Ranking Sacramento Kings' Biggest Priorities for 2015 NBA Offseason
This is the biggest offseason in recent memory for the Sacramento Kings.
It's the team's last dress rehearsal at Sleep Train Arena before moving to the new downtown entertainment and sports complex for the 2016-17 season. If the Kings want to start things right at their new building, they'll need to put their best foot forward in 2015-16.
What's more, after being stuck in salary-cap hell for years, the team finally has some flexibility this offseason. Sacramento will be able to upgrade its roster through trades or free agency without any excuses.
Not to mention with head coach George Karl, the Kings have someone on the bench with a vast track record of success. After taking over at the All-Star break in 2014-15, Karl now has a full offseason to remake the team in his image.
3. Get Everyone on the Same Page in the Front Office
Before the Kings go out and upgrade their roster, they need to make sure everyone in the front office is working together toward one collective goal. That goal should be making the playoffs, but how they get there is where differences could arise.
Back in March, the team announced it had hired former player Vlade Divac as its vice president of basketball and franchise operations.
But what exactly is Divac's role, and how does bringing him in change the hierarchy of the front office?
We know general manager Pete D'Alessandro is still with the team, but it's unclear how the GM factors into things.
According to ESPN.com's Marc Stein, Divac is the team's top decision-maker.
Despite this development, the popular Divac has no experience whatsoever running an NBA franchise. Even if he has final say on personnel decisions, the Kings will need to surround Divac with strong people and make the decision-making process a collective effort.
But will the people involved be able to put aside differences and trust one another? Owner Vivek Ranadive supposedly elevated Divac because of a lack of faith in the work being done by other members of the front office.
Now D'Alessandro and assistant GM Mike Bratz will need to work with the man who leapfrogged them in the chain of command. And not only do they have to work with him, but they have to find common ground on how they want to go about building this roster.
None of this even considers Ranadive once again dipping his hands into the cookie jar, which could complicate things even further.
Between the men making the personnel decisions and the decisions themselves, there are a lot of moving parts. In order to streamline the process, the front office will need to have everyone pulling in the same direction.
2. Utilize All Available Avenues to Upgrade the Roster
Once the front-office members making decisions are on the same page, they need to explore all available avenues to upgrade the roster.
The good thing is the Kings have flexibility to maneuver. According to Hoops Hype, Sacramento only has eight guaranteed contracts for 2015-16, totaling $52.3 million.
In light of Draft Express' Jonathan Givony's report, that leaves the Kings $15 million in cap space and nearly $30 million until they hit the luxury tax. When combined with the seven potential roster spots available, there's a lot of room to work with.
The Kings have a top-nine draft pick they can use either to select a player or as a trade chip. Drafting a player like Willie Cauley-Stein, Kristaps Porzingis or Justise Winslow would help the team more in the long term, while swapping the pick for an established player would be more of a boost in 2015-16.
For example, the Kings could package their pick and go after point guard Ty Lawson. Lawson thrived under Karl in Denver, and the Nuggets may be willing to deal him since they're seemingly on the brink of a rebuild.
While Sacramento has never been much of a player in the free-agent market, it's also an avenue worth considering. Sure, the Kings are unlikely to entice premier free agents like Kevin Love, Paul Millsap, Marc Gasol or Goran Dragic, but there's no reason why they can't find quality players capable of helping.
After all, between DeMarcus Cousins, Rudy Gay and, to a lesser extent, Darren Collison, the Kings have three good pieces to build around. Adding some quality shooters to help space the floor or some defensive stoppers would go a long way in helping the team's weaknesses without detracting from its core players.
1. Let George Karl Go to Work
The most important thing this offseason is letting Karl go to work. His 30-game stint to end the season was a trial run. It allowed the coach and players to familiarize themselves with each other and install some of the concepts the coach likes to utilize.
But Karl's real work as head coach of the Kings won't come until this offseason.
With him already at the helm and having the front office behind him, the Kings can target players who fit what the coach wants to do. They can find the necessary floor-spacers to allow his dribble-penetration offense the room to work. They can add big men capable of running the floor.
Not only that, but Karl can keep finalizing his coaching staff, which he was never able to do when coming over midseason. For example, he just hired Chad Iske as his associate head coach.
Then, once the roster and coaching staff are in place, the front office can hand it over to Karl and watch him work.
With the coach's track record of success, there's no reason to believe his .367 winning percentage with the Kings was anything other than an aberration.
Not only did he come into a toxic situation with rightfully disillusioned players, but Karl never got to coach Collison, who was hurt prior to his arrival. He never got to work on the team's defense, which was 27th in defensive rating under his tutelage. The offense, while decent at 12th, struggled with turnovers, averaging 16.0 per 100 possessions.
Karl has made the postseason in 22 of his 26 seasons as a head coach, which also includes this past season with the Kings. With the right roster and time to work with it in training camp, there's no reason he can't make it 23 in 27.
Unless noted otherwise, all stats courtesy of Basketball-Reference.com and NBA.com.
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