SACRAMENTO -- It’s been a whirlwind start to the 2016-17 season for the Sacramento Kings. Four back-to-backs, 11 games in 17 nights, including seven away from Golden 1 Center and eight of those contests without the services of veteran point guard Darren Collison.
And then nothing. Four days without a game is the calm before the storm for the 4-7 Kings.
“You’ve got to take advantage of it,” veteran point guard Darren Collison said of the break. “Recovery is big, especially in this league. 11 games in 17 nights is a lot on the body.”
Waiting for the Kings is a murderer's row of sorts. The Spurs, Clippers, Raptors, Thunder and Rockets, the five teams lining up to play in Sacramento, currently have a combined 37-15 record on the season. It’s another brutal stretch for a team already looking up at a .500 record.
“After about game eight or nine, I was like, it’s time to look a little further,” coach Dave Joerger said of the early season schedule. “Mercy. That’s what my mother would say. Mercy, David, that’s a tough schedule.”
The star-studded group rolls through Sacramento over the next 12 days. All five teams are firmly planted in the early season race for the playoffs, a place the Kings haven’t visited in a decade.
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“We’ll see if we can knock off some of these teams and get ourselves a little bit of momentum, but it’s a tough schedule,” said Sacramento’s head coach.
Joerger has a full arsenal of players coming into the homestand and the practice time couldn’t have come at a better time. A layoff gave the Kings’ coaching staff an opportunity to integrate Collison back into the fold after his missing most of the first two weeks of the season.
“I feel like I’m up to speed,” Collison said of learning Joerger’s offense. “I’ve been working. I’ve been here all summer going through the plays before the team even (went) through the plays. I pretty much had a head start before the season started.”
There is no word yet on whether Collison or newcomer Ty Lawson will start at the point after a few extra days of practice. In his first three games off the bench, Collison posted a modest 11.7 points and 5.7 assists in 29.3 minutes per game. He has had some nice moments, but according to the former UCLA standout, he’s still trying to get his legs underneath him.
While it’s only been a few games, the 29-year-old guard currently leads the team in assists and he’s joined DeMarcus Cousins and Rudy Gay as the only three players on the roster averaging in double-figure scoring.
Lawson on the other hand, has been struggling of late, hitting just 4-of-25 from the field over the Kings’ previous five games. He’s averaging just 5.6 points and 5.5 assists in 28.8 minutes through 11 games as the Kings primary point guard.
Collison’s presence has instantly improved the flow of the offense, but the team needs both of their point guards firing on all cylinders if they hope to compete with some of the best the league has to offer this week.
An eight-year NBA veteran, Collison had plenty of time to watch from the sidelines during his league mandated suspension. There is one key change in the Kings’ current style of play that jumped out at Collison.
“I think our defense is much improved over last year,” Collison said. “I think we’re always going to have a chance if we play defense the way we’ve been playing.”
The Kings are still a work in progress, but they are currently 2-2 at home this season and have been in all four games. Good teams protect their home court in the NBA, regardless of who comes through town.
Following the five games at home, the Kings leave the friendly confines of Golden 1 Center for another elongated road trip. The schedule lets up a bit with contests against the Nets, Wizards, 76ers, Celtics, Knicks and Mavs. Winning on the road is never easy, but those six opponents currently sit a combined 18-40 on the season.
