Typically, it’s normal for NBA coaches to switch up their rotation and play with different lineups in the preseason.
Third-string guys get more playing time. The eighth man is competing for the sixth or seventh spot. Two-way players and rookies are trying to prove they can play with the big dogs in the NBA.
But the lineup change Kings coach Mike Brown made for Sunday’s game against the Golden State Warriors meant far more than that.
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Kings guard Kevin Huerter, who started in all 82 games that he played last season, including the playoffs, came off the bench for the first time in Sacramento’s preseason home opener at Golden 1 Center. In Huerter’s place, Brown made the decision to start Chris Duarte after the third-year forward/guard impressed and, more importantly, did what was asked of him in Sacramento’s preseason loss to the Los Angeles Lakers last Wednesday.
What was asked of him, and the rest of the team, is to be physical and defend without fouling. It was a year-long ask during the 2022-23 NBA season that the team as a whole failed to fulfill on a consistent basis. In just a short time with the Kings, Duarte answered Brown's plea.
In return, Duarte was rewarded for listening and locking in, but Brown’s decision goes beyond Duarte and Huerter. The move applies to every player on the roster, from the stars on the team to the last guy on the bench. No one's starting role is safe, and Brown is making that perfectly clear ahead of the regular season.
Before Sunday's game, Brown explained how it can sometimes be challenging to get the guys to understand where they went wrong defensively. But as the defensive-minded coach that he is, he doesn't mind stopping practice -- or a game -- to teach a valuable lesson.
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"It can be difficult because guys do think they're playing hard, but for the most part, everybody should probably play harder," Brown said. "You do it by watching film, you do it by pushing him to do it more in practice. If they're not doing it in practice, you do it over again and hopefully, that repetition helps out.
"Also, you cut their minutes or you sit them down. Old school."
Last season, Brown would call a timeout within the first minute or two of a game if a player made a defensive mistake. Cameras would capture Brown pulling that player to the side to explain -- both verbally and physically -- where he went wrong.
That didn't change in the preseason.
A big reason players said it was so easy to buy into Brown and his coaching tactics last season was because of the way he holds all players accountable, including star leaders of the team De'Aaron Fox and Domantas Sabonis.
Neither Fox nor Sabonis were spared from Brown's defensive expectations, and if anything, Brown got on them more than anyone over the course of the season. In their second year together, Brown's lineup change doesn't come as a surprise to Fox.
“We know we have guys that can play who aren’t playing, and that's the way the NBA works,” Fox said after Sacramento's 121-115 overtime loss. “So you're fighting for minutes, and we know what we need to be better at. And that's what Mike's looking for. He's looking for guys who go out there and defend and play hard; whatever needs to be done, gets done.”
Duarte fit right in with the Kings’ starters as the unit got off to a scorching hot start. The rhythm and togetherness could be felt on both sides of the floor, and their defensive intensity was creating early offensive opportunities for Sacramento.
And the 26-year-old didn’t have an easy defensive task in his first start as a member of the Kings. Duarte guarded Warriors sharpshooter and four-time NBA champion Klay Thompson for the majority of his time on the court. While it’s nearly impossible to prevent the Splash Bro from scoring, Brown was impressed with the way Duarte stepped up to the challenge.
“You’re not stopping a guy like Klay Thompson, but I thought [Duarte’s] physicality was done the right way,” Brown said postgame. “He made Klay try to work for his shots as best he could. And whether it was chasing him off a pindown or Klay trying to post him, he did a good job for being a young guy that hasn't played a ton of minutes.”
Offensively, too, Brown liked what he saw from Duarte, who quickly had to grasp the Kings' fast-paced style of play since being traded to Sacramento this summer.
With the help of his former Indiana Pacers teammate and close friend Sabonis over the offseason, that made matters a little easier for Duarte. And that Indy connection was present on Sunday even more than 2,000 miles away in Sacramento.
“I thought our ball movement, our pace was good. I thought our spacing was good. A couple of times, even [Duarte] playing the two-man game with Domas, and if he didn't get it, he didn't stop. He kept moving,” Brown continued. “We want to get out in transition to get to that 3-point line as quickly as we can.
“And after we secured a rebound, he took off and he ended up hitting up on wing-three because he was wide open and he beat everybody down the floor.”
Duarte finished with five points on 2-of-5 shooting with one board and two assists. He was a plus-9 in plus/minus rating in the 12 minutes he played before exiting the game early with a knee injury.
And a lot of the contributions he makes won’t always fill up a stat sheet. His on-ball pressure, ability to fight through screens and keep his hands active to deflect the ball are all the intangibles that Brown has been looking for.
Last season, the Kings' starting five played more minutes together than any other first five in the league -- and it wasn't even close.
But sometimes change is good -- and necessary. For Fox, who didn't experience much change with the lineup last season, he knows what Duarte brings on both sides of the floor, and shared what it was like to have him in the starting lineup alongside himself, Keegan Murray, Harrison Barnes and Sabonis on Sunday.
“I think it was good,” Fox said. “I think both offensively and defensively, especially in the first quarter, I think we were really good. Getting into the paint, being able to spread the ball out, just getting open looks whether it was at the rim or if it was a 3. I think all in all, the first quarter was good.
“I think what he does for us is good. I mean, he shoots the ball so well, he can really score the ball. And defensively, he's really getting after it. He's being physical, trying to keep the ball in front of him. He's communicating. He's doing everything that we need. And I think he's been really good out there with us.”
Sacramento ended last season ranked 24th in defensive rating (116.0). On the road, though, the Kings finished the regular season ranked eighth in defensive rating, and they showed glimpses of their potential on that side of the floor during their first postseason appearance since 2006, when they took the then-defending champion Warriors to Game 7 in the opening round of the playoffs.
On Sunday, against the same team that knocked them out of the postseason six months earlier, Brown took a chance, shook things up and sent a deafening message all in one.
It wasn’t the outcome they wanted, and the Kings fell to 0-3 in the preseason, but for the first time in a very, very long time, Brown approached the podium after the loss and actually complimented his team’s defense and physicality. Well, sort of.
“I thought our physicality really showed in the first quarter,” he said. “I thought defensively we were pretty good in a lot of areas. … And then from there, I thought we lost our focus a little bit defensively. … We did do some good things. Especially that first group, our guys figured out how to fight and kind of get back in the game.
“In the second half when we were down and to send it to overtime, just kind of give Golden State credit for hitting bigger shots down the stretch than we did.”
Sure, it's the preseason. But these kinds of significant, last-minute lineup changes likely won't be exempt from the regular season. If anything, it only foreshadows what's to come if players aren't doing what is asked of them during games that actually matter.
And with a coach like Brown, nothing is off the table.