SACRAMENTO
KINGS
Kings are not born: they are made by
artificial hallucination. - George Bernard Shaw
Roster:
C: Eric Dampier / Drew Gooden / Johan Petro
PF: Carlos Boozer / Zach Randolph
SF: Rashard Lewis / Richard Jefferson / Jared Jeffries
SG: Francisco Garcia / Courtney Lee / Devin Brown
PG: Derrick Rose / Jeff Teague
Coach: Paul Westphal
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| Player | Position | Drafted | Age | Height | Points | Rebounds | Assists | Blocks | Steals | eFG% |
| D. Rose | PG | 1st (17)* | 22 | 6'3" | 20.8 | 3.8 | 6.0 | 0.3 | 0.7 | .495 |
| C. Boozer | PF / C | 1st (25) | 29 | 6'9" | 19.5 | 11.2 | 3.2 | 0.5 | 1.1 | .562 |
| Z. Randolph | PF / C | 2nd (27)* | 29 | 6'9" | 20.8 | 11.7 | 1.8 | 0.4 | 1.0 | .494 |
| R. Lewis | SF / PF | 3rd (26) | 30 | 6'10" | 14.1 | 4.4 | 1.5 | 0.4 | 1.1 | .539 |
| C. Lee | SG | 5th (20)* | 25 | 6'5" | 12.5 | 3.5 | 1.7 | 0.3 | 1.3 | .485 |
| R. Jefferson | SF | 5th (29) | 30 | 6'7" | 12.3 | 4.4 | 2.0 | 0.5 | 0.6 | .505 |
| D. Gooden | PF / C | 6th (15)* | 29 | 6'10" | 10.9 | 7.7 | 0.7 | 0.8 | 0.6 | .479 |
| F. Garcia | SG / SF | 6th (29) | 29 | 6'7" | 8.1 | 2.6 | 1.8 | 0.8 | 0.4 | .531 |
| E. Dampier | C | 7th (2) | 35 | 6'11" | 6.0 | 7.3 | 0.6 | 1.4 | 0.3 | .624 |
| J. Jeffries | F / C | 11th (2) | 29 | 6'11" | 5.3 | 4.1 | 1.4 | 1.0 | 0.9 | .439 | |
| J. Teague | PG | 12th (25) | 22 | 6'2" | 3.2 | 0.9 | 1.7 | 0.2 | 0.5 | .412 |
| J. Petro | C | 12th (29) | 24 | 7'0" | 3.4 | 3.6 | 0.4 | 0.4 | 0.3 | .535 |
| D. Brown | SG / SF | F/A | 32 | 6'5" | 8.0 | 2.5 | 1.3 | 0.1 | 0.7 | .457 |
* player acquired in trade
Player breakdown:Erick Dampier: Dampier is a very good defender at the center position, and a top notch rebounder, as well. He ranked near the top of the league in rebound rate and FG%. He also brings a bit of a nasty streak; you've got to appreciate a player who says:
"Every time he drives the lane, we have to put him on his back. The first foul has to tell him he's in for a long night. My first foul Thursday night is going to put him on his back. I guarantee it."
Carlos Boozer: Quite simply, one of the most productive players in the entire NBA. He doesn't get the hype that Bosh and Amare do, but he's every bit as good as either of them. Boozer will be the first option in most offensive sets.
Rashard Lewis: A sharpshooter with Finals experience. Lewis has the size to post up smaller forwards, and can easily move over to power forward when the Kings want to go small. His ability to stretch the floor opens things up for Boozer and Rose in the starting lineup.
Francisco Garcia: A jack of all trades SG, Garcia can shoot, penetrate, score, pass, and defend. Injuries hampered him a bit last year, but aren't expected to linger. Garcia is another floor-stretcher, and he can easily play some backup PG if needed.
Derrick Rose: Shockingly, Rose is becoming underrated by many basketball fans. He's an elite scoring PG who has carried a terrible Bulls team into playoff contention. The last two playoff series he's played in, he's averaged 20/6/6 against a great Boston defense, and 27/3.5/7 against a very good Cleveland one.
Zach Randolph: The scoring and rebounding leader of the second unit. Zach will be asked to be the centerpiece of the bench, and will see a ton of minutes in that role. Against certain teams, he will play alongside Boozer, as both players have shown they can play center.
Richard Jefferson: One of the premiere scoring forwards in the NBA, Jefferson has accepted a lesser role in an effort to win a championship. He had a spotty season last year, but he's expected to bounce back to his '09 form, when he was a very good scorer, shooter, rebounder, and defender.
Courtney Lee: Lee is a very good defender and shooter. He's expected to split time with Garcia, and may see some starts. A young guy who handled himself capably on a Finals team, Lee is expected to be a key piece for the Kings.
Drew Gooden: Another elite rebounding guy who can play center or power forward. He's also a very good scorer, and has willingly accepted a bench role.
Jeff Teague: A dynamic player who didn't see a lot of playing time last year, Teague looked very good in summer league. When given a chance to start last year, he shined.
Jared Jeffries: Simply put, one of the best defenders in the NBA. Jeffries can defend all five positions at a very high level. You wouldn't think a 6'10" guy could hold his own guarding Chris Paul, but that's exactly what he's done.
Johan Petro: A tough defender and a very good rebounder.
Devin Brown: A very good defender with a nice stroke from outside. He made 37 starts last year.
Drafting philosophy / strategy: Unfortunately, the Kings saw their original General Manager replaced due to inactivity, followed by that GM resuming his duties, and concluding with the Commissioner's Office taking over the team. That led to a disjointed draft strategy at best.
I can only speak to my own involvement with the franchise, which was to put the team in the best position to succeed in the short term. That involved picking the best player available, and trying to make smart trades. By actively working the chat room and responding to dozens and dozens of PMs, I think I've accomplished that goal.
The team was a bit hamstrung by one poor trade, which had sacrificed a lot of the team's depth. Because of that, it became necessary at times to draft for need a little more than I'd like. Even after doing so, the Kings were left with a great shooting team, but one that would struggle with defense and rebounding. However, after looking into acquiring players like Joel Pryzbilla, Nazr Mohammed, and others, the Kings finally broke through and were able to reacquire Eric Dampier, along with Zach Randolph and Drew Gooden. This move immeasurably improved the Kings' rebounding and defense, putting them in a great position going into the press conferences.
Best moves: My best trade was my first one, trading Josh Smith and Rudy Gay for Carlos Boozer, Tony Parker, Andrea Bargnani, and picks. This allowed the Kings to fill their big man and point guard slots, two important positions on any contender.
The second best trade was my last one, essentially moving Bargnani and spare parts for Zach Randolph, Eric Dampier, and Drew Gooden.
Worst moves: Assessing the worst move made by the franchise, I'd say it was trading up in the first round, only to select Rudy Gay, a guy who may have slipped until the second.
I also strongly disagreed with the decision to trade Tony Parker along with three good draft picks for Derrick Rose. Rose is a legitimate star, and he's one of the focal points of this team. However, it's hard to say that Rose is worth Tony Parker, J.J. Hickson, Aron Afflalo, and Zydrunas Ilgauskas (the players Lucky17 took) or Tony Parker, Jamal Crawford, Ersan Ilyasova, and Patrick Patterson (guys I would have personally been high on in those slots.)
Frequently Asked Questions:1) Can Zach Randolph handle coming off of the bench?
There's no doubt that Randolph has a bad reputation. However, that reputation has generally been due to immaturity, rather than vindictiveness; his only publicized trouble with a teammate was with Ruben Patterson, a convicted sex offender. Last year, on a very talented but young roster, he thrived, stepping up as a team leader. He made an all-star team, and helped carry a very inexperienced Memphis team into a playoff contender.
In Sacramento, Zach will be allowed to do his thing: score and rebound. Much like Jamal Crawford in "real life" Atlanta, Zach won't be asked to be a player that he's not. Instead, he'll be the leader of the second unit, and will be the focal point of the bench's scoring. He'll end up seeing more touches off the bench than he would if he was in the starting lineup, and he should be able to exploit other teams' backup bigs. In other words, Randolph is the early front-runner for 6th Man of the Year.
2) Will Rashard Lewis and Richard Jefferson bounce back this year?
Compared to their recent productivity, both Lewis and Jefferson had poor seasons. Much of this was due to circumstance: Lewis missed 10 games due to a failed drug test and then had to adapt to playing alongside Vince Carter, and Jefferson joined a team where he was the 4th option, a role he wasn't used to. Both should be significantly better next year.
3) Can Paul Westphal coach this team?
Paul Westphal is the perfect coach for this personnel. He's an offensive mastermind who gets players to play hard on defense. The current Kings roster is not so far off from the 1993 Suns that Westphal took to the Finals: it has a star power forward and an excellent penetrating point guard, and shooters on the perimeter. Of course, in 1993 Westphal didn't have a defensive center as good as Dampier, or anybody near the talent of Randolph off the bench. Westphal's demeanor will be a good fit, as well; he's a "player's coach" who can also come down hard when it's required, meaning that he should have some success managing Randolph.
4) Is Jeff Teague ready to be a backup PG?
Teague didn't play much last year in Atlanta's backcourt, but that is expected to change this year. Teague should be starting in Atlanta by the end of the year, as he's on the rise while Bibby is declining. Teague had a very good summer league, and last year as a starter Teague averaged 13 points / 7 assists. In other words, this isn't a guy who should have fallen to the 12th round.
5) What does your minutes breakdown look like?
People always ask questions like this, and I think they're silly, because you just don't know until you see how the pieces fit together. That said, for very rough numbers, a 10 man rotation would probably look like this:
Boozer (34) / Randolph (30) / Dampier (24) / Gooden (8 )
Rashard (26) / Jefferson (22) / Garcia (26) / Lee (22)
Rose (36) / Teague (12)
On a game-to-game basis that will change, though, as there will be times when Rashard is seeing heavy minutes at PF, or where Garcia acts as a backup PG, etc.
Outlook for the 2010-11 season and beyond: Sacramento is the only team in the league to have three thinks that it has a deep playoff team. There's no reason that it can't beat any team in the CB-NBA in a playoff series. The team is a good mix of youth and experience, and it has both top-line talent and solid role players.
Indeed, Sacramento is the only team in the league to have three players who were all-stars in 2009-10. The team's strengths are rebounding and post play, but the team can also shoot and get to the hoop. I'd say Sacramento is one of the serious contenders for a championship, and I'd personally put them #1 in the West.
Topic: 2010 CB Draft: Pacific Division Press Conferences (Read 87479 times)