After yet another blown lead resulting in a loss to an opponent with a worse record, there’s plenty of blame to go around. The players absolutely shoulder a big part of the blame. Poor decisions, bad turnovers, and a general lack of effort and attention were major contributors to Monday’s loss, and to several losses throughout the season. I personally think the questions about De’Aaron Fox’s leadership are overblown, but I was pretty unhappy seeing him smirking after throwing the ball away on a broken inbounds play in the final minutes of the game. Kings GM Monte McNair also shoulders some blame. The Kings glaring lack of length and defense have been apparent since last season, and yet we’ve seen two trade deadlines and a full offseason go by without these needs being addressed. The Kings have a full 15 man roster plus 3 two-way players, and yet on any given night it feels like there are only one or two bench players who you can truly rely on.
All of this is to say that there’s no single person to point the finger at, but today I’m asking some questions of Mike Brown.
Why doesn’t Alex Len play more?
If you eliminate guys who only appear in garbage time, do you know who has the highest net rating on the Kings? It’s Alex Len! With a net rating of +15.5! That’s a full 10 points higher than the next King. Would that net rating hold up in heavier minutes? Probably not, but I’m willing to bet it would still be pretty solid. Why? Because Len plays solid defense, doesn’t commit a ton of fouls, doesn’t try to do too much on offense, but is still able to contribute on the offensive end as a roll and lob threat.
Why didn’t you try Keon Ellis last night?
This is a question for the season as a whole, but especially after last night. Where in world was Keon Ellis when Coby White was carving up the Kings? Ellis started the previous game and played well! He racked up 4 steals and a block in 19 minutes against the Timberwolves, and the Kings felt it appropriate to glue him to the bench when the Kings were looking for a spark and trying to protect the lead? It makes no sense.
Why do you abandon the offensive scheme in crunch time?
This is perhaps my biggest pet peeve this season, and we’ve seen it come back to bite the Kings so many times. At its best, Sacramento’s offense is filled with movement, screens, actions, and passing to create open shots. And yet, time and time again this season we’ve seen the crunch-time Kings revert to Isolation basketball featuring De’Aaron Fox or Malik Monk. And yes, those two are pretty dang good at breaking down a defender in isolation, but it’s a heck of a lot harder to do when every opponent knows its coming. And the success rate this season feels like it’s about 2% (I have not checked the stats but my gut knows this to be true). Keegan Murray becomes an afterthought on offense in the fourth quarter. Sabonis’ screens are only utilized on the inbound. I simply don’t understand it.
***
So, Coach Brown, if you want to drop your responses in the comments, I would really appreciate it.
