This offseason, Vlade Divac has signed Kosta Koufos, Rajon Rondo, Marco Belinelli, Caron Butler, Seth Curry, Quincy Acy, James Anderson, and Duje Dukan, resigned Omri Casspi, and drafted Willie Cauley-Stein. These players are in addition to the Kings remaining core of DeMarcus Cousins, Rudy Gay, Ben McLemore, and Darren Collison.
Vlade has done a good job in adding experienced rotation players that will give George Karl a great deal of flexibility with his line-ups. The Kings could start a frontcourt of Cousins and Gay, Koufos and Cousins, or Cousins and Cauley-Stein. They could start a back court of Rondo and Collison, Rondo and McLemore, or Rondo and Belinelli. Casspi and even McLemore are options at the three if Gay is at the four in a small-ball line-up.
This means that with the final roster spot, the Kings can afford to take a risk that can pay big dividends down the road.
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As it currently stands, the Sacramento Kings have 15 players on their roster including the non-guaranteed contract of David Stockton. In the small sample we saw of Stockton last season, we saw flashes of potential that were reminiscent of his father John. That was most evident in his April 15th contest against the Lakers in which he had 5 points, 7 assists, and 2 steals while connecting on his only 3 attempt in just 19 minutes.
The D-League numbers he put up last season of 20.1 points, 9.4 assists, 4.2 rebounds, and 2.5 steals while hitting 40% of his 3-point attempts in 30.5 minutes per game were even more John Stockton-esque. Of course, I am not saying that David is the next coming of his father, but that there is at least a glimmer of hope that he can be a serviceable NBA role player. Now that Eric Moreland has been waived, it might seem that Stockton’s path to making the Kings roster is clear but that may not be the case.
The Kings currently only have 4 players under contract that are taller than 6’9″. If the Kings want to have the flexibility to start Koufos alongside Cousins, they may need more than a couple unproven rookies in Cauley-Stein and Dukan as your only bigs off the bench. It would also be a big plus if any additional frontcourt depth was more of a dynamic (and proven) scoring option that could stretch the floor while Cousins mans the post. Here are a couple names I think Kings’ brass should toss around.
Mandatory Credit: Tim Fuller-USA TODAY Sports
Josh Harrellson: I am a statistic junkie so I may be more familiar with Josh Harrellson’s post Kentucky career than most. I mean, it’s not every day that you come across a player who blocks 1.7 shots per 36 minutes while hitting 39% of his 3’s. In 2013/14, Harrellson held his opponents shooting to 4.9% below their season average per NBA.com and his Defensive Real Plus-Minus of 3.39 was 9th among all NBA power forwards per ESPN.com.
You might be asking yourself why this guy is still available if he can have that great of an impact? Harrellson had a career-threatening back injury that required surgery and caused him to sit out 8 months and eventually led him to playing last season in China and Puerto Rico. However, he was productive last season averaging 2.2 blocks per 36 minutes and hitting 37% of his 3’s.
He also continued that success in the Summer League playing for the Phoenix Suns. Harrellson is still only 25 and definitely has enough skill and upside to warrant a roster spot. Phoenix is also looking for frontcourt depth and may snatch up Harrellson soon, after a strong Summer League but, as of now, he is still a free agent.
Hedo Turkoglu: Hedo may not be the kid he was when he left Sacramento after the 2002/03 season but at 36, he still has something to offer in the NBA and at 6’10”, power forward might be his best position. In his last two seasons, Hedo has combined to connect on 43% of his 3’s. If you were to sit Hedo in the short corner where he hit 55% of his 3-point attempts last season with Cousins in the post, he would punish opponents for double-teaming Boogie and he is still one of the best passing bigs in the league.
Surprisingly, his defense has not been too shabby the last couple of seasons, holding his opponent’s shooting to 1.8% and 1.3% below their season average, respectively, per NBA.com. There might even be more than wishful thinking to the idea of Hedo returning to the Kings as tweeted out by Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports:
Free agent Hedo Turkoglu has played 997 career games and wants to hit 1K. Sacramento, w/ pal Vlade Divac, a possibility, sources tell Yahoo.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) July 31, 2015
Both of these options to complete the Kings roster would likely only command a minimum salary contract so the Kings would not have any financial hurdles in signing either of them. I would fully support either of these options to fill out a Kings roster that still has some question marks regarding how all of the new pieces will fit together. Whoever the Kings sign has a chance to carve out a role as a rotation player for Coach Karl next season.
Who would you add to complete the Kings roster?
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