Kings Coach Doug Christie Makes Concerning Observation After Loss to Bulls

You can’t really blame Christie for a moment of honesty. The team does seem incapable of playing a full 48 minutes the right way. The Kings have come out flat in the second half of pretty much every game this season and just don’t seem as engaged, especially defensively. 

The Kings have been outscored by 53 in the second half of games so far this season, despite having a chance to win three out of the four games they’ve lost. 

The team is limited with Keegan Murray and Nique Clifford out, but they haven’t played well enough to be able to blame their losses completely on injuries. The frustrating part is that it feels like players are bought in with how they’re starting games, and a lot of guys are having some very good years to start. 

Individual players have been playing the way Doug Christie wants. Domantas Sabonis is really the only player crashing the boards to help Sacramento make up for Murray’s absence. Zach LaVine, Malik Monk, Keon Ellis, and Devin Carter are putting in a lot of effort on both ends of the floor, but the Kings need everyone to be engaged. 

Fans have been calling for changes already, and the rest of the league is starting to catch on to the teams’ struggles thus far. Some are even begging Sacramento to make a trade. There likely won’t be any big moves just yet as the new front office of Scott Perry and BJ Armstrong continues to evaluate the roster pieces they inherited. 

Whether changes come or not, Christie is right; they aren’t doing the right things to maximize the players they do have. Domantas Sabonis has struggled to defend the rim, but it isn’t all his fault. Sabonis isn’t a traditional rim protector, which means Sacramento’s guards can’t just funnel players to him like you could Rudy Gobert, Victor Wembanyama, Anthony Davis, etc. 

Sacramento’s perimeter players need to put up some sort of a fight when players attack the basket and give Sabonis time to get into position to contest without fouling. 

Along with that, the Kings have been killed on the glass, with only Sabonis making a consistent effort. This may not even result in wins, but it would be nice to see these controllable variables cleaned up. Doug also took some blame for the issues and suggested that the energy could be on him.

Christie addresses the rotation

“Part of that is going to be on me, because I need to recognize if the energy’s not there, we just gonna have to hockey sub, whatever it takes to get our energy where it needs to be,” Christie said. "I have to own that."

Doug has tried a ton of different lineups and seems open to anything that might work. At some point, he may run out of combinations, and the answer might be that the Kings aren’t going to be able to challenge for a playoff spot as currently built. 

Things may be completely different with both Clifford and Murray healthy, but the team may not be able to stay afloat with Murray not close to returning. If Sacramento continues to lose, the noise will only get louder, and there will be more pressure to change directions. 

This isn’t a great spot for the Kings to be in, and the only solace is that they may actually end up with good lottery odds against their will. It’s still early in the season, but the bad luck of having Murray out while going through an incredibly tough schedule is going to be a very hard hole to climb out of if they don’t start winning now.