The Sacramento Kings are the most dysfunctional team in the NBA right now. The head coach George Karl hates the star player DeMarcus Cousins, the general manager Vlade Divac and owner Vivek Ranadive are trying to make both guys happy, and as a result, they have made a series of puzzling moves. The first of these moves was drafting Willie Cauley-Stein, the second was trading three players to the 76ers to clear cap space, and the third was signing Rajon Rondo. None of these moves make any sense whatsoever and truly are indicators that this franchise has no idea what they are doing.
The biggest problem the Kings have at the moment is that it doesn't look like George Karl and DeMarcus Cousins can coexist. Karl has made it known that he wants Cousins gone and Cousins has made it known that he isn't happy with the way Karl has treated him.
The problem with getting rid of the coach is that if they get rid of George Karl, it isn't at all clear what direction they go in terms of finding his replacement. There aren't any big name coaches available to hire and the only guys willing to take the Kings' job would be guys who are willing to be an NBA head coach purely because it pays well.
As for getting rid of DeMarcus Cousins, doing so is even more problematic because he has been the piece that the franchise has tried to build around for the past few seasons. Getting rid of him would truly be an indicator that they are back to square one, which would be really hard to sell fans since they really never left square one to begin with.
Probably the best way to resolve the DeMarcus Cousins/George Karl fiasco will be for both men to find a way to get along. As hard as that may be, the alternatives are much uglier for the Kings. The reality is that on paper, having both guys should be a plus for the Kings: Cousins is a budding superstar and Karl is a coach likely heading to the hall of fame. Usually that's a winning combination and the Kings have to hope that with time, both guys can work out their differences and have success on the basketball court.
Regarding the decision to draft Willie Cauley-Stein, this was truly a bizarre move. Cauley-Stein has the potential to be a nice rim protector and defender in the paint, but offensively he is quite limited. Usually the best two way players get drafted first and then the more one-dimensional guys follow. For the Kings to take Willie Cauley-Stein with both Justise Winslow and Emmanuel Mudiay on the board is truly a head scratcher.
Either the Kings see something in him that we don't see, or they see something in him that really isn't there. Given their recent pattern of behavior, I would say that they see something in him that really isn't there. Don't get me wrong, Willie Cauley-Stein could turn out to be a nice player, but taking him over a small forward with great two-way potential (Winslow) and a potential star point guard (Mudiay) is just insane.
As for the deal with the 76ers, this too was a weird move. The Kings unloaded Nik Stauskas, the 8th overall pick in last year's draft, Carl Landry, Jason Thompson, a future top-10 protected first round pick, and the right to swap two future first round picks to the 76ers for the rights to Arturas Gudaitis, Luka Mitrovic, and a future second round pick. All three of the players who the Kings gave up are solid players who could have been nice pieces to put around DeMarcus Cousins. Instead, they got rid of them so that they could clear cap space for the purpose of signing a big-name free agent.
Had they landed LaMarcus Aldridge as a result of clearing all this cap space, the Kings would have certainly done the right thing. But what they ended up doing instead was sign Rajon Rondo to a one year deal worth $9.5M. Rondo was known for having issues with Rick Carlisle in Dallas and he has always been somewhat of a diva and head case.
While there is no denying his talent, his attitude and mentality should have made him a non-option for the Kings given that they already have to deal with DeMarcus Cousins' ego and a coach who wants him gone. The combination of Karl, Cousins, and Rondo could result in a fatal explosion that wipes out the whole team by Christmas.
All in all, there is nothing good to say about this Kings team. It appears as though they are randomly adding pieces that don't fit purely because they don't have anything better to do. It almost seems as though their plan is to add as many big names as possible and pray that it all works out. Such a strategy is certainly doomed. If the Kings really want to get better, they'll need to start drafting better and get some talented young players to build around for the future.
---Ben Parker: follow me on twitter @nba_lord
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