As July continues to see cajoling, cleaving, and corralling of the NBA’s remaining free agents, few teams have had more of a roaming shopping trip than the Sacramento Kings.
The small market basket case of a team who appeared unmarketable before the July 1 opening of the free agency window has been able to absorb the everyone from onetime champions to hungry backups looking for their moment in the sun. These groups often overlap in the case of this offseason’s Kings signatories.
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What is so striking about the pieces that team vice president of basketball and franchise operations Vlade Divac has been able to assemble over the last couple weeks is that they add pedigree and experience with elite teams.
Caron Butler (who agreed to a two-year deal on Friday), Rajon Rondo, and Marco Belinelli all have rings from the last eight years, but none of them come in as the focal point of their respective championships.
Butler missed the last four months of Dallas’ 2010-11 championship run after tearing a tendon in his knee; Rondo, then a second-year player, won a ring with Boston but existed in the shadow of Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett, and Ray Allen — and has been struggling to recreate past glories since his ACL gave out in 2013; Belinelli had his moments during the 2014 Finals, but was used as a backup for Manu Ginobili.
Though he doesn’t have the jewelry of the other three new additions, Kosta Koufos has seen the kind of mettle it takes to get into the Western Conference playoffs, and gained that experience under coaches like Jerry Sloan, Dave Joerger, and — wouldn’t you know it — George Karl.
His time with the 2010-11 Timberwolves (who finished 17-65), of course, has likely given him the bitter medicine of a counterpoint to the success stories of his other teams. Mercifully, he was traded to Karl’s Denver Nuggets before facing the inevitable conclusion of that Minnesota-behind-Darko Milicic aberration.
These men have all seen great team cultures, even if they themselves were never singed by the heat of the team’s spotlight. They all have experience under some of the league’s most storied coaches, and some know the systems of those who are still driving teams to the playoffs to this day.
Were the narrative that simple, one might be inspired at the consistency of Divac’s moves. What sours this simple serendipity is the way the Kings have taken a meat cleaver to their holdings in order to add this layer of experience.
Though this year’s No. 6 overall pick, Kentucky’s Willie Cauley-Stein, appears ready to live up to his selling points, the Kings have flushed previous draftees Nik Stauskas and Jason Thompson down the 76ers toilet along with a first-round pick, and have given Ray McCallum the immense opportunity to be a San Antonio Spur while receiving only a second-round pick.
The influence of those who have been in the midst of greatness is valuable, to be sure.
Butler, Rondo, and Belinelli can provide some seasoned guidance to the Kings’ younger up-and-comers [knocks wood] but between injuries past, differing personal styles of play, and personalities, this could be another year in which the Kings’ court is filled with those who have known, and done, better.
Rondo needs the ball to feel involved, but doesn’t have the elite ball-handling or shooting that give him undisputed license to hang onto it; Butler is now halfway through his roller-coaster 30s, and his points per game have been dropping since his time in Washington, while his minutes per game haven’t dropped under 20; Belinelli’s impressive averages (10.5 points per game over the last five years, a career average of .392 from three-point range) could give hope, but the weight of being a Western Conference starter (his presumptive role in Sacramento) may alter his effect; Koufos will have to sort out a way to interact with both Cauley-Stein and DeMarcus Cousins, both of whom seem willing and able to continue cutting to the basket and spending assists.
Plus, if Rudy Gay is to move toward a power forward pastiche, the frontcourt could become crowded and confused.
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Creating a winning culture is something that not only depends on finding a fit between players, but on the upper levels of an organization committing themselves to a disciplined and steady manner of building.
The Kings have long been antithetical to this concept, and though it is arguable that they are a long way from turning that around, Divac’s time at the helm of operations have shown his tendency toward the smoothing of relationships.
The Kings of the past would have hacked Cousins or Karl out of the picture following their public dispute, but even with some reasonable trades drifting through the rumor mill this summer, Divac has demonstrated an authority that the Kings sorely needed, keeping his franchise player and veteran coach intertwined even through their strife.
His candor and sense of confidence in his role is the most fans can count on at this point, but even that is a net positive for those in Sacramento who are used to breakneck changes on and off the court, without clarity accountability.
Now, in the offseason, Divac is displaying his priorities, and chief among them seems to be a supplement of winning experience. The Kings’ moves have shown that they can still attract elder talent, but whether or not the motley crew in Sacramento can mesh and incorporate each others’ gifts while bridging each others’ gaps is something we’re likely to find out the hard way – throughout another season of tinkering, building, and adjusting.
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