DeMar DeRozan talk of camp, Keon Ellis draws high praise, more 3's for Domantas Sabonis?

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And on the seventh day, they rested…

It has been a whirlwind of a week for the Sacramento Kings. They opened on Monday with their annual media day, hit the ground running with training camp on Tuesday and by Saturday afternoon, they had practiced seven times. 

The mantra of the season from Kings head coach Mike Brown is Climbing Together. Brown even brought in Edmund Viestrus, the first US born climber to successfully scale the 14 highest peaks in the world, to tie in the theme and motivate the squad.

“We want to pay attention to all the details, all the time,” Brown said. “Going back to “Climbing Together,’ if you’re climbing a mountain and you let a couple of small details, or what you think are small details go, like not getting back or not clipping into a carabiner, that could be drastic.”

Brown’s theme makes a lot of sense. To be successful as a mountain climber, you need a team of people working together. One false step could cost someone their life. 

Basketball isn’t quite so dire, but the analogy is still strong. The Kings won’t win on the back of one, two or even three top tier players. It will take contributions from all 18 players on the roster at some point in the season, even if those contributions come during training camp.

Talk of camp

Every player who stepped into the media scrum this week raved about six-time All-Star DeMar DeRozan. More than his play on the court, the veteran brings a vibe that players seem to gravitate towards. 

One of the narratives that permeated the national discussion when the Kings acquired DeRozan surrounded the issue of spacing and how Sacramento’s offense could struggle with two non-3-point shooting options in the starting lineup, in DeRozan and All-NBA center Domantas Sabonis.

“It’s been fine to me, I don’t know nothing about any spacing issues or anything,” DeRozan said on Saturday. “Everything’s been great. Getting a feel for it, getting a rhythm for it, understanding where guys like to get the ball, catch the ball, small little tendencies here and there.”