Check out previews for the rest of the league at Fantasy Lounge Sports in a few weeks...recently I finished this one for the Sacramento Kings:
Hiring Head Coach Reggie Theus last season was just the beginning, but with the trade of Ron Artest to the Rockets the youth movement is officially on in Sacramento. Since parting ways with Chris Webber the Kings have been slowly evolving in this direction, but now truly convinced how tough things are in the West they have shed their biggest star and ego and have compiled a solid core of young players, making for a much brighter future in Sactown.
In exchange for their aging star the Kings acquired the expiring contract of local fan favorite Bobby Jackson, this year’s 28th overall pick, Donte Greene, and Houston’s first rounder in 2009. With Artest the Rockets are favored to content heavily in the West, making next years pick about as valuable as this year’s.
This summer the Kings spent their lottery pick on Jason Thompson, a 6’10” senior out of Rider who flew up team draft charts with impressive pre-draft work outs and interviews. If he develops soon enough Thompson could see decent burn after the All Star break. In addition to shoring up the power forward spot, the Kings re-signed 26 year-old first year starter Beno Udrih to man the point. Combine all this with last year’s lottery pick Spencer Hawes and three relatively young and talented swing-men and the Kings figure to be competitive for quite some time.
Now to the fun stuff...
Fantasy-wise the most intriguing part of Sactown are the wing positions. Three guys will be rotating out of the two spots, with incumbent starter Kevin Martin figuring to see big minutes. Last season with Artest injured John Salmons got the nod, making him the likely starter at small forward this year. Nevertheless, Francisco Garcia should still see close to 30 minutes per night since he can play any position one through three, making him deserving of a late round flyer in any league this season.
The Kings are also loaded with bigs, and it will be really interesting to see how the minutes shake out. It’s only a matter of time before elder statesmen Kenny Thomas and Mikki Moore lose time to the new guard that is Jason Thompson, Spencer Hawes and Shelden Williams. The question remains how soon will their time come. Meanwhile, fantasy favorite Brad Miller still has too much game to figure into this equation just yet. But make no mistake about it change is a comin’.
Depth Chart
PG Beno Udrih / Bobby Brown
SG Kevin Martin / Bobby Jackson
SF John Salmons / Francisco Garcia
PF Mikki Moore / Jason Thompson
C Brad Miller / Spencer Hawes
Value Picks
Kevin Martin After receiving a hefty raise last off-season Martin continued his solid play, progressing mostly in scoring. Battling injuries throughout K-Mart II hoppled through the ’07 – ’08 season before finally tapping out in the last week to the tune of 61 games, the lowest total of his three-year career. The boy can score and will see even more shots this year without Artest. To move up the fantasy ranks, he needs to continue to evolve as a rebounder (4.5 last year) and get the turnovers under control because he’s coming off of a season with an A/TO ratio of less than 1:1, which isn’t good for an off-guard.
Beno Udrih With Mike Bibby out of the lineup last season Udrih averaged upwards of 35 minutes per night over roughly 50 games to the tune of 14.5 points, 5 assists and great percentages. Similar numbers can be expected this season now that he is the man at point with only rookie backups to steal his thunder. He’s never been a premier distributor so it’s safe to guess six assists is about his ceiling. He’s definitely in the top tier of backup fantasy point guards.
John Salmons Last season “Buck” Salmons was the major beneficiary of Martin and Artest’s nagging injuries. As a 41-game-starter he averaged a silky smooth 17.5 points, 5.4 rebounds, 3.5 assists, 1.6 steals to go along with good percentages. With those career numbers impressed on his resume Salmons should be going into the season fully confident for a repeat.
Francisco Garcia Last season when given the minutes Garcia proved himself to be a worthy fantasy contributor. As a 20 game starter he put up similar numbers to Salmons, posting a line of 16.4 points, 4.6 boards, 2.6 assists, 1.7 steals with mediocre percentages. Factoring in his progression and taking away a bit of the 36 minute average these numbers reflect you can expect slightly less production than this but still great steals from a late-round flyer.
New Acquisitions / Free Agent Additions
Bobby Jackson Considering the youth movement and the fact that Jackson is 35 you can temper your expectations here. B-Jack’s value as a Sacramento King lies in the pre-trade deadline era. He should see about 20 minutes per until the Kings trade his expiring contract away to a contender or flat out bench him for a younger player. Why keep the aging vet around when you aren’t contending other than for nostalgia?
Bobby Brown The 23-year-old Euro league vet was a big hit this summer in Las Vegas with the Hornets, averaging 15.2 points and 6.3 assists over six games. He attracted more than a few suitors by outplaying first round picks Mike Conley, D.J. Augustin and George Hill, including a rumored multi-million dollar deal with the Spanish team Barcelona. But in the end he signed with the Kings after they upped the ante. Brown will likely own the backup PG role but will only have fantasy value if Udrih goes down for an extended period of time.
Rookies
Jason Thompson His entire basketball-playing career Thompson has been a big fish in a small pond, making him a bit of a wild card in the NBA. He has stated that once the season starts he will silence those saying he was drafted too high. He’s still experienced though, having stayed all four years in college, averaging over 20 points, 12 rebounds, one steal and 2.7 blocks his senior year while shooting 56 percent from the field. Thompson is a hard worker who will earn his minutes as the season wears on. Look for him to be splitting time at power forward with Mikki Moore towards the end of the season, but until then his fantasy value is limited.
Donte Greene Unlike Thompson Greene slid down team draft boards at the last minute due to the rawness of his game and a slight fall off to end his freshman campaign. This summer he became infamous by posting 40 points in his first summer league game with the Rockets. Greene is an uber-athletic combo forward with a nice touch for the deep ball. In his only year of college he averaged nearly 18 points and over 2.5 threes per game. Minutes are a bit tight at the forward positions at this time. Greene should see most of his time at small forward where he’ll be lucky to get 15 minutes a night until the Kings decide to give him a real shot. He can score in bunches though so if you’re in need of a scorer late in the season and don’t mind a hit in the percentages you might want to look his way.
Projected Stats
Beno Udrih – 45 FG% / 87 FT% / 0.7 3PG / 15.3 PPG / 3.4 RPG / 5.4 APG / 1.0 SPG / 0.1 BPG / 2.3 TO
Kevin Martin – 46 FG% / 85 FT% / 2.1 3PG / 25.0 PPG / 4.8 RPG / 2.3 APG / 1.3 SPG / 0.1 BPG / 1.9 TO
John Salmons – 46 FG% / 80 FT% / 0.6 3PG / 15.7 PPG / 5.1 RPG / 2.9 APG / 1.1 SPG / 0.3 BPG / 2.6 TO
Mikki Moore – 56 FG% / 72 FT% / 0.0 3PG / 8.5 PPG / 5.4 RPG / 1.0 APG / 0.5 SPG / 0.5 BPG / 1.1 TO
Brad Miller – 47 FG% / 82 FT% / 0.4 3PG / 10.6 PPG / 7.6 RPG / 3.5 APG / 0.7 SPG / 0.9 BPG / 2.0 TO
Francisco Garcia – 45 FG% / 80 FT% / 1.6 3PG / 16.4 PPG / 3.9 RPG / 2.4 APG / 1.5 SPG / 0.5 BPG / 2.2 TO
Spencer Hawes – 49 FG% / 66 FT% / 0.1 3PG / 9.4 PPG / 7.2 RPG / 1.6 APG / 0.4 SPG / 1.3 BPG / 1.0 TO
Jason Thompson – 49 FG% / 68 FT% / 0.1 3PG / 7.5 PPG / 6.6 RPG / 0.8 APG / 0.3 SPG / 0.4 BPG / 0.9 TO
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