When viewed in a vacuum, the Sacramento Kings have had one of the best off-seasons you could ask for.
Whereas last year’s Kings team struggled to find success due to a lack of decent shooters, versatile players capable of guarding multiple positions as well as veteran presences who are familiar with and know how to win, the Sacramento front office (spearheaded by Kings Hall-of-Famer Vlade Divac) went ahead and plugged all of these holes with smart trades and signings as soon as the curtain came down on the NBA playoffs.
I put the disclaimer of ‘when viewed in a vacuum’ because, as anyone who has been paying attention knows, the level of drama, internet rumours and Twitter grumblings that has accompanied the Kings off-season so far has to make any reasonable man question whether the juice will be worth the squeeze when the 2015 NBA season begins.
A quick recap: the Sacramento Kings, like my beloved Knicks, have been mired in mediocrity for more than a decade.
The last time the Kings got past the first round of the post-season was in 2004.
Beyond that, a number of boneheaded drafts and trades, coupled with the team having owners that continually threatened to relocate the franchise to Anaheim, have ensured that no respectable NBA team would be scared of playing the Kings.
Recently though, this culture has started to shift. In 2010, the Kings drafted Demarcus ‘Boogie’ Cousins, who remains as their franchise centre and was selected for his first All-Star game this year. Then in 2013, the Kings were sold to Silicon Valley tech entrepreneur Vivek Ranadive, who immediately pledged to turn the team around and has since given every indication of being a passionate and committed leader.
There have been a few blunders and hiccups along this rebuild; the firing of coach Mike Malone last year still floors me, as he won games and it seemed like his half-court play style truly gelled with Cousins. And for those still keeping score, even when Sac-town got it right in 2010 with taking Demarcus at the fifth pick, they still failed to develop Hassan Whiteside. They took Whiteside with the 33rd pick in that same draft and is now having a career rebirth with the Miami Heat. He has drawn numerous comparisons to Bill Russell, go figure.
This brings us to the present day. We already have a rough idea of what this year’s Kings will be like; coach George Karl favours a run-and-gun offense that emphasises playmaking on both ends of the court to create tempo.
What makes this play style work best is having a core of players capable of passing, shooting and defending equally well. In theory, this is exactly the group of players Sacramento have acquired so far.
Mario Belinelli, in addition to being an NBA champion, is an above-average 3pt shooter who can come off the bench to do serious damage against second-unit defenders, and is also capable of being a decent passer to boot.
Kosta Koufos was a great defender in Memphis and we also have experience of how he played previously under Karl in Denver. Along with recent draftee Willy Cauley-Stein, Koufos could be a perfect fit with Cousins to switch on players and protect the rim.
I also enjoyed the signing and re-signing of Caron Butler and Omri Casspi respectively, we understand at this point what both players are capable of producing and both have demonstrated to be great locker room guys, Butler in particular being a strong veteran presence.
Realistically, the biggest still-questionable signing for the Kings was that of Rajon Rondo.
For whatever reason, I have a soft spot for ballers who excel in every measurable basketball skill except actually putting the ball in the basket (shoutouts Evan Turner).
Rondo’s shooting struggles have been well-documented, and he’s also coming off a season where he was unceremoniously booted from the Dallas Mavericks for insubordination and constant conflicts with their coach Rick Carlisle.
The reason why I want to give Rondo the benefit of the doubt in spite of this is that Karl’s coaching method gives the point guard almost total freedom to run the floor and make decisions, a style that made Rondo previously stand out with the Boston Celtics.
If he’s the Rajon Rondo who perpetually flirted with triple-doubles as a Celtic rather than the Ragin’ Rondo who bickered with his head coach in Dallas, reaching the playoffs with this current roster no longer seems that much of a pipedream.
I was and still am a fan of the early-2000s Kings teams led by Stojakovic, Divac and Webber who had those intense battles with the Shaq-Kobe Lakers, culminating in the 2002 Western Conference Finals.
I loved the high-post play-making abilities of Webber and Divac. I loved Jason Williams’ behind-the-back elbow pass in the Rookie Challenge.
Most of all, I loved the fact that The Greatest Show On Court who inspired so much fear in their opponents was comprised a group of players that were either cast off by other teams for being headcases, or just viewed as simply trade assets who then made their former teams pay every time they played in Sacramento.
A similar group of rough-riders have now gathered in North Cali, and I hope this Island of Misfit Ballers experiences sustained playoff success rather than slide into a Lord of the Flies situation, with George Karl as Piggy.
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