The Kings opened up preseason action tonight against the Golden State Warriors. It was our first look at DeMar DeRozan in action as a Sacramento King and he fit right in. DeRozan opened up the scoring for the Kings off a patented dribble hand off from Domantas Sabonis for an open mid range jumper.
welcome home, @DeMar_DeRozan ? pic.twitter.com/af3ziFGJPO
— Sacramento Kings (@SacramentoKings) October 10, 2024
DeRozan finished a perfect 6 for 6 in his 15:20 of action in the first half, scoring a team-high 15 points. The midrange shot was there, but he also attacked the basket and even hit a corner three when left completely wide open by the Warriors defense. Sabonis and DeRozan in particular already showed some nice chemistry together, helped out by the fact that they got some early work in together down at USC this summer.
Given it’s a preseason game, I’m going to focus more on how players looked rather than game flow or script since that doesn’t really matter (here’s a link to the box score), although for the first half, both teams were playing fairly hard and using their main rotation players. The Warriors were lights out from three (they ended up making 28 of their 52 attempts, 53.8%) but the Kings finished the first half up 68-66 thanks to some stellar interior and midrange scoring.
Domantas Sabonis, as usual, was the offensive hub around which everything rotated, but he also showcase some nice touch on a few midrange jumpers as well. His first jumper in particular was off a transition play where he took the ball downcourt and then confidently pulled up from the free throw line and drained the shot. What stood out with these jumpers in particular was the confidence; Domas didn’t hesitate or only take the shot because he was open. If that’s part of his game this season, that’s gonna help a lot, even without necessarily extending that range to the three point line.
Keegan Murray also had some bright moments in the first half. While he didn’t make either of his threes, he showcased some nice off ball movement, but also an impressive crossover move that left Kevon Looney looking silly.
Smooth snatch and cross from Keegan Murray in transition. pic.twitter.com/50WnNcUrvG
— Brenden Nunes (@BrendenNunesNBA) October 10, 2024
More importantly, the defensive clamps we saw from Murray look to be here to stay, as he saw extended action against Steph Curry and did as good of a job as you can, particularly this sequence towards the end of the half.
Golden 1 Center loved his sequence with Keegan Murray containing Stephen Curry.
This is expected to be the final stretch for the starters. pic.twitter.com/DD7P7j6xCO
— Brenden Nunes (@BrendenNunesNBA) October 10, 2024
Malik Monk returned to action for the Kings and didn’t look like he missed a beat, hitting long range jumpers, attacking the basket with tenacity and just bringing the energy like only Malik can. Monk left early in the second quarter due to personal reasons per the team, but isn’t expected to miss any time. Hopefully it’s only a minor matter and everything’s alright.
Sacramento’s bench depth was fairly weak due to injury. Kevin Huerter, Trey Lyles and Jordan McLaughlin, all expected to be rotation players, were unable to play due to various ailments. Instead we got to see a lot of Jalen McDaniels, Mason Jones and Isaac Jones. Isaac Jones looked the most impressive of Sacramento’s bench pieces, and I can see why he’s been earning praise from coaches during training camp. He’s got great size and feel for the game, showcasing a nice touch around the basket and some decent passing skills. He did miss both of his three point attempts though.
Overall it was a pretty fun preseason game, particularly that first half when both teams were going hard. The Kings ended up falling 122 to 112, but there’s definitely room for optimism here, particularly with the play of the first unit. Here’s some quick thoughts on how the rest of the roster looked:
- De’Aaron Fox was De’Aaron Fox. He didn’t have his best game shooting wise but still finished 5 of 10. The speed’s still there and he seemed to fit in just fine with DeMar.
- Keon Ellis spent most of the first half just trying to keep up with Steph Curry. Offensively he was just 1 for 2 and didn’t get any looks from three, something we’ll probably see happen a lot more often in the regular season. The Kings as a whole didn’t attempt a ton of threes, going just 7 for 27 from distance.
- Alex Len was just consistently solid as the backup Center. Len finished with a Sabonis-like statline with 10 points, 9 rebounds and 5 assists in 21 minutes.
- Mason Jones is always hustling and I love it but he’s also got to learn how to reign it in a little. He fouled out in just 17 minutes of action. Jones was one of the few Kings players not hesitant to let it fly from distance, making 2 of his 4 attempts (although one was a bad bank shot that went in).
- Our third Jones of the night, Colby Jones, looks further behind than I would have hoped. Last preseason as a rookie, Jones turned some heads with his mature game, but he somehow looks more raw this time around. Jones badly missed most of his shot attempts and finished just 1-6 from the field.
- Jalen McDaniels saw the second most action of anyone on the Kings tonight and boy do I hope that is never the case during the regular season. McDaniels did not look good offensively, finishing 2-8 from the field, including 0-4 from three, and his impressive length wasn’t particularly effective defensively either when the Warriors were lighting it up from distance. If McDaniels is getting meaningful minutes on this roster, something is terribly wrong.
- Boogie Ellis was one of the few players off the bench who was looking for his shot, something that unit needed with no Fox, Monk or DeRozan. He wasn’t super effective, making just 4 of 10 overall (2 of 6 from three), but I liked the aggressiveness I saw from him.
- It took me a moment to figure out who the big lanky dude wearing #8 was but Skal Labissiere is back and he immediately made himself known with a nice fadeaway jumper to start the game. Alas, that was his only basket of the evening and his other two shots missed their mark. He also failed to grab a single rebound in his 7 minutes of playing time, not ideal when you’re nearly 7 feet tall.
- Isaiah Crawford played about 12 minuets and made one nice shot in the lane but was overall a bit invisible out there. I like his build, but he didn’t stand out much to me.
- Terry Taylor had a couple of not great moments in his 9 minutes of action, badly missing a three and also blatantly traveling on another possession. Taylor and the other bench guys would really have benefited from a true playmaker out there who could set them up.
- Brodric Thomas, aka Colby Jones doppleganger, came in during the fourth quarter and filled the stat sheet a little across the board with 3 rebounds, 2 assists and a steal in his 8 minutes of action.
The Kings play the Warriors again on Friday, this time in San Francisco. They’ll be back in action at home on Sunday against the Portland Trail Blazers, their last home game before the regular season opens up on October 24th.
Nice to see DDR hot out of the gate and I liked the Domas (sort of) lob passes to Keegan.
Not much to take away from such a game, but I have this sneaky suspicion that Buddy is gonna hurt us a few times this season.
I found those lob passes to Keegan interesting as well. They seemed very intentional. Almost like a play call.
Keegan doesn’t have the hops or timing to slam those down, but just guiding them into the basket still counts for two points!
Post game thoughts:
Demar DeRozan 6 of 6 from the field. The upgrade over Barnes in the starting lineup is insane.
Lord Jesus, Sabonis can make a mid range jump shot!!!!!! No hesitation, smooth and confident. I LOVED this.
Jaylen McDaniels…. I was hopeful. Sadly, he disappointed. What a bummer. It’s only one game, maybe we see a better performance out of him on Friday. I can’t recall him doing anything that left a positive impression on the game which is concerning.
I thought Colby jones looked alright. Missed shots but had some moments. He also needs to step up with a better performance on Friday.
Alex mother F k N Len. What a great back up Center he is. Proved it, yet again.
Skal, he looked alright. Hopefully Friday he makes a point to aggressively rebound the ball. I could see him finding minutes during the season.
Ferk buddy hield. He will go off for 30 points each time he plays in sacramento in a warriors jersey. That feels inevitable. Which I hate. Another inevitability is that he will dribble the ball off his shoe with 10 seconds left in the game and the warriors down by 2.
Alex Len – needs to be said again, he was excellent in this game. The dude does it all. He deserves a defined and consistent role.
Holy Smurf! Such language, sir! I also was watching Colby Jones. After shooting 9% from 3 last season, he looked like he had regressed! Then it looked like he was playing a bit getter until I looked closer and realized it was some guy named Broderick Thomas, whom I’ve never heard of before, totally out-playing Jones in his role. Colby did have some positive moments guarding Pods, but he’s supposed to be Pods, and he compares about as well as Jalen compares to his brother.
Next to Colby Jones I was also unimpressed with McDaniels. Also Skal. IMO they better do something right or forget being on this team this year. I did like Issac Jones. Kings might have a player there. Are the Warriors that good shooting 3’s.We sure didn’t defend the 3 very much.
Colby has a habit of driving headlong into the paint with neither the quickness to get past his defender nor the strength to overpower him. He was winds up throwing up prayers that have little to no chance of going in.
After realizing he couldn’t advance the ball past the 3-pt line, Colby looked like he wanted to go back to Stockton, literally!
This is absolutely true and I fear it’s a deficiency he cannot overcome. He has no means by which he can create an advantage to score or pass. Fatal flaw.
They shot the same in their first game. I think that’s just who they are.
Only a preseason game but a game. Thought the starters played well although Fox was a little off. As for the reserves I thought only Len and Issac Jones impressed me. IMO Colby Jones just doesn’t have it. Could be wrong and I hope I am wrong. Just a preseason game and first one. Let’s see what happens on Friday and Sunday.
The question, I think, we all need an answer to:
How many spray 3s did the Kings have tonight?
I believe Monk split at the same time Pods went out for a while. The announcers didn’t stop talking about the kid until he came back. You would’ve thought he had been assassinated the way they were panicking. The whole time, I’m wondering “what happened to Malik?” If they ever mentioned him leaving, I didn’t hear it.
The overly-analytical ESPN lady who can’t stop gushing about Steph was there, along with some other Yay-Hoo. They suck!
Monk looked good. But Melton shut him down when he was on the floor. And Monk played Zero Defense. Melton lit him up.
Melton if healthy will be huge for the Dubs.
Melton looked solid in all aspects. The Warrior lost Klay and somehow became a better shooting team. I’m supposed to hate on them, but they are better, and last night wasn’t a fluke. EVERYONE on that team can shoot! I’ve heard all offseason how they’re over-the-hill and done , but I don’t see it. When their starters left, they didn’t seem to miss them at all, and Sac became the Stockton squad.
Yeah, still early and only a preseason game, but it sure looks like GS will be in the mix for a play-off spot.
It was really disappointing (and impressive from the Warriors point of view) how badly they were outshot. G.S,’s end-of-the-bench guys looked like better shooters than the Kings starters.
Demar instantly making an impact on offense. This team will score a lot of points.. Didn’t see them put up the typical 40 3s. This would have been the game to do it. Good individual D by Murray and Ellis.Though Curry had his way with Ellis Ellis kept getting burned on screens. And he provided nothing on offense.
I imagine you will have to split minutes with Ellis and Huerter. Huerter is too slow defensively.
The 3 pt defense will still be a problem for this team. Preseason or not.
Their close outs were poor. And Kerr had an answer for all of them. It’s not like the Dubs were hitting crazy lucky 3s Too many of the shots were virtually uncontested.
DeRozan looked like the ideal pressure relief valve. But will the rest of the team lean on him too heavily? He seemed the only one looking for his shot. With little outside punch, it took a vintage style performance from Deebo to keep pace. That performance was a fitting introduction, and it kept them ahead until halftime, barely. It hurt to be missing Huerter’s shooting in the starting lineup already, and they weren’t exactly spitting fire off the bench either. I’m not panicking after 1 pre-season opener, it’s good news DD did EXACTLY what he was brought here for. I just hope we see his steady, 2 at-a-time scoring, complement the fireworks from 3. Fox can’t go back to being a non-threat from deep!
I totally disagree with this. At halftime, the Warriors were something like 16/22 from deep and they were losing. I would argue it took an outlier shooting night to keep the Warriors alive, barely. They outscored the Kings from deep by 63(!!!) points and won by only 10.
The Kings were beating them in FTA/FTM, Pts in paint, 2nd chance points, FG%, pts off TOs, and TOs in general. They had far more diverse ways to score than GS; Domas post-ups, DHOs, PnRs, Fox/Monk/DDR ISOs, spray 3s, attacking in transition, offensive rebs, free throws, etc. The Warriors need Steph to do something magical with the ball every single time down floor to create a shot for himself or someone else. Kings have systemically varied options. I don’t think the Warriors could have hung in a real game.
The varied offensive approach the Kings can run each game is going to be difficult to defend.
Not sure about that. Teams like Minny, Dallas, OKc, Knicks, Sixers, Philly, and even Pels and Rockets have the length and def horses to keep the Kings from going off. Dubs play no defense, have zero interior D, and are not to dissimilar to the Kings on D. Dubs have Melton and Payton’s really their only stoppers. Much like Keeg and Ellis. Neither team has no semblance of Team D.
I don’t know if there’s a statistic for points per possession for shots taken with fewer than six seconds left on the shot clock, but if there is, DeRozan is going to bump Sacramento’s number up in a very noticeable way. The man will be a security blanket for broken possessions.
We have two Ellises, three Joneses, an Isaac and an Isaiah, and a Huerter who’s hurt.
but he’s less hurt, not more hurter.
I like what I saw from Boogie Ellis. He gets the Bayou Bomber, Marcus Thornton award.
A better-defending Marcus Thornton would be nice to have around. Man, that guy hit some big shots while he was here.
When the 7th and 8th guy in the rotation are injured, along with Carter, the depth quickly looks poor. Brown better find a way to get the 10th-15th spots in the rotation to contribute something positive.
I know it’s only one game in preseason and it was against the Warriors, but the three-point defense really triggers me. It just seems like every team comes in super confident that they can get any shot they want off against this defense.
It’s not an issue that seems to have been resolved and it’s a bit frustrating that the team and media act like signing a 35 year old resolves all of the teams issues.
I really don’t get why McNair keeps running it back. This team has had the same issues for the last 3 years. So frustrating.
They haven’t protected the 3pt line in over a decade.
If the Kings cannot defend the 3 point shot we are truly in trouble.
I wonder if that is by design. They gave up just 22 points in the paint. Could it be the going plan is to deny penetration and down hill drives since you know Sabonis is not an ideal rim protector, but the cost of that is giving up more outside jumpers?
Few teams are going to hit 53% from deep like the Warriors did last night. If they had just hit on 40% from three, which is above league average, the Kings win that game.
i agree but if you are defending the downhill drive than you are there to defend the 3 point shot. Goes hand in hand.
21 minutes from Jalen McDaniels could be a bit telling. Brown and Monte may want to get an extended look at him. Could be is final shot for the roster, or even the league.
The Kings starting unit played well. They weren’t shaken by the 3 point barrage that will have to be the Warriors every game this season as they just don’t have any interior presence. Live by the 3, die by the 3. They will win many games with the variety of 3 point shooters that can shoot, but defensively, a team with interior presence will overwhelm them. It’s a three point barrage – as sort of D’Antoni, return of Nellie, Loyola-Marymount Paul Westhead mash up, I suspect.
Despite the Kings coming up short from a win, I still believe that they will make the PreSeason playoffs and are still in the running for the PreSeason Championship Trophy (I think it’s called the Harry O’Ryan or something)
Putting up 68 and only hitting two or three 3’s in that first half was fantastic. I can’t recall a game last season where the offense looked great when not relying on the 3. The second half was essentially just the warriors rotational guys verses Alex Len + the very end of the bench/g league players. There wasn’t a whole lot to take away from the second half.
Huerter claimed the starting 2 guard position last night, and what’s ironic he didn’t even play.
He was flawless. Seldom has he looked better.
And yet Ellis had the second-best +/- at +7. May as well waive him.
Back to Stockton, I suppose.
I’m so happy my “You Can’t Hurt Me, I’m a Kings Fan” mug will be here in time to start the season. Those designs this go round are amazing.
That first half was a blast. The spacing was impressive and I loved how the guys used it creatively. I’m not worried about the camp invite guys struggling against the dubs second unit. I think it says more about their depth than it does about ours.
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