Sacramento Kings: Analyzing the various lineups the team could use

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SACRAMENTO, CALIFORNIA – MARCH 19: Harry Giles III #20 of the Sacramento Kings is guarded by Spencer Dinwiddie #8 of the Brooklyn Nets at Golden 1 Center on March 19, 2019 in Sacramento, California. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Ezra Shaw/Getty Images) /

6. Post-centric offense

De’Aaron Fox, Buddy Hield, Bogdan Bogdanovic, Trevor Ariza, Harry Giles

This lineup was specially made for Harry Giles. He hasn’t been in many of these lineups, yet he’s certain to get a lot of minutes as the backup center. He could even start depending on how well he plays this season.

Giles is an excellent distributor out of the post. He will often post up high and can make passes to players cutting backdoor from the corners or off of ‘blind-pig’ actions from the top.

Blind pig is when the ball is reversed along the top so that the player sees the defender cannot see both his man and the player with the ball in the post.

As soon as the defender’s back is turned, the perimeter player cuts behind his defender directly to the basket, where the post player with the ball passes it to him for a layup. The video below shows blind pig action.

The key to running actions in the post (high or low) is having a well-spaced floor. This means that the four players out there with Giles must all be good shooters. These players are all good enough shooters that the defense will be spread out enough to allow Giles space to operate.

Fox is probably the weakest shooter of the four perimeter players. With Giles, he does not necessarily need to be a shooter. He can use his lightning quickness and athleticism to run pinch-post actions with Giles.

This is where the guard passes the ball into the post and then cuts off of the post player, sometimes receiving a quick handoff or a backdoor pass. This is a great play for Giles to run with Fox since Fox’s gravity is so big on this Sacramento team.

So often he will draw Giles’ defender away a step or two while Fox cuts, allowing Giles to rise up for a short jumper. He shot 56.4% last season on shots under 10 feet from the basket.

This is an action that also relies on floor spacing to allow Fox enough room to cut around Giles without help defenders swiping at the ball or trying to halt his progress.

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