How the Pelicans’ length helped defeat the Kings in four straight games

We were warned of the lack of size on the Sacramento Kings roster during training camp and preseason. Mike Brown spoke of the starting lineup not being particularly a large one and how they were going to need to make up for that with physicality on defense. As the season goes on, this problem continues to present itself in the team’s losses.

Coming into Sunday’s game against the New Orleans, the Kings had been at the wrong end of a beat down three times already this season at the hands of the Pelicans. One would expect the Kings to come out with a new strategy to try to counter what the Pelicans did in the first three losses. Nothing doing – because honestly, there might not be much that can be done. The Pelicans, a team with a nearly identical record, dominated the Kings once again by disrupting the offense and getting any basket they wanted on the other end (61% from the field and 54% from three).

There is certainly room to call out the team for a lack of toughness and leadership based on the bad losses this season, but the size issue continues to be relevant with this roster. To highlight this, let’s compare the Pelicans roster with the Kings roster.

According to Crafted NBA, here are the Pelicans players who are in the top 200 in the NBA in terms of length:

• Brandon Ingram (28th)
• Naji Marshall (57th)
• Herbert Jones (109th)
• E.J. Liddell (114th)
• Larry Nance Jr. (137th)
• Jonas Valanciunas (141th)
• Zion Williamson (200th)

And here are the Kings:

• JaVale McGee (65th)

Yep.

In Sunday’s game, everyone on that list for the Pelicans played other than Williamson, who was out with an injury. McGee played 6 minutes for the Kings.

The Pelicans have five players who are top 150 in wingspan. The Kings have 3 – McGee, Trey Lyles and Alex Len. And Len and McGee typically don’t play in the same games.

Length helps on both defense and offense. On offense, players with length and long wingspans can simply see over defenders for both passes and shots. They also can cover more ground on the court, which helps with good transition play.

Let’s take a look at some examples of where the Pelicans were able to easily score as a result of this.

Here, Ingram is matched up with one of the Kings best defenders in Chris Duarte. An obvious mismatch, however due to each players’ size. Ingram simply dribbles past him and rises up over him. Keegan Murray is late to react, and basket.

This time let’s try Harrison Barnes. Ingram drives right at him, into a fadeaway jumper right over the top of Barnes.

Next, let’s try Murray at the same exact spot. Same result.

Next, let’s try Murray on the same exact play on the opposite side of the floor. Monk’s help defense is able to get about as high as Ingram’s elbow.

How about Trey Lyles on a dibble drive by Ingram? Push shot made over the outstretched Lyles.

Here, Ingram uses his height and length to see over Murray for a nice pass into Valanciunas, who is triple teamed under the basket but is the biggest guy down there, so he makes the shot.

Nance Jr. drives inside and uses his strength and length to recover and shoot over Kessler Edwards, who Brown tried to throw out there to help stop the onslaught.

Herbert Jones flies through the Kings defense in transition over Sabonis and Barnes.

On defense, length helps taller players compensate for slower reaction times. This helps with lateral movement and enhances their ability to block and contest shots by covering more ground and recover faster. There is a reason the Pelicans lead the league in deflections.

The Pelicans really disrupt the Kings drives.

De’Aaron Fox uses his quickness to cut his way to the free throw line, but Trey Murphy, who is 236th on the length list, is able to recover and snag the ball as Fox goes up for the shot. Granted, it looks like Fox may have lost the handle on the ball, but that might be because he knew Murphy was closing in.

Malik Monk is stopped in his tracks by Nance Jr., who proceeds to easily block Monk’s attempt at a shot at the basket.

Here, Sabonis attempts to shoot over Valanciunas. That’s a no go. On the fast break, Naji Marshall easily finishes over the much smaller Davion Mitchell.

Fox drives to the basket and is crowded by the big body of Williamson, only to turn and face the length of Jones, who contests the shot and forces Fox into a turnover.

There is a lot of talent among the Kings key rotation players and they have the team in 5th place in the Western Conference, but when you only have one guy on your roster in McGee who can compare with the opponent in terms of length and said player is in the twilight of his career and averaging 8 minutes per game, it causes quite the matchup problem. Especially when that opponent can take away your main scoring threat: the three-point shot. The Pelicans held the Kings under 35% from three in all four of this season’s matchups. (The Pelicans are 4th in opponent three-point percentage.) The Kings also lost the rebounds and points in the paint battles in each game.

Teams like the Pelicans are a scary thought when considering a playoff matchup because without some changes to the roster, we shouldn’t expect much to change in a 7-game series. Oh, and they still have to play the Pelicans again on April 11.