The Kings organization suffered a very early 1st round exit to end the 2000-2001 to the <expletive deleted> Grizzlies. The cornerstone of our build, centered around defense, completely failed us and could only muster up a single win in five games, three of those at home. This came after our very close call of making the Finals the season before, causing me to reconsider the team I had going forward for other various reasons. Another big factor going into the offseason was Tracy McGrady and Antonio Daniels entering RFA with an already max contract on the books and no first round pick heading into one of the deepest drafts we've had.
I made a big move early in the draft by trading Camby for Gilbert "Agent Zero" Arenas. I felt the Kings needed a new direction, and with Camby making nearly 25% of the salary cap and 27 years old, it was either keep the team as is and hope something clicks or swing for the fences. Arenas definitely caught my eye in scouting the top of the draft. After the Sonics were publicly displeased of missing out on Pau, we made a play for Arenas using one of my main building blocks of Camby to bring him to Sacramento. Camby will be missed, as he was a very underrated center is this league. With Arenas, we feel McGrady and Arenas will become one of the most lethal backcourts in the league after a few seasons of development.
Going into RFA, we had an easy choice of super-maxing Tracy McGrady. Antonio Daniels, for some reason, was rumored as a possible "let go" if he had gotten a max bid. This couldn't be further from the truth, as we have been very happy with Daniels progression as a combo guard. There aren't a lot of balanced combo guards in the league that can shoot 48% from the field. Daniels will help balance the backcourt while Arenas grows. Between the three, I feel we have our starting 1-2-3 that can score 15+ PPG each, making our usual vanilla offense a little harder to defend.
Going into free agency, we did recognize not only a need to fill our frontcourt, which was nonexistent. We made a cheap trade with the Grizzlies to grab Gheorge Muresan. We then targeted several high-value targets we felt would make a big difference on our team. I couldn't believe I was able to sign both Vin Baker and Bo Outlaw. Baker is a well balanced scoring threat that is strong down low, and Bo Outlaw was a 1st Team All Defense selection this season. The contracts are very friendly and helped us fill the rest of our team without going crazy over the cap.
We feel good going into the 2001-2002 season, and while this team isn't as strong as previous teams in our history, the potential is there several years down the road to become something special. This season is just a building block and we hope to remain competitive in one of the strong and deepest Pacific divisions in recent memory. We look forward to another strong performance this season.
