Sacramento Kings rookie Justin James deserves more minutes and opportunities than he is currently receiving. Here are three reasons why.
It’s obviously been a rough season in Sacramento. Nearly every player on the Kings roster has seen a regression from last season. Worse, GM Vlade Divac‘s style of making every decision as a gut choice, as opposed to an informed decision, is starting to come home to roost. There has been little to cheer for lately, especially coming off the high expectations and excitement over the summer after the 39-win 2018-19 team. However, there are some bright spots to be found here and there. One of them is Sacramento’s second-round draft pick this summer, Justin James.
His numbers don’t exactly jump out at you; he is currently only averaging 2.6 ppg, 1.1 rpg and 0.5 apg with a 40.0/33.3/30.8 shooting split. But he has also shown a motor and a desire to his game in the limited minutes he has received (8.5 mpg average in 24 games). In the wake of the Trevor Ariza trade, which sent Ariza, Wenyen Gabriel, and Caleb Swanigan to the Portland Trail Blazers, it stood to reason that there would be some room in the rotation to start working in one of their younger shooting guards.
That hasn’t been the case just yet. Since the trade was made official on January 21st, James has only played a total of three minutes in three games, putting up nothing on the stat sheet except a pair of free throws, going 1 for 2. This is a shame. Considering what an obscure pick James was at the time (I don’t know that there was anybody who thought the Kings were going to select him with the 40th pick this summer), he has earned the right for more playing time.
Here are three reasons why Justin James should be playing more going forward.