BDL's 2009-10 NBA Preview: Sacramento Kings

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Once again back is— wait a second, this is our final Ball Don't Lie NBA preview, isn't it? Yup. So with that, we officially wrap up the series with a look at the good ol' Sacramento Kings. Thanks for playing.

2008-09 Record: 17-65, fifth place in Pacific Division
Head Coach/Facial Hair: Paul Westphal/None
Key Additions: Tyreke Evans (notes), Desmond Mason (notes), Sean May (notes), Sergio Rodriguez (notes), Omri Casspi (notes)
Key Losses: Ike Diogu (notes)

Apologies for saving the Kings for the very last, but they are the very least, and I can't shake the feeling that they'll challenge records for all-time futility.

The team's in a tough situation. They're above the salary cap, and though they'll be a good chunk under it next summer once Kenny Thomas'(notes) (woof) expiring contract finally comes off the books, the team is going to have to watch what it does, as it's hemorrhaging money, it's looking for a new arena and could be paying over $40 million a year for the next few campaigns just to keep the current core together on their rookie contracts.

The current core isn't bad. No player in the 10-man rotation played in the NBA before 2004-05, and while it's tough to call any of these youngsters an outright stud, it's tough to call any of them an outright dud either. I already used "woof," which reminds of "dog," so I couldn't use "dog," so I had to use "dud" and create a rhyme as an unfortunate byproduct. I apologize, but as you can see, my hands were tied in the matter.

Kevin Martin (notes) is the best thing going here. He's already on his second contract and coming off a massively disappointing year that saw him battle injuries and ennui. To these eyes, he loafed last season, barely going through the motions offensively and acting as one of the league's worst defenders.

I've been a Martin backer since the preseason of his rookie year; I've always dug this guy, but he phoned it in last year. And for someone who has to work much harder than your typical 20-point scorer just to get good shots off, merely showing up just doesn't cut it.

Even if he does bounce back this year, there's not much around him. Tyreke Evans will excite, but he's a rookie and doesn't appear to be the sort that would hoist a team on his back and onto 35 wins. Omri Casspi is another rookie. He had a fantastic preseason and will be taking the place of the injured Francisco Garcia (notes), but is that enough to compete against a proper playoff team?

Jason Thompson (notes)? Fine all-around power forward. Spencer Hawes (notes) is the rare center who can walk and chew gum at the same time. This is a good little unit that has room to grow. But it's so, so young. The defense was awful last season, the offense was miserable and though internal development can be counted on, this is more or less the same team that was blown out of the water last year.

The new additions might help more than they hurt. Desmond Mason hit on fewer than a quarter of his shot attempts in the preseason, giving me some awful karmic come-uppance for yelling at the Kings for drafting Hedo Turkoglu (notes) in 2000 instead of the defender they supposedly needed in Mason.

We're rooting for Sean May because he has the skills to be a stud down low, but he's battled weight issues and may need another full year to work himself back into being an NBA player. Meanwhile, Hakim Warrick (notes) just drove right past him, and that puts the Bucks up 73-39 with eight minutes to go in the third.

Coaching it all will be Paul Westphal, who is about as nice a man as they come, but has a history (to these eyes) of getting less out of his players than would usually be expected. That's the biggest kicker to me.

Maybe he turns it around. There's a great chance I'm wrong, and that he puts together some swingin' rotation that works much greater than the sum of its parts. I'm truly hoping I am wrong because I like all the players and personnel involved, and the Sacramento fans deserve a fun night after what they had to sit through last season.

I can't shake the negative feeling, though. I think that while we'll enjoy watching these Kings, their inability to compete on either end could have them posting almost legendarily low wins this season.

Prove me wrong, kids. I'm rooting for it.

Prediction: 12-70

— Kelly Dwyer

Can new coach Paul Westphal reach the younger players enough to make a difference?

No matter what happens, the Kings are in for a difficult season. Just how difficult will be up to Westphal and how he transitions back to being an NBA head coach for the first time in eight years. He doesn't communicate particularly well and he has a seemingly aloof manner. But this team is so young that it may not matter.

— Frank Hughes, Yahoo! Sports 2009-10 NBA Preview magazine

• Cowbell Kingdom: "... the point guard position has been an issue with this team since Mike Bibby (notes) was jettisoned for cap-friendly pieces. The rise and fall of Beno Udrih (notes) has encompassed two seasons of subpar performances at the point. Enter Tyreke Evans — a bulldozer-sized menace who will test the strength of every team's defense at its entry point. He immediately creates matchup problems against teams with traditional point guards and will look to have a similar impact as fellow Memphis alum, Derrick Rose (notes). This Kings team will not set the basketball world on fire by any means. But the culture has changed in a positive way and they'll no longer be a team overlooked by their opponents." [more]

• HOOPSWORLD: "Sacramento is in full-on rebuilding mode and will have a tough time stealing wins in a top heavy Western Conference. Kevin Martin can play but he can't do it all by himself and the supporting cast on this Kings roster is either too young (Tyreke Evans, Jason Thompson) or too old (Kenny Thomas) to consistently lift this team to wins." [more]

• The Baseline: "I can't lie, there are a lot of players on the Kings I'm pulling for. Martin's so slept-on it's a crime, and as you can tell, I'm very pro-Evans. But there's also the young big man triumvirate of Spencer Hawes, Jason Thompson and Donte Greene (notes), all of whom are very young and yet developing legit games in very different ways. The Kings don't have the makings of a good, or even decent, team. However, there's a lot of talent here worth keeping an eye on, and if things fall their way, they'll at least matter when the 2010-11 fantasy draft rolls around." [more]

Metallica, "King Nothing"

In many ways, the Kings are like the heavy metal band Metallica. They both have a horribly dated typeface to represent them. Each of their main components has a hairstyle better suited for the 1990s. And of course, they're both terrible and leave you feeling worse after having experienced them. The main difference, however, is that the Kings are enjoyable, while being a Metallica fan is one of the worst punishments imaginable.

— Trey Kerby, The Blowtorch

If there is a positive that can be said in reference to the Kings, it's that good fantasy players can and do come from bad teams. Kevin Martin is one of the better volume scorers in the league, and he'd be in the conversation for a Round 2 selection if not for his penchant to miss games. As it is, he's something of a risk/reward pick in Round 3. There's a bit of a drop-off after Martin, but Spencer Hawes, Jason Thompson, Andres Nocioni (notes) and Tyreke Evans all have something to offer. Hawes can shoot the three and block a shot, so immediately he's attractive for fantasy purposes. He'll start the season as a reserve, but that won't last long and you should only look at it as a buy-low opportunity. He'll be back in the starting five once the team signs a free agent with some size for depth. Thompson was quietly effective as a rookie and looks like he'll be a solid-but-unspectacular contributor for years to come. Target him around pick 100 if big-man stats at a reasonable discount are a need at that point. Nocioni will play plenty with Francisco Garcia out for a number of months and he usually delivers something of a versatile line. There are a number of worse ways to fill out your roster. Evans clearly should play over Beno Udrih, who does little to influence the outcome of games, but he may struggle to deliver a consistent fantasy line. Efficiency of production figures to be a real problem, even if he does compile some counting stats from the outset.