Kings Mailbag: Interior Defense Concerns

The Sacramento Kings frontcourt is led by All-Star Domantas Sabonis, who lacks a crucial defensive aspect.

Apr 5, 2024; Boston, Massachusetts, USA; Sacramento Kings forward Domantas Sabonis (10) dribbles the ball against the Boston Celtics during the second half at TD Garden. Mandatory Credit: Eric Canha-USA TODAY Sports / Eric Canha-USA TODAY Sports

Welcome to the fourth edition of the Sacramento Kings mailbag with Will Z, where I attempt to find stats and information to answer questions submitted by fans from X (formerly Twitter), Threads, and Instagram.

Make sure to catch up on the previous mailbag articles:

Kings Mailbag: Keegan Murray's Year 3 Expectations

Kings Mailbag: Is Lack of Size a Problem?

Kings Mailbag: Massive Bench Turnover

Today’s question comes from Matheus on X:

We know that one of the Kings' biggest problems is defending the paint and the rim, Sabonis, as tough as he is, is not good in this regard. How can we be remotely decent defending the paint with this current roster?

— Matheus (@mattheuoliver1) August 4, 2024

An often-discussed issue with the Kings is their lack of a true rim protector.  While Domantas Sabonis is great in numerous aspects, blocking shots is not a strong suit of the All-Star center. His career high in blocks was last season with just 0.6 per game.

Let me preface this all, I don’t care that Sabonis doesn’t block shots. He does enough all over the court to make up for that limitation. His scoring, passing, and rebounding are enough to offset his lack of rim protection.

The Kings coaching staff preaches verticalities (going straight up to defend a shot), and it’s something that Sabonis has improved drastically since being traded to Sacramento. Sabonis’ personal fouls per game show that he has improved his rim defense without fouling.

His fouls have gone down every season in Sacramento, from 3.8 in the partial 2021-22 season, 3.5 in 2022-23, and 3.0 last season. Foul trouble used to be a talking point with Domas, and now it feels like an afterthought.

The other overlooked aspect of Sabonis’ defensive game is that the Kings never have to double-team someone in the post. He’s such a big strong defender that while he doesn’t do a perfect job inside, he keeps the Kings from having to compromise their defense by bringing double-teams.

The great news for the Kings is that they have Alex Len on the roster, who is an extremely underrated defender. 

ALEX LEN WITH THE BIG BLOCK OF DRAYMOND’S SHOT 😱#NBAPlayoffs pic.twitter.com/dAoAjorWMO

— Bally Sports (@BallySports) April 16, 2023

Len averaged 0.7 blocks last season in just 9.3 minutes per game. That equates to 2.7 blocks per 36 minutes, which tied for the 9th-best mark out of the 354 players with at least 40 games played.

He had a defensive rating of 100.8 last season, the second-best mark in the league (first was new King Jordan McLaughlin). Len is the type of player who will come in and do what needs to be done, and part of that is being a high-impact defender.

His impact gets lost behind Sabonis and the other stars, but he’s a big part of how the Kings can improve their rim protection in spurts. Throw in the addition of the athletic Orlando Robinson and the Kings have an interesting trio of centers who all bring different abilities to the court.

Sacramento will probably never lead the league in blocks or opponent field goal percentage inside. But with Sabonis’ fundamental defense, Len’s superior protection, and a renewed offensive firepower, it should be enough to get back to the playoffs.

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