Hunter Patterson, The Athletic – Keon Ellis’ Impact On the Sacramento Kings
Happy to be joined by Our Man Hunter Patterson of the athletic uh first time in a little bit that our man HP has been with us of course he is the the the the young Mark Spears which means he’s a future Hall of Famer and man if you
Aren’t a subscriber over at the athletic you’re missing out because the athletic has got themselves a Kings reporter uh and it’s our Man Hunter Patterson who’s with us now Hunter great to have you with us let’s talk defense man because you wrote about it uh today it’s up on
The athletic now and it feels like every conversation about the Sacramento Kings in this moment is centering around number 23 man Keon Ellis yeah first and foremost always glad to be back kicking it with YW but sir Keon at this point is in the right place too often for it to
Be considered a coincidence anymore he’s getting glowing reviews from any of his teammates who get to talk about him last night it was HP dearon dear talked about how much easier he makes his life defensively the night before against the Bucks dear was talking about the three guard
Lineups that they go to sometimes with Keon Davon and dear and how that increases ball pressure and it’s it’s cool to see just because he was someone who was on a two-way contract last year and now I mean and even earlier this year until he got converted to a regular
Deal so seeing his growth in in his journey is it’s cool I’m happy for him yeah man he he’s he’s earned it you know he’s earned it and that no knock on anybody else but he he he’s had to uh dig deep he’s had to take you know different paths than
Other people to get to this point and one of the things that he’s done every single time it feels like is he’s been ready when his numberers called he hasn’t been soaking he’s been ready to go no matter when and where his numberers been called and I love to see
It pay off for him man because uh he seems like a hard worker he seems like a guy that does whatever is being asked of him uh to to help the team and his teammates appreciate that you see that in like you said in their comments and
The way they speak about him they appreciate appreciate how he’s always ready to give the team whatever it is they need and he seems just kind of one of those guys where he’s he’s happy to star in his role he knows what he’s good at he’s not trying to do anything
Outside of himself and he’s just a constant every time he’s on the court you know you’re going to get Max effort on both sides of the ball he real quick one of the other thing I like about Keon and and I’m sure the being in the NBA there’s there’s
Some things you can do with the basketball as far as dribbling and handling and you know shaking people and all this other stuff and scoring I I’m sure he can do all that but he shows what you can do and how effective you can be if you just understand the
Game like where you’re supposed to be help defense all this other stuff and you work hard like that there’s nothing flashy about his game there’s nothing on offense all he really does is Catch and shoot or make the right PA there’s it it’s it I don’t want to take away from
Him but it it seems so simple right just go out there be where you’re supposed to be and work hard and look what has got him he’s got the whole city of Sacramento buzzing he’s got an opportunity to to start or play a lot of minutes on a playoff team just because
He worked hard then he understands the game understands where he’s supposed to be at all times simple yeah I mean and even as far as numbers go he he led the Kings and Steels last night and Tuesday night let Mike Brown tell it based on the tracking they have internally with
Their coaches he had eight deflections last night so he’s he’s just super active Hunter it’s kind of a late season surprise here a little bit for for Mike Brown and Sacramento how well Keon has played and how much he seems to kind of you know push all the buttons that Mike
Wants on the defensive end how do you think Mike addresses this moving forward when he’s got a you know a healthy Keegan Murray a healthy Kevin herder he’s got a little bit more of a healthy roster and you’ve got this Dynamic player who’s who’s been a big part of
Two really big wins against two really good teams in the last couple of days as you pointed out elevates dearon Fox you know dearon singing his Praises Harrison Keegan all of those guys are singing his praises and you’ve got to figure out a way to get him
Minutes I think Mike is aware that like Casey said like he’s able to be adaptable enough to go some games with dmps you throw him into the starting lineup he’s still produces and I think Mike appreciates that he he doesn’t Mike I don’t think wants to mess
With the starting lineup as is it’s late in the season and I think for him now it’s just about figuring out how he can carve out a consistent role for Keon Off the Bench when the starters are healthy and a lot of times it’s like the starting five gets obviously a lot of
Attention because you get your name called during during the intros there’s um just kind of glitzing Glam that comes with being a starter but Keon I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s more often than not through these final 17 games I believe one of the closing Five Guys on the
Floor and you talk about like um getting the glits and glamors of being a starter and your name called and all this other stuff but here in Sacramento sometimes things are a little bit different and we look at guys that come off the bench and we love them they love Malik Monk and
Keon Ellis is starting to fall into that category where his name gets called at the five minute Mark Giles got a huge pop with like 30 seconds left in a blowout game last right and Keon is getting into that category with the way he’s playing in the way that uh fans
Have fallen in love with his style of play and what he brings to the table and I I think I I first off completely agree with that and the way he’s gotten to this point undrafted we talked about earlier like two contract to being fulltime with the guaranteed money and I
I think part of what makes sack love him the way they do is he’s really had to like you said earlier earn everything he’s gotten to this point Hunter what do you think of this team this year obviously these last two games you know on consecutive nights
Against you know Dame you know you take the Bucks and Lakers out of it we’re talking Dame and Giannis and LeBron and Anthony Davis you get two really big wins really controlling victories in both of those games for the Kings We’re Riding High right now we’re laughing we’re talking trash we’re lighting the
Beam we’re doing all of that and it’s like it could be taking I don’t think it’d be taken away Saturday because I think the Knicks are very good regardless of it could be taken away Monday though oh for sure it can be taken away against the Grizzlies like
All those vibes could die real quick which has kind of been up until this exact moment the story of the Season Hunter a lot of ups and a lot of downs like you’ve watched every second of this team play this year what is your what is your thought on this team dear earlier
In the year called it a bit of a roller coaster year and I think that’s probably the perfect way to describe it because they seem to really enjoy playing the better teams in the league and they enjoy playing on the road as well they do pretty well but we’re at the point in
The season and we have been for some time where you need to treat the 500 teams and teams you feel you’re supposed to beat with the same respect you would treat the bucks or Lakers and I I talked about it a little bit earlier in in the piece I wrote but the
Third quarters I think can be an area where they really try to Hound other teams into turnovers they started the second half last night with five straight stops over these last two games the Bucks and Lakers who are top 10 in third third quarter scoring those two
Teams only average 19 and a half points and after the win last night dear was talking about how he the teams he’s been on here have usually been pretty bad in the third quarter but when you’re able to come out of the half hot and get
Stops IT one allows you to either extend the lead that you had coming into the second half or you can kind of get back into the game so if they keep taking taking advantage of these third quarters especially on the defensive end I think that can possibly be a way where they’re
Competitive in any game regardless who they’re playing it felt like the whole game shifted at the start of the third quarter that was big that was big you know we get our could have gotten way worse Kings had a couple of turnovers they were getting all those stops and
Turnovers they had a couple of themselves that thing could have that could have really ballooned yeah seen that yeah that’s for sure wouldn’t have been sad we uh we we we get our jokes off and everything with Anthony Davis and going up against sabonis o foron now in his career against
Sabonis like I said we joke about it but Anthony Davis is a heck of a ball player very very talented what do you make of him not being able to do anything against sabonis like why why is it this dominant against damont sabon excuse me against Anthony Davis for domont
Sabonis at this point I think probably just play Styles domas he literally plays every possession I mean and this is kind of a cliche might be a little corny or whatever but domas seems like he literally plays every single possession like it could be his last he doesn’t take any off
He’s active every time down the floor and super physical and maybe ad just struggles with the physicality domas is not intentionally like like throwing elbows or anything but he’s really strong with how he moves with the ball and I think that really gives him a big advantage on ad because ad is another
Player who like when he wants to be no question how Elite he is he’s shown that time and time again but this matchup is just one where domas clearly has the advantage and I think it’s largely because of Dom’s physicality some would say he uses the ball as a
Weapon it’s a different story did you catch remind me of something uh just remind me something later talking to Hunter Now remind Kenny of something this is my life Hunter this is what I do remind Kenny of something got it bonus okay did you uh happen to did you I I I
Know Hunter heard this did you happen to pick up on dearen in kind of a roundabout way acknowledged that LeBron and AD flopping is part of their game plan like they the the the way that they game plan from is they know like they’re going to like
Flop around for calls and when they do run like take off and run because they’re going to be down a man and he said it oh he said it so casually that it’s clear that they talk about yeah these dudes are going to be flopping all
Over the place the second they do if the whistle doesn’t blow just take off we’ll have an advantage and we saw that like four times last night and it’s F you know we have the clip of LeBron grabbing his and all of these different things when the whistle doesn’t go their way
Like it’s a part like the Kings can’t be the only one who are like the second they start flopping all over the place run yeah run I think they were aware of it for sure they know I think the whole league at this point knows that the
Lakers primarily score in the paint and with scoring in the paint one comes a lot of fouls and two if you know how guys on the other side namely ad or braon react when they don’t get those foul calls it’s time to get out and run because you probably
Have a numbers advantage in transition going the other way and of the Lakers 14 turnovers last night those turned into 17 Kings points so to your point I think they definitely were prepared for it they took advantage of it and they weren’t stopping to wait around and see
If anyone’s reaction will get them a call one of the one of the signature plays that the fine that strategy late in the game uh Lakers are inbounding the ball and sabonis just goes after the ball just goes after it ad kind of hopes that it gets to him saas just goes after
The ball bumps him a little bit ad goes flailing down on the sideline looking for a call sabonis got the ball let’s go we we tur it up this way and I I usually like I usually not crazy about the term he just wants it more but that’s
Literally what happens a lot of the time when those two meet up with each other sabonis just wanted that ball more than ad ad was too busy flopping on the ground into your point and eran’s point what Hunters talked about Kings saw that as an opportunity like oh yeah he gonna
Fall all over the place let’s get out on the break and get an easy bucket and it’s a great strategy smart strategy and it’s the correct one yeah I think it it comes with uh one a good game plan knowing your opponent knowing how they can generate calls being the superstars
That they are and then when the embellishments and things like that don’t work let’s take advantage of it did you see that stealth shot I think I don’t remember if it was King’s Music I don’t remember who it was yeah I know what you’re talking they said that
Caption was wrong do domas Scot Anthony Davis out here looking like he about to have a baby oh man he yeah I think ad was like holding his face laying on ground something like that yeah his legs were up in the air like he was in the
Dead bug position oh it was a wrap come on King M it’s a wrap That’s funny though that that was one of the great still shots uh Hunter man great to have you back with us we missed you man we’re following everything you’re doing over there man we look forward to talking
Soon if you ever want to get over on 1025 and use that voice on the music side man I think we could I think we could work something out oh yeah we get Hunter Hunter Patterson a new a new career as the voem man I think I think
We can do it man yeah I mean it like I said it’s always good to be back I miss y’all too and we might have to figure something out with with the voem man so yeah there it is there it is right on Hunter man we’ll talk to you again soon
Brother all right appreciate yall
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