The Sacramento Kings care about making the playoffs at any cost, even at the expense of developing impact youngsters and draft picks.
Playing in the new half-a-billion Golden 1 Center, the Kings are hellbent at qualifying for the postseason.
The Kings made shrewd moves on draft day, trading down with Phoenix to nab three first-round selections. The 13th overall pick landed relatively unknown Greek center Georgios Papagiannis, but Sacramento also snagged Syracuse shooting guard Malachi Richardson and late-round Kentucky forward Skal Labissiere. Paired with Willie Cauley-Stein and up-and-down guard Ben McLemore, the Kings had a curious nucleus of rookies on their roster. Gauging the impact the players could make was tough, considering Sacramento hasn’t drafted an impact player since Isaiah Thomas. Seeing Kings rookies get some run was a new, exciting proposition. That hasn’t happened.
As Jason Jones of the Sacramento Bee points out, the Kings’ playoff pursuit has sidelined rookies to D-League and bench duty. Kings rookies have seen roughly 70 minutes of court time in 2016-17. Richardson leads rookies with five appearances, while Labissiere has made just four, and the raw Papagiannis has made just two. 11 appearances combined at the NBA’s halfway point for three first-round picks is almost impossible, especially for a team coming off a 33-win season. It’s rare that a rookie is going to receive a bulk of playing time at a given position, but Sacramento rookies barely see the floor. Instead, the group’s been bouncing back between Reno and Sac-town while waiting for their moment to arrive.
Speaking with Jones, Joerger said rookies haven’t been forgotten:
“We keep tabs on them,” Joerger said. “We watch their games and make sure we reach out to them and say, ‘Hey, we watched the game last night.’ So that there’s always a connection when you’re out there.”
It’s not just Kings rookies who are struggling to see the floor, but second and third-year players as well. Cauley-Stein’s averaged just over 10 minutes per game (more than 10 minutes less than his rookie year), dropping out of Joerger’s rotation entirely in favor of 31-year-old Anthony Tolliver. Meanwhile, McLemore’s been relegated to the bench after starting more than half the Kings’ games. The lack of emphasis on playing young talent is baffling.
Joerger is undoubtedly stuck between a rock and a hard place. There’s so much pressure on him to get Sacramento into the playoffs. It’s made him heavily rely on veterans, as the Kings’ minute allocation has the top eight minute-earners all 29-years-old or older. The only exception is star big man DeMarcus Cousins. The organization is in the thick of the playoff hunt, sitting ninth in the West with a 16-22 record.
Don’t expect Joerger to unleash the Kings’ youngsters soon. If anything, Vlade Divac might swing a trade to acquire more veteran help for a pointless playoff run. Sacramento’s best-case scenario this season is to sneak in as the eight-seed and get mercilessly beaten by the Golden State Warriors.
Instead of focusing on the pipe dream of contending, the Kings should be giving at least somewhat regular minutes to their rookies. The club should look at what the Toronto Raptors have been doing. Despite challenging for the top spot in the East, Toronto’s given regular minutes to Norman Powell, Bebe Nogueira, Pascal Siakam, and Jakob Poletl. The same can be said with the Spurs and inexperienced Jonathon Simmons, Davis Bertans, and Dejounte Murray. What’s the Kings’ excuse?
If you can’t find minutes — even a small amount for younger players — you’re not going to develop a stable future. I’m not ready to pronounce Labissiere, Papagiannis or Richardson good players, but it’s hard to tell what exactly they are when they haven’t seen the floor.
With Cousins’ potential departure after next season, Sacramento’s core will be stunted and unready to make up for the loss. The Kings need to let their rookies play and not hinder their development because they MIGHT make the playoffs. It’s time for a consistently naive organization to do the right thing.
