NBA Daily: Grading The Offseason – Sacramento Kings

The NBA offseason has been as exciting this year as ever before. And no states’ team(s) have experienced more excitement and change than California. Kevin Durant fled Oakland, and the Lakers and Clippers both upgraded their rosters thanks to trades and free agent signings. But the summer was less eventful for California’s third team – the Sacramento Kings.

Basketball Insiders resumed its Grading The Offseason series this week. Let’s continue by assessing the Kings.

Overview

The Kings finished 2018-19 with a 39-43 record, good for ninth best in the Western Conference. They made good progress behind Most Improved Player candidate De’Aaron Fox and rookie standout Marvin Bagley III. The Kings hope to take another step forward in 2019-20, which is very doable given that their two most important players are only 21 and 20 years old, respectively.

But improvement and entry into the playoffs are not mutually exclusive. Since the Western Conference now features even more talent and parity, the Kings could technically improve and end next season with a better record while failing to qualify for the playoffs.

And while incremental progress is often times overlooked, improvement is the name of the game. The Kings must focus on creating synergy under new head coach Luke Walton. But their progress is contingent on internal improvements considering their lack of a first-round pick in the 2019 NBA Draft. Fortunately, there are a lot of players on the Kings’ roster that could potentially show considerable improvement.

Let’s start by assessing their leader and floor general. Fox appears poised to compete for an All-Star spot in his third season. His progress will mostly pace the Kings’ improvements. He is clearly a star in the making and expectations are sky high for his third year in the league. He took a big step in his sophomore season, and the Kings will contend for the playoffs despite the cut-throat competition out West if he takes a another step forward this season.

Bagley’s rookie season was surprisingly successful. That is not to say that expectations were low; however, his build and relatively short wingspan led to some souring on him before he played a single game in the league. And yet, Bagley averaged 14.9 points and 7.6 rebounds in only 25.3 minutes per game. But Bagley should improve, too. And if he takes a big leap forward, that further improve to the Kings’ outlook.

Buddy Hield is another important piece. The 26-year-old averaged 20.7 points per game last season on 46 percent shooting and 43 percent from three-point range. Hield puts significant pressure on opposing defenses by moving well without the ball. He recognizes that he must continue to apply pressure on defenses by getting to the free throw line, demonstrated in a summer league interview this offseason. If he can simply continue putting pressure on opposing defenses in new and different ways, the Kings’ offense instantly becomes significantly more dynamic.

The Kings will also rely on Bogdan Bogdanovic. The 26-year-old guard is still getting acclimated to the NBA with only two seasons under his belt, but he has acclimated well thus far with career averages of 12.9 points, 3.5 assists and 3.1 rebounds over 148 career games.

At only 21 years old, Harry Giles is still very much a mystery. His lone season at Duke was affected by a knee injury suffered during his senior year in high school. He was then held out for his entire rookie season, too, as a precaution, giving him proper time to heal and rehabilitate his knee. Therefore, last season was ostensibly his rookie season, in which Giles seemed to get significantly more comfortable as the season progressed. He averaged 7 points and 3.8 rebounds per game, posting six games of 10 or more points in his final 11 contests.  He is fairly versatile given his size (6-foot-10) and is an above average passer. Like Fox and Bagley, Giles is expected to demonstrate improvement, which can be a huge buoy to the Kings’ roster.

To summarize, much of the Kings’ hopes are rooted in internal improvements. But that’s not to say that the offseason didn’t affect their outlook.

Offseason

The Kings began the offseason by firing head coach Dave Joerger and extending vice president of basketball operations and general manager, Vlade Divac. They then filled their coaching vacancy by hiring Luke Walton only a few days after being let go by the Los Angeles Lakers. But timing was not on the Kings’ side, as their new coach quickly found himself dealing with a sexual assault allegation only a few days after accepting the position. Everyone around the Kings organization is hopeful that Walton is exonerated, but there are substantial implications from any legal blowback for the Kings’ immediate future.

Beyond coaching and management announcements, the Kings’ biggest need this offseason was consistency – and they mostly achieved that goal when they re-signed Harrison Barnes.

After taking Barnes off the Mavericks’ hands in February via trade, the Kings surprisingly came to terms with Barnes on a 4-year, $85 million deal. And while the Kings were criticized for overspending on Barnes’ contract extension, it was important for them to lock up their fourth-leader scorer and one of two only players on the team who owns an NBA championship ring.

The addition of Trevor Ariza was another important step. While the 34-year-old is a long shot to win the starting job over Barnes, he still posted strong numbers last season. Further, his poise and familiarity with winning are valuable to a team with only two other 30-year-olds currently on their roster.

As far as the 2019 NBA Draft is concerned, the Kings’ first-round pick was sent to Boston as part of a 2015 trade. The Kings were still relatively active, though – drafting Justin James 40^th overall, swapping the 47^th pick for the 55^th pick – with which they took Kyle Guy – and selecting Vanja Marinkovic with the 60^th pick.

None of their draftees looks ready to make major contributions right away, but the 2019 NBA Draft appears light on superstar talent, yet deep with role players. And James, Guy and Marinkovic could all play a real role for the Kings as soon as this season.

PLAYERS IN: Justin James, Kyle Guy, Vanja Marinkovic, Corey Joseph, Dewayne Dedmon, Richaun Holmes, Tyler Lydon, Trevor Ariza, Harrison Barnes (re-signed)

Players Out: Willie Cauley-Stein, Troy Williams, Alec Burks, Corey Brewer, Kosta Koufos, BJ Johnson

What’s Next?

The Kings have a relatively bright future. Unfortunately for them, there is ample talent out West. The Kings will struggle to qualify for the playoffs, but that does not mean there isn’t a chance they make it. And what’s more, not making the playoffs in 2019-20 is not an absolute failure. The Kings should gauge how well their core plays with one another and how their players progress from last season and over the course of this one.

But they would prefer to be in the playoffs and the center position will present the biggest challenges for the Kings in 2019-20. They will probably start Dewayne Dedmon on opening night with Giles and Richaun Holmes as backups. Dedmon played well last season, matching a career best in scoring (10.8 points) in 25.1 minutes per game. He has a good motor and shoots an above-average percentage from deep (38.2 percent). However, he is far from an established star and his backup support is lacking.

Giles is still a bit of a question mark given his injury history – and at 6-foot-10, 240 pounds, is a tad undersized, too. And while Holmes has a good motor, he has bounced around the association in his four professional seasons. They will struggle against the preeminent centers in the league.

Still, the Kings’ season will be decided by how much their core develops and how it responds to Coach Walton’s message. Specifically, if Fox, Hield, Bogdanovic, Bagley and Giles all advance their games and adhere to Walton’s strategy, the Kings should be highly competitive and surprise a number of teams along the way.

Ariza was a nice addition and will serve as a needed veteran presence and locker room leader; however, without improvements from the aforementioned core, the Kings could be right where they were at the end of 2018-19.

OFFSEASON GRADE: B-