Sacramento Kings
The 2018-19 Sacramento Kings were sexy as fuck.
A true League Pass smokeshow with a dazzling smile and tight ass.
Kangz games were track meets with De’Aaron Fox taking the baton first as the leadoff leg. Fox broke out in his second season because head coach Dave Joeger let Swipa do his thang: RUN. In Fox’s rookie season, the Kings were dead last in the league in pace. Joeger brought Grit ‘N Grind with him from Memphis to Sac with endless dumps down to Z-Bo in the post.
But last year, Fox used his whirlwind speed in the open court to excel in transition, zipping downhill at every opportunity, as fast as Clark Griswold in Christmas Vacation. Sometimes Fox would even turn the standard inbounds play into custom and home-made transition opportunities that left opponents gasping for air.
Sacramento finished 5th in the NBA in pace, quite an improvement from 30th. The Kangz finally took their Lambo out of the damn garage.
Fox likes the euro step, but not as much as he likes the behind-the-back dribble to change direction. He glides in between rapid accelerations, and he slithers between and through defenders on his way to magnificent finishes at the rim. He’s best friends with the glass. On defense, Fox relishes chase-down blocks. He’s deceptive and so much stronger than he looks.
Fox wasn’t and isn’t a solo act by any means. Buddy Hield is the other Dash Bro with the brightest of green lights for letting the three fly. Hield hit an astounding 42.3 percent of his threes on 7.9 attempts per game en route to averaging 20.7 points per game, almost 7 points higher than his previous career-high average. Hield is up for a contract extension with a fast approaching due date of Monday, October 21st. Apparently Buddy is ready to get this shit done, but GM Vlade Divac has been hesitant to give him what he wants. Why? Because Divac is incomponent and likes sabotaging good things. Pay the man, Vlade!
Sacramento is in a bit of a rough spot financially because Harrison Barnes was re-signed this summer for 4 years and $85 million. Luckily it is a descending contract, but priority should have been given to Hield who is much more imperative to what the Kings do. We like the Black Falcon, he’s consistent and even-keeled, but the Kings could have their own version of a Big 3 with Fox running the show at the point, Hield sniping threes on the wing and Marvin Bagley III holding it down in the post.
A 6-11 sophomore, Bagley is explosive, elusive and springy. He was slow out of the gate as a rookie but showed he can do a little bit of everything. He’s an uber athlete like Fox which gives the Kings a well-balanced attack. But they have to figure out a way to keep Hield. Pay. Him. The. Money.
For as fantastic as these Kings were in transition last year, Sacramento’s half-court offense struggled mightily. However, Willie Cauley-Stein now plays for the Warriors and he’s been replaced by the free agent signing of Dewayne Dedmon. Dedmon is coming off his best season yet, making 38.2 percent of his threes for Atlanta. Swapping WCS for DD will open up the floor and create more spacing and lanes for Fox to work with. Cauley-Stein attempted 2 three-pointers all of last season. In contrast, Dedmon made 83 threes.
Trevor Ariza is also a King now, signed here to be another vet, but mainly to just keep gettin’ dem checks. Perhaps Ariza can be the new Shump. Iman Shumpert was the beloved veteran Kings leader before Vlade traded him away in a stupid deal for Alec Burks (gone) and a 2nd round pick.
New head coach Luke Walton -- yeah, Vlade also canned Joeger despite the breakout season -- has other good pieces to the puzzle on the bench in Bogdan Bogdanovic, Nemanja Bjelica, Harry Giles and newly signed Cory Joseph and Richaun Holmes.
Overall, this is a pretty good roster that would be a lock for the playoffs in the East. But out in the West, it’s going to be rocky.
One thing we can count on: Firing up the Kangz on League Pass to check out dat ass.
League Pass Notes
De’Aaron, point guard power dunker. Marvin, power dunker and rapper.
If you don’t like Grant Napear, then you don’t like NBA basketball!!!
The Final Question / The Final Take
Will opposing teams be ready for the Kings’ speed?
Our fear is that the element of surprise is gone.
The Kings won 39 games last year and did not move the needle in a big way this offseason while the rest of the West got decidedly better. UNDER 37.5 wins.