Sacramento Kings new expectations after DeMar DeRozan trade

Sacramento Kings new expectations after DeMar DeRozan trade

some of the demard RO and stuff we talked about for for six hours yesterday and kind of try to to spin it Forward because I think you and I are in the same boat and I think a I think a lot of people are where this is minus the symbolic aspect of the Kings Landing a player of of demard R roen stature but just from a pure basketball standpoint this puts them in the top six in the west not a title Contender but they are closer today than they were pre-trade correct we’re all we’re all on the same page there yeah I think that that’s realistically where they are I mean there’s a possibility they could be better than top six there’s a possibility that uh they they find some sort of kismet here and they you know take off this season and they are a title Contender uh but being realistic and and I think we can tell where they are they still lack the the length and athleticism on uh on the wings that they need they need one or two more pieces but they’ve done a really really nice job of of winning the off season so far like again if we were giving them grades um I’m giving them like a B+ right now and that’s probably more because of the injury to uh to their rookie to Devin Carter um you know so but uh you save the off season when when you were able to retain Malik monk uh you took a huge steps to uh step towards winning the off season when you got dear d rozan and now like how do you finish it how do you finish this last couple of weeks of sort of like the prime U you know offseason in the NBA yeah man and that’s where you know Jason Tim yesterday from from Hoops tonight a great guest with that that we had when I was filling it on DLo and KC um we asked him because Sam Quinn from from CBS gave the demard Rosen grade a D minus a demard Rosen trade a D minus grade and so I asked Jason like hey what what’s what do you think and he basically said he’s not going to grade the deal until he sees how the rest of the roster kind of shakes out which I think is fair um but that’s kind of where I’m at with the Kings offseason I think right now for me you you say B+ and I think that there’s been a lot of really highlevel not not necessarily high level but but a lot of moves that that were necessary and needed to be made between Mike Brown being being extended Malik monk being resigned I liked the Devin Carter pick and and of course the Demar de rozen trade but I think if we walk into this year going uh Hey lengthen athleticism still a problem for this team then I think I I would have a really hard time like being super amped about about how the offseason went because so many of the problems that that we talked about with Sacramento last year was because of the the lack of length and the lack of athleticism on the wings and yeah frankly they’ve gotten thinner there with Harrison Barnes leaving so um that’s that’s the one that’s the one quibble I have so far the the top end moves have been really really great but I think right now they they are going to run into a lot of the same problems they had last year yeah I mean I do think that they’ve gotten rid of some of sort of the redundancy and and they did get longer at say the the backup point guard position as soon as Devon Carter can play um and I’d even say like lengthen athleticism um I’m gonna give demard de Rosen a upgrade over like a Kevin hder at the position and and I’d point out too Kyle like look going back and looking at at all the stats right you want to dive into some of these stats from what I can tell Demar de rzan held his opponent to 34% shooting from the three-point line last season and that’s really good and Harrison Barnes allowed his his uh opposition to shoot 41% from three so yeah maybe he’s not a great defender at age 34 going on 35 but that doesn’t mean that he’s not better than what you had there before and you know I don’t think he’s as versatile I don’t think he can handle some of the bigger stronger uh small forwards in the league but again that’s why I’ll just keep saying the Kings aren’t done yet and and then you know we can point to like Jaylen McDaniels whether he plays a whole bunch of minutes or he doesn’t he is an upgrade over Kesler Edwards he is long and athletic um he is that type of guy that you need and he does have NBA experience and so I would actually give them a little bit there as long as he actually plays you know and that’s always going to be the question mark right I’m not you don’t get you don’t get a plus for adding Jaylen McDaniels well an upgrade over Kessler Edwards neat well no no I get that but get there I could even tell you that in my opinion like they’re times where if you’re going to play a Sasha venkov and you know we talked about it doesn’t have to be a better player it just has to be a better fit and and and I think he can potentially fill in more than what you had last year at that position as a as a reserve and look I I think you know you just take all those minutes that uh potentially Chris dwte would have got or or Sasha or you know name that guy that comes off the bench deep in games and maybe you do find something there but um but I’m not convinced that that’s like a move that answers any major question it’s just a move and sure but I do still think that he’s a better fit and and he actually fits what you’re trying to build better maybe he’s a better support piece than what you had uh backing those guys up last season yeah I guess I the thing I keep coming back to is if Jaden McDaniels did not exist in the NBA then I think I think that’s where a lot of hype around Jaylen McDaniels or or whatever hype is probably too strong of a word but the optimism about Jaylen Daniels I think comes from well look his brother’s really tall and and lengthy and a really really good Defender and got paid so why can’t maybe he’ll do that that’s because I was really excited about the jayen McDaniel’s idea at first and I just kind of did a deeper dive and I was like eh he was okay two years ago with the with the Charlotte Hornets I I I thought he was a solid player um whether he’s a GameChanger or not I’m not saying that at all I I’m just saying that like if you’re going to be a playoff team you can’t look down at your bench when you have two starters or your starter and your six-man go out you can’t look down at your bench and go where where do I go now and I think there was a moment when that happened last year with the Kings where they had way too many redundant pieces and you had nowhere to go and you know clearly Mike Brown had sort of lost faith in the Chris DTE idea and you know and Sasha got hurt twice rolled his ankles twice um so you started to get to this moment where it’s like okay are you gonna try to force a guy like Kesler Kessler Edwards onto the court or you not and I think that finding a guy like Keon ell is just ended up being a magical moment for this team but if you hadn’t found Keon Ellis just think of where this team could have gone uh it would have been a lot uglier than the way it finished yeah yeah I I think I agree with you and that’s where that’s where I think so I’ve been thinking about this idea of like playoff or bust for the Kings right yeah and I almost don’t I know that’s going to be the expectation going in and I think that’s totally fair even if they make zero additional moves to their roster we see how close they were last year um I think there were a Malik monk injury away last year now they’ve insulated themselves from that a little bit they’ve upgraded certainly their offense potentially with the numbers you just said potentially upgraded defensively a little bit with with demard de R rozan believe it or not um so I I wonder is it fair now to say like hey it is a failure of a season if the Kings don’t make the playoffs or do we fall back to well they’re not done yet and this version of the roster is not the maximized version of the roster that they envisioned when they traded for DeMar rosen there’s other dominoes to fall here the size of those dominoes TBD but there’s additional dominoes to fall where the the team we see walk out onto the court for for game one is not going to be the same team we see now uh as of July 9 and that’s where I I’m I feel like we should be holding out a little bit on the idea of like wow abject failure if this team doesn’t make the playoffs because look at the moves they made and they should be there because I I I think they they are I think whatever move they have coming is going to be that final piece whether it’s Kyle kzo or a different player I think that’s going to be the final piece that really locks in like okay there it is like this is for sure a team that should be a top five team in the west with no question and not like a top five team where they’re battling down to the final day like they’re comfortably a top five team ahead of the Lakers and the Clippers and the Warriors and and all those teams that that conceivably should be battling for a play in spot yeah I think at this point I feel pretty comfortable saying that that they have an opportunity to be one of those teams in the top of the West um like the depth the the ability to score on anybody the ability to score in a variety of ways whether it be you know sabonis in the post Fox breaking people down off the dribble or now demard de Rosen or Kean Murray you know Malik monk like they have so many different things that they can do but I I also will like caution I think that there is a missing piece here um you don’t have the optimized version of Malik monk is Malik monk needs a lob threat in the pick and roll you don’t have that you don’t have that piece last last year they went out and they they brought in javil McGee to be that piece well that didn’t work out but but that’s still the optimized version so you still have these players that you need to go out and get they still have some roster spots that that they can go try to find these players but I still think that they’re on the right path and they’re super close to having a dynamic team and I think that when you when you lock in demard De Rosen and now it gives you an opportunity to go try something new try something different that maybe wasn’t in your your mindset one before that because now you know you got a guy who can put up 24 on any night you got a guy who can put up 50 um but you now have another high level score now does that mean that you can go out and a and maybe get a guy who’s just a defensive minded freak at the at the 3 four maybe you can right yeah it changes the bar for that for that player for sure and the skill set necessary uh for that player

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