Organizing the Kingdom
Trying to Make Sense of the Sacramento Kings Roster
With the 13th pick in the 2016 NBA Draft the Kings selected (wait let me Google the spelling on this) Giorgios Papagiannis. Even people who had been preparing for the draft (like me), were going, “Wait, what?!” Boogie, well he went straight to the man upstairs.
And the Kings offseason began.
The Draft
To round out the draft the Kings took late-rising Malachi Richardson, tumbling Kentucky Center Skal Labissiere and another dude named Cousins (Isaiah Cousins that is, no relation to DeMarcus). Yes, you read that right, after taking a project center and their star center publicly crying out about the pick they decided to double down and take another. Why? Well because they are the Kings and they constantly draft the same positions, over and over again.
Here’s a list of the Kings first round picks since Boogie:
2011: Bismack Biyombo — Traded for Jimmer Fredette on draft night. Jimmer was a combo guard in college and I am not sure what the Kings saw him as when they drafted him but he is definitely closer to a 2 and the NBA level, just can’t defend any 2’s. So one shooting guard. For the record, Biyombo is a center so that wouldn't even help.
2012: Thomas Robinson — Similar to Fredette, Robinson’s NBA position was in flux. He arrived a high-flying power forward but failure to develop any great skills besides effort on the glass shifted him to a small ball center role. A bit of a stretch but one center.
2013: Ben McLemore — Since a Kansas star hadn’t worked out too well for them (Robinson), the Kings went with an underwhelming Jayhawk. Also didn’t work. Two shooting guards now.
2014: Nik Stauskas — I had to. Nik didn’t rock. Three shooting guards.
2015: Willie Cauley-Stein — He’s an athletic freak and could develop into a good possibly great defensive player/ spread pick and roll center. But he’s another center, the only position the Kings have an above average player at. Two centers.
2016: Papagiannis and Richardson — You guessed it, a center and a shooting guard, congratulations Kings. Six years of drafting, four shooting guards and three centers.
How are you feeling right now?
Let me guess…
Quick Recap of Boogie’s Surrounding Cast the Past Seven Years
2010–2011:
As a Rookie Boogie scored the most points on his team, the second most were scored by Beno Udrih. Yes, that Beno Udrih. The only Beno Udrih. Nobody on the team shot over 40% and the Kings were bad, really bad.
2011–2012:
Boogie leads the team in scoring again, but this year Tyreke Evans is healthy and comes in second. The Kings are still horrible, and a guard who can’t shoot is a horrible fit next to Sacramento’s budding star. Again nobody shoots over 40% from three, but a young guard taken in the second round named Isaiah Thomas leads the team with 38%.
2012–2013:
Boogie is again leading scorer and Isaiah Thomas is second this year. He is a much better fit next to the skilled big man as his high volume and decent percentage from three provide good space. The Kings are still pretty terrible. Jimmer actually shoots over 40% but was terrible on defense and Patrick Patterson shoots a good percentage on a very small sample size as well.
2013–2014:
Same thing as the year before, Boogie #1, Isaiah #2, Kings still can’t win games, but it seems like they could be building something. Jimmer shoots a lights-out, 49% from three but under 100 attempts. Patrick Patterson comes back to earth and shoots sub 30%.
2014–2015:
The Kings let Isaiah Thomas go for nothing and the wildly inefficient Rudy Gay steps into the number 2 role. Omri Casspi is the best shooter but again with under 100 attempts.
2015–2016:
Boogie # 1, Rudy Gay #2 and the Kings are still losing more than winning. Seth Curry leads the team with 45% from deep on more than 100 attempts and draws praise from Boogie (don’t worry they’ll let him go).
That is Boogie’s NBA Career so far.
In summation, the best player he’s played with is probably Isaiah Thomas. Who the Kings let leave for nothing before hitting his prime years. The best shooters he’s had are, in no particular order, Jimmer (couldn’t defend, currently in D-League), Omri (might be Boogie’s second best teammate at this point) and Seth Curry (they let him leave to Dallas on a very cheap deal).
That brings us to this…
Kings Current Depth Chart
PG: Darren Collison, Garrett Temple (defensively)
SG: Aaron Afflalo, Ben McLemore, Malachi Richardson
SF: Matt Barnes, Omri Casspi
PF: Rudy Gay, Anthony Tolliver
C: Boogie Cousins, Kosta Koufos, Willie Cauley-Stein, Skal Labissiere, Giorgios Papagiannis
How does this make sense? There are enough pure centers on this team to roll a straight center lineup out on the floor. And they legitimately could. You see there is one hole in the depth chart, and it’s for a second unit offensive point guard. Who on this team has those skills? Well, I am glad you asked…
POINT BOOGIE!
This explains everything. You see Vlade (current Kings GM and former Kings legend), a skilled big man himself probably always wanted to be a guard. Seeing the talents of DeMarcus must have made him want to right the wrongs of his career. But it would be a hard sell, how could you dupe an NBA coach into playing a center at point guard? The reverse-Boris-Diaw if you will.
Well, probably by ridding the roster of any playmaking talent besides your prized center. Congrats Vlade! You’ve done the impossible. DeMarcus Cousins is — at least — the second best point guard on this roster. Boogie isn’t crying out against the pick, he’s asking for strength to help his positional transition.
With the 13th pick in the 2016 NBA Draft, I like to think Vlade selected “Point Boogie.” It just makes the world a better place. Because otherwise, Vlade is just crazy. And Boogie is just Boogie.
