NBA, Team News / Analysis, Sacramento Kings
Sacramento Kings
The Kings were the worst team in the NBA last year winning a grand total of 17 games. As a reward, they didn't even get a top 3 pick. The Kings drafted Tyreke Evans, who could potentially be a great addition to a boring offense. However, Evans is in no way a pure point guard and is largely useless without the ball in his hands. Evans may help the Kings improve, but its doubtful he'll ever win a playoff series as a point guard in the NBA. Kevin Martin, the King's leading scorer returns this year at shooting guard. Sacramento also has a couple of promising young bigs in Spencer Hawes and Jason Thompson. While neither player looks to be dominant in the future, they do look like a good quality duo for the Kings to build around. In the end, the Kings are still pretty damn bad. They should improve a bit, but don't expect much from them.Prediction: 23-59
Los Angeles Clippers
The Clippers were only two games better than the Kings last year finishing a very disappointing 19-63. However, the future looks much better for them than their northern enemies. To start, the Clippers drafted Blake Griffin #1 overall. Then they were able to move team cancer Zach Randolph to the Grizzlies. Griffin, combined with Eric Gordon, Al Thorton, and Chris Kaman gives the Clippers a great core to build around. Combined with veteran leadership from Baron Davis and Marcus Camby actually gives the Clippers a decent chance to be a bit of a sleeper team. Considering this team was a complete mess after the Elton Brand fiasco, its pretty impressive how quickly their hopes have turned around especially when you consider the fact they're the Clippers.Prediction: 36-46
Golden State Warriors
If they had a point guard, this would probably be the most exciting team in the league. Instead, they are going to pretend that Stephen Curry and Monta Ellis can play together in the same backcourt. It'll be fun as heck to watch, but not very effective at winning games. The Warriors are loaded with young talent including Anthony Randolph, Anthony Morrow, the aforementioned Monta Ellis, Andris Biedrins, Kelena Azubuike, and Marco Belinelli. On top of that, the Warriors also have Corey Maggette, Jamal Crawford, and Stephen Jackson. The team has an incredible amount of athletic talent. However, Stephen Jackson is looking for his way out of town and is clearly a bit of a loose cannon. That will be a situation to watch. And, as stated before, these guys still don't have a point guard. They'll be fun to watch, but they won't win as many games as they should.Prediction: 37-45
Phoenix Suns
Because these guys still do have a point guard (and got back to their old ways), the Suns are the most exciting team in the NBA. The Suns corrected their wrongs and traded the Big Mistake to the Cleveland Cavaliers. By doing so, the team has freed Amar'e Stoudemire back up to roam the lane especially on the pick n' roll with Steve Nash. While Nash isn't nearly as effective as his MVP years, he's still a pretty good point guard. The Suns also look quite a bit different from Nash's MVP years. The Suns hope to replace Shaq's absence with Channing Frye, who looks like a better fit for the Sun's offense than Shaq ever could have been. The Suns aren't nearly as good as they were during Nash's MVP years, but they look like a fairly solid team this year who will once again be the most fun team to watch in the league.Prediction: 49-33
Los Angeles Lakers
The Lakers won this division by 19 games last year. Oh yeah, they won the NBA title too. They also had a crazy offseason. Trevor Ariza left to the Houston Rockets although its unsure if the Lakers ever really intended to bring him back. Ron Artest was signed to replace Ariza giving the Lakers more of the toughness that they have lacked the past couple of years. After that, their was the Lamar Odom saga. Both parties knew they wanted the other back but couldn't agree to the terms for far too long. Eventually though, Odom was brought back. Then, Odom decided to marry a Kardashian which is probably the dumbest idea a male has ever had in the history of all time. So to conclude, the Lakers are the defending champs, are loaded again, but have the potential to blow up at any time because they got borderline crazy in the offseason.Prediction: 64-18
Overall, the Pacific division should only have two playoff teams this year. However, they'll have two of the most interesting teams in the league outside of the playoffs in the Clippers and Warriors. On top of that, the division welcomed Ron Artest and his craziness to the already insane Stephen Jackson. So basically, watch this division. It has the most enjoyable basketball and the potential to blow up at any moment. Its must watch television.
