Areas Where De’Aaron Fox Will Score The Ball Effectively
By Rafe Wong
See which spots on the court De’Aaron Fox is efficient in scoring the basketball.
Throughout these last few weeks, A Royal Pain has examined the Sacramento Kings’ roster to see where each player is at their most efficient shooting the basketball.
The player who will be evaluated in this piece is De’Aaron Fox who the Kings recently drafted in the first round of the 2017 NBA Draft.
Where To Let It Go?
Unfortunately, A Royal Pain wasn’t able to gather up the precise percentages Fox recorded during his time with the Kentucky Wildcats. So instead, I will make my analysis mostly based on what I saw on the court from Fox last season and during summer league.
When examining Fox on the hardwood, both during his Kentucky Wildcat days and in summer league with Sacramento, the paint and midrange areas were his favorite spots to let the ball go. His athleticism and aggressiveness to drive to the basket stood out the most to me when watching him succeed around the rim.
As for his midrange game, his ability to pick-and-pop and shoot around screens is what caught my eye when he was playing around the midrange areas as he was able to create separation due to the threat of him potentially driving past his defenders.
As a result of his play style, Fox made 52% of his two-point attempts last season, which is outstanding for a point guard. Fox also made 44.4% of his total shots with the Kings during the summer league games.
Final Thoughts
For the upcoming season, I expect Fox to continue finding his scoring in the paint and midrange locations on the court. I believe taking this direction will give Fox the most success offensively during his rookie season.
Although Fox has struggled to make three-pointers in the last year, I do expect him to develop an effective shot as his career goes on. Fox’s shooting mechanics look good to me, but I believe he hasn’t successfully expanded his shooting range yet. It’s a skill he will eventually develop if he’s motivated to work on it.
As for now, Fox should stick with being aggressive around the paint and midrange spots. He found success doing so at the collegiate level. Let’s see if the results translate in the pros.