2011-12 Sacramento Kings Outlook
After ending the season with a 24-58 record and a last place finish in the Pacific Division, the Kings definitely have no place to go but up. The Kings have one of the youngest teams in the league and it’s only a matter of time before they can get things turned around.
After failing to move the franchise to Anaheim, the owners have decided to keep their team in Sacramento for at least one more season. The town is attempting to raise enough money to build a new arena, and if that happens, they can keep the Kings in Sacramento.
While the team’s future looks to be bright in Sacramento, their present is a complete different story. They made a bunch of different transactions in the offseason, although not quite enough to deserve a serious improvement. They went and did come up with a way to get Jimmer Fredette, Tyler Honeycutt and Isaiah Thomas through draft. They also added Chuck Hayes thru free agency and J.J Hickson and John Salmons via trade.
They gave up Beno Udrih in the trade that got them John Salmons and gave up Omri Casspi in the trade for J.J. Hickson so they did have to give up some good players. The Kings also lost Samuel Dalembert and Marquis Daniels in free agency. They have engaging pieces coming in and the players they added are far better than the players they lost, but this is not a huge upgrade by any means.
Sacramento re-signed G Marcus Thornton to a long term deal after turning it on in his last 27 games of the year putting up 21.3 points per night and ending the year on a positive note. Thornton excelled in Sacramento after being dealt from New Orleans near the trade deadline. He ended the year ninth among shooting guards in points per minute.
While PG Tyreke Evans led the Kings in scoring with 17.8 points, assists with 5.6 and steals with 1.5 last year. Still, he took a major step back from his rookie season. Evans missed 25 games last year dealing with plantar fasciitis. He lost a lot of his explosiveness round the hoop because of his injuries, and settled for way too many outside shots. Evans attempted nearly 3 3′s a game and made only 29.1 %.
With Evans and Thornton doing the great majority of the scoring in the outside PF DeMarcus Cousins looks to build off of his powerful rookie season inside. He put up 14.1 points and a team-high 8.6 boards last year. The sole thing Cousins need to enhance is shot selection, as he only hit 43% from the floor and as a post player, that may be a fairly low number.
With all of the additions coming to this team, the Kings could sport one of the deeper groups in the NBA. They have Fredette, Salmons, Hayes, Hickson, Francisco Garcia and Donte Green all as non-starters. They have great depth in all positions and could prove to be useful in the shortened NBA season.
Western Conference Pick: 5th Pacific Division – This Kings squad definitely have a lot of hope for the future and the hope is for Sacramento to keep it’s team for many years to come. However, you won’t be seeing the Kings in our NBA playoff predictions this season. Sacramento can challenge both the Suns and the Warriors for the No. 3 place in the division, but they need a season or 2 to compete for a postseason berth in the highly-competitive Western Meeting.
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