THE OFFICIAL: DON'T EVEN THINK ABOUT TRADING DMC THREAD!!!

[Merdiesel]

Grant saying that Cousins for Lawson and Faried would be a tough decision makes my ****ing blood boil.

How could someone whose job has been nothing but basketball for 30 years even consider a trade like that?

Cousins is the next great big man. Grant talks about 28 wins every year like its all on Cousins. I'd like to see a 23 year old Duncan deal with all the bull**** this kid has had to deal with from new coaches, to constant shuffling of team mates to ownership nightmares... Give me a break. Put an actual team around this guy and you are giving our best shot in years at not just playoffs but a championship.

 

[itzcoatl]

If we trade cousins. I'm out as a fan. It would be inexplicable stupidity. Don't even think abiut it Vivek.

 

[Dime Dropper]

Grant saying that Cousins for Lawson and Faried would be a tough decision makes my ****ing blood boil.

How could someone whose job has been nothing but basketball for 30 years even consider a trade like that?

Cousins is the next great big man. Grant talks about 28 wins every year like its all on Cousins. I'd like to see a 23 year old Duncan deal with all the bull**** this kid has had to deal with from new coaches, to constant shuffling of team mates to ownership nightmares... Give me a break. Put an actual team around this guy and you are giving our best shot in years at not just playoffs but a championship.

Grant has always had a very low BBIQ. Don't mistake his arrogance and delusion for knowledge. He'd never even consider the fact that he may be wrong given his hugely inflated ego, but the guy has not got a clue what he's talking about. This is just more evidence of that.

 

[John Galt]

Grant saying that Cousins for Lawson and Faried would be a tough decision makes my ****ing blood boil.
.

When did Grant say that? Did he really say that? This is the most depressing development I can think of. A complete bait and switch for season ticket holders. If Karl is promoting this agenda then he is a silly old man and a fraud. I'm so disgusted. I'm changing my avatar as soon as I finish this post.

I have two partners to share my pain (or I would not have renewed). What I will do is seek other partners - I will have to find stupid naive morons but maybe they will be out there - to buy up my third share, and I will just be a bystander/broker for this season ticket year until I can't find suckers to take them any more.

I'm just beside myself that corrupt douchebag Pete D'Alessandro is fixing to make a sweetheart deal with his old team - ditching a franchise big man for jack pace.

I will be done with the team, with extreme prejudice, if something like this happens.

Grant Napear is dead to me no matter what - he is a crooked phoney baloney mouthpiece for the regime that signs his check. His credibility and objectivity are at a new low.

 

[Larry David]

I did hear him say that. That is 100% accurate. I haven't listened in months, but figured yesterday might be an epic Grant spin job. I don't know if the Kings will find a DMC deal that suits them, but KHTK was preemptively laying cover for a potential DMC trade hard.

 

[rainmaker]

Grant saying that Cousins for Lawson and Faried would be a tough decision makes my ****ing blood boil.

How could someone whose job has been nothing but basketball for 30 years even consider a trade like that?

Some disagree, but to me this is increasingly worrying. Grant's ramping up the talk pertaining to Cuz not being here down the road. There's been times he starts talking about things which make little sense and they end up coming to fruition, as if he's preparing the fan base so the shock and awe is lessened when it comes true.

It's not lost on me he's been quite vague about improving the rest of the roster, mainly talking about needing to bring in more players, improve shooting, but it's been fair amount more personal and targeted towards Cuz.

Put it this way, if there was zero chance the team was considering trading Cuz I'm pretty confident the Kings would tell redhead to STFU about it. Last year he'd hang up on callers proposing trading IT at the deadline. He rarely has tolerated talk about firing any of our previous terrible coaches but openly discusses moving on from Boogie.

 

[rainmaker]

I did hear him say that. That is 100% accurate. I haven't listened in months, but figured yesterday might be an epic Grant spin job. I don't know if the Kings will find a DMC deal that suits them, but KHTK was preemptively laying cover for a potential DMC trade hard.

That's part of what worries me, KHTK is a PR arm of the Kings. We saw that with the Maloof situation and later the arena situation. Grant continuously spun reality. We saw Dave get fired in part for laying into the organization on KHTK. After Grant had his rant earlier this season about our FO, he quickly changed his tune the following Monday as if he'd been talked to and told "you work for us, you don't say that publicly".

The Kings have a track record of controlling talking points on KHTK.

 

[206Fan]

Grant is utterly ridiculous. Why in the heck would we trade Cousins for Lawson and Faried??

Someone said Bill Simmons floated around the idea of Vucevic+ Magic's 1st round pick this year for Cousins.
That's one of the best trades I've ever heard for Cuz.

I know many people will bounce if Cousins gets traded, but would they reconsider if we had a core of something like:

D'Angelo Russell- Ben McLemore- Rudy Gay- Kristaphs Porzingis- Nikola Vucevic?

and it would be a bench of:

Collison- Ray/Nik- Casspi- Landry- JT

That's a playoff team right there.

I'm not advocating that we trade for Cousins...FAR FAR from that. But a lot of these trade scenarios are ridiculous. The Vucevic one proposed would be the only logical one. This is a shipwreck right now and anything is possible.

 

[206Fan]

Question for all Kings fans:

Would you trade Cousins if it meant long term success and championships?

 

[ockingsfan]

Our biggest hope right now is that Vlade knows basketball and that he makes the final decisions.

Vlade has seen what a franchise player can do for a team and he should know that you DO NOT EVER trade a franchise player in his prime.

Vlade is a smart man and I am hoping he would have any final say in all personnel matters, SO lets pray he knows NOT to trade DMC.

BTW Grant Napear is a thorn in the side of the Kings players. Honestly, I think he does a lot more damage than good with his talk shows.

 

[John Galt]

The Kings are a very hard team to support right now. God, it might really all come crashing down and Vivek will have only himself to blame.

The culture at the Kings is just gross. So slimy and tricky and slippery. Sleezy. Using the radio station to pump the agenda. "Crowd-sourcing". Blocking twitter followers who dissent. Complete lack of class and dignity. Would the Maloofs do it? Would Chris Hansen do it? I don't know it just seems like we have a particularly horrible owner right now - just a horrible person with no integrity. No wonder DMC's agents want him out of here. If I was DMC's agent, I would be demanding a trade for sure. Our front office is a clown show and there is zero sign that this will change.

If Pete stays, and Karl and Pete team up and jettison DeMarcus Cousins - I'm just going to take a break for a while. I cannot believe how Vivek Ranadive has destroyed his franchise in just two years (IF he dumps DMC, which I can't let myself believe is happening but if it does happen I will just cry).

All these dominos falling after the ill-fated firing of Coach Malone (who, in case nobody noticed, was the winningest coach this season for the Kings).

 

[John Galt]

Question for all Kings fans:

Would you trade Cousins if it meant long term success and championships?

Trading a franchise big like Cousins is a disaster no matter how you slice it. No, there is just no way you come out better trading him.

 

[ockingsfan]

206Fan-

You can not honestly think that trading a top 10 player for a few draft picks would ever amount to anything more than a mid level playoff team? Could you?

Championships are won by Superstars! Not a bunch of role players.

Just Ask Duncan, Lebron, MJ, Kobe,Shaq!

 

[sdballer]

Grant is utterly ridiculous. Why in the heck would we trade Cousins for Lawson and Faried??

Someone said Bill Simmons floated around the idea of Vucevic+ Magic's 1st round pick this year for Cousins.
That's one of the best trades I've ever heard for Cuz.

I know many people will bounce if Cousins gets traded, but would they reconsider if we had a core of something like:

D'Angelo Russell- Ben McLemore- Rudy Gay- Kristaphs Porzingis- Nikola Vucevic?

and it would be a bench of:

Collison- Ray/Nik- Casspi- Landry- JT

That's a playoff team right there.

I'm not advocating that we trade for Cousins...FAR FAR from that. But a lot of these trade scenarios are ridiculous. The Vucevic one proposed would be the only logical one. This is a shipwreck right now and anything is possible.

That team may, emphasis on May, be a playoff team in 3-5 years. We could make minor tweaks to be a playoff team now. This isn't that hard.

 

[Spike]

Grant saying that Cousins for Lawson and Faried would be a tough decision makes my ****ing blood boil.

I would love that deal. That means I could actually follow the Nuggets as a playoff team.

 

[206Fan]

That team may, emphasis on May, be a playoff team in 3-5 years. We could make minor tweaks to be a playoff team now. This isn't that hard.

I don't think it takes minor tweaks to make this team a playoff team. I think it takes changes from our players. I fully believe Collison is a backup PG and he doesn't have the ability to keep up with the premier PGs in the NBA. Rudy has actually played very very well under Karl. We've seen a lot less iso plays from him. I think for our current team to become a playoff team, we'd need to:

• Lower Cousins' usages
• Lower Gay's usages
• Involve more players in offense
• Have at least 25assists per game
• Lower our dribblings
• Pass the ball more
  
• Spread the floor
  
• Add consistent 3pt shooters
• Improve PG position
• Improve perimeter defense
• Add a rim protector

All of it in bold are player/free agent moves. The rest are going to be coaching changes worked out in the gym. I personally think we've put to much pressure on Cousins on the offensive end of the floor. He has sucky teammates, but it doesn't mean every possession MUST go to him. We need to figure out ways to incorporate other players and give them a boost in confidence.

Note: Feel free to move this into another thread.. I think it's a little Off topic from the thread

 

[hrdboild]

I can't believe we're even having this conversation. I've put up with a lot, we all have. The Maloofs bled this franchise dry for nearly a decade and then tried to steal it out from under us. This is our team and we had to fight to keep it. I'm not going to forget that, but if Cousins gets traded I'm done with this team for the next 5 years at least. There comes a point when enough is enough. I still think letting Tyreke go was a mistake. We could have been a playoff team this season if we'd kept him. New Orleans is right there with Evans and Davis. Nobody is going to convince me that firing Malone was the right move for this franchise at this time. That was another huge mistake. These are decisions that are completely unjustifiable to reasonably intelligent basketball personnel. Then you add to that the culture of dishonesty that has surrounded this new front office since they took over, and my attachment to this team is strained as it is. Letting Cousins go too would be the last straw. Two years ago I didn't think I would ever reach this point. If Grant Napier actually said that trading Cousins for Lawson and Faried would be a tough decision then he's either blowing smoke or he needs to be gone along with everyone who agrees with him. No franchise can survive idiocy of that level.

 

[Spike]

That team may, emphasis on May, be a playoff team in 3-5 years. We could make minor tweaks to be a playoff team now. This isn't that hard.

That's just it though. In a "Bare Minimum" situation:

1. A starting PF. Either a stretch 4 (which seems to be what the FO wants - not me), or a weakside defending 4.
2. A starting quality SG.

With an off-season of Karl Sauce, we end up with:

Starters:
Collison
Better SG (Afflalo type guy?)
Gay
Better PF (WCS? Some stretch guy?)
Cousins

Bench:
Miller/McCallum
Whomever survives among McLemore/Stauskas
Casspi
Thompson/Landry

That's really it. That's a competitive starting lineup, and as long as we aren't snakebitten or go with a wholesale substitution during the games, our backups are more than serviceable.

That's a bare minimum type off-season move that makes us competitive. Would I like some other upgrades? Sure. I think either a PG that supplants Collison or a higher quality backup PG would be gravy. In fact, if we accomplish all 3 things I'd be a pretty happy guy. We don't need wholesale roster changes right now. To do so would be foolish.

 

[hrdboild]

Question for all Kings fans:

Would you trade Cousins if it meant long term success and championships?

These two things are mutually exclusive. You don't trade 24 year old centers putting up hall of fame worthy numbers and talk about improving the team. That cannot possibly happen. The sooner everyone associated with the Kings comes to understand this, the better off we'll be.

 

[Padrino]

Question for all Kings fans:

Would you trade Cousins if it meant long term success and championships?

sure. if you could legitimately promise long-term success and championships in the near future, i'd consider trading cousins. problem is, you can't promise that. no one can promise that. your hypothetical is a bit like asking "would you trade the ability to breathe if it meant a guarantee that you would live to be 100." you simply do not have one without the other...

by and large, nba math says that you need at least one superstar surrounded by significant and complementary talent in order to win a championship. stability in the front office and amongst the coaching staff matters, as well. the san antonio spurs? well run and well-coached. the miami heat? well run and well-coached. the golden state warriors? well run and well-coached. etc. the kings have their superstar, but their roster isn't talented enough everywhere else, their front office is a complete disaster, and their coaching staff represents one of the league's most consistently-spinning carousels...

it's a rare thing for me to speak in such defiant absolutes, but anyone--inside the organization or out--who looks at this franchise and determines that demarcus cousins is the problem, or that he should be traded, is flat-out wrong. george karl is flat-out wrong for saying that no one on this roster is untradable, and grant napear is flat-out wrong for saying that trading cousins for lawson and faried would be a tough decision. cousins should be considered untradable, and a proposed offer for cousins of lawson and faried should be laughed at hysterically...

personally, i think karl is just trying to flex a bit of HoF muscle, and i think grant is just trying to juice his ratings at the end of this massively disappointing season in which kings fans (and his listeners) are jumping ship en masse. but that still doesn't mean either karl or napear should be running their mouths in this fashion. if i were vivek, and my prized superstar was seething after yet another sub-30 win season filled with controversy and jabs at cousins' character, i would threaten to replace grant unless he shuts the f*** up about trade rumors related to DMC, and i would march vlade divac in front of a microphone ASAP to reiterate the kings' iron-clad commitment to building a winning team around demarcus cousins, and to state, in no uncertain terms and with all due respect to coach karl, that demarcus cousins, is, indeed, untradable...

 

[IfAt1st]

I hate to tell y'all I told you so, but.....
(No, really - in this case, I didn't want this happening)
...but I called this on Feb 24:
http://www.kingsfans.com/threads/grades-v-clippers-2-21-2015.59689/page-4#post-1158597

This posturing by Napier needs to be watched VERY closely.

He has been used extensively as a mouthpiece and crowd control by Kings management. I believe this is a matter of public record.

He has a history of personally (and/or professionally) attacking Cousins quite viciously, and using his show as a bully-pulpit to trumpet anti-Demarcus callers and to hang up and not allow pro-Cousins callers to have airtime or fairly respond.

If the FO is remotely thinking of getting rid of Demarcus, they WILL use Napier's mouth and airtime to stir the fanbase and goad them into a mindset accepting of "that poisonous Demarcus".

Reality check:
There is no way in hell this FO will get anything of value for trading Demarcus.
Just refer to what bounties they extracted for Tyreke and IT. OOOoooohhh..... makes you just giddy with the rebuild possibilities there!

While my blood boils hearing that it's happening again, it is nice that y'all are catching up as to how the FO would go about making the fanbase compliant to a Demarcus trade.

 

[Larry David]

Grant is utterly ridiculous. Why in the heck would we trade Cousins for Lawson and Faried??

Someone said Bill Simmons floated around the idea of Vucevic+ Magic's 1st round pick this year for Cousins.
That's one of the best trades I've ever heard for Cuz.

I think the Magic are a possible trading partner because they have a lot of assets and need to consider making a move.

But, I don't think they are a potential landing spot until they hire somebody other than Mike Malone as their coach. Malone might be in the mix for the Orlando job and they drafted Payton, whom we probably should have drafted. Until that gets cleared up, that's way way way too much risk for embarrassment for the Kings.

 

[hrdboild]

if i were vivek, and my prized superstar was seething after yet another sub-30 win season filled with controversy and jabs at cousins' character, i would threaten to replace grant unless he shuts the f*** up about trade rumors related to DMC, and i would march vlade divac in front of a microphone ASAP to reiterate the kings' iron-clad commitment to building a winning team around demarcus cousins, and to state, in no uncertain terms and with all due respect to coach karl, that demarcus cousins, is, indeed, untradable...

Exactly this. Without a second thought. Grant is a face of the team, he can't be disparaging our franchise player on the radio every week and continue to be employed by the franchise. Vlade and Vivek need to show everyone that they have Cousins' back and they need to do it publicly and as soon as possible. Anything else is suicide. Where's the quick and decisive action they showed when they fired Malone now? They hid behind a "we're smarter than you, trust us" defense in December and as the season has gone on they're looking more and more like a squabbling bunch of in-laws bickering behind the scenes because nobody knows what they're doing and they're all too afraid to admit it.

 

[Padrino]

Exactly this. Without a second thought. Grant is a face of the team, he can't be disparaging our franchise player on the radio every week and continue to be employed by the franchise. Vlade and Vivek need to show everyone that they have Cousins' back and they need to do it publicly and as soon as possible. Anything else is suicide. Where's the quick and decisive action they showed when they fired Malone now? They hid behind a "we're smarter than you, trust us" defense in December and as the season has gone on they're looking more and more like a squabbling bunch of in-laws bickering behind the scenes because nobody knows what they're doing and they're all too afraid to admit it.

indeed. and george karl concerns me in all of this, precisely because he knows what he's doing. he's a future hall of famer in a house of amateurs, and i have fully expected him to exploit that fact from the moment he arrived. i'll maintain that karl is well-known for his ego-driven bluster, and that some of his more cryptic comments likely amount to nothing more than empty air. but what if i'm wrong? what if karl learned all the wrong lessons from his tenure in denver? what if he honestly believes that the kings might be better off without their hard-headed top-ten superstar, as the nuggets were without the selfish and long-overrated carmelo anthony?

fortunately, the buck doesn't stop with karl. whoever ends up being the lead decision-maker in the kings' front office would undoubtedly wield veto power, and vivek ranadive isn't likely to be pushed over so easily after taking so much heat for the malone fiasco, but what bothers me is that this franchise continues to play with fire in their organizational structure. after so much upheaval, it's simply not advisable to hire a strong-willed head coach who is bound to pi** off his strong-willed superstar before it's even clear who the team's gm is going to be. will rookie VP vlade divac be able to forge consensus among the many disparate parts of this team's competing ideologies and egos? if pete d'alessandro sticks around, will he work tirelessly to surround demarcus cousins with the right kinds of players, or will he act as chief enabler to george karl? there are many other questions that one could ask, but ultimately, i am so disappointed that we're heading into yet another offseason of complete and utter uncertainty...

 

[VF21]

It just dawned on me that we may all be focusing on the wrong thing. Grant has traditionally not only served as the mouthpiece, he has also on several occasions served as the talking head while the guy behind the curtain does whatever it is he does. In other words, are we being distracted so something even more nefarious can go on? And if so, what could that be?

And yes, I freely admit that sounds more than a little paranoid.

 

[VF21]

Napier = Shabazz Napier = player on the Miami Heat

Napear = Grant Napear = Howdy Doody = Jim Rome wannabe/sports talk show host on KHTK

 

[VF21]

I hate to tell y'all I told you so, but.....
(No, really - in this case, I didn't want this happening)
...but I called this on Feb 24:
http://www.kingsfans.com/threads/grades-v-clippers-2-21-2015.59689/page-4#post-1158597
While my blood boils hearing that it's happening again, it is nice that y'all are catching up as to how the FO would go about making the fanbase compliant to a Demarcus trade.

The front office might try, but I suspect they'd be in for a very rude awakening. They underestimate us at the risk of their bottom line.

 

[fansinceday1]

It just dawned on me that we may all be focusing on the wrong thing. Grant has traditionally not only served as the mouthpiece, he has also on several occasions served as the talking head while the guy behind the curtain does whatever it is he does. In other words, are we being distracted so something even more nefarious can go on? And if so, what could that be?

And yes, I freely admit that sounds more than a little paranoid.

Unfortunately all this "paranoia" ends up being the truth.

 

[rainmaker]

it's a rare thing for me to speak in such defiant absolutes, but anyone--inside the organization or out--who looks at this franchise and determines that demarcus cousins is the problem, or that he should be traded, is flat-out wrong. george karl is flat-out wrong for saying that no one on this roster is untradable, and grant napear is flat-out wrong for saying that trading cousins for lawson and faried would be a tough decision. cousins should be considered untradable, and a proposed offer for cousins of lawson and faried should be laughed at hysterically...

You know what might be a tough decision? These trades:

Cousins for Durant
Cousins for Anthony Davis
Cousins for Lebron
Cousins for Steph Curry
Cousins for Westbrook

And when I say "might", it's more me just being kind and suggesting you could at least have a 30 sec conversation about it without your initial thought being "if you think that's a tough decision, then my guess is your parents used to drop you on your head for fun as a baby", as is my initial thought to Grant's opinion. Some of what Grant says has me convinced his parents used to grab a wiffle bat and use his head for tee ball practice.

But in reality, there's not a single player I would trade Cuz for in this league. The only three I'd ever consider are Lebron, who's 30 and just about past his prime, Durant, who's more a jumpshooter, somewhat injury prone and I don't think ever wins anything without a post presence(like DeMarcus F'ing Cousins) or Anthony Davis, who I wouldn't as you can't run the offense through him as you can Cuz and he's reliant on others to close out games.

And in the end, I wouldn't trade Cuz for any of them. Not one. So anyone even contemplating trading Cuz or who's answering the phone to trade proposals is wasting time, wasting money, and as I said was probably dropped on the head for fun as a baby.

As an aside, our organization isn't even good at crowd sourcing. For all the talk of it, every other thing which comes out of the FO has the fan base collectively up in arms and asking WTF?

As an aside part II, if my examples comes across as over the top, it's intentional. I agree with Brick that if any member of our organization is reading this forum, I want to make it perfectly crystal clear that trading Cuz would be a disaster through and through and anyone contemplating it should be immediately jettisoned to some desert island on the other side of the world.

 

[Larry David]

It just dawned on me that we may all be focusing on the wrong thing. Grant has traditionally not only served as the mouthpiece, he has also on several occasions served as the talking head while the guy behind the curtain does whatever it is he does.

Ding ding ding.

There are so many instances where Grant has known what is coming down the pipe and pumped up the move and smacked down opposition well in advance.

They are probably (1) looking to shop DMC this summer (at least a little) to see what they can get; (2) getting ready in case Dan Fagen tries to force the Kings to trade DMC mostly against their will; or (3) as Dave reported, at some point, Karl and DMC are going to have a sit down to clear the air and see if they can work together, and if Karl believe they can't work together or DMC isn't a "winning player" he will advise the team to see a trade for DMC. If that opinion carries the day, Kings will trade him when the find a deal they believe is suitable.

Dave wrote a story, Deuce and J-Ross were talking like a trade might be inevitable and contemplating what the Kings could get back for DMC; and Grant cleared the bush and pushed talking points in a heavy handed way. I'm not sure if the hosts even know if it's 1, 2, and/or 3. But, they got info / their talking points and greased the skids for whatever is probably coming with DMC, whether it's just rumor and chatter or a draft day trade.