How will DeMarcus Cousins, Willie Cauley-Stein and the Sacramento Kings do in 2016-17?
Here are our player scouting reports and analysis.
Projected starters
Darren Collison
Position: Guard
Experience: 7 years
Age: 29
Scouting report
+ Fringe starting point guard likely to return to that role
+ Good outside shooter who can score off the dribble
+ Undersized defender who rarely contributes on glass
Analysis
After hitting the bench in favor of newcomer Rajon Rondo last season, Collison looks likely to reclaim his job as starting point guard this season. However, he'll probably be suspended by the NBA to start the season after pleading guilty to misdemeanor domestic battery in early September. The charges stemmed from a May incident where Sacramento-area authorities found Collison's wife "visibly injured." Having pleaded guilty, Collison is subject to a league suspension at a length yet to be determined by commissioner Adam Silver. During 2014-15, the NBA suspended Jeff Taylor 24 games after he plead guilty to a charge of misdemeanor domestic violence assault.
Collison's offensive game is starter-quality. While he's a middling playmaker for a point guard, Collison is an efficient scorer who posted a career-best .591 true shooting percentage in 2015-16 after three consecutive years of precisely .575 true shooting. That increase was fueled by career highs in both 3-pointers (87) and 3-point percentage (40.1 percent). Collison requires a deep knee bend to create power from 3, but has become a capable shooter off the dribble (he shot 35.3 percent on pull-up 3s, per SportVU tracking on NBA.com/Stats, and 47.6 percent on pull-ups inside the arc), forcing defenses to respect the shot. That helps set up the jet-quick Collison to drive, where he's a capable finisher at just 6 feet tall.
Size is a greater impediment for Collison at the defensive end, where he's something of a speedbump for opponents. Collison has a difficult time dealing with screens and will get posted by bigger point guards. That's ultimately where he falls short as a starter. ESPN's real plus-minus (RPM) rated Collison just outside the league's bottom 10 point guards defensively, and as a below-average contributor overall.
Arron Afflalo
Position: Guard
Experience: 9 years
Age: 30
Scouting report
+ Physical shooting guard whose production doesn't match skill set
+ Capable 3-point shooter but spends too much time playing in midrange
+ Reputation as wing stopper not reflected by plus-minus data
Analysis
Before the All-Star break, Afflalo looked like a perfect fit in the New York Knicks' triangle offense, supplying both 3-point shooting and the ability to play in the post. His shooting percentage slipped badly after the break, however, and Afflalo was benched late in the season in favor of journeyman Sasha Vujacic. The Knicks showed little interest after Afflalo opted for free agency, and he signed a two-year, $25 million deal with the Kings that is guaranteed for just $1.5 million in 2017-18.
On paper, Afflalo is an ideal 3-and-D specialist, starting with his 38.5 percent career 3-point shooting, which he nearly matched at 38.2 percent last season. For a player of that ilk, Afflalo has always shot relatively few 3-pointers, and they accounted for only 30 percent of his shots in 2015-16. Instead, Afflalo would rather post up as a vehicle for turnarounds or spot up just inside the arc. He's actually quite good in the post, leading all shooting guards in post-up points last year according to Synergy Sports tracking on NBA.com/Stats while shooting 53.1 percent on such shots. Still, Afflalo's penchant for long 2-pointers explains why his true shooting percentage (.531 last season) is below average, and he also gets relatively few assists for a shooting guard (2.2 per 36 minutes last season).
Defensively, Afflalo's play has never merited the hype. A strong 6-foot-5, he looks the part of a wing stopper but is a poor team defender. Afflalo reached new lows in terms of steal rate last year, averaging only 0.5 per 100 team plays, not only the lowest mark among guards but fourth-worst in the league period among players who played at least 1,000 minutes. As a result, Afflalo posted a minus-2.6 defensive RPM that put him just outside the bottom 10 at his position.
Rudy Gay
Position: Forward
Experience: 10 years
Age: 30
Scouting report
+ Volume-scoring forward who declined sharply last season
+ Likes to create off the dribble in isolation situations
+ Average individual defender who contributes steals and blocks
Analysis
Gay's reunion with his former assistant coach in Memphis, new Sacramento head coach Dave Joerger, might be short-lived. After the Kings loaded up on forwards this offseason, it looks inevitable that they'll try to become the latest team to benefit from trading Gay. Alas, since Gay has the option to become a free agent next summer, just turned 30 and is coming off a down season, he might no longer fetch the value Sacramento gave up to get him.
Last season saw Gay's usage slip from 27.0 percent of the Kings' plays in 2014-15 to 22.4 percent, his lowest mark since his rookie season. He was also assisted far more frequently -- on 52.8 percent of his 2-point attempts, per Basketball-Reference.com, up from 31.2 percent the previous season. Gay saw no benefit in terms of efficiency from the change. In fact, his true shooting percentage declined from a career-best .556 to .538, putting him below league average.
The biggest problem was that when Gay did create his own shot in isolation, he was far less effective at both hitting shots and getting to the free throw line. His free throw attempts per 36 minutes dropped from 5.9 to 3.8, robbing Gay of easy points. Last season might have revealed an ugly truth about Gay's skills: While having him as a go-to scorer is problematic, he's even worse as a secondary option because he's a poor spot-up shooter (34.4 percent on 3-pointers, both in 2015-16 and in his career).
Somewhat troublesome for the Kings, Gay projects as the best perimeter defender in the Sacramento starting five. He's a seemingly acceptable individual defender whose solid steal and block rates remained strong even as he declined offensively. Gay is also a good enough defensive rebounder to help out a smaller power forward on the glass.
Willie Cauley-Stein
Position: Center
Experience: 1 year
Age: 23
Scouting report
+ Athletic big man who often started next to Cousins
+ Above-the-rim finisher in the pick-and-roll
+ Versatile defense didn't translate into team success
Analysis
As a rookie, Cauley-Stein started 39 of the 66 games he played, most often pushing Cousins to power forward in lineups with two traditional big men. Those lineups, like Cauley-Stein himself, were surprisingly effective offensively (Sacramento's offensive rating was 1.5 points per 100 possessions better with Cauley-Stein and Cousins than when Cousins played alone) but not as good as expected defensively (the Kings' defensive rating was 5.4 points worse than when Cousins played alone, per NBA.com/Stats). After a disappointing NBA summer league in Las Vegas, Cauley-Stein must be careful not to get lost in a crowded frontcourt rotation.
In the NBA, Cauley-Stein averaged nearly as many points per 36 minutes (11.8) as he did as a junior at Kentucky (12.4). His ability to go up and finish lobs made him an effective pick-and-roll option and dangerous moving without the ball as a cutter. Cauley-Stein also showed surprising touch on hooks and other shots near the paint, making 45.7 percent of his attempts from three to nine feet according to Basketball-Reference.com and shooting 56.7 percent overall on 2-point attempts.
Cauley-Stein was drafted sixth overall in large part because of his mobile defense, which allowed him to play with Cousins and defend on the perimeter. But he proved nothing special in that role, which took him away from the paint. Even when Cauley-Stein played center, Sacramento struggled defensively with him on the floor; his on-court defensive rating was worst of any player on the roster per NBA.com/Stats. That's tough to square with the subjective impression of Cauley-Stein's ability to defend shots and against the pick-and-roll, though his poor defensive rebounding was an issue. So was his effort during summer league, when Cauley-Stein blocked only three shots in 95 minutes while going through the motions. He can't assume he's guaranteed playing time this season.
DeMarcus Cousins
Position: Center
Experience: 6 years
Age: 26
Scouting report
+ Elite two-way center who has struggled to coexist with coaches
+ Added 3-point range last season but still most dominant in the paint
+ Quality defender with tendency to take plays off
Analysis
Year 7 for Cousins in Sacramento brings his sixth head coach, and while that carousel started spinning long before the Kings drafted Cousins, he has yet to find one with whom he truly clicks. Sacramento hopes Joerger, who managed difficult personalities well with the Grizzlies, can be that guy. Joerger has challenged Cousins to be a better teammate and will surely want him to reign in his emotions after Cousins was suspended a game in 2015-16 for accumulating 16 technical fouls.
On the court, the biggest evolution of Cousins' game was the addition of 3-point range. He'd made only 11 triples in 69 attempts in his first six seasons before firing up 210 last season, which he made at a 33.3 percent clip. While the newfound range helped Cousins coexist with Willie Cauley-Stein in big starting lineups, the Kings would surely prefer him in the paint, where he drew enough fouls to average a career-high 10.6 free throw attempts per 36 minutes. Cousins also saw his offensive rebound percentage decline by more than a quarter. With his strength and quickness, Cousins is difficult to stop one-on-one in his favored left block. His 348 points on post-ups ranked fifth in the league, per Synergy Sports tracking on NBA.com/Stats.
While it wasn't as bad as when he was out of shape after missing three weeks because of viral meningitis in 2014-15, Cousins still had a tendency to coast on defense last season, particularly when changing ends. As a shot blocker and rim protector, Cousins is only average. Yet even with a deep roster of centers, the Kings allowed 4.5 more points per 100 possessions last season with Cousins on the bench according to NBA.com/Stats -- consistent with their track record of being best defensively when he's on the court.
Reserves
Kosta Koufos
Position: Center
Experience: 8 years
Age: 27
Scouting report
+ Reliable backup center with starting experience
+ Effective post scorer who struggled at foul line
+ Above-average rim protector with decent mobility
Analysis
Sacramento tried playing Koufos with Cousins but found the pairing unworkable offensively. The Kings averaged just 99.1 points per 100 possessions when they shared the court, per NBA.com/Stats, which would have ranked 28th in the league in offensive rating. That leaves Koufos as almost strictly a backup center, which makes it fortunate that the four-year, $33 million deal he signed before last season now looks like reserve money.
Koufos will never be considered a go-to option on offense, but he can score reasonably well against backup centers. He shot a career-best 69.5 percent inside three feet last season, according to Basketball-Reference.com. Koufos also has decent touch away from the basket, beating shot-blockers with flip shots or running floaters more typical of a guard than a center. Overall, Koufos scored with about average efficiency (.540 true shooting percentage) despite shooting a career-low 54.8 percent from the foul line.
The 7-foot Koufos has consistently been an above-average shot-blocker and rim protector, which makes it difficult to understand why Sacramento struggled so badly defensively with him on the court, allowing 108.0 points per 100 possessions, their second-highest mark of any player, per NBA.com/Stats. Koufos went from a top-10 defensive center in RPM in 2014-15 to the bottom 10 last season. Expect that to settle somewhere in the middle in 2016-17.
Omri Casspi
Position: Forward
Experience: 7 years
Age: 28
Scouting report
+ Combo forward who excels as undersized stretch 4
+ Quality 3-point shooter with ability to make plays off the dribble
+ Aggressive defender who anticipates plays well
Analysis
The two-year deal for less than $6 million the Kings gave Casspi in the summer of 2015 almost immediately proved one of the league's best bargains. Playing as an undersized power forward, Casspi proved Sacramento's best frontcourt partner for DeMarcus Cousins and started 16 games in that role. Given Joerger's options for going big and small up front, however, Casspi will have to beat out several opponents to start this year.
As a small forward, Casspi is a very good shooter (40.9 percent from 3-point range last year, his second consecutive season at 40 percent or better) and capable ball handler. Move him to power forward and he becomes elite in both categories. Casspi has deep 3-point range -- per Basketball-Reference.com, his 31 3s from 27 feet or longer were 18th in the NBA -- and uses an exaggerated pump fake when opponents close out too hard. Casspi almost never shoots between the paint and the 3-point line and is a good finisher when he can get all the way to the hoop off the dribble.
At 6-foot-9, 225 pounds, Casspi is more naturally a small forward than a power forward defensively. He's strong, however, and doesn't mind physical play in the paint. So Casspi rarely got posted up and was effective defending pick-and-rolls with the ability to switch onto guards as necessary. Don't be fooled by Casspi's unimpressive overall rebound percentage; he got few offensive boards on the perimeter but was nearly average on the defensive glass for a power forward. As a result, according to Nylon Calculus tracking, the Kings outscored opponents by 3.3 points per 48 minutes when Casspi played power forward as compared to a minus-0.5 net differential when he played small forward.
Matt Barnes
Position: Forward
Experience: 13 years
Age: 36
Scouting report
+ Veteran forward returning home to native Sacramento
+ Average to below 3-point shooter whose 2-point shooting tumbled
+ Tough, physical defender who can guard multiple positions
Analysis
The two-year, $12.5 million deal (with a 2017-18 player option) Barnes signed as a free agent is both a homecoming and a reunion. A native of the Sacramento area, Barnes previously played a half-season with his hometown team over a decade ago before being traded to Philadelphia with Chris Webber. And he's reunited with his coach last season, following Joerger from the Grizzlies to the Kings.
Barnes will turn 37 in March and there were signs of slippage last year in Memphis. While his 3-point regression to 32.2 percent after shooting 36.2 percent in 2014-15 with the L.A. Clippers was probably to be expected since he's a 33.5 percent career 3-point shooter, Barnes' decline in 2-point accuracy was more alarming. He shot just 44.9 percent after making 56.5 percent of his 2s in three years as a Clipper. That can be traced largely to finishing. Barnes shot 56.1 percent inside 3 feet per Basketball-Reference.com, down from the high 60s in L.A.
Despite the offensive downturn, Barnes still started 45 games and averaged 28.8 minutes as a reliable option on the injury-battered Grizzlies. His physical, at times confrontational, style was a perfect fit with Memphis' Grit and Grind, and might be the kind of attitude Joerger wants to bring to Sacramento. But Barnes can sometimes cross lines off the court, as when he drove to his ex-wife's house during training camp to confront her new significant other, then-New York Knicks head coach Derek Fisher. Barnes was suspended two games for the incident, and another game for attempting to enter the Milwaukee Bucks' locker room to continue a fight with John Henson that got both players ejected.
Garrett Temple
Position: Guard
Experience: 6 years
Age: 30
Scouting report
+ Experienced reserve guard who's defensive minded
+ Capable of playing point guard in a pinch
+ Good defender against either guard spot
Analysis
A bidding war for Temple's services is a good illustration of how hot this summer's market for free agents ran. The Kings won, landing Temple on a three-year, $24 million deal after he had never previously made more than the NBA's minimum salary. Temple will be in the mix for playing time off the bench at both guard spots and could start at point guard if Collison is suspended.
Due to Bradley Beal's injuries, Temple started a career-high 43 games last season for the Washington Wizards and averaged a career-high 7.3 points. He supplied secondary ballhandling alongside John Wall and benefited from Wall's ability to find shooters in the corners, making 36.4 percent of his corner 3s per Basketball-Reference.com as compared to 32.9 percent from above the break. Temple also liked to leak out for early scores. According to Synergy Sports tracking on NBA.com/Stats, a team-high 31.7 percent of the plays he finished came in transition, though Temple wasn't a particularly efficient transition scorer.
Temple hasn't served as a point guard on a regular basis since 2013-14, when he filled that role before the Wizards acquired Andre Miller at the trade deadline. Washington was outscored by 7.0 points per 100 possessions with Temple on the court before then, struggling to score. He lacks the necessary court vision to be successful in that role but might still end up playing it in Sacramento.
Defensively, Temple should be a major upgrade and the Kings' best option in the backcourt. At 6-foot-6, he has plenty of size to defend either guard spot and likes to get up into ball handlers. Temple generated steals at a high rate before slipping in that regard last season.
Anthony Tolliver
Position: Forward
Experience: 8 years
Age: 31
Scouting report
+ Stretch 4 who's carved out a nice career as a reserve
+ Good, not great 3-point shooter who largely stays beyond arc
+ Poor defensive rebounder but adequate defender overall
Analysis
Slowly, Tolliver is working his way through the Pacific Division. Having previously played for the Golden State Warriors and Phoenix Suns among eight teams in as many NBA seasons, Tolliver will now hit his third stop in the Pacific after signing a two-year, $16 million deal with Sacramento that has just $2 million guaranteed for 2017-18.
An extreme stretch 4, Tolliver took a career-high 82 percent of his shots from downtown last season. He hit them at a 36.0 percent clip, nearly right on his career mark (35.7 percent), and fell two triples shy of making 100 for a third consecutive season. As you'd imagine based on that, Tolliver almost never creates off the dribble for himself or others. He was assisted on 120 of his 128 field goals last year, per Basketball-Reference.com.
Defensively, Tolliver is somewhat stuck between a small forward and power forward. At 6-foot-8, he's undersized for a 4 and struggles on the defensive glass. As a result, teams have occasionally tried to have him defend small forwards. That never took because Tolliver doesn't have the necessary lateral mobility to defend on the wing. So it's best to use him as a stretch 4 and live with the defensive consequences to get his shooting on the court.
Ty Lawson
Position: Guard
Experience: 7 years
Age: 28
Scouting report
+ Experienced starting point guard who fell off cliff last season
+ Average 3-point shooter who's best with the ball in his hands
+ Has a bowling-ball physique that's unlikely to age well
Analysis
When the Kings passed on Emmanuel Mudiay to draft Cauley-Stein in 2015, allowing the Denver Nuggets to take Mudiay, Lawson said, "I'm going to Sacramento, bro" on a livestream of him watching the draft. It took a year and two teams in the interim, but Lawson is indeed joining the Kings on a one-year deal after his stint with the Houston Rockets was a disaster. After giving up a first-round pick for Lawson, the Rockets cut him midseason, saved only by Lawson agreeing as part of the deal to make his 2016-17 salary non-guaranteed. He was a bit more effective after joining the Indiana Pacers for the stretch run and postseason but still found little interest in free agency before agreeing to a non-guaranteed one-year deal for the veteran's minimum with Sacramento.
Lawson's decline can be traced to two potential causes. He was a poor fit alongside James Harden in Houston because he had to play off the ball and has only been an average 3-point shooter since making better than 40 percent of his 3s his first two seasons. Lawson lasted less than a month as the starter, but he wasn't much more effective in a reserve role or with the Pacers. That suggests the downturn might be related to Lawson spending time in court-mandated rehab during the summer of 2015 after a pair of DUI arrests earlier in the year. There's also the possibility that Lawson was always destined to peak early given how dependent he was on elite quickness as a 5-foot-11 point guard with a low center of gravity.
Still, Lawson is a reasonable low-cost gamble for the Kings given their need for depth at point guard. The Lawson we saw in Indiana was at least an adequate backup, handing out 8.7 assists per 36 minutes despite scoring inefficiently. And if Lawson somehow returns to his Denver form, there's a small chance of Sacramento getting a starting point guard at a bargain rate, albeit only for this season. At worst, the Kings can move on with nothing lost.
Ben McLemore
Position: Guard
Experience: 3 years
Age: 23
Scouting report
+ Former lottery pick who has fallen out of favor in Sacramento
+ Hasn't been able to score efficiently in limited offensive role
+ Has shown potential but not consistent results defensively
Analysis
While he started 53 games in his third NBA season, McLemore saw his playing time cut from 32.6 minutes per game to just 21.2 per game. Add newcomers Afflalo and Temple in the mix at shooting guard, and McLemore could be a trade candidate during the final season of his rookie contract.
Projected as an elite shooter coming out of Kansas, McLemore has become only an above-average one. He has hit 36.2 percent of his 3-point attempts the last season, but without the kind of volume or effectiveness inside the arc that would make him a quality scorer. McLemore rarely gets to the free throw line (last year's 2.6 attempts per 36 minutes were a career high), so his true shooting percentage peaked around league average in 2014-15 before declining to .531 last season. And McLemore rarely makes plays for others, handing out just 2.0 assists per 36 minutes.
At 6-foot-5 with good athleticism, McLemore has the tools to be a plus defender. He showed some promise last season matching up with smaller point guards but hasn't been consistent enough overall to make a living in the NBA as a defender. McLemore is also a poor rebounder.
Malachi Richardson
Position: Guard
Experience: Rookie
Age: 20
Scouting report
+ Parlayed strong NCAA tournament run into first-round status
+ Showed NBA 3-point range but shot poorly overall as freshman
+ Long arms give him potential to defend bigger opponents
Analysis
Nobody was thinking about Richardson as a one-and-done prospect before his breakout NCAA tournament run as Syracuse reached the Final Four. Richardson decided to enter the draft after averaging 15.0 points in the tourney and was taken 22nd overall with a pick Sacramento got before the draft. The Kings hope he works out better than the last two shooting guards they took in the first round, McLemore and Nik Stauskas.
To succeed in the NBA, Richardson will almost certainly need to improve his outside shooting. He shot 35.3 percent from 3-point range as a freshman and hit 33.3 percent during his first exposure to the NBA line in Las Vegas. Richardson can serve as a secondary ball handler and should be effective in transition, but he also has struggled to make shots inside the arc. Richardson shot just 58.1 percent at the rim last season, per Hoop-Math.com, and a dismal 22.5 percent on 2-point jumpers.
A 7-foot wingspan gives the 6-foot-6 Richardson the ability to play bigger than his size defensively. Eventually, he should be able to defend all three perimeter spots, but he'll have to add strength to compete physically with small forwards. Though past Syracuse products have struggled to defend after playing zone in college, Richardson showed impressive ability to lock and trail defenders coming off screens at the draft combine.
Skal Labissiere
Position: Forward
Experience: Rookie
Age: 20
Scouting report
+ Talented pick-and-pop big man who underachieved at Kentucky
+ Can make NBA 3-pointer; likes to shoot turnarounds in post
+ Quality shot-blocker with decent agility for his size
Analysis
Perhaps the most impressive player at the 2015 Nike Hoop Summit, which featured top prospects including Ben Simmons and Brandon Ingram, Labissiere didn't have the same impact as the top two picks during his freshman season. John Calipari attempted to mold the perimeter-oriented Labissiere into an inside-out big man as he had with Karl-Anthony Towns the year before. That didn't take and Labissiere was ineffective much of the season. Yet Sacramento still took him Labissiere in the first round on the basis of his skills and size.
For a 6-foot-11 combo big man, Labissiere has intriguing offensive skills. He made three 3-pointers in four attempts during this year's summer league and is comfortable hitting jumpers off the pick-and-pop. Yet Labissiere struggled playing in the post at Kentucky, settling too often for turnaround jumpers instead of working to create better post position. Labissiere also had a tough time maintaining his balance, one reason he shot just 51.6 percent from the field despite his touch.
Labissiere did impress as a shot-blocker, swatting better than 10 percent of opponents' 2-point attempts in college. Right now, the Kings see him as more of a power forward than a center, which makes sense given their glut of players in the middle. Labissiere doesn't have exceptional lateral quickness but is a good athlete for his size. He might be comparable defending on the perimeter to Myles Turner as a rookie with the Indiana Pacers, and playing power forward minimizes Labissiere's weak defensive rebounding. Ultimately, he could prove an ideal complement for Cousins' skills if he plays more like the prep prospect and less like the college disappointment.
Georgios Papagiannis
Position: Center
Experience: Rookie
Age: 19
Scouting report
+ Giant Greek center who impressed in limited action for Panathinaikos
+ Prefers to back down opponents for extended period in the post
+ Slow-footed defender who might struggle with NBA athleticism
Analysis
Sacramento surprised the league by taking Papagiannis in the lottery (13th overall) after trading down with Phoenix. Papagiannis was expected to go early in the second round or perhaps late in the first, and his first NBA exposure in Las Vegas did little to suggest the Kings knew something everyone else didn't.
On the plus side, Papagiannis was dominant in mostly garbage time playing in his native Greece for powerful Panathinaikos last season. He averaged 25.0 points per 36 minutes on 68 percent shooting. The Papagiannis who turned up at summer league, by contrast, appeared out of shape. His go-to move was spending a long time backing down a defender -- he was eventually called for the rare five-second post-up violation -- before finally getting in position to fire up a hook. Papagiannis shot just 35.7 percent in Vegas and had no assists against 11 turnovers.
Defensively, the 7-foot-2 Papagiannis would definitely benefit from better conditioning. As it was, he struggled to defend away from the rim during summer league and moved too slowly to be in the right spot as a help defender. At best, Papagiannis is probably always going to have difficulty defending mobile centers or players with 3-point range.
Isaiah Cousins
Position: Point guard
Experience: Rookie
Age: 22
Scouting report
+ Strong outside shooter who struggles inside the arc
+ Latecomer to the point guard position
Analysis
No relation to Sacramento's star, this Cousins was drafted with the penultimate pick of this year's second round after averaging 12.6 points and 4.5 assists per game playing next to Buddy Hield as Oklahoma reached the Final Four. If Lawson implodes during training camp, Cousins could stick as a third point guard, but more likely he's headed to the Kings' D-League affiliate in Reno.
Cousins could use more time to develop as a playmaker. He didn't run the point in Norman until his senior year, when he swapped positions with incumbent Jordan Woodard. At 6-foot-5, Cousins is big enough to possibly survive as a shooting guard, but he's got more value if he can play the point. At either position, Cousins' 40.7 percent career 3-point shooting from the college line is a plus. However, he shot nearly an identical percentage (40.8 percent) on 2-point attempts.
Lamar Patterson
Position: Guard
Experience: 1 year
Age: 25
Scouting report
+ Guard-sized wing who's a capable ball handler but poor outside shooter
+ Fell out of Atlanta Hawks' rotation during second half of season
Analysis
The high point of Patterson's rookie season came early, as he scored 14 points in the first two games after unexpectedly winning a rotation spot in training camp. The 2014 second-round pick saw his playing time dwindle thereafter and dry up entirely after the All-Star break. The Hawks waived Patterson to clear necessary cap space in July, and he was claimed by Sacramento. Since Patterson has no guaranteed salary for this season, the Kings probably would have to make a trade for him to make the roster.
Patterson is a good ball handler for a wing who averaged 3.6 assists per 36 minutes in limited action last season. But at 6-foot-5, he's undersized to defend small forwards, which limits him almost exclusively to shooting guard. And there, Patterson's non-shooting is an issue. He made just 12 percent of his 49 attempts from 3-point range.