Sacramento Kings Working Hard to Change On-Court Identity

With a busy offseason in full force and plenty of money bring thrown around, the Sacramento Kings are working very hard to change their on-court identity.

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While most of the free agent attention has been on Kevin Durant and his quest for a new contract, the Sacramento Kings have kept themselves busy, making under-the-radar moves in an effort to not only bolster their roster, but change their team identity. After a terrible defensive season last year, the Kings have made attempts to fix that, and become a better team on the defensive end of the court.

The Kings continued their roster makeover on Sunday, adding forward Matt Barnes, a Sacramento native and former King, on a two-year contract. The second year is a player option. Barnes played for the Kings in the 2004-2005 season after signing a free agent contract, but didn’t make it through the year before being dealt to the Philadelphia 76ers, along with Chris Webber. The 24-year-old Barnes played 43 games for the Kings, including nine starts.

Even now at 36 years old, Barnes is still a fantastic defender, and plays with an edge that the Kings have lacked in recent years. Last season with the Memphis Grizzlies, Barnes matched his career-bests by averaging 5.5 rebounds, one steal, and .8 blocks per game. He also averaged 10 points, marking the fourth time in 13 years that he averaged double-digit points. Barnes was one of the few Grizzlies’ players to make it through the season relatively unscathed, as he finished second on the team with 76 games played.

Barnes should have no problem acclimating himself with his new team. He was born in Santa Clara, California, and went to high school at Del Campo High in Fair Oaks, in Sacramento County. He also knows new Kings’ head coach Dave Joerger, who was hired in May. Joerger is the former head coach of the Grizzlies, whom Barnes played under last season.

Barnes is just the latest acquisition in what has been a fairly busy offseason for the Kings. Arron Afflalo is probably the most high-profile name to come to the Kings, and the Kings got the upgrade at shooting guard that has been missing for a long time. Afflalo signed a two-year, $25 million contract after one season with the New York Knicks, during which he scored 12.8 points per game, shot 44.3 percent from the floor, and 38.2 percent from three-point range.

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Over his nine-year career, Afflalo has averaged 11.6 points and 3.1 rebounds, and has shot 45.2 percent overall, 38.5 percent from long range, and 82 percent from the free throw line. The 6’5″ UCLA product has also played a fair amount of forward in his career, but with Marco Belinelli traded to the Charlotte Hornets, most of Afflalo’s minutes figure to come at guard. Whether he starts, or Ben McLemore reclaims the job he was supposed to grab hold of when he was drafted seventh overall in 2013, will be something to watch as the beginning of the season inches closer.

Another familiar face rejoining the Kings is Garrett Temple, a shooting guard who played five games for Sacramento in the 2009-2010 season. In only 23 minutes that year, he scored 11 points and grabbed three rebounds. Temple spent the last four seasons with the Washington Wizards, and enjoyed a career-year last year, setting personal highs in points (7.3), rebounds (2.7), games played (80), and games started (43), while averaging 1.8 assists and just under a steal per game.

Like Barnes, Temple is a hard-nosed, defense-first kind of player. With his size, standing 6’6″, Temple can guard multiple positions and will help steady the defense. Working under Joerger should be another big step for Temple.

The Kings have also brought in power forward Anthony Tolliver on a two-year deal worth $16 million. After going undrafted in 2007, Tolliver has enjoyed an eight-year career in the Association, including a short stint not too far away with the Golden State Warriors (44 games in 2009-2010). In 455 games, Tolliver has averaged six points and 3.5 rebounds in just under 20 minutes of action.

When the Kings’ struck out on bringing in Ryan Anderson, the stretch-four they had long coveted, Tolliver became the next-best thing. He can stretch the floor a bit, shooting 35.7 percent from deep in his career, and 36 percent last year.

The wheeling and dealing is likely far from done for the Kings, even as they have squeaked very close to the salary cap. Rajon Rondo, their starting point guard from last season, has moved on, signing a two-year deal with the Chicago Bulls and leaving Darren Collison and Isaiah Cousins (the 59th pick from this year’s draft) as the two true point guards on the roster. Collison himself is still a question mark, as he has misdemeanor charges of domestic violence pending against him. Depending on the outcome there, that could leave Cousins alone on the roster for some time.

Rumors have it that the Kings are shopping forward Rudy Gay, and they may be working on something with the Indiana Pacers. Gay is under contract for one more guaranteed season, at $13.3 million for 2016-2017, and a player option to follow the next year.

Next: Kings' Wild Draft Night Ends with Mixed Results

And of course, there’s the ever-present rumblings of DeMarcus Cousins‘ expendability. Those have been a lot quieter since George Karl‘s exit as the team’s head coach, but the rumors and talks will likely never end.

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