Season grades for every Sacramento Kings player: Who surprised and who disappointed?
The NBA is still on hold and there is no date to resume the season. The most optimistic league analysts think the regular season could be finished in full around July, while others think a shortened form of the playoffs is the best that could happen.
It’s all conjecture, and the fact remains the 2019-20 NBA season as we knew it is essentially over. Even if play resumes, it would hardly be possible to view the season as one continuous whole.
A three-, four- or five-month break in play would destroy continuity. Players will be out of shape and out of practice. If the Kings play any portion of their 18 remaining regular season games, it would be best to view that as a standalone period. It’s time we wrap up the 2019-20 season as we knew it, and judge it for what it was.
It’s time to hand out grades for the Sacramento Kings season. The order of the list is determined by minutes played. Feel free to apply a heavy asterisk to each result, but we can’t suspend our thoughts on the season any longer.
Harrison Barnes: C+
I have to start by acknowledging that I am a harsh grader. Barnes probably deserves more credit than it looks like I am giving him here, but in my book a C is average performance relative to expectations. Barnes crossed that mark, but not by much.
His numbers were very similar to his career averages, with peaks in assists and free throw rate. He was solid but never emerged as a leader, even though there was plenty of room for him to step up. The biggest feather in his cap was pure availability. He has missed very few games in his career, and that was a big deal for a Sacramento team riddled with injuries.
Buddy Hield: C-
Hield is another tough player to grade. He clearly took a step down in efficiency this season and saw his turnover numbers increase, but the blame doesn’t belong to Hield alone. Coach Luke Walton was trying to fit a square peg in a round hold all year. Hield is not a defensive specialist or a primary initiator, but Walton insisted on developing him in those areas.
Despite the passing troubles, despite the fourth-quarter benchings and despite him losing his starting job, Hield still had a largely positive effect on the team. He averaged nearly 20 points per game and shot 39.5 percent from 3-point range on an extremely high volume.
Nemanja Bjelica: A-
This is the point where I need to reiterate that I am grading each player relative to expectations. Bjelica was not as important to Sacramento’s success as Hield or Barnes, but he wasn’t that far off. No one saw that coming.
Bjelica posted career highs across the board, including a stunning 42.4% conversion rate on 3-point attempts. Rarely do we see a 31-year-old player record the best season of their career, but Bjelica is something special. His defense was still problematic, though.
Cory Joseph: C
Joseph was another unsung hero of this Kings season. While he didn’t blow anyone away, he played many crucial minutes at point guard for a team that would have otherwise been in big trouble. When De’Aaron Fox was out with an ankle injury, Joseph stepped up and was instrumental in saving the season.
Don’t even bother looking at Joseph’s numbers. They aren’t pretty. But that has never been his game. Joseph is a hard defender and a glue guy on offense. What he did this season is almost identical to what he did last year with the Indiana Pacers.
Bogdan Bogdanovic: B-
While Bogdanovic’s stat line doesn’t show much improvement, his circumstances do. When Fox and Marvin Bagley III were out, Bogdanovic became the leader for a Kings squad that desperately needed one. He averaged 16.4 points per game and went 40 percent from the 3-point line during that stretch.
Bogdanovic earned a starting job by late January, but he didn’t make the most of it. He averaged only 14.5 points per game on 34 percent 3-point shooting as a starter.
De’Aaron Fox: B
Fox increased both his usage and his efficiency this season, which is the truest mark of improvement you can find in the NBA. We thought Fox could be a star. Now we know he has that potential. The question going forward becomes whether or not he can be a star on a playoff team.
Despite the steps forward for Fox, there are still reasons to be disappointed in his season. Principal among them was his 3-point shooting, which fell to 30.7 percent from 37.1 percent last season. Still, he managed to make up for it with his 2-point mastery. His 52.3 percent mark on 2-pointer is elite among guards.
Richaun Holmes: A
Holmes is the big winner of the 2019-20 Kings season. He was brought in on a small contract that seemed like an afterthought. If Dewayne Dedmon had worked out or if Bagley had stayed healthy, Holmes would have only been a depth piece. Things didn’t go to plan and Holmes was there to save the day.
This was a breakout year for the big man. He came close to doubling his career highs in several categories. He led the NBA in field goal percentage for large stretches of the year. He was incredibly efficient on offense and surprisingly impactful on defense.
Harry Giles: C+
There is a big fall of between Holmes and Giles in playing time, and this is where I considered cutting off the pre-hiatus grades due to sample size. Giles played less than 500 minutes this season, which makes it difficult to feel sure about his opportunity and performance. But this season is just a strange one, so let’s push through the uncertainty.
Giles took a few minor steps forward from what we saw. He cut down his foul percentage, though there is still work to be done on that front. He also impressed when forced into a starting role. He averaged 13.9 points and 7.0 rebounds across a seven-game stretch near the end of the season, but ultimately his numbers didn’t change much from his rookie year.
Kent Bazemore: A-
Context is everything for Bazemore. The sample size is small, but he played good minutes in his limited games with the Kings. When we remember Bazemore was little more than a throw-in for a midseason trade, it’s impossible to deny he shattered expectations. His energy, effort and leadership helped spark a late-season surge.
Yogi Ferrell: F
This is hard to do to a fan favorite like Ferrell, but he deserves a failing grade. There were so many chances for Ferrell to step up in the place of injured players, and it just never happened. He shot only 39.6 percent from the field and 27.5 percent from 3-point range. With numbers like that, Kings fans might need to prepare themselves for his departure from the team.
Marvin Bagley: D
Bagley probably would be better served with a grade of incomplete considering all his injuries, but what we saw was not encouraging. His points, rebounds, assists and blocks per game all decreased, despite a slight increase in minutes per game. His 3-point percentage also fell off a cliff. The hope is that this was just a lost year and Bagley will improve when healthy.
Justin James: B
Not a single soul in Sacramento knew who James was when his name was called during the second round of the 2019 NBA draft. Despite that, he appeared in 34 games and even played meaningful minutes in a handful of them. James showed promise, especially on defense. While his impact was minimal, it was certainly better than what was expected.
Alex Len: B+
Len only played nine games for the Sacramento Kings, and came off the bench in each of them. Despite that, he logged a double-double against the Oklahoma City Thunder and had a five-block night against the Detroit Pistons. Len just barely played enough to earn a letter grade at all, but his performance was well above expectations. Hopefully we see more from him soon.
Anthony Tolliver, DaQuan Jefferies, Jabari Parker, Kyle Guy: Incomplete
The rest of the Kings roster barely played. None of them feel like important pieces of the roster going forward. We’ll see if they stick around and get a chance to contribute to Sacramento’s future. For now, we have to wait until the season plays out or enter the offseason.