Mike Brown May Have Run Out of Answers for this Current Kings Roster
When Mike Brown threw caution to the wind in Milwaukee on Sunday night to get thrown out and follow it up by presenting video evidence in his postgame remarks, there were plenty of conclusions one could make.
The optimistic presumption would have been that coach Brown is so adamant about his group's talent that his frustration was a sign of a ceiling yet to be reached, and possibly because of officiating or other factors outside of their control.
Though, that may not be a sound assumption considering the 2 turnovers and the 3 missed free throws in overtime, all of which would classify as the "controllables" Brown has explicitly laid out.
A more realistic conclusion from Sunday would have been that the Kings may have reached a crossroads. So it could be that they have hit their ceiling in terms of the current roster and that Brown's reaction—both in the moment and after the game—was indicative of the pressing realization of that reality.
Sunday's ejection felt similar to Brown's ejection in Toronto last season. Both were the second to last contests of a lengthy road trip (a 6-gamer last season, 5 games this last trip) against an Eastern Conference that followed a loss in Philadelphia.
In December 2022, the Kings pulled out a win on the road against the Raptors and then came away victorious in the final game of the trip. This past weekend, Sacramento failed to execute down the stretch on Sunday and did the exact same thing in the following game to close out the roadie.
Aside from that contrast, nearly a year later, pulling that same card out of his pocket felt more desperate on the part of the head coach.
In a lot of ways, the sense of desperation is warranted. Brown's demand for "consistency" and "communication" from the officials is fair. But Sunday night's postgame press conference also felt like a venting moment for a coach who's been demanding consistency and communication, among other things, from his team all season and to mixed results so far.
The more recent loss to the Suns featured more inconsistency as Sacramento lost their third straight game. They now stand in seventh among their conference after being in fourth for about a week last month and after being in fifth for the last three weeks.
Tuesday's game in Phoenix initially looked promising as the Kings played a terrific first half on both ends of the floor amid the aftermath of Brown's public exhibition of intensity. In the second half, however, Frank Vogel's team made some adjustments that ultimately resulted in a 21-point fourth quarter with 8 turnovers for the Kings while they allowed 35 points to a Suns team that was playing a small-ball lineup with Kevin Durant at the 5 for most of the fourth quarter.
Mike Brown really underlined that factor.
"They were able to hit three's down the stretch because they had five shooters on the floor, five playmakers, and we didn't want to switch a guy like Domas (Sabonis) onto Devin Booker or switch a guy like Domas onto (Kevin Durant)," the head coach explained on Tuesday night. "So we had to blitz and we couldn't switch 1 through 5 to just keep bodies in front of bodies. And when we're blitzing, we're running all over the place and they got great shooters and they made us pay when we blitzed."
It was evidently Brown's biggest takeaway because he circled right back to it a few minutes later.
"All (the Suns) were doing was coming down and playing pick-and-roll," he pointed out. "They were putting Domas in a pick-and-roll and daring us to blitz and so we did."
He concluded that point by saying he was simply disappointed with how the team finished because, in his opinion, it wasn't done in a way that he knows "they're capable of."
That is sort of peculiar to say considering he'd just spent a lot of time explaining that playing his closing lineup that featured his four best players didn't allow him to defend the way he wanted to defend down the stretch. Right?
After all, to close his press conference, Brown said he's still looking for more answers for this current roster.
"Defensively, we just have to figure out a better game plan than blitzing," he divulged.
The Kings have used the blitz, also known as the trap, a good amount this season. Against some talented teams over the last three, they've utilized it a lot.
They even used it a little in Detroit last week against Bojan Bogdanovic in the third quarter. That worked in a minimal sample size, a big reason it did—and a big reason it did not have to be put to use that much—is because the Pistons aren't very good. The Kings gave them a lot of confidence by giving up 47 points to them in the first quarter, but they aren't the 76ers, Bucks, or Suns in terms of talent.
Philadelphia shot 42.9% from deep with some significant use of the trap on Tyrese Maxey (see here, here, and here). Milwaukee shot 46.5% from beyond the arc as Sacramento often tried to trap Damian Lillard (see here, here, here, and here), but they curiously failed to apply such pressure at the time where it was most critical, on Lillard's game-winner. And Phoenix hit 45.9% of their three's with a host of blitz attempts on Devin Booker (see here, here, here, here, and here).
The blitz is not a sustainable way to defend throughout a large bulk of a game. It forces more rotations and requires even more multiple efforts. The Kings have shown some nice moments in that respect and have, at times, been flying around on the perimeter, but they can't be expected to do it all of the time.
On top of that, while it's not a rare thing in the game, the rate Sacramento seems to be using it recently—against talented teams—shows that this is a team that cannot reliably or consistently sit down and defend in straight man-to-man.
Trapping and blitzing is not the sole reason for loses—especially with the turnovers, free throws, and occasional shot selection issues in mind—but it illustrates a key point.
Brown's team has had some really promising stretches as the head coach has shrunk the rotation to just nine over the last two games. But there's still so much room for improvement, and the clock is beginning to tick on contention chances in the immediate future.
The roster as it stands has been clear for most of the season that they cannot realistically be a championship contender. The last few days have seemed to suggest Brown is running out of answers with this team as it's constructed today.