Sheridan Hoops

A better basketball site. For intelligent readers, from veteran writers.
Keep scrolling down. Good stuff here.

  • Home
  • Salaries
    • Atlantic Division Salaries
      • Boston Celtics
      • Brooklyn Nets
      • New York Knicks
      • Philadelphia 76ers
      • Toronto Raptors
    • Central Division Salaries
      • Chicago Bulls
      • Cleveland Cavaliers
      • Detroit Pistons
      • Indiana Pacers
      • Milwaukee Bucks
    • Southeast Division Salaries
      • Atlanta Hawks
      • Charlotte Hornets
      • Miami Heat
      • Orlando Magic
      • Washington Wizards
    • Northwest Division Salaries
      • Denver Nuggets
      • Minnesota TimberWolves
      • Oklahoma City Thunder
      • Portland Trail Blazers
      • Utah Jazz
    • Southwest Division Salaries
      • Dallas Mavericks
      • Houston Rockets
      • Memphis Grizzlies
      • New Orleans Pelicans
      • San Antonio Spurs
    • Pacific Division Salaries
      • Golden State Warriors
      • Los Angeles Clippers
      • Los Angeles Lakers
      • Phoenix Suns
      • Sacramento Kings
  • Columns
    • Chris Sheridan
    • Jan Hubbard
    • Chris Bernucca
    • Shlomo Sprung
    • Michael Scotto
    • Paul Ladewski
    • Pete Newmann
    • James Park
    • Jake Henson
    • Ben DuBose
    • Jon Marks
    • AJ Mitnick
    • Nick Gibson
    • Andrew Crawford
  • Rankings
    • MVP Rankings
    • Rookie Rankings
    • Most Improved Rankings
    • Free Agent Rankings
  • News
    • Latest NBA News
    • Latest Blogs
    • Latest Featured Tweets
    • Latest Featured Photos
    • Power Rankings
    • Archives
  • Video
  • Int’l
    • Euroleague
    • China
    • Olympics
  • 2015 Draft
  • About
    • About This Website
    • Contributors
    • Contact
  • Fantasy
    • Play Fantasy Sports With DraftKings
  • More
    • Podcasts
    • Odds
    • Polls
    • Awards
    • Power Rankings
  • Tickets
    • Atlantic Division
      • Boston Celtics Tickets
      • Brooklyn Nets Tickets
      • New York Knicks Tickets
      • Philadelphia 76ers Tickets
      • Toronto Raptors Tickets
    • Central Division
      • Chicago Bulls Tickets
      • Cleveland Cavaliers Tickets
      • Detroit Pistons Tickets
      • Indiana Pacers Tickets
      • Milwaukee Bucks Tickets
    • Southeast Division
      • Atlanta Hawks Tickets
      • Charlotte Hornets Tickets
      • Miami Heat Tickets
      • Orlando Magic Tickets
      • Washington Wizards Tickets
    • Northwest Division
      • Denver Nuggets Tickets
      • Oklahoma City Thunder Tickets
      • Portland Trailblazers Tickets
      • Utah Jazz Tickets
      • Minnesota Timberwolves Tickets
    • Southwest Division
      • Dallas Mavericks Tickets
      • Houston Rockets Tickets
      • Memphis Grizzlies Tickets
      • New Orleans Pelicans Tickets
      • San Antonio Spurs Tickets
    • Pacific Division
      • Golden State Warriors Tickets
      • Los Angeles Clippers Tickets
      • Los Angeles Lakers Tickets
      • Phoenix Suns Tickets
      • Sacramento Kings Tickets

Kamenetzky: The Cali Report — Uncertain future for Lakers; Trade deadline chatter

February 20, 2013 by Brian Kamenetzky

The Clippers are obviously very, very good, but like all very good teams still have holes. Adding Millsap (among my favorite players in the league) would significantly boost their frontcourt scoring and defensive rebounding – both trouble spots – but potentially create a weakness somewhere else. And, of course, Millsap could walk after this season. It’s still worth the risk, but isn’t a no-brainer.

SACRAMENTO KINGS (19-36)

kings small logoThe problem with the Kings isn’t that they don’t have good players, but that most of the guys on the roster – Marcus Thornton, Jason Thompson, Isaiah Thomas, Tyreke Evans, and so on – are slotted too high for Sacramento to be a good team. All could help the right team get better, in one form or another. This is before any discussion of DeMarcus Cousins.

So while in any other season the Kings might be active this week, this season it seems unlikely thanks to the questions of ownership and the future location of the franchise.

Via Jason Jones (via Tom Ziller), Sacramento GM Geoff Petrie says the higher profile names on the roster are staying put. “It’s very unlikely we’d move any of our top players at this point,” he said. 

This is typical stuff for teams in flux, particularly ones with salary structures as reasonable as the Kings. Say what you will about the quality of the roster, it’s not an expensive one, meaning there’s no incentive to drop down the payroll.

Meanwhile, whether it’s in Sacramento or Seattle, whatever ownership group controls the Kings going forward likely wants to rework the team’s assets themselves, as opposed to having the Maloofs do it for them.

GOLDEN STATE WARRIORS (30-23)

warriors small logoAfter beating the Suns on Feb. 2, the Warriors were 30-17, the first time they were 13 games over .500 since 2008 and only the second time since the 1993-94 season.

Heady times, those. Golden State was one of the great stories of the first 50 games of the season, a killer mix of young, athletic and well-dressed (remember, this was the pre-sleeve era). The defense was better, and this was without Andrew Bogut’s presence in the paint.

Now Bogut is kind of back, except the Warriors lost six straight heading into the break. Only once in those six did Golden State hold an opponent under 115 points, and in the sixth it allowed 99 to Memphis, a prodigious total for the low scoring Grizzlies.

So what do the Warriors do now?

If it was me making the decisions, not much. Whether the Warriors are as good as the 13-above version, as bad as the six straight L’s, or somewhere in between, two things seem fairly clear.

First, barring something totally catastrophic, with a 5 1/2-game lead on the Blazers and Lakers, Golden State is almost sure to make the playoffs.

Second, once they get there, they probably won’t go far. Which is fine. A postseason berth would be a significant accomplishment for the Warriors. Certainly it’s not worth doing anything that would sacrifice any young talent or add long term salary to an uncluttered ledger following the 2014-15 season.

So let’s hope they turn things around. This team is too much fun to go down in flames.

Brian and Andy Kamenetzky are sportswriters and radio hosts who have worked in sports media for over a decade. They have covered the Lakers and the NBA for eight seasons, for both the LATimes.com and ESPN.com, as well as ESPN The Magazine. Follow them on Twitter at @KamBrothers. 

 

Share this:

  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window)
  • Click to email this to a friend (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on StumbleUpon (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Google+ (Opens in new window)
Pages: 1 2 3

Filed Under: Cali Report, Columns, Kamenetzky Tagged With: Dwight Howard, Eric Bledsoe, Golden State Warriors, Jerry Buss, Jim Buss, Los Angeles Clippers, Los Angeles Lakers, Mitch Kupchak, Paul Millsap, Sacramento Kings

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Recent Posts

  • Bobby Gonzalez profiled by The Record
  • Portis Impresses on Return
  • Who Can Seriously Challenge the Warriors for the Title this Year?
  • Wade finds his feet in Cleveland
  • Waiting Period for North Carolina vs. NCAA at Familiar Stage

Categories

Archives

Return to top of page
© 2018 SheridanHoops LLC.
All Rights Reserved

Contact
Design by ElevateMedia

loading Cancel
Post was not sent - check your email addresses!
Email check failed, please try again
Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email.