#SLOE: People's Basketball Sim League

Welcome, welcome, everyone to another edition of the Sacramento King's Preseason Media Presser!

A brief recap of last season, as always. Last season, we made a lot of trades to bring in youth to build around Jeffrey Duren. We were able to draft Erik Haynes and we traded for Donovan Mitchell, acquiring the #1 and #2 picks in that rookie class, who were also our top 2 targets. After a couple of unexpected signings, we traded some of those signings and James Pearsall to the Pelicans for Kyrie Irving. With Kyrie, we feel we have a duo of guards who are more talented than our opposition's any given night. We also brought in developing scoring big man Charles Simmons, who's unique blend of scoring potential intrigued us.

The season ended unexpectedly for us. Holding a nice cushion to the 4th seed and potential matchup with the Blazers, we suffered injuries to Jeffrey Duren, Kyrie Irving and Doug McDermott. We limped to the finish line and fell to the 5th seed, losing home court advantage and locked a matchup with the talented Blazers. With Duren out for the playoffs, we attempted to give it all we had against the Blazers, but we fell short. It was disappointing after a long and successful regular season, but in the end the better team won the matchup and the Kings were awarded an extra week or two of vacation.

Due to the success of trading for young talent and a star to pair with Duren, our offseason was quiet. We were able to bring back Carter-Williams for his last year under contract and are thankful to have him back. He's slotted again as the starting SF but will be assigned the PG/SG/SF spots. His versatility, size, and passing is truly a premium I am happy to pay for. No other trades were made, we were not active in RFA due to no cap, and we were unable to land any big names in UFA. We were able to round out the team some, but we like where we are at and realize this team is not built to be the favorite, but we can definitely be a contender.

Our strategy to stay under the luxury tax threshold has been a driving factor in how we have traded for players and how we give out contracts. We want to stay under the luxury tax as much as possible before our core players are all off of their rookie contracts. This allows us to have flexibility in spending points on training the young core pieces, while being mindful of an impending luxury tax bill that's certain to be due.

Training camp went well, except for Arthur Hardie. Hardie did not show up ready and has taken a step in the wrong direction in scoring, one of his key strengths. His lack of defense was tolerable due to his scoring ability, but we will now have to assess how to move forward with the PF position. I'm not happy with the PF spot this season or moving forward, and it's possible Charles Simmons is plugged into the PF role. Until we have a definite answer, all options are on the table for us, including attempting to trade for a player to fill this spot.

Jeffrey Duren, Erik Haynes and Donovan Mitchell had top 20 training camps overall, and I'm excited that the growth has not slowed down one bit for either. Haynes now looks like a capable starter, Duren has grown more and may even make the All Star Game finally, and Mitchell still has a couple of seasons until he is ready.

The floor is open for questions. Thank you.

Who do you feel is the team's leader, Kyrie or Duren?

Did the aggressive offseason of the Golden State Warriors in any way alter your plans for the offseason?

WigNosy wrote: Fri Apr 20, 2018 11:16 am Who do you feel is the team's leader, Kyrie or Duren?

Duren is definitely the team leader. He's the only player still on this team from the Kings squad that made it to the Finals, and we have built around him since then. He's still young and Kyrie has more tread, but Duren is ultimately the leader in the locker room. Kyrie has transitioned into a mentor role for Duren, as they are very similar. Irving sees the potential here with Duren and hasn't necessarily taken a backseat role, as he is tutoring Duren and is growing into being a coach-on-the-floor.

garbageman wrote: Fri Apr 20, 2018 11:35 am Did the aggressive offseason of the Golden State Warriors in any way alter your plans for the offseason?

Not at all. Our offseason was pretty much figured out after the series of trades we made in the prior season. Having our core 3 and Kyrie Irving locked up, there was no reason to make any trades or moves to change the team before the offseason started. We built this team for the long-term and I honestly believe this team will be frightening once Haynes and Mitchell get into their primes with Duren already in his.

Is there any truth to the rumor that the Blazers planned a Nancy Kerrigan-esque attack on Duren, Irving and McDermott at the end of last season?

A lot is being made out of Duren and Kyrie and deservedly so but I wanted to speak of the front court. Do you plan to split time between SImmons and Haynes this year or play both at the same time at both the 4 and the 5?

With the Pacific - and the West in general - shaping up to be much tougher than in seasons past, is there a chance that one or all of Kyrie, Simmons, and MCW could be traded in order to facilitate a full youth movement if the team looks like it can't hang among the best in the West early on?

Wombataholic wrote:Is there any truth to the rumor that the Blazers planned a Nancy Kerrigan-esque attack on Duren, Irving and McDermott at the end of last season?

We have formally submitted a request for an investigation to the league office to look into possible “points for injury” payment from the Blazers to the Grizzlies. Duren felt that Murder-cado did not make a basketball play and instead intentionally targeted him. We all know the Grizz are strapped for points, but we didn’t think it would go this far.


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NickMalone77 wrote:A lot is being made out of Duren and Kyrie and deservedly so but I wanted to speak of the front court. Do you plan to split time between SImmons and Haynes this year or play both at the same time at both the 4 and the 5?

It’s going to be a work in progress. The idea initially is to start Simmons at the 4 spot, but his size and lack of quickness really pegs him into the 5 spot. Through the season we will try to move the lineups around and see what works best, and Simmons off the bench is not out of the question if we feel Hardie or another PF can hold down the 4.


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Do you intend to put Haynes through some additional intensive training prior to the start of the season?

You mentioned that Hardie hasn't really progressed much, and in fact has gone in the opposite direction. What sort of role will he play on the Kings this season? Are you guys still hoping that he can turn things around?

IamQuailman wrote: Mon Apr 23, 2018 9:24 am Do you intend to put Haynes through some additional intensive training prior to the start of the season?

Unfortunately, I just had to do so. With no big capable of rebounding the ball, I felt that if I am to compete I need to be able to limit offensive rebounding for the opponent. Haynes was just sent to Karl Malone's Big Man Camp for defensive rebounding and feel he made a huge leap in improving this area of his game.

The Pacific has 2 new hires in LA how do you feel about the stability division moving forward?

Eazy P wrote: Mon Apr 23, 2018 11:02 am The Pacific has 2 new hires in LA how do you feel about the stability division moving forward?

I definitely think I'm one of the few GMs that feels a healthy, competitive division can provide many benefits to the league. I'm really happy we were able to fill in those spots (thanks commish) and I hope they have fun! The Pacific has had a lot of in-and-out activity over the last decade that was covered up by the dominance of Kevin Love and Kevin Durant, and as those two players aged, the cracks in the division started to show and then we lost some really good GMs.

Messi, bow and I have been competing for a while now, and this season looks like another one of those seasons where we each try and win the Pacific crown. Hopefully the Lakers and Clippers will join the fight sometime in the near future.

digiskunk wrote: Mon Apr 23, 2018 9:58 am You mentioned that Hardie hasn't really progressed much, and in fact has gone in the opposite direction. What sort of role will he play on the Kings this season? Are you guys still hoping that he can turn things around?

It hurt to see Hardie regress. Hardie's regression just adds to another training camp hit from the offseason rebuild I did a couple seasons ago (first Don Houghton, now Hardie). It's not so much that he was hit and his play will suffer that hurts, but his value is now shot and any hopes of trying to package him lost some value.

His role right now is to be a backup at the PF spot and we will see how it goes. I think I have some good bench players that he will compete against, especially Patterson who can shoot from deep. If he can continue performing as he did in prior seasons, he will get his normal minutes. However, if he has regressed as his training camp suggested, his career here may be shorter than anticipated in the long-term.

Mitch Landrieu, nola.com: Can you care to elaborate the role of that Michael Carter-Williams will play with the team this season?

RPF wrote: Mon Apr 23, 2018 12:44 pm Mitch Landrieu, nola.com: Can you care to elaborate the role of that Michael Carter-Williams will play with the team this season?

Currently, MCW is our starting SF but is slotted to play PG/SG/SF. His versatility is a huge plus for us, especially if injuries hit our team in the backcourt. He may not score, but he does everything else well and we like him in the utilitarian role for us. Maybe in the playoffs we can take advantage of his versatility and play him against another team's better guard on defense.