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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.

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.”

Known as one of the best mid-range players in the NBA, DeRozan’s game is slightly unconventional for the Kings’ system. Last season in Chicago, he averaged 2.8 3-point attempts per game and hit 33.3 percent of those shots.

The Kings plan to get DeRozan into plenty of offensive actions with Sabonis, like they do with De’Aaron Fox, Malik Monk and Kevin Huerter. DeRozan was asked about pairing with Sabonis and how their chemistry is building.

“You can’t guard it,“ DeRozan said. “That’s what I like about it. Just to have an IQ big like that, being able to screen, pass the ball, make quick decisions, you’ve got to make a decision.”

This isn’t the first time DeRozan has been asked questions about spacing in the first week of camp. We’ll have to wait and see how it all works once the preseason starts, and it could take into the regular season for everyone to get comfortable. Then again, he’s a seasoned veteran who has fit in everywhere else he’s played. 

DeRozan is getting to know his new teammates in Sacramento and so far he has been impressed. During Saturday’s media scrum, he was asked about third-year guard, Keon Ellis, who is currently holding down the starting shooting guard spot with Kevin Huerter out of action. DeRozan’s comp for Ellis was eye opening.

“He reminds me on one of those Alex Caruso type of guys,“ DeRozan said of Ellis. “That’s what type of player you want on your team. Somebody who’s hard-nosed, go out there and do all the dirty work and get down and dirty defensively.“

Comparing Ellis to Caruso is extremely high praise. DeRozan played alongside Caruso last season in Chicago. The 6-foot-5 guard earned second-team All-Defense last year and is widely considered one of the best perimeter defenders in the game.

If Ellis can live up to that comp, he’ll play a huge role for the Kings this season.

Brown is planning to get creative in how he uses DeRozan in the offense. DeRozan and Sabonis have worked out together in the weeks leading up to camp in order to build chemistry, especially in the two-man game. Brown is also going to ask Sabonis to take more perimeter shots to help answer some of this issue.

“We’re not saying go from one to 14 a game or 13 a game, but if you go from one to three-to-five per game and see where you are and see how the defense plays you,” Brown said of Sabonis. “If he’s going to shoot at the same clip or at least close to the same clip, now it’s just going to create more space for everybody.”

Sabonis knocked down an impressive 37.9 percent from three last season, but like Brown mentioned, he averaged just 1.1 attempts per game. A deeper dive into the stats show that, for whatever reason, Sabonis seemed to lose faith in the 3-ball down the stretch run.

In the 28 games following the All-Star break, Sabonis took just .9 3-point attempts per game and his percentage plummeted. Sabonis hit 42.6 percent in the first 54 games compared to just 26.9 percent after the break.

These numbers are skewed due to the small sample size, but it’s still worth noting the drop off. Sabonis took just 26 three’s in the final 28 games, hitting seven of them. If Sabonis would have hit three more of those 26 attempts, his percentage would have jumped to 38.4 percent. 

On the lighter side of things, the cat and mouse game between Brown and star sixth man Malik Monk has been fun to watch. Monk keeps getting his hands on the coach’s practice schedule and then calling out the staff when they run longer than expected.

It’s all in fun, but Monk’s attempts to hold the coaching staff accountable has brought some levity to camp that can often be grueling and tedious. 

According to Brown, Monk was held out of five-on-five full contact drills throughout the summer due to the late season injury he sustained against the Mavericks on March 29. The Kings’ coach said that Monk looked rusty on day one, but has quickly found his rhythm. 

On the Friday before the start of training camp, the Kings announced that Jordan McLaughlin (grade 2 ankle sprain) and Trey Lyles (left groin strain) would both miss the start of camp due to injury. 

With Kevin Huerter and rookie Devin Carter already recovering from shoulder surgery, Brown is having to rely on younger, more inexperienced players to compete with his rotational players early in camp. 

Compounding this issue, the team announced on Friday that free agent acquisition Orlando Robinson sustained a left knee injury Thursday at practice. An MRI revealed an MCL sprain and Robinson will be re-evaluated in approximately four weeks.

McLaughlin is expected back in a few days, which should bolster the backcourt depth. Huerter should be cleared for contact around the middle of October and Lyles is likely out until after the preseason schedule. Carter won’t be re-evaluated until January. 

This is an opportunity for veteran camp invites like Skal Labissiere, Terry Taylor and Brodric Thomas. It’s also a moment for young players like Mason Jones, Colby Jones, Boogie Ellis, Isaiah Crawford and Isaac Jones to show that they belong. 

Again, this isn’t an ideal situation. Not only do you want your rotational players building continuity, but you also want them playing against experienced players as they prep for preseason.

The Kings will return to the practice floor on Monday and Tuesday in preparation for Wednesday’s preseason opener at Golden 1 Center against the Golden State Warriors. The game time for Wednesday is set for 7:30 PM and it will be televised on ESPN. 

On Friday, the Kings will make the drive to San Francisco for a second straight matchup against the Warriors. The game is scheduled for 7 PM and will appear on NBA TV. 

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