Kings mailbag: Is Luke Walton on the hot seat? Is effort to blame for NBA’s worst defense?
The struggle is real in Kings Land, where wins don’t come easy and the losses continue to mount as opposing players parade to the rim for layups, dunks and kick-out 3-pointers.
The Kings (5-9) had lost three in a row and six of their last 10 going into Wednesday’s game against the Los Angeles Clippers (10-4). De’Aaron Fox posted a career-high 43 points and 13 assists against the New Orleans Pelicans and Marvin Bagley III has shown glimpses of growth, but the outcome has been the same.
Players and coaches are frustrated. Fans are, too. They want to know why the team is so bad on defense, whether coach Luke Walton is on the hot seat and if general manager Monte McNair is implementing a new philosophy after 14 consecutive losing seasons.
Let’s try to work out our issues in this week’s Kings mailbag.
Note: Some questions have been edited for length and clarity.
Has the philosophy changed?
@drnesto93 asks: While it’s every team’s goal to make the playoffs, why do the Kings continue to make it their goal instead of focusing on rebuilding and the youth? At what point are we going to see a shift in philosophy and roster personnel?
Time will tell, but we could argue that change in philosophy has already been set in motion.
Former general manager Vlade Divac had a habit of signing aging, overpriced veterans in an effort to bolster the team’s roster for a series of failed attempts to reach the playoffs. He signed Rajon Rondo (one year, $9.5 million), Marco Belinelli (three years, $19 million), Arron Afflalo (two years, $25 million), George Hill (three years, $57 million), Zach Randolph (two years, $24 million), Dewayne Dedmon (three years, $40 million), Trevor Ariza (two years, $25 million) and Cory Joseph (three years, $37.2 million).
McNair is already doing things differently. First, he let Bogdan Bogdanovic go as a restricted free agent instead of matching a four-year, $72 million offer from the Atlanta Hawks. When it came time to fill out the roster, McNair didn’t do anything that would hinder future flexibility.
Instead, he re-signed DaQuan Jeffries to a two-year, $3 million deal with a team option in the second year, and brought in a collection of free agents on similarly inexpensive, short-term, team-friendly deals. Glenn Robinson III, who started 48 games for the Golden State Warriors last season and averaged 12.9 points per game while shooting 40% from 3-point range, signed a one-year minimum deal for $2 million with a partial guarantee. Hassan Whiteside, who made $27 million while averaging 15.5 points, 13.5 rebounds and 2.9 blocks for the Portland Trail Blazers last season, signed a one-year minimum deal for $2.32 million.
Divac was under more immediate pressure than McNair to end the franchise’s 14-year playoff drought. The Kings will match the longest drought in NBA history if they don’t reach the playoffs this season, but McNair isn’t fazed by this ominous fact. He would be thrilled to make the playoffs this season through the organic growth of players like Fox, Bagley, Buddy Hield and Tyrese Haliburton, but he probably won’t make any desperate moves in a rush to reach the playoffs.
Should Kings try harder?
@csolis28 asks: What is it that this Kings team is missing? Heart? Passion? Accountability? Effort?
Honestly, I’m not sure they’re lacking any of that. Walton has been pretty pleased with the team’s effort on most nights. We’ve certainly seen some lapses, but these guys are trying. They want to win. They’re just being physically overmatched and outsmarted on defense.
According to hoopsstats.com, opposing starters are scoring a league-high 85.0 points per game and shooting a league-best 50.6% against the Kings. Nobody can stop anybody on a consistent basis. The other night against the Pelicans, Bagley was beaten off the dribble by Steven Adams, who is an immensely large human being but not regarded as an elite slasher in the NBA. With little resistance from Bagley, Adams took it to the hole and dropped a dime inside like he was Magic Johnson.
Everybody’s making it look easy against the Kings. Fox has added upper-body strength, but he’s still somewhat slightly built at the point guard position. The same is true for Richaun Holmes at the center spot. Then you have Hield at shooting guard and Bagley at power forward, both of whom have shown lapses in defensive awareness and fundamentals. The Kings think Bagley can become a versatile, switchable, effective defender, but he needs to improve his strength, lateral quickness and grasp of team concepts. Harrison Barnes has good size for the small forward position at 6-foot-8 and 225 pounds, but he’s getting beat as well.
Let’s not leave out Haliburton, Joseph, Robinson, Whiteside, Nemanja Bjelica and the rest of the backups because opposing bench players are having their way with the Kings, too, shooting 49.9% from the field and 47.9% from 3-point range.
Who is the best defender?
@johhnyauburn asks: With defense being the focus of why the Kings have lost a lot of games, who would you say is the best defender on the team? Richaun Holmes blocks shots. De’Aaron Fox and Tyrese Haliburton get steals. Cory Joseph pressures the ball handler. None are shutdown defenders in my humble opinion.
That’s a big part of the problem. There isn’t a single shutdown defender on the team and they are so bad collectively it’s hard to tell if anyone is good individually.
The top-rated rotation players in terms of defensive rating, defensive win shares and defensive box plus/minus tend to be Holmes, Fox, Haliburton and Whiteside, who is currently out with a strained left hip flexor. The Kings desperately need Fox and Haliburton to reach their potential on defense. Haliburton has a chance to be elite. For now, though, if I have to single out someone as the team’s top defender, I’m going with Whiteside, who led the NBA in blocked shots for the Blazers last season. He isn’t mobile enough to provide the switchability the Kings want, but he does provide an undeniable defensive presence, which is more than we can say for anyone else right now.
Is Luke Walton on the hot seat?
@nvrtelmetheodds asks: Is Luke Walton on the hot seat given the team’s poor stretch of play and awful defense?
I must admit that thought crossed my mind when the Kings fell behind by 19 against the New Orleans Pelicans on Sunday just 48 hours after suffering a 38-point loss to the Los Angeles Clippers. McNair is operating with more patience than the team’s beleaguered fan base, but pressure will mount if the embarrassing losses continue.
Still, it’s probably too early for this kind of talk. Even the players will tell you the team’s poor play is on them, not the coaches.
Despite numerous injuries, the Kings were surging in their first season under Walton, going 13-7 in their last 20 games before play was suspended due to the coronavirus pandemic. That team was getting better defensively and had a good chance of making the playoffs if the 82-game NBA season had continued without interruption.
People like to point out that Walton failed to reach the playoffs with LeBron James as head coach of the Los Angeles Lakers in 2018-19. They usually don’t mention the Lakers were fourth in the Western Conference before an injury caused James to miss 17 games.
Walton walked into a circus environment in Los Angeles, where he encountered forces with powers far greater than his. He has encountered more difficulty and dysfunction in Sacramento, where similar dramas have unfolded involving legacy characters, young players and the occasional parent.
At every turn, Walton has remained honest with his players and professional in the public spotlight. Coaches don’t last long around here so eventually McNair will probably make a change, but not yet.
We know how much McNair values analytics and flexibility. We also know he’s more interested in long-term success than a hurried bid to reach the playoffs. A bunch of blowout losses might hasten McNair’s process, but keeping Walton for now gives him the flexibility to make a more informed decision later.
