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*Photo via NBC.com(Getty Images)
It’s clear that the Sacramento Kings are in a transformative stage. This offseason, they have added eight free agents as well as signing two draft picks, including the lengthy defensive stopper, Willie Cauley-Stein. They traded away power forward Jason Thompson and fan favorite Nik “Sauce Castillo” Stauskas to the Philadelphia 76ers to accommodate their plethora of new talent.
Their most notable free agent signing was point guard Rajon Rondo, who ended his tumultuous half-season with the Dallas Mavericks on a sour note. The Kings small forward, Rudy Gay, played a key part in recruiting Rondo, being that they’ve been close friends for years; Gay even had Rondo in his wedding a few years prior. Rondo also has ties to fellow Kentucky Wildcat, Demarcus Cousins who has faced his share of scrutiny from the media.
Cousins was deep in trade rumors before the free agency period even began as the clock struck midnight on July first. His reported beef with head coach George Karl was put on blast throughout social media, but that died down when the Kings began to act cohesively; showing up at summer league games together and most recently, joining their teammate Omri Casspi on a trip to his native Israel.
The Kings finished the 2014-15 regular season with a meager 29-53 record; no where near playoff contention in the fiercely competitive Western Conference. To put their under-achieving record in context, the Kings still would have finished as the lowly 13th seed in the far less competitive Eastern Conference. But they have visibly bolstered up their roster with a variety of talent.
But the question is how all of these strong personalities and undeniable talents will play out on the court together. It can either be a success for a franchise that hasn’t had many peaks since the days of Chris Webber, Jason “White Chocolate” Williams, and Mike Bibby, just to name a few. But this current roster holds the most talent that this team has seen in years and they can capitalize on that to finally make some noise in a tough Western Conference.
With their potential also comes the fear that this team can basically implode into an absolute mess. The obvious mix of stubborn personalities ranging from players, to coach, to even the owner, can cause serious detriment to this team, but their talent should ultimately hold supreme.
How the players and coaches mesh with one another and produce on the court remains to be seen, but for now we know one thing: the Sacramento Kings have a talented roster that should achieve more success than they have in recent years.