The Story Of The 2011-12 Sacramento Kings ... So Far

For maybe the first time ever, the NBA All-Star break coincides with the midpoint of the season for the Sacramento Kings. The Kings have 33 games in the books, and 33 left. As such, and with a break in games until Tuesday, it's time to assess what's happened so far this season. Akis has been running through the advanced stats by position, so I'll look at it from the team level.

First, some basics:

• The Kings are 11-22 overall. The longest winning streak has been three games. The longest losing streak was six games. (That's the one the Kings had just broken with the win in Washington.)
• The Kings have played 12 games at home, going 7-5. The Kings have an average margin of -1.8 points per game at home.
• The Kings have played 21 games on the road, going 4-17. The team has an average margin of -10.8 points per game away from home.

More below the jump.

From 82games.com's W-L profiles (with some manual additions):

• The Kings have played 12 games against the top 10 teams in the league. In those games, Sacramento is 3-9.
• The Kings have played 13 games against teams ranked 11-20 in the league in points margin -- so roughly 'average' teams. The Kings are 3-10 in those games.
• The Kings are 5-3 in eight games against the worst eight teams in the league. Only three of these games (two wins and a loss) have come at home.

From 82games.com's position matchup data:

• The Kings are outscoring opponents at point guard and shooting guard very small margins (0.1-0.2 points per 48 minutes), and by 3.6 points per game at center. But ...
• The Kings are getting outscored by 4.7 points at small forward and 7.6 points at power forward. At power forward, much of that is because the Kings' PF shoots far less than opponents (4.7 fewer FGAs/game). That means that the guards and centers are needing more shots to get their advantages. (Sacramento's centers use 4.6 more FGAs to get those extra 3.6 points.) The Kings' small forwards, however, take just one fewer FGA and one fewer FTA per game compared to opponents. Bad shooting kills.

Per Basketball-Reference, the Kings are playing at the No. 5 pace in the league. Sacramento's offense ranks No. 24 at 1.003 points per possession. The league average is at 1.032. The league's worst (Charlotte) is at 0.944.

Sacramento's defense ranks No. 28 at 1.088 points per possession. The league average is at 1.032. The league's worst (New Jersey) is 1.115.

On offense, the Kings rank:

• No. 29 in shooting
• No. 9 in turnover rate (woohoo!)
• No. 3 in offensive rebounding (woohoo!)
• No. 9 in free throw rate (woohoo!)

On defense, the Kings rank:

• No. 28 in shot defense
• No. 17 in turnover creation
• No. 26 in defensive rebounding
• No. 10 in foul rate

According to HoopData.com, the Kings are:

• No. 7 in percentage of shots taken at the rim (32.6 percent, average is 29.9)
• No. 7 in percentage of shots taken from 3-9 feet
• No. 22 in percentage of shots taken from 10-15 feet
• No. 28 in percentage of shots taken from 16-23 feet
• No. 17 in percentage of shots taken from beyond the arc
• This results in a shot profile that ranks as the league's ninth best, if only the Kings shot league average from all of those areas.

They don't. Want proof?

• The Kings rank No. 24 in shooting percentage at the rim.
• No. 29 from 3-9 feet.
• No. 26 from 10-15 feet.
• No. 29 from 16-23 feet.
• No. 25 on three-pointers.

Yes, the Kings are in the bottom six of the league in shooting from every range.

These are your Sacramento Kings. Hooray?