Luke Walton untucked: Kings coach rolls up sleeves, preaches defense over fast pace
This recurring thought of former Kings coach Dave Joerger entered my mind again Tuesday night as Luke Walton lumbered into the room for his postgame news conference. Walton had no jacket, no tie and a light blue dress shirt that was decidedly untucked, a hint of fatigue on his face, but clarity and focus in his eyes.
Joerger had a particular play he called almost every time down the floor last season. He called it: “GO!” In contrast, Walton just keeps talking about getting stops.
Walton had just come from a victorious locker room following a 107-99 win over the Portland Trail Blazers. In their first game without star point guard De’Aaron Fox, and with prized young big man Marvin Bagley III still out due to a broken thumb, the Kings (4-6) found a way to win despite missing 21 of their first 25 shots against the Blazers (4-7).
This was Sacramento’s fourth win in five games following an 0-5 start, but Walton wasn’t all unfurled because he was coming from a joyous locker room celebration. It was because he and his team had just put in a long, hard day’s work and they know there are longer, harder days ahead without two of their best players.
When it was over, the first words out of Walton’s mouth were very workmanlike.
“I want to talk about our defense,” he said. “It’s what we’ve been preaching every day since Day 1 of training camp, and I’m the first to admit it – it needs to get a lot better.
“But that’s why, not only tonight, but I feel like slowly, even if our numbers haven’t showed it, guys are starting to understand and really make steps as far as individual defense and team defense. Tonight, we started the game, we couldn’t make anything – great shooters, wide-open shots – and that’s why defense is so important.”
Winning with defense
That’s what kept the Kings in the game. They scratched. They clawed. They blocked five shots, came up with nine steals, outrebounded the Blazers 14-3 in the third quarter and held them to 40.3-percent shooting after they made 7 of 10 to start the game.
“It was good to see the team be able to rely on defense to win against a very good team,” Walton said. “Their record might not be great, but that’s a very good basketball team over there.”
Portland’s frontcourt has been decimated by injuries, but the Blazers, who reached the Western Conference finals last season, still have Damian Lillard and C.J. McCollum. That would have been enough against a Kings team that wasn’t focused and unified under Walton and in the absence of Fox and Bagley.
“Coach’s main focus throughout the season has been a ‘So what? Now what?’ type of mindset,” rookie guard Justin James said. “Whether it’s good or bad, whatever we’re going through, it really doesn’t matter. What’s the main focus next? Obviously, Fox is a main piece of this organization, but we can’t just put our heads down and not play hard. Everybody still has a job to do.”
So they went to work, scrapping to overcome what could have been a disastrous start along a difficult road without two of the team’s best young players. Fox won’t be back for at least a month and maybe much longer after suffering a grade-3 sprain of his left ankle at practice Monday. Bagley has been out since opening night and isn’t expected to return for at least another week.
“This is not what you want,” Walton said. “You want your team to stay healthy and continue to grow together, but this is where mental toughness gets built. This is where you’re battle tested. Do we fold as a group? Do we give in or get better and become mentally stronger due to it?”
That appears to be happening already. Nothing worked in the opening minutes against the Blazers, but the Kings stayed together and figured it out.
“This is what we should expect,” Walton said.
Lillard and McCollum combined to make 10 of 14 shots in the first half, but just 7 of 17 in the second half. Buddy Hield wasn’t hitting shots while wearing a headband he disposed of at halftime, but he buried two big 3-pointers and drew a three-shot foul to fuel a 14-2 run at the start of the third quarter.
“The crowd got into it, they felt good about what they were doing and that’s where the game shifted,” Lillard said.
‘Chemistry building’
Bogdan Bogdanovic came off the bench to post 25 points, 10 assists and four steals. Hield scored 20. Nemanja Bjelica had 19 points and 12 rebounds.
“Great win, especially in front of our fans,” Bjelica said. “I mean, we’re always talking about if we want to make the playoffs, we need to win every game at home, so it is very important to us.”
These guys aren’t giving up on themselves. They’re growing closer together in the face of adversity.
“Even when we were losing, I felt the chemistry building,” Bogdanovic said.
Something is happening here.
In the first five games of the season – all losses – the Kings ranked 28th in the NBA in offensive rating (97.2), 26th in defensive rating (113.8) and 30th in net rating (minus-16.5). They were 22nd in pace, puzzling fans who longed for the up-tempo offense Joerger unleashed on the league last season.
Over the past five games – four wins and a four-point loss to the Toronto Raptors – the Kings ranked second in offensive rating at 116.3, 15th in defensive rating at 108 and third in net rating at plus-8.3. They did it without Bagley and now without Fox. They did it while slowing the pace even further to 29th in the NBA.
That might be the sliver of a silver lining in the weeks ahead as the Kings wait for Fox to return. Fast was fun and the Kings will run again one day, but Walton says improved defense and half-court execution are the keys to the team’s long-term success.
“For us, there are more important things to winning that we feel we have to get on top of than pace, and those are the things we’re focused on in film sessions and the practice time we have, cleaning those up,” Walton said. “When we get good and consistent and understand those things, then we can focus a lot more on just flying down the court.”
Sacramento Kings upcoming schedule
Nov. 15 at Los Angeles Lakers
Nov. 17 vs. Boston Celtics
Nov. 19 vs. Phoenix Suns
Nov. 22 at Brooklyn Nets
Nov. 24 at Washington Wizards
This story was originally published November 13, 2019 at 12:50 PM.
