Written by Dan Devine at YahooSports.com
At 29-44, the Sacramento Kings have not yet been eliminated from playoff contention. However, they enter Monday’s action 6 1/2 games out of the Western Conference’s No. 8 seed with nine games remaining, so let’s be grown-ups and acknowledge that Sacramento’s season will be over in 2 1/2 weeks. Somehow, against all odds, it seems that George Karl will cross that familiar mid-April finish line as the Kings’ head coach, despite ongoing acrimony stretching all the way back to last summer that seemed to reach a fever pitch at the All-Star break. That Karl continues to lead the Kings, however, doesn’t necessarily mean the players are following.
Let’s turn the clock back to Friday night. After spending the bulk of this season out of Karl’s rotation and parked at the end of the Sacramento bench behind a glut of better established or longer-tenured veteran guards, Seth Curry — the younger brother of Golden State Warriors superstar and reigning NBA Most Valuable Player Stephen Curry — slid into the starting lineup for Friday’s matchup with the Phoenix Suns. He performed well, defending hard and scoring 12 points with four rebounds, an assist and a block in 26 minutes of floor time as the Kings blew the doors off the woeful Suns.
After the game, Karl didn’t exactly rush to bury the younger Curry beneath effusive praise, according to Blake Ellington of Sactown Royalty(emphasis mine):
Following the win over the Suns, Sactown Royalty asked Karl what he thought Curry’s future is as an NBA player.
“I think Seth will be a combo guard, play both 1 [point guard] and 2 [shooting guard]. I think usually those guys when I look at them, I see them probably trying to score a little bit too much and I think he probably should become more of a playmaking point as much as a scoring point,” Karl said. “But he’s going to be around for a couple years. He’s definitely going to have a few more years of someone; I think we have him for one more year. I think he has a tenacity to him and a good basketball feel to him. Now he’s just got to be confident and consistent.”
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