NBA Offseason Wrap Up: Out West, the Warriors reign supreme
TIER 6: COACH K’S BOOSTERS
14. Phoenix Suns
Key additions: Deandre Ayton (draft), Mikal Bridges (draft), Trevor Ariza (FA)
Key losses: Elfrid Payton (FA), Jared Dudley (trade), Tyler Ulis (waived)
15. Sacramento Kings
Key additions: Marvin Bagley (draft), Nemanja Bjelica (FA), Yogi Ferrell (FA)
Key losses: Garrett Temple (trade)
I’m not going to lie, finding the motivation to write about this tier was like paying my income taxes: painful and boring but inevitably something I had to do. Two absolute dumpster-fire franchises, we’ve finally arrived at the NBA’s version of the Marianas Trench. I’m unsure if I could even fire Hubie Brown up for the 2019 Suns and Kings (listen carefully to Hubie the next time he’s on a broadcast. This is a true basketball junkie.
He genuinely gets mad at guys who don’t do their jobs right and goes crazy over the most basic of chest passes. He’s 85 with the energy of Josh Hamilton at a tattoo parlour. There may not be another human being who loves basketball as much as Hubie Brown does. ESPN would be well served to use him like a Florida orange – just keep squeezing until there’s nothing left. I swear this guy will still be calling games when Apple inevitably buys the NBA and takes it global).
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These two squads had the first two picks in the 2018 draft and could very well have the first two next year (wait – the Kings actually don’t even possess their own pick next season. In a trade in 2016 with Philadelphia involving Nik Stauskas, Carl Landry, and Jason Thompson, GM Vlade Divac unthinkably threw in an unprotected future first round pick, which materialized in the year 2019.
To all 28 Sacramento Kings fans across the world, you may now smash your head repeatedly off a wall. Your team is about to suck for the thirteenth straight season and you don’t even have your own first round pick next year. It really is a shame what Vlade Divac and owner Vivek Ranadivé have done to the city of Sacramento throughout the years).
Staying on the topic of this year’s top two picks, Deandre Ayton vs. Marvin Bagley will be an interesting comparison to follow for years to come. They will forever be linked to each other and have similar levels of talent. Neither projects as a great defender, but both are elite athletes with the ability to score from inside and out. In an interesting way, both guys landed in alright situations for themselves.
That being said, Ayton definitely landed in the better situation of the two. He will play alongside Devin Booker, who is as good of a scorer at age 21 (he’ll be 22 in October) as anyone since Durant. Booker’s shooting and playmaking ability will open the floor for Ayton to go to work in the post or fade to the arc in a pick-and-roll situation. Booker draws a lot of attention as a pick-and-roll ball handler, so the opportunity will be there for Ayton to utilize his remarkable ball-handling skills in the half court.
While he’ll likely be faced with a lot of four-on-three action, Ayton will need to hone his passing skills right away in order to see crunch-time minutes.
Between Ayton, Booker, and rookie head coach Igor Kokoškov, Phoenix will have the ability to develop chemistry right away and run their offense entirely around their two young stars. The Ariza signing is a little weird, but he should help them in the immediate future, and young guys like Josh Jackson, T.J. Warren, Marquesse Chriss, and Mikal Bridges make the long-term future somewhat exciting. It will be a slow process but Phoenix is finally stable moving forward for the first time since Amar’e Stoudemire left town.
As for Bagley and the Kings, Sacramento is hoping he will develop into a consistent 20-10 guy for years to come. He will get the chance to be the number one option from day one and learn under Zach Randolph everyday. A tremendous offensive rebounder, Bagley’s interior-based game faintly resembles that of a more athletic Z-Bo. His full potential might be a more physical Chris Bosh. Being the number one option from day one is a good starting point for Bagley even with all the chaos surrounding the franchise.
Buddy Hield is an elite shooter and Willie Cauley-Stein is quality down low, but outside of them and Bagley, Dave Joeger doesn’t have much to work with. A good coach in Memphis, here’s what Vlade Divac has given Joeger for the upcoming NBA season:
- De’Aaron Fox; young but one of the worst offensive players in the league
- Bogdan Bogdanovic; okay as a rookie
- Ben McLemore; who just couldn’t get enough of Vlade Divac
- Zach Randolph; just celebrated his 114th birthday, will make $11.6 million
- Iman Shumpert; seemingly forgot how to play basketball, will make $11 million
- Kosta Koufas; I genuinely didn’t know he was still in the NBA, will make $8.7 million
- Matt Barnes; taking over Vince Carter‘s role as the guy in Sacramento who just won’t retire
It projects to be a long season for the Kings.
Related Story. NBA: 7 stars that we may have seen the last of heading into 2018-19. light
Suns projected record: 28-54
Suns chances of beating the Warriors in a series: 0.001 percent (about the same as the Kings making the playoffs)
Kings projected record: 19-63
Kings chances of beating the Warriors in a series: 0.0001 percent (about the same as there being a Bojan Bogdanovic and a Bogdan Bogdanovic in the NBA at the same time, both about the same size, look somewhat alike, and not be related in any way)