3 Ways George Karl Is Changing the Sacramento Kings
The 2014-15 season seems to have been one giant change for the Sacramento Kings. Mostly that's because the team is on its third head coach, going from Michael Malone to Tyrone Corbin to George Karl.
Not only have there been three different men manning the bench, but the way they choose to operate is a contrast between one another. The Kings went from a defensive-oriented squad under Malone and have increasingly become centered on offense with Corbin and now Karl at the helm.
While the move to fire Malone wasn't a popular one and caused the team to go into a 7-21 tailspin under Corbin, the Kings are starting to come around under Karl. Sacramento recently had a four-game win streak, something that hadn't been accomplished since early in the season, when it strung together five in a row from Oct. 31 to Nov. 7.
Increased Ball Movement and Spacing
One way in which the Kings offense has evolved under Karl is an uptick in team-oriented play. The Kings are no longer looking to give the ball to Rudy Gay or DeMarcus Cousins and have them go to work in isolation or off a single pick.
As Omri Casspi told Ailene Voisin of The Sacramento Bee, a lot of that success is due to Karl's system:
"George Karl’s system is great, and I’m not just saying that because I play for him, but because I really do believe this is the right way to play basketball. Spacing the floor. Moving, making extra passes, sharing the ball. Getting our hands on balls, deflections, then getting out and running.
"
Karl's system is getting everyone involved, and it's more reliant on setting up field-goal opportunities through ball movement.
Prior to Karl's arrival, only 53.5 percent of Sacramento's field goals came off of assists. That number ranks 29th out of 30 teams. Yet the Kings have seen that increase to 57.5 percent under Karl, a figure that's 19th in the league.
What's even more remarkable about this development is the team's starting point guard, Darren Collison, has been out with a hip injury since before Karl's arrival. That's caused other players to step up in his stead, namely Andre Miller, who was acquired at the trade deadline.
Miller is second on the team with 5.1 assists in 22 minutes per game. He only trails Collison, who posted 5.6 in 34.8.
Miller is one of the all-time great assist men—he's ninth all time with 8,403—but as Karl told reporters, he's also an extension of the coach due to their three-plus seasons together with the Denver Nuggets:
"He’s kind of my security blanket with this team because I know him and he knows me. And when we get in that zone of what the hell’s going on out there, he’s the guy I go to as much as anybody.
Andre’s the type of guy, I just give him the second unit, and say I’m gonna put Jason (Thompson) out there with you, I think (Thompson is) gonna run for you and (Miller) figures it out. He’s (almost) 39 years old, but he’s a winner and I think when he’s 41 he’ll still be a winner. He knows how to win games, he knows how to lead a team, and it’s a pleasure to have him with me.
"
A byproduct of more ball movement is the Kings are scoring in different ways within half-court sets. They're shooting 17.6 three-pointers per game under Karl, up from 15.8 prior to his arrival. The coach is also avoiding the mid-range game, as only 15.3 percent of their points are from that area, compared to 18.4.
A More Aggressive Offense
It's no secret Karl likes to push the pace on offense. During his eight seasons with the Nuggets, his teams never finished worse than sixth in pace rating, including ranking in the top two on six separate occasions.
| Year | Pace (NBA Ranking) |
| 2005-06 | 93.9 (2nd) |
| 2006-07 | 97.4 (2nd) |
| 2007-08 | 99.7 (1st) |
| 2008-09 | 94.6 (6th) |
| 2009-10 | 94.8 (5th) |
| 2010-11 | 95.6 (2nd) |
| 2011-12 | 94.2 (2nd) |
| 2012-13 | 95.1 (2nd) |
It's a trend he's keeping up with the Kings.
Karl's Kings are averaging 99.42 possessions per 48 minutes, which ranks third. In the pre-Karl era, they only posted 97.2, including 95.7 with Malone, who preferred a more plodding offense.
With Karl, this increased tempo manifests itself in a couple of different ways. The first is that Sacramento pushes the ball up the court even when it doesn't have fast-break opportunities. When the opposition scores and the Kings are inbounding the ball, you don't see the point guard walking the ball up the floor. The team is trying to get across half court and into its offense as quickly as possible.
Of course, the pace of play also benefits fast-break opportunities. It helps that the Kings are one of the league's better defensive-rebounding teams (they're 10th, at 75.8 percent), because they try to turn those boards into chances to run.
They've become quite effective at it as well, with 15.2 percent of the their points coming off fast breaks since Karl took over.
But it's not just pushing the pace that's making the Kings more aggressive on offense. They're also attacking the hoop with more frequency. Sacramento is averaging 35.2 field-goal attempts per game within five feet of the hoop, which ranks second. That's an increase from the 30.4 they attempted prior to the coaching change.
A Different Kind of Defense
Different isn't always better.
For that, we turn to Malone, who was able to get the best defensive results from this team, which isn't surprising considering his background as a defense-first coach.
Under Malone, the Kings were able to hold opponents to 104.2 points per 100 possessions, which tied for 17th. With Karl at the helm, that number increases to 107.1, which is 28th. Since we're dealing with a possession-based metric, that the Kings have an increased pace has no bearing on that statistic, while points allowed would because of increased opportunities during a game.
But beyond being worse, how are the Kings different on defense?
Believe it or not, part of their drop-off in defense is due to their new philosophy on offense. When the opposition shoots, the Kings are looking to run after they secure the rebound, sometimes in that order. Whereas prior to the change, they were looking to rebound, and then run.
It's caused the team's defensive-rebound percentage to drop from 76.7 percent to 75.3. A byproduct of this is opponents have gone from posting 12.3 second-chance points per contest to 13.9.
One of the things Casspi mentioned—forcing turnovers, then getting out and running—does apply, and it's also another example of the Kings' offensive philosophy affecting the defense.
This aggressiveness in attacking ball-handlers and passing lanes is working. Perhaps it's the one area where the Kings are actually better defensively under Karl, as they're forcing turnovers on 13.9 percent of possessions.
Malone, on the other hand, called for a more conservative approach that relied on defenders playing solid on-ball defense and keeping the opposition in front of them. It's a better method if your goal is to prevent points, since jumping into a passing lane and missing leaves you out of position to defend. But it also led to turnovers on only 11.9 percent of possessions, which is worst in the league.
For Karl, it's more about outscoring the opposition than grinding it into a pulp. While gambling and failing is part of the reason the Kings are allowing more points, rolling the dice and succeeding is also the reason they've increased their fast-break chances and points off of turnovers (15.0, compared to 14.7).
Conclusion
Considering the Kings made the coaching change midseason—multiple coaching changes, actually—it's remarkable they've been able to change their style of play as much as they have.
And despite all of this, they're essentially as effective with Karl as they were with the other two coaches. They went from a net rating of negative-4.4 under Corbin and Malone to one of negative-4.5 with the new coach.
It's even more illuminating when considering the roster wasn't exactly set up to run Karl's fast-paced offense. With a full offseason to mold the team in the coach's image and an actual training camp to get everyone on the same page, the Kings could be a much-improved team.
That's one change under Karl they'll definitely take.
Unless noted otherwise, all stats accurate through games played on April 1 and come from NBA.com or Basketball-Reference.com.
