SACRAMENTO – A day after Kings assistant coach Luke Loucks broke down Sacramento’s concept for contesting perimeter shots, closing out and high-fiving opposing shooters in the process, Keon Ellis executed the plan perfectly during Thursday's training camp practice when he ran out and altered a teammate's 3-point shot, slapping hands as he raced by to force a miss.
It’s a technique that proved pivotal for the Kings a year ago and one that coach Mike Brown has credited for being the driving force behind Sacramento’s late push to get into the NBA postseason.
“When we first got here we didn’t talk about the high-five closeout,” Brown said following practice. “The closeout was to the body and then we contested. We just said, ‘Hey get a hand up to contest.’ We broke the technique down a little more to the high-five contest about halfway through last year and that’s what really helped propel our 3-point defense in my opinion.”
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Entering his third season with the Kings, Brown and his staff are seamlessly able to tweak their schemes because of the familiarity between everyone. The coaches have a better understanding of the players and their skills, while in return the players are more receptive to any changes that may be made.
“There are a lot of concepts that we’ve been talking and teaching since Day 1, and you can see it, feel it, however you want to call it, especially with our core that’s been here,” Brown said. “There’s a comfort level that they have out on the floor that makes it easier to teach and move on to the next thing now than last year and especially the year before.”
The players can see it and feel it too.
“Our team has been very locked in,” Mason Jones said. “We’ve been very detailed on the little things because the little things are going to turn into big things down the road. I love our energy and how we’ve taken it and how we’re grooving.
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“This is the fourth day and I feel like we’ve already played a lot of games together. How we act and how we come in and our day to day approach has been tremendous.”
Here are some other takeaways from Wednesday’s practice:
Getting Busy 5-on-5 style
The Kings held spirited 5-on-5 drills during the brief media access period, and Brown walked away feeling good about what he saw.
“We’ve thrown a lot at them in a short amount of time. For them to be able to pick it up this quickly, it’s been really good to see,” Brown said. “We still have a ways to go but I definitely like the direction that we’re working. It’s like climbing a mountain. It’s about the journey and it’s about the process.”
The 5-on-5 drills provided the Kings’ coaching staff with a good read on the players’ conditioning and overall health.
“I thought Malik (Monk) might have looked a little out of shape because he should,” Brown said. “He had a leg injury that did not allow him to play 5-on-5 the entire summer. He didn’t start playing 5-on-5 basically until camp started. Yesterday and today he looked really good. One of the things I complimented him on was closing out to high-five and contest. I thought he was really good at that.”
Speak Up
One of the major themes of training camp is communication. Brown and his staff are imploring the Kings’ players to be more talkative on both ends of the court.
That means everyone, including second-year guard Colby Jones.
“I feel like I’m just talking more, talking more on defense, talking more on offense,” Jones said. “Just being confident with that. Overall my game’s taken another level.”
The idea behind the Kings being more vocal is two-fold. Obviously communication is key on offense, but the flip-side is the effect is that it can also help to rattle opposing defenses.
“As a staff, and I think the vets that can attest to this, anytime you have a group of players on the floor and they’re constantly talking and they’re talking with confidence in a loud and continuous voice, it can give you less confidence as an opposing team,” Brown explained. “It’s like, ‘they’re engaged. The whole team is on the same page. They’re barking stuff before we even get to it.' ”
