The Sacramento Kings haven’t ranked higher than 20th in defensive efficiency since the 2005-06 season. Hoping to end that 10-year streak of futility is new coach Dave Joerger, who had two top-10 defenses in his three seasons as the head man in Memphis. Joerger knows that improvement has to start with effort, as he told the Sacramento Bee’s Ailene Voisin:
Joerger’s challenge is transforming an unbalanced roster into something resembling chicken soup. A team featuring Cousins, Collison and Rudy Gay pleases the analytics people but has been susceptible to injury and devoid of chemistry or defensive commitment. The playoffs are a distant memory. A joyous locker room traces back to another era.
As training camp approaches for the Kings’ first season at Golden 1 Center, Joerger is tinkering and pondering, noncommittal about a style of play and, in his mind, moving the players around a chess board.
“We have a lot of work to do, and it starts defensively,” he said during a lengthy conversation. “We are a very poor transition team. Turnovers were catastrophic last year. I think we can play fast, but I don’t think you go three or four possessions without DeMarcus touching the ball. He should be a playmaker. How do we do that? That’s a spacing issue and a shooting issue. We just have to try to build a foundation and go from there. We have to understand what it takes to grind, because we need to grind here. And we need to outwork people.”
Joerger also joined ESPN’s Zach Lowe this week for a podcast about his days in Memphis and his plans for the Kings.
