Not too long ago, you could make the case that Rajon Rondo was the best point guard in the NBA. At the current moment, you could make the argument that DeMarcus Cousins is the best center in the NBA. And as far as pure scorers go, it is not a reach to say that Rudy Gay is in the top 10.
Oh, and George Karl is a very good coach. Not many would dispute that.
All of those guys are now members of the Sacramento Kings, which would lead one to believe that Vivek Ranadive’s team should be considered a legitimate contender in the Western Conference. Not only do they have Cousins, Gay, Rondo and Karl, they also added Marco Belinelli, Kosta Koufos, Quincy Acy and Caron Butler in free agency and drafted Willie Cauley-Stein.
Not a bad haul.
But if you start searching online odds on the Web, it is somewhat surprising to see the Kings listed as the least likely team to win the Western Conference, sitting at odds of 2000-1, for example.
Granted, the Kings finished 13th in the 15-team West last season, cycling through three coaches, then underwent a front office overhaul this spring as Vlade Divac was brought in to lead basketball operations and Chris Mullin left to coach St. John’s, which was followed by the departure of Pete D’Alessandro to his former employer, the Denver Nuggets. They ditched three rotation players in Jason Thompson, Nik Stauskas and Carl Landry along with a future No. 1 pick — plus the right to swap two future No. 1 picks — in a trade with Philadelphia that cleared the cap space for their free agent signings.
But the bottom line is this: They got better … if things work out with Rondo … and if Cousins and Karl can peacefully co-exist … and if Gay can be something approaching a 50 percent shooter … not to mention if they can come out of the gate with a head of steam and keep it going …
We’ll go so far as to call them a sleeper team out West, but we won’t go so far as to lay any sheckels on them when presented with that opportunity in the second week of August when sheckels will most certainly be dropped in Las Vegas during Team USA camp.
They are a team worth keeping an eye on. They could either be surprisingly good, or they could be an utter disaster.
With that in mind, let’s take a look at the entire Pacific Division as we wrap up our series of six division-by-division report cards.
GOLDEN STATE WARRIORS: By trading David Lee to Boston for Gerald Wallace and Chris Babb, the defending champs now have only four players making more money than reigning MVP Stephen Curry. No. 1 on their payroll is Draymond Green, who was maxed out despite being a restricted free agent. He is the prototype of what teams are looking for in their search for versatility on both ends of the floor. The only other major addition was draft pick Kevon Looney from UCLA, and there is no reason to believe they should be any different than they were a year ago, when they ran roughshod over the entire Western Conference— something no team has done in the past decade— a period in which the West’s dominance over the East has gone from being a cyclical aberration to the way of the NBA world. GRADE: B-plus
(RELATED: WARRIORS SALARY CAP SITUATION AND ANALYSIS)
LOS ANGELES CLIPPERS: No depth. That was their Achilles heel last season … that, plus the lack of a killer instinct after they went up 3-1 on the Houston Rockets. Well, you can say what you want about the shenanigans that took place when they convinced DeAndre Jordan to change his mind, but you can’t say the same thing about their depth anymore. In fact, they’ve gotten so deep by adding Paul Pierce and Lance Stephenson on the wings, along with Josh Smith and Cole Aldrich and Wesley Johnson and Pablo Prigioni, you can actually call them one of the deepest teams in the West. Just a guess, but I’d say the addition of Pierce will give them that killer instinct that they were missing in the playoffs in May. Grade: A
(RELATED: CLIPPERS SALARY CAP SITUATION AND ANALYSIS)
LOS ANGELES LAKERS: None of the team’s newest acquisitions have heard from Kobe Bryant … and we’re supposed to be surprised. At what point to the terms “diva” and “aloof” start to resonate with Lakers Nation? They’ve had this guy around for nearly two decades, and this tiger ain’t changing his stripes. Lou Williams and Brandon Bass came aboard in free agency, D’Angelo Russell was the No. 2 pick of the draft, Julius Randle is coming back from his injury, Roy Hibbert was acquired for nothing … so it ain’t all bad. Are they going to the playoffs? Probably not. But Jeanie Buss had a better summer than her fiance, so the Lakers braintrust will have that to brag about during late April barbeques in Newport Beach when everyone from the Lakers and the Knicks will be watching the playoffs on television and lamenting the fact that they won’t have first-round picks. Grade: B
(RELATED: LAKERS SALARY CAP SITUATION AND ANALYSIS)
PHOENIX SUNS: Brandon Knight got his money and Tyson Chandler came aboard. Markieff Morris did not get traded along with P.J. Tucker in order to clear the cap space for LaMarcus Aldridge, because Aldridge compared the relative merits of the Suns vs. the Spurs and proved that he is a wise man. This franchise is spinning its wheels and going nowhere, to be honest. They have some very good players, but they will take years to recover from Lon Babby’s disastrous trade deadline panic back in February when he not only gave away Goran Dragic, but also surrendered the pick owed to them by the Lakers from the Steve Nash trade. That now belongs to Philly. We’ll see what Mirza Teletovic brings to the table. We liked him when he was with the Nets. Aside from that, .500 would be a significant accomplishment. GRADE: C
(RELATED: SUNS SALARY CAP SITUATION AND ANALYSIS)
SACRAMENTO KINGS: We covered a lot of ground in the intro regarding these guys, but neglected to mention the genetics factor. Seth Curry (brother of Steph) and David Stockton (son of John) are on the roster, too, and Ben McLemore might be the best player you’ve never spent much time watching. For the life of me, I cannot grasp how these guys have the same odds as the Denver Nuggets and shorter odds than the Portland Trail Blazers (100-1) and Los Angeles Lakers (80-1). The X-factor most certainly will be Rondo, who blew about $80 million by getting thrown off the Mavericks during the playoffs. If he undergoes a personality transformation (yes, the odds on that are long, too), he could cash in more than any other NBA player during the Summer of Durant. The Kings are the summer winners of the NBA’s “Keep an Eye on These Guys” award. GRADE: A-minus
(RELATED: KINGS SALARY CAP SITUATION AND ANALYSIS)
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Chris Sheridan is publisher and editor-in-chief of SheridanHoops.com. Follow him on Twitter.
Wow, an actual analysis of what the Kings really accomplished this summer as opposed to just perpetuating the ridiculous its all a disaster narrative? Chris, you may get your media card pulled for such an offense.
I do thank you though as there are only a limited number of synonyms for “stupid” in the english language, and I’ve been rapidly using them up on your peers as they mindlessly parrot the lazy Kings suck so everything they do must of course be stupid storyline without every pausing to make an honest reassessment.
You’d be less confused that the odds are stacked against Sacramento if you take into account that sports books set odds not solely based on the expected performance of a team but also expected action for/against them.
The Lakers probably have the largest fanbase in the entire NBA and Portland has a solid fanbase along with several years of recent prosperity. When contrasted with Sacramento’s relatively modest fanbase, 10+ years of incompetence, recent/constant turnover in management, and major uncertainty with the current roster… you can begin to see why sports books set the odds the way they do.
But your point is solid, the Kings have been torched by the national media for mortgaging their future but they do remain improved from where they were last year.