Despite poor shooting, Kings displayed new emphasis in 0-5 preseason

Despite their 0-5 preseason showing, the Sacramento Kings saw improvement in newly implimented points of emphasis.

Oct 21, 2024, 4:15 PM Updated: Oct 22, 2024, 10:42 am

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Luckily for the Sacramento Kings, wins don’t matter in preseason. Taking home every possible victory is always the goal, but preseason is a time to look at the deeper rotation and attempt to implement new schemes.

That logic helps dim their 0-5 preseason record, and it seems they view it the same way internally.

“Obviously, going into the preseason, you want to play the right way,” De’Aaron Fox said after Friday’s practice. “But at the end of the day, you can’t really look at the wins and losses because it’s not the same.”

The last teams to end the preseason winless after playing at least five games were the 2022-23 Hornets and Bucks. Milwaukee (58-24) ended up with the best record in the regular season, while Charlotte (27-55) placed 14th in the Eastern Conference. Preseason records simply haven’t correlated with subsequent season results.

It’s about the process, and some of their newly implemented priorities were fully displayed — particularly on the offensive glass.

It’s been maybe the most prominent new point of emphasis up to this point, but the King’s second-chance opportunities ballooned in the preseason. They secured 31.9 percent of their misses, the 7th highest rate in the preseason.

Last year, that number sat at 28.5 percent, 15th in the league. Rebound-King Domantas Sabonis had 19 offensive rebounds. Alex Len secured nine. Keon Ellis (7), Isaac Jones (6), Isaiah Crawford (6), and Keegan Murray (6) all contributed as well.

SAC created open catch-and-shoot looks in the preseason, but didn’t knock them down.

Unguarded C&S:
Preseason: 16.4/g on 26.8%
2023-24: 16.6/g on 40.5%

They’ll hit more shots.

But, their emphasis on off rebounding was clear. OREB% increased from 28.5% (15th) to 31.9% (7th). pic.twitter.com/YMRcDMVKev

— Brenden Nunes (@BrendenNunesNBA) October 22, 2024

Triples after offensive rebounds, or “dagger threes,” as head coach Mike Brown calls them, are one of the most efficient shots in basketball and something the Kings are looking to find more of.

Of course, an offensive board is only available on a missed shot, and the Kings missed plenty — hence the prior use of offensive rebound percentage rather than offensive rebounds per game, where Sacramento ranked 2nd (14.8).

Their 25.4 three-point percentage ranked 32nd in the preseason, below the New Zealand Breakers.

According to Synergy Sports, Sacramento created 82 (16.4 per game) “unguarded” catch-and-shoot threes but converted just 26.8 percent of them. That’s a similar rate to last season, where they shot 40.5 percent on said looks.

“We live with those results,” Fox said. “We can’t be a result-oriented person or team, but as a team, you definitely love the quality of looks we’re getting, and, at the end of the day, we have to start knocking them down if we want to win games.

Keep that in mind when looking at their 99.5 offensive rating (28th). “In our player’s defense, I’ve only allowed them to play really out of our flow,” Brown said of their offensive struggles.

“I’m hoping that they get used to it so that when we play in flow in the game while mixing in our other actions, it’s a lot easier to do in the future. So, part of it’s our fault, and part of it’s their fault in terms of taking too many chances on the turnovers.”

Brown and Fox shared the thought of being optimistic about their offense in the first two preseason games against Golden State, while the turnovers in games three through five — 27 against Portland and 23 versus the Clippers — were the primary issue.

“For us, it’s just kind of (being) indecisive,” Fox said. “Obviously, trying to play within ourselves, trying to play with new guys, and then kind of the wrinkles that we’ve changed in our offense, but with that, it comes with chemistry and then obviously trying to do things at not 100 mph all the time but playing with pace and then, like I said, just learning a little bit of a new offense.”

New additions such as DeMar DeRozan, Jordan McLaughlin, and Doug McDermott got a chance to get accustomed to their primary offensive flows with minimal play calls. They increased their offensive rebounding rate and missed quality-created looks from the perimeter.

While owning the second-lowest preseason effective field goal percentage (47.2 percent) was far from ideal, there seems to be minimal concern about the team’s offense heading into the regular season.