2006 NBA Preview - The Sacramento Kings

The Sacramento Kings put one issue to rest in this off-season, getting rid of Rick Adelman and bringing in promising young coach Eric Musselman to lead this underachieving team. The Kings are pretty talented heading into 2006 but they were talented in 2005 with Peja Stojakovic in the lineup. It took a big effort in the second half of the 2005 season to repair the damage done before the trade bringing Artest to Sacramento. It will be hard for the Kings to have the same enthusiasm heading into the 2006 season as they had when Artest was trade at the end of January 2006. It will be up to Musselman to whip the Kings into shape or they may be making another coaching move in the off-season.

Front Court-Center Brad Miller is a consistent performer, athletic for a seven footer, and is young enough to continue developing as a centerpiece of the Kings attack. While Shareef Abdur-Rahim is a solid power forward, the flashes of brilliance he wasted on teams like the Atlanta Hawks and Vancouver Grizzlies are no longer present. Nonetheless, Coach Musselman can expect consistent performance from Abdur-Rahim and substitute in Kenny Thomas or Corliss Williamson for another big body. The best player on Sacramento by far is small forward Ron Artest, who is the complete package and is surprisingly committed to defense for a super star. However, no one knows if he will play an entire season, get suspended, get injured, or shoot his mouth off at coaches because of where the franchise is heading.

Back Court- Point guard Mike Bibby needs to be a purer point than in the past, where he acted more as a shooting point guard. Bibby certainly has the tools to get this done and to be a leader on the Kings, but some question his commitment to improving his defensive and passing skills. I have no doubt Bibby will put up his fair share of points and assists but this team needs someone to direct the mayhem. At shooting guard, Musselman has quite a few choices and may end up rotating in players in order to get a good balance of playing styles. However, by mid-season Musselman will decide between rookie Quincy Douby, who can score plain and simple, and the more versatile Kevin Martin. Martin will end up winning the job with Douby his primary backup, if only because Martin can do more and has a year under his belt in the NBA.

Bench- The bench for the Sacramento Kings will be fairly solid, though they are lacking a bit in experience in the back court. Backing up Abdur-Rahim and Miller will be rebounded extraordinaire Kenny Thomas, six fouls in Vitaly Potapenko, and hard working Corliss Williamson. The loser of the shooting guard contest will be the primary backup in the back court, with Quincy Douby getting valuable minutes throughout the 2006 season. Jason Hart will provide some minutes and hopefully improve as Mike Bibby's back up.

Intangibles- Rick Adelman had been maligned for most of the 2005 NBA season in Sacramento, especially with their sluggish first half start. Adelman had the support of his players but management decided to go with the young, promising Eric Musselman to head up this talented team. I think getting rid of Adelman was an error and the bonds made at the end of the 2005 season between Adelman and super star Ron Artest are rare in professional sports.

2006 NBA Projection- The Kings are going to underachieve again in 2006. While Ron Artest brings up the talent level and has recommitted himself to the game, it is tough to gloss past the character issues that have dogged Artest throughout his career. The Western Conference is full of talented players and better teams, leaving the Kings with about 32-34 wins and more questions than answers heading into the off-season.