Something’s not right here. We’re just days into free agency, and the Sacramento Kings are as active as anybody. VP Vlade Divac and GM Mike Bratz have made more noise in five days than former Kings executives have made in years, intent on improving an already promising roster.
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You’d think such action would foster a sense of optimism that has long-since fled Sleep Train Arena, and, at least among most Kings fans, it has. But after you cross over the friendly confines of the capital city, into territories that are more likely to bleed any color but purple, perception shifts. Drastically.
To almost everyone else, the Kings are a joke. Its executives are inept and unqualified, and their intentions are misguided. Members of the national media don’t just disagree with the decisions of Divac and Bratz (and Vivek, too), they loathe them.
It’s an interesting dichotomy. There are common issues that both sides recognize (a disconnect between management and the head coach, and concern over certain players’ mindsets, to name two), yet beliefs regarding the team’s overall direction differ greatly.
Why have the Kings taken more flack than the Trailblazers, with Portland’s inability to retain six of their seven best players? Why has Sacramento come under more heat than the Lakers, and its front office’s failure to attract any one of the numerous big-name free agents from the past two off-seasons?
Well, with some exceptions, national NBA pundits – many of whom resort to dramatic extremes when attempting to characterize the Kings recent roster moves – include in their critiques little to no context or background information as it relates to the team’s recent past. Their inaccurate analyses are a direct result of a lack of Sacramento-specific knowledge.
Let’s start with the Kings’s recent salary dump—a trade Daniel Leroux of Real GM awarded an “F–.”
The predominant criticism that set Sacramento’s salary dump apart from those of other teams was not necessarily that it came at a high price (though that has been a sticking point), but that it came with so much uncertainty. As Leroux mentioned and Grantland’s Zach Lowe further outlined, when Golden State sent Andris Biedrins, Richard Jefferson and two future first round picks to the Utah Jazz with cap-clearing intentions, the Warriors had Andre Iguodala’s contractual commitment in hand.
Bill Streicher-USA TODAY Sports
Conversely, when the Kings traded its 2018 first-round pick, the rights to swap first rounders in two upcoming drafts and roughly $16 million in salary to Philadelphia (effectively creating about $26 million in cap space), Vlade and company had nothing resembling a guarantee from any free agents.
That was the difference: The benefits of Sacramento’s trade came with a certain ambiguity, and thus a sizable risk. After all, Golden State paid a higher price (in first round picks) to dump less salary in comparison to the Kings.
But despite Sacramento’s lack of assurances in the immediate aftermath of the trade, it’s not as if any initial doubts of free agent persuasion have come to fruition. The Kings’s agreements with Rajon Rondo, Marco Belinelli and Kosta Koufos justify that. Sure, Monta Ellis, Wesley Matthews and Corey Brewer spurned the Kings’s offers for lesser-deals elsewhere, but signing with a proven team for less money isn’t a new concept. Quite honestly, it’s to be expected when a small-market team such as Sacramento is competing with the Indianas and Dallases and Houstons of the NBA for the services of upper-tier free agents.
Can you really blame the Kings for throwing its hat in the ring, for believing itself worthy of the kinds of free agents the franchise has historically ignored, simply for the fear of missing out? I don’t think so. It marks a significant change in Sacramento’s mentality: from a team that did its opponents’ work for them by counting itself out, to one that is now willing to compete for the top free agents it covets.
Also worth noting: Considering Sacramento made the trade to clear cap space for free agents, how can you properly judge the deal BEFORE the Kings signed anyone? BEFORE it used the space it cleared?
If you cannot justly blame Sacramento for its aggressive tactics, certainly you can criticize the team’s taste in free agents. Case in point: Rajon Rondo.
Troy Taormina-USA TODAY Sports
The situation surrounding Rondo’s signing is comparable to when the Kings traded for Rudy Gay. In both acquisitions, Sacramento took on a proven but likely-overpaid player, coming off season(s) in which their respective performances fell well short of their career averages. (Also worth noting, both Gay and Rondo experienced injuries which significantly aided in the depreciation of their statistics.)
This isn’t to say that Rondo’s performance is sure to improve, like Gay’s did upon joining the Kings. There are factors that distinguish one player’s situation from the other’s, including style of play, reputation, league-wide perception, etc. The point is this: When reading a national media member’s analysis of Rondo’s signing, a comparison such as this one is nowhere to be found. Many lack a sufficient knowledge of the Sacramento Kings’s roster, its recent history or its front office’s motives, which directly results in an “analysis” that fails to accurately represent the true circumstances surrounding Rondo’s signing.
Here’s one example, from Sports Illustrated’s Ben Golliver:
"“With major downside clearly in play, it’s worth asking: What, exactly, is the upside here? In a best-case scenario, a Rondo-led Kings team wins possibly 42 games on the strength of further progress from Cousins, Karl’s coaching ability, and a slightly improved defense. If that does come to pass, Rondo will want to re-up on a longer-term, even bigger-dollar deal or jump ship to a team with more plausible aspirations of postseason success. Is that really a route Sacramento wants to go down? How does Rondo fit into what should be a draft-oriented, youth-driven organic rebuilding effort?"
"“These hypothetical questions don’t really have good answers. The easiest response might also be the right answer: Sacramento couldn’t get anyone else, and it got desperate.”"
Rondo/Collison/Ray
— Carmichael Dave (@CarmichaelDave) July 5, 2015
Ben/Belinelli/Anderson
Rudy/Belinelli/Casspi
WCS/Rudy/Moreland
DMC/Koufos/WCS
Best team we've had in a LONG time.
You’d think adding Rondo, an All-Star – albeit, former – point guard, would bolster Sacramento’s win projection past 42. When you consider the pieces already in place (minus Landry, Thompson and Stauskas), in addition to the shooting (Belinelli) the front office has added early in free agency, an absolute ceiling of 42 wins seems a bit pessimistic.
However, with Rondo there are legitimate concerns over attitude and team-fit, per usual. Golliver’s points aren’t unfounded—there’s plenty of evidence to suggest that Rondo’s difficult to deal with, and that his stay in Sacramento may turn sour. But this isn’t Dallas, the only destination where Rondo truly struggled. And he already has a friend – now a teammate – in Gay, as Golliver mentions earlier in the story.
Is it fair to operate on speculative, hypothetical scenarios as a main basis of argument? I guess, if that’s your prerogative.
And just to further prove the national media’s ineptitude concerning matters of Kings basketball, here are a few tweets from folks who managed to spin Kosta Koufos’s signing into a net negative for Sacramento:
An optimist would say "Trade in the works for Cousins?". Pessimist says "they don't know what they're doing" http://t.co/3dRFzi6w75
— Chillin in my Bacta (@DarthAmin) July 5, 2015
The Kings just signed Kosta Koufos to a 4-year, $33 million contract...they clearly have no idea what the hell they want.
— Outside DiBirds (@OutsideDiBirds) July 5, 2015
Just to clarify: Koufos is only 25, his four-year, $33 million contract will account for only 9% of next year’s projected cap and, oh yeah, Sacramento didn’t have a backup center before his deal. They don’t know what they’re doing? Um, they didn’t have any big men behind Cousins, Willie Cauley-Stein and Eric Moreland.
Conflicting opinions aside, one thing remains clear: After years of a management content with mediocrity, the new Sacramento Kings are going for it. And you certainly cannot blame them for that.