If you could measure how low the bar has been set for Sacramento in recent seasons, the game of limbo would end in a draw.
Expectations for the Kings have finally changed this summer. The eternal youth movement came to a merciful end, and proven NBA winners were signed to bolster the roster.
Perhaps no change was more dramatic than in the frontcourt. In the five seasons since DeMarcus Cousins was drafted fifth overall, his partners at the four and five have been practically nonfactors. Players like Chuck Hayes, Thomas Robinson, Patrick Patterson, Carl Landry and to a lesser extent Samuel Dalembert did little to ease the burden off the Kings’ superstar, making the effort down low often seem like a one-man show.