Utah Jazz: Way too early predictions for 2019-20 Western Conference standings

10. Sacramento Kings

In my opinion, the Sacramento Kings are notorious for making offseason moves that bring in good players, but ones that don’t move the needle on a team that doesn’t have the core pieces in place to contend. For example, if a team like the Los Angeles Lakers had added Trevor Ariza, or if the LA Clippers had signed Cory Joseph, or if the Utah Jazz had added Dewayne Dedmon, you might’ve gotten excited about those under-the-radar role player guys going to bulk up a contender.

Instead, they’ve been added to the Kings for arguably more than they’re worth, to play alongside some promising young guns, but not guys who are ready to contend. In other words, I like a lot of the pieces Sacramento added, but they seem as if they’d be more exciting additions to a championship-caliber team, not a team that lacks the existing talent to get into the playoffs.

The Kings were close to breaking into the postseason a year ago with a ninth place finish. Although I’m confident we’ll see improvements out of the likes of De’Aaron Fox, Marvin Bagley, Buddy Hield and Bogdan Bogdanovic, I’m still not convinced this team has quite the firepower or talent to finish in the West’s top-eight, and may even slide from a year ago due to the improvements made around the conference.