The NBA officially kicked off last night, as the Celtics destroyed the Knicks and the Lakers held on to win over the Timberwolves. The league as a whole kicks off this evening with 20 teams playing, but the Kings still have one more day to wait. The Kings will kick off their season Thursday as they host the Timberwolves. Sadly the Timberwolves had a rough outing against the Lakers, and we Kings fans know in our hearts that playing Sacramento often corrects those issues.
Lakers and Wolves both shooting under 40%.
Them vs the Kings later this week: pic.twitter.com/cAnlVg9QCp
— Jason Wise (@Jason_Wise) October 23, 2024
In the meantime, we have a few Kings bits of news to cover.
Kevin Huerter and Trey Lyles nearing return
Both Kevin Huerter and Trey Lyles were full participants in practice on Tuesday, which is a great sign that they will be back to game action soon. We haven’t gotten official word of their return, but having one or both back for the season opener would be a huge boost to Sacramento’s depth.
Mike Brown also indicated that if Huerter is cleared to return, there’s a strong chance that he’ll be back in the starting shooting guard role.
Mike Brown on Kevin Huerter: “If he plays, he probably starts, but we’ve got to get the green light.” pic.twitter.com/wwkeJILd1L
— James Ham (@James_HamNBA) October 22, 2024
There’s advantages and disadvantages to starting Huerter at this point. The Kings clearly were lacking shooting in the preseason, and Keon Ellis didn’t have a particularly strong preseason on his own. Huerter could provide shooting and spacing for the starters. On the other side of the coin, the Kings were great last season with Keon in the starting lineup and Keon has been practicing with the starters for all of training camp. Mike Brown will likely be second-guessed either way. I also think back to last season when he kept a struggling Kevin Huerter in the starting lineup even as Huerter was slumping, but Brown was quick to sub Huerter out if Kevin was struggling.
Hopefully the Kings can get healthy and Brown quickly figure out an effective rotation.
Update: Shortly after published we got word from today’s practice that both Huerter and Lyles are fully cleared to return.
Trey Lyles (groin) has also been cleared to play in tomorrow’s opener against Minnesota.
No minute restrictions for either him nor Huerter. https://t.co/bXLZG37o0R
— Brenden Nunes (@BrendenNunesNBA) October 23, 2024
Great news for the Kings.
ESPN ranks Golden 1 Center as the NBA’s best arena
ESPN reviewed and ranked all 30 NBA arenas, and ranked Golden 1 Center as the best in the league. The evaluation was conducted across four categories: accessibility/location, food/concessions, amenities, and overall fan experience.
Small market, elite arena. There might not be a more underrated arena in the league than the Golden 1 Center. It doesn’t have the nostalgia of Arco Arena, which closed in 2022, but it makes up for it with top-notch food, amenities and fan experience. This arena claims the No. 1 spot in our rankings after scoring in the top 5 in all four categories and No. 1 in accessibility and location. In the heart of downtown, the arena is surrounded by restaurants, and the food options inside the arena are worth writing home about as well. The local restaurants and breweries inside source 90% of their ingredients within a 150-mile radius of the arena, and there’s even a dedicated coffee bar to sustain fans during those late-night games. With a fan base nicknamed “Cowbell Kingdom,” the crowd is one of the loudest in the league — a reason it ranked fifth in fan experience. Let’s not forget the arena’s most defining characteristic: the iconic purple beam that’s lit from the top of the building after every Kings win.
Boogie Ellis heading overseas?
After being waived by the Sacramento Kings, Boogie Ellis is now reportedly in talks with Maccabi Tel Aviv:
Maccabi Tel Aviv is in advanced talks with Boogie Ellis according to @SportalgrG source. Ellis is a free agent after the Sacramento Kings waived him and he’s expected to sign with the Israeli champs. #Euroleague #Maccabi
— Christos Tsaltas (@Tsaltas46) October 21, 2024
I was still holding out hope for Boogie to return to the Kings via either Stockton or a Two-Way contract, but signing overseas could be a much more lucrative path for Ellis.
My strongest opinion re: which SG starts is that Malik Monk is the 6th man. Other than that, I don’t really care much between Huerter v Ellis. Movement shooting & playmaking v. defense & spot-up shooting.
Ellis’ defense is a better fit with the starters imo, but he didn’t do anything so far to make me believe he needs/deserves the spot. Huerter is a known commodity and would fit well, too. Either way, both guys will play a lot of minutes this season so it’s a bit of a shoulder shrug from me.
My guess is that Kevin and Keon will get solid minutes with the other starters during the game. It’s nice to have the varied skills between both of them.
The struggle will be who is playing the “SF/3” position when Monk and Huerter/Keon are on the floor together. Murray and/or DeRozan would have to be on the court with those guards. Staggering lineups will be key as the roster is thin at the 3/4 positions.
McDermott is going to help that hopefully.
Monk, Huerter, McDermott: The No-Defense team
But they would hit 3s!!!
Exactly. That has been the team for almost two decades now. At least there is a slight chance of out scoring the other team. Unfortunately one or two defenders on the floor that do not score is not enough to over come the mathematical imbalance.
All in on scoring or make a weak attempt at defense.
Honest question. Is it possible to be too deep? What I mean by that is when you have Ellis, Monk, Huerter, DeRozan, Keegan splitting time on the wings, is there a scenario where giving all they guys less minutes in order to get everyone playing time a disadvantage?
Example: Is it better to give players A, B, C 30+ minutes a game or players A, B, C, D, E 20+ minutes a game? I understand that matchups, fatigue, chemistry, etc. all come into play, but at some point are you handicapping yourself by being too diversified with the bench?
This also doesn’t take into consideration egos and locker room chemistry.
Don’t think it’s a huge issue either, if Brown can try to evenly split the minutes, around 24 a piece. Or some games give more minutes to either guy based on who has the hot hand.
Looks like, despite much rhetoric, the Kings are opting for offense. Just outscore them. Can’t have more than one defense primary guy on the court at once. I wanted Ellis but I understand the KH move.
I would have liked Keon guarding the teams best backcourt guy, freeing up Fox like last year. He gets more steals when he can gamble.
Bench: for now- Monk, Ellis, JaMac, Lyles and Len
Later- add in Robinson as an alternative and Carter if he plays
Out Colby
2 way- Mason Jones, Crawford and the other tall Jones
one open spot.
I think they are 1-2 guys away from making some noise. Aways ahve liked thos long defensive 3-4’s but these are hard to get, easy to lose ( Edwards)
Dallas has quite a few now as does NOP . Denver has a bunch of unproven ones.
I think Monte is missing on the marginal guys- ones obtained as 2nd round, as un-drafted and as throw ins to trade- you know, Cash….Cash Considerations- the 6/9 guy with an 8 foot wingspan
Got Keon but that’s it.
Well said. Like all of mine, this comment should be purple.
I still stand by my fan opinion that Huerter should be playing all of DeRozan’s off minutes at SF. That’s at minimum 13 minutes of playing time for Huerter every game. If he starts at SG and plays the first 5 minutes before subbing out. Then we add another 5 minutes to start the 2nd half… that’s a minimum of 23 minutes a game for Huerter who is a very good player even in his worst season last year. It’s a good situation for winning games. One would think. Monk and Ellis get the other 38 minutes. Likely more. That’s SOLID.
Huerter is a need and I am glad he is going to be ready to go soon. Brown is going to choose the best starting lineup he has available at the time. He has been doing this for a while with more success than people criticizing him.
Getting Lyles back is more important than most realize. We are not big and he is one of the few that fits that role.
he chose KZ Okpala into his starting lineup, so let’s not act as if only people with more NBA success are authorized to criticize him.
“Pump your brakes, kid. That man’s a national treasure.”
Ahhhhh yes. That was amazing. Not having any players means Okpala was the one.
A few games in to the season, this rookie named…Keegan Murray, replaced Okpala in the starting lineup. Most people seemed to know it was a bad idea to start Okpala, except Mike Brown.
Glad he made the right choice. It has been working out.
Maybe it was a coaching move a psychological one not to “give Keegan the starting spot to start the season. Make him earn it.”
I think it was three games that Okpala started. Play the guy who played for a couple years in Miami over the rookie.
G1 is a wonderful arena in a lot of respects. The way it’s designed, aesthetics, how everything flows, particularly if you include the whole of DoCo as part of the equation, I think is great. The food and overall experience in the VIP lounges is also pretty great, but it’s hard for me to believe that the concession stand food ranks that highly. I had a hotdog there just recently and the bun was inedible.
Never been to MSG. Have only been to Chase Center once and I find it to be a weird arena. Felt like I was at an airport. Curious what others think about arenas (particularly the newer ones) around the league and how it compares to G1.
Chase was nice. I liked the advanced stats on the scoreboard. But they closed off the arena from the concourse. I think they were trying to keep it like Oracle which was that way. Golden 1 has a more open connection between concourse and arena which I definitely like more, but I can see how it would be a matter of preference.
Yup that’s exactly what I didn’t like about Chase (and what I love about G1). Other than that (restaurants, bars, etc.) it was cool.
The two Kings lineups that got the most minutes last season were:
Fox-Murray-Barnes-Sabonis-Huerter and
Fox-Murray-Barnes-Sabonis-Keon
The Keon lineup had a defensive rating of 105.8 versus 113.9 for the Huerter lineup. BUT the Huerter one had an offensive rating of 119.9 versus 107.0 for Keon’s.
Net rating: 6.1 for the one w/Huerter and 1.2 for the one with Keon.
NBA Stats
Be interesting to see how the lineup data looks with DeRozan in those lineups instead of Barnes. I think that vastly changes the dynamics of that group. DeRozan is much more dynamic offensively, while Barnes was usually a catch and shoot guy. I think Ellis and Huerter will both look good with the other 4 starters.
Huerter at his worst is someone that will at least space the floor and move the ball. Huerter at his best will score a significant amount and be the difference maker in a game. Both Huerters will not play defense.
Keon at his best will put up ten points and play defense. Keon at his worst will not score and his defense will be wasted by his teammates that will not play defense. Both Keons are not all that amazing.
The Huerter vs. Keon decision is simple for Brown. Huerter can score if he is shooting and help his teammates score. If Huerter is not shooting the ball well try Keon and see if he is shooting decent that day. Unfortunately Keon’s defense is wasted by his team mates. Like trying to drink the ocean with a straw.
I’d say the very different variable from last year to this year is the addition of DeRozan to the starting unit. What I mean by that is the offensive firepower won’t be in question with Huerter or Eilis, as they’d likely be the 5th option, but defense will be where it counts.
IMO, DeRozan is what makes Ellis the better fit with the staring 5.
Huerter consistently hitting threes along with Derozan as a threat is going to be impressive. The defense will have to give somebody easy buckets. IF Huerter is hitting threes consistently.
I’m of the mindset that we vastly over emphasize Huerter’s outside shooting. He’s never been the best 3pt shooter on the team and last year Fox even shot better than him from deep. Kevin is a career 38% 3pt shooter, which is good, but not great.
For some reason I think it’s assumed that Huerter is the better shooter over Ellis so he get the offensive tip of the hat, but has that really been proven?
Maybe Keon’s sample is far too small, but I’d still like to see if his averages stick. If Ellis can do just 90% of what Huerter is supposedly good at in shooting, the Keon should be the clear starter.
I think they are two completely different players offensively. Huerter is dynamic and can stretch a defense. Huerter can also be the focal point of an offense when he is hot. Keon simply has not shown any offensive prowess or ability to force a defense to deal with him. I think that definitely could be that the sample size on Keon is too small.
Do we over emphasize Huerter from the three? Yes we do because he actually scores more in the mid range.
Likewise, I think Keon’s defense is vastly over emphasized. He has had brief moments and highlights. Small sample size that we see.
Brown sees both Keon and Huerter much more than we do. His sample size is pretty big.
Looks like Huerter and Lyles will be playing tomorrow versus the T-Wolves.
https://x.com/DeuceMason/status/1849169732877832650
https://x.com/DeuceMason/status/1849180349663961374
Much needed additions after what we all saw from the bench in preseason.
Deuce is actually getting information?
Thanks, I added an update to the post.
Yikes, not a fan of Brown coming out and saying Huerter “probably” starts if he plays. I like Kevin, but he hasn’t played competitive basketball in 7 months and is coming off his worst year as a pro since his rookie year.
In my mind the starting spot is Keon’s to loose at the moment. If he comes out flat and Kevin shows life after a game or few, then make the switch. Making the announcement that Brown has done a day before the season starts is disconcerting and not helpful.
Not sure why this franchise ever talks about defense when every major decision they’ve made has always been about offense.
I guess I should give up any hope of this core ever being an average defense over an entire season.
Kings were 14th in defensive rating last season, which seems like an average defense to me.
Didn’t they jump to something like 8th once Keon entered as a starter over the last 20 games? Maybe the question is, what was their defensive ranking prior to the switch?
When Keon became the starter, the numbers were some where in the top 8. Before that I think they were around 20th (?)
How long were they top 8?
If Keon can do that consistently let him have it. I don’t know how long they were top 8 though?
Regardless, I doubt they were top 8 in the preseason (small sample size be damned). So yeah, even though I thought Keon had earned the starter role at the end of last season, I’d be ok with either Keon or Huerter starting at this point.
Same here. There is no sign of them being anywhere near the top 8 with Keon or Huerter. Both bring something to the game when they are in. Glad to have two players that are both good enough to start. Good lineup issue to be dealing with.
Huerter went out during the 3/18/24 game, and then it was Keon starting. From the 3/20/24 game through the end of the season, the Kings were 3rd in the league in defensive rating at 108.8. Link
For 3/18/24 and prior they were 19th at 115.6. Link
Thanks for those stats. If I were a betting man, I’d put chips on Monte thinking DeRozan will make up the offensive numbers while Keon makes the difference as the POA defender.
Average kept them out of the playoffs.
Damn, only the first game and Dejounte Murray got hurt.
https://x.com/ShamsCharania/status/1849289932227084781
Keon earned his demotion after the bad SL/preseason showings, as I said at the last game thread
his lack of growth took me back to Huerter starting despite my ambivalence to Kevin
Side note on this whole Kevin Huerter starting thing…
there could be a psychological element that Brown is deploying here that he completely boggles last season when he made huerters job up for grabs with Chris Duarte after Huerter was exceptional the previous season (minus the playoffs). That seemed to F with Guerrero mind in a negative way. He lost all confidence and then played like crap all season always looking frustrated and down on himself.
“giving huerter the starting spot” after missing all this time due to injury is maybe a reverse type of move by brown to make sure Kevin has a good mental position to play well.
Or it could go the other way. One coach to another IMO Keon Ellis should start tonight. He has earned it, If Mike Brown starts Huerter then my opinion of Brown has gone down a notch quite a bit. There are reasons why one of them being how Coach Brown sees or doesn’t see how that decision will effect a players mind. We all have egos in one form or another. Confidence plays into it. I wanted my players to have all the confidence in the world. Once you get it you want to keep it. Cocky is not part of it. If Ellis is for some reason not doing well then sub in Huerter
You’re not wrong. It’s a hard decision that needs to be made. Pros and cons to both options for on court reasons and off court reasons.
I’ll say this in regards to my last comment. Brown didn’t go the “seniority” route last season between Huerter and Duarte and I think it cost the kings many wins. Low confidence Huerter was depressing to watch and it seemed to effect the entire team. There’s a “I learned from my mistake” aspect and vibe to this decision by Brown. I can appreciate that.
in a sense it might be better for the team if Ellis “earns a starting spot” and literally takes it away from Huerter due to statistics and what can be constructive in a team need kind of way as opposed to Ellis “earning it” due to injury which is kind of what happened. Ellis is almost a Rookie. It’s his first full season as a full time roster player in the NBA. It’s Huerters 6th.
pshycoligically I would imagine Ellis being effected less by this decision and understanding the seniority aspect to it all.
Switching to Ellis as the starter 5 games in for “defensive needs” and moving Huerter to more SF minutes could be a better long play.
who knows though. It’s definitely arguable and I can see both sides of the coin. Nether is a bad option and that’s a cool position to be in for Mike Brown and this entire Kings fan base.
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