Leo Beas’ season prediction:

The Sacramento Kings are full of strong-minded individuals that have been labeled by the national media as moody, inefficient and cancerous before they even played a single game.

Fair or not, the players have used that as motivation to prove their nonbelievers wrong and have shown signs of great team unity and a 5-1 overall record during the preseason.

Does that translate into regular season success?

No but it’s a positive sign moving forward into the season because these players believe in each other and have identified themselves as a “suicide squad.”

That alone tells you where the moral of this team lies and Kings fans love it.

The Kings have all the pieces to be a playoff contender. When you arguably have the best big man in the game (who is coming off his first All-Star and All-NBA appearance last season), mixed with a former All-Star and NBA champion, borderline All-Star (Rudy Gay), and coached by a future Hall-of-Famer — it’s hard not to believe in this team.

Final Projection: 46-36

Read Vince Miracle’s in-depth analysis and season prediction:

The Sacramento Kings are set to change the course after nine years of disappointment and heartache. The Kings finished 29-53 at the end of the 2014-2015 season.

Last season was filled with too many story lines in which the franchise did not look good.

After a strong start to the season playing above (.500) basketball under head coach Michael Malone, he was dismissed unfairly and the fans let Vivek Ranadive hear their disappointment.

Due to play-style differences, tension was built between the front office and their head coach. When DeMarcus Cousins went out with viral meningitis, it became the perfect scapegoat to fire Malone.

The team then went through an unsuccessful trial run of Ty Corbin as the head coach. After accumulating loss after loss, the Kings front office felt it was time to move on once again. And now you say hello to George Karl.

After all of the media scrutiny that surrounded Cousins and Karl over the summer, the two seemed to have set aside their differences and have come together for one thing — winning.

Currently, the over and under at the William Hill Sports Book is 36.5 wins for the Kings, which is a positive sign because it shows that the national audience are beginning to realize the talent on this roster. The initial 30.5 over and under was a steal for anyone that took that bet.

NBC Sports Kurt Helin has the team at 35 wins on the season. Jason Jones of the Sacramento Bee projects 40 wins.

With the talent pool that the Kings have on their roster — baring injury, 10 more wins seems more than likely.

Sacramento does have a rough stretch of games to start the season. No surprises if the Kings start off slow. But if that happens prepare for the “I told you so ” journalists that are ready to attack and dissect every gesture a player, coach, or front office executive makes. Lets be honest — negativity sells.

But what if the Kings start winning? If the team can buy into Karl’s system and all of these pieces mesh together, Sacramento could be on the verge of returning to its glory days.

Additions:

Rajon Rondo

Marco Belinelli

Kosta Koufos

Caron Butler

Quincy Acy

Willie Cauley-Stein

Vice President and General Manager Vlade Divac was extremely active during the offseason keeping only five players from last season’s roster (Cousins, Darren Collison, Rudy Gay, Ben McLemore, and Omri Casspi).

There is no question that the Kings roster this year is head-over-heels better than it was last season. There were plenty of holes in Sacramento’s gameplay for the past decade. Most notably their defense, ball movement, and 3-point shooting have been glaring issues.

In genius fashion, Divac found a way to attend these “must improve” categories very quickly. Defensively they drafted a rookie who has been proclaimed as the next Tyson Chandler. Willie Cauley-Stein brings the energy a team wants from their rookies, but more importantly, the 7-footer is a tremendous defender.

Cauley-Stein has the ability to guard positions one through five. The former Wildcats footwork, length, and lateral quickness makes him a tough player to score on. His play through summer league and improvement over the preseason has caught the attention of the coaching staff.

“Right now my feeling is Kosta probably fits the bench better than Willie does and Willie probably fits (DeMarcus) Cousins a little be better to,” Karl said. “I’m not sure that’s where I’ll go but that’s probably where I am tilted right now.”

Kosta Koufos is one of the more underrated signings coming out of the offseason. The 26-year-old big man played for Karl in Denver. His knowledge of the system makes him a big bonus to help guide a guy like Cauley-Stein into his new role.

Koufos is one of those players whose numbers won’t jump off the page. Most of his production won’t even appear on the stat sheet. A big man that knows where to be on the floor, can grab rebounds, score at an efficient rate, is never a bad thing to have on your roster.

Marco Belinelli was another strong acquisition for the Sacramento Kings. He may not be as young as he once was, but the ability to knock down shots with very little space is almost a must need for every NBA team.

Knocking down the 3-point shot was a struggle for the Kings last season and now they have a player that hasn’t shot under 35 percent from three his entire career. Belinelli has shown through the preseason that he is more versatile than most may think. His ball-handling ability and surprising flashy passes, has fully engaged fans about the Italian train.

Arguably the Kings’ biggest signing was former Maverick, Rajon Rondo.

Rondo is coming off a negative stint in Dallas where things went bad. Really bad. After the playoffs against the Houston Rockets, Rondo and the Mavericks “mutually” split.

The Kings signed Rondo to a one-year $9.5 million deal in hopes that this stint in Sacramento could revitalize the once beloved point guard. The team has a history of taking chances on players with “strong personalities.”

Metta World Peace, Bonzi Wells, and Chris Webber just to name a few.

The acquisition of the facilitating point guard made way for everyone around the league to laugh and point fingers. The belief that a three headed monster of Karl, Cousins, and Rondo could work was a joke all on its own. Some even referring to the signing as a “catastrophe.”

Headlines were set after Cowbell Kingdom released a video of the point guard using his “dry humor” saying that his relationship with George Karl was “not good,” after a 107-100 victory over the Los Angeles Lakers.

National media had their pieces already saved in their draft waiting for the moment to come. Many believed that a controversy in the Kings’ locker room was inevitable.

During practice the following day, both the head coach and Rondo both expressed adamantly that the relationship between the two was great.

“You (the media) are being tricked. Rondo is hilarious,” said Karl. “My relationship with Rondo is so good, if it gets better, I’d get scared.”

Joking or not joking, being scrutinized by the national media on just a scent of instability is something that will be a constant for Sacramento.

The infamous handshake between Karl and Cousins is still in the heads of most, as well as the trade rumors leading up to the draft suggesting that the All-Star center was on the trading block. Some just want to see the cookie crumble.

With the regular season approaching, the anticipation level of seeing this team take the court is at an all-time high. Both good and bad.

Can these three strong-minded individuals (Rondo, Cousins, Karl) co-exist with one another and become a success story? If preseason is any indication of what to expect, the Kings will be in for a big year.

Final Projection: 43-39