The Tribune

By RENALDO DORSETT

Tribune Sports Reporter

rdorsett@tribunemedia.net

THE Sacramento Kings opened training camp with a new look, uptempo offence aimed at improving their pace headed into the 2018-19 campaign.

That uptempo offence got its first look on day one of camp with the players spending most of their time running the floor.

"Guys hate running, I don't care what you say. No basketball player likes running…It's a good test for us. Coach says we're going to play fast, and I like it," Hield said. "Coach says we're going to play fast and start running, and I like running, so I'm not going to argue with that," Buddy Hield said. "We've just got to play fast, play together and play the right way."

The Kings finished 12th in the Western Conference last season with a 27-55 win-loss record. The Kings finished 30th in the league in pace last season at 97.06 offensive possessions and were 29th in offensive rating at 101.1 and 29th in net rating at -7.9 making them one of the slowest offences in the league.

Hield averaged 2.3 points per game on fastbreak opportunities which ranked No.2 overall among second year players.

Kings head coach Dave Joerger said the change in philosophy will produce a team with a new identity.

"We want to push the pace as much as possible. These are really young bodies and I think guys had a moment when they realised this may be harder than I thought.

"But that's a standard we want to set - this is how we want to play, this is how hard we want to play, we want to be a greatly conditioned team and we want to play fast and when those things become who you are, it doesn't hurt day in and day out."

One of the youngest teams in the league, the Kings' training camp roster comprises three rookies, five second-year players and three third year players.

"The fun is in the journey, and this is a year that there's a lot of heavy lifting," Joerger said. "There's a lot of development that needs to occur and there are going to be some pains in it, but the fun part of it is we have good guys who work hard and play hard, and they're fun to be around."