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.
So do the analysis. Sabonis is one of the more consistent players in the entire league in effort and production. So who is next on the list? Fox, of course. He's the most talented player on the team and a blind man can see how inconsistent he's been. He's the poster child for a player who gets up against better teams, not so much against poorer teams. And heck, he took the month of January off. Now that's what I call inconsistent. So here is the "co-leader" of the team being probably the most inconsistent player on the team. Maybe Barnes ties him for Co-Inconsistent Player of the Team. He's visible in one game and invisible in the next, but if memory serves I don't think he took an entire month off. So who else on the team is very inconsistent? Not Murray. He consistently gives the effort. Just look at his defense. He did have an inconsistent year in offensive production, however. Heurter? He was consistently bad this year.
He's been inconsistent from year to year in his offensive production. I wouldn't say his effort was inconsistent. Just the opposite. His effort was consistently pretty high, imo; he just couldn't do much with it. So that's the starting lineup. The question is, how are you going to transform their inconsistent effort and production into consistent effort and production?
He's been inconsistent from year to year in his offensive production. I wouldn't say his effort was inconsistent. Just the opposite. His effort was consistently pretty high, imo; he just couldn't do much with it. So that's the starting lineup. The question is, how are you going to transform their inconsistent effort and production into consistent effort and production?
Was someone trying to make a case that the Kings are a bad team?
The problem is that it seems no other good team struggles against New Orleans. They're not a contender, yet they dominate the Kings.
The Kings have been a good team with a winning record for two seasons now, so the ceiling you mentioned has basically already been reached. They're not a contender by any stretch. Something major needs to happen, in order for a more desirable ceiling to be possible.
The problem is that it seems no other good team struggles against New Orleans. They're not a contender, yet they dominate the Kings.
The Kings have been a good team with a winning record for two seasons now, so the ceiling you mentioned has basically already been reached. They're not a contender by any stretch. Something major needs to happen, in order for a more desirable ceiling to be possible.
There seems to be a lot of emotional thinking going on regarding Monk. Bringing him back at a relatively high cost, is not going to raise the ceiling of this team. He's not an All Star type player,...he's not even a two way player. He's a microwave scorer off the bench, which is great,....if you can also get and still afford someone else who is a star two way player.
Similar to the emotional attachment that fans had for an exciting in player in Jason Williams on winning teams, even though potentially continuing on with him proved to not be the answer for raising the ceiling of that team. Fans will get over Monk moving on, if it frees up the team to find a better overall player.
Let Monk go start for someone else, if it comes down to that. It isn't likely to be something that makes them a contender and the mistake that doesn't allow the Kings to become one.
Similar to the emotional attachment that fans had for an exciting in player in Jason Williams on winning teams, even though potentially continuing on with him proved to not be the answer for raising the ceiling of that team. Fans will get over Monk moving on, if it frees up the team to find a better overall player.
Let Monk go start for someone else, if it comes down to that. It isn't likely to be something that makes them a contender and the mistake that doesn't allow the Kings to become one.
You’re not making sense here. This is a false statement.
Only 3 teams in the West won less than 30 games this season. Which actually happens frequently. Most recently it happened in 20-21 and 20-22. The East had 4 teams finish with less than 30 in 20-21 and a staggering 7 teams in 2019-2020. Granted, that season only played 72, 73 games, but still — the West only had 2 teams finish with less than 30 that same season.
The West is just loaded. And has been for a long while, sans an injury plagued season here or there.
The #11 seed in the West just finished .500 at 41-41. The top 10 seeds finished with 46 wins or better.
When there’s that much depth and parity, 46 wins isn’t necessarily a negative. Because pretty much every team in the West can beat any of the others on any given night.
The KINGS 16-14 record against the East is certainly concerning, considering their 30-22 record against the superior and deeper West and especially considering their record against the West’s top seeds. But that can sometimes be misleading due to the travel involved in playing against the East as well as the long road trips. Still, they took too many L’s against the bottom tier teams and that helped do them in wrt to earning an automatic playoff bid.
Circling back to the main point, the bottom of the league was not overly diluted. In fact, from 1-10 it was rather strong, with Houston being an drastically improved 11th team. And I suspect Memphis and San Antonio to be improved 12th and 13th teams next season. The Spurs were already playing very well the last month or so. And Utah is yet another team that could make a jump and complicate things out West.
Honestly, I can easily see a scenario where the KINGS take a step or two forward in terms of being a better, more well-rounded team while still winning only 46-48 games again due to the depth in the West, especially if Memphis rebounds and the likes of HOU, SA, and UTAH all get better.
Only 3 teams in the West won less than 30 games this season. Which actually happens frequently. Most recently it happened in 20-21 and 20-22. The East had 4 teams finish with less than 30 in 20-21 and a staggering 7 teams in 2019-2020. Granted, that season only played 72, 73 games, but still — the West only had 2 teams finish with less than 30 that same season.
The West is just loaded. And has been for a long while, sans an injury plagued season here or there.
The #11 seed in the West just finished .500 at 41-41. The top 10 seeds finished with 46 wins or better.
When there’s that much depth and parity, 46 wins isn’t necessarily a negative. Because pretty much every team in the West can beat any of the others on any given night.
The KINGS 16-14 record against the East is certainly concerning, considering their 30-22 record against the superior and deeper West and especially considering their record against the West’s top seeds. But that can sometimes be misleading due to the travel involved in playing against the East as well as the long road trips. Still, they took too many L’s against the bottom tier teams and that helped do them in wrt to earning an automatic playoff bid.
Circling back to the main point, the bottom of the league was not overly diluted. In fact, from 1-10 it was rather strong, with Houston being an drastically improved 11th team. And I suspect Memphis and San Antonio to be improved 12th and 13th teams next season. The Spurs were already playing very well the last month or so. And Utah is yet another team that could make a jump and complicate things out West.
Honestly, I can easily see a scenario where the KINGS take a step or two forward in terms of being a better, more well-rounded team while still winning only 46-48 games again due to the depth in the West, especially if Memphis rebounds and the likes of HOU, SA, and UTAH all get better.
No, they don’t. One fluke season doesn’t create an emergency. The KINGS were 4-2 against NOP the previous 2 seasons. The Pels were largely the same team.
Do you think the LAL are panicking after 0-4 against the KINGS and drastically turning over their roster because of it? Hell, they are 0-10 versus Denver but nobody blows that out of proportion to the same degree as this KINGS-Pels anomaly. SMH.
Relax, people. The Pels aren’t a huge concern. I told all my friends at our watch party that the Pels would get swept by OKC and that’s about to happen. Because they aren’t all that good. Pretty mediocre if you ask me, and was crashing just like the KINGS the last few weeks. They just had a fortunate season against the KINGS where the stars aligned and they played well while the KINGS typically didn’t. Then it got in the KINGS head a bit.
That kind of thing happens all the time in sports. Mediocre pitchers dominate great hitters and vice versa in baseball. A top tennis player has the number of another great player for a string of matches, but then it can suddenly change just like that.
I mean, it just happened to the KINGS. They went from 4-2 against NOP the past 2 seasons to 0-6 this season. Meanwhile, the KINGS are 7-1 against LAL the past 2 seasons and for all we know that could change next season. Things happen.
I mean, didn‘t the KINGS just turn the tables on Golden State after going 1-3 during the regular season then losing to the Warriors at home in game 7 of their 1st round series then losing the 1st two matchups this season? They won the next 3 games against the Warriors, including what essentially was a game 7, one-game-winner-take-all situation.
Why some are so fixated on this one anomaly is baffling. If it happens again next season, then I‘d better understand the concern.
Do you think the LAL are panicking after 0-4 against the KINGS and drastically turning over their roster because of it? Hell, they are 0-10 versus Denver but nobody blows that out of proportion to the same degree as this KINGS-Pels anomaly. SMH.
Relax, people. The Pels aren’t a huge concern. I told all my friends at our watch party that the Pels would get swept by OKC and that’s about to happen. Because they aren’t all that good. Pretty mediocre if you ask me, and was crashing just like the KINGS the last few weeks. They just had a fortunate season against the KINGS where the stars aligned and they played well while the KINGS typically didn’t. Then it got in the KINGS head a bit.
That kind of thing happens all the time in sports. Mediocre pitchers dominate great hitters and vice versa in baseball. A top tennis player has the number of another great player for a string of matches, but then it can suddenly change just like that.
I mean, it just happened to the KINGS. They went from 4-2 against NOP the past 2 seasons to 0-6 this season. Meanwhile, the KINGS are 7-1 against LAL the past 2 seasons and for all we know that could change next season. Things happen.
I mean, didn‘t the KINGS just turn the tables on Golden State after going 1-3 during the regular season then losing to the Warriors at home in game 7 of their 1st round series then losing the 1st two matchups this season? They won the next 3 games against the Warriors, including what essentially was a game 7, one-game-winner-take-all situation.
Why some are so fixated on this one anomaly is baffling. If it happens again next season, then I‘d better understand the concern.
You can’t reason with the unreasonable. Lol.
You can bet that if the KINGS had gone 6-0 against NOP this season while also going 11-17 against the top 7 — the same folks dwelling on the Pelicans thing would be sweeping the KINGS 6-0 record under the carpet while focusing their attention (and complaining) toward a new agenda that the KINGS can’t beat the better teams in the conference.
Tell me I’m wrong.
They’ll always focus on what the team can’t do or isn’t doing over what they can do and are doing.
You can bet that if the KINGS had gone 6-0 against NOP this season while also going 11-17 against the top 7 — the same folks dwelling on the Pelicans thing would be sweeping the KINGS 6-0 record under the carpet while focusing their attention (and complaining) toward a new agenda that the KINGS can’t beat the better teams in the conference.
Tell me I’m wrong.
They’ll always focus on what the team can’t do or isn’t doing over what they can do and are doing.
The Kings absolutely could have won the last game. They held them to a reasonable amount of points (105) but shot like poop, over relying on 3 pointers and shooting themselves out of the game in the second and third.
Most of the other games they allowed over 130pts and had no chance, but the last one most of the damage was self inflicted.
Most of the other games they allowed over 130pts and had no chance, but the last one most of the damage was self inflicted.
Hope Fox is studying Brunson and SGA. His volume 3pt shooting this season needs to be a 1 time thing. His speed is such a huge asset and it feels like he did a better job in previous seasons in changing up his speed to attack the hoop. Brunson is not fast, but he’s quick, knows how to change up his speed, and does it without losing his balance