Sacramento Kings: Expect Another Solid Season From Kosta Koufos

With Kosta Koufos having three seasons under his belt with the Sacramento Kings, there have not been many complaints pertaining to his game.

Kosta Koufos is far from an elite athlete, but he has been a consistent asset for the Sacramento Kings. Fans know what he will give the purple and white when he is playing.

Kosta Keeps Improving Offensively

On offense, Koufos was not a big scoring threat during his first year with the Kings. I made the joke that he was great at making baskets exclusively five feet or under, but the joke might be on me as over the last couple of seasons he has added more moves to his offensive arsenal. Kosta has the underhand flip shots and half hooks with a couple of others that are unique to him. What they are is effective and not the run of the mill shots.

Kosta is not fast and almost looks clumsy when on the court. But he actually has good footwork and is smart. He keeps adding more to his game every offseason. That is what a professional does. But not all players come back with new scoring moves that will keep another team honest on defense.

To keep it real, Kosta is not going to score 20 points a night. He will leave that to plenty of other players like Zach Randolph. Koufos is a well-rounded player who knows his role with the team. Nothing fancy but you know what he is going to give you 100% when he is on the floor.

Defense/Screens Are What Define Kosta

Koufos is a player who gets his body on his man and makes him work for every inch to get his shot off. Kosta will get a hand in shooters’ faces and he is great at knowing how to play in Dave Joerger’s defensive schemes.

If you want to see a textbook example of how to set a screen, then watch Kosta. He will make sure the opposing player feels some contact before he decides to go under or over the screen. Koufos does the dirty work that is not going to show up in the box score, but he mainly is put in the game for his defense. With that being said, however, he has shown he can also score when the team needs a boost on offense.

Kosta is not a threat from deep as he takes about one three-point shot every season.  Stretching the floor with the long ball is a big no, but let us not forget that Kosta is a good high-post passer.

Expectations For Kosta

If Kosta can increase his numbers up to 10 points and 10 rebounds a night, he will see plenty of court time. His offense should be a couple of points higher a game. It would be nice to see the rebounds go up as well, but it will all hinge on his playing time.

Koufos will be ready to do what is needed coming off the bench. A ton of players for Sacramento are fighting for time at the forward/center positions, so the competition is going to be intense.

Kosta decided to stay with the Kings when he exercised his player option for $8.73 million. So let us see if his summer improvements have him living up to his salary. It is not who starts, but who finishes the games that really matter. Koufos could be there at the end of games as a consistent performer on defense for the Kings.

Final Thoughts

Kosta is not the guy with the ball in his hands a lot. But he is a guy that can give the Kings an occasionally spark.

When Kosta runs the floor, he will get easy baskets for a team that needs all the easy scores they can get. Especially with De’Aaron Fox running the point who is looking for all his big men to run every chance they get.

Defense is what they expect from Kosta, but the more he adds to the offense, the better. This keeps the defense from cheating off of him to double another player. So shoot away Kosta, but just not from three-point range.

The Sacramento Kings are going to need everyone to step up their game this year. If they all come to training camp a little better than they were last season, the Kings will be set for a good campaign.