Playoffs

[rainmaker]

That's right. That's the goal.

“We want to make the playoffs next season. We want that for our fans,” said D’Alessandro. “We’re trying to make the right moves, but aggressive moves. To me, people say, “Well, it’s the West.” But I don’t want to use the West as an excuse for anything. To me, it should be our opportunity to motivate our guys, it should be a challenge to our players: ‘You’re in the West, so do it in the West.’”

http://fansided.com/2014/07/26/sacr.../?utm_medium=referral&utm_source=t.co#!bnwTAu

We at least now know rebuilding is not the plan. PDA wants to win. Goal is the postseason. Will we get there? Who knows, with our current roster I'd wager we fall between 35-40 wins which is likely at least 8 wins short of getting the final spot. Probably more.

This stated goal will also bring into focus some transactions which appear to be more in the mold of rebuilding rather than pushing towards the playoffs here and now. However, if PDA's moves recently have been with the playoffs in mind, we now have a bar to judge him on this coming season.

How we're going to get there without defense is an interesting question.

 

[KingMilz]

Are they bringing in a bottom 14 playoffs format this season? We would one of the top seeds for that.

 

[VF21]

That's right. That's the goal.

“We want to make the playoffs next season. We want that for our fans,” said D’Alessandro. “We’re trying to make the right moves, but aggressive moves. To me, people say, “Well, it’s the West.” But I don’t want to use the West as an excuse for anything. To me, it should be our opportunity to motivate our guys, it should be a challenge to our players: ‘You’re in the West, so do it in the West.’”

http://fansided.com/2014/07/26/sacr.../?utm_medium=referral&utm_source=t.co#!bnwTAu.

I'd much rather see them say they're shooting for the playoffs than they're shooting for the lottery.

 

[PurpleHaze]

http://fansided.com/2014/07/26/sacr.../?utm_medium=referral&utm_source=t.co#!bnwTAu

How we're going to get there without defense is an interesting question.

Maybe taking page from Golden State formula? They tried Nellie ball and it didn't work, then made some improvement on D to finally secure playoff berth. It seems Kings FO sees that strategy as possible way forward. Improved defense just enough, along with a high powered offense to get above .500 and hopefully make playoffs.

 

[gunks]

We just signed Casspi.

Playoffs?

More like championship.

 

[kingsnation]

In the East, it would actually be rather feasible. However, in the West - were going to have to play out of our minds AND get a lot of help.

Not saying it's out of the question because crazier things have happened, but it would be quite the accomplishment.

 

[The Hammer]

In the East, it would actually be rather feasible. However, in the West - were going to have to play out of our minds AND get a lot of help.

Not saying it's out of the question because crazier things have happened, but it would be quite the accomplishment.

Have we forgotten that this is sports?

Of COURSE playoffs is the goal.

Debate about some else. Seriously.

 

[ShastaKingsFan]

Have we forgotten that this is sports?

Of COURSE playoffs is the goal.

Debate about some else. Seriously.

It seems that some might be more content with a "realistic" approach, if he would have said the goal is to finish in 11th place

 

[Uncia03]

I like the fact that the goal is the play-offs because at this point we've got two very talented and young players in Cousins and Rudy and a hole host of steady players (Collison, JT, Landry, Reggie, Stauskas, ect.). We will only get to keep Rudy if we really make a push for the play-offs and I think that PDA knows this.

Right now we are all just looking at our assets (Lots of enders, Future-future draft picks, possibly Ben) and just hoping that PDA can close the deal on just one more impact player. Because right now it just feels as if we're one impact player short of having a fighting chance at the 8th seed.
And of course, by and large, the position with the glaring hole is PF, where we have too many players of the same talent level, and none of them with the particular talents that we need with Cousins.
Unfortunately I just don't see any deals that are 'no-brainers' to bring an impact defensive/rim-protecting big to play next to Cousins with the assets that we currently have available.
If the Kings were able to land Moreland, maybe they hope he can begin to work to fill that hole, but I can't see that as being a quick-fix solution.

I'm hoping to see one more trade prior to the season...but the longer we wait with no word the less likely that is to occur. I'm sure that PDA is trying, but their just might not be anyone willing to make a deal that would really help this team. I will be so happy once our 1st round pick is no longer encumbered...I've got to assume that it's been absolutely killing our ability to lock in certain deals.

 

[Albatros]

"the goal is the lottery, we want that 15-20 wins and hopefully that #1 pick"

"fire PDA now!"

"We want playoffs"

"Unrealistic fire PDA"

"We want 35 wins"

"No ambition fire PDA."

 

[HighFlyingMonkey]

We just signed Casspi.

Playoffs?

More like championship.

Done

 

[Entity]

I have a problem with the "we need to rebuild nonsense". Only 4 players are with the team that were kings to end the 12-13 season. A 9 player change in 1 year isn't rebuilding?

 

[MassachusettsKingsFan]

Without any other moves, the Kings are banking about 20 wins on Collison dribbling less than Thomas. Of course I'm simplifying here, but if they think they've done enough they are mistaken.

 

[Entity]

Without any other moves, the Kings are banking about 20 wins on Collison dribbling less than Thomas. Of course I'm simplifying here, but if they think they've done enough they are mistaken.

Well you got two ways to look at it. That's one. The other is we have 40 mil worth of expiring contracts. So you can def look at other options next season.

 

[twslam07]

Unfortunately I just don't see any deals that are 'no-brainers' to bring an impact defensive/rim-protecting big to play next to Cousins with the assets that we currently have available.

http://www.kingsfans.com/threads/can-the-kings-help-facilitate-love-to-chicago.57501/

 

[rainmaker]

I'd much rather see them say they're shooting for the playoffs than they're shooting for the lottery.

That's not really my takeaway from this but rather, the moves recently and plan is to aim for the playoffs this year, not rebuild. Two different strategies.

Playoffs were not mentioned last summer. Actually, we specifically heard our team wouldn't be judged on wins last season. That's my takeaway, a public acknowledgement of a different strategy and different bar to reach than a year ago.

 

[DesertFox]

Unless PDA has some magic pixie dust, this team is at least 10-15 wins short of playoffs, and there is no move short of Ben morphing into Mitch Richmond that can add 10 wins this year.

 

[dude12]

You have to set the goal of making the playoffs with this team. The defense improves at the end of the year and if can continue to improve, then that is one aspect of making the playoffs....banking on Malone being the defensive guru he is, the team defense should be better. Addition by subtraction with Collison and Ray running the point....I believe in that part. Ben playing improved ball...even a little is important. Stauskas just being solid and knocking down 3's on a consistent basis could be huge. Malone working magic and matchups with Evans, JT, Landry and Casspi at the PF spot. Gay continuing his play from last year but being even more efficient due to the better ball movement.

Here's the biggest factor...Kings got the best center in the NBA. Make it happen Kings!

 

[kingsboi]

Obviously he isn't going to say otherwise. This team has been in the cellar almost a decade long, no more excuses of not trying to put a winner out there now. We have a couple of pieces in place, the most important is that cornerstone. We also have a nice set of role players, now it's about chemistry, consistency and buying in. You don't have to have the most talented team in the West, you do need to be consistent. Let's be a consistently good defensive team and have that as our calling guard. I know the Bulls are in the East but all season they had Noah, Gibson and Butler as their best players with a good game occasionally from Mike Dunleavy, DJ Augustin and yet managed to win 48 games I believe? They had a philosophy in place and players bought in and they played the same way every night even though they were one of if not the worst offensive teams.

 

[VF21]

That's not really my takeaway from this but rather, the moves recently and plan is to aim for the playoffs this year, not rebuild. Two different strategies.

Playoffs were not mentioned last summer. Actually, we specifically heard our team wouldn't be judged on wins last season. That's my takeaway, a public acknowledgement of a different strategy and different bar to reach than a year ago.

Thanks for the clarification. GO KINGS!

 

[CruzDude]

Have we forgotten that this is sports?

Of COURSE playoffs is the goal.

Debate about some else. Seriously.

Playing in the west can make for improvements that could get the Kings 10-14 more wins vs. the east alone. Thenn adding another 6-10 wins in the west makes more sense and 45-48 wins comes into the target.

 

[bajaden]

First, rebuilding is sort of general term. What does it mean exactly? I think most people think of a team adding a player here and a player there through the draft and freeagency, over a lengthy period of time. But when the Celtics added Garnett and Allen to the team in one fell swoop, wasn't that also rebuilding? Just a shorter version of it. I guess the point I'm trying to make is that one is not exclusive of the other. In other words, you can rebuild and still try and make the playoffs. It just depends on who you add to the team and how quickly. And what your long term plan is. Anyway, I don't want to get caught up in semantics.

As for making predictions on the coming season, I have no idea at the present time. Ask me that question again right before training camp starts. Obviously, the current team isn't, in my opinion, a playoff team. Now I could be wrong. Miracles do happen from time to time. Stauskas might have a huge impact. McLemore may emerge as a coming star in the league. McCallum may turn into the next Chris Paul, etc.... Not likely for all those things to happen, but, anything is possible. I do expect improvement though. If Cousins makes the USA team, and he appears to almost be a lock now (please god), he should return a different and better player than he was last season, and he was pretty dammed good last season. That alone will make the overall team much better.

I suspect the Kings have more moves they're trying to make. And I'll be very surprised if something doesn't happen between now and training camp. At that point, this conversation will have more relevance.

 

[kingsnation]

Have we forgotten that this is sports?

Of COURSE playoffs is the goal.

Debate about some else. Seriously.

I'm not sure why you quoted my post. Did I ever say playoffs shouldn't be the goal?
I wasn't debating. Playoffs should always be the goal. I said that it would be easier to complete that goal in the East as opposed to the West. Thought that was clear enough.

 

[Livinthedream]

I get the feeling that PDA has a trade lined up that he is debating pulling the trigger on. Something is up. That's quite a departure from how the FO talked about the team last year.

 

[ShastaKingsFan]

Without any other moves, the Kings are banking about 20 wins on Collison dribbling less than Thomas. Of course I'm simplifying here, but if they think they've done enough they are mistaken.

If we get more consistent play from our shooting guards on both ends of the floor, all the way through the season,...it could make a very signficant difference in wins/losses. Keep in mind that we started last year with Thornton playing about as bad as he possibly could,... then went to Ben Mc and he was atrocious.

Not to mention Patrick Patterson, who shot the ball about as bad as he possibly could for a good stretch of games as our starting 4.

So there's a few aspects that if are improved with any significance, could add up to a lot more wins. I think it's well within reach to win many more games without even adding another highly paid player

 

[pdxKingsFan]

I don't think we're a playoff team but I support "the vision", if it is indeed as I and others suspect, last year was about tearing everything down, now it's about building up and moving forward.

Another thing is we took a lot of energy to unload players we thought were "losers", in that they are ok with losing as long as they are paid well, I think there are still 3 or more of those still here but I suspect they will be moved. So this culture of losing the team doesn't want to stick to the new guys and to get attached to Cousins.

 

[bajaden]

If we get more consistent play from our shooting guards on both ends of the floor, all the way through the season,...it could make a very signficant difference in wins/losses. Keep in mind that we started last year with Thornton playing about as bad as he possibly could,... then went to Ben Mc and he was atrocious.

Not to mention Patrick Patterson, who shot the ball about as bad as he possibly could for a good stretch of games as our starting 4.

So there's a few aspects that if are improved with any significance, could add up to a lot more wins. I think it's well within reach to win many more games without even adding another highly paid player

You make some good points. Lest anyone forget, the early part of the Kings schedule last season, was the easy part of the schedule. It was a chance to make some hay. Unfortunately, at that point we didn't have Gay, Thronton played terrible, and Patterson lost his shot somewhere. Mclemore played like a baby that just found its naval, and Salmons had far too many games where he played over 30 minutes, scored 4 points, grabbed 2 boards and had 1 assist. All those things added up to a disaster in the early part of the season. And then lucky us, we moved into the tougher part of the season and the longer road trips.

So when looking back, one has to think that if we're just a little more organized, and have just a little more luck, we could win 10 or 15 more games. That still doesn't get us into the playoffs, and is probably just good enough to lose our 1st round pick to the Bulls, but it would be improvement. Now I would love to make the playoffs just like the rest of you. But if were honest with ourselves, the playoffs at this point are more symbolic than they are meaningful. Other than getting to play a few more games on national TV, there's not much difference between grabbing the 8th spot, and just missing it by one game or so. I know some would disagree. And I understand that. And I'm not saying that I wouldn't be happy if we did grab that 8th spot. It's just that I would be happy if we just missed it as well. Just the excitement of being in the hunt all year would be enough of a reward. The playoffs would be the cherry on top.

 

[Glenn]

I'm one that disagrees.

Being the 8th seed is far better than missing the playoffs. This is my opinion. It's an extra few games where the excitement is ramped up significantly. I can remember that far back. I simply cannot rationalize away the fun of being even just a #8 seed. It is more than symbolism. I certainly hope the new culture doesn't think that missing the playoffs is somehow better or the equivalent of making the playoffs no matter what the seed.

We will start afresh in the preseason. I suspect that the players we start the season with will stick around a lot longer than last year when from week to week we didn't know who was on the team. I'm sure it was worse for the players. Not many of the present players have had a preseason together. Just that will add the 10-15 games to the win column. We have eliminated a ball stopper so the ball will move better and the players will feel more involved. Players who are not aggravated at a person in such a strong position of power, the power to distribute or not distribute the ball, may put out more energy and add a few more wins. There will be more defense with or without Moreland. The coach knows his players better and if how Boogie ramped up his defense is any indication, the rest will be better also. I'm not sure what that will add.

I expect a big change next year although admittedly I was a huge IT detractor and I think the team got better by subtraction. I hope we go into the last month with the playoffs in sight. I want to feel that excitement again and, yes, I realize I'll have that excitement if we make the playoffs or not.

bajaden, please tell me that you don't mean that just missing the playoffs is as good as making the playoffs. I realize in the evolution of this team to whatever it will be, making it or not making it may not be crucial. I simply want a longer season. Making the playoffs is an easily recognizable indication of improvement.



BTW, I wish I had an advanced stat that would summarize my optimism better that having to come up with so many words.

 

[ShastaKingsFan]

You make some good points. Lest anyone forget, the early part of the Kings schedule last season, was the easy part of the schedule. It was a chance to make some hay. Unfortunately, at that point we didn't have Gay, Thronton played terrible, and Patterson lost his shot somewhere. Mclemore played like a baby that just found its naval, and Salmons had far too many games where he played over 30 minutes, scored 4 points, grabbed 2 boards and had 1 assist. All those things added up to a disaster in the early part of the season. And then lucky us, we moved into the tougher part of the season and the longer road trips.

So when looking back, one has to think that if we're just a little more organized, and have just a little more luck, we could win 10 or 15 more games. That still doesn't get us into the playoffs, and is probably just good enough to lose our 1st round pick to the Bulls, but it would be improvement. Now I would love to make the playoffs just like the rest of you. But if were honest with ourselves, the playoffs at this point are more symbolic than they are meaningful. Other than getting to play a few more games on national TV, there's not much difference between grabbing the 8th spot, and just missing it by one game or so. I know some would disagree. And I understand that. And I'm not saying that I wouldn't be happy if we did grab that 8th spot. It's just that I would be happy if we just missed it as well. Just the excitement of being in the hunt all year would be enough of a reward. The playoffs would be the cherry on top.

Considering how our starting 1-4 of Vasquez, Thornton, Salmons, and Patterson played in that first stretch of the season, it was a minor miracle that we won a couple games at all. They were all off compared to what they had shown the season before. 28 wins wasn't all that bad with that kind of start.

Speaking of possibly winning 10-15 more games....I think it would be a very nice accomplishment if we finish at or close to .500 basketball for this up coming season. It's well within reach...and if everything falls in place at once, who knows...we might have a chance to chase that 8th spot.

It's starts with getting our home court advantage back. I'd like to a see a goal of finishing with a home record of at least 25 wins. If we can go about 25 and 16 at home, I think we've got a chance to finish around 41 and 41 for the season

 

[pdxKingsFan]

bajaden, please tell me that you don't mean that just missing the playoffs is as good as making the playoffs. I realize in the evolution of this team to whatever it will be, making it or not making it may not be crucial. I simply want a longer season. Making the playoffs is an easily recognizable indication of improvement.

I could never speak for bajaden, but pretty sure he is just saying he is eager (as am I) to see us back in contention. No, missing the playoffs is not as good as making the playoffs, but coming in 9th and fighting until the very last day of the season is better than discussing whether we should even try in April because it might cost us a lottery slot.