The Sacramento Kings are in desperate need of stability, and a new slate can provide hope that the team will ultimately find some.
Sacramento has been trapped in NBA purgatory for the past nine seasons after getting bounced in the first round of the 2006 playoffs, and the 2014-15 campaign represented one of the stranger years in franchise history.
After the Kings fired Mike Malone 24 games into the season, Tyrone Corbin played the role of interim head coach for 28 unspectacular games (the Kings went 7-21 during that span) before George Karl was brought aboard to lead the team into a new era.
However, the final 30 games under Karl's watch didn't offer much in the way of optimism. The Kings went 11-19 during that stretch, and that uneasy feeling carried over to the offseason, when trade rumors involving star center DeMarcus Cousins started making the rounds.
But Cousins is still donning purple in California's capital, which means the Kings have a shot to crack 30 wins for the first time since the 2007-08 season.
Even though their championship odds are sitting at an uninspiring 250-1, according to Odds Shark, a revamped roster including Rajon Rondo, rookie Willie Cauley-Stein and Marco Belinelli should be competitive on a more regular basis when the 2015-16 season gets underway. Their full schedule can be found here.
Analyzing Marquee Games
Sacramento Kings vs. Los Angeles Lakers
When: Friday, Oct. 30, 7 p.m. PT; Thursday, Jan. 7, 7:30 p.m. PT; Wednesday, Jan. 20, 7:30 p.m. PT; Tuesday, Mar. 15, 7:30 p.m. PT
The Kings and Los Angeles Lakers may be fighting uphill battles when it comes to reaching the playoffs again, but showdowns between the Pacific Division rivals generally don't disappoint.
Last season, the Kings won the season series 3-1, and a 23-point blowout win on the season's final day secured the most futile season in Lakers history.
With L.A. still stung by Sacramento's superiority throughout the 2014-15 campaign, a star-studded showdown between Cousins and Kobe Bryant could offer fireworks in the scoring column.
Just don't expect much in the way of defense when these two take the floor.
Sacramento Kings vs. Denver Nuggets
When: Friday, Feb. 19, 7 p.m. PT; Tuesday, Feb. 23, 6 p.m. PT; Saturday, Apr. 2, 6 p.m. PT
The Kings selected Cauley-Stein over point guard Emmanuel Mudiay with the sixth pick in the 2015 NBA draft, which means Sacramento's first matchup with the Denver Nuggets should draw plenty of attention.
While the Kings added Rondo as a free agent just a week after passing on Mudiay, securing the speedy point guard would have provided Cousins with a versatile pick-and-roll partner for years to come.
Instead, the big man has been saddled with another potential stopgap solution in Rondo, and it remains to be seen if the four-time All-Star can remotely resemble the kind of point guard who can carry a modern offense.
Cauley-Stein's defensive chops were the most appealing in his class, but Mudiay could prove to be a franchise-changing talent.
"Emmanuel's going to be a guy we feature early on," Nuggets head coach Mike Malone said, according to NBA.com's Scott Howard-Cooper. "He's too good not to do that. I think he can make everybody around him better."
Sacramento's clashes with Denver will offer the Kings an up-close look at the player they passed up.
Record Prediction
Here's the good news: The Kings were mired in turmoil last season and still managed to post an offensive rating (102.5) that ranked right at the league average.
And so long as Cousins is leading Sacramento's attack, the Kings will be in good hands. Last season, the All-Star center was the only player to average at least 20 points, 10 rebounds and three assists. In fact, Cousins, Kevin Love and Blake Griffin are the only players who have maintained those averages over the course of a single season since 2010.
With Cousins' status as the team's centerpiece solidified, there are two key on-court questions hovering over the Kings.
The first puzzler has to do with Rondo, who was signed to a one-year, $10 million prove-it deal of sorts following a disastrous and abbreviated stint with the Dallas Mavericks.
Moving forward, the Kings will hope they receive an extended look at the Rondo who established himself as one of the league's most creative point guards with the Boston Celtics.
"For the first time in a long while, Rondo will have the chance to develop chemistry with his new teammates before games actually begin to count," Bleacher Report's Adam Fromal wrote. "He's going to a situation of his choosing and playing with friends (DeMarcus Cousins and Rudy Gay)."
If Rondo can regain anything close to All-Star form and approach double-digit dimes for the first time since the 2012-13 season, the Kings offense has a chance to hum. But if the 29-year-old gums up the offense due to his propensity to overdribble a year removed from averaging 8.9 points on 42.6 percent shooting, frustration will mount quickly.
"It's going to be fun coaching him," Karl said, according to the Associated Press' Tim Reynolds (via NBA.com). "I think he wants to lead our team but he also wants to be part of the decision making. That can be somewhat combustible but it can also work on a high level because I think we're all trying to make the team the best."
The other uncertainty revolves around the team's defense, which ranked 27th in efficiency last season. What's worse is that the team's defensive rating actually shot up from 106.2 to 107.4 after Karl was named head coach on Feb. 11. As a point of reference, only the Lakers and Minnesota Timberwolves owned defensive ratings worse than 107.4 last season.
A little progression to the mean on that end could go a long way, and Cauley-Stein will certainly help.
But with a new face running the point and the team entering its first full season under Karl, don't expect fantastic gains in the year ahead.
Regular-Season Record Prediction: 32-50
All statistics courtesy of Basketball-Reference.com and NBA.com unless noted otherwise.