There was a time recently that the Sacramento Kings were the most explosive team in the NBA. Before the Suns found their instigator with Steve Nash and back when the league played a slower game, just a few seasons ago, the Kings held court as the offensive juggernauts. The team was fun to watch at the ARCO Arena and the Kings playoff tickets always ended with a trip to Los Angeles to play the Lakers. No matter how hard they played the team could not overcome Shaq, Kobe, or the refs to adavance. The team was built around talented point guards, first Jason Williams and then Mike Bibby, and took Scaramento on a ride to the conference finals in 2002 with deep runs that went seven games in the second round in the seasons around that year. Bibby had Vlade Divac, Chris Webber, and Peja Stojakovic to create a game with terrific ball movement and sharp cuts to the basket. The seasons were always fun to watch and every basketball fan hoped the team would make to the NBA Finals so that the fun, free-wheeling offense could liven up the lifeless championship series.
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This season the regular season schedule is not kind to the Kings. The very fact that they are in the midst of rebuilding effort in the Western Conference make playoff tickets a dream. Dreams do come true though, and for that dream to happen shooting guard Kevin Martin will have to have an amazing season along with center Brad Miller. Players like Mikki Moore and John Salmons can all hit a jump shot and they cannot miss often otherwise the postseason aspirations will come to an end quickly.
While Beno Udrih is penciled in as the starter Bobby Jackson is back with the team and should see lots of time on the court for his offensive exploits. Francisco Garcia is another gun off the bench. In fact the team must rely on their offense to score tons of points to overcome their defensive problem. Miller is slowing down with age, and he was never very fast to begin with. He still is one of the best passing centers in the league and Coach Reggie Theus would be wise to use that as much as possible. The Kings surprised everyone with 38 victories last season and could conceivably shock the experts and make a good run at the regular season schedule and earn playoff tickets this year.