A few things I was thinking during and after the game:
Fox giving the finger
De’Aaron Fox had a bad game. He shot a truly awful 0-11 from beyond the arc, including forced shots in overtime that were unnecessary and inexcusable. It’s something that reminded me of Fox’s bad shooting games last season, where he seems to get stubborn and insistent on shooting his way out of a bad night. It’s a shooter’s mentality, and I appreciate that he doesn’t immediately abandon an important element of his game when a couple shots don’t fall, but it really was frustrating to watch. It was particularly bad watching him (and Monk) chuck threes in overtime when Jakob Poeltl had fouled out in the 4th.
The upside to Fox’s night is that despite it being an objectively bad performance from the Kings star, he still put up 24 points, 6 rebounds, 5 steals, 1 assist, and went 8/10 from the free throw line. Despite the shooting inefficiency and 5 turnovers of his own, that’s pretty good as far as bad games go.
After the game Fox told the Bee’s Chris Biderman that he’s dealing with a ligament issue in the pinky of his shooting hand. Fox said he dislocated the finger during training camp. It’s been obvious that Fox is dealing with and injury on the hand, and he’s been wearing a splint the whole year which I’m sure is a factor in his turnovers and shooting this year. But I’ll be honest, I’m a little irked at Fox bringing it up after a performance like that. If you’re playing through it, as Fox says he will continue to, it can’t be an excuse only after the bad games. It also adds to my continued frustration with the Kings medical staff’s lack of transparency.
Roster Construction, or lack thereof
This game really highlighted the issue with the Kings roster construction. Kevin Huerter missed the game with an illness, and yet the glaring weakness was still unrelated to the guard rotation. This team has so many guards, and a complete lack of depth when it comes to wings and bigs. We knew this was an issue all summer, and the front office completely failed to address it. I’m sure they tried, we saw the reports of trade targets, but they have failed to rebalance the roster depth and it is hurting this team. Keegan Murray played the entire second half and was still playing in overtime until he fouled out. Keegan finished with 16 points, 10 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 steal and 1 block. It was another rough night from deep, 2/6, in what’s been a slightly concerning trend in the beginning of the year, but overall Keegan was very good. But you can’t ask a player to play the entire second half because you have nobody else to defend wings. What’s worse, Keegan played 39 minutes on the second night of a back to back and was 4th on the team in minutes played. Domantas Sabonis, DeMar DeRozan, and Fox all played 43 minutes.
Trey Lyles had a bad night, and continued his trend of poor shooting this season. He’s currently averaging 3.8 points per game and 3.5 rebounds, while shooting 23.8% from 3 and 25% from the field overall. Trey missed most of camp and preseason due to a groin injury, and he does not look like he’s back yet. And he is the Kings only big man depth right now. Unless Orlando Robinson (who hopefully returns from his own injury soon) is immediately an impact player, the Kings are woefully ill-prepared for an 82-game season.
It’s also worth noting that instead of addressing the lack of forward depth in the draft, the Kings picked yet another guard. Devin Carter is out until at least January with his own injury, but even if he was 100% healthy today he would not be fixing any of this team’s issues.
The Rotations Will Be Maintained Until Morale Improves
Mike Brown has this strange habit of trying to stick to his rotations no matter the cost. We saw this a couple years ago, when Terence Davis would start games that Kevin Huerter missed so that Brown could continue to bring Malik Monk off the bench. We saw it again last night. With Kevin Huerter out sick, Brown started Doug McDermott. McDermott, a vet who was signed in the days before the season started, so that Brown could continue to bring both Monk AND Keon Ellis off the bench. I understand wanting to maintain a rotation, especially if you have (as discussed earlier very valid) concerns about your bench. I can even see the logic of keeping a shooter in the starting lineup to maintain some of the spacing Huerter would have provided. But overall it just felt like Brown overthought it.
Keon Ellis was right there. Jordan McLaughlin and/or Doug McDermott could have split the bench minutes usually reserved for Keon. And while I’ve been pleasantly surprised with the results as Brown stuck with Huerter in the starting lineup, this game felt like the wrong game to get cute. Do the smart, simply thing and move forward. I don’t think it’s why the Kings lost this game, but it certainly did not help the team get off to a strong start.
Kings Kudos
Domantas Sabonis had 17 points, 20 rebounds, and 10 assists. DeMar DeRozan had 33 points, 4 assists, 3 rebounds, and 3 steals (but also 6 turnovers). What a shame to have wasted those performances.
Up Next
The Kings travel back down to Miami (one last time, screw you, schedule-makers) to play Monday at 5:15 PT.
Should Fox have sat and let the injury heal if it was sustained in training camp? He mentioned something about needing a month to let it heal. Seems kike preseason and the first 2 weeks or so of the season would have been a good time.
a month is a pixie dust opinion. Full healing would take much longer. He is trying to be DS redux- just play through it for a year.
I’m worried about Fox. Despite his surface level numbers of 25, 5 and 5, he’s actually putting up some of the worst advanced stats of his career. His TO% is at a career high, his net rating is tied for the 2nd worst of his career, his assist% is at a career low, and his 3pt% is well… the worst it’s ever been (much of that due to an 0-11 stinker)
If it is is finger that is the issue, maybe the best plan should be rest. I saw him shake it off a few times last night so it is obviously bothering him. The guard rotation is the deepest it’s ever been so maybe take advantage of it and allow the time to get Fox healthy.
Lastly, I’m really worried about the number of minutes the starters are getting. Nothing good will come of that. If Keegan or Sabonis should miss some time the team is f@#ked.
It definitely effects his ball handling. He had some drives where the ball just left his hand. Same thing happened in the Warriors series 2 years ago. Hurt hand, leads to poor handles, leads to turnovers…
His finger has nothing to do with stupid basketball decisions. He is an individual player. He is not a distributor or leader.
What do you think we should do trade him? If so for whom?
Haliburton
If you’re upset with how Fox has been playing you should probably look at how Hali’s been doing.
spoiler: not good
C’mon, man. That didn’t make you smile?
I’m a Foxaphile though also not a Hali-hater.
Greg was correct . Check both players early season stats .
It’s hard to keep track of who is serious with those takes!
We are not at that point. Let’s just get the guy healthy. Now, if the Kings miss the playoffs and Fox doesn’t sign an extension, then yeah, have those discussions.
Top 10 PGs in The Association have to include Fox and Haliburton no matter what these first group of games show.
And besides his on court skills (All-NBA, Clutch Player of the Year), I happen to find Fox (and Ty Haliburton for that matter) engaging and charming individuals. Fox’s loyalty to the franchise and the community are beyond question – and in Sacramento, with this ownership and the adversity it has produced – that makes him extra special, IMO.
I thought y’all were joking. Trade De’Aaron Fox?
&ct=g
Again, I’m not advocating a trade of Fox. I want to see him get healthy and what this roster really can do.
That being said, it shouldn’t matter if he’s a great guy on and off the court or is top ten at his position. Better players, with more accolades have been traded after accomplishing far more. Good GMs know when to cash in their chips. Ainge did it twice. First in Boston (with the big 3) and Utah (Mitchell and Gobert). Presti did it on OKC with peak PG13 and Westbrook. If you want an example closer to home, Petrie did it with Kings legend Mitch Richmond fresh off his 5 straight all-nba team and 6th straight all-star appearances.
If the Kings miss the playoffs and an 8th season of Fox, with one playoff series experience, goes into summer on the last year of his contract, without an extension, you have to think about moving on. I’d almost say you have to.
But let’s get through this season first.
Fair enough. Scrutiny without Mutiny. Always.
For an equal talent that fits the needs of this team.
name one or two or three.
Pretty much sixty percent of the starting point guards in the NBA and a starting big.
Aside from the playoff series against the duds, Fox has been a huge disappointment as a King. Of course, MM is going to give him a max this offseason and the franchise will be crippled for years to come. This core isn’t good enough to win a ship as constructed and will only be more difficult under a super max Fox contract.
MM should try to trade him imo.
This team has been built around him and it peaked two years ago. The decline has begun.
I don’t want to downplay issues with his finger, it seems to be really affecting him.
But what annoyed me was that he was sort of cruising through the game, throwing up 3 pointers, UNTIL Barret dunked on his head. Then he suddenly got engaged and aggressive and stopped settling for 3’s and started making his shot.
Domas is far from perfect but what I admire about him is how he only knows one gear; overdrive. Fox, not so much. Maybe he should be posterized every game?
DDR played well but he had some really bad, unforced turnovers. And he has a tendency of ballwatching on D, sometimes completely losing his man.
Yeah, Brown starting the season with a play-off rotation is worrisome and not sustainable.
Totally agree. I have been saying very similar things about Fox and his faults for years now.
And when players get tired that’s when injuries occur.
Yeah, angry Fox is an absolute superstar, I wish he could find a way to play that way all the time.
Maybe you can convince him to read TKH articles and especially the comments?
I promise I’ll do my best to get him pissed before each game, that loafer.
I just remembered that players need to play 65 games to be eligible for awards. Fox needs those awards for a bigger extension, right?
I hope his motives for not opting for surgery are team based and not cash based.
He needs all-nba for a super max.
Any of the 3 team all-nba teams?
yes – even the lowly 3rd All-NBA team (which he was elected to in 2023)
The roster construction is the true problem with this team. We are small. Have a good three forced into the four. Zero depth. Beyond the six that score every game we have absolutely nothing.
Keon is great but he has not learned how to score or he cannot score. Too soon to say for him. Starting Keon is not the answer, If he starts we get the same the results. Brown and all of his coaches and scouts have not been able to justify starting Keon for a reason. I think it is because he stops the offense when he is on the floor. Fox chucking up junk shots and Keon doing nothing will not win a game. Keon is a great defender but one man is not changing the defensive tide of this team.
Trade for a big or two bigs. Keon, Huerter, Lyles, and Len should be obviously available for a good big, I also think Fox and Keegan should be available for another star. Fox isn’t that guy.
Was Jalen McDaniels the balancing defensive wing? ever?
Is Orlando Robinson a next-after-Trey bench player or a next-after-Alex Len end of the bench big? Is he two seasons ago Chimezie Metu or 2023 larger Kessler Edwards/2022 Neemias Queta*?
The TWCs haven’t seen any time.
Maybe they can trade for Chris Boucher – I watched that guy last night and he’s fantastic! (I kid, I kid)
*Queta is up to averaging 12min/game this season for Boston averaging 5ppg/4.2rpg and shooting 70%. Happy for him. No, no regrets he’s not wearing purple. His fit in Sac was not good.
Big Monday as all 30 teams take to the hardwood.
Call me what you please.
Trading Fox to the Rockets for Sheppard, Whitmore and Brooks. Just makes way too much sense.
Kings get a certified future star in Reed. 2 dog wings in Brooks and Whitmore.
Both rosters instantly improved and both built properly and for a strong future.
I call you Selecao. I never bother with the KOJ part.
A Fox trade to HOU trade makes sense, but I would want players and picks, which HOU has plenty of.
Calling Sheppard a certified future superstar seems premature. I think there’s a good chance he ends up one of the best players in this class, possibly the best of this class. But he’s still unproven and is not lighting the world on fire to start this season.
Udoka is not even playing him. 7 min a game.
Yeah. Do you think that’s because Udoka doesn’t want to win?
All things aside, scheduling, etc., the Kings are off to a bad start. I know, I get it, 3-3 ain’t bad. And despite the roster additions, notably DDR, I see the same ol’ Kings. Nothing this front office has done has put the Kings over the top. I know it’s early, but I expect the same mediocrity to continue all season. Maybe we’ll qualify for the play-in, but that’s borderline, considering the strength of the western conference.
The team has the same issues they have had for the last two years, nothing has changed and nothing will
This hasn’t just been an issue all summer, it’s been an issue for Monte’s entire tenure. I realize wings don’t grow on trees, and it would be insane to say that Monte has been anything other than great for this organization on the whole, but man it would be nice to have even a little bit of wing depth. Even Kessler Edwards was useful as a long-armed bench guy who could defend. Nothing against Jordan Mclaughlin but why was our biggest bench addition yet another guard?
I put McNair, Brown and Fox all in the same category – above average but not great / elite. Definitely not winning a championship with them and unlikely to get past first round.
after years of complete incompetence it’s nice to have a solid, slightly better than 500 team. But this team has a ceiling of a 6 seed and floor of a 12 seed.
Wings don’t grow on trees, but the Kings have passed on wings to draft guards far too often in Monte’s tenure.
Drafted Haliburton when he had Fox, which worked out eventually due to the trade. Also defensible as Haliburton was better than any wings picked after him.
Drafted Davion when the Kings already had Fox and Haliburton. This one was particularly bad, as there were several better options the Kings missed on, including Sengun (Kings didn’t have Sabonis yet), Trey Murphy III, and Jalen Johnson.
This last year they drafted Carter, even knowing about his injury. While it’s too early to know who in the class would’ve surely been a better pick, I really liked Tristan da Silva, who has legit wing size, is a good shooter, and as an older college player would’ve been a good fit as a rookie who can contribute immediately.
It’s hard to push for drafting fit over BPA, but it feels like the Kings have a preference for smaller guards that has caused them to miss better players who were also better fits. The one time the Kings drafted a wing in Monte’s tenure was Keegan, and that’s worked out very well.
My snarky comment- I get tired of hearing “last year, the Kings would have done X, like just fold up and quit” or some other such folly.
This year: no Quickly, no Scottie Barnes, no problem. What is with that?
Travel, tired, bad hand- ok but win the game.
Boucher and some other random dude kept making 3’s. Like Mathews from the night before. What’s with that?
There is a Big 3- Fox, DS and DDR- and they have good numbers but this is ridiculous- the duds have no big 3, and the 1 that they have has missed 3 games- But they won those games. What’s with that?
The bench is terrible- J Mac is horrible. Boogie Ellis? but oh no, dropped him.
D. Carter- but oh no, drafted him hurt.
A wing- Lyles- who? probably ranked in the 700’s in the league rankings.
This is a game the Kings should have won- bad team, 2 top guys out, Come on, make a shot, play some D.
The offense is getting stagnant, and the D is there is no D.
Not sure how much more you want me to clarify that I am simply sharing an observation.
If this is De’Aarons 2nd straight year of subtle decline, the next 5 year deal would be years 4-8 of that decline. I wouldn’t want to be the GM having to make that call….
Last year Fox posted career highs in points per game, steals per game, and rebounds. He also had his second best year of his career from beyond the arc, with a much higher frequency (2018-19 37.1% on 2.9 3PA vs last year 36.9% on 7.8 3PA). He also had his best defensive year of his career.
I disagree that he had any sort of subtle decline last year.
I’m really puzzled why people are still clinging to counting stats. They are not very accurate, in general.
Yes, he had a career high in points per game and a good 3p%, but guess what? His TS% cratered. And that is kind of a a big deal. Apart from that, his assist% went down.
Not sure when put against the other advanced stats (where he mostly improved) we are talking about a subtle decline, but that’s not my point.
I’d urge people to please pay less attention to the simple counting stats.
You know I watch the games. And counting stats are accurate, they specifically measure things. They do not tell an entire story though, for sure. His TS% (also a counting stat btw) cratered because of his 2pt% going down and his FT% going down. So far this year his 2pt% and FT% are at career highs. Want to say his game has a whack-a-mole quality to it, and that he needs to figure out how to put it all together? I’ll 100% agree. Where I disagree is trying to argue that he was worse last season than the season before, particularly because I think the defensive improvement was a massive leap forward and is often not properly weighted in these discussions.
TS% is a weighed counting stat, which shows efficiency.
And PPG is a raw stats and meaningless, without context. If someone’s PPG has gone up by 40% but his MPG have gone up by 65%, while his TS% cratered, what are these PPG worth, really. That’s my point.
And as I wrote:
Fair enough. I rely less on advanced stats for a couple reasons. First, I feel like too many stats get treated like a catch-all stat and I don’t think any really accomplish that very well. Second, while I understand the basic premise of the various advanced stats that are commonly used, I don’t pretend to fully understand the methodology of most and prefer to stick to things I fully understand and can contextualize in my own way. My own shortcoming, I suppose.
Gotcha. And I don’t understand most of them, either, like LEBRON etc.
But TS% is such a simple but important collective weighing of each shooting percentage, that it should be on the top of most lists. Fox’s reliance on the 3, even with a decent percentage, cratered his scoring efficiency last season, as shown by his TS%.
There’s a reasonable argument that his improved defense upped his overall impact in 2023-24. However, the shot chart is alarming, and potentially indicative of decline.
De’Aaron’s eFG% dropped everywhere inside the arc. He also took a lower proportion of his shots everywhere inside the arc vs. 2022-23. It’s not like he became a 40% 3 point shooter either; he became very slightly below average for a PG (.369 vs. a PG average of .372 for the 23-24 season).
OFFRTG: 115.1 (7th)
DEFRTG: 110.3 (12th)
OPP 3-PT%: 36.5 (18th)
OPP FG%: 45.3 (8th)
Steals: 10.2 (3rd)
Blocks: 4.8 (18th)
TOs: 13.8 (11th)
OPP TOs: 17.2 (4th)
##
Most importantly they are one of the worst teams in the West per traditional and four factors statistics.
They are ranked both 9th and 10th respectively in Advanced and Four Factors in the West alone.
Which means they are no better than a play in team at best.
Can you cite where this is?
I agree that this was a frustrating loss. The unforced errors and general sloppy play was a bad look. With that said, weren’t the Raptors going to find a way to win on Vince Carter’s jersey retirement night? Does anyone remember how the Kings fared in their recent jersey retirement games? I honestly don’t remember.
Top-notch write up Greg, fair and honest. You remind me of some of the positives when I need that, my comments are definitely not always correct but like you I just say how I’m feeling. I got a little greedy after 2 years ago and then getting DeMar, I’m like most Kings fans just dying for a taste of some real success. I want domination of bad and average teams, I want us to be a legit good team. Not sure when we’ll get there but watching the Kings is always fun for me.
Fox will bounce back and hopefully some of the other guys too, I need more out of Keeg, Monk, and the bench. Not sure about MB right now but I guess he doesn’t have confidence in other guys or he would play them more, still not sure I like the strategy. Definitely need more size and defensive wings/bigs, Monte has his flaws too. Really tough to compete in the West, no easy wins in the NBA.
Badge Legend