Sacramento Kings: Finally Ready To Play Small?

New season, same old Sacramento Kings. With the inconsistent play of the team causing Sac-Town to stumble out of the gates yet and again, head coach Dave Joerger turns to a shakeup in the starting lineup.  Will it matter, though?

This season was supposed to be different.  This year was supposed to mark a new era of Sacramento Kings basketball.

New coach, new arena, and a renewed sense of hope; but so far, same old Kings.

For yet another season, DeMarcus Cousins and company have stumbled out of the gates.

Despite losing some down-to-the-wire heartbreakers to begin the 2016-17 NBA campaign, the truth of the matter is, they Kings are sitting discouragingly at 12th place in the Western Conference standings, sporting a sobering 4-9 record.

More from Sacramento Kings

• 3 Reason why keeping Harrison Barnes was the right move for the Sacramento Kings
• How the Kings’ sneaky signing of Sasha Vezenkov can boost their offense
• Ranking the 5 best available power forwards in 2023 NBA free agency
• NBA Trades: The Kings could bolster their frontcourt by adding this center
• 3 Offseason moves the Sacramento Kings must make to win the West

Boogie is still doing his thing, averaging his normal 27.5 points, 9.6 rebounds and 3.5 assists per game, while Rudy Gay has been playing some of the most efficient brand of basketball of his career. And yet, the team is still struggling, often falling behind early, before scrambling late to make games look respectable.

Their defense have been atrocious, allowing nearly 108.7 points per 100 possessions, per NBA.com, which ranks second-to-last in the NBA. They also relent the league’s highest effective field goal percentage, enabling opponents to score on a eFG rate of 52.8 percent.

Without question, things are getting dire in Sac-Town.

Trade rumors have always seem to be a lingering presence surrounding DeMarcus Cousins ever since he entered the league as a troubled, but ultra-talented, big man in 2010.  However, for the first time in forever, such speculation seems real — the Kings, by all indications, look like they’re on the precipice of saying, “F— it, let’s blow this things up.”

Grasping at straws, the Sacramento Kings announced they will start “to play small,” after suffering a fourth consecutive defeat to the hands of the Los Angels Clippers on Friday night.

“I’ve seen enough,” new Kings head coach Dave Joerger told RealGM. “We’re going to play small. DeMarcus is going to play center. I don’t know who else will play with him. It just gives us more zip, more life, more experience. That’s not any detriment to anyone else or what they’ve done.”

To thing is, though, the Kosta Koufos-DeMarcus Cousins frontcourt pairing haven’t exactly yielded catastrophic results.

More from Hoops Habit

• 7 Players the Miami Heat might replace Herro with by the trade deadline
• Meet Cooper Flagg: The best American prospect since LeBron James
• Are the Miami Heat laying the groundwork for their next super team?
• Sophomore Jump: 5 second-year NBA players bound to breakout
• NBA Trades: The Lakers bolster their frontcourt in this deal with the Pacers

In fact, their antecedent starting lineup of Ty Lawson, Arron Afflalo, Rudy Gay, DeMarcus Cousins, and Kosta Koufos has produced a Net Rating of 3.2 thus far this season, and a Defensive Rating of just 102.3.  In comparison, the Kings as a whole have suffered an aggregate Net Rating of -5.4 and, as aforementioned, a Denfensive Rating of 108.7.

Contrarily, the only “Gay at the 4” lineup that has played a significant sample of minutes (a lineup that features Lawson, Afflalo, Matt Barnes, Gay, and Cousins) has been a net negative on the aggregate, yielding a disappointing Net Rating of -10.3, and allowing over 118.7 points per 100 possessions.

Clearly, coach Joerger is trying to find anything positive to get his team going, as the trademark “Grit-N-Grind” style he had brought forth from Memphis have failed to resonate with this group of Sacramento Kings.

Must Read: NBA: 10 Biggest Disappointments So Far In 2016-17

“We have five skill guys then,” Joerger further elaborated. “You can’t cheat, you can’t roam, you have to play everybody. It gave us another dimension in the pick-and-roll, having two playmakers out there.”

We’ll see if this latest motivational tactic can finally turn the fortunes of this desperate franchise around.