[Game] (Preseason) Sacramento Kings at Utah Jazz, 10/15/2024 6pm Pacific, 9pm Eastern (League Pass)
- Thread starter Caccia
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Like late last year, the best lineups looked to be the guard ones. The Kings size issue begins and ends with Domas playing rim protector. He needs to be more of a mobile, attack towards the pick and roll, slide his feet, and positioning big. Not someone you funnel to as help. I'm seeing more and more reasons why Carter was the pick on draft night. He can actually do a lot of the things the Kings want on both help and as a POA defender. He indeed can't come back fast enough.
I do like the Sabonis-Len tryout at the 4-5 spot ... I still like that lineup in stretches. I believe it was +3 last night in limited minutes. They can tinker with it though - I don't think Len has to just chill in the corner on lineups like that ...
1 - They can run double screen action w/ both of them at top of key
2- they can run Sabonis/Len handoff at top, and one of them in dunker's spot ...
3- They can have Sabonis facilitate up top & Len is in dunker spot (like Gordon on Nuggets)
I actually prefer the above 3 routes as opposed to sticking Len in corner cause both guys are closer to basket for offensive rebounds which is a strength of that lineup. Key is doing it w/ DeRozan off of floor. If they do that, spacing isn't much more of an issue than a DeRozan/Sabonis unit really.
Defensively, it would function like a Brook Lopez-Giannis sort of thing - Len would try to stay down low like Lopez, Sabonis can run around if he can ... Especially against poor shooting teams or bigger 3-4-5 matchups it would make sense.
1 - They can run double screen action w/ both of them at top of key
2- they can run Sabonis/Len handoff at top, and one of them in dunker's spot ...
3- They can have Sabonis facilitate up top & Len is in dunker spot (like Gordon on Nuggets)
I actually prefer the above 3 routes as opposed to sticking Len in corner cause both guys are closer to basket for offensive rebounds which is a strength of that lineup. Key is doing it w/ DeRozan off of floor. If they do that, spacing isn't much more of an issue than a DeRozan/Sabonis unit really.
Defensively, it would function like a Brook Lopez-Giannis sort of thing - Len would try to stay down low like Lopez, Sabonis can run around if he can ... Especially against poor shooting teams or bigger 3-4-5 matchups it would make sense.
Perhaps it’s just me, but the spacing seems worse than last year thus far. I’ve seen multiple times where a player is sagging off of DeRozan an extra step.
For instance, there was a play against the Jazz where Fox had the ball at the top of the key with DeRozan standing above the 3PT break on the right side and Murray was above the 3PT break on the left side. Murray’s defender was not hugging him but he was a step away from the paint whereas DeRozan’s defender had one foot in the paint and one foot outside the paint. At the same time, Fox’s POA defender was trying to funnel him to the right (DeRozan’s help defender). In the end, Fox made a move or two at the top of the key and ended up taking a contested pull up 3 at the top and missed.
I know I was one of the posters here that was skeptical of how the spacing would work for Fox and Sabonis (not so much for DeRozan since Fox is a pretty good floor spacer for others) after we made the move for DeRozan. I’m not overly optimistic with what I have seen so far but it would be pretty reckless to make any hard conclusions after 4 preseason games. We’ll have to give this team at least 15-20 regular season games to see how this is going to work.
On a somewhat unrealistic side note, Markkanen would have been a hell of a fit in our offense at PF. Now that would have been some extreme spacing for Fox & Sabonis with Ellis, Murray, & Markkanen shooting from the perimeter while having another go-to option in Markkanen to help Fox out but I digress…
For instance, there was a play against the Jazz where Fox had the ball at the top of the key with DeRozan standing above the 3PT break on the right side and Murray was above the 3PT break on the left side. Murray’s defender was not hugging him but he was a step away from the paint whereas DeRozan’s defender had one foot in the paint and one foot outside the paint. At the same time, Fox’s POA defender was trying to funnel him to the right (DeRozan’s help defender). In the end, Fox made a move or two at the top of the key and ended up taking a contested pull up 3 at the top and missed.
I know I was one of the posters here that was skeptical of how the spacing would work for Fox and Sabonis (not so much for DeRozan since Fox is a pretty good floor spacer for others) after we made the move for DeRozan. I’m not overly optimistic with what I have seen so far but it would be pretty reckless to make any hard conclusions after 4 preseason games. We’ll have to give this team at least 15-20 regular season games to see how this is going to work.
On a somewhat unrealistic side note, Markkanen would have been a hell of a fit in our offense at PF. Now that would have been some extreme spacing for Fox & Sabonis with Ellis, Murray, & Markkanen shooting from the perimeter while having another go-to option in Markkanen to help Fox out but I digress…
Perhaps, but we also saw that first game where we dropped 66 in the first half vs the Warriors and just literally got whatever shot we wanted at any point. Mixed bag for sure, but we've at least seen the highs this thing can be offensively too.
The big difference i see is Domas sets at the elbow now instead of coming to the 3 point line to work the DHO stuff. I think that elbow set in particular has been pretty good with DDR.
But, mostly, I think the offense has just been us missing open 3s. I distinctly recall on the a t same Warriors game where Keon flat out bricked 3 perfect c&s 3s set up by derozan collapsing the defense.
Ancillary guys have to hit shots this year. I really love the amount of paint pressure we are getting, but doesn't matter if those guys can't hit. That's where a McBuckets might work himself into a real role early if no one else is hitting those open kick outs with consistency.
I also haven't seen concerns at all with spacing. Defenders are hugging DDR the whole game; they aren't sagging off him at all. Us not hitting shots =/= bad spacing
The big difference i see is Domas sets at the elbow now instead of coming to the 3 point line to work the DHO stuff. I think that elbow set in particular has been pretty good with DDR.
But, mostly, I think the offense has just been us missing open 3s. I distinctly recall on the a t same Warriors game where Keon flat out bricked 3 perfect c&s 3s set up by derozan collapsing the defense.
Ancillary guys have to hit shots this year. I really love the amount of paint pressure we are getting, but doesn't matter if those guys can't hit. That's where a McBuckets might work himself into a real role early if no one else is hitting those open kick outs with consistency.
I also haven't seen concerns at all with spacing. Defenders are hugging DDR the whole game; they aren't sagging off him at all. Us not hitting shots =/= bad spacing
I guess the point of my post is that I’ve seen multiple times where defenders aren’t “hugging DDR” (which was why I also gave a specific example).
Again, I’d like to build the sample size on this and revisit it down the road, but it does seem like the paint is clogged more thus far and I have noticed instances where defenders seem to be giving DeRozan more space off the ball (which I assume is because they know they can close out to a midrange shot quicker or just live with DeRozan shooting a three).
Now is that “clogged paint” feeling more due to us simply shooting poorly in these games (thus teams recognize this in the game and are more willing to sag off everybody) or is it due to swapping out a shooter like Barnes for DeRozan? Time will tell. It’ll be an interesting season to watch, nonetheless, to see if we can be a top offensive team with this core/roster.
Again, I’d like to build the sample size on this and revisit it down the road, but it does seem like the paint is clogged more thus far and I have noticed instances where defenders seem to be giving DeRozan more space off the ball (which I assume is because they know they can close out to a midrange shot quicker or just live with DeRozan shooting a three).
Now is that “clogged paint” feeling more due to us simply shooting poorly in these games (thus teams recognize this in the game and are more willing to sag off everybody) or is it due to swapping out a shooter like Barnes for DeRozan? Time will tell. It’ll be an interesting season to watch, nonetheless, to see if we can be a top offensive team with this core/roster.
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