Keep An Eye On Kings’ Willie Cauley-Stein
With DeMarcus Cousins’ departure from Sacramento, Willie Cauley-Stein has a greater chance to put his unique skill set on full display.
The Sacramento Kings didn’t have to wait long to witness the type of Willie Cauley-Stein they want to see every night now that DeMarcus Cousins is gone. In fact, it only took the first game, a contest against the Denver Nuggets at home in an energized Golden 1 Center.
Unfortunately, WCS played 28 minutes in the Kings’ next far more characteristic game (a 14-point loss to Charlotte) and tallied a measly two points and two rebounds to go with his three blocks; not the ideal performance for him to turn in just after I set about writing this article. But I’ll take what I can get with the first game. Because that’s more indicative of what WCS can be, a far more impactful two-way player who, at only 23 years of age, is still just getting started in the grand scheme of things.
In the Kings’ first Boogie-less game, WCS had a career-high 29 points (14-of-22 shooting), 10 rebounds and a block. That’s how you make a statement to show who you want to be going forward with a larger share of the spotlight.
WCS looks like he has the talent to pull off stepping forward in this situation, too, even if it’s (mis)managed by the foolery of the Kings. While he’s no NBA unicorn on the level of Karl-Anthony Towns, Kristaps Porzingis or the Joel Embiids of the world, he’s an interesting prospect simply for the fact he moves in ways that few men his size can. At 7'1" with a 7'3" wingspan, his foot speed and nimbleness is remarkable.
He hasn’t gotten too much of a chance to show that until now in this season, though. His playing time dipped from 21.4 as a rookie to just 13 before the Cousins’ trade this season, racking up seven DNPs and sporadic playing time, primarily over the first few months. Averages of 6.3 points, 2.9 rebounds, 0.5 steals and 0.5 blocks per game aren’t eye-popping (16, 7.4, 1.3 and 1.3 per 36 minutes are far more like it), but WCS now looks far more ready to take hold of a new opportunity. And Kings head coach Dave Joerger is willing to give it to him.
There’s no Cousins to lead a playoff push, leaving youth development as the only reasonable use for the rest of this season. Joerger has given WCS 32.5 minutes a night since Cousins left and has finally given the smooth, springy rookie power forward Skal Labissiere a chance with 16.9 minutes across the last three outings, a drastic increase after appearing in just eight games beforehand. From the get go, we can see more of WCS’ offensive game in this youth-led transition. Which, judging by how he’s played as of late, has expanded.
His improving ability to face-up is especially noteworthy. Armed with startling speed and a surprisingly fluid handle, baskets like this spin move on Nikola Jokic are nothing but exciting to see as the Kings wait to see their young center (hopefully) emerge as a star:
Similarly, this spinning hook shot over Karl-Anthony Towns (making great use of his left hand) didn’t look too shabby either. If WCS can keep getting these opportunities and embraces a larger volume of attempts as time goes by, his confidence should only increase:
WCS’ acceleration also makes it far easier for him to beat slower centers off the dribble with a couple of quick steps:
Another area of improvement for WCS has been his comfort passing from the high post. It’s not something he does too often and he’s no Nikola Jokic by any stretch of the imagination, but again, it’s all about his growth now that his role can increase.
Take this play, for example, where he scans the floor, waits for Ty Lawson to slip backdoor past Andrew Wiggins, and drops between the defense with Towns out of the way to guard at the elbow:
In simple give-and-go scenarios, WCS looks better at finding guys at the right time on their cuts to the basket as he went on to record a season-high five assists against the Timberwolves. Again, he’ll have more chances to do things like this without point Cousins around, which should only help him cut back on forced passes into traffic:
On defense, WCS’ combination of speed, long strides and length allows him to make plays like this, enabling him to cover a ton of ground even if he initially falls out of position:
As a guard, you can’t put your head down and try to blow past him as you would with many other centers. He’s too fast and agile for that:
Such plays contribute to him holding opponents to 49.3 percent shooting at the rim this season, while emphasizing just how high his defensive potential is. And the same speed that allows him to stick with guards attacking the basket enables him to dart out to the perimeter in an instant, possessing rare agility and light feet once he’s there to stick with smaller players than most bigs you’ll see. Especially towering 7-footers.
Of course, there are weaknesses to tweak. WCS isn’t a player you can dump the ball to 20 times a game and expect him to keep scoring. That’s not his game. In order to see more from him, a lot of that comes down to how much his teammates look to get him involved and how many plays and pick-and-rolls Joerger wants to utilize him in. On top of that, he’ll need to work on the range of his jumper, not forcing contested passes from the high post, boxing out more effectively, and generally how to stay in the right spots all the time on defense. All this comes with time. His potential as a dominant defender isn’t going anywhere.
Realistically, if the Kings are capable of some logical thinking, Sacramento won’t be hosting any playoff games this season and WCS is one of a handful of players that Joerger needs to allow to develop, presented with more minutes and more encouragement to just work through any struggles and progress.
“Just being free,” WCS said to FanSided’s Wes Goldberg when talking about his game changing since the Cousins trade. “There’s not that thought in the back of your head like ‘oh, damn, he’s going to take me out if I make a mistake.’ Because, at this point, he’s going to have to put me back in.”
WCS is right; Joerger doesn’t have any choice. He needs to be in the game and that’s best for everyone right now, to push his individual game forward and accelerate a youth movement that frankly needs all the help it can get. He can provide a lot of that help, and if his already known potential and the start of the post-Cousins era is anything to go by, you absolutely need to keep an eye of what Cauley-Stein has in store.
All statistics courtesy of Basketball Reference and NBA.com.
