SACRAMENTO -- He won't admit it, but Kings interim coach Doug Christie singlehandedly has changed the trajectory of Sacramento's 2024-25 NBA season.
Just as the once-upon-a-dream "Beam Team" reached rock bottom on their season following an 0-5 homestand that put them at 13-18 to start the season, Christie took over for dismissed coach Mike Brown and immediately got to shoveling.
Little by little, Christie has helped dig the Kings out of their hole and catapult up the Western Conference standings.
Stay in the game with the latest updates on your beloved Bay Area and California sports teams! Sign up here for our All Access Daily newsletter.
Before Christie took over at the helm, Sacramento was 13-18 and 12th in the West. Since his ruling, the team has gone 10-2 and jumped to the No. 7 seed with a 23-20 record.
The Doug Christie-led Kings have turned a page, and as Keon Ellis put it, the vibes are "immaculate." But if you're not a vibes person, maybe the numbers can convince you.
Here are eight stats that compare the before and after Doug Christie era.
Disclaimer: The numbers compare Brown's tenure this season from Oct. 24, 2024, to Dec. 27, 2024, and Christie's from Dec. 28, 2024, through the present day (Jan. 23, 2025).
NBA
Offense
Offensive rating
Before: 114.4, 8th in NBA
After: 118.7, 3rd in NBA
Points per game
Before: 114.7, 10th in NBA
After: 122.2, 2nd in NBA
Pace
Before: 99.43, 17th in NBA
After: 101.28, 5th in NBA
3-point percentage
Before: 34.2 percent, 24th in NBA
After: 36.4 percent, 9th in NBA
Defense
Defensive rating
Before: 112.9 defensive rating, 16th in NBA
After: 111.4 defensive rating, 8th in NBA
Steals
Before: 8.0 per game, 17th in NBA
After: 8.6 per game, 11th in NBA
In the clutch
* clutch time is defined as the final five minutes of the fourth quarter or overtime when the score is within five points
Clutch time
Before: 6-13, 28th in NBA
After: 6-0, 1st in NBA
Other traditional stats
Rebounds per game
Before: 43.6, 17th in NBA
After: 47.4, 4th in NBA
Assists per game
Before: 25.5, 16th in NBA
After: 29.0, 4th in NBA
Turnovers committed per game
Before: 13.4, 5th in NBA
After: 12.1, 2nd in NBA
Plus/minus rating
Before: 1.2, 15th in NBA
After: 7.3, 5th in NBA
Reclaiming homecourt advantage
Home record
Before: 6-12, 21st in NBA
After: 7-0, 2nd in NBA only behind the 8-0 Oklahoma City Thunder
Extending Keon's leash
Before: Ellis recorded two DNPs (Did Not Play) early this season before the coaching change. He played less than 20 minutes 14 times, and the Kings were 6-8 in such games.
Overall in 29 games (four starts), Ellis averaged 6.3 points on 46.1-percent shooting from the field on 4.4 attempts and 40.7 percent from 3-point range on 3.1 attempts, with 2.2 rebounds, 1.1 assists and 1.1 steals.
After: Under Christie, Ellis has had the space and grace to make mistakes and learn from them. He even admitted he feels a sense of a longer leash to grow with Christie compared to before.
In 12 games, he's averaging 11 points on 51.8-percent shooting from the field on nearly 7.0 attempts and 50.8 percent from deep on 5.0 attempts, in addition to 2.8 rebounds, 1.4 assists and 1.9 steals in 25.1 minutes.
Sixth man to solidified starter
Malik Monk is the type of player who can make an impact in three minutes or 30.
The way he's impacted the offense as of late in his new starting role, particularly in his two-man game with Domantas Sabonis, is game-changing.
Before: Monk averaged 15.7 points, 3.5 rebounds, 4.7 assists and 0.8 steals in 29.9 minutes through 24 games (11 starts).
After: Over his last 11 games (11 starts), Monk is averaging 22.1 points, 4.0 rebounds, 7.5 assists and 1.5 steals in 35.6 minutes. He's scored at least 20 points in nine of his last 11 games.
Cracking the rotation
Before: Even after weeks with the roster, Brown admitted he still was trying to figure out how to balance the rotations, lineups and minutes distributed.
For most of the season with Brown as coach, two to three Kings players were amongst the top 10 players in minutes played. Fox, Keegan Murray and Sabonis usually rotated, with DeMar DeRozan making sneak appearances here and there.
After: But since Christie's takeover, he seems to have nearly mastered the rotation. No Kings player ranks in the top 10 in minutes played since he became interim coach. Of course, time and injuries play a factor, but the flow of the game has been much smoother under Christie.
There's still a long way to go, and potential moves to be made which could complicate the rotation, but as of now, Christie seems to have a good feel for his lineups.