It is no surprise the Kings are tied with the Denver Nuggets for the NBA’s best defensive rating (110.3) over their 10-2 stretch, given Sacramento’s interim coach, Doug Christie, was a strapping defender back when he played in California’s capital city.
At the face of the Kings’ current defensive fortress is guard Keon Ellis. The thing is, the 25-year-old wasn’t too familiar with Christie’s game before the retired player stepped in for former Sacramento coach Mike Brown.
On the latest “Kings Central” segment, Ellis told NBC Sports California’s Morgan Ragan his takeaways after breaking down Christie’s old defensive highlights with his teammates.
“Nothing honestly surprised me because I know he’s good at defense,” Ellis told Ragan with a grin. “I know he’s good at defense. And for the height he has, the quickness, the length, that was what I expected of Doug, for sure.
“When I thought of him playing defense [or] even the offensive side, I expected that to look like that. But it was definitely good. I think we had some Kobe [Bryant] highlights in there, some [Tracy McGrady]. It looked like me a little bit, like a little taller version of me.”
Ellis liked what he saw from a fellow lockdown defender in Christie.
After all, the Kings interim coach made four NBA All-Defensive teams during his Sacramento playing days and retired after 15 seasons with a 103.9 defensive rating, which would be top-five in today’s league. For his career, Christie collected 1,555 steals, 392 blocks and 3382 rebounds.
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Ellis even saw some of his game in Christie’s.
“His activeness, the little strips he has, some of the blocks, some of the little physicality he had going on,” Ellis pointed out to Ragan. “The instincts, for sure. And it’s crazy because we were kind of talking through it as the highlights were playing.”
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Nowadays, Christie is using his defensive experiences to try and coach the Kings to the NBA playoffs for the second time in 19 seasons. And so far, so good, considering Sacramento -- which has been known for its offense in recent campaigns -- currently has opposing offenses scrambling.
Ellis, personally, has a ways to go before he reaches Christie’s defensive status. But averaging 1.4 steals per game in 2024-25 and having a solid reputation under the game’s brightest lights against, say, Warriors guard Steph Curry, isn’t too bad for a three-year veteran.