Willie Cauley-Stein continuing to expand his game this offseason
By Tyler Watts
Willie Cauley-Stein has taken to Instagram to show off his hard work and improvements this offseason. Today, we examine if he can translate them to the NBA court.
Sacramento Kings’ big man Willie Cauley-Stein had a mini-breakout after the All-Star break last season. No player benefitted more from the trade of DeMarcus Cousins than Trill. Cauley-Stein appears locked in as the starting five to start the season, and it would have been easy to rest on his laurels this offseason. That was not the case for WCS.
I am sure many of you have seen this piece from the Kings website or follow Cauley-Stein on Instagram. Apparently, he is working on his game and specifically his off the dribble and pull up shots. Today, we examine if he can make that stick during the regular and the impact that could have on his game.
Can WCS produce it in the game?
I am sure many of you have gone to the pregame shootaround to see every player sinking every shot, so you know there is a difference between practice and the actual game. In the video, Cauley-Stein displays some impressive moves for a seven footer, but the defense does not have the look of stopping it, and there is only one defender on that court. Does it translate? Well, I cannot say one way or the other yet. It does show that Trill wants to add it to his game and you need plenty of practice reps before it is game ready so these are positives. I would love for Cauley-Stein to be able to handle the ball better and nail some off the dribble jumpers a la DeMarcus Cousins. Time will tell if he can make it happen.
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Cauley-Stein shot more outside jumpers than I recalled last season. 140 of his 481 shots came from outside the restricted area according to NBA.com/stats. If you view the shot chart though, he shot poorly from almost every area, so improvement is necessary.
Impact
The impact of Cauley-Stein expanding his game in these facets could be substantial. It would give Sacramento’s offense a new dimension, it would make Trill more dangerous in the pick-and-roll, and it would give the Kings yet another ball handler. Those are just three snap improvements. There would be others too. Do not get too excited until we see it in game action, but the videos could be foreshadowing a massive expansion in Cauley-Stein’s game. Stay tuned.
Final Thoughts
Big thanks to NBA.com, the Sacramento Kings website, and Willie Cauley-Stein himself for sharing the videos and distributing the information. Hopefully, this increased your excitement level about the season. Training camp opens in less than a week, so there will be plenty more from us in the coming days.
A Royal Pain is the place for all things Sacramento Kings. We have a tremendous amount of offseason content up on the site including complete coverage of the draft and free agency. Now, our team is focusing on providing you all the information you need to be ready for training camp, so please check back with us often. Thank you for reading.