Leaving Las Vegas: Big things Sacramento Kings learned from NBA Summer League championship
Ten days of excitement in Sin City won’t undo 15 years of frustration in Sacramento, but the Kings left some lasting impressions during their run to the Las Vegas Summer League championship.
Kings summer league coach Bobby Jackson flashed that familiar grin while posing for pictures with the trophy following a 100-67 victory over the Boston Celtics in Tuesday’s championship game at Thomas & Mack Center. When he returned to the locker room, his players were waiting to drench him with water bottles as part of a joyous celebration.
Louis King hooted. Jahmi’us Ramsey hollered. Even Davion Mitchell, the defensive dynamo who spearheaded this effort, stopped snarling and menacing opposing ballhandlers long enough to crack a smile.
“We came to Las Vegas (and) we shocked the world,” King declared.
The shocking thing was the way this team defended, something the Kings have struggled with in Sacramento. The Kings finished last in the NBA with the second-worst defensive rating of all-time last season, but the summer league squad was different, averaging 14.0 steals while holding opponents to 71.4 points per game.
“I think coming into this summer league in Vegas, that was kind of our identity,” Mitchell said. “We tried to play hard defensively, get after it. We didn’t really look to outscore people. We tried to stop people from scoring, and if we did that, our defense was going to lead to offense.”
That’s not all we learned from the Kings of Las Vegas, a scrappy bunch that might have taught us something about the direction of a franchise that is trying to end a 15-year playoff drought.
Davion’s defense
Trying to get by Mitchell is like trying to go around a guy in a phone booth.
Mitchell, the No. 9 pick in last month’s NBA draft, came into the league with the nickname “Off Night” because of his defensive prowess. Now we know why. Mitchell bottled up rookie James Bouknight in the summer league opener against the Charlotte Hornets and locked down Payton Pritchard in the championship game against the Celtics.
Mitchell will now turn his attention to training camp, where his defensive presence can begin to transform a team that gave up 117.4 points per game last season.
“I think I can keep being myself going into training camp,” Mitchell said. “Try to change the narrative around Sacramento into being a real good defensive team and offensive team, and not just an offensive team.”
Kings culture
Practices will be no joke when training camp begins Sept. 28. Mitchell, Ramsey, King, Chimezie Metu, Emanuel Terry, Robert Woodard II and other members of this summer squad who get invited to training camp are vowing to bring a different level of intensity.
“What we are doing now is definitely going to be implemented into our regular team,” King said. “I feel like what me, Davion, Jahmi’us, Rob, Chimezie bring to the table is just our long wingspan. We disrupt the basketball. We get in the lanes. We’re getting fast transition points. It starts with our point guard, Davion. He’s on those guys. He’s on us. It starts with him.”
Jackson said Mitchell can have an immediate impact as a rookie.
“He’s definitely going to change how people look at him and look at our team,” Jackson said. “Just because you’re a rookie doesn’t mean you can’t be successful.”
More defense
Virtually every move Kings general manager Monte McNair has made since draft night has been designed to improve the team’s porous defense.
The Kings drafted Mitchell at No. 9 and Neemias Queta, a shot-blocking 7-foot center from Utah State, with their second-round pick. Then they traded for Tristan Thompson, signed free-agent center Alex Len, re-signed starting center Richaun Holmes and added two defensive-minded coaches, hiring Doug Christie and Mike Longabardi to serve as assistants on Luke Walton’s coaching staff.
McNair was happy to see the summer league team forge a defensive identity in Las Vegas.
“Congratulations and thank you to our players, coaches and staff,” McNair said. “Tonight we celebrate this step in the process of development and building winning habits. Tomorrow we look forward to getting back to work, with the clear focus of getting this organization and team back into the NBA playoffs.”
Bobby Jackson can coach
Jackson, 48, spent six seasons with the Kings as a player — winning NBA Sixth Man of the Year in 2003 — before starting his coaching career as an assistant on Paul Westphal’s staff in Sacramento in 2011.
Jackson, who was recently named head coach of the G League Stockton Kings, put in countless hours of individual work as a player development coach over the years. Now, he has shown he can inspire a team to play with the level of energy, effort and focus that propelled this group to the top.
“I kept preaching teamwork, chemistry, having each other’s backs, defending at a high level, making other teams uncomfortable and taking things away,” Jackson said. “The offensive side of the ball will come as long as we approach it the right way.”
Mitchell said Jackson never wavered in his message to the team.
“Bobby did a really good job in training camp of emphasizing that we have to play hard, we’ve got to stay together, and if we do those things, we’re going to be successful,” Mitchell said. “Even in the California Classic, when we lost those games, he wasn’t down on us. He kept our confidence up throughout the summer league.”
This story was originally published August 22, 2021 at 5:00 AM.
