Is The Current Kings Roster Better Than Last Season?

Is The Current Kings Roster Better Than Last Season?

It is time to delve a little bit deeper into the Sacramento Kings current roster. And I thought a good way of kind of gauging where the Kings are currently at is to compare where they are right now, their current roster, with where they were at last season, really going into the start of the season. Because I think generally where the Kings roster is at right now will be what they’re going into this season with. Maybe if you believe Demon Sabonis, there will be some more changes. I don’t really believe that. you know, maybe Terrence Davis doesn’t make it to uh to opening night, but I think generally we have the roster that’s going to be going into the start of the season. And so, I wanted to compare the current Kings roster with where they were at last season. And I thought a fun way of doing that was to have the players face off in one v one battles, right? The starting point guard on the current team versus the starting point guard last year, the starting shooting guard this year versus the starting shooting guard last year, so on and so forth. all 18 players on the roster going head-to-head against one another. And with each one of these one v one battles, I decide which player wins and that player then wins a point for their team. Whichever team ends with more points is the winner and is the better team. Now, of course, that’s, you know, in reality, that’s not exactly how the NBA works. Comparing player to player is not how basketball works. Fit matters. Rotations exist. This is not hockey where they’re putting out complete, you know, line changes. Rotations are sometimes seven players deep or sometimes they’re 12 players deep. And obviously the top players matter more than the players at the bottom of the roster. But I still thought that this would be a fun little exercise to do. So starting with the first bout, we have the starting point guards that are going to face off, and that is Darren Fox from last year’s Kings team versus Dennis Shruder on this year’s Kings team. Now, we aren’t exactly starting with the closest matchup here. Obviously, Dennis Shruder is going to win this one by a landslide, obviously. No, but of course, in reality, you have a player who’s been an all-star and an allNBA player in the middle of their prime prime versus a player who, you know, off the top of my head, if I were to rank Dennis Shrutder as a point guard in today’s NBA, I would say he’s probably somewhere between the 25th and 35th best point guard in the NBA. the type of point guard that can be a starter but is probably better as a bench player because he would be one of the better backups in the entire league. So, while he’s a starting point guard, he of course is no De’Arren Fox. He doesn’t bend the defense the same way that De’Arren Fox does. They’re actually in some ways similar players. They both are solid defensive players. They both have inconsistency from the three-point line. They both are solid playmakers, but maybe better as scorers. But of course, De’ar Fox is just the better version of Dennis Shruder, and they’re not exactly the same player. I’m definitely not saying that. D’Ang’s scoring ability, and like I said, his ability to bend defenses, his ability to get to the rim and get himself good shots at the rim, combining that with his mid-range game, and the ability to get others good shots just because of his scoring ability. Really clearly makes him the better player. Dennis Rutder is a nice player who can play on the ball, can play off the ball, is a solid defender, is a solid playmaker, but of course he has no De’arren Fox, so we have to give the point in this battle to De’Aran Fox. Next up, we have the starting shooting guards, which is kind of a a very similar battle as the point guard position except in the opposite way where this year we have Zack Lavine going up against last year’s Kevin Herder. Again, in a lot of ways, these two are are kind of similar players. They’re both obviously best on the offensive end. They both contribute as three-point shooters. I honestly wish that Zack Lavine played more like Kevin Herder. I think if you kind of combine Kevin Herder’s be best attributes with Zack Lavine’s, you get a pretty good player because Kevin Herder, his team defense, and his IQ on that end, combined with Zack Lavine’s athleticism would make probably a pretty solid defensive player. And then on the offensive end, Kevin Herder’s quick decision-making and movement off ball combined with Zack Lavine’s scoring ability, I think would be an amazing player. I wish we could combine them. Sadly, we cannot. This is still a very obvious one. At the beginning of last season, Kevin Hurder was going into last season in a massive slump, a massive shooting slump. He also just decided to stop playing defense, which was a little bit odd because like I said, he had been a pretty solid team defender in the past, but then he just he just decided to try not even try to stay in front of players anymore and he like didn’t want to foul them. I don’t know. It was very weird. Not that Zack Lavine is, you know, a better defender in any way, but Kevin Herder wasn’t even playing well on the defensive end. And then obviously the numbers in efficiency that Zack Lavine puts up is pretty ridiculous. So, this one is another very obvious win, but this time it is for this year’s roster. Zack Lavine gets the point for this year’s roster. Next up is where things get a little bit more interesting. At the small forward position, we have last year’s Demar D Rozan versus this year’s Demar D Rozan. Now, maybe you think that’s not interesting because they’re the exact same player, but Demar D Rozan is 36 years old now. He has been aging very well and obviously coming into last season he was a big additions a big addition and we had very high hopes for him and he came in and he he performed like he did what he was supposed to do. He came in and led the team in scoring because Fox and Lavine don’t don’t qualify for that. So he led the team in scoring at 22 points per game. Obviously we didn’t expect much from him on the defensive end but he came in and produced offensively and showed that he still had it. He’s been aging very well. That being said, I think at 36 years old, we just have to assume there’s going to be some sort of regression. Now, I have no idea how big that’s going to be. Maybe it isn’t big enough to even justify putting one version of Demard Rozan over the other version of Demard Rozan, but I think at 36 years old, I think it is a safe bet to assume that he will be worse. I’m not sure how much worse he can get on the defensive end of things, but I mean, we’ll see. And I’m not exactly excited to see that, but it’s on the offensive end. We’ll see if he can maintain the same sort of efficiency from the mid-range areas. He made the All-Star team in 2122 and 2223. And since then, his efficiency has just been slightly decreasing. Not by very much, but he he was 50% from the field in those two seasons. And then he went to 48% 47.7% from the field. his true shooting percentage has been on a decline. So if that continues to happen, then I think it is safe to give last year’s version of Demard Rosen the edge over this year’s version of Demard Rosen. So last year’s roster is going to get the point here. Next up at the power forward position, we have a little bit of a similar situation going on here, but kind of in the reverse. So we have last year’s Keegan Murray versus this year’s Keegan Murray. And so again, I’m not sure if we should give one player the edge over the other player, one version of Keegan Murray the edge over the other version of Keegan Murray. I’m not really sure if there is going to be that much of a difference in his performance. But I think as a 24 year old player who’s going to be 25 years old, we should expect some progression from his game. I’m not sure how much more he can progress on the defensive end cuz he’s he was amazing on the defensive end last season, but every every season he has been adding something to his offensive game. Now, maybe that doesn’t show in his statistics, especially last year going from 15.2 points per game to 12.4 points per game. Obviously, a pretty steep decline and that is because of the addition of Demard Rozan. But I think we should continue to expect him to progress on the offensive end. And I think the hope is that he finds a little bit more consistency on the offensive end, especially with shooting the three-pointer. He was very streaky from the three-point line last season and only averaged 34% from the three-point line. So hopefully there’s a little more consistency from the three-point line as well as maybe adding another layer to his offensive game like he has done each season. So I think we can give this year’s version of Keegan Murray the edge over last year’s version of Keegan Murray. This year’s team gets the point. Now the last guy in the starting lineup and that is the center position and it is last year last year’s version of Demonosonus versus this year’s version of Demonosonus. This portion of the team for quite a few guys here I think five straight guys is just going to be the same player but you know one year older of that player. And this one to me is pretty boring. Like the Monosabonus is probably going to be the exact same player. I don’t expect him to regress. I don’t expect him to make much progression as a player. The one thing I will say is what we saw with him at the end of last season. He struggled a little bit and some of it was injury, but some of it was just not having a point guard. He has voiced frustration over that multiple times of not having a point guard and he has voiced how happy he is to have a point guard like Dennis Shrud. So if he’s talking about that so much, it must have made an impact on him. And I think it did. And I think so having Dennis Shruder should help him look a little more comfortable on the offensive end. Hopefully a training camp and just more time with Zack Lavine will help those two get more acclimated. So hopefully things will be a little smoother on the offensive end because again, he struggled towards the end of last season. But I think overall as a player, we can say he is the same player. So, I’m not going to give this point to anyone and I’m going to say it is a draw. Now, we get to the bench and I think the bench is the most interesting part. Maybe not the start of the bench, but the rest of the bench because the Kings were not a deep team going into last season. That was their biggest weakness. There was absolutely zero depth. That is why the Kings really struggled or one of the big reasons the Kings really struggled at the beginning of last season. And so, let’s see if that has changed at all. Starting out at the point guard position, there wasn’t a change at the point guard position. It is last year’s version of Malik Monk versus this year’s version of Malik Monk. So again, similar with Demonoson, uh I don’t expect much progression or regression from a guy like Malik Monk. He’s 27 years old. Every season he has progressed, right? He went from 6.7 points per game to 9 to 10 to 11 to, you know, 14 to 13 and a half. So there wasn’t progression there. But that was a year where he was a sixman of the year candidate. Then he went to 15 1.5. Then last year he went to 17 points per game with add in 5 1/2 assists per game, right? But I’m going to assume that that progression in numbers kind of stops here and he actually maybe takes a step back in terms of points per game, maybe assists per game as well. Now, I don’t think that makes him a worse player, but I I I think last year his role was kind of all over the place. There were times where he was starting. Obviously, there were times when he was coming off the bench and playing the point guard position versus playing off ball. But, you know, it was kind of all over the place for Monk. And so, I think he’s probably going to be put into a steadier role, at least hopefully this year. I also think he’s probably not going to end games quite as much. There may still be a time and place for him to end games, but I don’t think he will be as automatic in the closing lineup as he was last season. But again, I don’t think that makes him a worse player. I think as a player, he’s probably going to be the exact same. And hopefully being put into a better position and having a little bit more stability actually helps his efficiency. I would hope so cuz his efficiency last year was not great. He shot 32 1/2% from three. I’m hoping that that, you know, has a little bit of an increase there. But I think overall we can say that Malik Monk is probably going to be the same player. So again, I’m going to have this as a draw. Next up at the backup shooting guard position, we have last year’s Keon Ellis versus this year’s Keon Ellis. Keon Ellis is going into his fourth season, his third kind of full season. Didn’t really play much in that first season. And so, you would expect for a guy going into his third slash fourth year to get better, but I’m just not sure how much better Keon Ellis can really get. He’s already a great defensive playmaker, and his three-point shooting has been off the charts. In his first two full seasons, he shot 41.7% from three and 43.3% from three. I don’t think it’s crazy to expect that to drop off, but again, just like Malik Monk, expecting some numbers to drop off, maybe some efficiency to drop off in Keon Ellis’s case because that is just ridiculous three-point shooting. I don’t think that makes him a worse player. And I think as a player on the offensive end, we have seen him adding things to his game, adding a little bit of passing, add a little bit of ball handling, adding a little bit of off the dribble shooting. If he can continue to improve those parts of his game, maybe the efficiency does drop off slightly. But if he continues to improve, then overall he may make the same impact or even a little bit of a better impact. Hopefully he has a real solid place in the rotation this year cuz again last year was a little bit all over the place for him. But I think as a player I’m going to say he probably remains about the same and has about the same impact. So again I’m going to give it a draw. And I promise this is the last draw on the entire list. So, we’re through the draws now. And the rest is where it uh where it gets a little bit more interesting, I would say, because it’s where we see positions have really changed in the roster is really different. So, moving to the backup small forward position, we have last year’s version of Doug McDermott with this year’s version of Nick Clifford. And so, of course, now we’re getting to the point where it was really just a judgment call where I was putting players and who I was putting them up against. But I’m hoping that Nate Clifford can really make his mark in the rotation and be a solid rotational player. But he honestly at the start may get similar minutes to what Doug McDermott was getting where he was kind of in and out and you know then all of a sudden Doug Mcderman is starting a game and then oh the next game he’s completely out of the rotation. Doug Mcderm is a veteran and N Clifford is a rookie. With Doug McDermott, you you know what you’re going to get and he’s still on the team. So, we’ll talk about him even more later, but you know, he’s just going to come in and shoot the ball and he’s going to shoot it at 40 plus percent from three and he’s probably not going to give you much else. He actually was surprisingly not horrible defensively last year, at least at the start of the year, but he’s not going to give you much else. Nick Clifford is a rookie, so he we we don’t really know what to expect from him. Like, we know what to expect from Doug McDermott, but I do think we can hope that Nick Clifford is going to make more of an impact than Doug McDermott, just because of his versatility, his ability to impact the game in many ways, not just as a three-point shooter. And so I’m believing in Nate Clifford, believing in his defensive ability, his ability to hopefully be a knockdown three-point shooter, at least at least around average at the start, and his ability to impact the game in many different ways. That is why I’m giving the point to this year’s team. I’m giving it to Nick Clifford. Next up is the power forward position, and it is Trey L on last year’s team versus Dario Sarich on this year’s team. I don’t think either of these players are going to be super proud of the seasons that they had last season. Coming into last season, Trey Als, we had high expectations from him and he had some injury problems, but overall we expected him to be a big part of the rotation and he was and he played many different positions for the Kings, but his offense was just not what it once was. He averaged 6 and a half points per game, only shot 34% from three. He’s always been a streaky shooter, but normally it averages out to better than 34% from three. He just had his struggles last year with his efficiency. He still was the effort player and he played the backup five and he played the backup four and he of course went out there and was diving for loose balls and all of that. Dario Sar on the other hand barely played for the Nuggets last year. He only played 16 games. He started four of them, but he only played 16 games. He didn’t shoot well from three as a stretch big. Although, you know, very small sample size, but I’m definitely going to give the edge to Trey L on this one. I just don’t think that Dario Sar really has it anymore. Maybe he will prove me wrong, but I’m I’m hoping that Dario Sar isn’t even part of the rotation for this Kings team and hoping that that spot goes to younger guys. Trey L gave this team many good rotational minutes throughout his years. Last year was probably his worst year on the team. but he still was okay at times. So, I think the edge definitely goes to last year’s team here and Trey Lyles. Then we have the backup center position and that is Alex Lynn on last year’s team versus Drew Eubanks on this year’s team. This one was pretty easy for me even though neither of these are the most exciting backup centers of all time. But Alex Len, if this was two years ago, Alex Len, maybe there’s a discussion to be had here and maybe Alex Len could win this point. But boy was Alex Len absolutely awful last year. He couldn’t do anything right. I don’t remember a single good game from him last year. I was hoping that he could be a solid backup center for the Kings last year. He absolutely was not. He was horrendous. That’s why he didn’t end the season on the team. That’s why when the Lakers literally had no centers, they just chose to not play a center over Alex Len. I’m sorry. I love Alex Le because he had some great moments and some good seasons on the Kings. Last season was not one of them. He was awful last season. Drew Eubanks, while he’s not going to wow you, I think he’s probably going to be a little more reliable than a guy like Alex Len. He can go out there, block a couple shots, be efficient around the rim, grab a couple boards, I am giving the edge to this year’s team, Andrew Eubanks. Now, we move on to the very deep bench portion. And this is where I kind of I kind of messed with the positions a little bit. Jordan Mclofflin is not the third string point guard for last year. I put it as Devin Carter so that I could have Devin Carter versus Devin Carter. Now, of course, Devin Carter was injured at the start of last season and it was his rookie season. And so, even if Devin Carter makes absolutely zero improvements to his game, this year’s Devin Carter is still going to win. if he can just stay healthy, if he can do what he did last season, even if he makes no improvements, he’s going to be an upgrade over a guy that was injured. So, this is easily going to be a point for this year’s team and this Devin Carter because I also expect him to make improvements to his game and to be a little more comfortable in the NBA. I have him here as the third string point guard because it’s going to be very tough for him to get minutes over, you know, all the guards that the Kings have and that sucks for him as a young player. But hopefully he can get himself some rotational minutes at some point this season. But either way, it’s an upgrade over last season’s Devin Carter so this year’s team gets the point. At the shooting guard position, this is where I put Jordan Mclofflin for last year. And I have Terrence Davis for this year. I had high hopes for Jordan Mclofflin coming into last season, hoping that he could be a solid backup point guard that was a steady offensive presence, and he wasn’t. He had like one good moment where he ended a game and hit a big corner three that led the Kings to a win. That was about all I remember from Jordan Mclofflin before he got traded. That being said, he’s not exactly going up against the stiffest competition here against Terrence Davis, a guy who I don’t even really expect to make the Kings final roster. Terrence Davis hadn’t played in the NBA for a while before he got into what was he like one game last year. He played one game last year, grabbed a rebound, got an assist, didn’t score any points. So, I think I just have to go with Jordan Mclofflin here because Terence Davis just hasn’t played and I don’t think he’ll make the roster. And so, while Jordan Mclofflin didn’t live up to my expectations for him last season, he still is the better player here. So, I’m giving the point to last year’s team. Next up, we have Colobby Jones from last year’s team versus Doug McDermott from this year’s team. What an intense matchup. This is what people came to see. This is what people came to hear about. They came to hear me compare Colobby Jones to Doug McDermott. I had high expectations for Colby Jones. I was hoping for improvement and we just didn’t see it. He did get rotational minutes last year at times. He did and he got his shot and he didn’t perform. But again, not exactly going up against the stiffest competition in a guy like Doug Mcderman. At least Colby was out there attempting to play defense, but like I said, you know, Doug McDermott wasn’t the worst defender last year. He really wasn’t. And his size and length made him somewhat playable. With Kobe, he just needs such a little impact that at least Doug McDermott can come out and win you a quarter and get you back into a game possibly with his hot three-point shooting. And at least he’s going to give you some entertainment with his three-point shooting in garbage time. I have to go with Doug McDermott here. The proven NBA vet gets the point for this year’s team. Next up, we have a a little bit of an interesting situation because I’m comparing a two-way player from last year versus a standard contract player from this year. And that is Isaac Jones on a two-way contract last season versus Isaac Jones on a standard NBA contract this season. So, when I started this, I was going to just compare 2A players to 2A players, but then I was like, ah, I can just compare Isaac Jones with Isaac Jones. That works. Isaac came into last season with like almost no expectations, expecting him to spend the entire season in the Gile and then he just comes in and makes a real impact last season. And so, I’m hoping that we see some improvement from him. And I think we saw improvement in summer league. He played really well in summer league. And so I expect just with a full season under his belt with him showing that he can make an impact at the NBA level last season, right? He didn’t get consistent rotational minutes, but he showed that he could make an impact in the time that he did get. And so I’m hoping that he can actually carve out some real time for himself this upcoming season over guys like Dario Sarge and Drew Eubanks. I am banking on his progression here and definitely giving the point to this year’s version of Isaac Jones. Now, the last standard contract spot at the center position, we have last year’s Orlando Robinson versus this year’s Maxim Renault. Yes, I bet many of you forgot Orlando Robinson was on the Kings at the start of last season. I was excited for Orlando Robinson last season and he came in in his first game. He like knocked down a three and had some other nice plays, added some shot blocking. Maxim Renault, a little bit of a similar player, you know, trying to be a stretch big and a shot blocking presence at the rim. I don’t think he’s I don’t think Renault is quite the shot blocker that Robinson is, but I think the hope is that Reno can be a more consistent offensive presence. And I don’t know how the three-point shooting is going to look, right? Orlando Robinson was very inconsistent from three when he did play. But I think the difference between these players is going to be Reo’s ability to handle the ball, his ability to play with the ball and pass, and his feel for the game on the offensive end with the ball. That’s where I’m really giving the edge to Maxim Renault and that’s why I think he’s the more promising NBA player because I think he’s just going to make smarter and more impactful decisions on the offensive end than a guy like Orlando Robinson. Hopefully, he can hold up on the defensive end. And so, I am going to give the edge to the rookie Maxim Renault. Next up, we have the two-way slots starting with Mason Jones versus Isaiah Stevens. Now, the two-way spots are kind of weird to compare and you know, again, it’s why this whole thing is kind of stupid because it’s like, why are we comparing these guys? But I want to do it anyways because it’s fun. So, I was thinking like, what are the two-way spots really meant for? They’re meant for promising young upand cominging players. And so in terms of the utilization of the two-way spot, I think I like Isaiah Stevens more because Isaiah Stevens has a little bit more of a shot to be an NBA player than Mason Jones at this point because I think Mason Jones has already had his shot as a player and it didn’t work out. Now, that being said, I don’t really think that Isaiah Stevens is going to be an NBA player, but he still has, you know, a little bit more of a shot in the maybe he’ll get a chance to prove himself. But if we’re going off who actually is the better player and who can make more of an impact, then I got to go with Mason Jones here, right? I I think Mason Jones is just the better was last year going into last year was just the better player than Isaiah Stevens this year. And also Mason Jones led the Stockton Kings to a G-League championship. He deserves his respect for that. And so just in terms in terms of the better player at the points we’re comparing them at, Mason Jones last year versus Isaiah Stevens coming into this year, I’m giving the point to Mason Jones. And then we have the second two-way spot with Isaiah Crawford versus Dylan Cardwell. This is a tough one. both of them rookies going into those uh seasons. Both of them undrafted rookies. Isaiah Crawford as the three and Dwing, Dylan Cardwell as the shot blocking, defensive playmaking big. And so it’s hard to compare, but again, if I’m going off who I think has the chance to make the impact the most at the the time we’re comparing them, who is maybe a little more NBA ready, I think I have to give the edge to Isaiah Crawford here just because I think he was more of the type of player that could come in and be a solid defender in the NBA and maybe knock down a three and just play that role. I think Dylan Cardwell right now is just a little more all over the place than and I think Isaiah Crawford was a little bit more ready to step into an emergency role if he needed to right away. Maybe I’ll be proven wrong and maybe Dylan Cardwell will, you know, be able to come in and and maybe he’ll be a little more NBA ready than than I’m giving him credit for, but I think Dylan Cardwell just is a little more all over the place and has a little bit more ways to go in terms of his progression. and Isaiah Crawford was the better player at the time. So, I’m giving it to last year’s team. And then we move on to the final slot, and this is where it’s the final two-way spot for this year’s team and Dcoin plowed in, but then it’s an empty standard contract roster spot for last year’s team. And so, the question is, what who is better? Is having an empty standard contract spot better, or is having Dayquin plowed in on a two-way contract better? I’m not gonna disrespect Daquin Platin like that. Sometimes having it I I would say most teams would probably give up their, you know, two-way contract player for an empty standard contract spot and it gives them a lot more flexibility. But but we’re not, you know, we’re not doing that. Dayan Plowden is going to get the win over nobody for last year’s team. I’m giving it to this year’s team. Just having a player, another player is gonna give them a point here. So, the final score after three ties, we have six points for last year’s team and nine points for this year’s team. So, this year’s roster gets the win over last year’s roster coming into the season. Last year’s roster had absolutely no depth. I do think this year’s roster has a little bit more depth. Of course, you can argue whether the team is actually going to be better based on top end talent and fit and rotations and all of that, but in terms of this fun exercise, I’m giving the edge to this year’s roster with a score of nine to six. So, anyways, that is it for this episode of the Roll Report. Let me know what you guys would have done differently. Maybe you had a different winner in one of the matchups. Which roster do you actually think is better? And I will see you guys in the next one.

Welcome to The Royal Report

In this episode of The Royal Report I compare this year’s Kings roster to last year’s roster by comparing each player to their individual counterpart. To be clear, this exercise does not actually determine which roster is better so don’t take it too seriously.

00:00 Intro
1:41 De’Aaron Fox vs Dennis Schroder
3:26 Kevin Huerter vs Zach LaVine
5:01 DeMar DeRozan vs DeMar DeRozan
6:57 Keegan Murray vs Keegan Murray
8:25 Domantas Sabonis vs Domantas Sabonis
9:40 Malik Monk vs Malik Monk
11:49 Keon Ellis vs Keon Ellis
13:32 Doug McDermott vs Nique Clifford
15:03 Trey Lyles vs Dario Saric
16:41 Alex Len vs Drew Eubanks
17:52 Devin Carter vs Devin Carter
18:58 Jordan McLaughlin vs Terence Davis
20:02 Colby Jones vs Doug McDermott
21:07 Isaac Jones (Two-Way) vs Isaac Jones
22:20 Orlando Robinson vs Maxime Raynaud
23:39 Mason Jones vs Isaiah Stevens
25:06 Isaiah Crawford vs Dylan Cardwell
26:22 Empty Standard Spot vs Daeqwon Plowden
27:12 Recap

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