With the DeMar DeRozan era on the Sacramento Kings over, it would be easy to declare it a failure. This was a complicated situation, to say the least. If there is any fault in this situation, it belongs solely to the Kings. It was their decisions and lack of foresight that wasted yet another talented player.
DeRozan is considered to be one of the best shooters in the game today, if not of all time. He's by no means a perfect player but it's impossible to deny how dangerous he is from the mid range. Despite what Drake seems to think, DeRozan has proven that with every team he has played with.
Deebo's second season with the Kings was the only one in his career when he wasn't averaging 20+ per game. You could attribute that to age as he was in his 17th season, but the issues are more about utilization. Specifically, the Kings traded for him and had no idea what to do with him.
Why adding DeRozan to the Kings didn't work
Sacramento brought DeRozan into the organization at one of the worst times in the history of their franchise. With the support of managing co-owner Vivek Ranadive, then general manager Monte McNair constructed a grossly imbalanced roster that was borderline incapable of playing defense.
If that wasn't enough, DeRozan was there for the firing of Mike Brown, the trading of De'Aaron Fox, the hiring of Doug Christie, the firing of McNair, and the hiring of Scott Perry. This all happened in a period of roughly four months. It was a rather unsettled period.
Making matters worse was the fact that the McNair front office brought Zach LaVine in, DeRozan's teammate from the Bulls. That pairing was an absolute dud in Chicago, so Sacramento thought the smart move was to put them together on an even worse team. Shockingly, that didn't work.
DeRozan was set up to fail by the Kings
Now, Sacramento is going through a rebuild process that is focused on youth and versatility, which DeRozan doesn't fit. It's been alleged that head coach Doug Christie doesn't get along well with his veterans, specifically DeRozan and LaVine. And Deebo's usage changed dramatically last season.
From day one, DeRozan was put in a position that he could not succeed in. He was brought into a broken, dysfunctional franchise with poor roster contruction, and told to win. Sound familiar? The Kings have done something similar to several players as well as former head coach Mike Brown.
While DeRozan isn't without his flaws as a player, what happened in Sacramento wasn't his fault. If you look at this time there as a failure, the blame for that rests squarely on the shoulders of the Kings' organization. The only thing they've done right for DeRozan was releasing him to free agency.
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