Roster - Sacramento Kings

Playoffs

Should the Kings’ be surprised that they actually made the playoffs after the tumultuous 2nd half of the season? Well the answer should be both yes and no.

The Kings fell one win away from matching last year’s record in which they made the playoffs for the first time in NLL history, so it should no surprise they made the playoffs again. However the way they did it was less than optimal. The basically made the playoffs because the Goldenstate Warriors went 1-3 in their last week and the Kings had the tiebreaker over them.

The question in place is whether the Kings should actually be happy making the playoffs. For a long time the Kings have been stockpiling expiring contracts for the free agent bonanza this summer. The Kings’ goal this season was to get the best possible record they could possibly get to lure free agents to Sacramento. If the Kings had won one extra game and won their division they would be the 4th seed, and would have a fierce first round match-up with their rivals, the Utah Jazz. Making the playoffs as the 8th seed and having to face #1 in the West Denver is a nightmare matchup for the Kings. The Nuggets are a team they’ve had notoriously bad luck against. The Kings could have achieved the same record and ended up potentially with the 13th pick in the draft, but right now are stuck with the 15th pick and are likely facing an early 1st round exit.

Tyreke Evans – the starter or 6th man?

After the Kings traded versatile big-man Lamar Odom for sharp-shooter Ben Gordon Sacramento struggled mightily to give minutes to their back-court. How do you manage minutes for Gordon, franchise player OJ Mayo, up-and-coming high flyer Bill Walker and rookie star Tyreke Evans?

Kings GM Forrest got heavily criticized for starting Bill Walker over Tyreke Evans throughout the season. Actually Forrest got criticized for a lot of line-up changes, but the Tyreke Evans issue was the biggest one. However his reasons were justified, and not just irrational play. Starting Bill Walker had several advantages over Tyreke Evans. Bill Walker’s ability to dunk and score inside were higher than Tyreke Evan’s at the time. Also Bill Walker added another dimension to the small forward position: 3-point scoring. This was no knock to Tyreke Evans who was undoubtedly a more dynamic scorer than Bill Walker, but the Kings management felt that Evans would be the perfect go-to-guy when the 2nd unit was in the game.

GM Forrest said, “we experimented heavily with lineup changes, and it was extremely hard on the team. We eventually found a winning formula near the end of the season, unfortunately it was a bit late”.

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		Comments (3)
forrest 05/03 01:46 pm	lol I'll do some more practice sims for you okay ;)
magritte 05/03 10:08 am	I'm one that thinks he should start....You are 21-20 when he starts and 20-21 when he doesn't, so I guess it doesn't matter too much!
sheed36 05/03 09:43 am	Evans starter for the god sake :P