Matthew Dellavedova’s contributions didn’t come in the form of on-court production, but his experience, veteran leadership, and level of competitiveness that would infect his teammates were valuable contributions to the Sacramento Kings 2022-23 season.
Dellavedova and Harrison Barnes were the only Kings players to have won a championship throughout their careers. Prior to their first-round matchup with Golden State, the Kings’ roster only had 4,283 combined minutes of playoff experience. Dellavedova accounted for 976 minutes, 22 percent of that total.
More specifically, he has high-leverage playoff experience matching up against Stephen Curry, Steve Kerr, and the Warriors. Many players on the roster throughout the season were complimentary of the person and professional teammate he was.
Coach Mike Brown saw the value in Dellavedova in the preseason. “I believe our practices are harder than our games because that’s how hard we’re trying to push each other and you get guys like Dellavedova. He doesn’t know any other way than to go hard and so what that means is if Davion ain’t going hard he will get embarrassed by Delly. If Foxy ain’t going hard, he will get embarrassed by Delly. And so to have a guy like that on your team with your group just raises the level of intensity all the time and then he’s like a coach on the bench.”
Iron sharpens iron and all of Sacramento’s point-guard depth seems to be better off for having to regularly compete with one another in practices.
“Delly’s a vet,” Davion Mitchell said in preseason. “I’ve learned a lot of things from him, he’s a really smart player. He can get anywhere on the floor, he makes him teammates better, he gives me pointers all the time, even throughout the game so he makes me a lot better.”
Two-way guard Keon Ellis also shared that Dellavedova would give him advice throughout the season. There were moments when Dellavedova was called upon this season, whether that be due to injuries or the coaching staff looking for a spark of energy, and he performed when need be.
Delly played 10 or more minutes seven times and Sacramento was victorious in four of them. His jogs up and down the sidelines during every single time out this season kept him ready when called upon.
At 32 years old, that may have been his last year playing in the NBA. His nine years in the league were all spent with either the Cleveland Cavaliers, Milwaukee Bucks, or Sacramento Kings.
Dellavedova’s one-year deal with the Kings expired at the conclusion of the 2022-23 season and he has since signed with Melbourne United in the NBL.
General manager Monte McNair will need to find a new third-string point guard throughout the course of this offseason. It might be smart to look for some new championship experience and perspective as well.
My only comment – why was Bryant not forced to write this one?
Delly worked hard and made the team. His contributions were more locker room than on court. Kings could have had Quinn Cook- who?
Thank you Delly
Kings need third PG or a combo guard. Not Ellis -he is a 2 guard.
Maybe Colby Jones in draft.
But preferably a combo guard with some size (got this from Jerry Reynolds)
I wonder if Ellis, Dozier, and/or Monk could cover the 3rd PG role.
I think Ellis could handle it in spurts, as he looked quite comfortable doing so in Summer League and in his sparse minutes on the floor last year. It’s not his normal role and I’d rather have Off-Night and Monk be the 2nd & 3rd options, but he’s a much better playmaker than I originally thought.
Dozier also looked quite comfortable with the ball in hands setting up the offense, but it was a really small sample size playing in that role. Still, he could serve in a pinch as an emergency PG.
If we don’t go with some like C. Jones or B. Sensabaugh at 24, I would hope maybe the two 2nd rounders could be bundled to move up a bit higher in the 2nd round to grab a playmaker/creator who the team likes.
From some of the high 2nd round combo-guard targets (all have playmaking skills), I personally like:
Delly did his job.
You nailed it Brenden. Delly’s impact to the team may have not been playing basketball, but being a great teammate and a coach in a jersey. I honestly had no problem with the minutes he got and what he did with them. We are talking about the 3rd PG on the roster and probably 14th in rotation. He did what he was supposed to do and was ready when he was called upon. I wish him the best.
Matthew Delly in Basketball Helly was downright swelly.
And you can still buy his jersey at the Kings store.
Thank you for teaching the guys, Delly! Even if you didn’t play a lot, loved your “always ready to play” attitude!
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