NBA 2017: The Kings of Comedy

[Relic]

21 minutes ago, briantw said:

There are rumors that the Pistons offered Drummond.  Drummond alone would have made for a better trade than what Sacramento ended up getting.  Not sure if it's true, obviously, but it's hard to believe that not a single NBA team made a better offer for a guy like Cousins.  If he were expiring under the old CBA, it'd be one thing.  But under the new CBA and with a few years left on the deal?  It was just madness to part with him for such a shit offer.

Seriously...Boston couldn't have offered a better deal?  A single one of their Nets picks is a better deal than what the Kings got.  

The point is that teams like Boston were clearly not interested in brining on a locker room murderer like Cousins. 

[Rhom]

How the Sixers won the DeMarcus Cousins trade without doing anything.

Quote

Two summers ago, the Kings were trying to clear cap to pursue free agents to join Cousins. Obviously that never happened. The failed effort cost them 2014 No. 8 pick Nik Stauskas, a pick swap with Philly for their first-round picks in 2016 and 2017, and their 2019 unprotected first-round pick. The Kings only received the right to a pair of 2015 second-round picks who may never play in the NBA from Europe.

That trade was a miserable one for Kings fans from the start. In trading Cousins, it’s now in the conversation as one of the worst in NBA history.

Without Cousins, the Kings are a terrible team that will compete for the league’s worst record for the foreseeable future. But because of the Stauskas trade, their first-round pick this season and in 2019, will go to Philly. Sacramento will only receive the worst of the two picks this year.

Sacramento is going to plummet fast without Boogie or Rudy Gay, who is out for the year with an Achilles injury. That means Philly could be looking at another top-three pick in an incredible draft class. We can’t know for sure what that means now, but it could be the difference between a franchise cornerstone or not. Sixers fans can start rooting for wins again, because Sacramento is going to be doing the losing for them.

Divac tells the press that he "had a better offer two days ago."

And when you realize this may have been a big factor:

 

 

So you trade away your one value piece because the batshit crazy owner has a fixation with last college season's Jimmer of the month.

[Rhom]

Just heard that Cousins has made more threes this season than Hield.

 

[sperry]

Cousins is too batshit crazy to rely on to resign. That means yuo have to trade him, and it also means that he has destroyed his own trade value because nobody can count on him.

Hield will end up being a solid player, and they got what will be a good first round pick in a loaded draft as well. Cousins is a turd, and all the talent in the world can't overcome that.

[Jaime L]

3 hours ago, Rhom said:

The trade was so one-sided that NBA2K17 won't let you do it.   

https://twitter.com/pastapadre/status/833547478444052480

In fairness, it's generally known in league circles that the Kings GM in NBA2K17 is way better than Vlade Divac. 

 

[Relic]

14 minutes ago, sperry said:

Cousins is too batshit crazy to rely on to resign. That means yuo have to trade him, and it also means that he has destroyed his own trade value because nobody can count on him.

Hield will end up being a solid player, and they got what will be a good first round pick in a loaded draft as well. Cousins is a turd, and all the talent in the world can't overcome that.

Yup. Boston didn't even TRY. That should tell you everything you need to know. For Boogie's next trick he's going to destroy AD's career. 

[briantw]

4 hours ago, sperry said:

Cousins is too batshit crazy to rely on to resign. That means yuo have to trade him, and it also means that he has destroyed his own trade value because nobody can count on him.

Hield will end up being a solid player, and they got what will be a good first round pick in a loaded draft as well. Cousins is a turd, and all the talent in the world can't overcome that.

Cousins was all set to re-sign in Sacramento, the worst-ran franchise in professional sports.  The new CBA basically makes it a slam dunk for teams to retain stars unless those guys want to leave a lot of money on the table.

Anyone trading for Cousins would have had a huge advantage in retaining his services for at least one more contract.

[briantw]

8 hours ago, Rhom said:

Everyone talks about Cousins and his technical fouls, but if he were on a winning team and getting T'd up, the talking heads would be saying "Oh I love his grittiness!  He's tough!  That's what this team needs!"  You know who has the second most technical fouls in the league since DMC has been in?  Russell Westbrook.

Yup.  When you're on a winning team and get T'd up, it's because you're passionate and have heart.  When you do it on a losing team, you're a cancer.  It's a dumb double standard.  Draymond Green was able to mostly shrug off the fact that his hot head may have cost the Warriors a title due to his suspension.  If he were pulling that shit on a bad team, he'd get crucified by the media.

[Calibandar]

15 hours ago, KingintheNorth4 said:

Cousins' value would've slowly eroded the longer he stayed in Sacramento, plus he was a constant headache for the Kings, with his collection of technical fouls, game suspensions, going through six head coaches in seven seasons, and not to mention his attitude. The Kings will be better off without him in the long term.

It'll be interesting to see if Cousins and Davis are able to click since both are players in need of the ball.

From the Kings perspective, it's a terrible, terrible deal.

They absolutely shouldn't have traded him. It's just that no one cares about the Kings and I am just happy he's finally gone to a team with at least some playoffs prospects. Though of course New Orleans has a lot still to do as well, seriously lacking in guards/small forwards. But that Davis/Cousins combo is fierce, especially given their versatility.

But from a Kings perspective, he's your best player by a huge margin, and if you trade him, you're not going to get a new star traded to you for years, because nobody wants to be there. I would be interested in hearing a rationale for why they traded him. They just got a lot worse, what they got back for him was not great, so short term and mid term it's not a good deal for them if the objective is to be a competitive team. If the objective was just to rid the team of Cousins, then the trade was a success.

[Relic]

5 hours ago, briantw said:

Anyone trading for Cousins would have had a huge advantage in retaining his services for at least one more contract.

Here's the rub, as far as I can tell. Cousins was going to sign a 200 million dollar contract with Sac, which would grow 8% each year. By the end of his contract he would have been making like 50 million a year, I believe. Ownership has believed that Cousins was going to grow up one day, and has been opposed to trading him, but he's been getting MORE erratic, not less. Last week's antics were the starw that broke the owner's back, and they basically decided that Cousins wasn't worth the quarter BILLION dollar investment.

And I can't blame them.

Everyone is focusing on how bad of a deal this was for the Kings, and they certainly made themselves an easy target. On paper it looks like they traded away a top 10 guy for the 11th -15th pick, the 32nd pick, Buddy, and two dudes who can't ball. That's bad. The upside is that they will fall in the West and thus retain their own pick this year, which is top 10 protected i think, and they are saving themselves the agony of offering Boogie the keys to their future this summer with that massive contract.  It speaks volumes that Boggie had lowered his trade value so much that this was one of the best offers on the table. 

[briantw]

1 minute ago, Relic said:

Here's the rub, as far as I can tell. Cousins was going to sign a 200 million dollar contract with Sac, which would grow 8% each year. By the end of his contract he would have been making like 50 million a year, I believe. Ownership has believed that Cousins was going to grow up one day, and has been opposed to trading him, but he's been getting MORE erratic, not less. Last week's antics were the starw that broke the owner's back, and they basically decided that Cousins wasn't worth the quarter BILLION dollar investment.

And I can't blame them.

Everyone is focusing on how bad of a deal this was for the Kings, and they certainly made themselves an easy target. On paper it looks like they traded away a top 10 guy for the 11th -15th pick, the 32nd pick, Buddy, and two dudes who can't ball. That's bad. The upside is that they will fall in the West and thus retain their own pick this year, which is top 10 protected i think, and they are saving themselves the agony of offering Boogie the keys to their future this summer with that massive contract.  It speaks volumes that Boggie had lowered his trade value so much that this was one of the best offers on the table. 

Thing is, I don't think it was one of the best offers on the table.  I just think their owner had a hard on for Buddy and made the GM pull the trigger on the deal that included him.  

[Relic]

Just now, briantw said:

Thing is, I don't think it was one of the best offers on the table.  I just think their owner had a hard on for Buddy and made the GM pull the trigger on the deal that included him.  

Well, if that's true they deserve a good chunk of the ridicule that has been heaped upon them. Moving Boogie to spare yourself those massive paychecks makes sense, moving him to N.O. specifically because you are in love with Buddy while there are better offers available? Not good...

Someone made a good point that it makes ZERO sense to trade for draft picks in the middle of the season, when you don't know the draft order yet. Sac could have waited until the summer to make a deal, much like I think the Knicks should wait until the summer to move Melo. You can get more, or at least have a better idea of what you are trading for. 

[Relic]

In regards to "better offers" for Cousins - 

Divac was quick to point out that Sacramento had a better offer on the table the day before they pulled the trigger to send their star big to New Orleans. But the offer was rescinded, presumably when, according to league sources, teams around the league were informed that Cousins would not sign an extension with a new team, making him a short term rental.

and some more context -

According to a league source, the team grew tired of the constant issues on the court. After promising the star big that they had no intentions of moving him during a private meeting on Feb 2, he went out two days later in an overtime win against the Golden State Warriors and picked up his 14th technical foul.

Following the win, Cousins was also fined $25,000 by the league for making an inappropriate statement and gesture towards a Warriors fan in the tunnel.

Two days later he added technicals 15 and 16 against the Chicago Bulls and was suspended for the Kings’ matchup with the Boston Celtics.

[Calibandar]

From the ESPN article:

 

Quote

Divac emphasized throughout the media session on Monday that a change to the Kings' "culture" was an important factor in making the trade. He was candid in saying the Kings aren't a better team after the trade, but that the move was made with an eye on the future.

First of all, I love DeMarcus," Divac said. "I think he did great things here in the community and for this team, and I wish him nothing but the best in New Orleans. But on second hand, I have to do my job, and I felt like this was the best time to move forward and make a change of the culture, moving forward make a better organization in the future."

He said the decision to agree to trade "was difficult, but I'm responsible for making decisions in the basketball operations, and I did it."

The Kings also waived veteran Matt Barnes as part of the trade. Asked if that move also was made with a culture change in mind, Divac indicated that was the case.

So yes, it's all about the culture around guys like Cousins and Barnes, toxic figures with downright terrible personalities that happen to be very large humans that can play the game. It just shows that as Divac admits, it may not be a great trade, but they just wanted to be rid of Cousins.

[Jaime L]

5 hours ago, Relic said:

Well, if that's true they deserve a good chunk of the ridicule that has been heaped upon them. Moving Boogie to spare yourself those massive paychecks makes sense, moving him to N.O. specifically because you are in love with Buddy while there are better offers available? Not good...

Someone made a good point that it makes ZERO sense to trade for draft picks in the middle of the season, when you don't know the draft order yet. Sac could have waited until the summer to make a deal, much like I think the Knicks should wait until the summer to move Melo. You can get more, or at least have a better idea of what you are trading for. 

I mean the way the whole thing went down, they traded Cousins at the absolute nadir of his value. There was the "better offer" from two days before, and supposedly there was Andre Drummond on the table at one point. But more than that, the Kings had rebuffed a ton of offers over the previous two years, all with way better hauls than what they ultimately settled on. 

It truly is amazing how since Vivek bought the team, the Kings always make the worst possible move. He took over a team in 2013 that had DeMarcus Cousins, Isaiah Thomas and all of its draft picks. Now 4 years and 0 playoff appearances later, it has none of those things. Their 2019 pick which is almost guaranteed to be top 5 is going to Philly, after all, for how badly they fucked up the Nik Staukas situation. And even if they win the draft lottery this year, Philly can switch that pick with them too...because the Nik Stauskas trade.

Which is ironic because Vivek used to believe Nik Stauskas had some Steph Curry like qualities. Now he believes Buddy Hield does.

Hey, when you've turned your franchise into Nets West, an active imagination will get you through the tough times. 

[Fez]

Jeanie Buss has apparently fired her brother Jim (though he's still an equal co-owner, so that's weird) and Mitch Kupchak. Magic Johnson (!) is the new President of Basketball Operations and will run the front office.

http://www.nba.com/lakers/releases/170221-magic-johnson-president-basketball-operations?et_cid=TW

 

[Rhom]

2 minutes ago, Fez said:

Jeanie Buss has apparently fired her brother Jim (though he's still an equal co-owner, so that's weird) and Mitch Kupchak. Magic Johnson (!) is the new President of Basketball Operations and will run the front office.

http://www.nba.com/lakers/releases/170221-magic-johnson-president-basketball-operations?et_cid=TW

 

Based on what Magic was saying last week publicly, I'm not surprised at all.  Don't believe its possible for him to do worse than Jim/Mitch; so why not try something new?

[briantw]

7 hours ago, Calibandar said:

From the ESPN article:

 

So yes, it's all about the culture around guys like Cousins and Barnes, toxic figures with downright terrible personalities that happen to be very large humans that can play the game. It just shows that as Divac admits, it may not be a great trade, but they just wanted to be rid of Cousins.

I think the culture stems from their idiotic owner more than from Cousins.  They randomly fired the first coach they'd hired that Cousins actually liked, and have had a revolving door at the position since Cousins came into the league.  They've blown basically every draft pick on guys not named Cousins.  Their owner has no understanding of the game of basketball, yet forces his way into basketball decisions (and generally makes bad ones).  That team is a clusterfuck from the top on down.  Removing Cousins isn't suddenly going to make Vivek capable of making good basketball decisions.  Hell, dealing Cousins away for a role-player and a middling draft pick already set the team back years.

Also, the fact that New Orleans actually put some protections on the single draft pick they sent made me laugh.  That was just an added kick in the nuts for the Kings.  

The Kings remind me a lot of the toxic culture the Cavs had with Chris Grant in charge.  He blew almost all of his draft picks, but always used the media to cast blame at other people, and the revolving door at head coach along with two very poor coaching hires contributed as well.  Byron Scott is an idiot who cares more about golfing than winning games, and runs his players into the ground during practices to compensate.  Mike Brown is just a dolt who has no understanding of how to make in-game adjustments or structure a proper offense.  

[Mr. Chatywin et al.]

The Wolves better not trade Rubio for Rose. The deal sounds terrible!

[Mr. Chatywin et al.]

8 minutes ago, briantw said:

I think the culture stems from their idiotic owner more than from Cousins.  They randomly fired the first coach they'd hired that Cousins actually liked, and have had a revolving door at the position since Cousins came into the league.  They've blown basically every draft pick on guys not named Cousins.  Their owner has no understanding of the game of basketball, yet forces his way into basketball decisions (and generally makes bad ones).  That team is a clusterfuck from the top on down.  Removing Cousins isn't suddenly going to make Vivek capable of making good basketball decisions.  Hell, dealing Cousins away for a role-player and a middling draft pick already set the team back years.

Also, the fact that New Orleans actually put some protections on the single draft pick they sent made me laugh.  That was just an added kick in the nuts for the Kings.  

I think this is a pretty spot on assessment. One other thing to note is that Cousins always seemed to doing fine mentally when he was on the National team. He should be absolved of any blame for the way things shook up in Sacramento, but I think most of the blame has to be assigned to that joke of an owner.