With training camp just around the corner, Sacramento Kings players have been flooding the capital city to prep for what should be an intriguing season.
Leading the charge is second-year point guard Isaiah Thomas, who not only won over head coach Keith Smart last season, but Sacramento fans as well. While the Kings have been turning over stones looking for a leader, they may have found their man in Thomas, who was the final pick in the 2011 NBA Draft.
In past seasons, we have seen the Kings build marketing campaigns around Tyreke Evans and DeMarcus Cousins. The darling of this offseason is clearly Thomas.
He has quickly become the heart and soul of this young team, so much that the Kings sent a camera crew to Washington to trace his every step this summer. We were able to catch up with Thomas a few minutes before he sat down to watch his film “Hometown” with a group of season ticket holders.
“I’m very excited.” Thomas said before the documentary short premiered on Thursday night. “This is a dream come true, a blessing. It’s something we’ve had in the works and the Kings came to me with it.”
The film was produced and directed by Jeff Anderson, as well as brothers Rusty and Dave Prevatt from Franklin Pictures.
“He’s got a good story and he tells it well too,” said Anderson of the young point guard.
We have yet to see a 170-foot banner draped around a Sacramento skyscraper or the perimeter of Power Balance Pavilion plastered with signage featuring Thomas, but the 5-foot-8, University or Washington product is quickly becoming one of the faces of this Kings’ franchise.
While the team waits for Evans and Cousins to reach their lofty potentials, it was Thomas who organized a players-only camp this summer and it was Thomas who showed up in Sacramento weeks ago to get this season off on the right foot.
“I put it in the hands of the players and I wanted to see who would take the lead on that,” Coach Smart said of the players-only summit this summer. “This is the guy who put it all together. He ended up getting 10 guys back together in Sacramento for a week and he’s been doing all of the things that a leader does.”
Thomas credits his mother and father back in Washington for helping him become the leader that he is. “From when I was little, my dad always told me to be a leader, not a follower,” Thomas told the crowd.
Pencil him in as the Kings’ starting point guard when the season opens. And if he can build on last year’s unexpected success, the team may have found their point guard for the next decade.
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