Sacramento Kings: Biggest strengths and weaknesses for 2017-18
Weakness No. 3: A vast amount of inexperience
No matter which way you put it, this season is year one of a long rebuilding project that the Kings are undertaking.
With five rookies, four second-year players and one third-year player, the Kings lack an incredible amount of experience from the foundation of their roster. Even with the veterans they have brought on board, some of which have decades worth of NBA experience on their own, that can only take this Kings team so far over the course of a long regular season.
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As such, results this year won’t be as prioritized as they were in the past for the Kings and given how they’ve missed the postseason for 11 consecutive seasons, it’s a good thing for the team to finally strike out on a new path towards achieving lasting success.
Being in an incredibly stacked Western Conference will only make any chance of competing for a playoff spot slight at best for the Kings and as a result, a good shot for them to snag another high lottery pick in next year’s draft.
With lottery reform coming for the 2018-19 season, there’s no better time for the Kings to focus on what’s best for the long-term of the team, given how the current system operates. By doing so, there’s plenty of lessons that can be learned along the way as their many youngsters acclimate to the NBA level this season.
Next: 2017-18 Week 1 NBA Power Rankings
After making it through the long days and months that is the NBA offseason, we’ll finally get to see the start of the Kings’ long-term plan in action in a little more than 48 hours.