De’Aaron “Austin Reaves Sr.” Fox
- Thread starter Tetsujin
- Start date
He needs to make a change at the free throw line. It's not working and is likely to really hurt the team in big games, like it did in this last elimination game. Doesn't make sense to be a better shooter from deep and still be a ~70% guy at the line.
Hire a coach to evaluate every detail and figure out ways to become an 80+ guy. You're capable, get it done
Hire a coach to evaluate every detail and figure out ways to become an 80+ guy. You're capable, get it done
He and Sabonis did have great individual seasons. What I can’t wrap my head around is how we didn’t make the playoffs. I know there’s a counter argument that we had 46 wins, but we can’t discount how diluted the bottom part of the league is (more teams with less than 30 wins than I can ever remember). Unfortunately, the West is filled with superstars in each of the teams above us. Perhaps it’s as simple as our best players are not better than the best players on the teams above us. Does anyone think any team above us in the West would trade their 2 best players for Fox and Sabonis?? Something to ponder and if we don’t see progress next year (i.e. win a playoff series) we need to seriously consider trading one of them before we dwell in 8-10 seed mediocrity and become the Hawks/Bulls of the west
The interesting thing is that if he shot 80% from the line this season (6.2% points higher), it would have only added another 26 points for the entire season and would have only increased his TS% from 56.7% to 57.4%. Instead of improving his FT% 6.2% points, he could improve his 2P% only 1.4% points or his 3P% 1.5% points and arrive at the same TS% (57.4%).
I think it’s obvious that if Fox reslly wants to get to that elite scoring tier he needs to either 1) increase his 2P% back to what it was during the 2022-23 season (while maintaining his 3P% from this season) or 2) draw more fouls and get to line more (even if his FT% doesn’t improve). For example, if his 2P% was equivalent to what it was last year, he would have averaged 28.2 PPG with a 60.1 TS% (which would have been 5th in the league).
I think it’s obvious that if Fox reslly wants to get to that elite scoring tier he needs to either 1) increase his 2P% back to what it was during the 2022-23 season (while maintaining his 3P% from this season) or 2) draw more fouls and get to line more (even if his FT% doesn’t improve). For example, if his 2P% was equivalent to what it was last year, he would have averaged 28.2 PPG with a 60.1 TS% (which would have been 5th in the league).
I couldn't disagree more. Kings fans are really hard on Fox and Sabonis for some reason. These guys are both All-Stars who made a strong case for being among the top 20 players in the league this season. Sabonis improved in almost every area but he continues to struggle in the mid-range and he doesn't have a go-to move in the post both of which have held him back as a go-to scorer. Now that he's a franchise cornerstone, he should dedicate himself to fixing those issues. Fox was astronomically better with his on-ball defense and three point shooting but he forced way too many long jumpers this season. He needs to pick his spots better and realize that he's the guy who needs to go get us a basket when the offense is flat-lining and the best way for him to do that is attacking off the dribble.
A lot of the teams that beat the Kings this season did not have superstars -- including New Orleans in the final game of the season (with Zion out injured). The toughest losses this season mostly came down to: finding productive bench players after Monk was difficult, the whole team struggled to make in-game adjustments, we were terrible at defending the three point line and in general need to communicate better on that end of the floor, our offense was way too reliant on making threes especially when nobody shot a high volume of them at an elite rate. I don't see any of this pointing to a lack of superstars or terrible coaching. Monte needs to improve the bench and get Sabonis some help on interior defense, Keegan needs to be more aggressive, Fox and Monk (if he returns) need to take better shots. None of this requires blowing it up and starting over.
A lot of the teams that beat the Kings this season did not have superstars -- including New Orleans in the final game of the season (with Zion out injured). The toughest losses this season mostly came down to: finding productive bench players after Monk was difficult, the whole team struggled to make in-game adjustments, we were terrible at defending the three point line and in general need to communicate better on that end of the floor, our offense was way too reliant on making threes especially when nobody shot a high volume of them at an elite rate. I don't see any of this pointing to a lack of superstars or terrible coaching. Monte needs to improve the bench and get Sabonis some help on interior defense, Keegan needs to be more aggressive, Fox and Monk (if he returns) need to take better shots. None of this requires blowing it up and starting over.
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Kings vs the top 7 seeds in the West:
OKC: 2-2
Nuggets: 3-1
Minny: 2-1
LAC: 2-2
Mavs: 2-2
Suns: 2-3
Lakers: 4-0
Total: 17-11
Which honestly, is pure insanity we were only able to manage 4 games above .500 vs the rest of the NBA. I think that gives credence to the fact that this squad and core DOES have tremendous upside to hang among the best teams in the league. But we absolutely have to fix the floor of this team and start bringing the sane intensity every night to inferior squads that we do against the elite teams in our conference. If you're able to clear 6 game above .500 vs the top 7 powerhouse west squads, there's no excuse to not clear 50 wins. That shows there's plenty of talent on the squad
OKC: 2-2
Nuggets: 3-1
Minny: 2-1
LAC: 2-2
Mavs: 2-2
Suns: 2-3
Lakers: 4-0
Total: 17-11
Which honestly, is pure insanity we were only able to manage 4 games above .500 vs the rest of the NBA. I think that gives credence to the fact that this squad and core DOES have tremendous upside to hang among the best teams in the league. But we absolutely have to fix the floor of this team and start bringing the sane intensity every night to inferior squads that we do against the elite teams in our conference. If you're able to clear 6 game above .500 vs the top 7 powerhouse west squads, there's no excuse to not clear 50 wins. That shows there's plenty of talent on the squad
That's all good, but the compounded problem is that both of our lead players in Fox and Sabonis are unreliable free throw shooters. It's an important detail, especially in close playoff style games.
Would be disappointing if he didn't commit to trying something different to improve, because someone convinced him "that it's not really that big of a deal". Great players and coaches don't think like that
Would be disappointing if he didn't commit to trying something different to improve, because someone convinced him "that it's not really that big of a deal". Great players and coaches don't think like that
....
I ALREADY stated previously that NOP kicked our ass in multiple threads. No need for a gotcha here, jesus
The point I was making is we played damn good vs the other 7 best teams in the West. You just can't be a bad team and go 17-11 vs those top 7, i'm sorry. That shows we have an actual ceiling as being a good team. Just our luck though, the one team that kicks our ass is the team we matched with in a win or go home.
I ALREADY stated previously that NOP kicked our ass in multiple threads. No need for a gotcha here, jesus
The point I was making is we played damn good vs the other 7 best teams in the West. You just can't be a bad team and go 17-11 vs those top 7, i'm sorry. That shows we have an actual ceiling as being a good team. Just our luck though, the one team that kicks our ass is the team we matched with in a win or go home.