Five games into the preseason the Sacramento Kings sit at 4-1 with their most recent victory being a 107-100 win against the Lakers (which wasn’t even as close as the score indicates). While the record is very, very nice, and the roster’s depth continues to show throughout the preseason, the list of question marks in Sacramento has stretched on and on. Ever since the end of the season last year the Kings have basically been a nonstop cable series worthy of Hard Knocks consideration. The ups and downs are around every corner, but the sheer potential keeps people’s eyes on them.
Ever since George Karl signed the dotted line and came out of his coaching hiatus the team has been filled with turmoil. With the talk that Karl wanted to run franchise center DeMarcus Cousins out of town, leading to yet another “snake in the grass” twitter reference from a player in Karl’s regime, Kings fans were just about to push Karl out of town before his first training camp. Ever since however, the two claim to be on the same page and be well in tune with one another.
Fast forward a bit and the Kings add veteran point guard Rajon Rondo to an substantial one-year contract (9.5 million), and the only thing you could do is start a countdown to when, not if, Karl and Rondo would bash heads. Well, we may already be there. Following the game on Tuesday, a victory, Rondo told reporters that his relationship with Karl was “not going too well.” and cited his reasoning as “we got into a couple arguments the last couple days.” When it comes to Rajon Rondo, it is completely believable that he would disagree with yet another head coach. Just ask Rick Carlisle. The subject was met again with the pair very next day and you can queue up more confusion. Less than 24 hours later, Rondo claimed his comments about their relationship was all a joke. Seems like a very odd joke to make, particularly when your reputation perceives you like Rondo’s does. Just a short bit later, George Karl shared his thoughts on the situation and said their relationship “couldn’t be better.” Because, of course. Unlike the comedic genius Rajon Rondo, George Karl was 100% serious when he said they were fine. “My relationship with Rondo is so good that if it gets better I’ll be scared.” All I can say is, I’m thoroughly confused and don’t know what to think.
Now to be fair, even with the flare for the dramatic that has become the Kings norm, there’s almost always a bright side. Point guards Darren Collison and Rajon Rondo are actually playing very well together thus far this preseason and are really setting a nice tone for the team. Ball movement has been fantastic, particularly in their most recent game. DeMarcus Cousins is, well, DeMarcus Cousins (he’s also taking a ton of 3’s, which is pretty awesome). The wing depth is at an incredible level with Ben McLemore, Marco Belinelli, James Anderson and Rudy Gay, among others. Rookie Willie Cauley-Stein is slowly but surely figuring this whole NBA thing out, with the aide of newly signed veteran Kosta Koufos. Also, that 80% win percentage is pretty good, and it doesn’t take a genius to figure that out.
With all of this being said, the Kings look very good and it appears the biggest opposition for them this upcoming season could be themselves. At the end of the day, winning cures all woes, so the start of the season should be an interesting one for fans in Sacramento.
The saga continues on October 28th against the Los Angeles Clippers, and I can’t express how excited I am.
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