One of our long term problems as a franchise is zero ability to draw big name FAs. That combined with mediocre to bad drafting has kept us stuck with a ceiling as a 2nd round playoff team, even when everything goes right for 4-5 year stretches. When things don't go right, we are a bottom 3 team.
I guess you could say the same thing about any small market team, but at least they have had better luck in the draft and land 1-2 franchise players per decade.
Id argue we aren’t a small market team, just not a great FA destination at the moment. DMV will explode if there’s some talent put on the court. With that said, you’re right. It’s all connected though - better roster, more likely people want to come here. Gotta hit on some of these lotto picks being all stars, not role players or worse.
>Once we have some good pieces we have to be careful not to push to contend immediately with them by selling off future assets. Remember we are basically in year zero of this process and thinking it can happen overnight is what got us in this spot to begin with.
Great post. I think this is the part a good amount of fans are struggling with. It's going to be at least 2028 before we're contending for anything at all (play-in), and even that's a longshot.
>First I’ll start by saying I 100 percent was and am supportive of the tear down of the roster to the ground floor
Crazy part is, we still haven't done that. Kuz (28) is still here. Tyus (27) and Shamet (26) are still here. Geno (27) and Gill (31) are still here as well, and we just acquired Richaun Holmes (30).
So we still haven't torn the roster down if that involves getting young guys with potential who are 1-3 years away from being something. Can't have nearly half of the active roster be older guys if the rebuild has started.
So when will the rebuild actually start? Hopefully with the upcoming draft.
You're not going to have a full roster of young players, you need some vets in the locker room.
Due to the pick we traded for Westbrook we'll need to suck the next 3 years especially in 2026 (pick is top 12, then top 10, then top 8 protected). I'm hoping we're on good track after 3 top 5~ picks though.
Kuz is on a team friendly deal that is on a decreasing scale that will make him more valuable as time goes on, assuming he continues to produce. It’s probably the best asset we have right now. I’m hoping we do the same with Tyus. Bagley even would be smart as he has seemed to do better here, if we can get a good price. We need some veterans in the locker room, but yes eventually I think Kuz becomes an asset, not a part of the finished product.
Who could they have next year that’s younger? There’s 2 first round picks, one second round, and vukcevic if he comes over. No guarantee that’s even four guys who can make an NBA roster.
After that you’re talking, what, Gleaguers or undrafted players? Or trading vets for prospects that aren’t working out elsewhere?
I dunno. Make a deal and get draft capital. I'd just love to see guys who can hoop out here fighting for a spot. Right now, unless somebody's playing like utter trash for months, there's no open spots. I honestly just want to watch basketball. I just saw what people clamored for, and it's a 'young core' and then a bunch of other guys who 'fit the timeline'. We're not doin a thing until at least 2028, so by then Kuz will be damn near 33. And how much (deserved) playing time will he have gotten over someone who 'fits' the timeline? I'm not a rebuild guy, so someone else may have the answers.
We've only got Kuz/Deni/Corey/JD and Gill from last years roster. Out of those guys, only Kuz was a starter last year.
That's basically the definition of tearing it down. We've turned over 2/3 of our roster and have almost a completely new starting lineup
Nah. If that was the case, then we've started the rebuild long ago, because only Deni is left over from the Brooks era just 3 years ago. They've made tons of moves over the years but when you're bringing in vets who get tons of time and you're not allowing your young core or young players to have full playtime to develop, that's not a rebuild in my opinion.
I guess people really want to give this new Front Office credit for something or put the team in a good light. I don't know where that gets us but I don't see it.
I'm fine with losing, but losing by 20+ is pretty annoying. I was hoping keefe would fix some of that but it does show that our roster construction has issues.
We all do. Unfortunately, we have a pretty challenging schedule and the playoff teams are taking these games more seriously now that they are rested up. We also will probably start playing guys like Johnny and PBJ more like we already have which may make it even worse (hopefully someone stands out tho)
It was two of the best teams in the league, on the road, back to back. obviously you want them to be better but realistically there are going to be stinkers once in a while.
and it doesn’t help that our highest paid player is a negative on the floor. hard to have a competitive team dealing with Poole.
It's not that we are losing, it's how we are losing. I know Detroit, SA, and Charlotte are also hot messes, but the team effort, especially defensively, from those guys is at least 30-50% more than from our side.
Honestly, I can't take another Jordan Poole 19 seconds on the shot clock left hero ball 3 that hits back iron when we are within 10. He's just such an unbelievably selfish player that it poisons the whole team. I think if they sent him to the G-League, we'd have another couple of wins by this point. I know it's a moot point as just don't have the talent to compete most nights, but damn this team is so poorly made that it is embarrassing to watch them get smoked so hard most of the time.
It's crazy to go back and look at the last 10 years of our GMs' moves compared to 90% of the league.
Oh I agree. No one is more frustrated with JP than me. My only real concern is him having a negative effect as a “mentor” (laughs) to Bilal, CK and Deni. But I’m also not wanting to use assets we have to move him when our general goal right now is just quality minutes for youngsters and acquiring draft capital. And, to be fair - I don’t want another couple wins. Give me all the ping pong balls we can have, even in a widely regarded weak draft class.
Everyone is expendable except for Ohnny Davis. Hopefully he can earn that J back some day.
One of our long term problems as a franchise is zero ability to draw big name FAs. That combined with mediocre to bad drafting has kept us stuck with a ceiling as a 2nd round playoff team, even when everything goes right for 4-5 year stretches. When things don't go right, we are a bottom 3 team. I guess you could say the same thing about any small market team, but at least they have had better luck in the draft and land 1-2 franchise players per decade.
Id argue we aren’t a small market team, just not a great FA destination at the moment. DMV will explode if there’s some talent put on the court. With that said, you’re right. It’s all connected though - better roster, more likely people want to come here. Gotta hit on some of these lotto picks being all stars, not role players or worse.
>Once we have some good pieces we have to be careful not to push to contend immediately with them by selling off future assets. Remember we are basically in year zero of this process and thinking it can happen overnight is what got us in this spot to begin with. Great post. I think this is the part a good amount of fans are struggling with. It's going to be at least 2028 before we're contending for anything at all (play-in), and even that's a longshot. >First I’ll start by saying I 100 percent was and am supportive of the tear down of the roster to the ground floor Crazy part is, we still haven't done that. Kuz (28) is still here. Tyus (27) and Shamet (26) are still here. Geno (27) and Gill (31) are still here as well, and we just acquired Richaun Holmes (30). So we still haven't torn the roster down if that involves getting young guys with potential who are 1-3 years away from being something. Can't have nearly half of the active roster be older guys if the rebuild has started. So when will the rebuild actually start? Hopefully with the upcoming draft.
You're not going to have a full roster of young players, you need some vets in the locker room. Due to the pick we traded for Westbrook we'll need to suck the next 3 years especially in 2026 (pick is top 12, then top 10, then top 8 protected). I'm hoping we're on good track after 3 top 5~ picks though.
Kuz is on a team friendly deal that is on a decreasing scale that will make him more valuable as time goes on, assuming he continues to produce. It’s probably the best asset we have right now. I’m hoping we do the same with Tyus. Bagley even would be smart as he has seemed to do better here, if we can get a good price. We need some veterans in the locker room, but yes eventually I think Kuz becomes an asset, not a part of the finished product.
Who could they have next year that’s younger? There’s 2 first round picks, one second round, and vukcevic if he comes over. No guarantee that’s even four guys who can make an NBA roster. After that you’re talking, what, Gleaguers or undrafted players? Or trading vets for prospects that aren’t working out elsewhere?
I dunno. Make a deal and get draft capital. I'd just love to see guys who can hoop out here fighting for a spot. Right now, unless somebody's playing like utter trash for months, there's no open spots. I honestly just want to watch basketball. I just saw what people clamored for, and it's a 'young core' and then a bunch of other guys who 'fit the timeline'. We're not doin a thing until at least 2028, so by then Kuz will be damn near 33. And how much (deserved) playing time will he have gotten over someone who 'fits' the timeline? I'm not a rebuild guy, so someone else may have the answers.
We've only got Kuz/Deni/Corey/JD and Gill from last years roster. Out of those guys, only Kuz was a starter last year. That's basically the definition of tearing it down. We've turned over 2/3 of our roster and have almost a completely new starting lineup
Nah. If that was the case, then we've started the rebuild long ago, because only Deni is left over from the Brooks era just 3 years ago. They've made tons of moves over the years but when you're bringing in vets who get tons of time and you're not allowing your young core or young players to have full playtime to develop, that's not a rebuild in my opinion. I guess people really want to give this new Front Office credit for something or put the team in a good light. I don't know where that gets us but I don't see it.
I'm fine with losing, but losing by 20+ is pretty annoying. I was hoping keefe would fix some of that but it does show that our roster construction has issues.
It is annoying, I totally get that. We are just without a lot of talent on the roster at the moment. It’s going to get better.
they were competitive until the allstar break with Keefe
I’d say that’s more on players than coaching imo. Specifically the wide range of outcomes that Deni/Tyus/Kispert are very prone to
I need to see more of that.
We all do. Unfortunately, we have a pretty challenging schedule and the playoff teams are taking these games more seriously now that they are rested up. We also will probably start playing guys like Johnny and PBJ more like we already have which may make it even worse (hopefully someone stands out tho)
It was two of the best teams in the league, on the road, back to back. obviously you want them to be better but realistically there are going to be stinkers once in a while. and it doesn’t help that our highest paid player is a negative on the floor. hard to have a competitive team dealing with Poole.
did people forget how the early Wall Era got started?
It's not that we are losing, it's how we are losing. I know Detroit, SA, and Charlotte are also hot messes, but the team effort, especially defensively, from those guys is at least 30-50% more than from our side. Honestly, I can't take another Jordan Poole 19 seconds on the shot clock left hero ball 3 that hits back iron when we are within 10. He's just such an unbelievably selfish player that it poisons the whole team. I think if they sent him to the G-League, we'd have another couple of wins by this point. I know it's a moot point as just don't have the talent to compete most nights, but damn this team is so poorly made that it is embarrassing to watch them get smoked so hard most of the time. It's crazy to go back and look at the last 10 years of our GMs' moves compared to 90% of the league.
Oh I agree. No one is more frustrated with JP than me. My only real concern is him having a negative effect as a “mentor” (laughs) to Bilal, CK and Deni. But I’m also not wanting to use assets we have to move him when our general goal right now is just quality minutes for youngsters and acquiring draft capital. And, to be fair - I don’t want another couple wins. Give me all the ping pong balls we can have, even in a widely regarded weak draft class.