Scouting the Kings: Passing? Defense? Jimmer!

Case Briefing

The San Antonio Spurs (10-5) return home to face the Sacramento Kings (5-10) after the Spurs earned their first road win of the season against the Orlando Magic on Wednesday.

Tonight, a continued perfect home record (currently 9-0) can be achieved if the Spurs are able to defeat the Kings.

Case No. 16: Sacramento Kings

Record: 5-10                        Road: 1-7

• Offensive production: The Kings average 90 points on offense, and shoot 39% from the floor per game.

• Defensive production (allowance): The Kings don’t play much defense as they allow their opponents to score 101 points per game. The Kings are ranked second to last in points allowed in the entire league. Their opponents shoot 48% from the field on average.

Last 10 games: 3-7

Commendable areas for the Kings

• Rebounding: The Kings are ranked seventh in the league in rebounding at 44 rebounds per game.

• Defeated worthy foes: The Kings have two notable victories as they defeated the Los Angeles Lakers in Sacramento’s first game of the season, and Wednesday, they defeated the Indiana Pacers.

• Get to the line: The Kings are ranked fifth in the league with 26.9 free throw attempts per game.

Deficient areas for the Kings

• No passing allowed! The Kings are ranked dead last in the NBA with an average of just 14.7 assists per game. From what I’ve seen of the Kings in past seasons and their rookies college career, is: Evans is known as a scoring guard, Jimmer is known as a shoot first, pass second guard, and Cousins is known to want to get “his” numbers at times.

• They shoot plenty of shots, but miss. The Kings shoot 83.7 shot per game as they’re tied at second in the league for most field goal attempts. The problem is that Sacramento only makes 32.6 of their shots, which is tied for 29th in the league.

Who wears the purple, black, and white?

Backcourt

Starter: Tyreke Evans- 16.3 points, 1.4 steals

Starter: Marcus Thorton- 17.6 points, 1.8 steals

Jimmer Fredette- 7.1 points, 28% 3PT

Isaiah Thomas- 6.2 points

The Wing

Starter: John Salmons- 7.6 points, 1.1 steals

Fransisco Garcia

Travis Outlaw

Frontcourt

Starter: DeMarcus Cousins- 13.9 points, 10.4 rebounds, 1 steal, 1.6 blocks

Starter: J.J. Hickson- 6.9 points, 7.1 rebounds

Jason Thompson

Donte Greene

Chuck Hayes

Hassan Whiteside

Who shoots the most on the Kings?

Marcus Thorton (15.4 FGA), Tyreke Evans (14.1 FGA), DeMarcus Cousins (11.6 FGA), John Salmons (8.7 FGA), and Jimmer Fredette (8 FGA) shoot the most for the Kings. Keep in mind Evans (6.0 FTA) and Cousins (5.4 FTA) are the two Kings who get to the free throw line the most.

I’m hoping to see…

• Rookie Kawhi Leonard get some time defending the Kings combo guard Tyreke Evans. Evans is a crafty scorer and after Tony Parker played over 40 minutes of Wednesday, head coach Gregg Popovich could let Leonard defend Evans for periods if Parker needs rest or Evans get’s on a roll.

• DeMarcus Cousins’ on-the-court antics. Cousins is one of those players who wears his emotions on his sleeve. You’ll be sure to see plenty of times he displays his emotions as he gets mad at himself, or possibly an official.

Game expectation

Though the Kings are coming off a win, the team still hasn’t won a road game since defeating the Toronto Raptors. Throw in the fact that the Spurs shoot a high percentage at home and the Kings allow a high percentage, this game should be one of those games where we see Malcolm Thomas and James Anderson playing the majority of the fourth quarter.

But hey, the “Jimmer” is in town!