Sacramento Kings: 2015-16 Season Outlook
Three Key Storylines (cont.)
3. What Does The Frontcourt Look Like?
Normally, I’d really like the Kosta Koufos addition. He’s a tremendous backup/serviceable starting center depending on what his team already has in the frontcourt, and he’ll help the Kings on the glass.
But for a team that already had DeMarcus Cousins and just drafted Willie Cauley-Stein, having Koufos feels a little redundant. Perhaps that’s the difference between the realistic expectation that this team misses the playoffs (let WCS develop!) and the front office’s belief they’ve done enough this summer to end a nine-year playoff drought (Koufos makes Sacramento better now!).
But that short-term thinking ignores what might have been a far superior strategy to put talent around Boogie for the long-term:
Kings could've drafted Mudiay and signed Koufos. Then save $10 mil passing on Rondo while upgrading your point guard position.
— Cameron (@ThatManCam) July 17, 2015
In any event, now the Kings have Boogie, Koufos and WCS to manage in the frontcourt. Since Cauley-Stein is a rookie (and since Karl loves his former Nuggets), he’ll probably get the short end of the stick between the three. But neglecting to give him plenty of minutes off the bench would also be a pretty poor strategy, especially since the Kings have gotten in a bad habit of whiffing on top-10 draft picks and trading them away for scraps after only one season.
How will Cousins have enough room to operate down low with Koufos or WCS clogging up the paint? How much better will Koufos and WCS actually make the Kings with the spacing problems they cause on offense? These are the very real questions Karl will need to answer with his rotations.
Next: Best, Worst Case Scenarios