Sacramento Kings head coach Doug Christie wants to get Domantas Sabonis out from around the basket on offense and into the perimeter quadrants of the floor. This would either result in opposing bigs not following Domas out to guard him, or leaving the lane clear because the opposing big is coming out to guard him.
Christie addressed how he wants to move Sabonis out of the dunker spot during training camp this week.
“He can make plays from the elbow and the post. So, yeah obviously we are going to play through that and allow him to make plays,” Christie said.
“It lets me do what I do on offense, getting guys open more frequently instead of being under the rim, an undersized big, you know, can’t do as much as I do out on the perimeter,” Sabonis said. “I do all of the DHO stuff, the pick and roll stuff, now I’m on the wing I can either shoot, drive, get into more stuff, whereas when the guards are doing that, I’ve been the dunker, not really a threat down there, and now teams are going to have to respect me out not only just creating and just being aggressive too.”
So, what does that look like? The Chris Webber and Vlade Divac Kings ran the whole offense through it. Those teams, which of course also featured Christie, had these two highly skilled starting big men who could pass out of the high post in a read and react Princeton offense.
“I love splits, obviously we have a guy in Domas that plays very similar in some aspects to Webb and Vlade,” Christie said.
How about we treat ourselves with a few old school clips, shall we?
Look at this beautiful basketball run through a high-post split. Bobby Jackson with the pass to Christie who casually drops it quickly into Webber at the high post. Christie immediately takes off as the guards start cutting like crazy around Webber. Webber is patient and the Lakers defense spends time trying to figure out what is going on. Bibby gets free and knocks down the wide open three.
Here, Bobby Jackson gets overplayed by the defense. No problem, Webber is hanging out in the high post next to him. Jackson gets the ball to Webber, cuts immediately to the basket and Webber hits with a nice pass on his way to the basket. Now, imagine LaVine slashing for a dunk after a bounce pass from Sabonis.
Next let’s check out how Vlade operates in the post with his back to the basket. Help defense comes leaving Bibby open for three, kick out pass and bucket. With guys like Zach LaVine, 40% Keegan Murray and Keon Ellis waiting out there for threes, this would be easy stuff for the Kings this season.
Caveat: There is some learning to do with trying to implement one of the greatest offenses basketball has seen in those old Kings teams, and Christie shared what the late Pete Carril told him.
“That’s where you teach people how to play and not run a play. You can be in an action that allows for splits, but when that moment comes, you don’t know what you are going to get. You’ve got to be able to read the defense. As Coach [Pete] Carill would always tell me: ‘Watch the guy in front of you, he’ll tell you what to do.’”
First of all, you’ve been absolutely killing it lately with this articles Blake. Thank you.
That first clip is such a beautiful thing to watch. So much off ball movement. No one is just standing and waiting for the ball to come to them (I’m talking to you LaVine!). I wholeheartedly endorse Sabonis operating out of the elbow. He is the second best passing big man in the league, behind an NBA legend. Maximize Domas’ skillset and the team will be better for it. Make him the hub of the offense and you may need that traditional PG out there to run the show. You just need a solid ball handler to get it up the court and get that entry pass to Domas.
I will say, it should be nice to have a lob threat in the dunker’s spot while Domas operates out of the elbow. Got to keep those defenses honest.
And if Maxime can develop quicker, he can also be out there with Domas (I know that will take time, so hopes aren’t too high of it happening this season).
Two skilled bigs, cutters, and shooters. Make the defense matchup with the Kings offense.
The one thing I observed, in my brief eyeball test of summer league, was the Maxime didn’t appear to have elite verticality. He’s a legit 7′ player but has about as much athleticism as Kelly Olynyk.
probably the best dunkers spot player is Issacc Jones
Reynaud is more like a second Domas with a three point shot/
OKC utilizes multiple players in the dunker role, including Caruso.
Like how Vlade was an amazing athlete. Interested to see how Maxime improves in the next year or two.
This is the first thing that has me excited this offseason. I remember the Adelman Kings rarely had anyone in the paint or under the basket. To me it was like football, where the basket was the end zone, and you had to run a play to get a man open at the goal line, or if there was a deep shot, everyone get to the “end zone” for the rebound. It was fluid and made so much open space, it was beautiful.
Those early 2000s Kings had alot of chemistry–and could really execute.
They moved alot, lots of splits, and not a ton of long shots.
Really hopeful DC can bring that back.
But more important is DEFENSE. That’s where DC made his name.
Beautiful basketball at its best. And all clips against the Fakers. I see what you did there, sir.
I love this idea for the offense but what happens to offensive rebounding with Domas away from the basket?
He will still rip down 12 boards a night. Easy. Did Webber being away from the basket stop him from a double double every F’n night? No, no it did not. Domas is one of the best rebounders in the league. Period. He will do just fine.
And if you surround him with a player like Tari Eason Tari would take the pressure off and the 2 of them would be a really good rebounding duo. Eason and Murray would be one of the best defensive duos in the league. 2 for 1.
I’m not worried about Domas, it’s the rest of the team’s rebounding. The player with the 2nd most rebounds per game last year was JC with 7, then Keegan (the SF because he is not a PF) with 6.7. JC’s replacements last year:
Eubanks – 3.7
Saric – 3.1
I’m 100% on board with running the offense through Domas because I think that’s a better offense for this team but they NEED a PF that can rebound and play down low.
Keegan, at PF, is actually very good at rebounding. he was 33rd in the entire league in RPG, ahead of the likes of Myles Turner, Kevin Durant, and Draymond Green. In fact, there were only 13 non-centers who averaged more rebounds per game than Keegan.
I’ll also add this. Keegan is very very good at crashing the offensive glass. His 1.9 offensive rebounds is good for 32nd in the league and 8th best among non-centers. That’s elite.
I’m not too hung up on the SF vs PF debate because it’s a wing league now and any wing should be switchable to cover multiple positions. That being said, the narrative that he should be slotted as a SF completely ignores the fact that he’s in the upper tiers of defined PFs. Gone are the days of traditional back to the basket PFs like Karl Malone, Charles Barkley, etc.
Agree SF/PF is somewhat interchangeable now, but I think if you are playing Keegan as the “big” SF/PF with a 6’5″ partner on wing (DDR), Keegan gets worn down guarding guys bigger and heavier than him. Pairing Keegan with another 6’8″+ SF/PF would be better.
I feel it has less to do with size and more to do with ability. Right now Keegan is going to pick up whichever wing is more of a threat offensively because Keegan is the best defender. Just get another wing, regardless of size, who play defense on par with Keegan (Example: see Lou Dort). Chances are the longer the play goes the more switching happens anyway.
its amazing we had a low usage .. forward that played well with Keegan..team guy, could settle the team down when they needed a bucket.. wa on a declining contract.. I know i’m probably in the minority but I think trading Harrison Barnes was a big mistake. Well, at least trading him for a player that was smaller and higher usage.
Really would like to see Demar moved to the bench, mabye at PF in favour of starting Keon. Could be a good co play maker with Malik for the 2nd unit. Just think the starters need three good 3pt shooters (Zach, Keon, Keeg). That’s even if Keegan doesn’t have another down year around 35%.
The move would also allow Devin to play decent mins with the reserves. I think Doug would appreciate Carters defense in the 10 man, but don’t see how he plays much if DD starts. Don’t think Nique could be the backup PF though, doesn’t have the strength, size/weight for it…but Demar does.
I think both DDR and Nique are small for PF … and even for the SF/PF hybrid
The problem is, if Domas is Vlade, then Murray is Webber, DeRozan is Peja, Lavine is Christie, Schroder is Bibby & Christie is Adelman.
It’s a nice idea that lacks the proper personnel.
Lets tweak it a bit: Lavine is Peja, Keon is Christie, and DDR is Bjax.
Eubanks is Pollard? Uhhmmm…
At least we got Christie on there twice, amirite?
At least until Perry makes it Mike Woodson.
Truth.
Finkle is Einhorn. Einhorn is Finkle.
Maybe I misremembered, but I thought that Domas played mostly from the high post/elbow?
If they’re saying they are transitioning from a DHO to more of a read and react offense, fine.
But this seems to imply as if they’re moving Domas to a completely different spot on the floor, which is incorrect.
I felt last season, especially once DDR and LaVine were the focal point, Sabonis was kind of left out a bit. There were more than enough times where I saw him at the dunker’s spot and thought it was odd. He was also used more in the PnR, which he is very good at, but was often the roller or the pop out and not the guy making the pass. He and Monk ran a ton of PnR once Monk became the de facto PG.
Ah, ok. I did not watch that much anymore after the LaVine trade.
Stupid.
I was kind of hoping we were past fantasizing about 20 years ago. And yet, here we are.
Should the kings pick up Kevin Knox?!
I think yes.
Warriors just parted ways. He seems like a very solid fit in a much needed area.
Drop Cardwell, Replace with Knox?
FIT ✔️
NEED ✔️
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