Sacramento Kings: 3 big questions heading into 2018-19 NBA season

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3. Will young players’ roles be optimized?

Last year, the Kings put the ball in rookie De’Aaron Fox’s hands. They treated Fox like a point guard, allowing him to initiate offense, often as a pick-and-roll ball-handler.

Fox finished 42.7 percent of his possessions handling in the pick-and-roll. He was not good at it, scoring just 0.7 points per possession, good for the 27.4 percentile among qualified players.

Fox struggles in the staple of modern NBA offenses because he’s not really a modern lead ball-handler. He can’t shoot, so defenders duck under screens. His vision and decision-making are poor.

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Fox is at his best attacking in transition, serving as a secondary scorer and playmaker in the halfcourt. But do the Kings see it that way? Will they play Fox alongside other capable ball-handlers, or will they continue to box him in as the primary ball-handler he probably isn’t?

There are concerns about rookie Marvin Bagley III’s usage, as well. Bagley’s NBA Summer League was an unmitigated disaster, but maybe more concerning than his issues within his role was his role itself.

The Kings deployed Bagley as a post-up big, running offense through him like he was Hakeem Olajuwon. Bagley is not a post-up big, though. He lacks refinement and is far too predictable given his laughable inability to go to his right hand.

Where Bagley should succeed is as a roll man and face-up scorer due to his superior leaping ability, quickness and handle. If the Kings do not empower Bagley to play to those strengths, instead pigeonholing him as the post-up option he is not, he’ll be doomed from the start.

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