The Sacramento Kings had the money and cap space to resign the young, budding point guard Isaiah Thomas this summer in free agency but surprisngly they chose not too. They signed Darren Collison for three years worth $16 million instead - to the dismay of many Kings fans - then added Ramon Sessions a couple of weeks or so before the deadline. Was creating a two-headed point guard monster in Collison and Session worth more than resigning Thomas? Only time will tell if whether or not the Kings made the right decision but their promising center DeMarcus Cousins seems to be quite contented and even impressed with the point guard changes.
Per Jason Jones who covers the Sacramento Kings and NBA for The Sacramento Bee:
DMC [DeMarcus Cousins] on PG changes: "It's been incredible. It's been a smooth transition. The ball is moving a lot better. It's not stuck in one place" ... "It's not being over dribbled by anybody on the floor" he added.
Now did Cousins just take a jab at Thomas's style of play with his comments? No one can tell for sure but Cousins did comment this offseason that Thomas was let go because he didn't move the ball enough and wasn't a "pure" point guard per CBS Sports. But Collison seems like a score-first play maker just like Thomas which adds plenty of confusion and speculation on Cousin's comments.
Blake Murphy of the Score, however, has a detailed report showing that Darren Collison and Ramon Sessions were significantly more willing and timely distributors with their careers in the NBA. Murphy revealed that not only did Thomas hold the ball longer than the Kings new point guard combo but that he also passed a smaller portion of his touches.
Cousins is one of the most gifted big men, in terms of overall skill and ability, in the league at the tender age of 24 and is on track to supererstardom and he needs the offense to run through him if he is to become the Kings franchise player. Isaiah held the ball too much, disabling Cousin's ability to lead the team and dominate games, and this may have been the reason why Sacramento let him walk away in free agency.
But you can't erase the fact that Cousins may have just been too pumped up with his new teammates in training camp and was just too excited for his team heading into the season, especially after winning gold for Team USA in the FIBA World Cup, that's why he made the comment. And if Cousins want's to win and sees Thomas as the best way to do it, then forcing him out of the team wouldn't make sense. But its also possible that the ball is indeed moving better with Kings head coach Mike Malone emphasizing ball movement in training camp after seeing his team's offense stagnate for long stretches in a game last season.
But does it mean that signing Collison and Sessions for a combined $6.9 million a year, while Thomas earns a slightly higher salary with $7.2 million a year in Phoenix, was the right move fo the Sacramento Kings? What do you think?
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