How Can the Sacramento Kings Core Get BETTER In 2024?
yeah so let me get this something on the Internet sparked or piqued my interest today because it’s something that we talked about quite a bit last season but we’ve not talked about really this off season and I think it’s it’s an important aspect of what what the kings are going to look like moving forward and this is from uh Professor Oak on Twitter _ aoron said by age 28 Al Horford played eight seasons and only shot 65 total thre at 32% his next six seasons he shot 1300 threes at 36% becoming one of the best stretch fives in NBA history Deus sabonis is 28 he shot 173s last two years at 38% it’s time to become a stretch five and I think that is so intriguing a because of the Al Horford comparison I think there’s probably a little bit of a comparison to draw with Chris Bosch too but Chris Bosch was more like a mid-range guy who stepped out and made his longer shots worth three instead of two yeah yeah he was a a mid-range Baseline 201 18 foot jumper and they said hey take two steps backwards and that is now worth three points yes and he went great so so I think I think the more apt comparison is definitely Al Horford and I think this is an important an important thing as we talk about the Kings off season because we talk about what they need and we know everybody knows what they need they need height they need athle aism they need length on the perimeter uh ideally somebody who can play a big who can play alongside sabonis and I think that that’s where sabonis becoming more of a quote unquote stretch five becomes important because a I think it’s a I think it’s a skill set that’s underutilized in his bag right now yeah I I I I think he is a skilled enough basketball player that if he if they said hey within the within the context of the offense because I think that’s key he’s not a player who’s to take it upon himself to go hey I’m just going to start launching five threes a game so I think if within the context of the offense they said hey domas take four to five threes a game just when you’re doing the dribble handoff and you’re standing out there at the top of the king and no one’s around you blaze away like Let It Fly I think that dramatically not only dramatically improves the king’s offense because I think there’s a legitimate chance that he could hit those at 35 36% where he is a credible threat that teams have to defend it but B it changes the calculus of what they need or can put next to him and in the front Court H um if that makes sense yeah did your computer just restart yeah my computer just had a fatal error oh boy so that’s not good hopefully I’ll be back and we got fro dude we’ve got frozen ham in the studio in studio okay well I hope everybody’s hearing you I think they are uh yeah they might not hear me on the the stream um through this mic but we’re on the we’re on the radio yeah I’m almost back let me see if let me see if this works I can get you out of there hey it’s just me there we go hey and we’re back uh so yeah anyways demonus sabonis shooting threes helps the king’s offense by expanding his game yeah yeah yeah and B helps their their lineup construction by changing the type of player that you can add in the front Court I I totally agree okay so like I I think I’m gonna get a little bit technical with with why it is that I think the Kings need to add a player but what they do is different than most teams so okay most teams so let’s just let’s just go back to the Indiana Pacers with deont sabonis and mil Turner Miles Turner Miles Turner is what you call a a rim Runner right although he is developed as a player and and he can do both he can also act as a rim Runner then he can also sit on the the perimeter as a as sort of the the Chaser from the top and and basically set everything up the Kings as opposed to having a natural guy running at the rim and what that does is when you have a guy who once somebody grabs a rebound you have a big who Sprints to the other end of the the court it pulls the defense to the middle because you have to stop the guy who’s running right just in case he gets the ball and dunks the king don’t do as much of the rim running as they they send guys to the corners right that’s where they they send two Wings straight to the corners who set up and and get ready to shoot threes and it’s partially because sabonis not only gets the rebound but a lot of times he just goes and leads a break right and so there isn’t a natural trailer is where I would go with this and there’s also not a natural Rim Runner so there’s not someone collapsing the middle of the defense sure when sabonis brings the ball up which is a little different and so I think it’s it’s part of the structure of their offense I just lost my my uh computer again yeah but uh I I do think that like there needs to be an adjustment there if he’s going to play with another big you do need do need that big to race to the middle and that means that the other players have to understand what it is that their job is like while you have that that style of player on the court yes so if you’re not gonna have somebody doing that you know all the time then it’s G to cause problems you know it so I just think it’s I don’t know it’s a difficult thing for like sabonis should get a ton of open threes and he does yeah he just doesn’t take them no he doesn’t and and I think part of it is because he’s always trying to set up the offense from that point at the top of the key but when they all back off he needs to just go he needs to just go ahead and attack and do what it is that he needs to do and yeah I think just and look here’s here’s what it does for for me because teams just leave him alone up there he goes up he does a dribble handoff okay it’s not there it’s not there and then he turns around and he’s facing just I to me he just needs to to pull that shot and again I’m not asking him to turn into to Steph Curry I’m not asking him to shoot it 10 or 11 times a game from from three but he brought up Miles Turner Miles Turner career-high in three-point attempts for a for a season or three-point attempts per game is 4.4 and he shoots it for his career at 35.4% I think domas is more than capable of doing that and it just changes the way that teams defend because okay now domas is standing out there okay now you got a big running at domas who has enough in his bag to put that ball on the deck and now he’s in the paint and now he’s got spray threes as people are collapsing like there’s just so many things that that opens up for their offense and it opens up for domas because now if that big instead of instead of collapsing towards the middle and instead of playing in front of the rim is now standing up near the free throw line or Beyond that’s just creating more lanes for for people to cut and for domas to pass if he doesn’t want to shoot it or if there’s there’s uh there’s a good close out I I just there’s there’s something missing to me from from Sacramento’s offense it’s like keeping it from really hitting that this peak and that that to me is it and it’s it’s not hey he needs to become a better shooter it’s like no he just needs more volume and I also I think we’re always gonna have this problem that that sabonis is a very unselfish player and that most of what he’s doing is trying to be a good teammate trying to be the guy who does set up other players who who does do the right thing at all times and so I think that that’s part of the problem it it’s not just that you know that he doesn’t want to do it it’s that he struggles with that portion of his brain that says hey man you’ve got to go become this player and so for him I think there is a point where he could take five threes a game sure and the Kings will probably be better for it but that’s and that right there is why I think you can you can tap into that part of him that’s like hey I wanna I want to be a good teamate I want to run the best offense and that to me is like yo this is it then if you want to do that if you want to maximize what your team is doing shoot that yeah not every single time again not not anytime you have an modum of space hoist a three but how many times did we did did did we see this year it was multiple times a game where he would stand there and he would even start to shoot like you’d see him like Bend his knees and start to bring the ball up and then stop and it’s like bro the I I think they need to create that structure of the offense where they say look if Defender a does X and Defender B does y then you’re pulling that shot that is the offense now and if they do it for for 40 games and he’s shooting four and a half threes a game and he’s doing it 31% okay then let’s maybe pull the plug on it but there’s there there are so many things that that could open up for him not not only on offense but as a shooter but um I think like I said I think that would create more space in the middle it would change the way teams can can can defend the Kings where okay you got somebody sprinting out on sabonis great ball is on the deck he’s in the paint and now you’ve got dearen Fox and Keegan Murray and Keon Ellis and Harrison Barnes or Kevin herder whoever where somebody’s gonna be open for three and that’s where you can really take advantage of of sabonis passing out of the paint and that’s created by taking the the three or four open threes you’re going to get a game yeah I I do think the the guy that we should look at is probably joic and joic shoots uh like 2.9 threes per game his high is 3.9 a couple of years ago yeah for his career he’s at 3.9 and he’s a 35% shooter from three I think that that’s probably where sabonis needs to live he needs to go from 1.1 or whatever it is to like three yep and and it’s tough because I also think that like to segue to the other guy um the way that I think dearon Fox gets better is by taking away one or two of the threes he’s taking I would agree and replacing those with either like takes to the basket or mid-range jump shots and I know like people think oh why would you want him to shoot mid-range and that’s because he’s really really good in the mid-range yeah mid-range is only a bad shot if you can’t make it yeah that’s that’s the misnomer with with the mid-range shot right now mhm if you’re going to cash a 17 foot jumper at 64% then get to your 17 foot jumper and take it has anyone ever complain that Kevin Durant or Steph Curry shoots a lot from the mid-range no anybody ever complain that Chris Paul shoots Too Much from the mid-range no no and I think that’s dear’s spot is man when he pulls up from 15 like that’s a bucket every time so I’m I’m with you man I I I went into last year saying I wanted to see him shoot it more Beyond The Arc or get better from Beyond The Arc and he did but it felt like there was no there wasn’t like a balance yet where I feel that too and and I I do think that that’s how Fox improves like he finds a better balance he’s super close to what yeah what he wants to be and what he should be in in you know as a player but he needs to take this one more step not just become more consistent with what he’s doing MH because some nights he’s shooting 12 threes a game and other nights he’s shooting four yes and it’s it’s kind of all over the board still there’s going to become as as he continues to improve and as and even at his age at 26 he is continuing to improve as that’s going on I think that there’s a moment here where he can take like one more huge leap and it doesn’t mean he’s going to average 30 a game but what it could mean is that he’s just way more efficient at what he’s already doing so I’m intrigued because I I think that the the personal growth of the Kings is as important as anything else MH yeah for sure um with Fox it’s funny you mentioned four one game and then 12 another game because he was literally at 7.8 a game about eight threes a game but 8 threes a game on 37% like you’ll take that that is that that is good efficiency oh my God that is good efficiency you got to mute first uh uh that is good efficiency on on a good number of attempts but to your point it was hey some nights he’s he’s seven of 12 and then the next night he’s one for nine and then the next night he’s 0 for two and I think once he finds that that happy medium of um of getting to a a game but just kind of consistently shooting a a game and replacing some of those random 12 or 13 attempt nights with a couple more mid-range maybe you’re driving getting a paint touch where you’re spraying it out for for a three with with pick a player um I think that’s where you’re getting a maximized version of dearn fox because we saw it this year that were Knights he had that stretch through the middle of the Season where he wasn’t scoring a ton like he just looked kind of in a in a kind of a general Mala oh your mic is not on there we go yeah he was in a funk yeah and we saw him turn into more of a distributor and it’s like great you saw kind of the pieces of what maximized dearn fox looks like last year and I think there’s a way he can put all those together where he’s hitting 37% of his threes and shooting eight of them a game but he’s averaging 28 29 Points maybe 30 he’s dishing out assists where hey now he’s not a fringe all NBA guy like no hey he’s an all NBA guy because who are you replacing him with yeah and I I think I starts with this it’s so it’s right it’s right there dude he is so close it’s right there yeah and I think it I think it starts with that shot selection and just being more because it’s not it’s the first last year was the first time where he’s really been his previous career so he shot 37% from three last year his previous career high was 3 he was at 37.1% but on three attempts a game in 201819 after that 292 322 297 324 so last year was the was the first time it’s been like yeah hey he’s knocking these down so he should keep taking them it’s really crazy too to see a guy jump from 53 attempts per game to almost eight it felt like he took 10 more threes a game yeah it was such a star contrast well and the crazy thing is when he’s hot he’s hot and when he’s not it gets a little dicey and those are a lot of the games where he shoots a lot of them and so I think that that that’s where he needs to to recognize when the shots not falling and when it’s time to attack the rim and not to settle for what they’re giving you because it feels like a lot of times he did settle like there are times where he’s just in a flow and he’s hitting every single three throws up there are other times where it’s like he man you got to stop like the the Kings start the game and they go they start with 10 three-point attempts like there was a game where they started a game like 0 for 10 from the field and it was like 0 for nine from from three yeah somebody’s got to get to the rim and and I think for him too it’s just kind of like you now have all of these tools that you can that you can use at your disposal now you need to pick and choose when it is time to use this tool versus this tool and and like it’s not always the same thing every single time down the court and so I’m excited to see what the next like version of him is and I also think it’s really interesting to watch a player from [Music] like 19 years old and 163 pounds to you know 26 years old married uh b a second baby on the way and and like like all like watching the maturation of dearn fox because I think we become hypocritical because we’ve seen so much of it sure and it’s like okay look I want more of this I want less of this and it’s like it’s really if we were just to like see dearon Fox for the first time and he came out on the court last year and he’s averaging 26.6 points per game and he’s and he’s shooting you know 37% from three and yeah eight attempts per game it would been like oh well this this is an incredible player yeah but because we’ve watched the progression along the way it’s like he’s almost a different player every other year sure right and and it’s as but I think largely in a good way no I think so too and it’s as he’s tinkering and developing and growing as a player you know the improvements there are incredible especially from behind the arc and for that matter domos worked a ton on his three-point shot last offseason he worked with Doug Christie all summer I’m sure he’s doing the same exact thing right now we’ve even seen him at uh what was it at the the big concert um down that you have the Hat Bottle Rock Bottle Rock with Kevin herder so like those guys working together that’s a good thing because one of those guys is is considered an elite three-point shooter has been throughout his career whether went sideways a little bit last year or not but the other one could use some of the just the basic tips yeah of of like look this is how I free myself up to get a little more space or this is so it is good for those guys to be working together if they are actually working together not just hitting the concert scene together um but uh work out together no just Bottle Rock just Bottle Rock didn’t see him again yeah didn’t really see him no but I I think that this is a natural progression of your two stars and then your third player of course is Keegan let me let me before we get to Keegan I want to say one more one more thing about dear I don’t know if the numbers back this up but I think the the key change with the three-point shooting it felt like there were too many times just to get specific here where he was working for like a pullup three and again this might just be anecdotal and the numbers may not back this up but it felt like transition threes and catch and shoot he was just cash and it was the time when he got in trouble is when he’d start dribbling on the perimeter and then just pulling up for three instead of getting by because there’s not that many dudes that are moving their feet and staying in front of the Aon fo yeah and when he really that’s that’s what I would like to see change this year for him but Keegan Murray yeah I think we’re we’re seeing all of the same things with Keegan where it’s like hey you need to not only shoot more you need to like his his shooting numbers were way down last year yeah um like whatever it was that happened to him early in the season that kind of threw him off kilter um it it was really really obvious that something was different and just the confidence level and the way he shot his shots so I would like to see him get back to more of what he was doing as a rookie but not just I mean I get that you don’t want him to just be a set shooter but uh but again we have to see the growth from him is to be more assertive to That’s it man to not question himself or or what’s happening just go and when we saw it he was incredible that’s I don’t even have a skill set critique for for Keegan because I just do more we’ we’ve seen the the mid-range a little post game we know he can shoot it from Beyond The Arc he’s had little bit of a Down year last year I’m guessing that his career number probably lands somewhere in between his first two seasons but it’s just it’s it’s we talked about the consistency with Fox of of getting to eight threes a game but just kind of within the flow of the game instead of 121 night for another night and just being up and down in that way and with Keegan i’ I’d like to see the the same I’d like to see upwards of of 20 a night but just consistently hey pencin Keegan for 16 to 21 and you know every now and then he’s GNA get really hot and he’s going to go more than that but it’s the nights where what I would like to see stop is hey Keegan 12 points in the first quarter he went three for four from three Keegan after the game let’s see all right let’s see he finished four for six from three and he had 15 points yeah what just it’s staying assertive it’s staying aggressive and understanding that right now as this team is is constructed with with Malik monk he’s got to be their third guy on offense without Malik monk he’s got to be the second guy oh yeah barring you know other dramatic changes to the roster so that’s what I would like to see from from Keegan it’s it’s literally just that because okay I I don’t know how much of his handle he needs to work on I don’t know he needs to work on a a floater or a mid-range game or whatever it is because I just I I need to see more more consistently no totally and I think if you look at his numbers throughout all of last year he was so inconsistent shooting and it made life really difficult for the rest of the team you know like three games in October he shot 34.5% from three but in November and a 10 month a 10 game month he shot 26% from three he backs that up in December with 44% and then 39% and then he falls off the table again 33.9 34.3 and 34.2 like he really finished a strong the season on a a really big sort of down note as as like we got deeper and deeper into the the end of the season like his three-point shot never came around yeah and you know like he’s he’s a much better shooter than a 34% shooter definitely and he needs to figure that out and and kind of get to a point where you know at least it’s smoothed out a little bit and and that’s what we saw in his rookie season so I think that that’s more of who he is yep but I feel like he needs to really understand like this off season like he did last offseason that you know you got to change your body and all that I think he wore out I think that they’re between playing both sides of the ball and and being asked to defend point guards at some point and power forwards other and like whoever the best player is you’re going to go defend him I think there was a point where you saw his body sort of fighting him a little bit like look we lost all this weight and we we changed who our our body style during the off season but then your body’s always going to want to kind of morph back into who it was M and his body was fighting him it looked like throughout this season and I think that we’ll see a much more improved his second season is exactly what a second season is supposed to look like in the NBA except for not you don’t normally go from being like a average Defender to a plus plus Defender sure like but the rest of it like there are struggles your numbers look bigger but your numbers realistically don’t look as good if you if you spare them long enough and then your third season is who he should be his fourth season that’s who who we should expect for the next five seasons and so you’re hoping he gets there but again the assertive piece is going to be so so crucial for him scooter 916 in the chatty house said that there’s already videos on X of Keegan Murray working out uh this is not a shot at Scooter I don’t I am not moved by offseason workout videos you know how many videos you know how many videos I’ve seen of of Jonathan kaminga shooting threes you know how many offseasons I’ve had to watch Jonathan kaminga standing in the corner blazing away from three and cashing every single one of them oh yeah only to not do it in the regular season I got I got to see in the regular season offseason workout videos don’t move me
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