Sacramento Kings: How Impressed Should We Be?
By Marcus Bass
The Sacramento Kings are off to their best start in recent memory with an (impressive for Sacramento) 8-5 record that suggests Cowbell kingdom is firing on all cylinders and is ready to stake a greater claim on the NBA regular season. A deeper look into the Kings’ previous 13 games tells a slightly different story. It’s possible we’re more impressed by the Kings actually winning games, that we’ve ignored the teams and circumstances under which those wins have been collected.
It sucks that a history of struggle creates a wealth of pessimism even in the face of success. When examining the Kings, it’s hard to decipher if this team is serious or if there’s an impending burnout coming. Even after continuous impressive play and gutsy wins, there’s still room in the tank to doubt the Kings. It’s a combination of an early season mixed with minimal hurdles thus far. For the Kings, everything hasn’t been going right, it’s just been going much better than it has in previous seasons.
A win is still a win all day long, and while staying with that adage is what encourages the Kings’ current record to be taken at face value, wins against the Denver Nuggets, a hobbled Chicago Bulls team and a slow out of the gate Los Angeles Clippers squad aren’t very impressive. Their double overtime victory against the Phoenix Suns and win against the 9-3 Portland Trail Blazers were positive signs for the club, and that alone lends great support for the Kings optimism movement.
Their loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder raises an eyebrow, while the majority of losses handed to the Kings from the Dallas Mavericks, Memphis Grizzlies and Golden State Warriors can be chalked up as Sacramento meeting teams that are presently in a more competitive state. A similar case can be made for the New Orleans Pelicans, since Anthony Davis has stepped forward this season to make his bid on being one of the youngest MVP’s in NBA history.
Fact is, the Kings are simply playing a better brand of basketball and with Rudy Gay’s commitment to not only winning but attempting to do so in a Kings uniform, confidence is at an all-time high in Sacramento. They currently have the right mix of youth, athleticism, veteran leadership and experience in addition to one of the most respected coaches in Mike Malone. Time will tell if they’re for real, and if they do eventually burn out, it should be expected that they’ll be right back on the NBA stage placing fans in the same predicament.
The Kings are putting up more buckets per game on average (up 103.4 from 100.5 the previous season), are ranked eight notches higher in the defensive rankings (15th overall) and for the first time in multiple seasons they’re performing in the top 15 of a variety of stats. In addition to ranking ninth in scoring, the Kings also play at the 12th best pace of play and in addition to sporting the sixth best offense and 15th best defense.
There will come a time when the Kings play will be faced with less skepticism, it’s just unfortunate that it has to happen during a time when the team is in its greatest upswing in recent years. Should they continue to grow beyond expectation, they’ll join the ranks of teams who are expected to show out and perform well. For now they’ll have to endure the pessimists, and play with every intent to surpass their own expectations while impressing others in the process. It’s called gaining respect, and right now the Kings seem to be on the correct path to regaining theirs.