Kayte Christensen: Are The Kings Better Off Without Gay, McLemore?
The Sacramento Kings are coming off a 116-92 win over the Los Angeles Lakers, but are back out on the road again today for a three-game trip that takes them to Houston, Memphis and back to Dallas for the second time in twelve days before heading home for two days.
December is an absolute brutal month. Sacramento has just five home games the entire month, all of them coming on just a one-game home stand.
I'm visual so I'm including a picture of the schedule to put the month of December in perspective…the purple represents home games.
The win over the Lakers was great for a couple reasons: A win is always welcome, but one over their most hated rival is even more satisfying.
For the second straight game Sacramento scored 30 or more points off turnovers. They turned 20 Lakers' turnovers into 30-points Monday night just two days after scoring 36-points off twenty-two Jazz miscues.
On top of that, the Kings put together one of their best offensive and defensive quarters of the season by outscoring Los Angeles 39-13 in the third quarter, all while playing without starters Ben McLemore and Rudy Gay (both left the game in the first half with injuries).
So far this season, the Kings have remained very healthy by NBA standards through the first quarter of the season. Now they face a three game road swing potentially playing without two starters.
Gay (strained right hip flexor) and McLemore (left quadriceps contusion) are both listed as day-to-day for the Kings. McLemore had been in the starting lineup for four straight games after recording three consecutive DNP (did not play, coach's' decision) in the games prior.
I would not count on either one being available in Houston against the Rockets. I could see Gay potentially being ready Friday in Memphis, but would not be surprised if McLemore misses all three games on the Kings' current road trip.
Any kind of muscle contusion is extremely painful and can take some time to work back from. I suffered a contusion on my shin in college and without getting into the gory details, I'll just say it was painful and difficult to work back from.
If both Gay and McLemore are unavailable in Houston, it's a good opportunity to see if Monday's third quarter was an anomaly or if playing some key bench guys like Garrett Temple and Omri Casspi really does give the Kings a better opportunity to win games.
Since Gay has arrived in Sacramento, it's been challenging for coaches and teammates to figure out how to get a third or fourth guy to contribute consistently alongside him and DeMarcus Cousins.
Gay is a phenomenal scorer, but a guy who needs the dribble to create flow into his offense. That often causes problems for the other four players on the court.
The Kings' 39-point third quarter Monday was the best we've seen from the them this season. It was beautiful. The ball moved, all five-guys were actively involved in an offense that scored on 14 of 19 field goal attempts and the defense created easy offense by getting stops and creating turnovers.
The entire second half was a joy to watch.
Those in the "anti-Rudy Gay and Ben McLemore" camps were furiously waving their flags. That was all the evidence they needed to make the point that those two need to go.
But 24 minutes is not a large enough sample size to be used as conclusive evidence that this team performed the way they did because Gay and McLemore were not on the court.
Depending on how much time Gay and McLemore end up missing due to their injuries, it may provide enough proof to show the front office and coaching staff that, despite the skill set (particularly of Rudy Gay), maybe he isn't a good fit for this team based on the personnel and system.
I'm not willing to wave that flag yet, but I'm willing to entertain the theory.
And that isn't a shot at the ability of either Gay or McLemore. Successful teams don't have the 15 best players on the roster. Successful teams have 15 players that fit well, develop great chemistry and buy into their system.
There's no doubt the Kings do not have that yet. Most NBA teams do not have that. Most are still searching for that because that's how you win at this level.
There is no telling what this team will look like in February post trade deadline. But potentially playing without Gay on this three-game road trip due to the hip flexor issue, could go a long way in proving whether or not that could be a good or a bad thing for this Kings team going forward.
