New Sacramento King Sean May Faces Make-or-Break Year

Sean May was a former top pick of the Charlotte Bobcats back in 2005, selected 13th overall. As a Tar Heel, May was an imposing force with his size and his inside-outside game.

He helped lead North Carlina to a national title in 2005 along with Raymond Felton, Marvin Williams, and Rashad McCants.  All three were also top picks by their respective teams.

May has struggled to find consistency thus far due to nagging injuries, plaguing him so much that he has played a mere 82 games in his four-year career. May missed all of the 2007-2008 season recovering from surgery.

The Kings have given the talented but oft-injured big man a shot to redeem himself this season. May has even started the first four games of the year, including the home opener against the Memphis Grizzlies.

During the off-season May worked out vigorously to loose excess weight to reduce the likely hood of injury and be more effective. Despite having a solid preseason May has been off to a slow start so far.

May is posting a scant three and a half points per game to go with a sparse two rebounds per game in nearly 13 minutes, all career lows for the former Tar Heel.

Spencer Hawes has started the past two games, moving May to the bench. May could be seeing even fewer minutes too, considering Kenny Thomas has been surprisingly effective. Not to mention coach Westphal is trying to find time for Donte Greene, Omri Casspi and Jon Brockman.

Despite being in the best shape of his career, May has been unable to play near his potential. May seems far away for the 11.9 points per game and 6.7 rebounds per game he posted in his sophomore season for the Bobcats.

In the brief stints I’ve seen May on the court he seems to have all the tools to be a very good player. He can pass, has an outside shot, can bang around the hoop and takes up a lot of space on the court with his wide frame.

Unfortunately for May, he has been unable to put it all together, and I have only caught a glimpse of what he can do. Barring some serious injuries to the team, May could very well ride the bench for the rest of the year, playing little to no minutes.

Only time will tell, but hopefully for Sean May and the Kings, the best is yet to come for the former top pick. But if his play thus far is any indication, this could be May’s only season in Sacramento and final year in the league.