally got going and appears it will open by October 2016 clearing the air of one more major distraction for everyone, players, FO and fans alike. Destined to be the show piece in the NBA, this year will tell us what kind of team will open the new arena.

The owner hired George Karl as the new head coach just before the All-Star break and that seems to have worked out very well, so far. Most of the players seem adaptable to and encouraged within his system and when they all played his system showed they could beat anyone.

The owner brought back Vlade Divac, the ultimate basketball people person and basketball guru as a VP of something. Now if PDA demonstrates and works like he belongs we will have a better and fresher FO.

I’m quite happy where the Kings have gotten themselves in view of the mess and turmoil through the first 55 games of the season. There are some very good pieces beyond DMC and Rudy and a couple of promising rookies we haven’t really seen, Stockton and Moreland. And with the #6 pick in the coming draft chances are quite good they get an impact player, that along with Coach Karl, will enable them to get to the next level this coming year. Now for the coach(es) to bring it together.

Edit 6/1: Kings stats compiled by NBA.com showed the Kings starting 5 of Cuz, Rudy, JT, Derron and Ben as statistically, one of the 2 or 3 best starting 5's in the league. Too bad they did not get many games together. But a glimmer of hope.

On to summer league in Las Vegas 10-20 July to see first hand what they should have going into training camp 2 months later.
 
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#9
This season was incredibly illuminating about our franchise - unfortunately, what we (and the world) learned was mostly negative this season.

1) We learned that this FO and owner didn't want to win this season - style and pace and getting a high draft pick were more important than winning.

2) We learned that this FO and owner does not support DMC when it comes right down to it.

3) We learned that this FO and owner don't respect the players as professionals or people, instead expecting them to play just as hard for Corbin without any thought of morale or loyalty.

4) We learned the rest of the NBA now considers Vivek a joke, and Sacramento is still a place to be avoided by serious players (despite the narrative starting to change before Vivek and Co. torpedoed the season).
 

CruzDude

Senior Member sharing a brew with bajaden
#12
Reading through the NBA Infographics on the Kings this past season came upon some fascinating stats that illustrate the original starting five last year was better than thought and lends credibility to their good start. Unfortunately that group, Deron and Ben, Rudy and JT and Cuz, only played together 30 games broken up by Cuz's illness. Take a look, its interesting:

http://www.nba.com/kings/starting-five
 
#13
* We still aren't well owned or run.

* When things go bad, Rudy will check out and revert back to his old habits.

* The Kings have a depleted roster and are kinda in no-man's land because ... despite neglecting the roster and screwing up most of our top 7 picks for several years, we've just decided since the summer of 2014 that we need to make the playoffs in 2017-18 because we are opening a new building and the fans are tired of losing. Assets and conditions on the ground don't really matter ... hit your goal 2018 playoffs at almost all cost.

We were so hell bent on rushing that process that we fired a competent coach, who ran an out-dated offense, because we were persuaded that playing games in January 2015 hard with that bad offense might somehow impair our likelihood of winning games in the 2017-2018 season and replaced him with one of the worst NBA coaches ever. The past is the past ... but my takeaway is ... this team will do whatever it takes to win in 2017-2018, even if it makes absolutely no sense and will totally screw us.

Now, despite having let the bad basketball habits, discord, and dysfunction that we mostly cleaned up under Malone between spring 2013 and fall 2015, we are going to try to start back up from basketball hell again: (1) while everyone can audibly hear the 24 month clocks on DMC and Gay ticking; and (2) Karl and DMC seem to be headed toward a blow up that could massively accelerate DMC's departure.
 
#14
Reading through the NBA Infographics on the Kings this past season came upon some fascinating stats that illustrate the original starting five last year was better than thought and lends credibility to their good start. Unfortunately that group, Deron and Ben, Rudy and JT and Cuz, only played together 30 games broken up by Cuz's illness. Take a look, its interesting:

http://www.nba.com/kings/starting-five
That's a real nice-looking infographic!

Really impressive stats..... for a group that everyone associated with the organization (especially the media toadies) says they need to get rid of.... to radically reshape the roster. Huge turnover needed (solely because of the 29-win canard).

It just doesn't make any sense that the franchise (and media extensions) keeps denying the realities right in front of their face - this team could win in the NBA if they remotely supported it with better personnel and coaching plays!
Cousins is obviously someone to build a team around, yet they keep dinkering around with everything BUT doing that.
Oh, but our fearless leader wants to be looking 4 moves ahead, and implement something new and ground-breaking!
Why don't they just look ONE move ahead for a change, and have that move be something that makes sense with this roster and abilities? Be consistent and have a plan, instead if changing directions with every move!
 
#15
Some positive notes:

DeMarcus Cousins now fully recognized as best center in the NBA, in the world and must stay long-term in Kings uniform.

New Sacramento Entertainment & Sports Arena now well underway with no more legal obstacles - to be completed opening 2016-17 season.

After all the horrible FO stupidity, shenanigans, foolery, incompetence - Vlade Divac returns to hopefully pickup shattered pieces.

George Karl replaced substitute teacher - hooray!

PDA death watch eagerly anticipated with massive celebration to follow!
 
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Entity

Hall of Famer
#16
I learned that if we had held on to some of petries old picks we would have a good team

Thomas/collison
Evans/McLemore
Gay/ casspi
Whiteside/Robinson
Cousins/whiteside
 
#18
Summer league championships do not equate to regular season success
Pete D'Lessandro should not give radio press conferences
Isaiah Thomas is good enough to be a starting point guard for a playoff team (So is Tyreke Evans...even if he's NAPG)
It is hard to win if your opponent scores over 110 points
DeMarcus Cousins got more than 5 technical fouls
Three point shooting is an important offensive weapon in today's NBA
Memphis can score with .3 seconds on the clock (even if time has expired)
Doug Christie is really fun to listen to on the radio
Darren Collison should shoot more corner threes
Jason Thompson is the longest tenured Sacramento King
Sacramento is not Silicon Valley
Ben McLemore is far from a bust
Andre Miller is better than Ramon Sessions
Jason Terry can still play in the NBA
Even teams with great players can miss the playoffs with enough injuries (see Thunder, Oklahoma City)
Even the Spurs can lose in the playoffs sometimes
LeBron James is really good at basketball
 
#19
IT is an excellent 6th man. He hasn't started in a PO game yet. Tyreke had.
Viral meningitis of a player can kill his coach.
Bench play matters a lot.
Starting with 3rd best player on the team fit is more important than talent.
If players like playing with each other, somehow they play very well as a team.
Demarcus Cousins can defend really really well.