The Sacramento Kings will surpass expectations in 2018-19 season

Many analysts and oddsmakers are predicting the Sacramento Kings to take a step back in 2018-19, but this young team will prove them wrong.

The 2018-19 NBA season is still two months away, but the experts have already set their expectations for the Sacramento Kings. As usual, the bar isn’t set very high for the Kings. In fact, many of the experts say the Kings will be worse than last year. Odds Shark has their over/under set at 26.5, and the popular assumption is that the Kings will win 20-25 games — less than last year’s 27 wins.

Many of these predictions are of course coming from the national media. That doesn’t come as a surprise to Kings fans, who are definitely used to getting slighted by the national media.

As someone who watches almost every Kings game, I see a world where the Kings actually improve from last season.

Even if this year’s schedule is arguably tougher than last year, that’s not the determining factor in how the Kings will fare. What matters more is that many of Sacramento’s players will be more mature this season. That means we can expect the rookie mistakes to decrease significantly. We can expect a lot less fouling a jump shooter, less passing the ball to the other team, fewer gaffed fast breaks, fewer defensive breakdowns and less lackluster effort.

De’Aaron Fox, Justin Jackson and Frank Mason III were the three true rookies who played for the Kings last season. Bogdan Bogdanovic was considered a rookie, but he already had plenty of professional experience from playing in Europe. The three true rookies had their share of ups and downs last season, but that experience can help them improve in their second years and ultimately help the team.

Bogdanovic had plenty of shining moments in his first year in the NBA, but fans can expect him to be even better as he heads into the new year. The second-year guard will be in better shape to handle the NBA schedule and will have a better understanding of the league’s teams and players. It’s hard to imagine how that will not result in the Kings being better this year.

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The Kings will have another player who will technically be a rookie this year, Harry Giles. Although he missed all of last season to rehab his knee injury, the hype around Giles has been gradually increasing since he was drafted. He showed a glimpse of his potential in NBA Summer League last month and gave fans another reason to feel optimistic about the upcoming season.

Last year, with so many new faces on the team, there seemed to be a confusion about players’ roles. George Hill was the best example of that confusion. He voiced his concerns when the Kings expected him to be a mentor for the young players, but he wanted to be the go-to player. With Hill now traded, Fox will have a clear role as the starting point guard.

Meanwhile, the rest of the young players can expect a bigger role in the new season. Unlike last year, when the veterans carried heavy minutes, head coach Dave Joerger has hinted at letting the young players take over. If Joerger holds true to his word, Kings fans will not be watching 30 minutes of Zach Randolph struggling to get up and down the court.

With all these reasons to feel optimistic, the Kings are destined to add to the win column in 2018-19.

How many wins? Let’s say 35.