I guess I have energy for it this week...
#19 (+1)
For one game, the Kings looked better off for having traded DeMarcus Cousins and Willie Cauley-Stein looked ready to step into Cousins' shoes. His (career-high) 29 points and 10 rebounds (with Nikola Jokic getting put in the blender) were part of a big performance from their young bench in Thursday's win over Denver, which brought them within a half game of eighth place. But they're still the Kings and they came up empty, with Cauley-Stein missing all five of his shots against Charlotte on Saturday. Tyreke Evans got a start (on Saturday) before Buddy Hield.
ESPN
#24 (NC)
Mere days after Jim Buss was ousted from Lakerland, Vlade Divac has imposed his own Buss-style deadline on himself to get the Kings turned around. In a lengthy interview published in Sunday's editions of the Sacramento Bee in which he explained his rationale for trading away DeMarcus Cousins -- after publicly and privately assuring Cousins that he was going nowhere -- Divac insisted that the decision was his and that he'll ultimately resign if the trade doesn't pan out. The full quote: "That's my job, and I take responsibility. And I totally understand why some fans would be upset. They supported DeMarcus, and I like DeMarcus a lot. But I believe we are going to be in a better position in two years. I want to hear again from these same people in two years. If I'm right, great. If I'm wrong, I'll step down. But if I go down, I'm going down my way."
Sports Illustrated
#25 (-5)
What now? It’s really that simple for the Kings after an ugly divorce ushered in the post-Boogie era faster than anyone expected. The trade wasn’t great, obviously. Now it’s Buddy Hield or bust. And so it was natural to be surprised when the Kings won handily in their first game without Cousins (box score below):(At link)
Anyway, the Kings are still not good. But there is a lot to prove for a lot of players, and for the franchise as a whole. All of the Kings’ recent draft picks, most of whom were not ready for the league, will get legitimate looks now. Skal Labissiere! Georgios Papagiannis! I respect Vlade Divac’s now-public intent to sink or swim with the ship. It’s gonna sink for a while. The good news is our long national nightmare is over, but the bad news is that a generally devoted Kings fan base is going to have to deal with how this was handled for a long time.
There is a slight possibility that the Kings could improve defensively thanks to this trade. For all the hankering over “big men with slow feet who can’t play defense don’t belong in the NBA,” we basically absolved DeMarcus Cousins from that conversation, mostly because he’s so damn good at everything else. He’s not particularly committed on that side of the ball, and his shortcomings on that end have been apparent during these first few Pelicans games. It stands to reason that this could be…a bronze lining (do people say that?) or something for the Kings, assuming they pick the right guys to move forward with. Eventually. For now, Sacramento mostly needs to be bad enough to land a top–10 pick (or else their first goes to Chicago). Here we go…
CBS Sports
#23 (+7?)
Skal Labissiere and Willie Cauley-Stein are fun to watch and none of it comes with the weight of the DeMarcus Cousins discussions. The Kings are just a normal bad team now.
NBC Sports
#22 (-2)
They made the move to get away from DeMarcus Cousins, we will see how that plays out long term, but in the short term it’s hard to see them making a serious playoff push without him (despite a good win against Denver this week where Willy Cauley-Stein looked great). Maybe it’s time to see what Skal Labissiere and Georgios Papagiannis can do.
Mean Ranking: 22.6
