Sacramento Kings: Small forward has become a position of strength

The Sacramento Kings have managed to completely rebuild their small forward position to the point that it is now an area of strength on the roster.

The Sacramento Kings surprised most of the NBA world when they finished the season with their best record since the 2005-06 season sitting just outside the Western Conference playoffs as the dreaded ninth seed.

The Kings saw some of their younger core players take major leaps forward — mainly the exciting backcourt duo of De’Aaron Fox and Buddy Hield.

And at the same time, other young players like Bogdan Bogdanovic and Marvin Bagley showed enough promise to feel encouraged about the future.

But one area on the roster that remained unsolved well into the season was the small forward position.

Heading into the season, the Kings were extraordinarily thin at the position. The incumbent starter was 2017 first-round pick Justin Jackson who the Kings hoped would take a major leap forward after a disappointing rookie campaign.

The only other true small forward on the roster was two-way player Troy Williams making for a very inexperienced and weak duo at the position. So after Jackson faltered, it didn’t take long for the Kings to explore other options.

Veteran wing Iman Shumpert was given a crack at the three and to his credit, he performed admirably. Even the aforementioned Bogdanovic played some small forward but the fact remained that the 6-foot-6 Bogdanovic and the 6-foot-5 Shumpert were playing out of position.

Even with the disappointing Willie Cauley-Stein at center, small forward remained by far the team’s biggest need. That’s why the mid-season trade for Dallas Mavericks small forward Harrison Barnes was so crucial to the organization.

And while Sacramento faltered late in the season and their record with Barnes isn’t indicative of it, his presence truly made a difference for the Kings. He shot a superb 40.8% from three-point range down the stretch and played some surprisingly solid defense.

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Barnes is about as well-rounded of a player as you could be and his versatility to play the three or the four gives the Kings some flexibility with their rotation. And it also allowed Bogdanovic to move back to playing shooting guard full-time — or at least that should be the hope going forward.

The Kings inked Barnes to a lucrative four-year, $85 million contract in the offseason and while the deal has been the subject of a myriad of criticism, the fact remains that the Kings are a much better team with Barnes on the floor.

Especially compared to what they started out with last season.

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And entering the 2019-20 season, the team finally appears to have depth at the position as well. 15-year NBA veteran Trevor Ariza was signed in the offseason and he should be able to give the Kings some reliable depth behind Barnes.

Ariza is an accomplished three-point specialist and stout defender who is coming off a down year playing for two of the worst teams in the NBA in the Washington Wizards and the Phoenix Suns.

The combination of Barnes and Ariza — who each averaged around 33 minutes per game last season — is a significant improvement over the combination of Jackson and Williams who had never averaged over 23 minutes per game in a single season.

On top of that, the Kings added Wyoming product Justin James with their first selection in this year’s draft. And while the 22-year-old likely won’t see many minutes this year, it’s good to know that the team has depth — even if that depth is primarily playing in the G-League.