Crown ‘em: The Kings will make a playoff push in 2011

[Peter_Gibbons]

"Fast-forward to the fourth pick of 2009 NBA Draft, where the Kings selected point guard Tyreke Evans. After averaging 20.1 points, 5.8 assists and 5.3 rebounds — joining Michael Jordan, Oscar Robertson and LeBron James as the only rookies to average at least 20, five and five — Evans was named Rookie of the Year. Evans is more of a scorer than a distributor, but he has the potential to be a great player in this League."


http://dimemag.com/2010/09/crown-em-the-kings-will-make-a-playoff-push-in-2011/


The potential of Tyreke and the rest of our young promising roster is catching the attention of many people nowadays.

 

[Kingsguy881]

They most certainly could make a push. The author of that article is trying to be the guy who 'notices' a team before the season and can push the 'I told you so' button after the season if they do, and not lose out on anything if they don't. I ain't mad at 'cha. Especially on the anniversary of Tupac's death.

 

[Sac.1989]

thats what im talking about, its going to be tough but we can make it. If DMC has a ROY type season and we stay healthy its possible

 

[hrdboild]

That's a pretty fair article overall though. It doesn't seem like he's just hedging his bets in case the Kings surprise people this year. I don't think we're a solid contender this year, but probably will be in 2012. But if some of the teams above us suffer major injuries and the Cousins/Evans combo clicks right away there's a chance we sneak in there, which is basically what he says in the article. There should be 8 teams better than us in the West this year, but you look at the rosters in Houston, Utah, Portland, New Orleans, Dallas, and San Antonio and there's a lot of potential for major injuries on all of those teams. And then there's Phoenix losing Amare and Denver with their Carmelo issues. Really only LA and OKC look like solid locks for the playoffs at this point.

 

[bajaden]

That's a pretty fair article overall though. It doesn't seem like he's just hedging his bets in case the Kings surprise people this year. I don't think we're a solid contender this year, but probably will be in 2012. But if some of the teams above us suffer major injuries and the Cousins/Evans combo clicks right away there's a chance we sneak in there, which is basically what he says in the article. There should be 8 teams better than us in the West this year, but you look at the rosters in Houston, Utah, Portland, New Orleans, Dallas, and San Antonio and there's a lot of potential for major injuries on all of those teams. And then there's Phoenix losing Amare and Denver with their Carmelo issues. Really only LA and OKC look like solid locks for the playoffs at this point.

Making the playoffs is certainly possible. A lot of things have to fall into place for it to happen, but I don't think it would be a major shock if we did. There are five teams that I would put my money on, and as you said, injuries to key players on some of those teams could change everything. The Lakers, Thunder, Jazz, Rockets, and Mav's are almost sure bets to make the playoff's. But if Yao or Dirk go down, who knows? The Suns still have Nash, but he's not getting any younger, and they lost Amare. Paul is back for the Hornets, but I'm not sure thats enough to get them into the playoff's. The Spurs barely squeeked into the playoffs last year. I doubt it will get any easier this coming season. The Nuggets? Who knows? Right now they seem in total disaray, but maybe when the season starts they'll pull it together. Something tells me no.

The Kings have a lot of question marks or unknowns if you will. How good will Cousins be right out of the gate. Will he surprise us and the league by being an instant impact player? Will Tyreke have a mid-range game and also hit some shots from behind the arc. Will Dalembert have the defensive impact we all expect him to have? And will he be happy with his roll on the team. Will JT finally in his third year, emerge as a 15 and 10 guy, consistantly every night. Will the battle for the starting job at SF give birth to a star at that position. Perhaps two future stars. Hey, I can dream can't I? Will Cisco stay healthy for the whole season and fill the role at SG.

A lot of question marks, and there are more I could go into. Such as how effective will the combination of Dalembert and Landry be. Point is, a lot of positive things need to fall into place for this team to make the playoffs. But it could happen! Anyone that doesn't think so, just remember the miracle Warrior team that came from nowhere, to win the whole banana.

 

[kingsboi]

It's a decent article. Let's not get ahead of ourselves though, let this team gain experience by winning and we can see how our progress is a couple of months into the season, if we hover around .500 or not.

 

[gunks]

Making the playoffs is certainly possible. A lot of things have to fall into place for it to happen, but I don't think it would be a major shock if we did. There are five teams that I would put my money on, and as you said, injuries to key players on some of those teams could change everything. The Lakers, Thunder, Jazz, Rockets, and Mav's are almost sure bets to make the playoff's. But if Yao or Dirk go down, who knows? The Suns still have Nash, but he's not getting any younger, and they lost Amare. Paul is back for the Hornets, but I'm not sure thats enough to get them into the playoff's. The Spurs barely squeeked into the playoffs last year. I doubt it will get any easier this coming season. The Nuggets? Who knows? Right now they seem in total disaray, but maybe when the season starts they'll pull it together. Something tells me no.

The Kings have a lot of question marks or unknowns if you will. How good will Cousins be right out of the gate. Will he surprise us and the league by being an instant impact player? Will Tyreke have a mid-range game and also hit some shots from behind the arc. Will Dalembert have the defensive impact we all expect him to have? And will he be happy with his roll on the team. Will JT finally in his third year, emerge as a 15 and 10 guy, consistantly every night. Will the battle for the starting job at SF give birth to a star at that position. Perhaps two future stars. Hey, I can dream can't I? Will Cisco stay healthy for the whole season and fill the role at SG.

A lot of question marks, and there are more I could go into. Such as how effective will the combination of Dalembert and Landry be. Point is, a lot of positive things need to fall into place for this team to make the playoffs. But it could happen! Anyone that doesn't think so, just remember the miracle Warrior team that came from nowhere, to win the whole banana.

Those are all fun question marks though. Remember past offseasons when we'd be wondering stuff like: Will GP get us a PF taller than 6'7? Can Brad Miller average more than 5 rebounds per game? Who should we try to trade Bibby for? Will Ron Ron stay sane? And the always crucial....How big a coaching improvement will Theus be over Muss?

We have a lot to be optimistic about this season. I'm thinking we're going to be around 40 wins +/- 3. Will that get us into the playoffs? Probably not. But I think the MASSIVE improvement to our frontcourt rotation/depth is going to get us a bunch of Ws. Thats not even taking into account the fact that we're going to see improvement from Reke/Greene/Omri and hopefully JT.

 

[Bricklayer]

We have a lot to be optimistic about this season. I'm thinking we're going to be around 40 wins +/- 3. Will that get us into the playoffs? Probably not. But I think the MASSIVE improvement to our frontcourt rotation/depth is going to get us a bunch of Ws. Thats not even taking into account the fact that we're going to see improvement from Reke/Greene/Omri and hopefully JT.

I agree with all of that, and it gets really interesting if injuries or age cause the conference to soften up enough for that #8 seed to clock in at about 45 wins. That's when you could see us still talking playoffs late into the year. And while its premature and should in no way be expected, we have turned that corner now, have the young talent stacked up, and are back to the point where making the playoffs could be a huge step for us (not the least because it may draw the fans back and potentially even save pro sports in Sacramento). Its unlikely but I think there are scenarios now for the first time in 5 years really.

 

[Telemachus]

I agree with all of that, and it gets really interesting if injuries or age cause the conference to soften up enough for that #8 seed to clock in at about 45 wins. That's when you could see us still talking playoffs late into the year. And while its premature and should in no way be expected, we have turned that corner now, have the young talent stacked up, and are back to the point where making the playoffs could be a huge step for us (not the least because it may draw the fans back and potentially even save pro sports in Sacramento). Its unlikely but I think there are scenarios now for the first time in 5 years really.

I think it is great that we can finally be realistically talking about the Kings being around .500 and having a shot at the playoffs. The last few seasons, all we could really hope for was to see them win over 30 games while watching the young talent develop. And while I love watching young players start to come into their own, it is always better to have a winning team to go along with it.