The Sacramento Kings’ season opener highlighted some positive things, but also a few growing pains for Mike Brown as DeMar DeRozan is integrated into the system. The team did some things well on defense like holding the Minnesota Timberwolves to 32 paint points and forcing them into 17 turnovers. On offense, the Kings were able to build up a double-digit lead and the core five players were stellar. A last-second three from Keegan Murray bounced off the rim to result in a two-point loss.
After the game, head coach Mike Brown talked about the areas of improvement he wants to focus on: late-game shot selection, adjusting the offense to accommodate DeMar DeRozan’s mid-range game, better rotation management and reducing the minutes of the core players.
Offensive Style Changes
The Kings may not be using the dribble handoff as much to accommodate DeRozan’s scoring and playmaking abilities:
“We may not run as much DHO because you’ve got a guy like DeMar, and shoot, it’s great to have the ball in his hands. It’s great to have the ball in Malik’s hands. It’s great to have the ball in Fox’s hands,” he said.
DeRozan finished with 26 points, and Brown acknowledged that adding his elite mid-range game will naturally change the shot distribution of the team. This could then reduce the number of three-point attempts taken, and he said he is comfortable with that.
“You have another guy that commands to touch the ball a little bit more. And you could see, DeMar had some pretty good looks, especially early on that he turned down. His game is the mid-range,” Brown said. “He’s an elite mid-range guy. And so, he’s going to take a lot of shots, and that’s going to probably take away from the three some, which I’m OK with.”
The Kings took 29 threes and the Timberwolves took 50. The Kings also had 21 assists and they averaged 28 per game last season.
This correlates with a larger discussion about shot selection, where Brown said: “So not necessarily from a DHO standpoint, but there were opportunities for us to touch the paint and spray the ball probably five to six more times than what we did tonight, and that’s where the 35-plus threes would have come from, in my opinion.”
Brown emphasized improving drive-and-kick outs to shooters rather than taking contested shots, over the likes of players such as Rudy Gobert.
This played a factor down the stretch.
After Ellis got a steal and took a tough floater. Brown pointed to the sequence after this as critical to the outcome, saying: “I thought our next three possessions were really tough. We shot some tough, tough, tough twos. After Keon, shot a tough two. And those two instances, versus a really good team, were the difference in the ball game. Against a good team, you have to be methodical with your approach, not in terms of we want to play fast. I’m OK playing fast. But when I say methodical with your approach is, you’re not going to put a good team away by taking tough twos, especially late in the ball game.”
Rotation & Minutes Management
The coach expressed clear concern about the heavy minutes being played by his key players and indicated this is an ongoing area for adjustment.
“You could see just by the minutes that I’m still not comfortable with my rotation. I don’t want DeMar to average 43 minutes a game. I don’t want Keegan to average 43 minutes a game. … I also don’t want Domas at 38, and I don’t want Fox at 37. That’s something that I have to continue working on with the group to figure out what’s going to be good for us rotationally going forward, and it may take some time.”
The main issue here is the bench needs to be a lot better than what it was in game 1. Kevin Huerter (technically a starter), Trey Lyles, Doug McDermott, Alex Len, and Keon Ellis shot 3-11 combined from the field.
Defensive Approach
While happy with the effort on defense, Brown talked about the need for better technique, specifically with how his team should defend without fouling.
“We keep talking to our guys about leading with your chest, leading with your chest, leading with your chest. If they make the shot, you just live with it. … We just have to continue to lead with our chest and staying solid while trying to be physical. If we do, we’re going to have a lot of real good results,” he said.
Less DHOs, threes and incorporating DeRozan is going to be interesting to watch over the first month of the season because that is a lot different than what this team has been over the last two seasons. It is good to see Brown candidly address what needs to improve. He knows what fine-tuning needs to be made and given this was a close game against a top team in the west, it was overall positive despite the loss.
I really hope that incorporating DDR is going to invoilve a bit more passing from him. He was bit black hole-ish, last night. I know he can be a decent passer.
Defensively, this game showed that if you use Keegan to guard the opposing best player (Ant), you have guys like Fox and Huerter guarding Randle and Naz Reid shooting with ease over DDR. But I guess the NBA is all about positionless basketball, right?
Maybe Keon could help alleviate that issue to an extent, but Brown prefers Huerter (for now), it seems.
Agree on DDR. ISO- no pass- forced shit in 4th. Wasn’t good.
Again, gotta see how it all susses out but don’t love that their deficiencies were not addressed this year and DDR add means taking ball outta Sabs etc. and crests logjam of 2/3.
Ellis should play. Monk too. And what about Carter. Seems like moves are gonna have to be made.
Gonna take time but don’t like the look or feel
I’m not sure how I feel about going with less DHO. It was noticeable to me that Sabonis wasn’t the usual hub of the offense and there was more ISO (which I’m not a fan of). If the addition of DDR means taking the ball out of Sabonis’ hands on offense, I’m not entirely sure that’s a good thing.
Of course none of this matters if the Kings can’t stop other teams from hitting 40% of their 50 3pt attempts.
I didn’t realize that Sabonis only had 1 assist last night. Crazy.
Yeah, and it wasn’t like he had less assists because he took more shots, he just wasn’t his usual hub of the offense.
Fox partially made up for Domas’ low assist total by posting 11 assists—with only 2 TOs.
This seems like a natural outcome of having three (really good) ISO players, where two of them are your number 1 and 2 options among the starters and the third is the number 1 option off the bench, along with not being a very good three point shooting team.
It’s not like Fox, DeRozan and Monk can’t or won’t pass the ball, but that’s not where any of the three are at their most effective. To me, the decision to go more ISO got made in off-season roster construction.
I don’t think the Kings are necessarily going to be worse for relying on multiple ISO players, but I don’t think they’re that much better than last season’s team either. They’re still going to try to outscore teams, while getting outshot at the three point line most nights.
I see them winning a few more games than last year’s team, but I’m wrong about these things more than I’m right.
I love team ball. Ball movement, players moving without the ball. Etc.
I understand that iso’s can be effective but since the 1-4 flat we ran for Tyreke, I have never liked them.
If the decision and shift was to go with a more ISO inclined roster, and Brown is going to coach that way, then real question is… why have Sabonis? I like DDR , Fox, Monk and all, but If Sabonis is the longterm cornerstone (as evidenced by his contract) I feel the team would do better by surrounding him with three and D players like Keegan.
Not really that confident McNair has a long term plan. More of a fit the players we can together as best as possible.
More ISO also means less Offensive Rebounds? (he had 1). Most likely way less double doubles. The 3s looks good.
I see them winning a few more games than last year’s team, but I’m wrong about these things more than I’m right.
so reading as this team wins a lot more games than last year’s team, right?!
I agree with Brown’s reason for reducing the dribble hand off plays. With Derozan that is a simple reality. Good and bad stuff in the lineup changes.
A few things I noticed that can be chalked up to growing pains:
– KH, Lyles, and to a lesser extent, Monk have not played a lot of basketball recently and it showed. Not used to game speed yet, expect it to improve.
– Fox, DDR, and Monk did not know who was supposed to be taking shots in the 4th Q. It’s great we have so many options for clutch bucket-making, but they need to be more strategic about how they distribute touches.
-MB does not know his rotations yet. Part of the issue has certainly been the fact he has not had a bench the entire off-season. But I simply cannot believe I saw Doug McDermott in the 4th quarter of a close game before JMac got to touch the floor.
Overall, I’m fairly satisfied with how they played – particularly Keegan who I think has been the best player since preseason. A win would’ve been nice, but they were Uber competitive against one of the best teams in the league. This looks like their tier of competition, despite the loss.
IMO we have 4 solid starters. My concern right now is the shooting guard position. I know Huerter hasn’t played at all for a long time and time will tell whether he can help, but not to long of a time. Ellis plays really good defense and a long with Murray now you have 2 good defensive players. IMO Eliis could have defended Ant and Murray would then have defended Randle. IMO a much better matchup. Is Brown has a problem playing one and the other of Huerter and Ellis then maybe Monty should trade for a SG like Cam Johnson. He plays better defense than Huerter and can shoot better than Ellis. Not a bad contract. Nets right now are willing to trade.
If Monty doesn’t want to do that then solve the SG position by trading for a PF move Murray to SF and Derozan to SG. Either way IMO we need to address the SG position and now have 5 solid starters
You might be able to get 2 players for either trade above. With Johnson maybe Ziaire Williams. With someone like Tari Eason at PF you could get Jae Sean Tate. Either way you address the SG position and now have 5 really good players.
It is good to see that the problems have been narrowed down to a few instead of everything.
The comment about Ellis taking a bad shot with the game in reach is probably a clue as to why Brown wants Huerter in the game. I think Brown trusts Huerter to play smart basketball. Ellis simply lacks that experience and is not going to learn until he gets the minutes.
The spray threes that are generated by moving the ball from the inside out are a real possibility with Derozan. The defense will collapse into the paint to defend Derozan on the move to the basket. When Derozan starts to pass it out to the perimeter more open spray shots will be available.
The minutes piled on to the core players is the result of only having five or six solid players that can score. Huerter or Ellis need to start scoring to alleviate that load.
Ellis played one minute in the 4th and didn’t take a single shot. In fact his only shot of the game was a 7 footer in the 3rd quarter.
Once again the problem wasn’t scoring the basketball, it was defense.
Brown talked about the shot Ellis took as being a difference in the game. I don’t know the exact timing and situation of the shot. I heard Brown say it last night in the post game and Greg referenced that discussion again here. I simply think that shot selection and basketball IQ could be a reason why Brown is playing Huerter more. I think Brown sees more upside and less risk in Huerter. Just an observation.
Defense is helpful but in a two point game shot selection and methodical offense is big as well. In my opinion holding Minnesota below 120 is not a defensive failure considering the line up Minnesota has.
Was it a good shot? No. Was it a difference in the outcome of the game type of shot? Also, no.
They had the entire 4th quarter to make plays, and there sure were some blunders in there that made a difference.
The more I hear Brown talk, the less I trust his judgment.
Like him or not it is a little glimpse into his thoughts on Ellis and how he played.
Why do you dislike Ellis so much? It seems like a personal thing.
I get not liking a certain, but it’s damn near every post that you find a way to put the guy down.
Sort of sounds like another poster…ABB, Minimus, etc?
Yeah, but Greg asked us not to get into that. So I have been trying to do as Greg asked.
I like Ellis. Have I ever said I don’t like Ellis? Is it ok for someone to not like Ellis? Remember I actually like Ellis.
I think Brown said something that is a clue as to why he played Huerter over Ellis. Ellis or Huerter are both a three or a four on a ten scale in terms of changing this team. All of the energy behind the two of them is not really worth it.
I guess I inferred from the hundred posts about him by you that you don’t like him. Guess I, and others, were wrong.
The badge next to my name is not hundreds. Nobody needs to bless conversation and thoughts I have.
I have never said that I do not like Ellis. Who cares if I don’t like him?
I like that Huerter is healthy. The fact that we have two guys fighting for a shooting guard spot is a good problem. Both are good for different reasons. It means we have signs of a talented bench.
People have been talking about why Brown went with Huerter over Keon. What he said is a clue into that decision in my opinion.
Why do you think Brown played Huerter over Keon? Does it really matter?
I look forward to conversation and an exchange of ideas about a team we all enjoy.
I started souring on Brown halfway last season. This kind of cheap shit doesn’t help.
He can still bring me back in, but he has to start showing that he can forge a team that is better than its parts, and better than last year’s team.
(That does not absolve Monte.)
Go watch the tape. Brown either doesn’t know what he’s talking about or he misspoke. He said, “with bout 5 minutes left in the game Keon took a tough floater.” That’s impossible because Keon wasn’t in the game then and sure as shit didn’t take a tough shot then.
But don’t take my word for it: Check out the link 7:50 mark
I am not talking at all about what Brown said in terms of minutes and seconds in the game.
Brown said what he thinks about an instance of Ellis’s game. I read into that a bit as to what he thinks of Ellis. Solely my thought and opinion based on something said. I watched the game and didn’t notice anything. I don’t plan on watching it again.
You can email Brown and see what he thinks about the details you have an issue with?
Was the game in reach or really close at the moment you mention?
Maybe Brown was talking about the same sequence?
My bad! Blake wrote this not Greg. My apologies!
Keon’s shot came during that 11 to 0 TWolves run at the close of the 3rd qtr. He tried to take quick advantage after stealing a pass, but missed badly. It wasn’t the first Kings miss of the sequence, but was followed by several more Kings misses against tough defense.
Correct, his only shot of the game came with less than 2 minutes to go in the 3rd. The Wolves scored only twice after that to end the quarter. To bring up Keon’s name as some sort of turning point for the Kings failure is ludicrous. In fact he was the only King to score late in the 3rd by making 2 free throws.
Keep Ellis and fire Brown is your thought at this point?
If what Brown said about Keon is true and I will personally check it out then my take on Btown just dropped to zero. No coach should ever say that. If he did then I am very very disappointed. As a coach of 48 years I personally would never say a negative like that to any of my players. Every player I coached put out everything he had to help our teams. PS And her also.
48 years is a long time in the game. Appreciate your opinion.
Thanks. I loved it. Best game ever played. I probably wouln’t be able to coach now . Either fired or jailed or both.
Fired and in jail is a similar situation to some of the Kings coaches. You could go pro.
The offense was a change from last season, and a significant one.
With the addition of Deebo and the further emergence of Keegan, Sac has a large variety of Go To options. Add in the scoring punch of a Domas that more frequently looks for his shot and there has to be a change.
Fox and Monk with 15 of the 21 assists – that is not the characteristic Mike Brown Kings we’ve become accustomed to.
Is that a bad thing? Look, we’ve had League leading Triple Double and Duos Ox Machina – The Double Double Machine Sabonis quarterbacking the potent Kings offense and this new look had him playing a more traditional 5 role.
The low 3PA is the most striking change and I expect that to be addressed first.
I am looking forward to see how this season’s puzzle pieces are played.
The guards with more assists is probably something Brown and his staff have been striving for. Now he has the players that can do it.
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