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The Sacramento Kings had a… let’s call it an interesting off season. The Kings drafted a Center in the first round, again, and it made their All-Star Center/franchise player DeMarcus Cousins confused. That’s twice they used a high draft pick on a position where they already have an All-Star caliber player, and they have Kosta Koufos, a solid center playing the backup role. They also lost Rajon Rondo, and replaced him with Ty Lawson (who I still believe in as a player, but I wouldn’t pay him a dime until he figured out how to behave off the court). I do enjoy the Isaiah Cousins pick in the second round. If anything it’ll give a fun Cousins-to Cousins pick-and-roll. If you had asked me three years ago how the Kings were going to look, before they gave Isaiah Thomas away, I’d say fighting for the 8th seed… they are not there yet.
Before the season is even started, Rudy Gay has stated that he will not re-sign. So the Kings will obviously look to trade him right? I mean despite his previous reputation, he has easily been the second best player on this team. And I know there are teams (cough the OKC Thunder cough) who would love to have him. Nope, Divac said that they plan on keeping him for right now and trying to convince him to re-sign. You know instead of dealing him now, that way everyone else can be used to playing without him or with whoever they get in the trade. Yeah, keeping him around sounds a lot better.... Better wait until you see if your playoff bound or not. My bets on not.
Speaking of reasons why they aren’t going to the playoffs, recently Ty Lawson got in trouble for missing the team flight to Kentucky (Vegas to Kentucky). Now according to head coach Dave Joerger, he had personal issues. Personal issues… in Vegas. Now according to TMZ, he was partying before his flight. And according to TMZ, I mean they have a video and photograph of him partying in Vegas before his flight. I wish I had personal issues.
Will the Kings surprise me? Probably not. I do expect them to win more than 30 games, because I expect Rudy Gay to put on a show at the start of the season to show how much he is worth to other teams. I also expect Lawson to pull a Rondo and stuff his stats to try and get a better contract for next season. With all of that to consider, the Kings should continue to improve under coach Joerger.
***UPDATE***
It was just reported today (October 18, 2016) that the Kings and Heat are in talks for a trade centered around Rudy Gay and Goran Dragiç.
That might be the smartest thing the Kings have done since drafting Isaiah Thomas. That would work for the Kings, they would have a solid starting point guard under contract for at least two years, and if they could somehow get the Heat to take Kosta Koufos in the deal too in order to get more minutes for all of their rookies, that would be amazing.
I'm not sure why the Heat would do this since they have Justise Winslow. I have a theory, but it's just my opinion. My theory is if and when this trade materializes, you'll see the Thunder involved too in a three team deal revolving around the Kings getting Dragiç, the Thunder getting Gay, and the Heat getting Payne and maybe a pick or two. Just my theory, but man this would be great for the Kings, and then maybe they would surprise me.