Boogie and the Beast
If the Sacramento Kings are going to take a step forward this year, it’ll begin and end with DeMarcus Cousins. He’s a legit NBA superstar at this point, but the Kings haven’t been able to build around him successfully for reasons both in and out of his control. George Karl’s system clashed with Cousins almost as much as they clashed personally and he still averaged 27 points and 11.5 rebounds a game last season with a PER of 23.6.
He’s awesome, but everything gets murky pretty quickly after that.
Willie Cauley-Stein will probably get the most run alongside Cousins. The second year big man from Kentucky rebounds well, can dive towards the rim on pick and rolls with ferocity, and is a plus defender (1.5 defensive box plus/minus). The problem is that he’s 7-feet tall and has little-to-no perimeter or high post game.
That’s a problem considering the fact that he’s playing alongside one of the best post players in the league.
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Cauley-Stein and Boogie have the potential to work together, though. Joerger had two talented, anachronistic big men in Memphis and found a system – several, actually – that maximized their talents by sticking Marc Gasol at the elbow and Zach Randolph down low and running most of the offense through the high post.
Cousins has the ability to play both effectively; Cauley-Stein doesn’t have Zebo’s post skills, but he knows how to finish around the rim. That means Cousins is going to have to really embrace the high post role if the Kings want to be able to space the court at all with both of them on the court.
Look for Cauley-Stein to get some more looks in the pick and roll game with Ty Lawson or Darren Collison, as well. If that becomes a consistent threat, Boogie can freelance by the basket, something at which he excels. Cauley-Stein would be a great piece on a team that could afford him a little more space and more minutes, but here we are.
He and Karl didn’t mesh last season, so hopefully he’ll spend more time on the court this season because, despite the lineup’s wonkiness, the Kings are probably going to be at their best when he and Boogie share the court.
Kosta Koufos brings some stability off the bench, but he’s a net minus on the offensive side of the ball. They reached in the draft for Georgios Papagiannis, a 7-foot-2 behemoth who spent the last few seasons in Greece. He moves well for his size and he’s only eighteen, but he’s just not going to see time on the court because there aren’t minutes to go around at the four or five spot.
Drafting him was kind of inexplicable, especially because there were a couple versatile wings left on the board, which leads us to . . .