Sacramento Kings Continue To Trend In The Right Direction Heading Into 2015-16 Season
The Sacramento Kings have had a whirlwind of an offseason, to say the least. While some believe that the Kings are actually taking steps backwards, it’s hard not to argue just the opposite. The Kings had their moments throughout last season, but couldn’t get over the hump. With a pairing of Rudy Gay and DeMarcus Cousins, it’s hard to imagine that Sacramento will be unable to turn things around in the near future. The key though? Well, it’s going to be putting the right players around those two to find success.
Rondo struggled — really struggled — with the Dallas Mavericks last season. It was too bad, because we know Rondo has the ability to do big things and Dallas could use a leader in their back court. Now, Rondo heads to the Sacramento Kings on a one-year deal that gives him a chance to prove that he can still be one of the best in the business.
Pairing up Rondo with Cousins could be absolute gold for the big man, and this pairing alone may end up being the key to success in the 2015-16 season for the Kings.
The action doesn’t stop there though, because as we all know, the Kings chose to draft Willie Cauley-Stein with the No. 6 overall pick in the 2015 NBA Draft, per NBA.com. Cauley-Stein is an interesting prospect, but the Kings have to be ecstatic about the potential of pairing him up with Cousins inside, as well as giving him a point guard like Rondo to work with.
Then came this for the Kings, from Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports:
Caron Butler has agreed to a two year deal with Kings, league source tells Yahoo.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) July 10, 2015
First off, no, Caron Butler isn’t going to solve all of the problems the Kings have had in recent seasons. The Kings signing Butler isn’t really any type of a risk, but Sacramento is looking at a spot where they could get a solid reward for signing the role player.
Before last season with the Detroit Pistons, Butler had never averaged less than 9.2 points per game in his entire career. He may be 35 years old, but he’s got some juice left in those legs. Best of all, Butler can do a little of everything for the Kings.
Take a look at how the roster for the Kings will likely look heading into the 2015-16 season:
- PG- Rajon Rondo
- SG- Ben McLemore
- SF- Rudy Gay
- PF- Willie Cauley-Stein
- C- DeMarcus Cousins
- Bench- Darren Collison
- Bench- Marco Belinelli
- Bench- Caron Butler
- Bench- Jason Thompson
Obviously, the bench doesn’t jump off the page for the Kings, but these are some solid role players. If the starting five can really mesh, that’s a pretty strong group across the board in Sacramento. Not only is it strong, but it’s a young core of players, with no player being older than 29.
The Kings have some dangerous potential in 2015, but in order to be successful in a tough Western Conference, Sacramento will need to come out of the gate playing with a purpose.
[Image via Ezra Shaw/Getty Images]
