The Sacramento Kings are showing major signs of growth. They still have wild bouts of crazy, but they also have snippets of playing like a true playoff contender. With their 112-93 victory over the Los Angeles Lakers on Wednesday night, they moved into sole possession of 8th place in the Western Conference. Kings fans are likely still out celebrating.
This is the first time the Kings have been in the playoff conversation in January in almost a decade, but there is a long way to go.
“I think as a coach, getting better and improving is the positive of what’s going on right now,” George Karl told reporters following the game. “Our record is positive also, we’ve had a good month of January. It hasn’t been an easy schedule. At the same time, we’re in the middle of the season, 41 games left.”
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The veteran coach has been here before. In fact, he’s made the NBA’s second season in 20 of his last 22 seasons coaching in the league, if you include last season’s 30 game stint in Sacramento.
“If we think we’re good I think that would be a mistake right now,” Karl said. “We’ve played good basketball, we’re playing better basketball, but we have a lot of work to do.”
Karl isn’t the only one pointing to the fact that there is a long way to go in this season. With the Western Conference wide open, the Kings aren’t secured in the 8th spot by any means, and they have the potential to climb the ranks as well and avoid a possible first round matchup with either the Warriors or Spurs.
“It feels good, but I’m not satisfied, we shouldn’t be satisfied as a team,” All-Star big man DeMarcus Cousins said.
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Cousins continued his torrid pace in the month of January. Since turning the new year, the Kings’ star center is leading the league in scoring at 31.7 points per game. He’s also averaging 13.7 rebounds and 2.8 assists over the nine game stretch while shooting 50 percent from the field.
“DeMarcus is showing at a high level that he’s an All Star,” Karls said. “Is there a better center that’s playing basketball right now in the NBA? I don’t think there is.”
Cousins has put his team on his back and at times, willed them to victories. The 25-year-old is playing the best basketball of his career, and maybe more importantly, his team is winning.
“I don’t know anybody that’s playing at this level right now in the NBA,” Karl added. “I hope the NBA recognizes it and gives him an opportunity play in Toronto coming up this year.”
Be it a new year’s resolution or just being healthy for the first time in a while, there is a calm with the Kings’ big man. He is enjoying the game and allowing the action to come to him instead of forcing it like we have seen in the past.
“I’m just trying to make a push,” Cousins said. “I’m just trying to play my part. Whatever it’s going to take to get this team over the hump.”
Led by Cousins’ 26.1 points per game, Sacramento has had very little trouble scoring all season long. Where they typically fall apart is on the defensive end of the court. After sitting near the bottom in defensive rating for much of the season, they have made marked improvements of late. They currently rank 22nd in the league in defensive rating, which is a far cry from where they were even a month ago.
The return of rookie Willie Cauley-Stein has helped. You can see the 22-year-old’s confidence growing with every game. His 12-point, 10-rebound, two block stat line in Los Angeles exactly what the Kings hoped they would get from the big man when they drafted him sixth overall in the 2015 NBA Draft out of Kentucky.
“The time away gave me a chance to step away from the game and actually study it,” Cauley-Stein said.
His length and athleticism is quickly becoming an asset on both ends of the floor. As a help defender, he is giving Sacramento a goalie at the rim. On the offensive end, he is running the floor and giving Rajon Rondo another target in the Kings’ uptempo game. He even hit a 17-foot jumper in the third quarter, showing that he has just scratched the surface on what he can bring to this team.
"It just goes with playing hard, it comes with it,” Cauley-Stein said. “I think my teammates are starting to trust me a little bit as a rookie that I’m able to score the ball, that I’m able to play defense on anybody.”
Rondo is certainly giving the rookie every chance to succeed. The veteran point guard attempted more than one alley-oop pass to Cauley-Stein on his way to his ninth straight game with double-digit assists.
While there is a long way to go, you are seeing the outline of a very good Sacramento Kings squad. Everyone is finding a way to contribute. Rondo finished with 17 assists. Cousins dropped in 36 points and 16 rebounds. Rudy Gay finished with 16 points and a career-high six blocks. It will take a team effort if this team hopes to climb in the standings.
“We’re starting to become a team, we’re starting to figure it out collectively,” Cauley-Stein said. “I think we’ve got so much talent, it’s not all on Boogie anymore.”
That may sound like the optimism of a rookie, but if he’s right, the Kings are on to something here. After a rough start, they are right where they hoped they would be - in the thick of a playoff push. But the NBA schedule doesn’t stop for celebrations. The Kings will have to defend their position, beginning Thursday night with a battle against a very good Atlanta Hawks team in the second night of a back-to-back.