Kings New Aggressive Defensive Look

I was on a defensive mission today, determined to find good defense and I decided to do up an analysis of the Sacramento Kings and what coach Reggie Theus has been able to accomplish in a rocky first half to the season.

Though you wouldn't think it from their record (15-21) and their 101.8 ppg they allow, but the Kings are developing into a very aggressive defensive team under Theus. They play hard M2M defense both in transition and in the half-court, they trap the post and the wing, they jump passes to the wing, it's a very aggressive, gambling style defense. Tonight, the Kings were matched up against one of the best teams over the last month, the Dallas Mavericks. Here are a few sequences from the first half which would eventually turn out into a close 122-120 win.



Double and Jump the Pass:

The Kings use very aggressive trapping and gamble a lot on steals. They jump passes as seen here,

If the Mavs did a better job of passing and anticipating the over-aggressive tendencies of the Kings, they probably would not have committed 19 turnovers on the night.

Summary:

The Kings have played a very tough schedule and have been decimated by injuries. It looks like some of their players like Bibby and Artest will be coming back soon. If so, watch out, I think the Kings could make a second half run against the Suns and Lakers especially without Bynum. Though I still can't believe Reggie Theus was in that terrible show "Hang Time", I think he is a smart basketball person and I like the new aggressive defensive look from the Kings. What he has been able to do with what amounts to half a lineup is really remarkable.

A really good M2M defense video you should take a look at if you haven't already is Coach Jim Calhoun's DVD on M2M defensive drills. It also includes his total zone offense, so it's really 2 DVDs in 1, you can't beat that. As always, don't forget to check out the the X's and O's of Basketball forum to get all your hoops fill.