Back when Atlanta Hawks General Manager Travis Schlenk drafted Kevin Huerter, his hope was that Huerter and Trae Young could be the 404’s version of Klay Thompson and Steph Curry.1 Now in his first season with the Sacramento Kings, Huerter is certainly shooting like the Splash Brothers; through the first 14 games, Huerter is putting up an eFG% of 67% on 52% shooting from three point land. Per Cleaning the Glass, Huerter is scoring 1.36 points per shot attempt, in the 96th percentile for all guards and at the same usage levels as he had in Atlanta.
Credit Coach Mike Brown for finding simple and varied ways to spring Huerter open. Against Charlotte, Huerter was able to get good looks on multiple occasions out of Chicago action (a pin down leading into a dribble handoff, or DHO). Here, Keegan Murray sets the pin down before the Domantas Sabonis-Huerter DHO.
As simple as that action looks, the magic lies in nailing the timing. Huerter is able to create separation by timing his cut to the top of the arc while his man is distracted by the action on the other side of the floor. The initial action looks like a side pick and roll, with Huerter’s man responsible for supplying the weak side help. Huerter times his run a split second before the Kings reverse the ball and his man can recognize what’s happening.
Coach Brown came to the Kings after a golden run on Steve Kerr’s coaching staff. The Kings offense has displayed some of the Warriors’ whirling beauty at times. This set is a beaut: Huerter sets a flex screen for Harrison Barnes (speaking of Warriors alums…) before zipping off a Sabonis pin down:
Think Kevin Durant recognized that from his days in the Bay?
Spain pick and rolls (a screen-the-screener action) can be tricky to defend at the best of times; it gets trickier when the personnel have De’Aaron Fox’s speed, Sabonis’ screening chops, and Huerter’s shooting:
Notice how important Huerter’s screening is to the two actions above. As others have noted, Huerter is setting a career high number of screens this season. Sure, the sample is small, but Coach Brown has imported the benefits of guard screening from his Golden State days (particularly when said guard is an assassin). As much as the Warriors are known for the Splash Brothers’ shooting, they have always generated high value looks at the rim. Many of those come with panicked defenders messing up switch/chase responsibilities.
Huerter is starting to sow similar confusion in opposing defenses with his shooting.
That Chimezie Metu’s dunk coming against the Warriors is an irony worthy of Alanis Morissette.
Huerter isn’t just a rote, paint-by-numbers screener. He is alert to secondary actions when it looks like the primary action may fizzle out. The Kings seem to set up for Harrison Barnes to come off of a double pin down from Huerter and Sabonis here; when Barnes’ man, Wiggins snuffs that out and relaxes for just a second, Huerter leverages the momentary indecision and confusion between Klay and Wiggins on the switch to flash off the Sabonis pin down instead:
Huerter is averaging three and a half assists per game, solid enough, and assisting on 14% of baskets when he is on the floor per Cleaning the Glass (in the 68th percentile for guards). Many of those assists are plain vanilla; there’s nothing wrong with that. He has flashed an in-rhythm pass while dribbling that is sneakier than it looks.
Huerter is also smart enough to create assist opportunities with canny movement and cuts.
That’s cheeky! Huerter cuts along the baseline and fakes the obvious pass to the opposite corner, opening up the window for the drop off to Sabonis. With Steph helping at the nail and both Draymond Green and Kevon Looney gumming up Fox’s passing lane, Sabonis likely doesn’t get the ball without Huerter’s cut.
The Sabonis-Huerter two man game is fun, Fun, FUN! Watch Huerter fake Kevon Looney out just enough to open the pass to Sabonis here:
That two man game often generates mismatches for both Sabonis and Huerter against switching defenses. Huerter is increasingly learning how to exploit those mismatches. Here, rather than try to take Looney (a good switch defender) off the dribble, Huerter gets the ball back into Sabonis and forces Looney to chase him and switch directions repeatedly, an easier way to create separation:
The Kings might be the most the fun team you aren’t watching right now and Red Velvet is a big reason why. They might just break the playoff drought just yet.
While watching a recent Kings-Warriors game recently, I heard someone say that Huerter is a better player than the struggling Klay Thompson right now. From the Logo maintains a strict no-fly zone on Klay Thompson slander and that is all I have to say on the matter. Can’t wait to have you back at your best Klay.