Sacramento Kings Season Recap

It was supposed to be a rebuilding season. They were supposed to struggle and accept that they are at the bottom of the league. When people named teams like Minnesota, Memphis or Charlotte, Sacramento was right there with them. They were supposed to win 33 games with a rookie coach and staff with a bunch of nobodys on the team. Every time they played, they were supposed to roll over and quit. They didn't.

No matter how downlooked they are, or what their record is, the Kings surpassed a lot of expectations from experts and just about everyone. The way the Western Conference played this year, the injuries that decimated the team over significant periods of time, they weren't even supposed to have 30 wins this year. Teams came in with Sacramento on their schedules and checkmarked them as a win. Let's just say 46% of them were wrong, including a lot of playoff teams.

PRE-SEASON

After a depressing 06-07 season, former head coach Eric Musselman was fired when he continued his playoff drought and led Sacramento to missing the playoffs for the first time in 9 years. After interviewing many coaches, the organization chose Stan Van Gundy. Van Gundy was house shopping in Sac until he heard the Orlando Magic coaching job was open and took off without notice. Larry Brown expressed interest in the coaching vacancy in town, but the Kings chose the former King Reggie Theus. That left a lot of fans wondering why Theus was picked over a veteran coach like Brown. They were also the last to pick a head coach in the league that summer.

After that, the Kings fired the whole coaching staff except for the trainer Pete Youngman. Kenny Natt, Chuck Person, Rex Kalmian, Jason Hamm, Randy Brown and Bubba Burrage, all rookies on staff. In the draft, the Kings only had one pick at #10, using it to grab center Spencer Hawes, with Joakim Noah being the first option if he wasn't drafted earlier. Although he played well in the Las Vegas Summer League, Hawes had to undergo surgery on his knee, his fourth since he was 14 years old, which brought a lot of controversey to the 19 year-old. They signed free agent rookie and point guard Mustafa Shakur after the draft when Ronnie Price left the team for the Utah Jazz.

The Kings also dipped into free agency, signing for New Jersey Net Mikki Moore, who had a breakout season. He was seen as athletic and hopefully be the big man the Kings were looking for. Brad Miller had re-dedicated himself to basketball, after averaging career lows. What was even better is that shooting guard Kevin Martin, after his breakout year, signed a 5 year $55 million contract, solidifying him as a cornerstone for rebuilding.

As the pre-season games began, Sacramento added Orien Greene and Darryl Watkins to their regular rosters. The Kings went 3-5 in the pre-season, with close losses to the Mavs, Clippers and Lakers. The Kings lost veteran point guard Mike Bibby and was sidelined for 36 games before returning. The Kings had no real back-up point gaurd, and Artest was to be suspended for 7 games and add a Justin Williams sex scandal, which there was no case to be found. With Greene a tweener and Shakur a bad draft pick and waived, the Kings looked to free agency once more and signed injured point guard Beno Udrih. The left-hander was traded from San Antonio and waived by Minnesota, and he was looking for an opportunity to grow, but his shooting hand was broken and he'd wait for 4 games to play.

REGULAR SEASON

The Kings started on the road 0-3, blowouts from the Hornets, Spurs and Mavs. It looked like a dismal season as Arco Arena's sellout streak ended against Seattle. Not only that, the Kings were down 20 points in only the 2nd quarter of that game. Then it happened, a miracle comeback that would end on the greatest note. Francisco Garcia hit the game-winning 3 pointer completing the comeback, setting the tone for the whole season.

After a close loss to the Cavs, Udrih and Hawes made their debuts on the same night against the T'Wolves. Their first play, Udrih got an assist from a Hawes lay-up, which symbolized what came in the future. After that the Kings got on track with some wins, including a 2OT victory against the Knicks with Martin scoring 43 points and defeating the Pistons for their first upset of the year. With no need for Greene or Watkins, they're waived.

Despite losing back-to-back to the Suns, Garcia shined again scoring a career high 31 points and established himself as a scorer on the team. Udrih starred in the first month for the Kings, desperate for a point guard. When his former team, the defending champion Spurs, came into town, he dropped a career high 27 points to help the Kings dominate them throughout the game.

The Kings gave their fans something to cheer about throughout the season. When the Rockets' came into town, not only did they withstand Tracy McGrady's 40 point outing, they got Yao Ming so frustrated that after he fouled out, he was ejected from the game for the first time ever. Unfortunately, there was a lot to feel down on too, when leading scorer Martin was injured and shelved for 17 games in a win over the Jazz. This would give John Salmons a great chance to show himself. Salmons had started in Artest's place and averaged 20.7 PPG, but was dismal when he came off of the bench. He was even fined when he walked out of a team meeting. He'd soon start in Martin's place and excel again.

Sacramento had a horrible road record of 0-9, and they were the last team to get a road win, where they did at Philadelphia led by Moore's career high tying 24 points. 0-4 against playoff teams are understandable with the way they started, but 0-9 was an embarassment. By then, the Kings signed swingman Dhantay Jones to fill in the void with Martin out. It would help too when Artest underwent surgery and missed 14 more games. Not only that, he missed 1 game to see visit Diamond, his ailing daughter, who recently had a recurrence of kidney cancer.

Garcia played well geting the start in place for Artest and grew from his experience. Earlier before, he hit his second game winner against the Nets in front family and friends visiting from Brooklyn. Salmons helped the Kings rout the Knicks for most of the game scoring a career high 32 points. The Kings also held the Magic down for a win. Garcia would continue his clutch play as he spurred a come from behind win as he hit another clutch 3 pointer, this time against the Grizzlies.

Despite having a 14-20 record, the best was yet to come. Martin came back earlier than his set date. Although they lost to Indiana, Martin missed only 4/25 shots, and shot 14/16 off of the bench against Dallas for 39 points, tying a then NBA season high for points off of the bench with Ben Gordon. But the real hero was Salmons, who hit the game winning lay-up over Dirk Nowitzki for a thrilling finish against a team who was giving their all.

In a loss to Toronto, Bibby and Artest returned and for the first time, the orignial starting line-up of Miller, Moore, Artest, Martin and Bibby took the floor. They went on to Detroit where Bibby iced the game to help sweep the Pistons. The Kings headed home to play the Nets to rout them by 34 points and dropped 15 three pointers in the game. Martin scrambled to hit a buzzer beater to beat the Sonics in Seattle for a highlight of his year. It'd just keep getting better for the Kings

Miller came out to get a 22 point and a career high 21 rebound game against the Bobcats and a 22 point 20 rebound performance against the Hornets to help the Kings go on a tear and earned Player of the Week honors. It was the first time he ever reached 20 rebounds in his career and he was playing the best basketball of career this month. Then he cut his hand washing the dishes.

Rather than let the rookie Hawes start, Salmons got to start in a loss to Seattle at home. The very next game they got back on track when Quincy Douby shined in the 4th quarter against the Jazz, scoring 11 of his 14 points in the 4th quarter for a victory. The Kings had a winning record in a month for the first time in January, but they went on an 0-3 skid before the playoffs. Justin Williams had his best game of the season grabbing 11 rebounds to lead a comeback at Houston before they lost to Steve Novak's game winner.

Then the trade came. During the All-Star Break Mike Bibby was traded to Atlanta for Anthony Johnson, 2006 5th pick Shelden Williams, Lorenzen Wright and Tyronn Lue. The Kings waived, Williams and Jones and Lue was bought out and signed with the Mavs. All but Williams had an expiring contract to build on for the future. Some figured Artest was next, but it never happened. After wins at Portland, against Bibby in Atlanta and in OT at Chalotte, the Kings went on an 0-4 slide, including an embarassing loss against the Heat. When the Heat came to town, the Heat went up by 23 in the 2nd quarter, and it looked like the same result. The Kings fought back and took the lead by 1 point in the 3rd quarter and won the game in an unlikely comeback.

They played the Lakers for the first time at the beginning of March and although they contained Kobe Bryant for the first 3 quarters, he scored 17 of his 34 points in the 4th quarter for the win. That sent them on a mini-skid, like they've gone through all season. Martin scored a career high 48 points againt the T'Wolves in a loss. The game after, Hawes had a breakout game in L.A. when he led the Kings past the Lakers, including a huge dunk from deep in the paint. They also forced Bryant to miss the last shot that could have won the game, and it went down as one of the best games of the year for them.

Johnson had 13 points and 13 assists starting for the injured Udrih, and led the Kings to a 17 point victory against their regional rivals the Golden State Warriors. Hawes had his first NBA start when Miller couldn't play in Memphis and got career highs of 19 points and 12 rebounds in the loss. Houston came in for their last visit and T-Mac couldn't hit the game winner. Garcia was clutch again with a dunk on Shane Battier to help pull off a 1 point victory and were labled spoilers. The Kings bounced back from the Grizzlies when they visited Arco and beat them in OT with Martin's clutch free throws.

In a win against the Clippers, Artest and Miller were hurt. Miller would miss the rest of the season, allowing Hawes to start for the rest of the way. Artest would only play for 2 of the last 7 games against the Lakers and Hornets, both at home. The Kings jeopardized the Nuggets chances of making the playoffs by edging 118-115, playing without Artest, Miller and Udrih and a sick Kevin Martin. They scored a season high 132 points but allowed 140 to the Warriors.

The Kings won their last 2 games against Portland and New Orleans who held the top seed in the West. Artest came up big, hitting 4 three points in his last quarter of play for the year to get the win 94-91. The Kings were shorthanded for the rest of the year when Martin went down to injury and they lost to the Spurs 101-98, but were shown respect from the Spurs. They went to L.A. the day after to get beat by the Lakers to close out their season 38-44. In that game, however, Quincy Douby scored a career high 32 points close out the season on a positive note for the team.

Instead of winning 5 of their last 17 games last year, they won 9 of them. We've seen bright spots from about every player. Martin continued to upgrade his play, Artest is getting better offensively, Garcia became the go-to guy, Salmons showed everyone that he can score, Hawes showed veteran post moves and shining potential, Miller showed how well he can still play, Beno showed that he can start in the NBA, Douby showed he can score and Williams showed strentgh in the end.

The Kings went through a lot of line-ups, due to the injuries and trades.

PG, SG, SF, PF, C

Intended Starting Line-Up: Udrih, Martin, Artest, Moore, Miller

All Line-Ups

1. Greene, Martin, Salmons, Kenny Thomas, Miller
2. Garcia, Martin, Salmons, Moore, Miller
3. Udrih, Martin, Salmons, Moore, Miller
4. Udrih, Martin, Artest, Moore, Miller
5. Udrih, Salmons, Artest, Moore, Miller
6. Udrih, Salmons, Garcia, Moore, Miller
7. Udrih, Martin, Salmons, Moore, Miller
8. Bibby, Martin, Artest, Moore, Miller
9. Bibby, Martin, Salmons, Artest, Moore
10. Udrih, Martin, Artest, Moore, Hawes
11. Johsnson, Martin, Artest, Moore, Miller
12. Johnson, Martin, Salmons, Moore, Hawes
    

That's a lot of changed line-ups!

Players That Stayed: Anthony Johnson, Shelden Williams, Lorenzen Wright

Players That Left: Justin Williams, Dhantay Jones, Mike Bibby, Orien Greene, Darryl Watkins.

Injuries, a 7 game suspension, and his daugter's illness sidelined Artest for 25 games. Martin missed 21 games to injury, while Udrih missed 16 games and Miller missed 10 games. Bibby missed 36 games before being traded. The Kings' bench ran thin for much of the year, and it's surprising that they got 38 wins. They could have just rolled over like everyone expected, but where's the fun in that?

If the Kings just rolled over, they wouldn't have found out how good some of their players are, which is something you're supposed to do while rebuilding. If you look at the standings, there's a huge 14.5 game gap between them and the 12th place Clippers. Because they were in the competitive West, they won games without being pushed down in the draft. They separtated their record from the poor teams.

After this season, the Kings have a brighter future than seen before. As they go into the off-season questions surround the team, like will Artest opt out? Will Thomas opt out (please opt out)? Will Udrih re-sign with the Kings and who will the Kings draft at the #12 slot? It's all a mystery right now, but there should be more excitement in the future.

Right now, the Kings are one solid power forward away from making the playoffs. Every position is ther except the power forward, unless Shelden has a breakout year. With young power forwards coming out in 2009 like Elton Brand, Danny Granger, Drew Gooden, Linas Kleiza, Jason Maxiell, Carl Landry, Hakim Warrick, and Charlie Villanueva, there's a good chance that the Kings can land one of them. Brand, Granger, Villanueva and Gooden might be the top choices. Brand might opt out this summer but has a lot of money to pass up on. A lot of these players have either qualifying offers or player options or their contract just expires.

Rebuilding might take quicker than many thought, so it won't be 1000 years of darkness over Sactown. Even if they don't make the playoffs again next year, they'll make it better than this year. Here's to the future!