Sacramento Kings: 2018-19 season was about defying the odds

The Sacramento Kings proved all of their doubters wrong with a surprisingly strong 2018-19 season showing that they could, in fact, defy the odds.

The Sacramento Kings weren’t supposed to be good this season. No scratch that — they were supposed to be bad.

Very bad.

So bad that Oddshark.com actually gave them the second-lowest expected win total ahead of the season predicting the Kings to win a measly 26 games. Only the Atlanta Hawks had a lower expected win total with the team’s over/under win total set at just 23.5 games.

Yes, you read that right. The New York Knicks were projected to win more games. So were the Phoenix Suns. And you better believe the Cleveland Cavaliers were as well.

Heck, even the Kings arch-rivals, the Los Angeles Lakers, were projected to win nearly double the number of games that Sacramento was. Now with just a handful of games remaining in the season, the team will likely finish ahead of them all and well ahead of most.

The Kings are set to finish the 2018-19 season with their best record in 13 years since their last postseason appearance way back in 2006. Unfortunately, the playoffs won’t be in the cards this year despite the overwhelming success that the season has been.

The team saw players like De’Aaron Fox and Buddy Hield take major strides with the latter looking like their best pure scorer in years. Rookie Marvin Bagley showed plenty of promise as well as he looked the part of a true No. 2 overall pick offensively, even if his defense is still lacking.

While many expected the Kings to rely on their young nucleus, very few anticipated just how well the youth movement would work out for them. Hield’s breakout 2018-19 campaign was an incredibly pleasant surprise and Fox’s improvements from year one to year two make his play seem like night and day.

But the odds simply didn’t point to all of that going their way.

As a whole, perhaps nothing was more impactful than the Kings rapid change in their pace of play. Over the last couple of seasons, the Kings had been one of the slowest paced teams in the NBA ranking dead-last in possessions per game last season.

But head coach Dave Joerger emphasized a quicker pace of play this season and as a result, the Kings responded with one of the most up-tempo offenses in the league. The speedy Fox has been pivotal behind this key switch but credit should go to the entire team and coaching staff for developing and executing a scheme that allowed the Kings to succeed on the offensive side of the ball this season.

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Yet again, the odds would lead you to believe that the Kings would have continued to run their slow, lethargic offense in the 2018-2019 season.

But the Kings didn’t pay any attention to the odds. They paid no mind to the nay-sayers and the doubters. The team simply played their game and little by little, they were able to prove the doubters wrong and defeat the odds.

The Kings will miss the playoffs again this season for the 13th consecutive year in a row, but there is a sense of optimism surrounding the fanbase. There is hope for the future and with hope comes expectations.

Considering how Sacramento was able to completely shatter their 2018-19 expectations, who knows what the future has in store for the overachieving underdogs.

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The smart money is on them continuing to defy the odds.

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