Royal Roundtable: Teammate of the Year For the Sacramento Kings?

Who was the best teammate for the Sacramento Kings this season? The A Royal Pain (ARP) squad gives their intake on the subject.

ARP is back with its Royal Roundtable discussion. If you are new to the site or need a refresher, these articles start off with a topic that pertains with the Sacramento Kings.

The members of ARP then give their insights on the topic and can choose to debate with other members throughout the discussion. So without wasting any more time, here is the topic that was selected for this discussion and the responses that were given by the ARP team.

Topic: The Sacramento Kings were blessed to have great teammates for the 2016-2017 season, but which one stood out the most as the teammate of the year?

RESPONSES

Rafe (@rafnation): This was a difficult question to answer because there were multiple players on the Kings this season that deserve this award. For me, the two that come mind are Garrett Temple and Anthony Tolliver, but if I had to choose one, I’m going with Tolliver. 

Tolliver was such a valuable pickup for the Kings last summer because not only was he effective with his on-the-court performance, but he did an incredible job in being a leader and role model towards his teammates, especially the young guys. I even remembered seeing a tweet about Tolliver where he stated in an interview that his job was to prep Labissiere in taking his own job. That’s so awesome for a team that is currently rebuilding. Overall, based on the actions of Tolliver this recent season, there is no doubt that he is the perfect veteran to have for the Kings based on the franchise’s current situation.

Kyle (@notoriouskro): I’m 100% with you, Rafe. When you brought this topic up, Anthony Tolliver was the clear choice for me. He understood his role with the team both on and off the floor. After the DeMarcus Cousins trade, it was Tolliver who took ownership of the locker room.

It could have been easy for a veteran to get frustrated and not want to try or stay committed. However, Tolliver did the exact opposite and galvanized the team. The Kings played much better down the stretch, probably a little too good if we’re being honest, but it was a calming force on the young players. He never complained or failed to try.

Jonathan (@jonrxxiii): I do think Tolliver and Temple are the only two obvious choices. I completely agree with that. But I feel Temple is the better pick. I mean, he was essentially brought in for his leadership. Unlike a lot of other teams’ veteran leaders, he played a meaningful role for the team as he averaged 26 minutes a game and chipped in 7/2/2.

Not only that, but he’s also capable and comfortable coming off the bench to take on the other team’s hot player which I think sets a great example for the young guys on the team. He also appeared to be an extremely popular locker room presence among the team as well. Early on in the season, both Rudy Gay and DeMarcus Cousins were both raving about his leadership ability to the media.

Michael (@dugger_fern): It’s a tough call between Temple and Tolliver with both being leaders on and off the court to the rookies. But Tolliver did so in a lesser role on the court, which gives him the edge for me. His infamous tweet moments after the Boogie trade went down voiced a veteran who desired to make the playoffs for the fourth time in five years, but he realized that it was time to rebuild and found another role for himself in helping Skal. Tolliver’s tutelage of the rookie will continue to show results as the nine-year forward enters the final year of his two-year contract. The direct guidance over Skal gives him the edge over Temple to me, not saying Temple didn’t help others, but they were undoubtedly the leaders of a veteran-heavy bench mob that never hesitated to celebrate a basket, no matter the score. These two are under contract for next season and will look to continue their roles in showing the young players the ropes of the NBA.

I also want to give a small shout out to Arron Afflalo for showing Skal how useful the post-fade can be. Afflalo has seen his athleticism deteriorate over the years but has utilized the turnaround post jumper to put points in the basket (8.4 PPG in 16′-17′). If he didn’t directly teach this move to Skal, then the rookie took notes himself and is using it for his own production.

Rafe: I agree with you, Jonathan. It’s very difficult to compare Temple and Tolliver based on their leadership because they are practically on the same exact level in terms of it. There’s a good argument that both should be awarded this honor, but I choose Tolliver because I think he had a bigger impact on the development of Willie Cauley-Stein, Skal Labissiere, and Georgios Papagiannis. Because all of them play the same position, he was able to relate with those guys better than Temple did, in my opinion, therefore, making a bigger contribution to the core youth of the franchise.

Jonathan: That’s a good point Rafe, but to me, personally, to be a great leader it helps to get time on the court and lead by example. Don’t get me wrong, there’s plenty of great leaders in the NBA who don’t play much like Udonis Haslem with the Miami Heat, but for the Kings, I would have to go with Temple.

I feel he was also a good leader for the whole season too. Tolliver’s impact on WCS and Skal wasn’t really shown until after Cousins was traded in my opinion. I also think it helps that Temple still has two more years remaining on his contract to keep his impact steady while Tolliver could be a cap casualty this season or next.