Bobby Jackson and the Kings came into Summer League with the goal of winning it all, and now they’ve done just that. Sacramento cruised to a 100-67 victory on Tuesday night over the Boston Celtics, largely on the back of their terrific defense. Louis King led the way for Sacramento with 21 points, 5 steals and 3 rebounds and was named the Summer League MVP.
The Celtics came into tonight’s matchup averaging over 100 points and posting the best point differential across their matchups. Their team features several young players with NBA experience, including Payton Pritchard, Carsen Edwards, Bruno Fernando and Aaron Nesmith, and they came out firing. Boston started the game on a 15-4 run in the first five minutes, looking like a much more polished and experienced team. The Kings were caught on several switches and Boston was hitting their open shots and making quick, smart cuts to the rim.
It didn’t take long for the Kings to regain their composure however. Sacramento put on the clamps and eventually took a 19-17 lead on a Davion Mitchell pull-up three. The Kings would go on to end the first quarter up 24-20 and never looked back.
Davion Mitchell was the head of the snake defensively, making it his goal to give Payton Pritchard his own “Off Night”. Pritchard had been averaging over 20 points a game and finished with just 6 points against Sacramento. At one point he was being forced to shoot shots from 35 feet because that was the only time he was remotely open.
Davion Mitchell getting it done on both ends ???? pic.twitter.com/g962KHKpuE
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) August 18, 2021
Davion didn’t have the best offensive night, shooting just 3-12 from the field, but he still made a positive impact with how disruptive he was.
Mitchell’s defense may have been the catalyst but it was an entire team effort. The Kings forced 28 turnovers and had a whopping 38 points off turnovers to just 4 for Boston. The Kings had such a turnover (28 to 7) and offensive rebound (19 to 5) disparity that the Kings ended up with 36 more Field Goal Attempts than Boston. Carsen Edwards (15 points) and Aaron Nesmith (12 points) were the only Boston players to finish in double digits, and no Boston player had a positive +/-.
Louis King had his best game of summer league at the right time, providing go-to offense when the Kings were struggling early and then doing it on the other end as well as the game went on. King struggled in the California Classic back in Sacramento but grew more comfortable in Las Vegas, looking more and more like the promising young player the Kings signed last season.
Jahmi’us Ramsey also capped off his excellent summer league with another standout performance, scoring 16 points and showcasing his ability to finish through contact. Ramsey wasn’t able to make his outside shot tonight but still contributed as a pest defensively and in attacking the basket.
Neemias Queta had a rough night offensively, scoring just 1 point and missing all 5 of his field goal attempts, but I liked what I saw from him overall in Vegas. He needs a lot more polish but he has a lot of intriguing tools.
Emanuel Terry was the energy bunny for this Summer League Kings squad and finished with 9 points, 15 rebounds and 5 steals. I know the Kings don’t have room on their roster but I would bet they still bring him in to training camp if they can. Some team definitely should give him a real shot.
A lot of credit should go to Bobby Jackson for getting this young squad to buy in defensively. Summer League is hardly known for defense but the Kings looked cohesive on that end throughout. Some of that is definitely personnel, but Bobby and his staff deserve praise as well.
Congrats to the young Kings! Hopefully this defensive energy and focus can carry over to the regular season. And hey, if you want to celebrate our Summer League RANGZ we got you covered!
https://twitter.com/gwiss/status/1427826153058799622
Click on the banner & get yours today!
Every seven years it happens!
“Well, seven is my lucky number and something something shaka sign.”.
Brigadoon.
If there was ever a community that could link Celtic legends (and not the Boston variety!) to a mediocre basketball team, this would be it.
Indeed.
HoustonJP is our Blarney Stone. Smooch!
You have to hang upside down to smooch The Stone.
So inversion instead of subversion… I’m down…. upside down.
Every seventy years for the NBA crown?
Vivek did mentioned his favorite number is 7. So there you go!
Davion singing:
♫ Mama, just killed a man.

Got all up in his head. Sped him up, now he’s dead ♫
Speed kills.
We are the Champions of the world!
Happy for B-Jax. Stockton could be fun to watch this year.
Could even be more fun than watching the team in Sacramento.
Rejoice Sacramento, rejoice!!!!
This is great for the FO. Even better than the India trip!
Everybody know that it is very hard for frachises to win back to back championships.
Our excuse for the upcoming season is in place.
Pritchard on his way back home?
GET DARYL MOREY ON THE PHONE AND ASK WHO HE WANTS FROM THIS CHAMPIONSHIP TEAM FOR BEN SIMMONS.
Ben Simmons and his contract and the people he works for are garbage….
ANTETOKOUNMPO FOR SIMMONS!
All of them?
Don’t forget Bagley and Hield.
Didn’t know Bagley and Hield were related to the Antetokounmpo brothers… You could make a roster I guess.
Yes…yes they all are related somehow ????♂️
Just throwing them in to make sure they leave and we get Simmons in return.
No guarantee with this team. Might screw around and let them go without getting a bag of chips in return.
The Celtics got beat down so bad it looked like they didn’t want to be on the court halfway through the 3rd. That’s what tough defense can do. It makes the game fun for your team and not the opposition’s. The last time I had this feeling was when we ran teams off the court with Joerger. At least that team made games feel like a conditioning session even though the defense was ass.
A coach that understands what he has is positive. Cannot play defense. We can run like nobody else. Better get ready to run.
Walton is still working all of that out…..
After a long month of ribbing at the hands of his eldest brother, Alex Antetokounmpo can now call himself a champion, too. Right?
Each of the four brothers reached the LVSL championship game. Amazing.
Start watching some tape, Luke.
We got next.

True Kangz fan, living in the past. Hard to believe that was like two decades ago.
Tenacious Davion. Tenacious Defense.
Pick of Destiny, indeed.

Very Niiiiiiice. I think Davion is going to fit just fiiiiiiiiine. He play defense like my wife when I try touch vageeeeen.
GFunk meet Off Night.
GFunk, your in a whole lot of trouble now. I just spit water all over myself.
In those circumstances, what can you do?
Beat off night.
Classic. Both you and Rob.
Good on you GFunk.
Nice bounce back from disappointing Classic.
This team played some serious defense. Bring a rep ( Bouknight + Pritchard) and go home really empty. Off-night.
L. King is emotional and inconsistent as all get out but he can paly.
Ramsey- terrible in Sac- very good here.
Woodard- a disappointment.
Q- needs work.
But hey, this team won.
Congrats Coach Jackson and Kings SL Team
TKH and commenters…getting 140+ comments on a summer league game is something.
I don’t know if it says something good about us, but it’s something none the less!
Go Kangz!
The Internet will break, LITERALLY, when the Kings win an NBA championship.
I have no doubt.
(And if you’re watching on League Pass it’ll probably break on the final game-winning buzzer beater.)
I mean, we broke this website because some play-by-play voice got fired!
I thought cleaning our cache ensured a functioning website?
Who? I didn’t realize anyone left.
Especially with the local options being ATT and Comcast
I guess Monte does know how to build a champion!
What would it take to make me feel better about the off-season? Only one off-night!
TEAM D!
It’s crazy. TKH brought back the downvote button, but everyone’s so high no one has downvoted anything!
Ahh! Made me double check because…

Congrats Chimezie Metu
As a guy that’s been battling M.Bison for over thirty years, I’m sure you know a good punch when you see one.
Shoryuken!!!
Avatar checks out…. Don’t beat up my car please.
In context he sure is… This should be the post of the night.
Any other franchise have two Summer League Championships?
The advance stat people are saying it’s the greatest summer league team of all time.
Parade scheduled Friday, K Street between David Stern Lane and CVS.
Basketball 3.0 = summer league titles.
Vivek does want to disrupt the game of basketball……..
Was splitting my attention between the A’s game (although less after Chris Bassitt being beaned in the head with a 100 MPH line drive) and this championship game. I clicked off for awhile after the Kings were down big early, the next time I looked they were up 7. I’m like, alright.
Those turnover numbers are insane. The Celtics had multiple FRP’s on the floor, the Kings were starting a guy like Woodward because of a suspension to Metu.
Louis King played well throughout SL based on the box scores I saw (and some of what I saw at various times).
Mitchell showed his good and bad tonight and throughout SL. Here’s a 4 Factor Boxscore via NBA.com:
Sacramento: 47.9% eFG% 7.8% TOV% 31.7% ORB% 16.8% FT/FG ORtg 109.9 DRtg 74.4
Boston: 44.9 eFG% 32.1 TOV% 13.9% ORB% 28.8% FT/FG ORtg 74.4 DRtg 109.9
The Kings didn’t beat Boston by out shooting them. The Kings beat the CSL’s because they out hustled them to loose balls and tried to create as many easy baskets as possible.
I’d say the SL was successful overall. There are positive trends even though it’s not going to mean much in helping the Kings win in the regular season. From a development standpoint, you can see development. That’s the real win, especially if you are of the opinion the Kings haven’t been doing that. The trendline suggests bottom roster development is going to be improved under Monte McNair. That’s a welcome development.
…Waffles!
They are amazeballs?
Numbers don’t really work that well with Basketball… Baseball, which is a garbage sport, is literally all numbers. Interesting that you watched a numbers game and then proceeded to comment on a summer league basketball game after reading the numbers.
You spelled football wrong 🙂
I sure did. “Smileyface emoji”
Obviously you didn’t get it…. just like you don’t get that you can remove the &ct=g from the end of your image copy and it won’t appear under your gif’s image sequence. Sequenced.
Yeah didn’t get it…wasn’t ironical, clever or anything to me. Bad sense of humor on my part I suppose.
And the &ct=g has so bothered me forever on this website. So much so that I have never once even noticed it. I’m oblivious on top of poor humor. I have been shamed.
You seem like a blast…have at it man.
Oh it’s ironical. Especially since I upvoted the few posts you made before reading this and I would upvote them again. I have way more posts in the thread than you… by the numbers. I love you. Baseball.
I commented on this game because I saw parts of it, not all, and the turnover numbers are literally insane and the exact example of small sample noise.
Pritchard was scoring over 20 a night the previous 4, he didn’t tonight.
The Kings success in hustle stats showed up all over the place. I’m sorry if that doesn’t fit your narrative. But I thought it was worth commenting on.
Relax guru… You are the guru… I believe you…. Stop throwing numbers at me.
I like the numbers.
Me too. Yesterday still stunk because of what happened to Chris Bassitt, but at least there was some silver lining with VSL.
Numbers are interesting.
and what I saw- in both games against Dallas and Boston, sometime in late third quarter, neither Celts nor Mavs could set up offense, get a shot or run a play. They both started moving laterally due to the pressure and then… another steal and run out for the Kings. Like Wolves on a wounded deer. 20 point lead and game over.
Mitchell is preternaturally calm. Ramsey got his confidence and played well. L. King is very emotional – up and down- yells when he makes, yells when he misses. Needs the calmness of the other two. Q is not ready but you can’t coach height.
Woodard- took a step back or two steps back.
Metu on cusp- could plateau or continue to improve. Does have skill but not consistent and shot too much in SL.
SL is SL- not the NBA but this is better than 0-5
BJax did a good job.
Bobby Jackson > Phil Jackson
Louis King helped end that initial Celtics run by making some shots. Kings doubled Pritchard a lot after the screen. Seemed to work. Mitchell made another 3 which was nullified for … I’m not exactly sure, they thought he was trying to draw a foul. Hard to believe how often the Celtics coughed up the ball, especially with three pg’s who were rostered last year. And Coleman looked good also.
I think Queta got called for an offensive foul on Mitchell’s three, negating it.
That would make more sense.
It was nullified because the refs were trying to keep the Celtics in the game…. This is proven later when a Celtics player lurched sideways when out of control and defended under the basket but got the foul call and went to the stripe.
#TitleTown
YO!

THAT WAS SO FUN TO WATCH!
The defense was spectacular and the way the bench was supporting the lesser known players late was fantastic. Honestly, this game really opened my eyes to a possible Bobby Jackson-Head Coach possibility. I don’t think Luke ever gets his guys to play that hard and support each other like that.
This was really fun and I hope guys like Terry and Coleman find great spots-maybe here in Sacramento. Well done and now this defensive intensity and effort needs to carry to the big club.
I agree .. I instantly saw Coleman maybe for the first time here in sac. I was definitely impressed with his patience and speed.
It’s gonna break my heart when he lights us up a couple of times a year, once he finds an NBA home. His quickness and start/stop ability can’t be taught, and they allow him good looks when he wants them.
There’s no room for another guard here, but I’d bet there will be teams willing to give him time to get better in their system.
See ya in 2028
Celtics blog gives Davion/Kings props with ” Off-Night” reference after embarrassing blow-out loss. Kings in summer league 2021 …….. Nevah Loss!
OK OK… We need to shut this fun down…. If there are too many comments others will think we’re desperate for winning and of course they are so wrong.
Now take the actual roster and go play against real NBA teams. That has not worked out well for a long long long long long long long long long long long long long long long time.
That is fifteen longs. The long in the previous sentence makes sixteen. Looking solid.
AnybodyButBagley summed up my comment succinctly. Shutting this party down for good. Is there a badge for that?
Davion Mitchell. All he does is win championships.
Most improved player goes to Ramsey…….
The most important thing is he is only 20 years old…
I think we’d better lock him up cheap for 8 years (if possible)…..
I agree. He was a different player. It is the SL, but I am hopeful that Halliburton and Fox saw the same thing Davion saw, a skilled player with raw tools who can take a hit in the lane and still finish and will draw those skills out of Jahm’ius when he comes up to the big club to play. He needs playing time and that most likely will be in Stockton, but there is a path forward for Jahm’ius in basketball. He was fun to watch. Very fast. Very aggressive to the basket.
We handed the future of the organization to Bagley for three years. Why not try this kid?
Last night was an epic dismantling as one-sided as you are going to see and most to all credit is due to one person: Off Night Mitchell. He sets the tone and inspires confidence and bravado among the troops to play with the right balance of poise and daring. It is rare you can dominate while going 3-12 FGs.
How does Mitchell not play 30 MPG? How does he not start in our potent three guard set? The only impediment is the dim-witted coach. Not only is Mitchell fantastic on-ball defender, he is a one man fast break stopper.
The value of an indomitable point of attack defender can be seen with CP3 (NBA Finalist), the World Champs (Jrue Holiday), and former champs (Kyle Lowry). What happened there and here is you blow up the opponents play by negating the forward momentum of the primary initiator.
When he goes nowhere and gives up, the ball is moved to a more limited secondary or tertiary playmaker and the offense sputters to a halt, travels ensue, wild shots ensue, wild passes ensue, 25 TOs accrue.
Imagine if every playset the ball was taken out of Fox and Ty hands and Buddy or Barnes was obligated to try to create for themselves or others? We would score 80 PPG and shoot 35% FGs. Pritchard had nowhere to go last night and when he did have an open look he rushed it.
This is why you have to think long and hard if Morey comes to his senses and says “I will trade you Simmons for Buddy, Bagley AND Mitchell.” Morey being Morey, he will probably ask for a couple of picks too, but that is what good negotiator does before finding common ground.
Morey actually consummated the most trades of any GM during his tenure in HOU, so his wild demands became less wild over time. If I was Morey, I would want Mitchell to replace Simmons. Wouldn’t you? Imagine him with Maxey and Thybulle. They would easily have best defense in the NBA or just fortify an already great defense for the rest of the decade.
Davion would be the Kyrie Stopper, their most formidable opponent. And would you not rather pair Davion with Embiid than a combo guard like McCollum (Seth Curry clone) on the wrong side of 30? If Lillard is put on the table then perhaps that deal gets done, but if I am POR, I want Thybulle with Simmons. Throw in a couple of picks too.
Regardless there is a fair trade to be made from SAC and PHI perspective, but the more I think about it, the more I do NOT think we can afford to trade Mitchell for Simmons. It is tempting and I can make arguments both ways. The deciding factor may be intangibles related personality, leadership, and culture shiift. Mitchell has the edge over the image conscience “too cool for school” Simmons, nothing more than a social mask for fear and insecurity, manifesting in his ATL choke job. You cannot underestimate this importance, the variables that do not show up in the box score.
If there is concern about potential future stardom for Davion, it is not passing, it is 3D scoring. I am not worried about his passing, not at all. I would like to see him get to the basket more and get more quality looks within the arc. His shot distribution is over-weighted to 3s. He’s going to make that shot but I would like to see him get easier closer looks. Isaiah was a master at the runner and dealing with and disrespceting length and shot blocking prowess. Davion is not there yet, making high degree shots look easy, but once he gets there, there is no doubt he is a star.
What is limiting to any player of this sort is over reliance on the three ball. We see this with Buddy and Lonzo Ball among others. Indirectly this does effect your efficacy as a playmaker, because you become more predictable. Davion has the step back, he has the hezzy, the juke moves CP3 uses to get his shot from free throw line extended. There just needs to be a little more savvy and change of pace to fool the defenders. I think he will get there but this is a hole in his game. Well, not so much a hole, but a shot-making skill he did not previously need against lesser competition.
We need waive Woodard to create a spot for Louie King. ASAP! Louie King is a baller, I said so since his acquisition. Memo to Jerry Reynolds and others: Louie is better than Moody, who pulled a total disappearing act in the GSW final SL game. Houdini in baggy shorts! King has legitimate SF size, unlike hunched back Moody. King makes the game look easy. Moody is useless when is not doing spot-shooting. He stands in the corner most of the time being irrelevant.
I am still recovering from the shock that Jerry Reynolds, normally a wealth of knowledge and insight, after advocating for Davion all of pre-draft, capitulated to convention and chose Moody over him in his hypothetical GM chair. He then reiterated this position yesterday on the Deuce and Mo Podcast. This is just doubling down on abject foolishness!
Say it aint so. Jerry, it is not too late to plea temporary insanity, see the light, confess the error of your ways, blame it on the missus for the lack of cognitive enhancing nourishment.
Think of it this way, if you were Morey, who would pique your interest more, Moody or Mitchell in a trade package for Simmons? Off Night or Off Posture? Case closed.
Davion has the “it” factor. He is a consummate winner. He is a born leader. Mitchell probably got up a 5AM to work on his three ball, dissastified with last night. Meanwhile Moody was deferring to Kyle Guy and got outclassed by some dude named Jessup. And despite his sorry play you know he hit the snooze button, while Off Night was up before sunrise, back on the grind, with the medal around his neck.
McGenius rides again!
On a serious note, would you trade Barnes, Bagley and a FRP (possibly two, at most top 10 protected for both) for Simmons?
I would do that. I doubt Morey would. He’s probably only bite if they were either Top 3-5 protected and even then I still have doubts.
Love all this. My only thing for Mitchell to address while he is up at 5am working on his game and/or working out is to find some time to practice his free throws. It’s the only real glaring weakness I’m seeing with him.
Hi. Just checking in while repping my Sacramento Proud purple shirt on the road somewhere in the Midwest.
Did I miss anything?
You didn’t get the memo? KINGS made NBA history!!! RANGZ!!!
CHANGE YOUR NAME TO 2021
Just watched the game. I’m very happy with the effort and emphasis on defense. It is fun and refreshing to watch. A big part of decent defense is simply not giving up easy buckets. Hopefully the main squad catches on to that.
I like what I am seeing from Mitchell, Ramsey, King, Terry and Coleman.
Bobby Jackson and staff did a great job having the team ready to compete. I am curious of the Doug Christy effect and if that may translate to better defense for the main squad. Honestly won’t take much, truly only one way for that defense to go.
Badge Legend