| 18 May 2009
Preseason Expectations
Well, if you listened to the local radio station around Sacramento, this Kings team had a legit shot at making a run at the eighth seed in the West. If you asked around EVERYWHERE else in the NBA coverage universe, this looked like a bad team that would be looking for an identity with the recent departure of Ron Artest. This was an extremely young team that was trying to groom a young front court with Spencer Hawes and rookie Jason Thompson. Reggie Theus was already on the hot seat going into just his second season with the team since he wasn't meshing with the ownership.
Most realistic projected win total was around 32 wins.
What Happened This Season?Well, I think it's safe to say that the Kings were definitely the worst team in the league in the second half of the year. Once the Wizards got a little healthier and the Thunder switched coaches, the Kings just fell to the bottom of mediocrity and assumed the position for the rest of the league. The once feared Arco Arena became one of the most average places to play in the entire league (11-30 record at home). Crowds no longer roared and they barely showed up. The Kings were tied with the Clippers for the worst point differential in the league with a -8.8.
This was also a season in which the players were horrendous on defense at an alarming rate. Without Ron Artest being a defensive leader on the floor, the Kings gave up the second most points per game in the league (109.3). They were the worst team at defending the three by allowing 41% of their opponent's attempts to go in. And that was never more evident than when the Magic set the record for team threes in a game with 23 on the Kings home floor. Throw in the fact that Kevin Martin missed 31 games (52 in the last two season) and the Kings really never had a chance at being much worth watching all season long. It ended up costing Reggie Theus his job midway through the season and the rebuilding officially began.
Three Defining Moments
1. Jason Thompson gets popcorned
This was probably the most enjoyable part of the Kings season. Jason Thompson forgetting bagels for the veterans and having his SUV filled up with popcorn. When that is the highlight of your team's season, you're probably in possession of the highest percentage of winning the first pick in the draft.
2. January 14th Game against the Warriors 135-133 Triple OT
From the basketball side of this season, this was the best game that the Kings played all year in terms of entertaining their fans. On January 14th, they battled the Warriors for 63 minutes. They shot terribly from the field, made a good percentage of their threes and hit 35 of their 36 free throw attempts. Brad Miller had a 30-point, 22-rebound effort and John Salmons made the game-winning shot. There wasn't any defense played in this game but the offensive barrage was enjoyable enough for fans to feel good about that win. And it was one of the rare exciting moments of the season.
3. Kings trade Brad Miller and John Salmons to Chicago for Andres Nocioni, Cedric Simmons, Drew Gooden, and Michael Ruffin.
This was the final step in dismantling the glory days of five years ago for this Kings franchise. Brad Miller was the final remaining piece that reminded Kings fans of the roster from when they were on the verge of contending for the title. With his departure, it cemented the youth movement that has begun and should have begun two years ago. The Kings are now in a full-fledged rebuilding mode that gives Geoff Petrie the freedom to work his magic like he did 10 years ago. The deal sent shockwaves around the league since it led to the eventual signing of Drew Gooden in San Antonio, Mikki Moore signing in Boston (after being waived from Sacramento), and the Bulls becoming a legit playoff contender.
Player Recaps
- Calvin Booth - Other than looking like the NBA's version of Lurch, Calvin Booth really doesn't bring much to the team. He played 56 minutes the entire year with a whopping 55 of them coming after the trade to Sacramento. Maybe Calvin should open up a car dealership and retire.
- Ike Diogu - Kelly Dwyer's fanlove for Ike Diogu confused me all season long because whenever I've watched him play, he's had one of the worst basketball IQs that I've ever seen. But then I watched him put up 32 points and 11 rebounds against the Nuggets. Now, I'm willing to hold judgment for another year. Ike needs to work on shedding some weight this summer.
- Francisco Garcia - This was supposed to be a breakout year for Francisco Garcia in which he started to throw his hat into the conversation of best sixth men in the league and pushed for a starting job. Instead, he barely improved at all and only showed some consistent competence after John Salmons was traded to Chicago. Cisco needs to check his attitude (see: reaction towards Nocioni after Rasual Butler wins game on 3/31) and focus on being a role player before attempting to crack the starting lineup next season.
- Donte Greene - Donte dazzled everybody with a 40-point summer league performance in July. Then he disappeared for a while. Then he tried to become a success on YouTube and pretty much failed. The highlight of his season was having his car popcorned and the lowlight was probably scoring in double figures just five times all season. He struggled to shoot the ball this past year (32% from the field) and will need to improve that this off-season. Most of all, he needs to learn how to dribble the ball efficiently on offense and be able to score off of that.
- Spencer Hawes - Spencer Hawes had to wait for Brad Miller to be traded all season long for him to be given a consistent role on this team. But he got better and better as the year progressed despite some weird ups and downs. His offense is pretty versatile as shown by the three games in which he hit three three-pointers (way too many "threes" in that sentence) and the game in which he racked up nine assists (only 20-year old center to ever do so). But also had a game where he played 25 minutes and didn't grab a single rebound. Overall, he needs to improve his defense vastly to be a two-way threat. But he looks to be headed in the right direction.
- Bobby Jackson - He was the veteran leader of the team for most of the year and look where that got them. B-Jax was the way to trick Kings' fans to remember
the good ole days of winning and mattering in the league and it worked ever so often (but not as often as the Maloof's would've liked). Jackson is an expiring contract and may consider retirement.
- Kevin Martin - Maybe the most confusing player on this team and he's the guy they're supposedly building around. He's undeniably a really good scorer who's efficient and capable of dropping 35+ any time. However, he doesn't do anything else on the floor. Kings would like him to figure out how to be a playmaker in the off-season or fall into a defensive stop once or twice per game.
- Rashad McCants - Rashad McCants probably had a better year with dating (one of the Kardashian sisters. No not that one. Not that one either. Yep, that one.) than he did with actual basketball. He was absolutely awful on the Wolves and once he moved to the Kings he still wasn't very good. A perfect example of his place in the NBA is the March 18th game against Charlotte. He scored 30 points and the Kings lost by 16. His points are inconsequential. He needs to work on passing this off-season. I don't know if he's a good passer or not because I've never seen him do it. I'd just like him to work on attempting to pass the ball.
- Andres Nocioni - Noc did a great job improving his role and the way he played when he moved from Chicago to Sacramento. He shot the ball extremely efficiently and played tough (not necessarily good) defense. His job going into the next couple of years with the Kings is to move the ball, knock down corner threes, and annoy his opponents. He doesn't have to be anything more than that. Going into next season, he needs to add the ability to put the ball on the floor and make a play. Whether the play means creating a basket for himself or a teammate, it doesn't matter. He just needs to be more versatile.
- Cedric Simmons - Marcus Haislip called, he'd like his career back. Or maybe he doesn't. Either way, Simmons' career is coming to an end if he can't find a way to matter to some team. Going into the off-season, he has to work on EVERYTHING.
- Kenny Thomas - He's officially the seven on a scale of one to ten girl in the group of friends who all of the guys would normally want to bang but everybody knows that she has herpes. Normally, people would want to have a guy like Kenny Thomas because he's a poor man's Udonis Haslem. Unfortunately, he has that incurable bad contract that nobody wants.
- Jason Thompson - The fact that he didn't make the second team for All Rookie is a travesty. Thompson was phenomenal this season at rebounding, scoring inside, and knocking down mid-range jumpers. He looks to be the forward/center edition of David West and could end up being much better. His future is probably adding 20 pounds of bulk and becoming a center so Spencer Hawes can play power forward. Expecting a double-double from next season is not out of the question by any means. Going into the off-season, Thompson has to get quicker feet and better instincts on defense. Giving up as many or more points than you're scoring is not going to keep you on the court unless you're J.R. Smith.
- Beno Udrih - Fresh off of his brand new mid-level exception deal from the summer, Beno Udrih challenged to be the worst contract signed in 2008 all season long. The Kings would like him to work on defending the pick and roll, running the pick and roll, and doing some stupid off-season sporting activity that will allow them to void his contract.
From Patrick Crawley, Basketball Fiend
"2008-09 was a season filled with disappointment and embarrassment for the Sacramento Kings. The team won a league-worst 17 games, fired its second coach in two seasons, and witnessed a dramatic drop in attendance. To make matters worse, finances have become tight for the historically generous Maloof brothers. Pennies were so pinched, in fact, that the owners traded John Salmons and Brad Miller to the Bulls at the deadline just to save a few dollars.
Times are tough in Sacramento. Very tough. As a Kings fan, I feel like Sly Stallone in that movie Daylight; standing in a collapsed tunnel, in pitch darkness, surrounded by rubble, desperately searching for a way out. (And, yes, Beno Udrih, Kenny Thomas, and Rashad McCants are the rubble in this analogy.)
The good news? I think we can make it out alive.
On Tuesday, the Kings have a 25% chance of landing the first pick in the upcoming draft. If they get it, I'm optimistic that Geoff Petrie can convince Eddie Jordan to take the job as Sacramento's head coach; a move that will improve the development of young players like Kevin Martin, Jason Thompson, and Spencer Hawes. (Remember, Jordan is the coach who molded Antawn Jamison and Caron Butler into All-Stars in Washington.) And I'm convinced that the hype surrounding a first overall pick - whether that pick is Blake Griffin or Ricky Rubio - is enough to drive fans back to Arco Arena; alleviating the financial burden on the Maloofs.
This season was a catastrophe; an epic fail by any measure. But there is light at the end of this collapsed franchise's tunnel. The Kings just need someone to guide them there. Petrie has been a visionary in the past. I think he has what it takes to lead Sacramento back into the light."
Coaching Situation - Kenny Natt fired
The coaching carousel in Sacramento is officially in motion once again. Reggie Theus was fired in-season for not being able to turn this mismatched roster into a competitive team. He was criticized for not playing the young guys enough early on even though he ultimately lost his job because of a lack of wins and competitiveness. The Maloofs were basically conceding that they messed up with this decision early on and turned the reigns over to Kenny Natt to finish the season. At the end of the year, they let Natt go and are now searching for their fifth coach in five seasons. The most likely candidate seems to be Eddie Jordan who has coached here before and seems to still have a spot in Kings fans' hearts. And Paul Westphal is definitely a candidate and one of the more intriguing options for the Kings. Westphal has succeeded with multiple teams and could use his experiences from Phoenix success and his Seattle days of trying to turn young players into winners to help mold this Sacramento squad.
Roster Heading Into Off-Season
The Kings officially have eight players under contract and they have restricted rights on three other players. The roster breakdown is:
PG: Beno Udrih
SG: Kevin Martin, Rashad McCants (R)
SF: Andres Nocioni, Francisco Garcia
PF: Jason Thompson, Donte Greene, Kenny Thomas, Cedric Simmos (R)
C: Spencer Hawes, Ike Diogu (R)
There are clearly big holes in the backcourt. Kevin Martin is their best scorer and a lock at the shooting guard position over the next four seasons (and deservedly so). But Beno canNOT be the answer at point guard. He might be a fine backup like he played when Mike Bibby was around in the first half of last season. But if he's the starter next year or the year after, this team is going to be very bad. They have a very interesting frontcourt that is being built by Geoff Petrie. They've got two young cornerstones with Thompson and Hawes that will be almost impossible to deal with on the offensive end of the floor i n two years. Throw in a good, tough role player in Andres Nocioni and a question mark with great potential in Donte Greene and it's easy to think that the big men in Sacramento are set for years to come. Fracisco Garcia's length makes him a typical small forward but his shooting ability and quickness make him more of a shooting guard. What he'll have to do on the court is work on his man-to-man defense and ballhandling to become a more consistent weapon.
The Kings are guaranteed a Top 4 pick, have another first round pick and own the first pick of the second round to go along with plenty of cap space with just under $14 million to rebuild this team. They're in about as good of a spot to build this franchise back up as any team that finished towards the bottom this season.
Final Grade/Analysis: F
The Kings were arguably the worst team in the entire league last year and they put forth probably the worst effort defensively on a nightly basis. But they have plenty of positive things to be hopeful for. They've always drafted well and when Geoff Petrie has complete control of the personnel decisions, they find the right players to add to the roster. Even though they were so bad last year and had the lowest grade possible, Kings fans shouldn't bust out the razor blades just yet. It's going to get much better within the next two years.
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