Sacramento Kings: Great looks, average results.

November 3, 2023

The Sacramento Kings are 2-2 to start the season with two games of at least 130 Points. They’re averaging the 5th most Points per game in the league with 119.3 and have the 8th best Offensive Rating at 113.3. While the focus has been on defense, it seems like there has been room for improvement on offense as well, and that’s what the numbers show.

The good news is that the Kings are putting up 25.3 Wide-Open 3’s per game, which are shots with six or more feet of room between the shooter and the defender. That’s the second most in the league behind only the Pacers 28.0. The bad news is that the Kings are only making them at a 35.6% clip, good for 22nd in the NBA.

Unlike years past, the players who are taking the shots are the players you want taking the shots. Keegan Murray has 19 attempts through 4 games, Harrison Barnes has 14, and Monk has 13. It’s not like in past years where Chimezie Metu and Moe Harkless were getting numerous looks from 3. Those were more than likely by defensive design, this year’s are not. Unless teams are scheming to leave Keegan open from 3…

One of my running theories on why they aren’t hitting these looks at a high percentage is because they are putting so much effort into the defensive side of the ball. Playing defense is hard. There’s a reason if you go to pick up games in the park everyone stands around after the first or second game. Playing high quality defense for 48 minutes in the NBA must be exhausting.

If Keegan, Huerter, and co. are tired from defense, it makes sense that they would suffer on the offensive side of the ball. The hope is that as their conditioning gets better and they get into the season, the high intensity defense won’t affect their offense as much.

Thankfully, the poor shooting on these Wide-Open 3’s leads to a very clear path for offensive improvement. Sacramento is getting the looks they (presumably) want, all they have to do now is start knocking them down.