In the 2018-19 season, the Sacramento Kings were the official "young, exciting, new team" that was set to be a real contender in a strong western conference. Coach Dave Joerger had his roster playing at a top-five pace in the league which proved to be very effective. They were led by their young core of De'Aaron Fox, Buddy Hield (who's a lot older than we think), Marvin Bagley and they had other key pieces around them like Harrison Barnes, Nemanja Bjelica, and Bogdan Bogdanovic. They frankly overachieved as they were the 9th seed, winning 39 games in the process. This was the most games they won since they last made the playoffs (44), which was in the 2005-06 season, yikes.
How would the Kings follow up this
very impressive season? By doing the most King's thing imaginable and shooting
themselves in the foot and completely ruining it for themselves.
This season the Kings made mistake
after mistake which surprisingly got them an invite to the bubble but
inevitably had them missing the playoffs once again. Something that they are no
stranger to doing at this point. However, to play devil's advocate, Marvin
Bagley only played in 13 games.
Firstly, they mismanaged their cap
space and overpaid on almost all their free agents. They also fired their coach
and brought in Luke Walton, one of the worst coaches to ever exist. From the
start, Walton and Hield didn't like each other which resulted in Hield's
benching and him wanting out of Sacramento. And the cherry on top is that
Walton's new "system" caused the Kings to go from playing with the
5th best pace in the league (103.1) to the 10th worst pace in the league
(98.8).
So, it was truly an eventful season,
for all the wrong reasons. But now let's talk about all the idiotic moves they
made that got them to this point.
Important Notes
April 12th – The Kings fire Dave Joerger as head coach. I
wasn't a fan of this move; I mean he was struggling in his first few seasons
prior, but he finally struck gold this season. The front office pulled the rug
right out under him.
April 15th – The Kings hire Luke Walton to be their new
head coach. This is literally the WORST coaching hire a team can make. I want
to know exactly what Luke Walton did to get the job. Did he blackmail them? He
is an inept, incompetent, and inadequate excuse for a head coach, an assistant
coach sure maybe but not a head coach. I'll go as far as saying that now that
Jim Boylan is fired, Walton is the worst coach in the league and that's on god.
June 20th – 2019 NBA Draft and Rookies
The Kings didn't have their 1st round
pick this year as it was traded to the 76ers in 2015. They held the 40th, 47th,
and 60th pick in the draft and selected Justin James (SG), Ignas Brazdeikis
(SF), and Vanja Markinkovic (SG) respectively. They later traded Brazdeikis to
the Knicks for Kyle Guy. They also picked up undrafted rookie DaQuan Jeffries
(SG).
Preseason:
Trades
June 20th – The Kings trade Ignas Brazdeikis to the
Knicks for Kyle Guy and cash considerations.
Resigning /
Signings
July 6th – The Kings sign Cory Joseph to a 3-year $37.2
million contract.
So, I like this signing because Joseph
is an above-average defender, but this is an EXTREME overpay for a backup point
guard.
July 7th – The Kings sign veteran Trevor Ariza to a
2-year $25 million contract.
July 8th – The Kings resign Harrison Barnes to a 4-year
$85 million contract.
This might be a bit of an overpay but
the good thing about this contract is that it was front-loaded, so I guess that
helps.
July 8th – The Kings sign Dewayne Dedmon to a 3-year $40
million contract.
Once again, another MAJOR overpay.
Like why did they think this was a good idea? He would soon come to hate it in
Sacramento, so I guess both parties wasted their time with this move.
July 16th – The Kings sign Richaun Holmes to a 2-year
$9.77 million contract.
Now, this was surprisingly a good move
on their part. Holmes was great this season before he got hurt, he averaged
career highs in all areas. He provided much-needed energy to this team and was
a good presence in the paint both offensively and defensively
October 21st – The Kings resign Buddy Hield to a 4-year 94
million contract.
Now I know people think this is an
overpay but I love Buddy Hield and I will not tolerate any Buddy slander here.
He's a baller and got paid accordingly.
October 22nd – The season begins.
Fun Fact: This season the Kings had losing streaks of 5
or more games a total of three times, yikes.
Midseason:
Trades
January 21st – The Kings trade Wenyen Gabriel, Caleb
Swanigan, and Trevor Ariza to the Portland Trail Blazers for Anthony Tolliver,
Kent Bazemore, and a 2024 & 2025 2nd round pick.
February 6th – The Kings trade Dewayne Dedmon, a 2020 2nd
round pick and a Heat 2021 2nd round pick to the Hawks for Jabari Parker and
Alex Len.
Signings – Nothing to report here.
Overtime Notes:
August 14th – Vlade Divac stepped down
from his position as Kings' general manager. He wasn't that good, he made some
horrible trades, signings, and draft choices. I don't think he will be that
missed in Sac-Town. He was later replaced by Monte McNair former assistant GM
for the Rockets.
Offseason
Before the draft
The Kings held the 12th pick in the
draft along with an abundance of 2nd round picks (three to be exact.) I thought
either a PF or C would be a nice fit because they were very weak at that position,
after trading Dedmon and with Len being a free agent. I understand that Marvin Bagley can play both the four and the five, but I believe he would be better
suited to be a PF as he isn't a good enough defender.
I was thinking a guy like Jalen Smith
would be a great fit for this team. A defensive-minded, versatile big man who
can space the floor, he can move into the five-spot allowing Bagley to be the
PF he's meant to be.
Another position of need could be the
SF position. This besides Ariza and Joseph this team is lacking above-average
defenders, so I thought a nice young 3&D player could be very useful for the
Kings. A guy like Saddiq Bey would've fit the bill perfectly and will be able
to help make an immediate impact on the court.
November 18th – 2020 NBA Draft.
The Kings select Tyrese Haliburton
(PG) with the 12th pick. A great pick as
he was the best player available on the board at that time (Smith went 10th).
To me, he was the most complete PG in the draft, and it was a bit strange that
he fell out of the top 10. However, I am confident that Luke Walton would find
some way to stunt his development and ruin his confidence. I will talk about
their 2nd round picks next year.
Free Agency
Coming into free agency the Kings were
able to lock up their franchise player De'Aaron Fox to a 5-year $163 million
max contract. There's a clause in this deal that can increase its value to
$195.6 million. This had to be done since Fox is one of the players that
they're building around for the future. I'm glad they got it done sooner rather
than later.
And after pissing off Buddy Hield and
moving him to the bench and starting Bogdan Bogdanovic, the Kings somehow made
their situation even worse. First, they botched a sign a trade that would've
sent him to the Bucks, and then after that fell through they just let him walk
for nothing to the Hawks. Now they're going to act as nothing happened and
going to play all buddy-buddy with Buddy (get it?).
They also signed the laziest player
ever Hassan Whiteside and Frank "the Tank" Kaminsky to help fill out
their big man rotation.
I still think they should've signed a
nice 3&D wing-like Torrey Craig or even a more defensive-minded three like
DeAndre' Bembry. I feel this would've helped improve their defense because I do
believe that'll be their Achilles heel next season.
Final Thoughts
I don't expect much from this team
next season. They had two bad offseasons in a row and they failed to get
better. Haliburton seems like he'll provide an immediate impact but losing Bogdanovic
is a big blow that will hurt this team.
On another note, I just hope that
Bagley can stay healthy this season. He's a great talent but he hasn't been
able to stay on the court, which makes it harder for the front office because
they're trying to build around him and Fox. If he manages to play at least 50
games this will be a step in the right direction.
Overall, the Kings will miss the
playoffs and will extend their longest NBA playoff drought to 15 seasons. I
just hope Luke Walton gets fired sooner rather than later so this team can
start moving in the right direction.
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