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.
Luke Hickey
Roar Rookie
I realised after posting that that was a bit boneheaded, Pistons killed their opposition w/ a historically great defence and this Kings team still being built looks to be very offense-heavy. And a few months back when Ranadive said he wanted to run 4-on-5 defensive sets with one guy cherry-picking? Yeah, something tells me the Kings are not concerned with defence.
pete bloor
Guest
those 03-04 pistons were also coming off two 50 win seasons and sported a starting line up which had the prior seasons defensive MVP at centre and three other starters that were above league average at their position the prior year. I'm not sure the Kings fact pattern really follows that
Kingcowboy
Guest
Some comfort for Kings fans is that at least they are not the Knicks. In saying that, I have liked most of Jackson moves besides resigning Melo to a max contract. However, Looking at Doolan's past, he will fire Jackson this year and rehire Isiah as GM, ha ha. I am celtics fan so I like seeing the Knicks being terrible but I have always had a soft spot for the Kings since the days of Webber and Bibby, so I hope Karl whips them into shape.
astro
Guest
"the 15-16 Kings...not the first time a group of square-peg-in-round-hole players have gathered w/ a coach who’s known for butting heads" True...but history tells us the 03 Pistons are the absolute outlier. 9 times out of 10, this recipe ends in disaster!
astro
Guest
Hey King, Great response. I'm a big Boogie fan, so honestly hope the Kings do well, but I really can't see it. In my objective view, the main reason they'll fail has everything to do with the culture which seems to exist within this franchise. And as enthusiastic as Vivek seems, he's making one cardinal error after the other and only adding to the problems caused by the Maloofs. As with all things in the NBA, if you want to know how to do things properly, look at the Spurs. The keys to the Spurs' success are well known - no ego, stable management and roster, clever coaching, an owner who stays out of the way, an appreciation of analytics etc The Kings are the antithesis of this. Vivek has done nothing but make changes since coming in. Coaching, staff and management changes across the franchise. Hiring a VP of basketball with no experience in the position, but who instead is a fan favourite. Meddling in draft choices, when he wouldn't know the first thing about talent evaluation. Even suggesting 4 on 5 defensive structures...and ironically, he wants a 'spurs-like' offence! There was a great interview with Boogie by Bill Simmons a while ago, where Boogie talked about the number of PGs he's played with...think it was 10 or 12. Once again, this year, we see more players added to the roster, some of whom feel like short-term gambles (ie. Butler, Rondo) And the trade with Philly...it might have made sense from a salary perspective, but what does it say about the franchise when you dump your 6th pick in the draft after only one year! And why the salary dump anyway? This is a rebuilding team isn't it? Why give up on young players and cough up picks to free up more salary to chase guys who either don't want to play for your team, or well past their prime? None of this makes any sense...and this is why I think they're doomed. The players in isolation look fine, but as a collective, under this management, there is no logical reason to think anything is changing for the Kings, anytime soon.
Luke Hickey
Roar Rookie
Believe me, even while listing all the improvements I thought they made I still had thoughts of "....but they're the Kings". It'll take time to develop a championship culture and a standard of winning, but I truly feel these off-season acquisitions are the first step towards establishing that. I guess what really fuels my optimism about the 15-16 Kings is that it's not the first time a group of square-peg-in-round-hole players have gathered w/ a coach who's known for butting heads with his personnel to create a perfect storm. The championship-winning '03 Pistons squad, for example.
KingOfSacramento
Guest
I have to respectfully disagree with most of what you said. As someone who has been watching this team in person for 3 decades now, I think the bulk of the article was pretty spot-on. Of course there have been hiccups...we didn't give our old owners the nickname "Mafools" simply because they made multiple attempts to rip the franchise from our fair city. For as grateful as I am to have been able to witness "The Greatest Show on Court" teams, towards the end they were absolutely horrendous owners. Not only could they not develop players or make any decent personnel decisions(T-Rob over Lillard still haunts me to this day. I wanted Lillard even before the draft. But I should mention the Biyombo pick was a trade, so technically it was Jimmer over Klay and Kawhi. Still an atrocious pick though); they seemingly deliberately no longer cared about the quality of basketball being played. They wanted a failing franchise to make it look like we didn't support the team. They had a vested interest in their own team losing. In the final years of their reign of terror, the focus of us hometown fans was just to keep the team here...we weren't nearly as concerned with wins and losses. We overlooked their blunders simply because our attention was focused elsewhere. We fought hard to keep this team, and we won. The regime change was followed by what we like to call the "Honeymoon Phase", where we wanted to forget about the past atrocities, and were just happy to still have our only major league sports franchise remain. Now it's safe to say that phase is over, and now wins and losses do matter. This past season wasn't a complete train-wreck(at least not until Boogie got seriously ill, and Malone was perplexingly fired), but the dysfunction with the new ownership has been pretty blown out of proportion. There have been blunders and hiccups with the new regime too; I will not deny that. But I think Vlade has made some very shrewd moves since taking over. People spit venom about the trade with the Sixers, but that trade dumped some bad contracts fans have been waiting to shed, which freed up the cap space to sign quality players that filled holes, and brought veteran and even Championship experience. For the record, the Kings already had enough cap space to sign Rondo before that trade, so one has nothing to do with another. As for the picks in the trade with Philly, it's not nearly as bad as people made it out to be. I don't see Philly getting much better any time soon, so the pick swaps probably won't be too consequential. Plus, we got two Euro players picked in this year's draft as well. The Lithuanian big(I cannot remember his name off the top of my head) looks really good in what I've seen. He's incredibly strong, always boxes out for rebounds(even against a guy who outweighed him by 100 pounds) and can set a great screen. He has great handles for a big man too, and seems fundamentally sound. He's still pretty young, so a couple more years in Europe, and he could turn into a decent NBA player. I've heard many say drafting Willie "Trill" Cauley-Stein was a stretch at first, and now they're lauding the pick. This kid is a monster on defense, and will be a perfect compliment to Boogie when on the floor together. Trill's offensive game doesn't seem to be as bad as people originally thought. I can see them becoming a very dangerous front-court duo(they can both play either position). Match that will guys like Koufos, Belinelli, Butler and the re-signing of fan-favorite Casspi, and it's the best offseason the Kings have had in a long time, if not ever. Say what you want about the Rondo acquisition, but I like it. It's a one year deal, and Rondo is arguably the most intelligent player in the League. If he can mesh with this team(and I think he can), the Kings are going to be very dangerous. Perhaps Rondo won't work out; I could be wrong. But I'm hoping the fact that his career is more-or-less in jeopardy depending on this coming season will light a fire underneath him. He the kind of player who understands everything before anyone else, and flourishes when he's able to make his own decisions on the court. Like the author said, he fits almost perfectly into Karl's system. I also think the "rift" between Cousins and Karl is closing, and they'll be able to work out whatever issues they have. They both smart and good at what they do, and they both want to win. This is really the first time the front office has surrounded Cousins with real talent on both offense and defense. We still have Collison and Gay, both of whom have played very well in Sacramento. So put all that together, and you have for one interesting season to witness to say the least. It's not quite the dumpster fire the media would like to make it seem, but soon it will be time to see how it all works in reality. There is definitely more reason for Kings fans to be optimistic now than in the last decade or so. Maybe they'll still be horrible; it's possible. But I'd rather believe we'll close down Arco Arena(it will always be Arco Arena to local Kings fans) in style, and hopefully fight for a playoff spot. If we make the playoffs this season, that will simply be the icing on the cake...and not at all an impossibility.
Kingcowboy
Guest
Astro I have a question for you, does a player make a franchise or does the franchise make a player?
astro
Guest
"There have been a few blunders and hiccups along this rebuild" ...I'd say more than a few! Sure, they got the Cousins draft pick right, but for a team which has routinely picked in the top 10 over the past decade, drafting one star is hardly an achievement. Robinson over Lillard? Biyombo over Klay and Kawhi? Ouch... I really think the Kings are destined to complete another disastrous season, especially is this off season is anything to go off. Karl and Boogie are already butting heads. The trade with Philly was a complete mess. Rondo is a liability (god help them if Karl lets him run the offence on the court). Casspi and Belinelli can shoot, but can't defend, and their best line up has Gay at PF and Boogie at the C spot...so they draft a centre and buy Koufos...genius. Sorry...wish I could share you optimism, but the Kings are a train wreck!