5 big questions about the suddenly fun Sacramento Kings
Are you ready to apologize to Vivek for all those things you said about Buddy Hield?
Matthew Miranda (@MMiranda613): March is to NBA analysis as September is to MLB, meaning take it with a grain of salt. So many teams are experimenting or outright tanking with an eye on next season; contenders are resting their stars with an eye on the playoffs. March and April are the rabbit hole of the NBA season. Since the Cousins trade, 10 different Kings have led the team is scoring in a game, including Hield…and Willie Cauley-Stein…and Anthony Tolliver…and Ben McLemore…and Skal Labassiere…and Kosta Koufos…and Georgios Papagiannis. If that’s enough to convince you the tide’s turned, I have some 4-on-5 ideas you’ll just love. If/when Vivek ever assembles a coherent team to go with the impressive Hield, a team that can annually put up better than win totals in the low-to-mid 30s, we can talk about a truce. Until then, Sacramento’s war on common sense rages on, unabated.
Matt Rutkowski (@MontaWorldPeace): Only if he’s ready to apologize for me for what he did to Nik Stauskas. I don’t think I said anything mean about Buddy. How can you not be friendly to a guy named Buddy? It’s like not being a bro to a guy named Guy. No, wait. Ignore that.
Rory Masterson (@rorymasterson): Even if we’re just talking about Buddy Hield, it is impossible to divorce his run of great play from the context surrounding how he got there, and what the Kings did in order to get him. If parting with Cousins was inevitable, fine, but management could and should have gotten more for him, potential $200 million summer extension or not.
Grant Hughes (@gt_hughes): Absolutely, but only so long as I get to underscore all the things I said about the organization that traded for him. The Kings are showing the tiniest signs of figuring things out by playing the kids a bit more and abandoning the ridiculous pursuit of a playoff spot. But they’re still conducting business under the capricious thumb of an owner whose plans pivot every five seconds and whose input on talent evaluation has been, shall we say, problematic. The Kings are America, is what I’m saying.
Brandon Jefferson (@pengriffey_jr): Nope. What Vivek said about Buddy Hield is more farfetched and outlandish than anything LaVar Ball has ever said. However, I also don’t want Vivek to get an ESPN press tour like the eldest Ball has gotten recently. The one person who might deserve an apology in all of this is Vlade Divac. He got the bulk of the ire following his slip-up about the team having a better deal on the table two days before they traded Cousins, but when he took it a step further and said he’d resigned in two years if the Kings weren’t a better team most of us were ready to show him the door. Yet, some of their younger pieces (Skal Labissiere, Willie Cauley-Stein, Georgios Papagiannis, Ben McLemore, and Hield) have shown legit progression as the season comes to a close. If this team can just not screw things up for once Sacramento could have something in the works.
Wes Goldberg (@wcgoldberg): Wait, didn’t he say he’s the next Steph Curry? What should I apologize for? That’s like writing in my Tinder profile that I’m Ryan Gosling, and then when it turns out I’m not, you all are like “Hey, you’re fine, but you’re no Ryan Gosling.” Are you supposed to apologize for that? Am I even making any sense at all?
Jeremy Lambert (@jeremylambert88): No, because he’s still wrong. Buddy is not the next Steph Curry. He’s going to be better than Steph Curry. In his rookie season, Steph averaged 17.4 points per-36 minutes on 43 percent shooting from three. With the Kings, Hield is averaging 18.6 points on 44 percent shooting from three. Numbers and buckets don’t lie.
Tyreke Evans is .
Miranda: Someone we’re still talking about in 2017? The most interesting thing Evans has ever done in his NBA career is claim he’s just like Giannis Antetokounmpo, only shorter. Sure, Ty. And I’m just like Zach Lowe, only minus the hundreds of thousands of Twitter followers. Looks like Vivek has some competition for looniest looney in the bin.
Rutkowski: Employed! And I’m happy for him. He never quite fit in with the Pelicans. Every time I watched him, it felt like he was operating outside of their general makeup. People would bring up their messed up center situation, and whether or not Jrue should be their guy for the future, and how best to surround Davis with talent. And then “Oh yeah, Tyreke is there too.” Well, he’s not there any more. I’m not sure he’s missed, but I don’t think there are hard feelings either. He’s just the car driving next to you on the freeway getting off on an exit.
Masterson: Back in Sacramento, where it feels like he always was spiritually anyway. As long as he plays the way he’s played over the past nine games he’s played, the Kings should stick with him. Granted, the career-high 53.3 percent shooting on 3-pointers likely won’t last, nor will its matching career-high 3.3 attempts from distance.
Hughes: Remarkably, still being discussed. I have to say, though, I always love when we get a full-on, in-your-face confrontation with the ego it takes to succeed in professional sports. When Evans said he was just like Giannis, only shorter, it made me smile because he 100 percent believes it. And he should. Confidence like that is a prerequisite for sticking in a league of ultra-competitive super-humans. Can you imagine what you could accomplish in life if you had a fraction of that self-assuredness? I’d be running at least three, no, four Quiznos franchises.
Jefferson: In the process of losing his spot in NBA folklore to Dion Waiters. Evans was the original overconfident combo guard. It’s like watching Hollywood try to remake The Matrix trilogy.
Goldberg: Not happy that he’s back in Sacramento. He can’t be. He thought he escaped. He thought it was over. Which curse word do you think he said first when he found out he was being traded back? That’s my question.
Lambert: Shorter than Giannis Antetokounmpo. He admitted as much. This question was too easy. He literally gave us the answer. I wish college professors were like Tyreke Evans.
With the season nearly over, regrade the Sacramento Kings 2016 Draft night haul — Georgios Papagiannis, Skal Labissiere, Malachi Richardson, the rights to Bogdan Bogdanovic.
Miranda: Incomplete. What the Kings did last year will come more into focus depending on how this year’s draft turns out. If they luck out with all the Pelican/76er machinations and end up with a stud, the guys they took a year ago could soon blossom into impactful role players and maybe more in the future, especially Labissiere. If not…well, it could be worse. Just don’t ask me how.
Rutkowski: I never took classes Pass-Fail in college, and I feel like I should have. I’m giving the Kings a pass. That can be read two different ways, and both apply. So much of what makes a draft a success comes down to developing players. That is not the King’s strong suit. Their suit is tweed. I promise to readdress this question in 10 years.
Masterson: As it stands now, this is a perfectly fine draft class, somewhere in the C range (of which, coincidentally, the Kings previously had too many, and may still, but that’s for another campfire). Skal has been unbelievable in the most literal sense, averaging nearly 11 points and over six rebounds since Feb. 23. For a guy who had spent the majority of his rookie season dilly-dallying as a Cousins understudy, Skal has looked solid. The rest, I mean, “eh,” until further notice.
Hughes: Eh, like, better? I guess? If you flip around some of the picks and make Skal the real get while shuttling the other guys down farther, the whole operation makes some sense. It also helps that Marquese Chriss is currently a super-duper athlete who maybe won’t ever figure out how to play basketball. He was there for the Kings if they’d kept their original pick, and passing on him doesn’t look so bad. I dunno…I’m hesitant to get too positive here until Skal does what he’s doing for more than a month or so.
Jefferson: Well, John Calipari warned us that Skal Labissiere was going to be the best player in this class so we all should wipe some of that egg off our faces. Malachi Richardson has had some nice stints this year and looks like he’ll be a good rotational piece moving forward. I still am no fan of the Georgios Papagiannis selection and don’t think there’s really anything the Greek big man can do to change my mind about that. However, I have always liked the acquisition of Bogdan Bogdanovic. Through all the craziness that this team produced last June getting Bogdanovic’s rights was a slam dunk. Now, it’s on them to bring him to the NBA as quickly as possible. Bogdanovic has a nice role carved out for himself with Fenerbache Istanbul so a buyout may be a bit more difficult for the two sides to agree to. Yet, adding him would be huge for the organization.
Goldberg: 24 syllables among four players. That’s an average of six syllables per player name. That’s probably the most of this draft class, which is as impressive as anything in this draft.
Lambert: Shoot, Tyreke didn’t give the answer to this one. “See me in five years.” Is that a legit grade? I feel like a professor would get in trouble for writing that on a student’s paper. They have really cool names, I’ll give them that.
Ben McLemore is still just 23 and he’s shooting 39.1 percent on 3s this year. Any hope he’s useful someday?
Miranda: Yes. His 3-point shooting has improved every season, including 47 percent this year on corner 3s. In a league that worships at that altar, someone will hire him on the cheap as their athletic, erratic ninth man. Or the Spurs will sign him and he’ll become a Hall of Famer.
Rutkowski: I’ve always been a big fan of hope, especially when it’s misguided and potentially dangerous. I’d say he’s useful now, so yes. Yes there is hope.
Masterson: I am on record as having thought McLemore was going to be one of the better guys in his draft class. It’s always kind of felt like he got the short end of the stick going to the Kings, even more so than others who end up with the dysfunctional franchise. Perhaps without the Cousins spotlight, he finally feels like he has room to grow. Lest we forget that McLemore is only ten months older than noted franchise savior Buddy Hield.
Hughes: I think his shooting stroke will keep him in the league for quite a while, but he hasn’t shown much in the way of feel or basketball IQ to this point, and we’re a good bit into his career. It’s also possible playing for 83 different coaches and “developing” in an environment not known for consistency of method or purpose has stunted his growth. I think he could be a rotation player — a shooting specialist, really — who’d work against the right matchups if you could hide him on D.
Jefferson: Yes, just not in Sacramento. McLemore is likely to see his best basketball with another team. If I’m the Kings I try to move him for future picks this offseason. With just one year remaining on his contract after this season they need to find a way to finally get some value out of a 2013 lottery pick. A lot of teams would be interested in acquiring a 23-year-old that can hit 39 percent on 3-pointers while only paying him a little over $5 million.
Goldberg: And he’s finishing at the rim more and defending better than his first three seasons. McLemore is going to be a nice player for someone, just not Sacramento. Maybe a more consistent and less flamboyant Gerald Green. I mean that in a good way.
Lambert: Yes. Next year, Hield and McLemore will be the Water Balloon Brothers, leading the Kings to a playoff spot and potential first round upset. I’ve never been this confident in anything I’ve ever written.
Do you find the Kings more or less likable, sans Boogie Cousins?
Miranda: Before the trade, the Kings were a train wreck led by a combustible star they never offered solid ground. They were like family you only see over the holidays who always do something — good or bad — the rest of the fam marvels at years later. Now they’re a train wreck with no star led by a front office that couldn’t be more in disarray if they took their morning coffees with LSD. They’ve become like family who says they’ll see you over the holidays but always get lost on the way and forget to call and tell you and then show up randomly one Wednesday afternoon, completely unaware it’s mid-January and their kids have missed two weeks of school. Are they more likable? No. More entertaining? Sadly, no. More a caricature of themselves than seemed possible? LOL, yeah.
Rutkowski: I don’t know if I can say one way or another. Boogie was the player I most liked on the team, but I like the story of them trying to succeed without him better than the story of whether they could succeed with him. I guess it evens out. I wish both parties the best, especially Nik Stauskas.
Masterson: I wouldn’t necessarily say they’re more likable, but they’re likable in a different way. Gone are the thrilling highs and frustrating lows of following DeMarcus Cousins, a man with an iPhone flashlight in the darkest depths of the ocean. With Cousins, it was a matter of watching perhaps the best center in the game orchestrate a galaxy; without him as their sun, the ball doesn’t rotate around in predictable fashion, though generating offense reliably has become its own exciting endeavor. Where you stand on the Kings’ likability probably (and perhaps unfairly) depends on where you stand on Vivek Ranadive and Vlade Divac, but the on-court product is about as different as it was expected to be. Out of necessity, the Kings simply have more ways to surprise opponents now, for better and for worse.
Hughes: Much more likable. Even if they didn’t get enough for Cousins, and even if the series of botched transactions leading up to the trade that sent him out cost the organization precious assets and flexibility, there’s a freshness in Sacramento you can’t ignore. Cousins was bigger than the franchise, and mostly in the wrong ways. Cutting ties with a guy whose moodiness, on-court sulking and emotional volatility was a good thing. And hey, if you can only win 30-something games every year with a guy who makes going to work terrible, why not try winning 30-something games every year without him?
Jefferson: Less likable. BOOGIE FOREVER!
Goldberg: I think the Kings find themselves more likable, which is the more important question. They probably enjoy playing more now that they don’t have to walk on eggshells around Boogie. They’re probably more likeable, but certainly less watchable. Unless you’re a Kings fan, what’s the reason to watch them? Does anyone even? If a Buddy becomes a Curry, and no one is there to see it, does it really happen?
Next: The #TankRace for the middle of the 2017 NBA Draft lottery
Lambert: About the same. I like Boogie, but I also like Buddy. It’s a real shame they couldn’t be on the same team in New Orleans. Brow, Boogie, Buddy, and Balls. The Four B’s. It could have worked in Sacramento as well. Ben, Boogie, Buddy, and Balls. The Sacramento B’s. It would have led to a big Newspaper vs. NBA storyline that would dominate the headlines and the court.