Team Preview: Sacramento Kings

Key Additions

Jason Thompson, Bobby Jackson, Donte Greene, Bobby Brown

Key Losses

Ron Artest, Anthony Johnson, Lorenzen Wright

Season Outlook

Another “rebuilding year” for the Sacramento Kings. Beno Udrih and Kevin Martin are a solid backcourt, but I don’t know it’s a championship-caliber duo unless the Kings acquire a top-notch big man. They did draft Jason Thompson this year, and there’s a small chance he fulfills that role for them. They do have a bunch of solid young players though after trading Artest for rookie Donte Greene and fan favorite Bobby Jackson. Shelden Williams and Spencer Hawes are lottery picks, but I doubt either becomes an all-star caliber player. They may get a chance to add a top-flight prospect in the 2009 draft, since my guess is that they are one of the bottom 5-8 teams this year. If they get lucky in the lottery they may be able to package their pick and some young players to move up and get someone like Blake Griffin, who has good chance of becoming an occasional all-star in the NBA. I go with a 27-55 record for the Kings next year.

How the Suns Match Up

In a word, well. I suppose the Suns match up well with any lottery team though. Players like Donte Greene an always cause match-up problems with their length and shooting ability. He did score 40 points against our summer league team after all. This isn’t a team that will outwork the Suns on the boards either, like the Minnesota Timberwolves did in two wins against the Suns last year. I haven’t seen Beno Udrih or Goran Dragic play a whole lot, but for some reason I seem to think they have pretty similar games. Dragic’s career path could mirror Udrih’s, so Beno will be a player to watch this year. If the Suns are playing anywhere near their potential, they should sweep the Kings.

2008-2009 NBA All-Pacific Division Team

There’s still about a month before the preseason starts, and everything basketball-related has slowed to a Piston-esque crawl. I was browsing through other WordPress blogs, and I saw a blog entry about an all-Atlantic Division team. So I figured why not take a weeks or two to look at the Pacific division and some of the Suns’ competition in the division, both this year and in the future. To kick things off, here are my picks for the 2008-2009 All-Pacific Division Team.

Starters

PG: Steve Nash. Gotta go with the hometown guy. There’s been a lot of talk about Chris Paul and Deron Williams surpassing him, but they’re in a different divisions, so I won’t even go into that. Maybe later.

SG: Kobe Bryant. The consensus best player in the league. Has done a lot to improve his image by playing in the Olympics, with an injury no less.

SF:Stephen Jackson. Now I actually have to start explaining myself a little. He plays good defense and is may have been the MVP of his team even with Baron Davis. His rep has skyrocketed since the bral in the Palace incident. Last year I don’t know he makes this list with Artest and Marion in the division.

PF: Amare Stoudemire. One of the best offensive big men in the league. Has improved his shot drastically in the last few years. Hopefully his defense will follow suit with new coach Terry Porter.

C: Andris Biedrins. Toughest choice of the starting 5 and the most controversial. A monster on the boards, runs the floor, and I haven’t heard anything horrible about his defense. There’s several solid centers in the division, including Andrew Bynum, Brad Miller, Marcus Camby, Chris Kaman, and Pau Gasol, depending on how you classify each player. Biedrins is young and uninjured, which is why he got the spot. Bynum will get this spot in my book if he returns to form this year.

Bench

Baron Davis

Monta Ellis

Kevin Martin

Corey Maggette

Al Thornton

Pau Gasol

Marcus Camby

Andrew Bynum

The plan is to go a little more in depth on the other teams and players in the division in the upcoming weeks. Don’t worry though, I’ll still be writing about the Suns a lot. Even in the previews of other teams I’ll try to discuss how the Suns match up with them. I’ll try to get player analysis in the roster section eventually to, so we shall see.