Sacramento Kings Team Review

 

2020-21 Finish: 38-44

 

Season Highlight:

Playoffs! Well� Play-in. After a trip to the Conference Finals the previous year with the help of LeBron, the retooled Kings team didn�t get going nearly as much as they had hoped. Nonetheless, they edged out a couple of other Western Conference teams to make an appearance in the Play-In tournament. While they weren�t able to get into the actual playoffs, getting a taste of the postseason is a nice consolation.

 

Season Lowlight:

The trades. The Kings made 26 trades and 81 total transactions. That is insane. Even the emotionless digital versions of these players cannot be expected to find a role and strategy that works in that little time with the team. 53 players recorded regular season statistics for this team last season. After Khris Middleton and DeAndre Jordan (both no longer with the team), no player played even half of the season with the Kings. Of their top 15 scorers on the season, only 3 remain with the team and one of those is a free agent. Trades aren�t bad � but it seems like it would be difficult to even know if something is or is not working with such a quick cycle.

 

Best Trade:

The Charlotte Hornets send Marc Gasol, Eric Bledsoe, JaMychal Green and P.J Dozier to the Sacramento Kings. The Sacramento Kings send JJ Redick, Rajon Rondo and Jordan Clarkson to the Charlotte Hornets.

The Charlotte Hornets trade -7 GM points.The Sacramento Kings receive 7 GM points.

Bledsoe and Green are both solid rotation guys that can play real minutes and PJ Dozier has potential to be there too. I have Jordan Clarkson rated lower than most, so that is probably where this opinion is coming form � but I feel like with Redick/Rondo about done and the Kings out of contention, this seemed like a solid move.

 

Worst Trade:

The Indiana Pacers send Victor Oladipo and Danuel House Jr. to the Sacramento Kings.The Sacramento Kings send Richaun Holmes and Pascal Siakam to the Indiana Pacers. The Indiana Pacers send a 2nd-Rounder (Por) to the Sacramento Kings. The Sacramento Kings send a 2nd-Rounder (GS) to the Golden State Warriors.

The Golden State Warriors trade -15 GM points.The Sacramento Kings receive 15 GM points.

This one is just rough � especially given how far gone Oladipo was already looking. Holmes is probably the better role player than House and the GS 2^nd is probably worth more than next year�s POR 2^nd. Which makes getting Dipo for Siakam bad. It does sound like there was more to this � possibly pulling in Jordan Clarkson as well. But it just doesn�t cover the difference between an up and coming forward (who admittedly had a down season) for a guy that seems to be running on fumes.

 

Other Notable Trades:

I can�t even begin to summarize it. I went through every deal to try to tie them together, figure out which ones were good and bad. This is supposed to be a summary and not a dissertation. From what I can best tell, they went from a roster of Lebron, Bledsoe, KCP, Ibaka, Noel to Vucevic, Hield, Fournier, Plumlee and Dragic. Considering Lebron�s age, that�s not a horrible move� but they did empty their draft chest to do it. Many of the trades were a few bench players for a few other bench players and the like � definitely necessary deals sometimes, I just didn�t see the purpose in doing those kind of deals 20 times.

Free Agency:

The Kings have three notable free agents, and they are probably three of their most valuable 6 or 7 pieces. Lucky for them, all 3 are really interested in returning. They also have a boatload of GM points to either make sure they don�t lose any of the three or to help fill out their roster with more players to help them in their playoff quest.

Evan Fournier (UFA) � Fournier is a solid scorer and looks like he would pair well with Hield/Vucevic to form a high scoring trio in the starting lineup. I would think Fournier would be the team�s #1 priority in Free Agency, but they may rely on the lack of teams with cap space keeping them safe here.

Will Barton (UFA) � Similar to Fournier, Barton is a scoring wing, but he also brings a bit more on the defensive end. Barton can combine with Hield and Fournier to form a solid veteran trio on the wings . All 3 of these guys are towards the end of their prime, but still playing ball at probably the peak level of their respective careers. The plan here is similar � either commit to him to make sure you don�t lose him or rely on very few teams being able to even make him an offer.

T.J. McConnell � Picking up on a theme here� an unrestricted free agent that the Kings need to return, could start for them, and wants to be back. The math is the same � where they can rely on McConnell�s loyalty to scare away other teams � but at a much lower price tag and so many teams interested in a veteran backup point guard to solidify their rotation, they may not be as lucky to just skate through with no effort.

Beyond those three, with several open roster spots, a not super-talented team, and few draft resources (which is still oddly seen as a good thing to players) � the Kings are one of the more attractive free agent destinations in the league. If they decide to play the risky side on their own guys, they could be looking at a couple of huge pursuits with the MLE and minimum deals in order to round out their team nicely.

 

Star:

Khris Middleton

Due to stability issues it�s hard to tell who really emerged as a leader � but Khris Middleton is as close as it comes. Khris put up 24/4/5 numbers in his 58 games with the team all on some pretty impressive efficiency. He�s the biggest reason that the Kings were in the play-in game and seemed to enjoy his time in Sacramento.

 

Flop:

Victor Oladipo

He only played in 25 games after he was brought in for a pretty heavy price. He put up some numbers in that limited time, but they were pretty low efficiency numbers and he was out the door, for far less in my opinion, just weeks later.

 

Draft Grades:

Incomplete � Kings did not take part in any draft night festivities. Even the trade front grew quiet during that period for this usually trade-happy team.

 

The Future:

It�s really tough for me to rate the future of a team that keeps as few draft picks as possible in a positive manner (the next time they have their own pick is 2026, but with it now being tradeable it may be gone by press time). Vucevic is a really solid piece � I�m not sure he�s really at the �build around him� level � but he definitely puts one of their starting spots completely under control. If they bring back their guys, they have solid wings and Dragic/McConnell make a good couple of borderline starting point guards who can take care of that position by committee. For this year, if they can blow the MLE and points on a starting power forward and then fill in around the edges, they have a real shot at being a playoff team. I�m a bit concerned about how it looks in 2 years when all of these 30 year olds are out of their prime and they�re still 2-3 years away from having one of their own 1sts. No doubt trades will be made � but it generally hasn�t been in the direction of getting younger and building for the future, which means it could get worse in pursuit of playoff appearances now.

Resigning their own guys and minus any possible Free Agent acquisitions, their roster currently looks like:

C: Nikola Vucevic / Mason Plumlee / Bruno Fernando
PF:  Free agents? More Vucevic at PF?
SF:  Evan Fournier / Will Barton / Justin Holiday
SG: Buddy Hield / Kelan Martin
PG: T.J. McConnell / Goran Dragic