SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Something strange happened to the Kings over the last three weeks of the season. They got good at defense.
They still finished last in the league with the second-worst defensive rating in NBA history due to their turnstile tactics over the first 59 games, but the last 13 games were a totally different story.
For six days in April and 16 days in May, the Kings weren’t historically bad on defense. They were good — really good — posting the ninth-best defensive rating in the league. They held four opponents under 100 points and four more under 110, going 7-6 down the stretch to make one last push for a play-in spot.
The reason it was troubling to see the Kings suddenly deploy a top-10 defense was because they did it with a collection of undrafted players, second-round picks and trade-deadline castaways while core players sat out due to illness and injuries. They did it with Delon Wright, Terence Davis, Maurice Harkless, Damian Jones, Chimezie Metu and Justin James. More to the point, they did it without De’Aaron Fox, mostly without Tyrese Haliburton and Harrison Barnes, and partly without Marvin Bagley III.
Kings coach Luke Walton was asked to explain the defensive disparity after the Kings finished 31-41, posting their 15th consecutive losing season to match the longest playoff drought in NBA history. Why did a random assortment of backups with little time together form a more cohesive defensive unit than the core group the Kings have been building around? The explanation was valid, and lengthy, and it was the same thing Kings fans have heard since Dave Joerger was coaching the team in 2018-19.
“Part of it is the core of what’s being built here is a lot of young players, and young players normally figure out offense a lot sooner than they figure out defense,” Walton said. “So you start playing vets with Delon and Moe with length and understanding, and two guys who, a lot of what they’ve done in this league is because of what they do on defense, then your defensive numbers are going to start to pick up. I also think (it helped) with D. Jones, having some more size in there, and him getting more comfortable with what we were trying to do scheme-wise.
“And for some of the younger players, part of it is your body naturally takes longer to mature and fill out. You’re trying to figure out what the league is still. There are a lot of different schemes. There are a lot of different tendencies. I could go down to Moe Harkless right now and ask him about any player he’s covered in the last eight years, and I’m sure he would know all of his tendencies. With young players, you might know some of the kids you played against in college, and that’s about it, so some of it just comes with time and strength and understanding on that end.”
By the numbers
This underscores the inconvenient truth for Sacramento. Some of the most promising young players the Kings have built around in recent years have been their biggest defensive liabilities. It’s not necessarily an indictment on each of those players individually, but collectively they have lacked the strength, physicality and awareness needed to compete at the defensive end.
The Kings were 30th in the NBA this season with a defensive rating of 116.5, meaning they allowed 116.5 points per 100 possessions. That was the second-worst mark in league history behind the 2018-19 Cleveland Cavaliers (117.6). The Kings might have threatened that dubious record if they hadn’t posted a much-improved defensive rating of 110.2 over the last 13 games. Their offensive rating dipped with Fox, Haliburton, Barnes and others out of the lineup over those last three weeks, but their minus-0.9 net rating was far better than their season mark of minus-3.8.
There were other signs of trouble, too. The Kings were 26th in opponent’s 3-point percentage (.380), 28th in opponent’s points per game (117.4), 29th in opponent’s points in the paint (53.4) and 30th in opponent’s field-goal percentage (.488). They were also 30th in rebounding (41.4) and 26th in opponent’s second-chance points (14.0).
Walton sounded the alarm before the All-Star break when the Kings had a defensive rating of 119.1, issuing a public plea for players to guard their men for “at least two dribbles.”
“In our film session, I had about 15 to 20 clips of us,” Walton said. “We have to be able contain the ball for at least two dribbles. We can get help after two or three dribbles, but right now we’re bleeding a lot of points by letting people drive us to the front of the rim.”
Harkless had his own take on the team’s defensive issues after coming to Sacramento at the trade deadline.
“I think it’s just a matter of going out there and wanting to do it,” Harkless said. “I feel like we have the ability to go out and guard guys and we showed that at the end of the season. It’s hard. It takes work. It’s not fun sometimes, but it’s how you win games.”
Exit interviews
This was a hot topic during exit interviews when the season ended. Players, coaches and front office officials discussed defense internally and in Zoom sessions with the media.
“Defensively, it goes without saying, has to be much improved,” Kings general manager Monte McNair said. “Luke and I recognize that. We’re going to work together to improve that.”
McNair has already added complementary players with more size, length and defensive prowess, but the Kings need more from Fox and Haliburton. The same is true for Richaun Holmes, Buddy Hield, Barnes and Bagley if they remain with the team. Fox and Haliburton both seem to be embracing the challenge.
“I was talking to Monte about, defensively, what we need to do,” Fox said. “Starting with me and Ty on the ball, we both have to be better defensively on that end next year. If we’re good as a tandem, as a backcourt, defensively, I think it will uplift our team and what we’re doing.”
Fox missed the last 13 games with COVID-19. Barnes missed the last 11 with adductor tightness. Haliburton missed the last eight with a knee injury. Wright, Davis and Harkless stepped in to show them how defense is done.
“Having guys like Moe and TD and Delon, those guys are long defenders who can really get into the ball, get into passing lanes and stay solid,” Fox said. “So, as a team, we see where we need to be coming into next year.”
Interestingly, the defensive improvement involved Hield and Bagley, two of team’s most maligned defenders. During that stretch, Bagley had the lowest individual defensive rating (99.4) and opponent’s field-goal percentage (.417) on the team, although he appeared in only six of those games. Hield appeared in all 13, ranking fifth in individual defensive rating (106.7) and fourth in opponent’s field-goal percentage (.457).
Are Kings a young team?
Many Kings fans are tired of hearing they have a young team. Haliburton doesn’t want to hear it either.
“We’re not that young,” he said. “We’re just inexperienced.”
However, there is still some truth to the notion that the Kings are a young team. They were the eighth-youngest team in the NBA at the start of the season with an average age of 25.57. At the end of the season, their average age was down to 24.7, tied for the seventh-youngest team in the league.
Haliburton turned 21 in February. Bagley turned 22 in March. Fox turned 23 in December. Davis, James, Jones and Metu are all under the age of 26. Some of them still have a chance to add size and strength. Fox added muscle mass to his upper body last offseason. Haliburton and Bagley could benefit from a similar program this summer.
“There are different ways,” Walton said. “The weight room is a big one. Sign up and take some boxing classes. I’ve seen players and teammates do that. There’s mental training you can do. There are lots of apps out there. There are different ways to train to get bigger, to get stronger.”
Haliburton said that is one of his primary offseason goals.
“Obviously, getting stronger is a big part,” he said. “Just kind of coming into my man body or whatever — just living in the weight room.”
Targeting defense
McNair has already executed a series of small moves to improve the roster since he came aboard in September to replace former general manager Vlade Divac. There will be more changes to come.
The moves McNair made at the trade deadline might offer some clue to what he will do through the draft, free agency and trades. He acquired Wright in the deal that sent Cory Joseph to the Detroit Pistons. He sent a future second-round draft pick to the Toronto Raptors for Davis. He traded Nemanja Bjelica to the Miami Heat for Harkless and Jones.
Wright and Jones have one year remaining on their contracts. Davis will be a restricted free agent. Harkless will be an unrestricted free agent.
McNair will try to make additional moves to improve the team’s defense and depth, but the Kings know they’ll need more from their young core if they want to end the franchise’s 15-year playoff drought.
“Going into the deadline, we targeted defense, players who could help us guard the ball on the perimeter, give us length, give us some tenacity on that end, and I think we did see that over the second half, especially at the end,” McNair said. “Over the last two or three weeks of the year, we were a significantly improved defense, and I think those guys were certainly a big part of that.
“We need to be significantly better on defense. Those three guys, I think, exemplified a lot of what we’ll try to do on that end. We’ll continue to look for other players and continue to improve our current players as well to get our defense where it needs to be so we can get back to the postseason.”
