Sacramento Kings Will Snag the 8th Playoff Spot in the West This Season

The Sacramento Kings were once again one of the worst teams in the NBA last season. The team is very young but also talented and athletic.  

Geoff Petrie has built this team through the draft and via trade. He quite possibly has a lightweight Shaq and Kobe combo in DeMarcus Cousins and Tyreke Evans. 

Besides the Thunder, Lakers and Dallas in the West, the rest of the playoff spots are up for grabs, and the Kings have a chance of snagging one of the spots in this shortened season.  

Here are the reasons the Kings can make the playoffs this year.

Jimmer Fredette and Marcus Thornton Will Be Instant Offense

Jimmer Fredette and Marcus Thornton have very similar skill sets and size. The two can score while blindfolded and get hot at certain points in the game. 

What this Kings team needs is for one of these players to be the facilitator, and it will likely have to be Fredette. He has decent ball-handling skills and is able to create shots for others off the dribble.

With no true point guard on the the roster, the Kings will need him to look to pass first. 

When the Kings re-sign Thornton, which I fully expect them to do, he must be instant offense when he enters the game. Thornton is very capable of scoring points in bunches and getting his team back into games, and that must continue in Sacramento.  

Fredette can do the same and keep this team in it to win it at the end of games.  

Look for these two explosive scorers to do some damage against opposing teams.

Sacramento Kings Have the Size to Compete in the West

Even with Samuel Dalembert likely leaving in free agency, the Kings still have the talented bigs to compete with the likes of the Lakers and Mavericks.

The only question mark is how other Kings players have developed during this lengthened offseason.  

The Kings' power forwards and centers are very talented on the offensive end but need to be better on the defensive side of the ball.  

AAU and college basketball never taught these guys how to play defense, since they mostly relied on zone schemes.  

Cousins, J.J. Hickson, Jason Thompson and the other big guys need to stay on their feet but still alter shots. This will allow Evans and the other guards to get in the open court for some easy buckets.  

Depending on how fast these guys have matured and developed will determine if that eighth seed is really in reach this season.

With a 66-game season, you never know.

J.J. Hickson Will Finally Mature

Acquiring J.J. Hickson for Omri Casspi was one of the best moves in Kings history.

Casspi was a solid player who played tenacious defense, but you knew what you were getting with him.  

In J.J. Hickson, we have a player who has only scratched the surface. He has ideal power forward size and is athletic enough to hang with all the forwards in the league.

Hickson can hit the mid-range jumper and loves to slash to the hoop, which is a perfect pairing with Cousins. 

Hickson’s arrival allows Cousins more room to work with in the paint. The Kings can now send a serviceable Jason Thompson to the bench for a great big man rotation.  

The Kings also have a long, athletic Hassan Whiteside waiting in the wings to get his chance. He is very reminiscent of Marcus Camby and can be a game-changer one day. 

Hickson has been looking great this summer competing against other NBA players in the Las Vegas league, and I hope a new situation is the right one for him.

His improvement will help others around him get to the next level, and hopefully for the Kings, into the playoffs. 

The West is stacked with teams who have a lot of size, and the Kings have talented big men to compete with them.

Free Agent Signings and Trades

The Maloofs have stated they will be very active in free agency this year. With the new collective bargaining agreement, which states that every team must reach a certain salary minimum, it is obvious they must spend some money. 

So who is going to come to the capital of California to play for this small market team that could be set for relocation next season? 

The Kings desperately need to fill the small forward position, and there are some notable players out there that include Tayshaun Prince, Caron Butler and Shane Battier.

All three are veterans and are looking to play for a chance to win a championship.  

This Kings need to find someone younger and talented that is an upgrade from the underachieving Donte Green. This player should be a hustler and someone who does not need the ball on every play.

If the Kings can solidify this position, it would give them a solid start to make a push for the playoffs.  

Petrie will not be able to make a splash with the big names in the free market, but he will find a gem. I also don’t doubt he is looking at many trade options that can help this team make a push. 

DeMarcus Cousins Will Be the Go-to Guy

The Kings have a big man with loads of talent but a big mouth. I don’t mind that Cousins has a spunk to his game, because it shows he cares.

Remember, he is still very young and has only played one season as a professional.  

Cousins has all the skills needed for a big man, and his skill set is already far more progressed than Andrew Bynum, who is of similar stature.

Cousins is able to hit the mid-range shot, score and pass in the post and use his body to get around. 

He needs to progress on the defensive end and stop committing boneheaded fouls. He must stay grounded and learn how to alter shots with his length.

The Kings are going to rely heavily on Cousins to score in the post this season, and I believe he is ready for the challenge. 

DeMarcus Cousins will eventually be the vocal leader of this team and will put up big numbers this season. If the Kings need a bucket this season, they will surely go to Cousins down low. 

Tyreke Evans Will Have a Rebound Year

Tyreke Evans was not himself last year battling plantar fasciitis, but he did well at times.

Coach Westphal continues to put the ball in the hands of Evans, believing he is a point guard. The man is a slashing shooting guard to the fullest.

He does not get others involved and always looks for his own shot.  

If the Kings can get a serviceable point guard this year via free agency or if Fredette can be that guy, they can slide Evans to his more natural position. He needs to learn to play the shooting guard position and know how to move without the ball.

His development as a shooting guard will determine how far the Kings can go this season. 

Everyone knows the knock on Evans is that he cannot shoot. He has stated he has been working on his shot in recent years, and I have no doubt the stroke will come.

But his shots constantly came from leaners and fade-aways, which resulted in off-balanced shots. Having someone else handling the ball and setting him up will allow him to set his feet on jumpers. 

This is the year everyone will really know who Tyreke Evans is, as his stats will be even better than in his rookie year. He needs to know his strength is slashing to the bucket, and he needs to rely and trust on Cousins and his teammates.

This will ultimately lead to a great one-two punch in the West, and the Kings will be a threat to take the eighth spot.