NBA Standings ordered by second-chance points: Kings are big on the offensive boards
By Elaine Blum
The Kings are one of the smaller teams in the league and yet they are big on the offensive boards this season. They currently rank ninth in second-chance points with an average of 15.2 per game.
Last season, they finished 19th in this category, so if they can keep it up, this season would mark a huge improvement. In fact, this is their highest number of second-chance points in several years.
A big reason for this improvement is that the team is rebounding collectively. Five Kings average over one offensive rebound per game.
Domantas Sabonis is, not surprisingly, leading the way with an average of 3.6 offensive rebounds per game. This number is big for the undersized Kings, and currently ranks eighth in the league behind only Bismack Biyombo, Mitchell Robinson, Rudy Gobert, Ausar Thompson, Mark Williams, Clint Capela, and Kevon Looney.
The other four players are Keegan Murray, JaVale McGee, De’Aaron Fox, and Alex Len. Murray had made significant strides as a rebounder, but so far, the biggest improvement on the offensive glass has come from Fox.
Last season, he averaged 0.5 offensive rebounds. Now, he is up to 1.2, more than doubling last season’s number. They are fighting hard to get second-chance points, which has been very valuable at the beginning of the season when their outside shots weren’t falling.
Obviously, second-chance points and offensive rebounds do not make up for your sharpshooters missing as many threes as Kevin Huerter and Keegan Murray did to start the season, but it means they had fewer empty possessions.
As a team, they currently average 10.8 offensive rebounds per game, which is good enough to have them sitting in the middle of the field. Just like their second-chance points, this marks a solid jump compared to last season. They finished 23 with 9.5 offensive rebounds per game. Now, they just have to keep it up.
They did get a little bigger with the addition of JaVale McGee, but a lot of it is also increased effort from Sabonis, Murray, and Fox, which is a good sign for the Kings’ future success.
If your starting point guard is one of the best offensive rebounders on the team while also carrying the majority of the scoring load and taking on tough defensive assignments, that same energy will carry over to the rest of the team.
Western Conference Standings ordered by second-chance points
- Golden State Warriors: 18.9
- Utah Jazz: 17.4
- Portland Trail Blazers: 16.6
- Memphis Grizzlies: 15.4
- Sacramento Kings: 15.2
- Los Angeles Clippers: 15.1
- Dallas Mavericks: 14.9
- Phoenix Suns: 14.8
- San Antonio Spurs: 14.8
- New Orleans Pelicans: 14.5
- Denver Nuggets: 13.8
- Minnesota Timberwolves: 12.9
- Houston Rockets: 11.7
- Oklahoma City Thunder: 10.5
- Los Angeles Lakers: 9.1
Easter Conference Standings ordered by second-chance points
- Orlando Magic: 17.8
- New York Knicks: 16.5
- Boston Celtics: 15.3
- Charlotte Hornets: 15.3
- Indiana Pacers: 15.2
- Philadelphia 776ers: 15.2
- Detroit Pistons: 15.1
- Atlanta Hawks: 14.8
- Chicago Bulls: 13.9
- Toronto Raptors: 13.8
- Brooklyn Nets: 12.6
- Cleveland Cavaliers: 12.5
- Miami Heat: 12.0
- Milwaukee Bucks: 11.2
- Washington Wizards: 9.7