Report: Kings owner pitched playing 4-on-5 defense with a cherry picker
Sacramento owner Vivek Ranadive is reportedly trying to "push boundaries." OK.
•
1 min read
Sacramento Kings owner Vivek Ranadive had an outside-the-box suggestion for his basketball team, according to Grantland's Zach Lowe:
Owner Vivek Ranadivé has pitched the idea to the team’s brain trust of playing 4-on-5 defense and leaving one player to cherry-pick, according to multiple sources familiar with the matter. The Kings aren’t actually going to do that, but their D-League might, and it shows Ranadivé is committed to pushing boundaries in his search for an offbeat brand of “position-less” ball.
My initial reaction: This is a real thing? This can't be a real thing. Apparently it is, though, and I'm not even sure how to address it with any degree of seriousness. The Kings do not have five prime Shawn Marions on their team, and they had more than enough trouble defending 5-on-5 last season. This is not anything close to a good idea, but they do seem to love gimmicks in Sacramento.
You'll recall the Kings crowdsourced advice for the 2014 draft, and you might have heard that they recently hired Grinnell College -- that's the Division III school that runs around jacking 3-pointers and causing chaos -- assistant coach David Arsenault Jr. to coach their D-League team, the Reno Bighorns. This, though? Playing 4-on-5 against NBA offenses? This is just preposterous and hilarious, and I would love to have seen Sacramento head coach Mike Malone's reaction.
