Kings report card: What is this team good at? Here’s where they’re OK ... and terrible
The Sacramento Kings were exactly halfway through their 82-game schedule as of Sunday morning, half a game behind the San Antonio Spurs for the final spot in the Western Conference play-in tournament.
It’s been a mostly frustrating season for Sacramento, which entered the season hoping to end a 15-year playoff drought behind a roster mixed with youngsters and veterans. Things haven’t quite coalesced the way second-year general manager Monte McNair and ownership might have liked.
The Kings have lost a number of games to teams missing key players while they’ve dealt with their own adversity in the form of an early season coaching change and players coming and going from the NBA’s health and safety protocols. But the new postseason format for the No. 8 through 10 seeds in each conference allow more teams to stay in the mix throughout the regular season. That’s where the Kings find themselves.
So let’s take a look at how they’re doing in the form of a report card.
Offense: B-
The Kings are in the middle of the pack in a slew of offensive categories. They’re 12th in points (109.4 per game), 17th in field goal percentage (.453), 22nd in assists, 20th in 3-pointers made (11.8) and 3-point percentage (34.5%).
Interim coach Alvin Gentry has said he wants his team to be among the league leaders in pace, but it ranks ninth, averaging 99.78 possessions per game. And the efficiency is also lacking. The Kings are 18th in the league scoring 108.9 points per 100 possessions.
Generally, the Kings have had just three reliable scorers from 3-point range this season: Tyrese Haliburton, Harrison Barnes and Buddy Hield, which isn’t enough firepower to contend with the better teams in the conference. They’re also 21st in assist-to-turnover ratio (1.58).
The issue here is the Kings don’t have a notable strength offensively. De’Aaron Fox is good off the dribble and getting to the rim, but his lack of outside shooting is a significant hindrance to the offense. He’s hitting a miserable 25.4% of his 3s this season while he leads the team in usage. He’s the type of drive-and-kick point guard who should be surrounded by shooters, but the Kings simply don’t have the weapons there.
Haliburton had a strong December, nailing 47% of his 3s and through three games in January is 7-of-13 from distance. He could help the Kings improve offensively if his shooting can create more space for others to operate. Until then, the offense will be clogged by Fox’s inability to threaten from deep. Hield’s streaky shooting can carry the team on some nights, but he’s also making just 42% of his 2-point attempts, and isn’t good enough at creating for others or playing defense to be a winning player on this roster.
Defense: F
The good news, unlike last season, is the Kings are not the worst defensive team in the NBA. They’re 27th! Baby steps.
Sacramento allows 113 points per 100 possessions, which isn’t good enough to scare anybody in the regular season or play-in tournament if the offense isn’t going to improve dramatically.
Individually, the Kings lack lock-down defenders outside of guard Davion Mitchell, a rookie who should not be a defensive anchor. Of the team’s regular contributors, Barnes, Fox, Tristan Thompson, Hield, Marvin Bagley, Haliburton and center Richaun Holmes all have defensive ratings 110 points per 100 possessions or worse.
Haliburton, a guard, is the only King who ranks in the top 100 in the NBA in blocks per 100 possessions (1.0). He’s 27th in steals, 2.4, while Fox is 76th at 1.8. The team is second-worst in the league allowing 15.4 second-chance points per game, which is tied directly to a 69.7% defensive rebounding rate, which is dead last.
There is nothing the Kings can hang their hat on defensively, aside from Mitchell looking like a regular on the NBA’s all-defensive team for years to come. But one player isn’t going to be enough. Of the top 10 defenses in the NBA, only the Celtics and Timberwolves are currently outside of the top eight teams in their conferences. But they would both make the play-in tournament if the season ended today. The Kings won’t become a postseason regular until they become one of the better defensive teams.
Bench: D
The Kings don’t have much depth. Rookie guard Davion Mitchell and Hield might be the only players off the bench a contending team might want in their rotation. Perhaps Damian Jones could continue developing into a serviceable big, but the Kings are his fifth team since entering the league in 2016. Chimezie Metu’s athleticism and versatility is intriguing, but he hasn’t shown much polish.
Guard Terence Davis is having a down shooting year hitting 3s at a 30.5% clip after making 37% last season. Perhaps he could get going in the second half off the season to add some much needed scoring on the wing. Otherwise, Maurice Harkless is shooting 26% from distance while averaging 4.0 points per game in 19 minutes. Big man Alex Len has proved why he’s been on five teams, and this stint in Sacramento is his second.
The Kings need more from their bench.
Coaching: C
It’s hard to blame Alvin Gentry. He took over an unbalanced roster that isn’t good offensively or defensively after the Kings fired Luke Walton following their 6-11 start. Since Gentry became interim coach, Sacramento is slightly better at 10-13, but they’ve done little to make anyone believe they could advance beyond the play-in tournament and give one of the top seeds in the Western Conference a real scare.
Which is why this Kings season is so confounding in the first place. Yes, the playoff drought is rough and ownership should want the excitement of hosting playoff games in Golden 1 Center. But to what end? Going out early in the playoffs isn’t all that different than not making it all, and it would mean missing out on the draft lottery, which is Sacramento’s most realistic path to adding an elite talent.
Back to Gentry. He’s an affable figure who’s been in the league forever. Has he done enough to warrant sticking around and losing the interim label? It’s hard to say given the hand he’s been dealt. The Kings could certainly do worse, but it’s hard to imagine him being the guy to grow with a young roster and help it develop into a perennial contender.
This story was originally published January 10, 2022 at 5:00 AM.
