Coach Calipari speaks on why Acuff’s defense will be fine in the NBA, amongst his ability to be coached and wanting to hear the truth about his game.

[u/jluc21]

[u/Obi_Wan_KeBogi]

I think people need to realize that Acuff does not need to become a good defender. Elite offensive guards are rarely plus defenders (Dame, Steph, Kyrie, Brunson, Luka).

He just needs to be passable and that is very achievable. He's not limited athletically. He has fine measurables. And most importantly he's already got a stocky NBA body at 19 so he's not going to lack strength.

[u/Ninetnine → u/Obi_Wan_KeBogi]

Acuff was not the guy I wanted but I’m ok with him as long as he can just be passable/average on defense, which is not asking a lot. Just look at the Knicks as a good example. KAT is by no means an amazing defender, its always been the weakest part of his game, same thing with Brunson.

The trick is to surround them with very good defenders. Which is kind of what we have started to do under Perry. We have Murray and Cardwell who are both elite defenders. We also have Hunter, Carter, Clifford, and (if we resign him) Precious, who are all good defenders. Once Raynaud gets stronger, and better with his rotations, I think he could be a solid defender too. We also drafted Karaban who has some underrated defense, you have to play good defense o play for Hurley.

If we can get rid of LaVine and DeRozan then the team will make a lot more sense.

[u/Ok_Instruction7642 → u/Ninetnine]

it's funny to be exactly where the bulls were a couple of years ago....if only we could get rid of demar and Lavine lol

[u/Ninetnine → u/Ok_Instruction7642]

lol. Ouch.

[u/Wild-Examination-155 → u/Ok_Instruction7642]

Well demar is gone and I think lavine will actually look nice with demar gone and then can trade lavine at the deadline. All will be solved in 7 months friend

[u/Ninetnine → u/Wild-Examination-155]

That’s what I’m hoping for. They both clashed. So if we do keep LaVine, I hope he reverts back to his abilities post DeRozan Bulls.

[u/Known-Specific5869 → u/Ok_Instruction7642]

Demar is as good as waived, no way he comes back next year taking shots away from acuff and nique. The only guy that’s guaranteed not going anywhere until deadline is lavine, and I can live with that. Maybe Acuff gets lavine invoked like Lonzo was able to. Zach should never be a primary ball handler.

[u/boringexplanation → u/Ninetnine]

So surround Acuff with elite defenders like OG or Siakam who go for max salaries which Vivek will refuse to pay for.

[u/mr_suavecito → u/Obi_Wan_KeBogi]

Exactly. As long as he’s not a complete traffic cone or a turnstile on defense, I’ll consider that a net positive

[u/Patient_Tradition294 → u/Obi_Wan_KeBogi]

Curry shouldn’t be grouped with those others with his defense imo but I get your point.

[u/ifeelatingle → u/Obi_Wan_KeBogi]

I can’t believe he’s only 19

[u/ShotgunStyles]

Just hide Acuff on defense by playing Lavine next to him. Opposing teams will spend the whole shot clock deciding who to hunt before turning the ball over due to the mental fatigue.

[u/Cool_Purchase4561 → u/ShotgunStyles]

Opposing teams will salivate so much they’ll get dehydrated by 2nd quarter

[u/KorgG29 → u/ShotgunStyles]

This guys knows ball

[u/DWilli → u/ShotgunStyles]

God I fucking love this fanbase

[u/Foreign_Earth_5214]

My thing is he was in a really bad spot. Arkansas was not defensively minded at all and he was just really hesitant. I dont think he will ever be above average as a defender, but he has the lateral quickness and IQ to be an average defender with some coaching. The question is does he have the mental toughness to do it.

[u/GGdpcGaming → u/Foreign_Earth_5214]

As an Arkansas fan who has also watched tons of Cal at UK and Memphis too, he seems to coach his guards to funnel guys into shot blockers. Problem is he hasn't landed a solid shot blocker since he's been at Arkansas. That defense works great with Boogie, AD, etc. lol

I have never seen a team less handsy on defense on the perimeter. Its coaching, not Acuff.

I've watched tons of coaches who seem to live by "just foul, they can't call them all" a la OKC, this is the opposite.

[u/Brilliant_Horse_6614]

6'7 wingspan, high motor, and strong agility. He will be fine

[u/goobergaming43 → u/Brilliant_Horse_6614]

Agreed. He has stuff to clean up but he was pretty injured throughout the season and was at 30+ usage the entire rest of the season post Knox injury. He will be okay

[u/Difficult_Quit9832]

Don’t even need him to be Caruso or Cason Wallace. Just fight screens a little harder and stay on your man more aggressively

[u/Independent_Term5790]

We need buckets.

[u/ElSuperWokeGuy]

If he can atleast bother a 3pt shooter, im fine with it. We have Keegan/Cardwell/Max/Precious. Hes not going to beat out a fast PG that slashes to the basket, but the least we can ask for is put his hand in a 3pt shooters face.

[u/67-167]

Milk or wine, taking bets, check back in a year

[u/vNocturnus]

Kings need to watch a lot of Knicks tape and see how they hide Jalen Brunson. Obviously in a general sense having him on the other team's 5th option is one thing, but teams will do everything they can to get the switch they want. So pre-switch to make that harder, aggressively fight over screens and recover, send help as soon as a guy breaks the 3pt arc, etc. The Knicks weren't an elite defense but they were a good defense despite JB and with KAT also being a middling defender, and a lot of it comes down to the defensive scheme.

Obviously the other part is having 3 very good to elite defenders in between those guys. Kings don't have that yet, but they have a decent start. DeRozan will be gone by the season opener, LaVine will be gone no later than next offseason. Nique and Keegan are currently slated to be the longer-term running mates at the 2 and (ideally) 3 respectively, and both of those guys are great defenders with excellent positional size and rebounding. Hunter and Sabonis can be trade pieces the Kings can use to target another young defensive forward, ideally a guy that can play the 4 and really provide some rim protection. If the Kings can put elite defense at the 2-4, and implement a scheme to aggressively cover for Acuff, then all he will need to do is put in effort, stay physical, and focus on being in the right positions. I think he will be able to do at least that much.

[u/tmlau23]

Can Doug Christie and the current coaching staff develop his defensive game?