Sacramento Kings: Carl Landry’s Return To Health

The Sacramento Kings have a glut of power forwards at their disposal, but one man they will be hoping to lean on a little bit more this season is Carl Landry. Having signed on a four-year, $26 million contract with the Kings last summer, expectations were high for Landry in Sacramento. Yet that wasn’t quite how things worked out. In his first season back in Sac-Town, Landry made minimal impact, instead finding himself on the sidelines.

Landry was ruled out for the first three months of the season following hip surgery, and when he did return, he did so for only 18 games before injury struck again. This time it was a torn meniscus for Landry, and due to the gravity of that injury his season was instantly over. Like any knee injury, a meniscus tear is not to be taken lightly and it leads to a long process of rehab. It seems that arduous process is now almost complete for Landry though.

According to Igor Mello of CBS Sports, Landry completed his first full session last Monday. Head coach Mike Malone was quick to point out that he doesn’t feel the Milwaukee native is back to 100 percent, and that Landry was understandably still cautious, but the news was definitively positive. Malone added:

"“For him to go through a 2.5 hour contact practice and not have to sit out is a good sign.”"

There’s no doubt that it’s good news for the Kings, as Landry is a talented player, yet saying that, they need him to show a lot more than he did in his brief time on the court last season. Landry is a guy who averages 11.5 points and 5.2 rebounds per game over the course of his career, but in his 18 appearances last year, he didn’t even come close to approaching that mark.

Landry averaged just under 13 minutes per game, a drop in 10 minutes from his career average. In that time he managed only 4.2 points and 3.2 rebounds per game as his season average though. This can most likely be attributed to him never quite being at full strength, or confidence, but it’s something that Sacramento needs to ensure doesn’t happen again.

When you consider that Landry re-joined the Kings following one of the most productive seasons of his career, it’s only natural that the fans, and the team itself will look for a comparable return from him. Coming off the bench in his single season in Golden State, Landry showed the ability to dominate offensively, while remaining consistent. This made him the focal point of the Warriors’ bench unit, and the Kings should look to replicate that.

For the Kings’ starting five, offense shouldn’t necessarily be that much of a problem. Between DeMarcus Cousins and Rudy Gay alone, Sacramento will have a lot of offense. When you search deeper down into their roster, things get a little bit more thread-bare though. The Kings had the 10th lowest scoring bench in the NBA last season, rooted firmly towards the back of the pack.

If anything the team’s increased influx of youth this summer, will only make it harder for their bench to function coherently on offense too. This is where Landry could be huge. Despite being undersized, he is more than capable of banging bodies inside to finish at the rim, or he can step back and shoot midrange jump shots.

That type of versatility and experience could prove vitally important for the Kings up front, so for the franchise and its fans, Carl Landry’s health needs to be of paramount importance.