The Sacramento Kings are awesome again because Keegan Murray and De’Aaron Fox have taken huge leaps

The Sacramento Kings are awesome again because Keegan Murray and De’Aaron Fox have taken huge leaps

Final topic of the day the Sacramento Kings I wanted to do like a Kings check-in because it feels like the Kings fan base is like losing their minds a little bit like jumping off the wagon because they lost Portland frankly like it feels like that’s the main reason uh

This team’s still 17 and 12 uh they lost the last two to Memphis and Portland by double digits but things are still good prior to that they’d won nine of 13 including wins over Minnesota Golden State Denver Oklahoma City and two against Phoenix to this point the Kings have

Played the sixth toughest schedule in the league they were missing dear and fox for I think seven of those games and they’re still 17 and 12 yep with a slow start from Keegan Murray a slow start from Keegan Murray as well like if I was a Kings fan like I’d be

Like wow like this is fine you know like this is great like we’re we’re all clear right now uh the schedule’s going to ease up at some point like they’re going to have a tough schedule because they play in the west and they play you know the Lakers the Clippers uh the Warriors

And the Suns four times each which is going to make it harder schedule’s always going to be tough but I think that they have been really quite good over this stretch of like 15 or so games even if the record is like nine and six over that stretch and the

Big reason is obviously Darren Fox I mean what have you thought of fox when you’ve watched him yeah I mean he’s he’s absolutely incredible another guy who I just I don’t give him enough credit I think at times whenever I talk think about who the best players in the NBA

Are and you know right now he’s averaging over 30 a game on 4940 74 almost five rebounds six assists turnovers under three his Improvement as a three-point shooter is crazy because if you look at per 100 he’s gone up four attempts per 100 pro possessions and

It’s a 7% Improvement and you add a three-point shot like that with how fast and Shifty he is it’s it’s unbelievable and he has this ability to score over bigger Defenders he finds the right angles off the backboard it’s just impossible to stay in front of a dude

That is that fast that Shifty and can shoot from three the way he has so far this season kudos to him to working on that it doesn’t just happen because and he’s awesome he is so good he’s been incredible since he returned to the lineup or join the lineup yeah and like

The Synergy with sabonis is still unbelievable like they’re they’re so so fun to watch I find the numbers with sabonis and fox really interesting and always have uh this season when Fox is on the court the Kings win by three points per 100 possessions when he’s off

The court they lose by 5.4 per possessions when sabonis is on the court without Fox they lose by 6.3 points per 100 when Fox is on the court without sabonis they are a plus 2.8 together they’re a plus three uh you throw in last year to sabonis without fox plus

1.9 points per 100 possessions Fox without sabonis plus 3.5 points per 100 possessions to me especially this year dearon is the one that’s driving it yes right now like every time I watch them I’m like this is dear’s show uh no disrespect to sabonis who I think has

Been a top five top six center in the league to be sure like I would have him below uh MB jic goar like a couple others he he’s in that like top five mix for sure sabonis is a great player it’s Fox though that has taken this and is like completely

Run with it in my opinion oh yeah like I I think when I think of the Sacramento Kings and the guy and all of that like I definitely think dear and fox right now maybe that’s the way everybody hasing is well in the center conversation I was looking through yeah

He was really good last night um another person I want to bring up is Malik Monk and and I don’t know if we’re done talking about the Aaron Fox yet but I think every time I watch I really enjoy watching Malik monk he’s averaging 14 points shooting the ball you know not

Great overall 42% but 40% from three and what I’ve Come Away impressed with is is passing like he has some real wiggle and to his game he passes the ball well I think the Sixth Man of the Year race is going to be real interesting across

The NBA in general I’m just kind of interest to see how that shakes out there’s been some guys that really putting up good numbers off the bench and he’s one of them so I think he’s been a big part of this as well along with fox sa bonis and then like I said

You know Keegan Murray to start the year struggling for you know his expectations but over the last 12 games has just been incredible shooting the ball and I think we talked about this we we felt like he was going to you know come back to what he you know showed us as a

Rookie I think that that is absolutely right Keegan uh the bounce back look when we did the rookie conversation what a month ago or so the thing that we talked about was that Keegan looks way better on defense and the shooting is going to come around like there’s no

Reason for panic on gegan Murray at all the bounce is here uh prior to what was a total stinker across the board from everybody other than deis sabonis against the Portland Trailblazers Keegan Murray had been averaging 20.9 points on 55 49 85 shooting over his past 10 uh he’s been

The exact archetype and the exact player that you want in between dearen Fox and Deus sabonis like he has been borderline like star quality over the course of that run and he had that 47-point game against Utah where he drilled 123 and was like unconscious entirely he has been awesome the big

Thing I want to talk about though is the Improvement on defense uh he looks so much better on defense he has gotten so much better at fighting around screens getting over the top of them uh he has gotten way better and quicker I think particularly with his first stride on

Defense like I think that last year at times if you had a first step you had a real quick First Step you could kind of get by him initially and then he’d be in recovery and have to use his length and like kind of his body

To try and get back into the play his first stride now I think is so quick on his slide that he really stays in front of guys now in a really tangible way uh he’s able to like crowd them and like get into their space now and because

He’s so physically strong uh that ability to crowd in that first step quickness Improvement really makes it hard to get by him and really makes him disruptive uh on the perimeter as a defender on the ball I think he has been uh honestly I think Keegan Murray has

Been one of the most improved defensive players in the NBA that I have seen this season just point blank full stop yeah I mean that’s one thing as you guys are watching the games like really one thing I always watch I guess is the way I

Should say it is is it a guy that slides and tries to cut off the offensive player right away or is a guy that immediately opens his hips because you know a guy that immediately opens up completely like a 90 degree turn on almost like a pivot you’re just giving

Up straight line drives all the time I always look for guys who really take that long first side stride step to the side to really cut off the more you can make a player change direction the more success you’re going to have in general not that obviously NBA players are

Capable of this but yeah the the thing with Keegan is you know he had the back stuff he’s taking a bigger defensive load that probably contributed to the slow start the fact he’s been able to recover the the shooting as quickly as he has is pretty darn impressive and if

He’s going to be able to do this offensively while taking some of the matchups he’s being asked to take like that’s an incredible two-way value for the Kings and as you said is the perfect guy to put in between sabonis and fox and so that I mean I will say he’s he’s

Surpassed what I thought he was going to be as an NBA player with the movement shooting and some of that stuff and then you add like real on ball defensive value and like that that’s an insane two-way player like that’s that’s the only way I can say it yeah and look as

We’re talking here like let’s just be transparent like the kings are down 10 in Atlanta right now and you know Atlanta’s 12 and 18 and again like kings fans are gonna continue to melt down about this I think where I’m at on Sacramento is just where we open this

Conversation just like slow down like I think it’s going to be fine I really think it’s going to be okay for the Sacramento Kings like they’re sitting here even if they lose this game they’ll be at 17 and 13 Road games East Coast like that’s not the easiest little run

Like I think that this is fine I really do uh I would just you know calm down a little bit just don’t don’t don’t don’t overreact to like a little three- game blip here I I think that they’re still like a fine team do you think there’s a

Move at some point with them I mean I you have bonus you have Fox you have Murray look they have to improve the defense somehow at some point I don’t know if it’s at the deadline or if it’s moving forward in the off season something like SE yakum it seems

Like anobi is not an option really um like if you could go get a guy though that can really improve your defense absolutely do it like no no questions asked in my opinion yeah I just wonder you know I I’ve seen some stuff around herzer with like people not

Being you know super crazy about you know how he’s playing right now obviously Harrison Barnes is you know a little bit older at to me it’s more it’s more Barnes than herder like look herder is not playing like incredibly well right like he’s he’s at 35 yeah that’s

What it is percent from three like it’s not a great number for him but I I don’t know like I am I am not as worried about them as I think like a lot of people are and you know Aiden W brings up they’re the only team in the

Top eight of either conference with a negative plus minus on the season yeah I mean they were missing like a guy who’s been a top 12 player in the league for the first you know seven or eight games of the year or whatever and you know you look at the loss totals

There like they lost by 18 to Houston lost by 25 to Houston like they had like a couple of those really really negative losses there that I think like probably threw it out a whack a little bit well yeah I mean I think you what you talked

About in terms of missing him Murray off to the slow start I think that all provides context into why you wouldn’t be crazy nervous about a team that is 17 and 12 as we record potentially 17 and 13 whenever we get done but like there’s the context there of if you had had

Those guys you know Fox from the start of the year and Keegan was hooping from the start of the year and they still weren’t figuring it out then I think maybe it’s like okay maybe there’s a little more cause for concern here but let’s see it play out for another month

Before it’s like oh panic button we have to go do something drastic yeah and like I say this as somebody that like had real concerns about the Kings coming into the year like I I think that they’ve looked good like they they’ve looked every bit as good as what you

Would hope for uh again the big thing for me is like what happens if one of these guys goes down we saw it with Fox early in the year like it was a problem the Kings also with their plus minus like because of the way that they play

Because of how like uptempo they’re going to get I think that their games do tend to go like you know get a little blow outy one way or another a lot of the time so and look like you’d love to see those blowouts be more on the positive side of

The Ledger and that’s how you know teams like Boston for instance who I think also beat the Kings fire I remember correctly by like 30 at one point this year uh end up with like such a positive you know net rating and everything and I think that’ll happen

But like I think that the kings are fine like that that’s like the the Keegan Murray leap is very real the dearn fox leap is very real at some point they’re gonna figure out what to do with Barnes what to do with herder but like the the

The core pieces here like I would still feel okay about it if I was a Sacramento fan yeah it’ll be interesting to see if they like I say just try to make a move on the margins around those guys if they feel feel like they can find a better

Fit and you know they have some intriguing pieces Off the Bench and yeah I think I’m with you to just see it I mean when dearen Fox is playing this well it’s you know you got to feel good when Fox and Murray are playing this well and then we barely gave sabonis

Love just because those guys have been so good you got to feel good about that Trio and then just build around it with the right guys yeah and like like to me like if I was them I would go for SE yakum I think siakam’s really good and

Continue to think SE yakum is really good uh I know that like it would kind of change their spacing a little bit but I think a core of fox Murray SE yakum sabonis like if you’re gonna get the most out of sabonis I think you need somebody that can be

Like a weak side help Defender kind of across the board I think that that core four actually really works and then you just be like kind of finding spacing around those guys and the Kings have done a really good job of finding guys like Sasha venko

Trey lyes um you know Keon Ellis is a guy that we haven’t really brought up but Keon Ellis I think has given them pretty strong minutes this year as well uh fi finding guys that can be Shooters at like a pretty real level and helping them out yeah I mean it’d be interesting

To to to see that happen like you say it would change the spacing a little bit but it obviously would really help on the defensive end of the floor

#deaaronfox #keeganmurray #sacramentokings @SacramentoKings

Bryce Simon joins Sam Vecenie and they break down the Sacramento Kings through 30 games. Why some Kings fans are starting to panic, and why they should slow down and know that the team is fine because Keegan Murray and De’Aaron Fox are taking huge leaps this season.