Kings improved look on camp roster

By Joe Cronin and Ken Gimblin

October 15, 2005
 
 



SACRAMENTO--The Sacramento Kings have one of the best first teams in the NBA and they have pretty good reserve players. First of all Mike Bibby might be the best shooting guard in the league at this point in time and he's beginning to play good defense and he's an all-star candidate.

Bibby will be teamed this year with Bonzi Wells, who was in Portland last season. He's played around the league. He's been kind of an over reactive guy but he's certainly has the talent and he's going to team well with Bibby.

Wells has a defensive presence too that will really help out the Kings. At the forward Peja Stojakovic maybe the best pure shooter in the NBA and he's back. There's better defenders around him. Stojakovic will have better chances to shoot and he'll be a player to watch on the Kings this season.

Shareef Abdur-Rahim was the guy that was with Bibby up in Vancouver and Rahim went to Cal and has always been a great scorer and now he's signing at at a big reduction in his contract so he could play in Sacramento and hopefully get into the playoffs where he's never been during his career.

Abdur-Rahim has a ten year career and has never been in the playoffs. He has a great inside presence and he's a good rebounder. For a big guy that's great to have around. The Kings have Brad Miller who was hurt last season.

Miller is one of the better centers in the league he can score inside and outside a great rebounder but he's got to stay healthy for the year. The Kings have five good starters that will be on the court when the season starts.

Taking a look at the Kings bench, we’ll first look at the forward position. Kenny Thomas, who came over in the trade for Chris Webber, is in his 7th year and Thomas has been productive when he's been healthy and he's one of the guys whose suppose to start but most people think Abdur-Rahim would start in front of him.

Corlis Williamson was a Kings first rounder and is still effective inside as a scorer and he's one of the players that still going to be getting alot of playing time. The reserve center is Brian Skinner he came over from Philadelphia, where he had some minor injuries at the end of last season, he was exceptional at scoring and rebounding and blocking shots and he was a non factor late and in the playoffs with sore thumbs.

Taking a look at the Kings reserve guards Kevin Martin was in Sacramento last year he's tall and he's quick and he must learn how to defend and hit shots. Jason Hart he played with Charlotte last year he could take some of Bobby Jackson's minutes as a combination guard.

The Kings will be looking at first round draft choice Francisco Garcia, who is a good scorer he's likely to play a lot in this pre season so the Kings can kind of figure out what they might have.

Ronnie Price is a rookie guard that could come in off the bench. Now that's 12 people that should play and make up the roster as the Kings go into the season. You would think that there would be any surprises unless there are some injuries. This looks like a team that should be that could win 50 games if and there is always the big if there is no injuries.

Look for the Kings to be very competitive in the Western Division.

Joe Cronin and Ken Gimblin cover the Sacramento Kings, MLB Playoffs and Cal football and co-host Sportstalk on 1430 San Jose and 1110 KLIB Sacramento weekends.

 

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