Bricklayer
Don't Make Me Use The Bat
The Kings are not ready to win a title yet. Not this year, not next. But they are blossoming before our eyes here as a young team who may one day be a major factor, and I was off looking at some stats today. A couple of things leaped out:
1) Rebounding. For years and years and years and YEARS rebounding has been a bugaboo for this franchise. Much of that was because we simply refused to play fullsized frontcourt players, and when we did have a fullsized guy, most of the time they were glued to the floor. Well that all changed. We now start one of the bggest frontcourt rotations in the league in Dalembert, Cousins and Thompson, and the results show. On the season the Kings are 3rd in the NBA in rebounding. 3rd. Us. At 43.9rebs/game. Only Chicago and Minnesota grab more. If you want to go reb differential, we are 4th, with only Chicago, Orlando, and the Lakers ahead of us. Furthermore we have been completely dominating since the Landry trade. In March we have had two guys average double doubles (cousins at 16.2pts 10.3reb Dalembert at 11.3pts 11.0rebs) and Jason has come off the bench for 8.5pts 7.5rebs. Meanwhile we just came off a game where we had two guards grab more than 10 themselves. In the last 10 games we have completely dominated people, leading the entire league in that time with 48.1rebs/gm (nobody else is close, Orlando is second at 45.5) and outrebounding teams by 9.5rebs a game. We are huge and we are battering people in there. Us, the Sacramento Kings. We should think long and hard before we give that away/break that up in the offseason.
2) Passing. All season long, and even before, a concern has been there about where would the passing come from. A vocal contingent has long advocated acquiring a pure PG. On the season we are only 25th in the league in assists, at 20.2 ast/gm. But again, look what has been happening. In the month of March our assist totals have shot up to 22.2 ast/gm, good for 10th/11th in the league, and just ahead of the Lakers and Chciago totals on the season. Thronton has turned out to be a willing ball mover, we have gotten a huge boost by beginning to run the old Princeton stuff with Cousins, who is leading all NBA bigs in assists since the break with 4.3 a game, Dalembert has surprised with his passing ability, and Reke has come back to us using his penetration to set people up as often as he finishes himself. We've had no single mega-assist player, but Beno has given us 6.0ast, Reke 5.7ast in limited minutes, Cousins 4.3, Thornton 3.6, and wasn't that the way it was back inthe golden era when Bibby/Christie/Vlade/Webb all divied up the duties? This too has accelerated in the last 10 games, and in particular since Reke's return. In the last 10 games we are averaging 23.3ast. In the last 5 games 23.7ast. With a few steadying moves over the summer, could we already have our passing answers in town?
1) Rebounding. For years and years and years and YEARS rebounding has been a bugaboo for this franchise. Much of that was because we simply refused to play fullsized frontcourt players, and when we did have a fullsized guy, most of the time they were glued to the floor. Well that all changed. We now start one of the bggest frontcourt rotations in the league in Dalembert, Cousins and Thompson, and the results show. On the season the Kings are 3rd in the NBA in rebounding. 3rd. Us. At 43.9rebs/game. Only Chicago and Minnesota grab more. If you want to go reb differential, we are 4th, with only Chicago, Orlando, and the Lakers ahead of us. Furthermore we have been completely dominating since the Landry trade. In March we have had two guys average double doubles (cousins at 16.2pts 10.3reb Dalembert at 11.3pts 11.0rebs) and Jason has come off the bench for 8.5pts 7.5rebs. Meanwhile we just came off a game where we had two guards grab more than 10 themselves. In the last 10 games we have completely dominated people, leading the entire league in that time with 48.1rebs/gm (nobody else is close, Orlando is second at 45.5) and outrebounding teams by 9.5rebs a game. We are huge and we are battering people in there. Us, the Sacramento Kings. We should think long and hard before we give that away/break that up in the offseason.
2) Passing. All season long, and even before, a concern has been there about where would the passing come from. A vocal contingent has long advocated acquiring a pure PG. On the season we are only 25th in the league in assists, at 20.2 ast/gm. But again, look what has been happening. In the month of March our assist totals have shot up to 22.2 ast/gm, good for 10th/11th in the league, and just ahead of the Lakers and Chciago totals on the season. Thronton has turned out to be a willing ball mover, we have gotten a huge boost by beginning to run the old Princeton stuff with Cousins, who is leading all NBA bigs in assists since the break with 4.3 a game, Dalembert has surprised with his passing ability, and Reke has come back to us using his penetration to set people up as often as he finishes himself. We've had no single mega-assist player, but Beno has given us 6.0ast, Reke 5.7ast in limited minutes, Cousins 4.3, Thornton 3.6, and wasn't that the way it was back inthe golden era when Bibby/Christie/Vlade/Webb all divied up the duties? This too has accelerated in the last 10 games, and in particular since Reke's return. In the last 10 games we are averaging 23.3ast. In the last 5 games 23.7ast. With a few steadying moves over the summer, could we already have our passing answers in town?
Last edited:
