Head coach Mike Brown is very good at his job. He helped the Sacramento Kings end their 16-year playoff drought, and he may be the one to help them end their 20-year bad defense streak. This is not intend to be a denigration of his accomplishments with the team. But every person has things they need to improve on, and NBA coaches are no different.
For Brown, his biggest issue so far this season has had to do with his rotations, specifically, how he has been handling Keon Ellis' minutes.
Last season, Ellis was the shining star in an otherwise mediocre season for the team (the Kings’ fell one win short of qualifying for the postseason for the second straight year). After going undrafted in 2022, Ellis breakthrough in his sophomore season, ending the season as the team’s nominal starting shooting guard.
However, for some reason, the positive momentum he forged didn’t carry over into the 2024-25 season. Despite a strong showing in the preseason, Ellis was demoted back to the bench when Kevin Huerter returned from his shoulder injury (which kind of makes sense, given Huerter’s unique abilities as a movement shooter).
Starting Huerter over Ellis is one thing, but what Brown did against the Los Angeles Lakers was indefensible. In that game (their second of the season), Ellis was forced to log the dreaded DNP-CD. If you are unfamiliar, this comes when a player does not appear in a game simply for the fact that the coach did not call on their services.
To be fair, Brown has since atoned for his sins, giving Ellis more consistent minutes and even giving him the nod to start a game Huerter was injured for against the Miami Heat. This trend all culminated in what went down on Wednesday against the Toronto Raptors.
Mike Brown lets Keon Ellis close game against the Toronto Raptors
Since Huerter was back in the rotation, Ellis didn't get to start at two-guard (for the record, Huerter played well in his minutes). On the night, Ellis played 23 minutes and posted a box score line of eight points, three rebounds, two steals, and one assist. Ellis tied for the second-best plus-minus in the game with a +15.
But most importantly, in the final minutes of the fourth quarter, when the game was still in doubt, Ellis was out there with De'Aaron Fox, DeMar DeRozan, Keegan Murray, and Domantas Sabonis finishing the job on the Kings' 122-107.
Brown is often pretty unpredictable with his rotations on a game-to-game basis in the regular season. So, who knows if Ellis will continue to close games moving forward. But it is cool to see that he is finally getting the chance, and if Ellis keeps capitalizing on these opportunities the way he has, Brown will have no choice but to keep him in there down the stretch.