Sacramento Kings: Mistakes Made In DeMarcus Cousins Era
Trading Down for Jimmer Fredette
The 2011 NBA draft class was one of the deeper, yet odd, drafts in some time. Kyrie Irving was the first overall pick after only playing 11 games in college. After Irving, we wouldn’t see an NBA All-Star player until the ninth pick, Kemba Walker.
Following Walker, there would be four more All-Stars picked, with the Kings, almost naturally, missing on all of them.
The Kings traded their seventh overall pick for the 10th pick in a three-team deal. They traded the rights to Bismack Biyombo for Jimmer Fredette.
Fredette indeed was the bigger name, but Biyombo is still in the league; names don’t give you a career in sports.
Sacramento Kings
With all due respect to Jimmer, he did have a successful college career, but thats’s where it stopped.
Fredette was known mostly for his shooting. Unfortunately not so much for his defensive ability. Even with his 3-point percentage being an impressive 39.4 percent, there was always doubt about his game not being fast and athletic enough to transition to the pros.
Klay Thompson followed right after Fredette. Per Draft Express, Klay Thompson was never projected higher than the 11th overall pick.
Besides the mock draft projections, look at the raw numbers; Thompson still gives you more with his athletic build combined with his impressive shooting.
The players picked after Fredette were amazingly slept on. Neither Kawhi Leonard nor Jimmy Butler were lottery picks. The Kings lucked out and picked up the steal of the night in Isaiah Thomas.
The happenstance that the 60th overall pick was better than their 10th pick doesn’t help the Sacramento Kings’ credibility. Jimmer Fredette is no longer in the league, while Thomas is the second-highest scorer on another team (more on that later) and the Kings didn’t benefit from it.
Constant Coaching Changes
In the DeMarcus Cousins era, the Sacramento Kings didn’t seem to value the head coach position. Cousins saw six different head coaches in his six-plus seasons with the dysfunctional Kings.
How does one sustain any real continuity with constant changes to game plans and head coach philosophies? Not only did they have an alarming amount of coaches in such a short period of time, but they also had George Karl come right in and instantly shake up the boat.
USA Today’s Sam Amick was able to get a confirmation of Karl’s multiple attempts to trade Cousins. Cousins had three coaches in one season; that is absurd.
The Kings started well (for Kings standards) with a 11-13 record. It finally looked like the Kings were getting it together, even with Cousins missing nine games due to injury. The Kings had to King it up.
They fired Mike Malone despite the early success he had with the team and more impressively, somehow having a healthy relationship with Cousins.
The Kings went on to lose 40 games and finished with a 29-53 record. They would go on to fire Karl the next season after a season full of turmoil; so much for living up to Vivec Ranadive’s unrealistic expectations. Another reason to not take the Sacramento Kings seriously.