Sacramento Kings: The two players that put it all together
By Zack Kobler
With an exciting start for the Sacramento Kings, the young backcourt deserves attention for their production
The preface for any given Sacramento Kings article will always follow a strict guideline to prepare the reader for the complete incompetence that the city has gone through for the last 12 years. With the playoffs so out of sight for this organization, a slight glimpse of success from even one player gives the entire city hope that maybe the Kings can return to the postseason soon enough.
Since 2007, the Kings have selected inside the lottery every year and are on their eighth head coach since then.
However, that is not the point. Through 14 games, the Kings are over .500 at 8-6 and that deserves attention as well as a little bit of celebration from the front office. Two players, in particular, should be given the most attention for their contributions on the floor as well as the incredible jump they have taken to give Sacramento any form of relevancy.
Insert De’Aaron Fox and Buddy Hield into the equation and you get one of the most talented young backcourts in the NBA.
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The second-year point guard is averaging 18.7 points per game to go along with a 44 percent clip from 3-point land while significantly increasing his assist numbers to seven a game. His vision is uncanny to what it was a year ago and his confidence to shoot the ball from anywhere is quite noticeable.
Buddy Hield is also averaging 18.7 points per game on his usual 40 plus percent clip from 3 but he is shooting at much higher volume from the field in general. At the end of last season, I argued that Buddy buckets was a sixth man at best but this year he is proving that he is in contention for the Most Improved Player award and can start in this league.
A year ago, the Kings featured a 36-year-old Zach Randolph playing from the block like it was 2008 and played at the pace of a local 65-year-old plus basketball league. It was brutal to watch as they were dead last in pace but the Kings are almost forced to change their offense with the epitome of speed at point guard in De’Aaron Fox and the shooters that surround him this year especially.
The moment the ball is rebounded and outlet passed to Fox is the moment that the defense is in a terrible position. It leads to an onslaught of kamikaze attacks heading straight to the basket with reckless abandon or someone is already set up for the potential go-ahead 3.
The philosophy of this entire team is centralized around how fast Fox can get up the floor and who is with him. This was unimaginable for the 2017 Kings offense especially with the tight leash around his neck.
Instead of slowing down the game to run a set play, Dave Joerger puts the youth movement in full effect doubling down on pace and the fast break. When Fox touches the ball, Buddy Hield and Willie Cauley-Stein fill their lanes and patiently wait for a feed or for Fox to create for himself. In this instance, Fox lobs the ball to Cauley-Stein for an easy finish at the rim.
As fun as the game can be going 100 miles per hour, it cannot always be played that way. This is where both guards piece together their own versions of the pick-and-roll. In De’Aaron Fox‘s case, he uses the pick to get his defender behind him so he can play at a slower pace to give him enough time to decide how to respond to the defense in front of him or draw contact for a potential foul call.
Fox waits for Harry Giles to get into place making Adams choose who to commit to making the floater an easy option.
When Buddy Hield is given the same scenario, he gets to the elbow or any vacant space as quickly as he can to fire a shot off. Relying on a screen to get open, Hield gets the ball and reuses the screen to find Valanciunas committing to the drive giving him that easy elbow jumper.
It is worth noting that Buddy has improved his shot selection immensely, he’s willing to pass rather than forcing the ball every possession. Hield takes the handoff from Cauley-Stein and instead of taking advantage of Lowry being behind him by taking a shot, he continues dribbling to freeze Serge Ibaka leading to an easy lob and finish.
Last season, Buddy forces the shot and it would result in him being taken out afterward.
Buddy gets quantifiably better season after season so maybe Dave Joerger has finally figured a way for him to be most effective. Letting him have the ultimate green light shooting whenever he pleases seems to work for just about everyone as he leads the team in attempts and it would only make sense that he becomes more consistent as the season goes on.
The aspects of Fox’s game are all worth noting. In his last nine games, he has shot 18-of-33 or 55 percent from 3 and he makes it look so easy especially in transition. A year ago you would never see any of this inside of his arsenal. Against the Lakers, Fox was presented with no coverage and capitalized in transition.
And while he has put endless effort into having his jumper reflect that of an NBA player, he has also emphasized body control when he drives to the rim. This is especially important because he ranks inside the top 15 for free throws attempted and that equates to frequent contact at the rim.
Take this drive against the Atlanta Hawks, Fox goes from lightspeed to an attempted slow motion euro step with him getting fouled but not without getting the and-1 to go along with it.
He is accustom to floating in the air until the very last second before letting it go so the ball is completely unblockable. A complete mastermind. And while he knows that his driving ability is on its way to becoming unguardable, he also uses it to create space for potential step back jumpers.
With his confidence oozing out of his pours he was able to give his defender the idea he was going to continue to the rack until he gave him the beautiful step back.
His shooting numbers are ridiculous and I understand why you would expect them to taper down a tad bit as the season progresses, but that still does not take away from the small sample size of production that he has given up to this point. The confidence that goes along with these shots will not go away when they are encouraged on a nightly basis.
Even with his scoring numbers flaring up, his vision is also worth mentioning. He ranks inside the top 10 for assists and makes passes that thread the needle regularly or go to places that only his big can finish with. As Fox settles in the half-court, Nemanja Bjelica cuts and the ball is put right in his pocket immediately for an easy finish.
This kind of evolution of Fox’s game is eye-opening. Every game he inserts himself and comes out as one of the best players every night. These kinds of performances on a night to night basis give reason to argue him as the best from his draft class. As the season continues on, I hope that he is able to slowly put it all together to become a deadly assassin proving every facet of his game is a force to reckon with.
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Every night the Kings are set on finding a different way to outrun their opponents and Buddy Hield and De’Aaron Fox are in the front leading the pack. And with Bogdan Bogdanovic finally returning from injury, the Kings can settle for even better. Remember, Vlade Divac did say this was a super team, just young and with that being said maybe these are the two pieces that put it all together.