NBA's Sacramento Kings a Team Full of Princes

Shareef Abdur-Rahim is now retired, Ron Artest did his best Mike D'Antoni impersonation and stomped his way off the Sacramento Kings' sidelines and Reggie Theus is still running the young guns of Northern California. So what else is new in the life of the Kings? In light of all of those occurrences, the Kings have nowhere to go but up. While the time that Abdur-Rahim spent at Sacramento was valuable, the logjam of big men was becoming an issue for the new kids on the block, and Artest's on-off approach to the team wasn't necessarily the best thing for the rest of the guys looking to play.

Speaking of the rest of the team and minutes competition, how the starting lineup will be filled out will be an interesting debate. Beno Udrih is a lock as the starter for presumably the next five years as the lead guard, with his re-signing; Kevin Martin will be the starting two guard in any and all situations with his blossoming talent; Brad Miller, though walking down a winding road in his career, is the best candidate to play in the post, where his passing, shooting and court visions are still valuable assets, despite his issues with his own athleticism.

A huge competition and evaluation will largely revolve around the starting and backup power forward spots, as well as the backup center spot. One man who is going to be an interesting player for the Kings to decide on is Shelden Williams, the former Duke All-American. He was traded not even two full seasons into his career with the Atlanta Hawks, having played a great amount of games as a rookie, only to lose his spot to Al Horford, another promising power forward-turned-Hawks center. One issue with Williams was the fact that as a top-five pick in 2006, his talent didn't necessarily warrant his draft position, causing some to take a sour look on him on the whole, but as a rebounder and decent defender, Williams has much promise despite his lack of an offensive pro game.

The real competition for the starting four-man spot will revolve around young Spencer Hawes and new draft pick Jason Thompson. Hawes was a highly touted prospect and top-ten 2006 draft pick, who used his rookie year in 2007-08 as a means to gain more strength. It was discovered that he in fact had more athleticism that previously thought (due to playing most of his single collegiate season in 2006-07 with the University of Washington with mononucleosis) and also possessed three-point range as well; Thompson also was a recent lottery pick who has shown much potential as a three-position frontcourt player with very good ball-handling, scoring, rebounding and agility. At some point, both players may start together, with Miller and Mikki Moore as veteran reserve big men.

Small forward will also be a position needed of filling in the starting five, but with a bit more clarity and less guesswork. John Salmons started much of the 2007-08 season as a point guard, off-guard and small forward, but his versatility and competence with ball distribution may make him more of an asset off of the bench, especially since combo guard Quincy Douby is still trying to develop further as a point guard. Francisco Garcia is a sharpshooter, not unlike Martin, but because he brings similar skills to the talent and isn't much of a penetrator, he may also be better off of the bench; rookie Donte Greene is also a possibility, but while his 6'11" height is a great thing to picture with his guard-like skills, he lacks the seasoning necessary to really help the team consistently. Of course, this may all be a non-factor if Martin is moved from his natural two-guard spot to the 3, and the famous Bobby Jackson becomes the starting guard he always thought himself to be, or Salmons or Douby is named as such.

In any case, the Kings will be counted on to spoil a few teams' fortunes and less likely to be a playoff contender, but never count out a King. The 1998-99 Kings were thought to be trash, but ended up bringing the noise to the Utah Jazz, nearly spoiling their fortunes with a first-round knockout. The brilliance of Martin, the savvy of Miller and Jackson, and the new energy of Hawes and Thompson may be enough to break through to the top eight of the West.