The Sacramento Kings announced on Saturday that they have waived PJ Dozier. We had been uncertain whether the Kings would keep Dozier around another year. He was under contract for an unguaranteed $2.4 million, and we had yet to hear of any other pending roster moves that would necessitate his release.
Dozier could have been an emergency point guard, but is more naturally a shooting guard. Nonetheless, the Kings seemed to like him last season. Originally signed to a 10-day contract, followed by another 10-day contract, Dozier seemed to be a garbage time player who could provide emergency wing depth and an extra body in practice. Then in February the Kings waived KZ Okpala and signed Dozier for the remainder of the season.
It’s unclear what plans the Kings have for the roster spot at this time.
The Kings also officially announced the re-signing of Trey Lyles. The news was first reported on June 30th, but the Kings made it official on Friday. The timing of the Lyles signing is interesting. We thought perhaps Lyles was being re-signed using his early bird rights, but the timing suggests the Kings used cap space. We’ll see what the Kings do from here in the days to come.
Can you say Jordan Ford!
Yeah I really have liked what I’ve seen out of him. Undersized but has great feel for the game, funky shot but it works, and has shown some craftiness at the basket. We could do a lot worse for a 3rd pg
maybe a two way. There are 2 roster spots open and some cap space with which to take on players without a reciprocal salary.
This is the time to take advantage of that unique status since next year, it is “over the cap time”.
There are a number of teams bulging at the 15 roster limit who might want to dump a player and some who have too much of one position. I think the Hornets have 4 centers and Orlando has 5 PG’s.
Dario Saric- pass
Bol Bol- pass
Do the Kings need a third PG, one not in G League?
what happens with Q?
Christian Wood? but I heard he wants big $.
maybe a move coming. I hope
Ty Ty Washington and Usman Garuba just got added to OKC and their 21 man roster. One or both of them are likely to be cut.
It feels, to me, like the Kings are done for free-agency, except to finish signing their own guys, and maybe add min. contracts.
Do they need to fill all 15 roster spots, and 3 two-ways, or can they carry any empty spot, or two, into the season? I heard they offered $2M to Queta, so that would be 1 spot left out of 15, if he accepts the offer. I haven’t heard of any team(s) interested in any of Ford, Dozier, or Queta, so I’m thinking, Queta signs, Ford gets the 3rd two-way. Then they decide whether to bring back Dozier for the min., or maybe go for another pg, for min. salary, either of which wouldn’t count against the cap. I also haven’t heard of any interest in Wood at all, which seems strangely perplexing.
Unless things have changed recently, you don’t need to fill all spots. Teams will sometimes leave a spot or two open though the season to maintain flexibility for trades, waiver wire, buyout pickups, etc.
Yeah, I think that’s right, but I think they might bring back Dozier, for the minimum, rather than carry an empty spot. Minimum contracts don’t count against the cap, and he showed enough to warrant another look, imo. They may think differently, but minimum guys can always be cut, or swapped-out with one another without cap implications. Again, who knows, at this point?
This is the question mark in my head– I don’t think Wood can afford to ask for big money seeing that no one has signed him after a week, He’s basically not in demand and it might be good to offer him an amount that is fair to us and somewhat fair to him. We don’t have a solution to the Warriors in another playoff series or a way to handle the Jokic or Steven Adams of the world, but we need something so very badly.
Monte may want to wait and see how this roster performs, as is, into the regular season, and patch any holes, which don’t patch themselves sometime before the deadline. If they are potent enough offensively, the defensive shortcomings may not be as much an issue as last season. The team may see a leap just from Keegan’s progress alone, and with Vezenkov, Duarte, and the rookies, maybe even one of the G-league guys makes a leap forward. Who knows?
Then again, your suggestion might be spot-on as well. I’ve been saying, I think Wood’s game seems tailor-made for the way this team plays, although I wouldn’t count on him being the answer to Steven Adams, let alone Jokic.
At this point, I can’t help wonder if there isn’t an issue with Wood that isn’t public. Why would Dallas have so little interest in having him back, considering the numbers he’s put up? Personality issues? Empty stats? It’s hard to imagine them having no interest at all, based simply on bad fit.
Teams are rounding-out their rosters now with end-of-the-bench type guys now, and he’s still out there looking like a guy who’s market has dried up. Who has money left, or rotation spots, for a guy making his kind of salary? I would consider it a master-stroke for Monte to land him, on the cheap, after waiting for the market to come to him.
Great perspective here. I can understand waiting to see what holes we have in the team before trying to add additional role players. I just prefer the proactive approach, where we find some smaller solutions to the rebounding and defensive issues in the paint. I am pretty confident that improvement in this area can make us better contenders for the top 4 spots in the west. Without these solutions I think we might lose a few too many games and lose the home-court advantage.
I think an offer to Wood in the range of $12 million (I believe he wants 20+). This may seem like a lot,but lesser players signed for $20 and he’s still left with no options. Wood will struggle to guard talented big men, but he would be fine for a majority of teams, who we can outscore. We would protect us from injuries to Sabonis, Lyles, and Vezenkov. Yes, he comes with challenges, but our issues existed all year last season and killed us in the playoffs. I don’t want to see that again.
I have often been thinking about guys who might be waived or guys at the end of the bench, who have not proven themselves yet. Kai Jones (ideal) and guys that make the teams, but don’t pan out, should be picked up immediately, as December is too long to wait. I think we need to be ok moving Heurter or Barnes to the 6/7th man role in favor of Lyles/Vezenkov/Monk/Duarte (possibly favorable defense with hopefully a 36% or higher 3pt shooting).
Interesting thought, that Duarte might start over Huerter. It seems that would really free up a trade piece, or even two. I’m gonna need to watch a bit more of his game.
Vezenkov over Barnes would really be a shocker, and certainly would be a huge bonus. If he can be that good… maybe with some NBA reps. He’s almost Barnes’ age, so that seems like a lot to expect, but he can shoot it. I’m kinda expecting him to develop into a Nemanja Bjelica type, but maybe a bit more agile than the NB we got here in Sac.. He should be fun to watch!
Huerter is our biggest trade chip, but he alone is not enough to land a major game changer. I’m worried that Barnes won’t be worth his contract,will possibly play less minutes, and thus become a bit less interesting to other teams at the trade deadline. I think Vezenkov would shoot and rebound better (Lyles too). Duarte probably would not start or get too many minutes, but these 3 guys would make Barnes a players for the second unit and thus a below average trade chip.
NB as a floor for Vezenkov would be amazing. Any 3pt shooting over 36% and rebounding over 6 per game would help us so much. His arrival, Duarte’s improvement, and 2 of Davion/Keegan/Huerter/Lyles consistency would make us a top seven 3 pt shooting team and possibly a top 4 in the West.
Yeah, I think we need a big man or 2, in case of injury and of course for defense and rebounding. I think Monk, Keon Lewis, and maybe even Colby Jones can cover some of the PG duties and am not sure that needs to be addressed in the last 2 spots. The Hornets are a great team to go to for a big man– 2nd round picks seem to working in so many trades. Wood for our price would be great too.
$2.4M for garbage time? Sign me up!
I like the mid-season tournament. Maybe it’ll help keep the season competitive. The season is so long. The tanking, the planned rest, and the sand-bagging! Teams will need to show the best version of themselves to win it. “Meaningful games” in November?!
I like the Kings chances too. The win, or go home format may favor offensive firepower. So early in the season teams will have less time to scout each other, and lock-in defensively. Most of the games count toward the season record, so no one can act like they don’t care, at all.
I’m not a fan as I don’t see what purpose it serves, but I also don’t watch much regular season NBA so it doesn’t really matter to me. Maybe it’ll drum up interest the way the play-in has, we’ll see.
I think the obvious fix would be to reduce the amount of games to like 65 to 70 games to help make each game have more value. But of course the NBA and players would never go for that due to the money factor.
Another thing that seems overdue is realignment, but that will likely take place once they add two new expansion teams which will likely be SEA and LV.
So if Lyles was signed into cap space and not via early bird rights, which would allow Monte to spend over the cap, does this mean the Kings are essentially done in free agency?
Anyone have an accurate cap amount left or a clear understanding of what Monte has left to spend to fill out the roster?
Feels like we’re done.
I’d still like to pick up Wood as I think we need an athletic big. The flip side is, a trade can be made in season prior to the deadline to fill any obvious holes.
With Lyles and the Sabonis extension I think they’re less than $2M left under the cap. So it’s likely they sign Len to fill out the cap space and then sign Vezenkov with the room exception. The last roster spot would have to be a minimum contract if filled.
We’ve really come a long way from KZ Okpala being an opening day starter last season.
A lot can change in a year, I try to remind myself about that regarding life.
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