The youth army turned around? After all members were shuffled, are they normal?

For the Kings' new season, they may have to get back on track.

This right track may not refer to the dark horse seasons of the top three in the Western Conference in the past few years, but more to a return to a more real state, where expectations will not be too high, nor will they be completely bad. And the more critical part behind this is that they finally bid farewell to the era of McNair's random manipulation.

Of course, it is not entirely negative for former general manager McNair. He also gave the Kings a moment of rebirth. During his time running the team, the Kings ended their 16-year playoff drought, and he also won the best general manager in the 2022-23 season.

But looking at the team's trajectory, McNair is almost the worst general manager of this team in the past 30 years.

Before the introduction of Sabonis Jr. to determine the inside core, the general manager had been conservative in his operations. Most of the time, he pursued older players, but missed a lot of young potential.

The results obtained are also obvious. Although the Kings once reached the playoffs, they also completely locked up the room for future improvement. Almost all the resources they spent were used on some very ordinary role players.

A series of stupid moves quickly put this promising team into a quagmire early. Fortunately, after this offseason, the Kings' chaos finally seems to have stopped.

This year's offseason, the Kings made significant adjustments to their lineup:

The departing list includes: Trey Lyles, Laravia, Valanciunas, Jae Crowder, and Fultz; while the entering list includes Nicky Clifford, Maxime Leno, Schroeder, Eubanks, Saric, Dylan Caldwell, Daiquan Plowden, and others.

On the surface, the names of these players do not stand out. Most of them are blue-collar puzzle pieces of the team. But amid the seemingly chaotic situation, the Kings finally have the opportunity to clarify their next direction. They may no longer pursue a gorgeous lineup, but begin to actively revise their offensive and defensive systems.

Looking back at last season, the team system completely collapsed in the second half of the regular season. Under the chaos, many outside public opinions pointed at coach Christie. However, if you take a closer look, the problem does not seem to lie with Christie.

After the core of the team Fox left the team, the management recruited a more pure scorer Zach LaVine. After the core replacement, the only thing the coach can do is to design tactics for LaVine while finding ways to fill the defensive organization gap left by Fox.

This has also been a problem with LaVine. He did bring offensive firepower to the Kings, but it also brought about a chain reaction of defensive collapse. At that time, Christie was only the acting coach, and he could not adjust the rotation arrangements of other middle- and old-generation players in the team at will.

From this perspective, the focus of the Kings in the new season is probably not how much improvement they have made, but whether they can hold on on the defensive end. After all, after the core shuffle, this team still has a lower offensive limit. The combination of Sabonis + LaVine can still produce offensive firepower at the league's mid-range level no matter how bad it is.

As for the defense on the other end, as long as it can be defended, it is already a win.

Here we have to mention Sabonis, the inside core.

Previously, many fans liked to compare Savoy with ball-handling centers such as Jokic and Shen Jing. However, from the perspective of player comprehensiveness, Sasha's essence is actually more like a multi-functional blue-collar worker rather than the team's ball-handling core.

Based on the content of the game, the hand-off tactics that revolve around Savoy are indeed in line with the new era of offense. He can dribble, pass, pick and roll, and can even perform outside three-pointers. These comprehensive conditions also make him an ideal modern center in today's era.

But the problem is that once out of this high-frequency hand-to-hand system, Sasha seems to be mediocre. His defensive frame protection ability is not very good, his singles offense is average, and he does not have a stable outside threat. From this point of view, for the Kings in the new season, balance is their key point. They must not only retain Sasha's tactical advantages, but also not let him fall into system dependence.

Of course, this is also the key to whether the Kings can be truly stable in the new season.

After Sasha, for the Kings, the duo of Keegan Murray and Ellis is definitely an underrated duo.

Combined with last season's data, when the two are on the court at the same time, the Kings' defensive efficiency is only 108.6. They are the only combination among all major rotations that can press below 110. They are also the lineup with the third highest plus-minus value in the team (+5.7).

In short, the Kings' ability to stabilize the situation defensively basically relies on these two people. But the problem is that the duo is likely to be separated again in the new season. According to the King's lineup layout, Keegan Murray will be in the starting lineup and Keon Ellis will stay on the bench. One needs to be busy defending the poor defense of the starting lineup, while the other needs to fight alone on the bench.

From a record perspective, if the Kings really want to win more games, maybe they really need to let these two people play more at the same time, instead of checking and filling in the gaps one after the other.

The same problem also exists for DeRozan and Monk. DeRozan is more valuable when fewer people in the team need the ball; while Monk needs to cooperate with Savoy and partner with shooters to open up space to play his offensive value.

From this point of view, for coach Christie, his goal in the new season is not to rearrange the starting lineup, but more to rearrange the combination. The current Kings do not lack stars, but they lack chemistry.

Then there is LaVine, who is likely to be the Mesozoic player in the Kings' team in the new season who is truly qualified to be included in the long-term blueprint.

The reason is simple: his shooting is efficient enough.

Last season, LaVine averaged 3.2 three-pointers per game with a field goal rate of 44.6%. Among the players in the league who averaged more than 3 goals per game, LaVine was far ahead of those behind him in the shooting percentage list. If the future contract renewal price is not so expensive, LaVine can be regarded as a player not for sale by the Kings.

In addition to the original veterans, the most interesting player for the Kings in the new season is the newly signed Schroeder. The little man got a chance with the Hawks early in his career, but was limited by high turnovers and low shooting percentage. He never got a stable opportunity after moving to many teams. This year he finally waited for a three-year full mid-level contract again.

For this NBA homeless man, we must not forget that he just won the European Cup MVP in the offseason. It's just that he has performed well in every international competition, but it seems difficult to bring such performance to the NBA. Judging from the content of the game, Schroeder's limitations in the NBA mainly come from two issues:

One is mistakes, and the other is efficiency.

The former depends on the proportion of ball rights, and the latter depends on the matching of the team system.

Looking at the team, the Kings currently lack a point guard who can carry the ball through half the court, and Schroeder can perform defense changes, play pick-and-rolls, and can also play some mismatched opportunities in isolation. And these happen to be the common characteristics of the two finals teams, the Thunder and the Pacers, last season. And if Schroeder can maintain the same advantage in the Kings system, he will still have a chance to perform again.

Finally, when it comes to management, compared to player manipulation, what the Kings are really worth looking forward to in the new season is the new general manager: Scott Perry.

Regarding the management of this new executive, many voices criticized the King for sending him away in a sudden turn after introducing Varan. It seems controversial, but if you look closely, it seems to come from switching between two team strategies.

Scott Perry's thinking should also be clear:

Rebuilding assets in a contextual manner, rather than destroying them in a one-size-fits-all manner.

What he needs to do at this stage is to create opportunities for young players while maintaining the transaction value of Mesozoic players. This is quite different from the operating logic of his predecessor McNair. This is also something worth looking forward to for the Kings management in the new season.

As for the prospects of the new season, from a prediction perspective, the Kings are probably still a fringe team in the play-offs under the best circumstances, and the normal division ranking can probably fall to 9th to 13th in the Western Conference. During the regular season, there is a high probability that they will finish the first half of the season seriously, and then look for opportunities in the mid-term market to deal with Sasha's trade, and then look for future opportunities.

In the final analysis, the goal of this Kings in the new season is not to counterattack the record, but to operate wisely. Refuse to spend money indiscriminately, no longer fantasize about taking shortcuts, but learn to advance with a normally functioning team.

For the Kings, this may be more important than winning.

Mini-game recommendations:Soft Girls Winter Aesthetics