Month by Month Defense and Offense Stats

[Bricklayer]

Following multiple references to it in recent Malone interviews, I finally decided to go on over and wrestle the clunkiness that is NBA.com into divulging onto me the month by month progress of the Kings in a variety of offensive and defensive stats.

Notable dates to keep in mind that may have changed the directory of some stats:
Nov 26: traded Luc Mbah a Moute for Derrick Williams -- DWill plays big minutes until Dec. 9
Dec 9: we trade Patterson, Vasquez, Hayes and Salmons for Rudy Gay. Gay and Thomas become starters.
Jan 19: Carl Landry returns
Jan 22: Gay hurt, does not return until Jan 29
Jan 22: Cousins hurt, does not return until Feb 3
Feb 19: we trade Thornton for Reggie Evans (and Jason Terry)
Feb 25: Landry plays his last game
Feb 27: we waive Jimmer, McCallum now backup PG


Here we go:

Defense
Nov: Opp Pts: 100.8 (23rd); Opp FG%: .468 (26th); Opp 3pt%: .379 (24th); Opp TO: 14.9 (18th); DReb: 30.5 (23rd); Blk: 3.1 (30th)
Dec: Opp Pts: 107.6 (29th); Opp FG%: .479 (29th); Opp 3pt%: .402 (28th); Opp TO: 15.1 (12th); DReb: 31.4 (23rd); Blk: 3.9 (26th)
Jan : Opp Pts: 106.3 (27th); Opp FG%: .462 (22nd); Opp 3pt%: .343 (8th); Opp TO: 12.1 (27th); DReb 32.8 (13th); Blk: 4.7 (16th)
Feb: Opp Pts: 101.4 (16th); Opp FG%: .448 (12th); Opp 3pt%: .406 (28th); Opp TO: 15.3 (8th)); DReb: 32.0 (12th); Blk: 3.8 (25th)
Mar: Opp Pts: 101.2 (12th); Opp FG%: .441 (7th); Opp 3pt%: .340 (8th); Opp TO: 11.8 (29th); DReb: 35.3 (3rd); Blk: 4.3 (18th)

Analysis: Unclear. I was hoping to see some more drastic improvement, but a)) there does seem to be a general upward trend, in particular since the December nadir, in Pts allowed, Opp FG%, and taking care of the defensive glass (where Boogie leads the entire NBA in D-rebs BTW). And March has unquestionably been our best month of the season. Malone's culture change? A quiet revolution slowly sneaking up on you without much fanfare?

Offense
Nov: Pts: 96.4 (21st); FG%: .429 (24th); 3pt%: .318 (24th); FT% .778 (9th); FTA: 21.8 (19th); AST: 21.5 (19th); TO: 13.0 (2nd); PACE: 94.98 (22nd)
Dec: Pts: 104.4 (7th); FG%: .460 (8th); 3pt%: .360 (15th); FT% .779 (10th); FTA: 27.7 (4th); AST: 20.4 (23rd); TO: 16.0 (25th); PACE: 97.92 (8th)
Jan : Pts: 104.6 (9th); FG%: .460 (13th); 3pt%: .352 (20th); FT% .764 (14th); FTA: 26.4 (5th); AST: 18.6 (30th); TO: 15.6 (27th); PACE: 97.31 (9th)
Feb: Pts: 100.8 (15th); FG%: .438 (26th); 3pt%: .343 (22nd); FT% .797 (6th); FTA: 30.8 (2nd); AST: 17.6 (30th); TO: 15.4 (20th); PACE: 97.65 (12th)
Mar: Pts: 99.8 (22nd); FG%: .449 (22nd); 3pt%: .281 (30th); FT% .715 (28th); FTA: 31.8 (2nd); AST: 16.8 (30th); TO: 17.3 (30th); PACE: 97.26 (14th)

Analysis: wow. Check out the Ast/To/FTA numbers post trade: we have become maybe the most stylized offensive team in the league. We're actually posting a negative Ast/To ratio this month...as a team. Not sure I remember last time I've seen that. But between our Big Three Iso options we hammer it inside and live at the line. Immediately after the trade we had back to back months where we shot better, I suspected maybe it was IT coming in and ITing the pace for the first couple of months until Malone lasso'd him, but no, pace has remained constant since the trade. Maybe other teams have just adjusted. Which is unfortunate because its getting tougher and tougher for us to score. The removal of Thornton and Fredette/elevation of Ben/deterioration of IT's 3pt shot has led to us cratering out in that aspect post All-Star break.

 

[ESP47]

Good post. Like you said, there are no drastic improvements but the defense does seem to be slowly getting better, which is what we were looking to get out of Malone. The only problem is that the offense is kind of hand in hand with the defense and getting worse at close to the same rate.

Defensively, Cousins has improved quite a bit this year. Still not a good defender by any stretch of the imagination but he's not a revolving door anymore and even has a couple of 5 block games this month. McLemore has also been getting better on that side of the ball as of late. McCallum playing more minutes has helped and IT hasn't been getting burned as badly lately. Also while Reggie Evans isn't as good a defender as JT, he's a much better rebounder, so opposing teams seem like they're getting less possessions.

If we kept this team and just added a capable SG, I think we could even out our points scored and points given up per game. In March were giving up 101.2 and scoring 99.8. Just think if Ben was a normal scorer (43%+), that would be around 1 more shot made per game and would even things out automatically.

Other than the obvious SG and shotblocker topics that we always talk about, we need more 3 point shooters. IT seems like he's going to be about a 35% shooter for the most part. It's good but not great. Rudy's 3 point shot is inconsistent and passable at best. Other than that, we really don't have any 3 point threats. McCallum's shot has looked good lately but him being apart of the teams future is still a question mark. The only other guy who isn't a turd beyond the arc is Outlaw and well Outlaw is...Outlaw.

 

[King Baller]

Defensive Studs are needed at both Guard spots. The best 6th man in the NBA is being wasted starting for the Kings. Ben will get better but a starter is needed at SG for next season along with PG. The elite defensive PF will have to wait until Pete can trick the Bulls into giving up Taj Gibson.

 

[SacTownKid]

I think Ben will improve but they definitely need some help at PG defensively. Ray has been very good when he's played.

 

[Glenn]

Those stats are pretty nauseating but I have to presume the fairly constant turnover of players contributes. At first blush it looks awful and even at second blush it seems awful and I think a lot of the lack of assists and the high turnovers are due to the 1x1 type of basketball. I think 1x1 basketball is a consequence of the constant turnover and especially when three of the players are pretty good at it. I the end, though, team basketball has to be the goal and I presume we will have to wait for next year before that begins to take place.

 

[Chubbs]

I wonder what March would like look taking away the two Milwaukee games and the sixers game. Let's be honest. Those are not nba teams.

But no surprise we've bottomed out shooting the 3. We dumped thornton and jimmer and got back Reggie Evans. A tank move if I've ever seen one. Those were also two of our top 3 guards. Going full rock bottom on the assists per game. Not shocking with only one decent guard on the roster.

And that one is sitting out tonight. This should be an adventure.

 

[Bricklayer]

I passed these along to someone who's acumen I trust in case you hear them popping up locally in Sacto at all.