Darius Acuff Jr. has three NBA Summer League games under his belt. The 7th overall pick by the Sacramento Kings is averaging 22 points, 4.3 assists, 2.7 rebounds, 1.3 steals and 1 block in 26 minutes. Solid stat line for a guy the team wants to be its franchise point guard. And he’s shown his talent under those stats – the scoring, the vision, the passing, the ability to hit clutch shots, not being fazed by a bad play.
Under the flash and the stats is an efficiency issue: 32% from the field, 29% from three and 3 turnovers per game.
What is most important about this is what Acuff had to say after the win over the Los Angeles Clippers Thursday.
The team is winning and his stat line looks good for a rookie. He didn’t praise himself for the positives or reach for any excuses for the negatives. His teammates have missed a lot of shots that would have slotted in as assists for him. That isn’t getting stuck in his head, though.
He pointed a finger at himself.
“I think they’re doing their job, I think it’s me. If I played better, I think we’d be winning by a lot more points. So, I think those guys are doing their job. They’re playing great. I’ve got to be better on both ends of the floor, especially as a point guard,” he said. “Just trying to be more efficient. I don’t know what’s going on, but I’m trying to get my assists up for sure.”
He said this is bothering him “a lot,” but he praised teammate Emanuel Sharp, who has indeed been impressive on both sides of the ball.
“Emanuel played great again tonight. I think that’s his third game in a row he’s been, in my opinion, our best player,” Acuff said unprompted. “Everybody is just playing great, so definitely want to pick that up with them.”
Self-awareness? Check.
Leadership? Check.
Accountability? Check.
And in a short sample size, Acuff has already proven he can make adjustments, and fight through adversity.
In the first game of the California Classic, his first half was rough. He couldn’t break free of defenders, was missing shots, did not look comfortable. In the second half of that game, he settled down and looked more fluid on offense and under control, despite the poor shooting percentage. In his second game, he shot more efficiently – 44% from three and 36% from the field. In his third game, he tallied 7 assists, compared to three in each of his first two games. He was a -10 in game 1, +4 in game 2, and +3 in game 3.
This may just sound like a silver lining in the middle of poor shooting efficiency and a high turnover rate (which shouldn’t be ignored), but a player who self-diagnosis and has the ability to move levers in his own game on the floor in a short period of time is a very good signal.
The buckets are there as expected. The question is – can a high-volume college scorer make his teammates better, think like a floor general, and own the performances when he does not?
The first real example of this is in and it is pointing the right direction.
De’Aaron Fox’s evil twin (and I mean that in the best possible way).
The sentiment around Fox when he was drafted is exactly the same as with Acuff currently. Fox’ disposition, leadership, maturity and selflessness were pushed as strong points. A last, the Kangz franchise has a way of breaking a good player down, hopefully that doesn’t happen with Acuff.
True. The one huge difference is that a cuff can shoot. And he’s a real passing point guard.
Fox was basically looking for his and dishing it if it wasn’t there. And he could never shoot. Not consistently.
I’ll be surprised if Acuff is not a Dame/Brunson caliber player in a few years.
The Clips and Nets will be kicking themselves for passing on Acuff, especially the Clips, I don’t see a high cieling for Wagler, he’s not fluid, just too mechanical looking.
Dybansta and Peterson look like men amongst boys out there. Both those franchises will be set with superstars the next decade plus.
I’m seeing it very similar to you but there’s a long way to go. I never bought into this defensive liability claim and I don’t see any signs of it in summer league. We got the guy who can get buckets in multiple ways and I think he will become the more impactful player than Wagler.
Based on early VSL returns, this draft looks ludicrous. No fewer than 9 of the top 11 picks look like guys that their fan bases are going to love for years.
I was reading box scores from yesterday’s games this morning and I’m like, damn, even non-lottery picks are putting up big numbers. The 31st pick Bruce Thornton had a monster game yesterday.
I know it’s summer league and so many variables are at play, but this draft class looks special.
Agree. And Caleb- holy shit. If he can shoot like that— plus just other worldly athleticism…..,
I always though Caleb should have gone second (I know that it’s just summer league, but Peterson’s perceived lack of effort in college seemed like a risk). Peterson could very well be the first or second best player in the draft, but I would rather take a 3/4 two-way player than a guard almost all the time. Hopefully Acuff can be the 4th or 5th best player in the draft!
Wilson was one of my favorites before PerryVek had other ideas and decided to ruin things. Summer league SSS but that dude looks unreal.
OT: Further proof that Monk’s is very overpaid in this new apron era. Also, how many freaking guards do the Bucks have now? My quick count: Herro, Trent Jr, Porter Jr, Burries, Rollins, Kasparas, and Green? I think they are also at 19 guaranteed rostered players. They must not be done.
Sounds like the Kings with all those those guards.
Milwaukee has that weird situation where they have two different ownership groups that rotate after every 5 years so who knows what they’re really trying to do over there.
Massive overpay imo.
4/$64 for 8 PPG, 39% from the field.
Lol.
It sure is, but which career #’s would you rather have at $20M per vs. $16M per year, and they both are the same age:
12.5, 2.6, 3.0, 43% FGA, 35% 3PT, 0.6 STL
13.0, 2.2, 1.4, 42% FGA, 38% 3PT, 1.1 STL
Who has more value to contract? If one is a massive overpay, so is the other one.
Agree.
Yes Monk is overpaid but the Bucks just overpaid for Trent. I’d rather have Monk but yes he’s grossly overpaid.
It feels like payback for Trent taking very low deal previously. But also a variation on cap circumvention perhaps?
This is my guess as well. A wink-wink deal based on past player concessions.
Back room deals. Under the table deals. Players affiliated with prop bet sites. Players & coaches indicted on game-fixing charges. Good thing they fixed tanking, though!
I’m not sure how much they pushed to trade Monk last year, but he needs to be gone fast. Even if Sharp’s 3pt shot is a bit off to start the year, I would rather see his infectious defense and shot improve. I would love to see him get work on his dribble penetration skills. We can’t forget that we got Plowden on a cheap deal, making Monk’s age and contract quite worthless to us.
Monk may not only be sticking around because of his contract, but also because the Kings really have no one else proven to back up Acuff at the point.
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