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Sacramento Kings: What To Make Of Their Hot Start?

By Michael Saenz

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Mar 31, 2014; New Orleans, LA, USA; Sacramento Kings center

DeMarcus Cousins

(15) and forward

Reggie Evans

(30) celebrate a basket beside New Orleans Pelicans guard

Anthony Morrow

(3) in the second half against the New Orleans Pelicans at the Smoothie King Center. Sacramento defeated New Orleans 102-97. Mandatory Credit: Crystal LoGiudice-USA TODAY Sports

Does the Sacramento Kings 3-1 start to the NBA’s regular season mean anything

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Quietly, the Sacramento Kings have gotten off to one of the hottest starts in the NBA.

After losing by a wide margin to the Golden State Warriors in their opener (95-77), the Sacramento Kings have swung an opening season loss into a three-game winning streak.

During that stretch, they’ve beaten the Portland Trail Blazers, the Los Angeles Clippers and the Denver Nuggets. Standing at 3-1, I think it’s honest to ask: what to make of their hot start?

First, let’s begin with the facts. What do we know about this Sacramento Kings team?

  • For one, this is their best start to any regular season since the 2010-11 season. The last time it happened before that was the 2003-04 season.
  • They have two really good NBA players on the team, one budding superstar. That matters, and works, in today’s NBA.
  • In terms of defensive rating, the Sacramento Kings have the 7th best defensive unit in the NBA.
  • Their offense, not so much. They’re currently ranked 21st in the league.
  • Signing Darren Collison to replace Isaiah Thomas wasn’t the smartest move of the offseason, but it’s not as bad as we want to make it out to be. Collison is averaging 16.3 points, 6.5 assists and 5.3 rebounds per game.
  • Rudy Gay is still a pretty good player. He’s averaging 23.3 points and seven rebounds through the first four games.

Looking back, the Sacramento Kings really played a horrible season opener. They shot 30 percent from the field and only scored 77 points against the Warriors. And while much of that performance can be attributed to playing the best defense in the NBA, that could also be chalked up as just a horrid shooting night for Sacramento.

Since then, the Kings are shooting 45 percent from the field, which is higher than the league average this season. If you also scrap their season opener against the Warriors, the Kings are averaging about 104 points per game. That mark would be good enough for ninth in the league, just behind the Houston Rockets.

But you can’t.

The Kings are 3-1, and a big part of that is because of its trio of DeMarcus Cousins, Darren Collison and Rudy Gay. Combined, they’re averaging 62.1 points, 22.3 rebounds and 11 assists per contest. While on the floor at the same time, they are the league’s 17th highest scoring bunch.

The trio also is a plus-11.3 while on the court together, the league’s 12th best mark.

The biggest difference, though, for the Sacramento Kings this season has been their improved defense. And this season, it’s all started with Collison.

Per CBS Sports’ Matt Moore, the Kings are 27.4 points better per 100 possessions defensively with Collison on the floor than when he’s on the bench.

That’s quite a difference. Especially for a point guard.

But Collison has always brought hustle to every team he’s played for in his short career. And perhaps that’s the one thing that has kept the Kings from actually being a more-than-willing squad. Or competitive.

They’ve had Cousins in the fold for years, his talent has been noticed. Maybe his time with Team USA finally allowed him to gain that consistency, maturity and self-awareness that he’s been missing during the early part of his career.

Perhaps.

During his first four games, he’s posted 20, 17, 34 and 19 scoring outputs. And ZERO technical fouls so far. Last year, he led the league with 16.

Consistency.

Maturity.

Right now, it’s insane to say the Sacramento Kings are a playoff team, even if they’re playing like one — and even beating some of the. Although, in the Western Conference, it’s still crazy to anoint a team that didn’t make the postseason last season a playoff team this year.

And the Kings weren’t even close last season.

The Kings are playing good basketball right now. Perhaps it’s something they could build off of in the near future.

Although, is it sustainable?

Probably not.

In 2010-11, the last time the Kings opened the season 3-1, they lost 22 of the next 24 games. If they want to prove that this 3-1 start isn’t just a glitch in the early NBA season, they’re going to have to avoid such disaster.

That’s what good teams do.

And if they ever want to be categorized as one, that’s the first thing off the list that they need to check off.

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