Young Kings Play Well, Defeat D-League Select Team 89-75
Despite a rocky first quarter that didn’t see the Kings register a field goal in the first eight minutes, the Sacramento Kings defeated the Developmental League Select Team 89-75 on Monday night. From the second quarter on, just about every player on the Kings roster found a way to contribute, moving the Kings to 2-1 in summer league play.
There were a lot of positives to take away from this one, so lets get to it.
Ray McCallum – (29 MIN, 10 PTS, 3-8 FG, 4-5 FTM, 12 AST, 3 TO) I thought Ray McCallum was instrumental in turning this game around for the Kings. He looked like a different player from the second quarter on, and it was mostly due to how well he ran the team. The Kings have looked lost offensively for much of the summer league thus far, and a lot of that blame falls on McCallum’s shoulders. But if he’s going to get the blame for the team’s poor play, he’s going to get my praise for how well he set guys up tonight. He rarely looked for his own shot, and it was all about finding his scorers (McLemore, Williams, and Stauskas) and he did that very well.
Ben McLemore – (29 MIN, 18 PTS, 7-10 FG, 1-2 3FG, 3-4 FT, 6 REB, 5 TO) McLemore started this game with aggressive drives to the basket, and it was all uphill from there. He was only credited with one three-pointer, but he added in a few mid-range jumpers to go along with his overall solid performance. He was never dominant, but he picked his spots extremely well, which is something Michael Malone has been asking him to do for a while now. He still had turnover issues that were mostly the result of sloppy passing, but this was certainly an encouraging performance for Ben, and one that he sorely needed.
Nik Stauskas – (26 MIN, 15 PTS, 6-8 FG, 3-4 3FG, 3 REB, 2 AST) Because of how well Ray was running the team tonight, Stauskas did little in terms of ball handling and shot creation. He had a few nifty passes, but this one was a display of his shooting and scoring ability. He knocked down a few threes, and through three summer league games Nik appears as advertised in regards to his three-point shooting ability. If he’s open out there, he’s going to hit it. He had a couple nice drives to the basket as well, but his confidence as a shooter is what really stood out, and It’s that shooting ability that’s going to earn him minutes this season.
Derrick Williams – (26 MIN, 17 PTS, 6-10 FG, 4-4 FT, 1-3 3FG, 1 REB, 2 TO) Williams turned in a nice offensive performance tonight, but I still didn’t come away from tonight’s game feeling that positive with what I saw. He scored his points later on in this game when the Kings had solid control of it, and I didn’t like his effort on defense or on the glass. I still can’t figure out how he only grabbed one rebound in this game. I’ll put it this way, his box score looks much better than how he actually played in this one. He showed some flashes, but he still isn’t imposing his will on these games like a player with his experience and talent should be.
Eric Moreland – (18 MIN, 4 PTS, 2-3 FG, 11 REB, 2 BS, 2 TO) For the second straight game, Eric Moreland made a noticeable impact on defense and on the glass. I thought it was telling that he was the first man to come in off the bench tonight, and played more minutes than any other bench player. The Kings clearly want to get a good look at what he can do, because right now he’s bringing something to this Kings summer league team that the main roster desperately needs. For two games now he’s shown a real ability to block shots and rebound at a high level. He’s very raw offensively, but Kings fans should get a good look at him now, because he’s going to earn himself a training camp invite if he keeps this up.
Others – Quincy Acy (26 MIN, 14 PTS, 4-7 FG, 6-7 FT, 7 REB, 6 PF) was solid again tonight. If you know what Quincy Acy does, he did exactly that. The other veteran contributor, Marshon Brooks (16 MIN, 8 PTS, 2-3 FG, 4-6 FT, 1 REB, 1 AST) also played like you would expect him to play. He provided a nice offensive spark off the bench, as he’s been doing in every summer league game thus far.