At the Kings, we breathe easier! Even if De'Aaron Fox's teammates only beat the Blazers and the Jazz, the franchise avoided a crisis, and Mike Brown especially appreciated the way, especially on defense. The Jazz are certainly a modest opponent, moreover deprived of Lauri Markkanen in the second half, but their players only conceded 96 points and that is positive. Behind the Kings' defensive progress, there is a man, and it is the little-known Luke Loucks, who played for the Warriors before following Brown to Sacramento.
“Oh, of course! », responds DeMar DeRozan when a journalist asked him if the team had improved on defense. “It’s obvious, and it’s a constant thing every day – day in and day out. It could be on video, it could be on training…” And the veteran extols the qualities of Luke Loucks, like “defensive coordinator”.
“Before the game, his attention to detail is really helpful for us. It's been like this since training camp. He empowers us all and makes sure we hold each other accountable” continues the new Sacramento winger.
Same speech from Mike Brown, who promoted him after the departure of Jordi Fernandez, who became coach of the Nets.
Original ideas
“Since the first day Jordi [Fernandez] arrived, we advocated activity in defense. When we deflect a lot of balls, we have good results. So it's no different with Luke. Luke preaches the same thing” insists the Kings coach. “But I think the biggest change or the biggest difference with Luke is that he requires a lot of change on defense, and a good change. He worked a lot with our guys on this subject and it is paying off. We all feel it. We can all see it. We can see it on the field during our matches or when we watch videos, but we can also see it in the production when it comes to the stat sheet.
In addition to paying attention to switches, Luka Loucks has modified the Kings' zone defense, and here again, Mike Brown sees improvements.
“We played a different zone last season. Luke changed it. It's higher, and he added a little “press zone”, and that's good. Luke is a young coach with a bright future, and he will one day be a head coach in the NBA. His ideas are outside the box, and so he has crazy ideas that would make my hair stand on end, if I had any. But he's done a remarkable job since he's been our defensive coordinator.”
