By Adam Spinella
Follow @Spinella14
Last Thursday’s game against the Indiana Pacers was the Sacramento Kings’ franchise in a nutshell. Get off to a hot start. Lead by 22. Rudy Gay tears his Achilles, a season-ending injury. Kings get outscored 64-40 in the second half, lose by six. Star big man DeMarcus Cousins notched a triple-double (25 points, 12 rebounds, 10 assists), but also gave away nine turnovers as the Kings’ defense looked like a sieve in the second half.
The loss closed a homestand in which they went 1-6, though the loss of Rudy Gay is by far the most debilitating blow this franchise could have endured. That’s right, it’s even worse than a DeMarcus Cousins’ injury for the short-term. Why? The loss of Cousins would help illuminate a clear path for the Kings: rebuild immediately and preserve the 2017 draft pick, currently endangered due to a litany of questionable trade moves.
Instead, Rudy Gay’s injury places the Kings back to square one, missing their second-best player and second-biggest trade asset (Cousins being the first). Gay has a player option for next year worth $14.3 million, and had informed the team of his desire to opt out. In the most Kings-like of all moves, VP of Basketball Operations Vlade Divac had denied interest in trading Rudy Gay as the Kings make a push towards the eight-seed out West to try and get a playoff appearance in the first year their new arena is open.
Now the Kings have lost Rudy for the season, getting nothing in return for his lineup disappearance. To top things off, the Kings still will not be certain heading into this summer if Rudy will opt in for one more year, or test the market coming off Achilles surgery. Everything is up in the air at the moment.
For their fan base, the players and anyone else involved in the organization, that’s a familiar place to be. The Kings have been the laughing stock of the NBA for a better part of a decade. Since Rick Adelman left the franchise after the 2005-2006 season. Since then, there have been nine different head coaches, seven seasons with fewer than 30 wins, zero winning seasons and zero playoff appearances.
Reality is starting to set in for the Kings, who have only two wins since Dec. 1 over teams with a winning record. In their heartbreaking loss to the Chicago Bulls this weekend, Boogie Cousins was the only player for Sacramento to score in double figures. Expect to see that quite frequently towards the end of the year, as Cousins remains perhaps the best player in the league with the smallest amount of help around him. Cousins badly needs help around him — not just for this season, but moving forward.
Trying to break this string of futility requires an obvious shakeup somewhere within the organization. To some, that means dealing DeMarcus Cousins, which strikes me as an unbelievable flaw. The new CBA and salary cap designations in play mean Cousins would be a fool to walk away from the money Sacramento can offer him next summer and demand a trade now. That type of money isn’t available elsewhere, and for the Kings, they get more out of him as an asset by waiting a year or two to trade him. Any trade talks revolving around Cousins need to be tabled — that’s not the shakeup the franchise needs.
A path of action is as unclear as the path of inaction is certain. Three questions that Vlade Divac, owner Vivek Ranadive and even coach Dave Joerger need to face could help the Kings figure out what the first step is for them to truly end this dreadful run of shame for their franchise.
1. Other than DeMarcus Cousins, what assets of worth do the Kings have, and how do they get more?
In the most basic sense of the word, the Kings are a small market team. The city of Sacramento itself is not attractive to free agents, and that shifts how a team like the Kings build themselves from the ground up. The draft is vital, needing to maximize draft picks they utilize. That doesn’t mean home runs need to be hit in order for the team to win. Gaining a bunch of safe, solid players through the draft can help a team leverage a big star through a trade.
Unfortunately, the Kings have perhaps the worst draft history in the league over the last decade. Here’s a list of the first-rounders this franchise has ended up with over the past 10 years:
2016 – Georgios Papagiannis (13th), Malachi Richardson (22nd), Skal Labissiere (28th)
2015 – Willie Cauley-Stein (6th)
2014 – Nik Stauskas (8th)
2013 – Ben McLemore (7th)
2012 – Thomas Robinson (5th)
2011 – Jimmer Fredette (10th)
2010 – DeMarcus Cousins (5th)
2009 – Tyreke Evans (4th), Omri Casspi (23rd)
2008 – Jason Thompson (12th)
2007 – Spencer Hawes (10th), Quincy Douby (19th)
Not exactly the sterling record that yields any sort of asset, does it? Only two players (Cousins and Jason Thompson) stayed with the Kings beyond the expiration of their rookie contract, and the only other first-rounder they’ve had to go on and start a playoff game elsewhere is Tyreke Evans.
It’s hard to place a lot of blame on current VP of Basketball Operations Vlade Divac for the draft record. He sought to maximize the team’s youth this season, snagging three first-rounders in his draft with complete autonomy. The jury is still out on Papagiannis, Malachi and Skal, though the early returns do not indicate much has been done to change the franchise’s trajectory.
What Vlade does have to take ownership over is the terrible deal the Kings made in unloading Nik Stauskas, packaging him with the a salary dump, a 2018 first-rounder and the right to swap picks in 2017. That move, done with the intention of freeing up space for the Kings on the free agent or trade markets, depleted their future by giving up Stauskas and a pick. In addition to the pick swap in 2017, the Kings do not keep their pick if they make the postseason, further complicating the team’s strange pursuit of the eight-seed out West.
At this point, blinking red lights should be going off saying “retool, rebuild, the tank must be fulfilled.” Seriously, this should be simple: the Kings’ second-best player is done for the year and may be gone for good. They lose their pick if they make the playoffs, and the current pace indicates 36 wins earns a playoff birth and a likely Warriors first-round matchup. Is that type of season worth losing a first-rounder over, especially without one in the barrel next year? Sacramento is currently closer to finishing last in the West than they are to making the playoffs.
Scouring the team for trade resources in hopes of recouping some draft security doesn’t paint a picture of optimism. Kosta Koufos is the team’s best trade chip at the moment, and there have been multiple reports that the Houston Rockets have kicked the tires on Koufos since the Clint Capela injury. Koufos isn’t a difference-maker on any team, but there’s very little he does negatively. Surprisingly only 27, Kosta’s contract is very manageable — $8.3 million next year and an $8.7 million player option in 2018-2019. He’d make a great backup big man for a playoff team.
The return that Koufos nets Sacramento is what gets them into uncertainty. Asking for a first-rounder for a guy that players fewer than 20 minutes per game is a steep asking price, especially if that team isn’t picking late in the first-round. The contract isn’t one the Kings need to worry about and part from, nor is Koufos the veteran that deserves to be moved onto a contender during his waning career. Divac might have some leverage with a higher asking price for Kosta.
Arron Afflalo is another name that should now find himself on the trading block, and a guy much closer to that respectable veteran that the Kings should want to earn good faith with. Afflalo has turned himself into a very good three-point shooter, hitting on a svelte 39 percent this year with elite free throw shooting as well. Several contending teams could use his toughness and versatility on the wing. The report on Afflalo has evolved away from a great wing defender though, and at 31 years old, there’s not an expectation that he’ll keep the best and most athletic wings from scoring.
Still, Afflalo is shooting 48.4 percent on corner threes, the type of skill transferrable into any offense and easy to insert at the mid-season trade deadline. He’s signed through next season at $12.5 million, the type of contract just small enough to be plausible to give to a sixth or seventh man. Teams like Atlanta, Indiana, Oklahoma City or Washington could all be players for Afflalo in a versatile role, and all three have guard play that benefits from a corner shooter.
There are other veterans on the Kings that net small pieces and marginal draft picks. Matt Barnes, Anthony Tolliver and Omri Casspi (when he recovers from injury) all need to be placed on the trade block immediately. Even impending free agent Ben McLemore, whom the Kings likely do not see in their long-term plans, could be worth a flier elsewhere, and Divac could leverage that into the smallest of returns. The only way to ensure the franchise gains more assets is to part from these veterans, take the small returns they all provide and drop out of the playoff race this season to protect their 2017 first-rounder.
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2. Is there anything about the franchise that is attractive to free agents?
Sacramento has been the rehabilitation center for outcast NBA players over the last few years. With the exception of Afflalo this summer, the best players the Kings have signed in the Cousins era have been Rajon Rondo, Ty Lawson and Darren Collison. Frankly, players come to Sactown for one or two years, look to leverage themselves into a better deal or contract elsewhere and regain a starting role that may have been fractured due to off-court concerns. Always in the market for an upgrade in talent (and looking for a shortcut to success), these players and their agents know that Sacramento will always be there for them.
Rondo signed a one-year deal with the Kings after an incredibly disastrous few months with the Dallas Mavericks. After several benchings, spats with coach Rick Carlisle and essentially being blackballed from most other franchises due to his abrasive personality, the Kings took the chance on the Rondo reclamation project. Rondo led the league in assists last season, convincing Chicago he’s a capable player when handed the keys and serving as the best backcourt player on a team. But Rondo’s locker room presence was both a cause of plight and a justified distribution of blame for Sacramento’s troubles. He tore the franchise apart on his way out the door, and has continued to believe he helped carry the team last season. The only rehabilitation this franchise provided Rondo was the opportunity to let his on-court abilities outshine his personality flaws.
Collison and Lawson aren’t too different, signing on and staying with a Kings franchise that accepts them despite their legal troubles. Ty Lawson’s career fell off a cliff — 18 months after averaging 18 points and nine assists for a 50-win team, Lawson was checking himself into rehab following his second DUI arrest. Sacramento wasn’t the first team to take a chance on Lawson following his legal issues, but they gave him an opportunity this summer after seeing Lawson look like a shell of himself in 2015-2016. Lawson’s per-36 minute stats from last year: 9.5 points, 6.0 assists, 2.4 turnovers on 39 percent shooting. As for Collison, he was suspended the first eight games of this season for a domestic violence incident, and that serves as a black mark on his record and likely killing any traction on the trade market his play could have produced.
Sacramento can keep signing players looking for a retribution story and another shot at reclaiming their former glory. Yet the franchise doesn’t become attractive to marquee guys as a result, who undoubtedly see the revolving door of coaches, starters and role players as a negative. Organizational discord has been well documented within Sacramento ever since Vivek Ranadive bought the team, including here at BBALLBREAKDOWN. The total chaotic situation of the Kings front office turnover is a hindrance on free agency. Freeing up cap space is all for not.
In an interview early this year with USA Today’s Sam Amick, Ranadive essentially deflected blame onto his predecessors, tension between other coaches and executives and touted his own successes as qualifications for an increased role in decision-making. The shift of power from Mullin to D’Alessandro to Divac was as confusing as it was botched, and that was solely Ranadive’s decision. Hiring George Karl? Ultimately up to Vivek. Firing him and replacing him with a coach that doesn’t even speak to one of his players? Another Ranadive accomplishment.
Dave Joerger really hasn’t been a poor hire for this franchise, stabilizing their defense after the nightmare it underwent with George Karl last season. His rotations have been solid considering the hand he’s been dealt, and he’s recently made an effort to play some of the team’s younger players now that the playoffs appear farther out of place. He has a strong relationship with Cousins, something the franchise star badly needed, and has a track record of standing up for his players. The Casspi situation is strange and inexplicable if true, but calling Joerger a bad coach is too large of an exaggeration.
The Kings have continued to chug away, building up superstar DeMarcus Cousins’ resume while scratching and clawing towards relevance despite a support system that does nothing to smooth the ride. How Cousins has been able to persevere on the court despite these destructive tendencies off it needs more attention and documentation. Cousins gets a reputation (and rightfully so) as a hothead and diva for his temper and frequent technical fouls. They overshadow the good teammate so many current and past Kings think he is, and are undoubtedly correlated with the fact Cousins is currently playing for the sixth head coach in his seven years as a pro.
Boogie Cousins is, without a doubt, the only positive draw this franchise currently has. On the free agent market, other players can see hope that, if they can scrap together a decent enough crew around Cousins, there’s a higher ceiling than other situations. Playing time, Cousins and the chance to once again hit the market with personal momentum highlight how the Kings have pitched their free agency routine. With the purpose of building a sustainable franchise with a consistent winning culture and talent that wants to be in town for the long haul in mind, Ranadive and Divac must analyze their organizational approach, almost top to bottom.
3. What can the Kings salvage from this season to help build for the future?
The phrase “tanking” has a negative connotation due to the lack of emphasis put on winning games. To turn it on its face, think about tanking as an over-emphasis on player development. At some point, no matter how dreadful in the short-term that process is, something positive will come out of it for the players on the roster.
It starts with Garrett Temple, who has turned himself into a very good rotation player in this league over the years. Temple is one of the best perimeter defenders in one-on-one situations this league has to offer. The knock on him for years was his offense. Temple has been a lockdown defender for over a decade, using his length to disrupt ball handlers and challenge shots on the perimeter. He’s aggressive and quick with his hands, and creates turnovers when he can provide pressure.
Finally, the offense has caught up for Temple. He’s shooting 37.3 percent from three (but only 27.8 percent from the corners), above 52 percent from two-point range and has above a 2:1 assist to turnover ratio — a great stat for a wing that isn’t known as a play creator. He loves the wing three in transition, spotting up as defenders fly by to protect the rim, a sneaky and underrated threat for an offensive player overlooked as frequently as Temple. As he’s become a solid three-point shooter, teams will chase him around screens and stay in his hip pocket. He’s adjusted and become very good at curling screens to get easy layups.
The time has come to gently unleash Malachi Richardson and allow him to learn on the job. Richardson is a multi-positioned guard who has been quietly good when aggressive. Like any rookie without a true position or consistent role, Richardson has been up and down between the D-League and the parent organization and plays a different role with each. Out in Reno with the Bighorns, Richardson plays with the ball in his hands quite frequently. He’s adjusting to an off-ball role with the Kings.
Yet Richardson looks good when he’s aggressive, getting to the free-throw line or using his length to attack poor close-outs. Malachi needs to tighten the mechanics of his jump shot, and his best asset remains an 18-foot pull-up jump shot. It’s quick, smooth and difficult to defend. Richardson has played fewer than 50 minutes in his NBA career; anointing him a strong rotation player is premature. Be ready to see more of him as the season unfolds.
Labissiere and Papagiannis are two prospects that probably need more D-League seasoning and offer very little next to or in relief of DeMarcus Cousins. Neither should be held off the table in trade discussions, but both are the raw type of prospects that don’t need to be thrown to the fire right away.
That’s it. Not a lot of future pieces here in Sacramento. Lawson and Collison are inconsistent. Afflalo, Barnes and Tolliver are all on the wrong side of 30, while Ben McLemore has turned out to be one of the worst lottery picks the Kings have had.
The thing with tanking is that it’s only meaningful if there are youngsters receiving minutes, preparing them for the future. Sacramento doesn’t have those kiddos that gain experience or seasoning. Hopefully Vlade Divac can reshape this roster to add some youth and more future draft picks that help the Kings move forward as a franchise.
More important is the cultural change this organization needs. Tough break after tough break has been dealt to these players here for the long haul. If Vivek Ranadive is serious about building a contender, the first thing he should do to improve the franchise: buy a mirror.
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