A Royal Pain
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Opinion: Preseason hasn’t been kind to Sacramento Kings

By Jonathan Roberts

SACRAMENTO, CA - OCTOBER 8: Josh Childress #21 of Maccabi Haifa shoots a layup against Buddy Hield #24 of the Sacramento Kings on October 8, 2018 at Golden 1 Center in Sacramento, California. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2018 NBAE (Photo by Rocky Widner/NBAE via Getty Images)
SACRAMENTO, CA - OCTOBER 8: Josh Childress #21 of Maccabi Haifa shoots a layup against Buddy Hield #24 of the Sacramento Kings on October 8, 2018 at Golden 1 Center in Sacramento, California. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2018 NBAE (Photo by Rocky Widner/NBAE via Getty Images) /
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Following a 39-point loss at home to the Utah Jazz it’s becoming painfully clear this will be a long season for the Sacramento Kings.

The Sacramento Kings are sitting decently at 2-3 so far in the preseason, with their two wins coming against the Phoenix Suns and Israel’s Maccabi Haifa B.C. and one game yet to play against the Portland Trailblazers on Friday Oct. 12.

Let’s not get it twisted here though, the Kings have been tough to watch so far. An opening game against the Suns provided a chance to see the drafts top-two picks in DeAndre Ayton and Marvin Bagley III go head to head and it resulted in a good, solid game that Sacramento won 106-102. The rest of them? Not so much.

Against the Lakers De’Aaron Fox got the hype train going full speed, with an 18 point, 2 steal and 5 assist performance on 7-9 shooting in just one-half of play. Then, it all fell apart. He’s struggled mightily since, culminating in tonight’s 4 point, 3 rebound, 2 assist performance on 1-10 shooting over 28 minutes of action. To say it was a struggle is putting it lightly and that’s something that’s been true across the Kings roster thus far.

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Like Fox, Buddy Hield has had a preseason to forget. After seeing an uptick in hype over the offseason, Hield has endured a struggle early on. He’s averaging just 11.4 points on a dismal 41.1/35.7/95.0 shooting split. Last season, Hield was a prolific shooter hitting 43.1 percent of his threes and scoring 13.5 points per game, a far cry from what he’s done in the preseason.

In addition, Bagley, Skal Labissiere and Justin Jackson have all struggled at various points, though Bagley performed decently against the Jazz on Thursday, scoring 17 points and grabbing 8 rebounds.

There have been some positives though, Harry Giles has been fantastic so far and Bagley has had his moments. Yogi Ferrell and Willie Cauley-Stein have also shown flashes of solid play as have Fox and Hield at times, so it’s not as though all is lost. With that said, I need to admit something here.

Before training camp, I pegged this Sacramento Kings squad to win over 30 games. I thought the additions of Bagley and Giles along with those of Nemanja Bjelica and Yogi Ferrell added to the internal development of other young players would equate to an improvement over last seasons 27-win team. I no longer think that will be the case.

The struggles Sacramento have endured as a whole are deeply disconcerting. The offense looks lethargic and disjointed at times, as has the defense. Defensively, the Kings didn’t project to be decent on that end, but they’ve just been inept on that end. Not individually, but as a whole.

Sure, it’s still preseason and it’s entirely possible the Kings can figure it out by the end of November and start to rack up some wins. That’d be great, but if the Kings key building blocks in De’Aaron Fox and Buddy Hield are going to play like they have so far, it won’t happen. Especially with Bogdan Bogdanovic expected to be out for another few weeks.

I’m not saying the Kings will be a dumpster fire, but they might be. And even if they are, at least they won’t be the Minnesota Timberwolves. Alright that’s probably unfair, even without Jimmy Butler the T-Wolves arguably have a better future than the Kings do. Regardless, the Kings aren’t going to be good this year and the preseason seems to be proving that.

Preseason play should be taken with a grain of salt, but the Sacramento Kings haven’t warranted being given the benefit of the doubt. All of this is made even worse with the Kings not owning their 2019 first-round draft pick, meaning Sacramento is in for a long season.

Of course, not all is lost and there’s plenty to look forward to. The Kings could very well be awful as a whole, but watching the likes of Harry Giles and Marvin Bagley play their rookie year should make for good TV. As should De’Aaron Fox’s electric play, though if his struggles continue that could change.

Related Story. Sacramento Kings: 3 bold predictions for Willie Cauley-Stein. light

Unfortunately, regardless of what happens, Sacramento is still going to miss the playoffs. Short of Harry Giles, Marvin Bagley, De’Aaron Fox and Buddy Hield all turning into all-stars overnight, they’re not making the playoffs. And that’s ok, they shouldn’t (and were never) expected to this year, but it’s much harder to swallow when they have no first-rounder this year.

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