What I'm Taking and Leaving From Darius Acuff Jr's Rough Debut in Kings-Clippers

We’ve ripped the band-aid off with the Sacramento Kings officially kicking off the regular season against the Los Angeles Clippers last night. Unsurprisingly, the Kings didn’t look any better than they did during preseason, but that isn’t the story of the night. Darius Acuff Jr. made his NBA debut as well, and it did not go according to plan as he shot 5-for-24 from the field. Here’s what I’m actually worried about, and what we can leave in the rearview as the Kings continue on with their season.

What I’m Leaving

Shooting

The first thing I’m leaving in Los Angeles is Acuff Jr’s shooting numbers. I’m sure he didn’t want to shoot 20% from the field and miss three free throws, but there was actually a lot of good to take away from his night offensively. It’s one thing to miss a ton of bad shots, and it’s another thing entirely to miss good looks that you’re usually comfortable with. To me, Acuff Jr. got to the spots he wanted to on the court with relative ease; his shots just weren’t falling.

His first four shots of the night were either layups or floaters in the paint within 10 feet, which is a good sign that he came into the night looking to get downhill. With rookies, especially offensive-minded guards, the question isn’t “how well did they shoot”; it’s “how easy was it for them to get into the spots they wanted,” and overall I thought he made it look relatively easy against some stout perimeter defenders. Later on, I’ll get into his process and decision-making, which wasn’t perfect, but I’m confident that his shooting numbers will look a lot better if he plays like he did last night consistently.

Assist to Turnover Ratio

Acuff Jr. had four turnovers to just three assists in his first outing, but I don’t think that’s cause for alarm. Would I have liked to see him move the ball a little more? Yes, and we’ll get to that later on. For now, I’m not going to over-index on him turning the ball over in his first game, given how much offensive responsibility the Kings gave him.

The Kings’ offense as a whole looked out of sync even though 17 turnovers may not seem all that bad collectively. More reps will help Acuff Jr. and his teammates get more acquainted, but don’t be surprised if he has quite a few games with more turnovers than assists as a rookie. If the turnovers start to become the result of numerous bad decisions, then I’ll start to worry about his ball security long term.

What I’m Taking

Offensive Process

One of the knocks on Acuff Jr. before he arrived at Arkansas was that he can force some shots and get tunnel vision when it comes to creating his own offense. At Arkansas, I thought he showed very little of that, and his growth as a playmaker was a big reason that he was a lottery pick this year after many scouts expected him to need more than one year in college. Last night, I thought he fell back into some bad habits when it came to his process.

As I mentioned before, I don’t think he took that many “bad” shots at all. The issue I have is that there could have been better shots available to his teammates when he decided to pull. Acuff Jr. racked up all three of his assists in the first 14 minutes of the game, and while not all of that is on him, he wasn’t as patient as we’ve seen him be in previous outings. I don’t think the Kings have the right personnel to take advantage of his playmaking, and that isn’t going to change anytime soon. Still, he could’ve been better at getting his teammates involved, especially after the rough shooting start.

Heliocentrism

Throughout the pre-draft process, analysts and scouts repeatedly lauded Acuff Jr’s off-ball scoring ability and thought that was a big reason that he would be successful early on in the NBA. Well, the Kings put the ball in his hands almost all night, and I don’t think it’s unfair to say that it made things a lot harder on him throughout the night. If you watched how he was used at Arkansas, you’ll notice he often started without the ball and got a running start with pindowns, Iverson cuts, and zoom action that allowed him to create against a tilted defense.

Coaches are always trying to scheme up ways to get their best scorers the ball on the move and in easier positions to score. Even Mark Diagnault and Mike Brown have talked about getting Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Jalen Brunson off the ball more this season. In the end, this is going to be on the Kings' coaching staff to make life easier on the rookie this season, and they did not get off to a good start, in my opinion.

Defense

There was actually some good when it came to Acuff Jr’s night defensively, but we’ll get the bad out of the way first. Another knock on him has been his off-ball defense, and there were multiple occasions last night where he fell asleep, especially early on. He also wasn’t great on the ball either, allowing players to shoot better than expected when he was the nearest defender. Overall, he needs to show a lot more engagement on that end, especially on the nights where his shot isn’t falling.

Even with the issues he had on that end, I didn’t think Acuff Jr. was the worst Kings defender on the court last night, and a big part of that was how active he was with his hands. Acuff Jr. led the Kings with three steals, and that’s notable because he only had four games at Arkansas where he put up three or more steals. Acuff Jr. will never be an elite defender, but like other small guards, he can make up for it by getting deflections and creating turnovers.

This is just the first of many games for Darius as he begins his NBA career, and most of last night can be thrown out as a bad team performance. There will be nights where he and the team struggle, but he can still play the right way in losses. Overall, I didn’t think his debut was all that bad, even considering how poorly he shot it, and I’ll be looking forward to seeing how he adjusts against the Portland Trail Blazers tomorrow night.

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