The Sacramento Kings don't know who they want to be. A relatable predicament, to be fair. This identity crisis isn't solely the franchise's fault, as a De'Aaron Fox midseason trade request forced major changes and the front office actually did a solid job recouping assets (namely three first-round picks) in the deal that sent the former face of the franchise to San Antonio.
Still, the Kings now find themselves stuck at an all-too-familiar crossroads, with a roster populated by solid — but not superstar — veterans and unproven, exciting, but perhaps not future cornerstone player-level youngsters.
There likely isn't a potion of players that head coach Doug Christie could concoct that would lead this roster to a top-six seed, but there's also too much talent to fully bottom out and hope for some lottery luck. This middle ground between contention and rebuilding is a frustrating place for fans, who will likely lead to fans calling for changes by midseason — specifically, the call to hand the keys to the young players on the roster.
Doug Christie will need to balance competitive basketball with player development
Draft picks Nique Clifford and Maxime Raynaud spent a combined nine years in college, so they should be as "NBA-ready" as most other selections this year. Keon Ellis is entering year four in the league, but with only 153 games played in his career, still seems to have untapped upside. Isaac Jones, Palouse legend, did some good things in very limited action last year. Devin Carter (who should obviously not be traded) played 36 games in his rookie year, so making any judgment on him already would be silly.
Maybe there's not a star among this group — but the unknown is much more fun than the known when the known looks like another mid-30s win season, and that's certainly what it looks like in Sacramento right now.
Of course, Doug Christie can't neglect to play the veterans on this team. Domantas Sabonis, Zach LaVine, DeMar DeRozan, and Keegan Murray can all be positive contributors to a winning team. But there's not much intrigue on a team built around that core, and if the team stumbles to a sub-.500 record in the first two months of the season, it won't take long for fans to call for more minutes for the young Kings, and it'll be hard to blame them.
This roster isn't bad; but it's a little predictable. That's not what fans of a team with one playoff appearance since 2006 want.