2012 Sacramento Kings Preview
After finishing the year with a 24-58 mark and a fifth place showing in the Pacific Division, the Kings certainly have nowhere to go but up. The Kings have one of the youngest groups in the NBA 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 seems to be bright in Sacramento, their present is a whole different story. They made a bunch of different transactions in the offseason, but not quite enough to deserve a significant improvement. They went and did manage to get Jimmer Fredette, Tyler Honeycutt and Isaiah Thomas thru draft. They also added Chuck Hayes through free agency and J.J Hickson and John Salmons thru trade.
They gave up Beno Udrih in the trade that landed 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 do have fascinating pieces coming in and the players they added are much better than the players they lost, but this is not a massive upgrade by any means.
Sacramento re-signed G Marcus Thornton to a multiyear contract after exploding in his last 27 games of the season averaging 21.3 points per game and finishing the season on a high note. Thornton performed brilliantly in Sacramento after being traded from New Orleans at the trade cut off point. He finished the season ninth among shooting guards in points per minute.
While PG Tyreke Evans led the Kings in offense with 17.8 points, dimes with 5.6 and steals with 1.5 last season. Still, he took a big step back from his rookie year. Evans missed 25 games last season handling plantar fasciitis. He lost plenty of his explosiveness around the basket due to his injuries, and settled on much too many perimeter shots. Evans tried virtually three 3's a game and made only 29.1 percent.
With Evans and Thornton doing lots of the scoring in the perimeter, PF DeMarcus Cousins looks to build off his robust rookie campaign within. He averaged 14.1 points and a team-high 8.6 rebounds last season. The one thing Cousins need to improve is shot selection, because he only connected 43% from the field and as a big, that is a pretty low number.
With all the additions made by this squad, the Kings could sport one of the deeper teams in the league. They have Fredette, Salmons, Hayes, Hickson, Francisco Garcia and Donte Green all coming of the bench. They have great depth in all areas of the floor and could turn out to be helpful in the shortened NBA season.
Western Conference Prediction: 5th Pacific Division - This Kings team actually have lots of promise going forward and the hope is for Sacramento to keep it's team for several years to come. However, you won't be finding the Kings in our NBA playoff predictions this year. Sacramento can challenge both Phoenix and Golden State for the No. 3 spot in the Pacific, but they still need a year or two to challenge for a playoff spot in the ultra-competitive Western Conference.
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