Can the Kings be better than OKC was last year?

[DickVitale]

Well, I'm not too excited to here the Kings have an addiction, hopefully the A&E Intervention crew can intervene and clear that up before our season starts.

lol - what a troll.

[king125]

I think that the Kings will be .500 next year at worst and here is why.....

Even without the upgrades in Cousins and Dalambert I think we could have won at least 32 games next year. Last season there were probably 7-8 games we SHOULD have won and maybe 5-6 games we COULD have won. The team was young and inexperienced but played really well together and effort alone made the team very competitive almost every night even if it didn't translate into wins. That could have put us around around and above 32. Add another year of experience to all the guys we already had.

and now for 10-11.....

It was obvious last year that our biggest weakness was interior offense, defense, and most importantly depth. This offseason we have addressed those problems in a HUGE way. Now our post is probably our strongest position on our team. We have great defense in Dally, great offense in Landry, great all around game in JT, and potentially a star in DMC. We have everything you need for every matchup and for the first time in years, the Kings will not be outplayed in the post. Add to the fact that Tyreke, Omri, and Donte all have another year to get better, PW has another year to grow the team and get them more familiar with his offensive and defensive schemes, Cisco back and healthy, and Beno another year in a system he is very comfortable in, and this team should win 41 games.

I dont see an OKC jump, but this team will break .500

I also predict we are top 5 in rebounding next year.

[YC42Balla]

That would be very tough - is it likely? No, is it Possible? I would say yes. And honestly it all depends - we're coming in there with a totally different line up then we had last year. Remember that last year we lost a lot of VERY close games. Maybe this year's addictions of dally + whiteside + Cousins - will tip the skill in our favor. It all depends on how productive they are, they'll have to go out and prove themselves - dally was proven with the 6ers, cousins/whiteside proven in college( college-nba is a huge step of course) ... but they'll all have to prove themselves in SACTOWN... what they did in the past means nothing to our team going forward. If they all produce, I could see our team being very good - we'll be pretty deep to if you ask me... then again with injurys/trades/fa you never know what is going to happen.

I think the big thing the kings need right now is a combo guard who can play defense and shoot the 3 ball - we get that, and it will make us that much better...

Anyways I will not rule anything out - and I don't know about the rest of you .. but I cant wait for the season to start - for now we'll have to rely on pre-season for us to get our kings basketball fix.

Well, I'm not too excited to here the Kings have an addiction, hopefully the A&E Intervention crew can intervene and clear that up before our season starts.

lmao!! lmao!!

[lbeboipinoy]

Yes it's more possible than before. But thats if Cousins can be a close version of Shaq, Tyreke gets a better jump shot, and either Omri or Greene comes close to a hot sniper at 3s than they can slide in the 8th seed. From those choice, 2 of it needs to happen. Especially when Phonex is going down with the loss of Stadomire and Spurs getting old. You guys forget, 7 of the 8 teams that made the playoff in the west devision was only a 7 game difference.

[SacKingZZZ]

Hey, I'm usually the type that downplays things and shoots real low but I'll be honest, if Cousins is as ready to play as some say then this team is going to rock and roll as early as next year. I don't know if they're playoff level but we should be a LOT better. With the kind of size and shotblocking added to a defense that was already vastly improved last year we have to be better. If Cousins comes in ready to plow defenders down in the post, Tyreke comes in with a semi-consistent jumper, Landry is utilized properly and more effectively in the pick and pop/roll and in iso situations, and Daly does the dirty work the Kings is going to be a very scary team, very scary.

[KF10]

Hey, I'm usually the type that downplays things and shoots real low but I'll be honest, if Cousins is as ready to play as some say then this team is going to rock and roll as early as next year. I don't know if they're playoff level but we should be a LOT better. With the kind of size and shotblocking added to a defense that was already vastly improved last year we have to be better. If Cousins comes in ready to plow defenders down in the post, Tyreke comes in with a semi-consistent jumper, Landry is utilized properly and more effectively in the pick and pop/roll and in iso situations, and Daly does the dirty work the Kings is going to be a very scary team, very scary.

I sure hope so.

To be honest, I'm aiming at 38 wins next year. I think this should be our 'realistic' target. While our ceiling could be roughly in the high 40s.

Anywhere from 38-48 would be super.

I think the upcoming season will show if we are truly the team that we can say year in and year out: "This team will eventually be contenders soon".

[10B10]

I think the upcoming season will show if we are truly the team that we can say year in and year out: "This team will eventually be contenders soon".

Right.

We aren't winning 50 games next year and we aren't going to be better than the Thunder. Heck, we may not even win 40 games. BUT, we are going to learn a lot about this team. Right now, we all think that the core we have in place with a few tweaks can eventually contend. After next season, we should know.

[SacTownKings4Life]

I'm gonna go out on a limb and put my barometer for next season at 35-41. We won 25 games last year, but how many games did we lose by 3 points or less? With our newfound size, nobody's gonna be pushing us around or consistently out rebounding us. More rebounds mean extra possessions for us (which would normally have gone to the other team), which means more chances to score. That alone should generate extra wins. I expect nothing less than 35 wins next year because I think that's at LEAST how much of a better team this is than last year, though they can very likely break .500.
If DMC realizes his potential and becomes somewhat Shaq-like, lookout!

[SacKingsPejaFan]

I'm going to give Cousins some time to develop. I fully expect 50+ wins and playoffs by Cousins's third year and Tyreke's fourth. But give the guys some time. This stuff doesn't happen overnight. Next year I'm putting us in the mid 30's, the year after I'll be highly annoyed if we don't crack .500.