Royal Roundtable: Most Improved Player for the Sacramento Kings
By Tyler Watts
Who was the most improved player on the Sacramento Kings this season? The A Royal Pain team discusses their choices in this article.
A Royal Pain (ARP) is continuing its roundtable discussion on each NBA award series. Today’s award is the most improved player on the Sacramento Kings. These are open discussions about the topic and debate is often sprinkled in. Without further ado, let us move into the topic and then the discussion.
Topic:
The Sacramento Kings had plenty of roster moves this season and we got glimpses at a plethora of players, who do you think was the most improved Sacramento King this season?
Responses:
Tyler Watts
For me, the most improved player was far and away Willie Cauley-Stein. He was almost nonexistent as a rookie on a bad Sacramento team. This season began with him out of the rotation. He had all the makings of a failed draft pick and then the Kings trade away DeMarcus Cousins, and boom Cauley-Stein is producing a double-double every single night and dunking on everyone.
Post All-Star Break, WCS averaged 12.9 points, 8.1 rebounds, 2.2 assists, 1.1 steals, and 0.9 blocks per game while playing 30.9 minutes a night. All he needed was the playing time, and he proved to be a big man the Kings can build around. I was impressed with his leap from year one to year two. Also, I look forward to another jump this coming season.
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Who do you guys think is the Most Improved King this season?
Jonathan Roberts
I really can’t see any argument to be made for anyone but WCS. He established himself as a franchise cornerstone after the Cousins trade and made himself a force on both ends of the floor. Cauley-Stein seems to have become a poor man’s version of Draymond Green. A scrappy player that does a little bit of everything, minus the cheap kicks.
Michael Dugger
Despite Cauley-Stein’s positive play after the Cousins trade, it’s difficult for me to select him over Ty Lawson. I’m a believer in the defensive qualities the 2nd year big man possesses along with a growing offensive game, but he had a small impact over the first 57 games. Cauley-Stein averaged 13.0 MPG pre-All-Star break and only 18.9 for the whole season. His improvement was noticeable in the extended minutes. However, his numbers were not much different from 2015-16’s 21.4 MPG/7.0 PPG/5.3 PG/0.6 APG/0.7/1.0 to 16-17 18.9/8.1/4.5/1.1/0.6/0.7, and he did no feature for the majority of the season.
On the contrary, Lawson averaged 25.1 MPG throughout this season and improved in every statistical category from last year’s showing in Houston (53 games) and Indiana (13). The veteran guard scored 9.9 PPG (.551 TS%) while leading the team in assists at 4.9 per game. His play is a massive turnaround from last year’s 5.83 PPG (.480 w/ HOU) with 3.4 dimes a night. Lawson increased his stats more than any player and contributed over the whole season for the Kings.
Tyler
I hear you with the Lawson selection. I was probably most surprised by his play this season. You mentioned his numbers in 2015-2016, and perhaps the eye test was even worse for me. He just looked done. The quickness that made him a force in Denver appeared to diminish. I was not expecting Lawson to be a force with the Kings.
My only argument to the pick is, can Lawson be the most improved if he was worse than almost all of his six years in Denver. Sure he improved a ton over the previous season, but I do not think he reached the heights he had in Denver. How do you guys feel about that? Are there any other players you believe need to be mentioned for most improved King this season?
Michael
I hear your points about Lawson’s Denver days being his peak, but he improved so much from last season’s debacle I had to side with him.
This award like the others is difficult to choose from because the Kings essentially played two mini-seasons before and after the Cousins trade. There could be a case for Buddy Hield after his slow start in New Orleans, but he doesn’t have 2015-16 numbers to support his claim.
Jonathan
With the Cousins trade having such a significant impact on everyone’s numbers were essentially looking at a 30 plus game sample for most players. I still think I would side with WCS, though. Lawson did improve but I feel more like he played how he should be playing and that last season was a fluke. WCS emerged as an excellent piece to build around. While his impact was not present until after the trade with NOLA, it’s difficult to say his outstanding play after the All-Star break doesn’t warrant most improved. Especially since, we can’t openly tell how much he improved in practice, something that likely led to the Cousins trade.
Next: Grading Each Current Sacramento Kings Player
Closing Thoughts
There you have it, ARP’s discussion on the most improved player for the Sacramento Kings. We will continue these discussions for each of the NBA’s awards plus a few our own. The content does not stop there, though. We will be covering the draft, free agency, and all the juicy rumors, so please check back with us often. Thank you for reading.