Doug Christie didn’t sugarcoat what he saw when the Sacramento Kings opened preseason play against the Los Angeles Lakers.
The Kings have spent the first week of training camp talking about building a different kind of defense - one with more length, more versatility and more options than they had a year ago. But when they finally had a chance to put those ideas into action, the first test exposed plenty of work still to do, starting with the physical edge Christie wants to define the group.
“Defensively, I’m very surprised with the physicality, aggressiveness, (and) attention to detail that these guys have had during the training camp,” Christie said postgame.
“Very disappointed in not matching, or setting, actually, the physicality because that is what we want to do. We want to set the physicality of the game, and we didn’t set it or meet it.”
After watching the film, Christie’s complaints touched on a long list of breakdowns: helping when they shouldn’t have, gaps not being filled, poor closeouts, losing track of the ball in the middle, and not being “in to be out.”
De’Andre Hunter said the issue showed up in the simplest places first.
“I think a lot of it was just communication,” Hunter said. “Guys not being in the right spots, just being a step behind. I think that’s mostly what we saw in film.”
Maxime Raynaud described the problems as a chain reaction that fell apart once the first action was handled.
“I think it’s kind of like a multiple-effort type of thing,” Raynaud said. “Usually when you start the possession, we’re pretty good in the gaps, and then as soon as there’s a ball screen, one rotation happens, there’s a pass-pass. On that second pass, we usually get kind of stuck to our player and don’t make the effort to go.”
Raynaud added that there was also “some ball-watching from time to time,” and said the Kings need to do a better job of “finishing the multiple-effort part of it.”
That idea - multiple efforts - sits at the center of what Sacramento is trying to build. The first rotation is only the beginning.
From there, the next defender has to be ready to help the helper, and then the next one has to fill in after that. The goal is to protect the paint first, then recover to the perimeter without giving up clean looks.
Raynaud said the emphasis has been clear.
“Trying to be more into the gaps and trying to help more protect the restricted area. I think that’s been the point of emphasis by Woody this offseason…”
Christie used the phrase “being in to be out” to explain how he wants the defense to work: clog the lane, protect the rim, then get back to shooters on the catch.
“More than anything, we want to protect the paint, but we want to arrive on the catch and contest threes,” Christie said.
“The ability to be in to be out, that means that you’re thinking ahead. You know where you’re going.
You arrive on the catch. You’re in a defensive stance.
You got a stick hand. You’re aggressive.
You’re making them put it on the floor.”
He said the balance matters because Sacramento doesn’t want to stay glued to shooters and give up easy touches at the basket.
That’s where the Kings’ added size comes into play. In theory, more length should help them crowd the paint and cover ground after the ball moves. Hunter pointed earlier in camp to the flexibility that comes with that kind of roster.
“Keegan can guard one through four, one through five at times. I can do the same.
Ben can do the same,” Hunter said earlier in camp. “Just having that ability to interchange like that, we don’t necessarily have a specific matchup.”
Still, Christie made it clear that switching only works when it creates the right advantage.
“Switching has to make sense, not just doing it just to do it, because you can switch and get a mismatch, and that’s not what you want,” Christie said during camp.
The Kings also have to account for the difference between practice and games, especially when officials are in the building. Hunter said some of the things that slide in camp won’t survive once the whistles start.
“You can’t really guard the same in the game as you’re doing in practice,” Hunter said. “You don’t have referees for most of the practices, so a lot of things go uncalled.”
For Christie, the standard is simple.
“That aggressiveness and physicality have to be there. That pace has to be there.
Those are non-negotiables,” Christie said Tuesday. “I’ve seen it here in practice, and it didn’t translate to the court, and that’s a necessity.”
Everyone involved stressed that one preseason game won’t define the season, but the opener wasn’t the kind of start Sacramento wanted. The Lakers gave the Kings their first real look at how these ideas function outside the practice floor, and the early result showed that the concepts are still a work in progress.
Sacramento may have more length and versatility than it did last season, but those traits won’t matter unless the Kings use them the right way. Christie’s group still has to prove it can protect the rim as a unit, rotate cleanly behind the ball, and recover to shooters with the urgency he keeps demanding.
That’s the bar now. And it’s a much higher one than what Sacramento showed in its first preseason outing.
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