SACRAMENTO KINGS
The Kings’ last season was once again dominated by the lack of organization that they have been suffering for several seasons now. After only 7 games played, the Kings decided to fire their coach and promoted the interim Keith Smart to head coach.
The problems between Paul Westphal and DeMarcus Cousins were public and the organization obviously took Cousins’ side and quickly fired Westphal.
2011-12 Regular Season numbers:
Advanced Numbers
|
4 Factors
| ||||||||
Overall
|
#'s
|
Rank
|
Offense
|
#'s
|
Rank
|
Defense
|
#'s
|
Rank
| |
Pace
|
93.44
|
1
|
eFG% Off
|
47.3%
|
27
|
eFG% Def
|
51.6%
|
30
| |
Offense
|
105.26
|
22
|
TO% Off
|
13.01
|
5
|
TO% Def
|
13.94
|
13
| |
Defense
|
111.26
|
28
|
Reb% Off
|
28.80
|
7
|
Reb% Def
|
29.01
|
28
| |
Rebound
|
49.90
|
19
|
FT% Off
|
19.96
|
18
|
FT% Def
|
20.09
|
9
| |
Keith Smart shared most of the ideas from his former boss: he wanted the Kings to be a “run and gun” team by taking advantage of being an extremely athletic team – Sacramento was clearly the team that played on the fastest pace last season!
Sacramento Kings month-by-month record:
Months
|
W
|
L
|
PACE
|
Off. H
|
Off. A
|
Reb%
|
January
|
6
|
15
|
92.1
|
98.6
|
110.4
|
49.4
|
February
|
6
|
7
|
93.0
|
107.1
|
109.1
|
51.6
|
March
|
6
|
12
|
95.1
|
110.0
|
112.3
|
49.9
|
April
|
4
|
10
|
93.7
|
107.5
|
113.2
|
49.1
|
Smart’s most interesting decision last season had to do with how he used Tyreke Evans in the team’s system. Evans had an amazing rookie season by winning the rookie of the year award in the 2009-10 season, but on the following season, he was far from the level he had showed on the previous year. Last season, Smart decided to move Evans to the SF position and put the last player drafted on last season's draft as the team's starting PG: Isaiah Thomas.
Thomas was a very positive surprise, having even won a rookie of the month award in the Western conference and his numbers after the All Star break were very pleasant: 14.2 points, 5.2 assists, 3.0 rebounds while shooting 47.2% FG, 39.8% 3pts and 83.1% FT.
Meanwhile, Evans also looked to be benefited from the change on his position, as after shooting 42.1% FG until the All Star game, Evans improved his numbers to the 49.4% FG while also committing fewer turnovers.
However, the Kings couldn't be more competitive because their offensive improvement coincided with a clear regression on defense. The Kings were the worst team in the league in terms of allowing eFG% and weirdly, even though they were one of the best offensive rebounding teams in the league, the Kings were at the same time one of the worst defensive rebounding teams in the league, in a clear indication that they didn't have the same effort on both sides of the court.
Offseason moves 2012-13:
This will be the last opportunity for Tyreke Evans to show that he can be Sacramento’s franchise player. His guaranteed contract ends at the end of this season and so, the Kings will have to evaluate if Evans is indeed the “future” of the team.
For a franchise that hadn't showed much organization for several seasons, the Kings didn't make a lot of changes during this offseason. On the draft, the team had the 5th pick and they chose Thomas Robinson from Kansas to improve their frontcourt.
Aaron Brooks was the player chosen to compete with Isaiah Thomas in the PG position, while to improve the perimeter, the Kings signed James Johnson and there isn't anything else relevant on this offseason for the Kings.
Will DeMarcus Cousins be the Kings’ leader?
Apparently, Keith Smart was able to have a healthy relationship with Cousins and these are already good news for the organization, as Paul Westphal was never able to do that.
Cousins is probably the most talented young center in the league right now, if we consider that Bynum has already 7 seasons played in the league and that Anthony Davis is yet to play in the league. His temper and lack of work ethic has been well documented and it will up to Cousins to improve his own behavior. He was able to considerably raise his number of rebounds per game, while being with Kevin Love the player with more offensive rebounds on the league with 4.1 offensive rebounds per game.
Offensively, Cousins will still have to improve as a center can’t shoot 43.0 and 44.8% FG like he did on his first two seasons on the NBA. Curiously, Cousins actually had good numbers on his perimeter shooting with 40% FG from 16-23 feet, but it was near the basket where he struggled, as he shot just 56.7% FG at the rim and only 30% FG from 3-9 feet!
His mobility fits well on the style that Keith Smart wants the team to have, so Cousins has an excellent opportunity to have a breakthrough on the league already on this season.
The Kings also expect an immediate impact from rookie Thomas Robinson, but he will possibly start the season as Jason Thompson’s backup, who will start his 5th season on the league, always with a Kings uniform. Chuck Hayes will complete a frontcourt that even though is a young unit, they have a lot of talent and they may surprise the league if they are well coordinated.
Tyreke Evans’ Last Opportunity
I’ve already mentioned this previously on this article, but I’ll say it again: this will be the last opportunity for Evans to show that he can be the team’s leader. With that I’m not saying that Evans will leave the Kings at the end of the season, but if he doesn't convince the organization this season, the team won’t be offering him a franchise player contract that he certainly expects to receive.
The Kings had some offensive success last season with Isaiah Thomas as the PG and apparently they really want a guard with Thomas’ profile for the future and so, they signed Aaron Brooks during the offseason. Just like Thomas, Brooks is undersized but thanks to that, he is amazingly quick.
But as much as I can say nice things about Thomas and Evans for what they did over the last half of the past seasons, the Kings continued being a bad team when it comes to shooting: only Charlotte was worst than them on 3pts% and thanks to that, Sacramento didn't take advantage of being one of the best teams in the league in preventing turnovers and winning offensive rebounds.
The fact that Evans now plays near the basket might be an advantage for Sacramento, but there are some players that need to be more efficient as well. Marcus Thornton is probably the team’s best shooter, but even though he attempted 6.1 3pts shots per game, Thornton shot “just” 34.5% and so, he will also need to be more effective.
Final Thoughts:
This season has been “weirdly” well prepared for the Kings. The team continues to trust on a coach that has showed that he has gained the respect from the team’s young players and that’s a good sign.
There aren't many changes on the team and this will be beneficent for the Kings, as the team’s system is well known by everybody. The starting lineup will probably be the same that played last season!
The team’s irreverence will result in one of these two scenarios for this season: 1) the Kings will be extremely competitive, especially at home, and they won’t be afraid of any team or 2) the players won’t be able to fulfill their potential and they will create a terrible environment on the locker room that will only cause problems to the coach’s job.
Any of these two scenarios wouldn't surprise me one bit to happen to the Kings this season.
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