Offseason Report Card: Kings receive one A, three Bs, and a C
By Elaine Blum
![Sacramento Kings, Domantas Sabonis, Harrison Barnes (Mandatory Credit: Alonzo Adams-USA TODAY Sports) Sacramento Kings, Domantas Sabonis, Harrison Barnes (Mandatory Credit: Alonzo Adams-USA TODAY Sports)](https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/upload/c_fill,w_720,ar_16:9,f_auto,q_auto,g_auto/shape/cover/sport/e3a227438ee36f0b5b1b6d27ee4cb9894d7eebafcbc33a61460408e90ee00014.jpg)
What is still missing?
Training camp is set to start on October 3, which is just a little over two weeks away, and all the major offseason moves have been made. The Kings kept together the core that had such great success last season and added some size, shooting, and wing depth.
One thing they did not address, however, was defense. During the last regular season, the Kings were not a good defensive team and mostly relied on outscoring opponents. This was a tough task sometimes, however, as the Kings allowed opponents to score an average of 118.06 points per game during the regular season. That was sixth-worse in the league, ahead of only the Spurs, Pacers, Rockets, Pistons, and Hawks.
One bright spot was defensive rebounding. Per game, they only allowed an average of 12.7 second-chance points, which was sixth-best in the NBA during the regular season. On the other hand, however, the Kings also allowed 53.5 points in the paint. That ranked 26th in the entire NBA, ahead only of the Pacers, Pistons, Hawks, and Spurs, out of which only the Hawks were a competitive team.
In the playoffs, they tightened up defensively, but there still has to be long-lasting improvement, which unquestioningly has to come from within, and it is not unlikely that it will happen soon.
Mike Brown is a good defensive coach, Davion Mitchell can lock down most guards in the league, Fox is a hard worker and already improved last season after showing true commitment to the task, Malik Monk was active on that end of the floor with the second unit, and Murray has good size, matched up with some great wings already, and did not look quite as lost as most rookies do in their first NBA season.
So, while the Kings did not manage to fix all of their issues in the offseason, we can still book this offseason as a success, and fans should be excited to watch the Beam Team make some noise in the West next season.
Overall Grade: B+
Next. 5 Players the Sacramento Kings never should have signed. dark