5 Biggest Takeaways from the Sacramento Kings' 1st Half of the Season

It's hard to believe, but half of the regular season is already in the books for the Sacramento Kings. Oh, and what an eventful half it was.

We saw the Kings get off to a fast start and look like they were heading in the right direction, only to see them backtrack in recent weeks. There's already been a coaching change, with Sacramento firing Michael Malone and installing Tyrone Corbin as the interim coach. We've also seen growth from individual players, some of whom figure to be key pieces for the team going forward. 

There's plenty more to delve into as we look at some things that went right, some that went wrong and what it all means for the team going forward.

DeMarcus Cousins Is an All-Around Player

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We've all seen DeMarcus Cousins' exploits on offense. With his size (6'11", 270 lbs), coordination, range and athleticism, Cousins can simply do things that other centers can't. 

Last season, he parlayed those physical tools into results, posting what was then a career year. Cousins set personal bests in scoring average (22.7), rebounds per game (11.7) and player efficiency rating (26.1). 

He's replicated that production in 2014-15, seeing an increase in scoring (24.2) and rebounding (12.6) while posting a near identical PER (25.7). But the improvements he's displayed on defense make Cousins one of the league's best all-around players.

A huge part of it is increased effort on the defensive end. Cousins is doing a better job of contesting pick-and-rolls and affecting shots.

Of course, the shot-blocking portion is evident in his career-high 1.6 swats per game. But he's also doing a better job of altering field-goal attempts when he can't deflect them. 

According to NBA.com, opponents are shooting 1.5 percent less than their normal average when Cousins is guarding them. Within six feet of the rim, where he does most of his defensive work, opponents are shooting 6.8 percent worse when DMC is on them. 

The Starting Backcourt Is Set for Years to Come

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Coming into the season, there were serious questions about Sacramento's starting backcourt of Darren Collison and Ben McLemore. 

Collison, who previously played for the Los Angeles Clippers, came aboard on a three-year deal as a free agent. He wasn't a starter in his stop in Los Angeles, serving as a backup for Chris Paul.

On top of that, he was replacing a wildly popular player in Isaiah Thomas, who had a career year for the Kings in 2013-14. 

However, Collison is having a career year of his own. He's setting personal bests in points (16.4), assists (5.9), rebounds (3.3) and steals (1.6) per game. 

Most importantly, the offense is better with him on the court. He's able to find open teammates, and there's a lot less standing around. Naturally, the Kings have an offensive rating of 106.5 with him on the court and 95.4 when he sits. 

As for McLemore, he was coming off an atrocious rookie season. He lacked confidence in his shot and struggled whenever he had to create a shot for himself.

But he's making strides in both of those areas.

He no longer hesitates to fire away when he's open. Not surprisingly, that confidence is translating to a much better field-goal (.452) and three-point (.354) percentage. And while 61.3 percent of his shots come without him dribbling, his effectiveness doesn't drop much when he's asked to put the ball on the floor. In fact, he's most consistent when taking three to six dribbles before firing, making 54.5 percent of those looks.

It couldn't come at a better time either, with rookie shooting guard Nik Stauskas struggling to adapt to the NBA. However, as McLemore is showing us, you can't draw too many conclusions from a bad rookie year. But one you probably can make is McLemore is the Kings' starting 2-guard going forward. 

Team Rebounding Is a Strength...

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With a total rebound percentage of 53.0 percent, the Kings are the NBA's best at corralling missed field-goal attempts. It's really not that close either. The gap between the Kings and the second-best Oklahoma City Thunder is bigger than the difference between OKC and the eighth-best squad.

A big part of that success comes from the individual players on Sacramento's roster. Cousins, for example, is third in the league in rebounds, at 12.6 per game, and is sixth in total rebound percentage among players who've appeared in at least 25 games, with 21.4 percent.

Power forward Reggie Evans is even better, hauling in 21.9 percent of available rebounds when he's on the court. 

Of course, you can only rebound missed shots. And making opponents misfire by pressuring them with defense is something the Kings aren't so good at...

...But Team Defense Is Not

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Based on the promising start we saw on from the Kings' defense, it's surprising that they're once again one of the league's worst.

Of course, a large part of that is due to the coaching change, as Sacramento swapped out a coach with a good defensive track record and promoted another with an edict to speed the game up and focus on offense. 

Yet it's hard to conceptualize how far the Kings have dropped in a relatively short period of time. 

From the beginning of the campaign until Dec. 13, when the team fired Michael Malone, the Kings were 19th in defensive rating. Since then, Sacramento is 28th in defensive rating. 

It's easy to just point at the different coaches as the reason for the drop-off. And while it's undoubtedly a factor of a different philosophy, it could be more simplistic than that. As Cousins told Jason Jones of The Sacramento Bee, it's on the players to perform on defense regardless of what the team is trying to implement on offense:

"

Our style of play has nothing to do with us defending somebody. Our style of play changed with us trying to get into a quicker offense.

I know what this team is capable of. I believe in this team. It's just about us coming out and doing it.

"

"[The new offense] has nothing to do with the way we defend. It should not change a guy's effort. It should change how a guy comes in and competes. It's an excuse."

"At the end of the day, it's about coming out and competing. Just come out and compete at a high level. Man up and compete and play team basketball. We do that, a lot of these situations we wouldn't even have. Just come out and compete."

That sounds simple enough. But there's more to it than that...

Firing Michael Malone Had an Unexpected Negative Effect

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It's up to the players to perform regardless of what's going on around them. Because, after all, basketball is a business, and one needs to be able to separate his or her personal feelings from the business at hand.

But knowing what's expected and actually putting it into action are two different things. 

When management made the decision to fire head coach Michael Malone, it likely didn't expect such a dramatic downturn from the on-court product. In essence, it appears to have underestimated the impact the coach had on the team's psyche.

It was especially bad in this situation because Malone had reversed a losing culture and got the players to buy in, which was something lacking in recent years.

James Ham of Cowbell Kingdom put it perfectly in a recent article:

"

The Kings aren't the first to swing and miss. These things happen, but in this situation, the miscalculation is being compounded by the franchise's lack of contrition. Where the mistake truly lies is in not admitting that an error was made.

Malone may or may not be a superstar in the coaching ranks. We don't know yet, because his first go as a head coach ended so abruptly in Sacramento. But what we do know is that he changed the culture of a cantankerous locker room. He had the players not just toeing a company line, which we have seen under previous coaches, but actually buying in to a system.

The fact is, Malone has an ability to command an audience – to capture the room. The Kings were ready to go to battle under him each and every night. Win or lose, the team played hard. It mirrored the personality of its gritty leader.

"

As Ham would go on to point out, it's not too late to turn things around. Sure, the season may be lost as far as the playoffs are concerned. But a simple acknowledgement that a mistake was made would go a long way in restoring belief within the organization. 

At least then it would signal management's understanding that the players are people with real emotions, not numbers that can be plugged into a spreadsheet. 

Unless noted otherwise, all stats courtesy of Basketball-Reference.com and NBA.com and are accurate through games played on Jan. 27.

What are your thoughts on the Kings' season? Let me know on Twitter @SimRisso.