By Will Z
The Kings came into the offseason needing two things: shooting and defense. We know for a fact that the Kings added shooting in the form of Malik Monk, Kevin Huerter, and Keegan Murray, who had 3P%’s of 39.1%, 38.9%, and 39.8%, respectfully, last season. Monk and Huerter especially excelled in Catch and Shoot 3’s, where they both shot 41.9%, and Corner 3’s, shooting 40.7% and 43.2%. This offensive firepower will pair exceptionally well with De'Aaron Fox and Domantas Sabonis to create what should be a dynamic offense. The question then shifts; did the Kings add enough on defense? Lucky for them (and us), a look back at the last 13 years of Offensive and Defensive Ratings proves that the Kings don’t need to make drastic improvements on defense to make the playoffs.
The Kings finished the 2021-22 season with an Offensive Rating of 110.7, which ranked 25th out of the 30 teams. Their Defensive Rating was 116.3, 27th in the NBA. Adding the rankings together bring the Kings’ total of the two ratings to 52. The highest total any team can achieve is 2, while the lowest total would be 60. The number that matters for the Kings though, is the total needed to make the playoffs.
Over the last 13 seasons, the average rank to squeak into the playoffs sits at 35.4. There were teams that solely relied on one side of the ball to get into the playoffs, while others were average on both sides. The 2017-18 Cavaliers relied almost exclusively on their offensive prowess, ending the season 5th in offense and 29th in defense. Contrarily, the 2011-12 Mavericks depended on their defense, finishing as the 22nd best team on offensive but 8th best team on defense. No matter the combination, as long as teams can get their total rank to around the 35 mark, they give themselves a good chance to be at least a bottom seed in the playoffs.
The Kings haven’t eclipsed the 35.4 average since they totaled 35 in the 2006-07 season. The closest they’ve come in recent years was when they won 39 games in 2018-19 with the 16th ranked offense and 20th ranked defense.
The question remains, did Kings add enough on defense during the offseason? Odds are they didn’t add enough defensive impact players to drastically improve on that end of the ball, but between new Head Coach Mike Brown and increased effort and accountability, it’s not outrageous to say they should at least improve from the 27th best defensive team last season to around the 23rd best. If they can make that small improvement on defense and jump to a top 12 offense, theoretically that should be enough to be an 8th seed and have an advantage in the Play-In tournament, and finally end the 16-year playoff drought.
An extra little stat fact: The last team to have the number 1 ranked offense and defense was the 1995-96 Bulls. The last team to have the number 30 ranked offense and defense was the 2011-12 Charlotte Bobcats.
