Sacramento Kings 2010 Preseason Presser
Posted: Wed Sep 21, 2016 9:52 am
Let's get straight to the point. Last season was ugly as was planned going into it. The massive and surprising firesale that was the Kings 2009 offseason ended with saying goodbye to Tracy McGrady, Tyson Chandler, and Kirk Hinrich. The decision to trade them was easy, but finding trade partners was not. Ultimately, we went into the season with a new group of Tyreke Evans, Darren Collison and Timofey Mozgov.
I had a lot of work to do and figured it would take a slow build to rise back up to competing. The season was brutal and we finished with 10 wins, the worst record in the league.
Going into the offseason, we were worried about dropping to the 4th pick in the draft as we have never had any luck in the lotto. With this draft, it was obvious the class was top-heavy with 3 great franchise pieces, followed up by solid starters and development projects. For a team winning 10 games in a season, just getting a solid starter would have absolutely prolonged the rebuild process, but we were prepared for the worst.
Fortunately, we landed the #3 pick and were happy to pick up whoever of the Top 3 fell in our lap. I can't describe how surprised I was that DeMarcus "Boogie" Cousins fell, as I was certain he would be gone by then.
Boogie is a very young and very talented center, and is ready to compete now. We are excited to see him grow into one of the top offensive bigman in the league and know our future is in good hands with our new foundational piece.
I then moved Mozgov to the Pacers for the 6th pick in the draft to target another center in Greg Monroe. Greg is a work-in-progress but has a skillset similar to Cousins. Although his scoring isn't developed just yet, he has the ability to defend and rebound right now as a starter or backup. We love the idea of giving Cousins rest and having another center come in fresh and not see a big drop in production.
We were also able to swing a trade with another team to grab swingman and outside scorer OJ Mayo. Mayo will be a valuable backup and 6th man for this team and is a talented scorer, so having him as depth really sets my team up in a huge way that we haven't had in many seasons.
RFA was plenty busy for us. We had two contracts accepted by SG Randy Foye and PF Paul Millsap. I made fair offers for both and ultimately Millsap was kept by the Bulls, whereas the Cavs S&T'd Foye for the 76ers 2012. We aren't sure why Foye didn't have a chance to shine in an offense led by Chris Paul, as the Cavs were an excellent team. We are taking a gamble with Foye but his ratings and third year production passes the eye test. Foye will get a chance to become a #1 option in the backcourt to relieve Evans and Collison. We aren't looking for first team numbers from Foye, but we want to maximize his efficiency.
Unrestricted free agency was very busy then very dull for us, as we only made big signings in the first round. We were non-existent at PF and rebounding was our weakest point, and we immediately addressed this with the signings of PFs Drew Gooden, Reggie Evans and David West. Gooden is expected to start but split pretty even minutes with Evans to maximize energy for the two, since their rebounding will be heavily relied upon.
Training cap went very well for us. Every young player had really solid gains of 30+ and our veterans held steady at PF. Overall the team had a +303 rating increase which I believe is the highest in franchise history, which speaks loudly the number of youth of my team that is still undeveloped. We are hopeful our team is ready to carve out their names in franchise history, such as Karl Malone, Tracy McGrady, Marcus Camby, Tyson Chandler, Kirk Hinrich, Stacy Augmon, Popeye Jones, and others who have played under our guide.
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I had a lot of work to do and figured it would take a slow build to rise back up to competing. The season was brutal and we finished with 10 wins, the worst record in the league.
Going into the offseason, we were worried about dropping to the 4th pick in the draft as we have never had any luck in the lotto. With this draft, it was obvious the class was top-heavy with 3 great franchise pieces, followed up by solid starters and development projects. For a team winning 10 games in a season, just getting a solid starter would have absolutely prolonged the rebuild process, but we were prepared for the worst.
Fortunately, we landed the #3 pick and were happy to pick up whoever of the Top 3 fell in our lap. I can't describe how surprised I was that DeMarcus "Boogie" Cousins fell, as I was certain he would be gone by then.
Boogie is a very young and very talented center, and is ready to compete now. We are excited to see him grow into one of the top offensive bigman in the league and know our future is in good hands with our new foundational piece.
I then moved Mozgov to the Pacers for the 6th pick in the draft to target another center in Greg Monroe. Greg is a work-in-progress but has a skillset similar to Cousins. Although his scoring isn't developed just yet, he has the ability to defend and rebound right now as a starter or backup. We love the idea of giving Cousins rest and having another center come in fresh and not see a big drop in production.
We were also able to swing a trade with another team to grab swingman and outside scorer OJ Mayo. Mayo will be a valuable backup and 6th man for this team and is a talented scorer, so having him as depth really sets my team up in a huge way that we haven't had in many seasons.
RFA was plenty busy for us. We had two contracts accepted by SG Randy Foye and PF Paul Millsap. I made fair offers for both and ultimately Millsap was kept by the Bulls, whereas the Cavs S&T'd Foye for the 76ers 2012. We aren't sure why Foye didn't have a chance to shine in an offense led by Chris Paul, as the Cavs were an excellent team. We are taking a gamble with Foye but his ratings and third year production passes the eye test. Foye will get a chance to become a #1 option in the backcourt to relieve Evans and Collison. We aren't looking for first team numbers from Foye, but we want to maximize his efficiency.
Unrestricted free agency was very busy then very dull for us, as we only made big signings in the first round. We were non-existent at PF and rebounding was our weakest point, and we immediately addressed this with the signings of PFs Drew Gooden, Reggie Evans and David West. Gooden is expected to start but split pretty even minutes with Evans to maximize energy for the two, since their rebounding will be heavily relied upon.
Training cap went very well for us. Every young player had really solid gains of 30+ and our veterans held steady at PF. Overall the team had a +303 rating increase which I believe is the highest in franchise history, which speaks loudly the number of youth of my team that is still undeveloped. We are hopeful our team is ready to carve out their names in franchise history, such as Karl Malone, Tracy McGrady, Marcus Camby, Tyson Chandler, Kirk Hinrich, Stacy Augmon, Popeye Jones, and others who have played under our guide.
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