Sacramento Kings: Where David Stockton Can Fit In

With DeMarcus Cousins healing himself from a mentally and physically taxing season (and summer before that), the focus for observers of the Sacramento Kings is on the future of the team’s offense as head coach George Karl solidifies his hold on proceedings.

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Karl’s seasoned leadership has been known to draw some back-and-forth fire from players, but he is a man defined more by a commitment to diligent work and solid improvement.

For the past two decades, Karl’s mature whiskey bite has proven a potent regular-season fuel for teams like the Sonics (whom Karl guided to the 1996 Finals against the best team in history), and the Nuggets, with whom he won his only NBA Coach of the Year award.

The systems Karl implements are based on a Doug Moe/Larry Brown model of constant movement, passing, and as showcased in this Sonics-era piece by Phil Taylor, Karl is amenable to combining a concerted but dynamic offense with a congruently-paced defense. He is not Moe, despite his tenure as his as Moe’s assistant in Denver.

He is not Brown, whose Pistons came to define the fundamentally sound molasses movement of the 1990s and 2000s. Karl’s systems are served by diverse skills sets, both sides of which are applied with equal tenacity, pace, and execution.

Enter David Stockton, D-League shooting star, prominent Gonzaga alumnus … and ah yes, the son of Dream Team member and Utah Jazz hero (also Gonzaga-honed) John Stockton. The younger Stockton has been wowing D-League crowds with the Kings-affiliated Reno Bighorns for a season now, and in that time he as amassed an impressive record.

Stockton averaged more than 20 points, nine assists, 2.5 steals per game — shooting nearly 40 percent from three, 50 percent for twos, per basketballreference.com. These stats don’t paint the picture that the action itself does — this is the product of Stockton’s, well, development:

Stockton’s first opportunity to wade into Sacramento Kings basketball came with his recent 10-day signing in February. His single appearance during that time was a mere formality in a loss to the Clippers on the 21st of that month, with the former Bulldog coming off the bench for seven minutes.

After the Kings declined to offer another 10-day contract, one might have wondered where the future of this young standout player would be. Following that brief glimpse of NBA play, Stockton hunkered down and proved himself with performances like this:

Should one look at Stockton’s propensity for double- and triple-doubles with Reno, one can see a lot of potential for Stockton to develop in the NBA as someone with a propensity for transition smoothness, a quick eye, and a big checkbook to flaunt in terms of assists.

Long term, a David Stockton showcase will require adjustments from Karl, as well as some serious wringing out of talent at an early stage in Stockton’s career.

Additionally, Stockton could benefit from his father’s early influence in terms of demeanor. Karl’s relationship with elite players can be tinted by a lack of perceived exertion. Stockton could be the veteran coach’s dream — a versatile guard, exciting on both ends of the court, and readily absorbing his mentorship.

If he is to work well in combination with “Boogie,” Karl will have to work intensively with Cousins and all returning players on the 2015-16 roster on the fundamentals of ball-handling and offensive coordination. Should he have any substantial minutes next year, Stockton simply can’t be the glue for questionable pieces — he’ll need to be able to rely on his teammates, and vice versa.

There are some green shoots in the picture as Stockton enters the limelight. If Andre Miller returns for the 2015-16 season, he can not only continue contributing at a high level for his age, but he can provide a leadership clinic in tandem with Karl. Miller and Karl worked together during their shared years with the Nuggets to great effect.

Importantly for Stockton, Miller sits at ninth place for all-time assists, and can provide wisdom in terms of durability as well as nightly contribution.

Add to this a healthy Darren Collison, DeMarcus Cousins, and Rudy Gay, and one could be forgiven for yet another spring and summer filled with cautious Sacramento optimism.

Of course, Stockton will be trudging along with a team whose offense will need to cauterize the wounds of sloppy play, and whose defense is defined by regular lack of grind. According to NBA.com, the team is not only the second-worst in the league in its defensive rating, their assist-to-turnover ratio is a dismal 0.87, just behind the 0.96 Knicks.

Beyond assists (the apparent family trade), the young Stockton has a few other tricks up his sleeve.

Stockton’s raw talent, size, quickness, and voracious appetite to prove himself may just make the Kings a safe, small-market organization with whom to grow. With Utah, his father was afforded the luxury to become an undersized fixture, sophisticated and sound, scrappy and agile, effective and unselfish.

Hopefully the jerky hand of Vivek Ranadive (and/or Vlade Divac) stays aloof in the face of a promising situation; George Karl and the young King David may just be a dark horse for the former’s most exciting matchup since the days of the Glove. This observer is anticipating big things from this, the enfant pétit of Sacramento, son of John, nephew of Don.

The Kings close out their season at the Staples Center against the Lakers on Wednesday; thank the gods for small mercies. Should they pull out their second consecutive win against Byron Scott‘s troupe, the Kings will at least have the satisfaction of sealing the envelope on what would be their old rivals’ worst season in their history.

Next: The 30 Best Point Guards of All-Time

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Sacramento Kings: How David Stockton Can Fit In

By John von Volkli | Apr 15, 2015

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