Sacramento Kings: 2018-19 NBA season preview
By Luke Swiatek
Storyline 2: Is De’Aaron Fox a franchise point guard?
It’s been a long time since the Sacramento Kings had a point guard that they felt comfortable building around. It remains to be seen if De’Aaron Fox can be the one to change that.
Fox had an up-and-down rookie year. He showed his ability occasionally, but the Kings system didn’t particularly suit him. Via The Ringer:
"“Fox is one of the quickest players in the NBA with the ball in his hands, yet Sacramento ran the league’s slowest offense last year.”"
Perhaps playing more with athletes like Bagley and Giles instead of plodders like Randolph and Koufos will be more important than materially changing Joerger’s system.
Still, with all the bigs on the roster, the Kings are likely to run a lot of post-ups. If Fox is going to be able to work with Bagley long-term, he’s going to have to be a better outside shooter. He hit 30.7 percent of his 3s, which is well below average, but not abysmal. He can improve.
John Wall is perhaps a good high-end comparison for Fox, and Wall didn’t shoot above 30 percent from deep for his first three seasons in the league. However, when he did boost it up to 35.1 percent in his fourth year, he made his first All-Star team. That’s not a coincidence.
Fox never has to become a knockdown shooter, but he needs to become a passable one. He’s already on track to be one of the better perimeter defenders in the league. Adding a jumper would allow him to fit with Bagley and the other bigs, and would open up driving and passing lanes that would increase his scoring and assists.