Sacramento Kings media day has arrived and as with almost every season, hope tries to break through the cloud of last season. After all, just wait til’ next year, right?
Doug Christie is entering his first full season as the head coach of the Kings and spoke to reporters Monday about how his big emphasis this season is going to be on defense:
“Defense always first. If we defend, we get out and we run, that’s what we want to do. We want to defend, we want to defend, we want to defend. Once we get out and run, we’re looking for layups. We want to touch the paint, if we do that, we spray the ball out and we shoot threes. … Defense is where we want to hang our hat.”
And with that, Christie would like his guys picking up 94 feet.
“I want to pick up 94 feet. … Defensively, there is an aggressiveness that I would like to play with and that tone is set by our point guard, and then after that, no blow-bys, keep them in front of you, square them up, and make sure that we’re touching people,” Christie said.
The Kings ranked 22nd in defensive rating last season.
From what he is saying though, Christie is going to expect the effort. And with that effort comes a need for the players to put a lot of energy toward that side of the ball, so much so Christie was willing to share that he would like his rotation to be 10 players: “I would like to play 10 people. I believe that the style that I am going to ask them to play is difficult – we’re not floating while we’re on the floor, we’re playing and that can be tough,” said Christie, who also mentioned that such an expanded rotation would give the younger guys some built-in minutes.
Christie said former Sacramento King and current assistant coach Bobby Jackson would be leading the defense. You can check out a little glimpse of Jackson’s approach to defense from this article in 2021 when he was the Kings Summer League head coach.
And how about the offense? Christie said assistant coach Mike Miller is running the offense, but that there might not be a whole lot different there.
“A lot of the same: We have an incredibly talented big man that can do a lot of the things with the basketball. We have a point guard now that understands shot profile and getting us into good shots. We have incredible 40% shooters on the wings. We have a guy that is a go-to guy in DeMar. We have a Sixth Man of the Year, like we have a lot different things. So, you don’t just scrap everything. I like splits and different things, you guys saw how I played when I played. But a lot of the same, there will be some tweaks and different things and moving guys around the floor I think to take advantage of their skillsets.”
Obviously, picking up 94 feet and playing hard on defense would be ideal–and the fans would welcome it. Given the current roster construction and its defensive limitations, this is definitely going to be another show-us-don’t-tell-us scenario. But hopefully Doug connects, gets buy in and things start rolling in the right direction defensively.
Defense first with Zach, DDR and Monk getting lots of minutes is going to be interesting to watch that’s 3 non-defenders, with no rim protection.
As an old coach I spent a lot of time coaching defense. The hardest thing was getting the players to buy in. Once they did and knew the results they had a lot of fun winning games with defense. I have coaches come to me after we beat them and ask if I played anything other than man I had to say no.I must confess I did play a 2-1-2-2 full court zone but not a lot. This idea of players like DDR and LaVine who can’t play defense is amazing. Any player can play defense if they want to and are willing to put in the work. A good example is Keegan Murray. I’m behind coach Christie all the way if he really truly wants to do what he is preaching. To me the old saying still fits the game. Defense wins championships.
The best predictor for future behavior is past behavior. DDR has over a decade in the NBA and has never bought in to playing defense, same with Zach and Malik. I don’t think they will buy in.
If not then at least DDR and Malik won’t be on the team very long. Zach’s contract keeps him here,
How many professional players aged 30+ who never emphasized defense in their careers have you coached, Jack?
None.
yeah coach/roster/gm/owner are not on the same page, shocker
So I guess that means Keon is getting over 30 minutes a night, right….right…..RIGHT?
One can only hope…
I expect his minutes will get jerked around again. That is the way.
Not if coach has his way. I hope he stands by this theory. In my opinion he should start.
Even after Christie took over after Christmas last year. Keon had up and down minutes. Some games he would be in the 40s, others below 20. It seemed to be a crapshoot on most nights. And with the depth chart even more cluttered with Dennis joining the squad, I don’t see how it changes this season…unless a guard is moved that is named Dennis, Malik, or Zach.
Of the 3 it is going to be Malik. And DDR.
I hope so.
no shot
Kings coaches say a lot of things.
And we listen.
And did he run this strategy by Vivek, Matina and Anjali?
How does Kyle Kuzma fit into this style of play?
Why Kyle Kuzma?
Vivek is a fanboy of Kuzma.
And No, we don’t know why that (Vivek’s whims and fancy) is what it is (see also: Hield, Buddy and LaVine, Zach)
If DC can teach and motivate ZL to play serious D–like Fox learned to do–LaVine could easily become an All-Star. Same for Monk. DDR isn’t going to change, even though he still brings it on offense.
IF.
This is where the loss of LaRavia and Jonas will really impact the Kings–on Defense.
It seems clear to me that Brown was the coach who had the respect from Fox, and Fox was pissed when Brown was fired and replaced by Doug.
So who should be credited for making Fox work harder on D?
According to Rik none of them can play defense.
Keon and Keegan are good defenders.
Domas tries but has his limitations.
Hey! You left out Dario Saric
Fixed that for you.
Maybe I getting jaded and more cynical in my advancing years. Good luck Doug Christie and I wish him well
But I’m sick of this ra ra high BS, what happens then the frequent offenders are like turnstiles on D and don’t give real effort. From history nothing
Doug seems like a great guy, but do we really trust Scott Perry and his 6 pillars of BS, who bought in his guy to be Associate Head coach (I stole the last part from the Jerry Reynolds pod this morning)
Seeing all the local media with all smiles hyping up this Sh!t should be embarrassed, they try to sell this nothing burger, but can’t report what happened with the Stockton Kings
This is a mismatched roster full of players none of whom I’d open my curtains if they were in my front yard.
The fans deserve better
Mike Brown talked a lot about defense. Mike Malone talked a lot about defense. Doug Christie talks about defense. None of them had (have) the personnel to play defense, and the stat stuffers will be replaced by other stat stuffers.
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