As long as Shump's making those 3's he's got real upside, and tbh it'll look more natural than going small.. He looked vocal to me last night, almost like a vet presence.
When I watch the Kings and look for an identity, one thing that stands out to me is; I see a team who's got a lot of hands-y defenders. It's no coincidence either, this is how Vlade set this team up... Thru 3 games they are tied for 10th in the league in steals right now(without any single defender being in the top-30) and I'll be shocked if they fall to the bottom half.
I'm sure some might interpret that as the young Kings reaching instead of moving their feet but thats not really what I'm talking about. I mean more of a hands-y defender such as Paul Millsap, who's able to knock balls loose while gliding in another direction, basically guys with timing that are able to multi-task and drop-low quickly, and 'sell out' when the opportunity presents.
Its clear the Kings bigs are pretty good at this. Willie and it looks like Giles and Marvin appear to be well above average... Fox is wizard status at this... Iman Shumpert is EXCELLENT at this, and it was on full display last night, pretty sure he knocked 4 balls loose, and there shoulda been a 5th but they callled a completely clean one a foul.. I can recall a game during Shumps rookie year where he was attacking PRIME D-ROSE's dribble over and over and he stole the show in overtime...
Justin Jackson and Bjelly might not have the quick hands like Shump and Fox, but their anticipation on steals looks to be again, above average. So it's pretty much the whole rotation.. Yogi's no weak-link in this chain either, he looks good defensively.
The fastbreak is fast these days, so the threat of turnovers is heightened. All of this adds up to some form of attrition in the Kings favor. It's the type of thing that can compound, get in opponents heads and fester, plus I mean lets be real - no team wants to lose to the Kings.
Last nights game was GLORIOUS, to me it felt like the Kings were just too hot for the Thunder to handle. It's like we put their feet to the fire. Shumpert was clearly one of the driving forces behind this --- he set the tone in the 1st quarter. We didn't Blindside the Thunder either, they knew what was coming, Billy Donovan made comments before the game about how Sacramento's young and fast and it's gonna be a track meet.
It just seems to me like clearly the Kings are weakest at the wing, and if Shump can outperform, Bogdan can return to last years form, Buddy and JJ can show marginal improvements, that might actually be one of the paths of least resistance for the Kings to make a quick improvement.
Til Bogdan returns idk how they can keep shump out of the starting lineup.
I'm sure some might interpret that as the young Kings reaching instead of moving their feet but thats not really what I'm talking about. I mean more of a hands-y defender such as Paul Millsap, who's able to knock balls loose while gliding in another direction, basically guys with timing that are able to multi-task and drop-low quickly, and 'sell out' when the opportunity presents.
Its clear the Kings bigs are pretty good at this. Willie and it looks like Giles and Marvin appear to be well above average... Fox is wizard status at this... Iman Shumpert is EXCELLENT at this, and it was on full display last night, pretty sure he knocked 4 balls loose, and there shoulda been a 5th but they callled a completely clean one a foul.. I can recall a game during Shumps rookie year where he was attacking PRIME D-ROSE's dribble over and over and he stole the show in overtime...
Justin Jackson and Bjelly might not have the quick hands like Shump and Fox, but their anticipation on steals looks to be again, above average. So it's pretty much the whole rotation.. Yogi's no weak-link in this chain either, he looks good defensively.
The fastbreak is fast these days, so the threat of turnovers is heightened. All of this adds up to some form of attrition in the Kings favor. It's the type of thing that can compound, get in opponents heads and fester, plus I mean lets be real - no team wants to lose to the Kings.
Last nights game was GLORIOUS, to me it felt like the Kings were just too hot for the Thunder to handle. It's like we put their feet to the fire. Shumpert was clearly one of the driving forces behind this --- he set the tone in the 1st quarter. We didn't Blindside the Thunder either, they knew what was coming, Billy Donovan made comments before the game about how Sacramento's young and fast and it's gonna be a track meet.
It just seems to me like clearly the Kings are weakest at the wing, and if Shump can outperform, Bogdan can return to last years form, Buddy and JJ can show marginal improvements, that might actually be one of the paths of least resistance for the Kings to make a quick improvement.
Til Bogdan returns idk how they can keep shump out of the starting lineup.
