1 Thing the Kings can learn from the NBA Champion Boston Celtics

The Boston Celtics are officially the 2023-24 NBA Champions. The best team in the league. And since the NBA is a copycat league, the other 29 teams will be racing to see what they can extract from this title run.

For our Sacramento Kings, there is a lot that can be gleaned from the Celtics' run. Spacing is very important. You can never have enough players who can shoot, drive, and pass. You can win an NBA title without a top 5 player on your roster.

But I think the lesson that is the most immediately applicable to our Kings is that you can never have enough rim protection and that it doesn't always need to come from your center.

We've talked before about how the best way to build a defense around Domantas Sabonis is to surround him with as much positional rim protection as possible. And few teams exemplify this idea the way the Celtics do.

Yes, unlike the Kings, the Celtics' starting center, Kristaps Porzingis, is a great rim protector (96th percentile block rate, per Dunks & Threes). His backup, Al Horford, is in the 82nd percentile in block rate. But they aren't the only source of rim protection they have. In fact, everyone in their normal starting lineup has a block rate that ranks in the 43rd percentile or higher leaguewide.

Numerous studies have shown that rim protection is the most important variable when it comes to building a great defense. So, it makes sense that you want to get that resource from as many different places as possible. After all, any great investor will tell you it is always wise to have multiple streams of income.

Tying this back to the Kings, they need to make sure to prioritize rim protection as much as possible. On their current roster, they have guys like Keon Ellis (76th percentile in block rate), Keegan Murray (64th percentile), and Malik Monk (59th percentile). They need to hold on to guys like these and cherish them as much as they can.

This is a big reason why I remain hopeful about Colby Jones' long-term prospects with this team. Despite playing 71% of his minutes at shooting guard this year (per Basketball Reference), he finished in the 74th percentile in block rate. That's an excellent mark for a player who primarily plays the two-guard. Now, he just needs to add a little more juice to his offensive game.

This also means that the Kings need to factor in rim protection when pursuing future non-center targets. If they do that, hopefully, they will be one step closer to following in the footsteps of the champion Celtics.