Sacramento Kings’ Holiday Wish: Improvement In De’Aaron Fox
By Rafe Wong
There is a lot that needs to go right for the Sacramento Kings’ rebuild to be a success. An efficient De’Aaron Fox is on the list.
The Sacramento Kings are entering this season with a lot of promising young talent on their roster, and an argument can be made that Kentucky speedster De’Aaron Fox highlights the group.
Going into the draft, Fox was a highly-coveted prospect due to his potential of becoming a top point guard in the NBA. Due to his fantastic (and lone) season with the Kentucky Wildcats, it was enough for the Kings to pull the trigger on Fox with the fifth pick overall in last year’s NBA Draft. With Sacramento having their “point guard of the future”, they hope that Fox can live up to his ceiling and bring the Kings back to relevancy.
My Evaluation So Far
So far it has been up and down for Fox in his rookie campaign. Although he has displayed several flashes of his potential, he has shown more bad than good so far this season, in my opinion.
On offense, Fox has been mediocre due to his lack of shooting and inability to run a halfcourt offense. Defensively, he has shown high energy when manning up against opponents but still needs to adjust to the physical aspects in which NBA competition shows night in and night out.
How To Improve?
To be clear, my assessment on Fox does not mean I think he will be a bust. The guy is still just 20 years of age, so he has plenty of time to develop his game, grow into his body, and gain better chemistry with his team. Also, growing pains are inevitable for an NBA rookie, so I think overreacting and jumping off the Fox train would be extremely premature at this moment.
With that being said, however, Fox has a lot to improve on in his game. I think the best way for Fox to make strides is by focusing on running the offense more efficiency. He does a great job of using his speed when running the fastbreak but has not been effective when running the team halfcourt. If he is able to improve in this aspect of his game, the offense will drastically improve.
Final Thoughts
Overall, De’Aaron Fox has the potential to be a core piece for the Kings during their major rebuild. Although his impact has not been as big right now, a gradual pattern of improvement by him in these next few months would definitely raise optimism for the Kings and their fans.