We Watched It So You Didn’t Have To: Sacramento Kings vs Phoenix Suns
Josh Jackson stars, Tyler Ulis outplays De’Aaron Fox, and Phoenix’s no-name bench leads them to victory
There’s bad basketball, there’s tanking, and then there’s the Sacramento Kings and Phoenix Suns. The Kings and Suns wrapped up their four-game season series Tuesday night and it was ugly, with Devin Booker, Elfrid Payton, Skal Labissiere, Zach Randolph, Garrett Temple, and many others sidelined. The Suns led most of the way, then hung on late for a 97–94 victory.
We’re barely a week away from the playoffs, but these teams are filled with young players fighting for jobs, and this game is another data point even if it felt like NBA Summer League in April. So what can we learn from an ugly late-season game between two franchises going anywhere? One recent top-10 pick shined, a few others were duds, and there was plenty to learn, as always. We watched it so you didn’t have to, and here’s what we saw.
1. Josh Jackson starred and looked much improved from early in the season
Josh Jackson has come a long way since the start of the season. I actually watched these two teams play back in December, and Jackson was awful. He had four turnovers, shot 3-of-14, got roasted on defense, and finished -16. But on Tuesday night, he was the best player on the court.
It’s easy to see how much Jackson has improved. You can see it in his confidence and body language. His dribble is much better, tighter and more controlled, and he’s confident using his dribble to create space and create for others. Jackson is terrific in transition, flashing athleticism and explosion to get to the rim, and he showed good finishing ability once he got there.
Jackson is also shooting better. The shot percentage still comes and goes, just 27% downtown both pre- and post-All-Star break, but it looks different. His shot form has tightened up, and you can see it best in his free throws where a pre-draft hitch has disappeared. Jackson’s shooting stroke is smooth and confident now. His field-goal percentage has risen from 41 to 45% post-All-Star break, and his free throws are up from 60 to 67%. The shot is still far from perfect, but it’s vastly improved. The shooting numbers may be a bit deceptive, too. Jackson’s shot too many mid-range shots Tuesday, but that’s likely by design as the Suns develop him, and Phoenix didn’t have much else talent out there so many shots were forced late in the shot clock.
Jackson is stronger now than a year ago, but he’ll need to add more muscle to be useful in the paint. He was poor on defense when switched onto big men, and a lot of that is his frame. One of the lofty pre-draft comparisons for Jackson was Kawhi Leonard, and he’s a far cry from Leonard defensively, though he’s improved from early in the year.
Jackson finished with 28 points, 6 boards, 2 assists, 2 steals, and a block. He filled up the box score and is averaging 22/6/3 over his last ten outings, and he’s doing it without the other even remotely good Suns starters around him. He shot 10-of-23 and had three turnovers, so there’s work to do, and the pre-draft Jackson vs Jayson Tatum debate looks a bit silly now. But Jackson showed significant improvement and looks like the top-five pick everyone was excited about.
2. De’Aaron Fox got outplayed by Kentucky point guard counterpart Tyler Ulis
Fox was the game’s other recent top-10 pick, and he did not look nearly as improved as Jackson. If you weren’t watching for Fox, you probably barely saw him at all until the fourth quarter.
Fox didn’t make a field goal until the final 30 seconds of the third quarter, and he shot 3-of-14. Until the fourth quarter, he simply didn’t look engaged. Ulis got into him defensively and took away Fox’s quickness, and he just didn’t offer much else. Ulis is a good defensive player for his size, but he’s also 5'9" in sneakers and got dominated when forced to guard anyone else, so it’s a bit disconcerting that Fox could do so little against him. Where was the pick-and-roll to set up a teammate with the tiny Ulis on a switch?
Sacramento plays one of the league’s slowest paces, and they’ve tried to turn Fox into a half-court point guard. It’s clear that he’s best and most comfortable in transition, when he can slither into the lane and use his quickness to his advantage. In transition opportunities, Fox looks comfortable and makes quick decisions using his instincts. In half court, he looks disengaged and not particularly useful. He can use his first step to get an open mid-range jumper or a floater, but his shot still looks really bad, often missing wide and looking off from the moment it leaves his hand. He hit a couple catch-and-shoot threes and went 6-of-6 from the line, but his shot off the dribble is poor.
Fox finished with 14/9/5 and led the team in rebounds and assists, but he compiled most of his numbers late and just didn’t impress much. He needs to be able to do more in a game like this, with a tiny inferior player against him.
Tyler Ulis is always going to struggle mightily with size. A handful of times he’d rise up for a jumper that he simply couldn’t get off with a defender anywhere in the same time zone and be forced to turn in the air and pass. He barely looked for his shot at all unless he got to the rim, and he’s shooting only 44% at the rim on the season.
Despite that limitation, Ulis knows what he can do and plays to his strengths. He has good awareness and sets up his teammates well, and his passing gets teammates involved. He had a game-high nine assists. Ulis also uses his body well to draw shooting fouls against guys that could probably block him without even jumping. And on defense, he uses his physicality to get into guys and his quick hands to make plays.
Ulis’s size will always be a huge limitation, but he’s an NBA player that belongs on a roster, and he outplayed his fellow Kentucky alum in this one.
3. These teams are dumpster fires of porous defense, mismatched rosters, and bad late game execution
This felt very much like an April Summer League game, and much as I love Summer League, that is not a compliment. Many of the players lacked awareness and didn’t seem particularly engaged, and remember, these are the guys fighting for playing time. Teams might tank, but players don’t.
There was no energy or flow early on, and you could feel it from the crowd. Neither team scored 100 despite a complete lack of defensive effort or scheme, and there was little movement or dynamism on offense. The Kings are one of the worst defensive teams in the league, and the Suns are even worse.
These teams can’t shoot to save their lives. Phoenix is bottom five in two-point, three-point, and free-throw percentage. The Kings shot 22-of-62 on twos, a horrible 35%, and it’s not like that was because of Phoenix’s defense. The Suns are bottom three in the league in turnovers, fouls, and assists, too.
Consider that Sacramento openly said they were trying to win out, then lost to a team on a 15-game losing streak. I’m not sure if it’s dumber that they’re trying to win instead of tanking or that they can’t beat the worst team in the league missing four of five starters. Three of the Suns’ 20 wins this season have come against Sacramento.
The Suns were terrible down the stretch and almost blew the win. They had four straight trips with turnovers or bad end-of-the-shot-clock attempts in the final minutes, then turned it over up three with under 10 seconds left and gave up two wide-open three-point attempts in the game’s final seconds. Only Sacramento’s poor shooting and incompetence bought the Suns a win.
These two franchises are train wrecks. If you had to pick one player from this game and give them 20 minutes on a playoff team, the right answer might well be 41-year-old Vince Carter. Villanova played more pleasing basketball the last few days. Heck, Villanova might actually hang with these teams. Jalen Brunson and Mikal Bridges would hold their own against the other young draft picks, and the Wildcats would have a coaching and scheme advantage. The NBA teams would beat them with size, athleticism, and depth in the end, but the fact that it’s even a conversation is telling.
At least the Suns are losing. They have three games left and control their destiny to lock up the #1 lottery odds. Neither of these teams has a sure thing stud to build around yet, but Phoenix has the closest thing in Devin Booker, and Josh Jackson may be the next most valuable asset. The Kings have shot themselves in the foot by winning down the stretch. They’re now in line to pick 6th or 7th in a top-heavy draft, and they don’t even have their first-round pick next year. Does this team even have a definite NBA starter on the roster? Maybe Bogdan Bogdanovic, but he plays the least important position.
What are the chances either of these teams makes the playoffs in the next three years? How long will it be before one of them wins a playoff series?
If you’re a Kings or Suns fan, it’s ugly. And that may not change any time soon.
10 other parting shots…
- The Kings bench was awful. They got nothing from Frank Mason and Nigel Hayes, and Buddy Hield was poor. He scored 10 on 11 shots and settled too easily for long jumpers, with a loose handle and no assists plus poor defensive positioning. Sacramento’s bench was outscored 42-to-14 by a bunch of Phoenix no-names.
- Two of those no-names look intriguing. Shaq Harrison looks a bit like Leandro Barbosa, a combo guard with long arms and quick hands and feet. He’s a defensive spark plug and flashed good creation and awareness, but he doesn’t have much of a shot yet. Danuel House was a team-best +12 with a 14/6/5 line, and he has NBA athleticism. These guys are getting a chance at age 24, and they were the reason Phoenix won Tuesday night.
- Bogdan Bogdanovic and Justin Jackson are at least rotation players. Bogdanovic has a nice shot and good awareness and recognition, and he has excellent shooting numbers on the season. Jackson was quiet early and tends to play in the flow of the game, and his shot looks flat, but he was more aggressive down the stretch and helped the Kings come back late.
- Two years in, the Dragan Bender and Marquese Chriss picks look bad. The duo scored 14 on 14 shots, did little on defense, and was generally terrible. Bender’s 7'1" but you’d never know it on the boards, where he barely jumps and just waits for the ball, and that height isn’t worth much floating around the perimeter on offense. Bender averages 17.9 feet per shot this season, and he’s 16% from mid-range. Chriss flashes elite athleticism but exhibits a complete lack of awareness and focus. He threw the ball away after a rebound with no defender within 20 feet, and he had clear position for an easy rebound after a free throw and took his eye off the ball and allowed an offensive board. Chriss is constantly in terrible position on defense. These two are still young, but considering what we’ve seen this year from fellow 2016 draft picks like Ben Simmons, Jamal Murray, and Jaylen Brown, it’s not looking good.
- Vince Carter may be the king, but Kings Vince Carter is depressing. He started the game at the four, scored on Tyler Ulis in the post, got beaten to the rim by Shaq Harrison, and took a charge from Marquese Chriss. That sentence is just wrong. Free Vince Carter.
- Alex Len looks like a useful rotation big. Len racked up 17 points and 15 rebounds in 32 minutes. He gets good position near the basket and had some nice offensive boards, and he hit his first three of the season. Len’s numbers flatter him a bit since 3/4 of his shots are at the rim and mostly against backups, but he’ll be a free agent and is a good reminder of just how many useful rotation bigs there are in the NBA.
- Willie Cauley-Stein touches the ball way too much. He took 17 shots and averages 10+ twos a game, despite shooting under 50%. He has decent post moves but no finishing touch, and there’s far too many times when he’s passing out of the post or standing with the ball in his hands, lost.
- Sacramento coach Dave Joerger loves a good disgusted walk-halfway-onto-the-court timeout. He had three or four this game, and you get the feeling he’s probably getting a lot of practice at it.
- Bruno Caboclo was a rebound away from a 5 trillion. RIP.
- Please don’t watch the Kings or the Suns. And for the love of God, don’t ever watch them play each other.
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