Sacramento’s summer league squad moved to 2-0 in Vegas Tuesday night following a convincing 89-75 victory over Corey Kispert and the Washington Wizards. Louis King led the way for Sacramento with 16 points and Caleb Homesley had a game-high 17 points for Washington.
After three summer league games in which the Kings could barely hit the broad side of a barn, Sacramento made 14 of 34 three point attempts, with Louis King going 4/6 and Ade Murkey making 3/5. On the other end, Washington only made 24.1% of their 3PA (7/29), with all the makes accounted for by Homesley, Kispert and Mason Jones.
Davion Mitchell didn’t have a marquee matchup this game like he did against Charlotte with Bouknight, but he still had some fun moments, especially on offense. Mitchell hit his first two three point attempts and also connected on another long jumper. It was nice to see him connect from outside after struggling with his shot in his last two outings. He finished the night with 12 points and 4 assists and was able to sit the entire 4th quarter and get some well earned rest as the Kings had broken the game open by that point. Defensively, he was tenacious as always and even saw a few possessions guarding the much bigger Corey Kispert to end the first half. Mitchell’s best defensive highlight of the night came in the third quarter when he seemingly forced a backcourt violation with a timely strip of the ball, but the summer league officials instead called a foul. Hey, even refs have off nights.
Jahmi’us Ramsey had perhaps the most impressive plays of the night, and seems to be fully recovered from his recent ankle injury. Ramsey was aggressive in attacking the basket and also hit a few jumpers. His best move of the night was this splendid take to the rim where he showcased some stellar body control in mid-air:
How do you even do this pic.twitter.com/BxB7kJTd2e
— CJ Fogler account may or may not be notable (@cjzero) August 11, 2021
Ramsey finished with 13 points, making 5 of his 8 attempts from the field.
Neemias Queta finished with a quiet 6 points, 6 rebounds, 1 assists, 1 steal and 1 block in 21 minutes, but the stats don’t tell the whole story. His presence inside altered quite a few Wizards shots, and on offense, he shows tremendous passing instincts. While he only had one assist, he routinely made the correct pass, and quickly too. One bad habit he has however is an unnecessary gather dribble when catching the ball near the rim a.k.a the Jason Thompson special. With his size, he could and should just go up with it and I’m guessing that will be a focus of his development with the Kings coaching staff.
Overall it was a great team performance by a Kings squad that looked far more comfortable than the Wizards, which makes sense given that this is Sacramento’s fourth game together compared to just the first for Washington. Bobby Jackson has his squad playing great defense.
Sacramento now has a couple days off before they resume action on Friday against Desmond Bane and the Memphis Grizzlies.
Random Observations:
- Chimezie Metu looks smooth out there, and you can see a lot of growth in him from this same time last year. He does need to be stronger with the ball in his hands though, getting stripped near the basket a couple times. He also needs to box out better. Overall a solid performance though.
- I know King was our leading scorer and I didn’t talk much about him, but there really wasn’t too much to say. He was hitting his outside shot really well and played some solid defense too. His struggles from the California Classic seem to be in the rearview mirror and he is looking more and more like the player we saw towards the end of last season. That’s what we want to see as Summer League progresses.
- Ade Murkey had a really good night shooting the ball, going 5/7 overall. He’s a bit undersized but he plays with energy on both ends.
- Jordan Schakel got his first action with the Kings and had a couple nice moments but also forced it a bit as well. Schakel went 0 for 5 from distance.
- Robert Woodard II had probably his best Summer League game yet… and still didn’t look that great. 5 points and 3 rebounds with 2 turnovers in almost 18 minutes isn’t going to cut it. He just doesn’t look all that comfortable out there, especially when he has the ball in his hands.
- Matt Coleman makes some very head scratching decisions, but even with that, he finished with 10 points on 4-6 shooting with 3 assists and 3 steals.
- Giannis, Kostas and Thanasis were in the building tonight to watch little brother Alex, who checked in for the final 4:21 of the game. The results were… not pretty as Alex went 0-2 including a bad miss from the corner. Still it was cool to see all the Antetokoumbros out at Summer League supporting their brother.
Kathy Najimy’d.
I have no idea if Fox, Haliburton and Mitchell can play together but Mitchell definitely doesn’t suck. His defense really is game changing. Guys just cannot get by him.
Right now I feel like they definitely can. The team’s best lineup last year featured Fox, Buddy, and Halliburton; Mitchell will be at least as defensively versatile as Buddy, and as long as he knocks down open 3’s at a reasonable rate, he can be paired with those two.
EDIT: Mitchell’s also consistently had a lower usage rate, which bodes well for his fit next to Fox specifically. Love the idea of having 3 PG’s on the floor with complementary skillsets and specialties, all comfortable on-and-off ball
Go Kings
Three really good guards under the age of 23 is not a bad start for building a team.
And 10 centers!
Really fun team to watch-hope some of this defense carries to the big club. Maybe another Vegas Championship in the future? Gonna be interesting who gets some of the last spots/2 way spots.
Ramsey, Mitchell, Metu, and King have all looked good together and I’m sure they all will get some NBA minutes at some point. I really like Queta’s upside but he’s soooo young and developmental. Honestly, I’d rather see Queta spend time in Stockton to develop.
Could there be any minutes or spots for Terry? He’s older but reminds me of a poor man’s DeAndre Jordan. Plays hard and really affects on the defensive end and grabs effort points. Good player to have in summer league and I’d rather watch him than some of the guys on the big roster.
Is Bobby Jackson getting the coaching experience he needs before he takes over as the Kings next head coach?
If that day comes, I hope he takes our very own Jimmy Alapag with him in his coaching staff. But first things first, Fire Walton.
While I’m happy with the last couple of wins the team has under Bobby Jackson in SL, let’s pump the brakes a little bit with him taking over the Kings coaching job.
Well, I am not pushing for him to get the job right now. Looking more along the lines of doing a year or two in the G-League as the coaching experience he might need.
Trust me, I am not the type of person that gets excited over 2 meaningless games in summer league. Hell, I didn’t even get excited when the Kings won 9 in a row last year!
Gotcha! I think Bobby Jackson got a long ways to go before he becomes a HC in the NBA. There are a lot of guys who are lead assistants for 10+ years before even cracking a head coaching gig although there are a few exemptions (Kidd, Billups, Nash) but not the norm. The last thing I want for the Kings to do is hire someone just because they played for the Kings during the “Glory Days”.
But if Bobby had shown that he earned it then I’m not opposed to it. I just want the FO to do a thorough search when they hire a coach to eventually replace Walton.
Exactly. He has some learning to do, and maybe being around the team and being on the player development staff he picked up a few things.
Accio Siakam trade!
I really like Louis King………..
He got long arms…and great defensive instinct.……..(look at the Gif below)
I don’t mind he play behind Harkless, but if Harkless is traded/gone, I think Louis King can be the replacement and play backup SF…….
Louis King did not follow his man, he knows there maybe the baseline pass to the corner…and he shifted to defend the opponent in the corner, and finally stole the ball successfully.
I really like what I’m seeing out of King as well, I think between him and Mo Harkless we should be OK for a back up small forwards
TBH, Mitchell made that read pretty easy. Forced a guy to run out of bounds with no opportunity to look at the basket. His only option was to try to force a pass to the corner, which King was there for. Good play, but this isn’t necessarily evidence of anything better than an average defensive response to exceptional defensive pressure by Mitchell. Can’t wait to see Hali next to him, who did demonstrate some ball hawk in him last year.
Though simply making the right/obvious rotation at the right time isn’t a given with this team.
Hield or Bagley might have been sprinting the other way in anticipation of a steal and easy bucket rather than making the steal. That’s the problem, they are just one step ahead of everyone else.
Mitchell is a gamer, but I still don’t see the minutes with Fox on floor. Love to be proven wrong. Metu is much better than Bagley, which is sad.
We already knew it from last season………
Some of the Metu love is a bit over the top in my opinion. He is not clearly better than Bagley.
If you don’t think Marvin could go out there and produce 13 pts and 5.5 rebounds on 40% FG shooting through 2 games in summer league…I don’t know what to say.
Most advance stats show they are roughly similar players, Marvin better rebounder, Metu better passer. Feel like some must like Metu’s outside shot…he and Bagley shot almost identical 3 pt percentages last year and Metu on much less volume.
Bagley at least had a slightly positive ON/OFF per 100 this year, Metu was -3. Defensive rating was about the same with either of them.
Neither is great right now, hence their situations, Bagley on block and Metu in summer league. At that point at least Bagley is 22 vs 24. But staying on the court is an issue obviously.
Fine to keep Metu and see if he can develop at little cost, but I’d still take Bagley over Metu for this upcoming year in terms of playing time (Contracts aside).
Maybe the stat is similar..but it’s simply all about BBIQ and court awareness…….
For instance:
1) Metu grabbed the defensive rebound, he would wasted no time, and just pass the ball to his PG, and run into front-court himself.
While Bagley hold the ball, try to push the ball with himself, the result would be either the ball getting stolen or offensive foul……
2) Metu played better man-to-man defense than Bagley, and set better screen, Metu is actively to roll-in or roll-out.
I mean if we are just using anecdotes, I would say Marvin is more likely to take a charge so he is “better” at stopping the ball defensively…Etc etc
And for all Metu’s BBIQ he turns the ball over at a reasonably higher rate than Bagley even though his usage percentage is lower.
There just isn’t data at this point to suggest Metu is a much better player. I’d love for Metu to become clearly better than Bags. But a couple summer league games aren’t going to prove that…and certainly his play in actual games last year didn’t prove that.
That there is even a debate says a lot about Bagley
Sure it does. I don’t think anyone is suggesting Bagley has lived up to expectations. Not really the point.
I agree, their stats may be similar but they don’t affect the game in the same way. Bagley needs to be showcased more to get his stats while Metu gets his more playing team ball. Plus, Bagley is one of the worst defenders I have ever seen.
Also, a big stat leans heavily towards Metu…salaries…..$11m vs $1.7m
If they are more or less even, why pay $11.7m when you can get the same thing for $1.7m?
Because one is 22 and been heavily injured his first 3 years. Nothing could help the Kings more for long term future than Bagley playing 70 games and actually popping for an efficient 18/10 season with average (Slightly below) defense. I don’t think that is necessarily likely, but I also don’t think it’s impossible. 70/30?
You then have a restricted asset to do as you choose next offseason. Regardless of their similarity now (I still think Bagley is better) Metu doesn’t offer that type of upside, asset wise. I know some don’t think Bagley does either.
I understand your point and it makes sense.
I just don’t have any faith in Bagley staying healthy, being efficient or playing anything close to average defense.
Betting odds say you are probably right.
From your lips to Basketba’al’s… um…. do gods have ears? From your lips to Basketba’al’s auditory perception mechanism.
Through one game, sure. However, he’d miss the 2nd game due to a non-contact injury.
Most likely 😉
Clearly was probably an overstatement, but Metu just seems to get it.
Kind of makes me happy, actually.
I loved seeing Hali there last night on the sidelines supporting his teammates. Just love that.
Hopefully the culture is changing with Hali, Holmes, Mitchell, and Fox looking like guys that work hard and have some passion, and support their teammates.
Loved seeing the bench give as much, if not more energy, to a King making a great defensive play as they do a King making a great dunk. That seems like it has Coach Christie written all over it. You know Luke was in the crowd thinking, “what the hell are they getting so excited about?”
To be fair to Luke, he probably wasn’t thinking that until after he took a look at the tape.
Oof.
I love what I have seen from Mitchell so far. I think will be able to do some 3 guard lineups because of his defense. I would pay to watch a Mitchell v Fox scrimmage. Queta looks like he can play too.
Davion Michell qoute…..
“Whoever I’m playing against and assigned to cover, I try to take away their space because a lot of players who like scoring the ball like playing in space,” Mitchell said. “So if you take away their space, it’s hard for them to get a shot off and they get frustrated. … My job here is to take away space. Me being undersized, people look at us like we can’t fit in the league. They think we’re too small. I’m just trying to be that dog on the floor and use it to my advantage. I love the defensive end.”
I actually really liked what I saw from Neemias. Not sure I’m ready to give him heavy minutes or anything, but he held his own switching out on guards, took up a lot of space, affected the other team’s offense, and wasn’t a ball stopper. I think his floor is sticking in the league as a rotation player and has significant upside.
This.
I also like he has a two-way contract. He won’t rot at the end of the bench behind the 37 other centers on the team. Okay, I exaggerated- 17 other centers.
Badge Legend