Kings HC Explains Surprising Decision to Bench Malik Monk

The Kings' surprising decision to bench Malik Monk

There is undoubtedly a logjam, and searching is an accurate way of describing this situation. Sacramento has used 16 different starting lineups this season, and has yet to see a five-man lineup play more than 200 possessions together. This is both a product of the team simply not being good and the team not being healthy. 

After the logjam explanation, Christie quickly noted the role injuries have played in his ever-changing rotations. 

“Obviously, we haven’t had our full deck,” Christie said. “But the point is we’re continuing to search. We’re continuing to coach. We’re continuing to push. We’re not stopping anything we’re doing to try to find a way to get not only wins… to find the ability to say this is the standard of what we’re going to do.” 

Injuries have absolutely played a role in the Kings’ season thus far. Domantas Sabonis and Zach LaVine are currently out with injuries. Dennis Schroder and Keegan Murray both missed significant time with injuries, too. It is hard to find a rotation that works when adjusting to a roster with key players missing large chunks of the season. 

The second half of Christie’s quote is (in my opinion) the most important. Simply put, he wants to find lineups that play the way he and Scott Perry want this team to play. In Christie’s own words, this means players who defend, rebound, and share the basketball. 

Christie also mentioned a desire to play Keegan Murray at the 3 instead of the 4 as much as possible, which led to Precious Achiuwa starting with Murray and Maxime Raynaud. This was probably matchup-based, as Portland is massive across the board. 

It also led to Sacramento dusting Dario Saric off (he had not played since October 26) and running a bench frontcourt of Saric and Dylan Cardwell. Sacramento plays Portland again next. Rotational inconsistencies aside, there is a non-zero percent chance we see this combination again next game

As for Monk’s role in the rotation moving forward, Christie said nothing is permanent. He noted how well Keon played in the same sentence. Ellis had ten points, six steals, four rebounds and three assists in 32 minutes. He clearly did nothing to lose his spot in the rotation (still unclear why he lost it at all). 

To be clear, there is absolutely a universe where Monk and Ellis can play together as a backcourt. Sacramento’s roster is simply too redundant, with too many big names and bloated salaries to sit the other backcourt options. It is unfortunate that Monk has seen his roles - which should be consistent and sizable since he is a good player - impacted by, among other things, roster construction, name brand, and salary. 

None of this is meant to imply that Scott Perry and the front office should rush into a trade from a position of desperation. The last time Sacramento did that, they simultaneously sent their franchise player to greener grass and set themselves back several years in the process. 

As things stand, though, Sacramento has set Christie up to face dilemmas of this nature until moves are made. We will see which buttons Christie chooses to press when Sacramento plays Portland again at 7 PM PST.

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