Sacramento Kings 2010 Props

NBA Basketball Props Betting
WILL THESE KINGS SPEND ANOTHER YEAR AS PEASANTS?

BetUS Sportsbook has put up a number of props that concern the Sacramento Kings, who have recently filled the last coaching vacancy in the NBA.

Let's take a stab at some of them:

HOW MANY SEASONS WILL PAUL WESTPHAL COACH THE KINGS?

Less than 1  5/1
1  5/4
2  5/6
3+  3/1

Those Maloof brothers looked so cool and hip and smart for a while with the Kings, who were going to the playoffs year after year. Then they decided not to renew coach Rick Adelman's contract, and, well, I guess they haven't been so lucky since. Adelman guided the team to eight straight post-season berths, and the rest has been rather unpleasant history for the Sacramento franchise. To add insult to injury, when Adleman won his 800th career game he did it against the Kings.

Even thought the Kings reportedly passed on Larry Brown, I thought that Reggie Theus was a surprisingly good hire for them, and he did what I thought was a decent job dealing with an onslaught of injuries. You just can't win when all of your key players are out, and Theus' chances were hurt when Mike Bibby, Ron Artest and Kevin Martin were all out at once. This past season there were a lot of injuries as well, particularly to Martin, who played on one leg even when he was in the lineup, and finally Theus couldn't survive it. Kenny Natt took over once Theus was fired, and though the team responded with some good efforts at first, things became unraveled, making another coaching change necessary.

I don't think Westphal will get a long leash if he bombs badly early, but I think he will get past this first season, and probably his second. The Kings get the fourth pick in the draft, and should be able to find someone to team with Martin in the backcourt. Then they may be a player in the free agent market after next season. Stability is one of the things that marked the upward surge of this franchise before, and I would imagine the Maloof’s will be bright enough to let the talent develop under a new coach, enough if he is a recycled one. Westphal has won 63% of his games as an NBA coach, and led the Phoenix Suns to the Finals in his first season.

JAY'S PLAY: 3-plus (+300)

HOW MANY GAMES WILL THE KINGS WIN IN THE 2009/10 SEASON?

Under 17  10/1
17-25  5/4
26-30  1/1
31-36  9/4
37-45  2/1
46-55  8/3
55+  15/1

Westphal has a pretty good record as a head coach. He has been the head man for four full seasons in the NBA, and he has won at least 56 games in three of those seasons. He won't have that kind of record in his initial season, but there is the possibility of improvement. This roster was moved around quite a bit, and these guys will be learning how to play with each other. If Ricky Rubio falls to them at #4, they could team him with Martin and have an interesting backcourt. There are role players like Beno Udrih, Francisco Garcia and Andres Nocioni, who shapes up as a starter here. Jason Thompson has a lot of promise at the power forward spot; he averaged 11.1 points and 7.4 rebounds last year. Spencer Hawes is a finesse-oriented center with a lot of talent and at 21, he is still a work in progress. There are some pieces here, but probably not enough to make major strides, and with three rookies possibly coming in (Sacramento has the fourth, 23rd and 31st picks in the draft) there may be some more roster shuffling before all is said and done.