The Sacramento Kings took a crushing 112-93 loss to the Philadelphia 76ers, even though star Joel Embiid was sidelined. The loss highlighted many notable problems within Sacramento's lineup, but the most significant is their lack of productive players.
The Kings starting big three of De'Aaron Fox, Keegan Murray, and Domantas Sabonis produce the most consistently, while Sixth Man of the Year candidate Malik Monk is the only other go-to guy. Outside of that core four, who can the Kings trust?
The other two starters, Kevin Huerter and Harrison Barnes, are consistently unreliable. Barnes, 31, is the top trade candidate on the team, but his value plummets every time he touches the court. Huerter has been streaky this season, but like most sharpshooters, his shots could start falling at any point.
Many Kings fans are calling for the front office to upgrade the starting lineup, but the most glaring problem could be Sacramento's depth. Outside of Monk, the only reliable guy in the second unit is Trey Lyles. That marks just five reliable players in the lineup, but who's counting?
The backup point guard fiasco has caused many problems, and it is not a good thing when fans have no idea who they will see come off the bench game to game. Between Davion Mitchell, Keon Ellis, and rookie Colby Jones, Sacramento cannot find consistency anywhere.
After benching Mitchell earlier in the season, Ellis had many promising games as an active defender, but he ultimately fell back out of the rotation. In the past two games, Jones has been Mike Brown's option off the bench, and while the young guard has great defensive instincts, he is not ready to run an NBA-level offense. Brown should turn back to Ellis as Fox's backup and stick with it, as the constant change-up does more damage than anything.
The backup wing situation has also been shaky, as Brown rotates between Chris Duarte, Sasha Vezenkov, and Juan Toscano-Anderson, but none of these options are effective.
Duarte has started 11 games in place for Huerter this season, but his defensive instincts do not make up for his weaknesses. Vezenkov, the reigning EuroLeague MVP, was regarded as one of the best shooters in the world heading into the season but is practically unplayable on defense, leading to the NBA rookie falling out of the rotation.
Brown has recently figured out the center rotation, as Alex Len has proven to be the better option off the bench than JaVale McGee. In his last three games, Len averaged 5.3 points and 5.7 rebounds in just 11.2 minutes per game. While McGee has had effective minutes throughout the season, Len is certainly the more productive and consistent option.
The blame cannot be put on Brown for trying to figure out the rotation, but the lack of consistency from the supporting cast will likely lead to changes being made ahead of the trade deadline. Until then, Sacramento will continue to have the same problems they have had all season.
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