Sacramento Kings: The coach makes changes to his composition in series

Kings coach Dave Joerger knew he had a tough decision to make. At the moment of his return from the break of the stars, he had made his decision.

Joerger unveiled a new composition for Thursday's game against the Golden State Warriors. He allowed Harrison Barnes to take the lead and start Bogdan Bogdanovic in first place. Joerger resumed that training on Saturday against the Oklahoma City Thunder and should be part of the same group when the Kings (31-28) visit the Minnesota Timberwolves (28-31) Monday night at the Target Center.

Joerger said it was his intention to stick to his new starting training in the foreseeable future. He explained that having Bogdanovic the small striker and Barnes the powerful striker gave him the space required for leader De'Aaron Fox to orchestrate the offensive offensive of the team. Joerger added that he could still manipulate his rotation to put Bogdanovic on the ground with some of the substitutes with whom he had played most of the season.

"I think having more room for De'Aaron is the most important thing," Joerger said. "We want to keep playing fast, and we have guys in the lineup who are going to play fast, but just to start with some space (that's good). And there are other reasons (for) different confrontations that occur throughout the matches, where our second group had good chemistry, so I can also bring back Bogdanovic with this group. "

Joerger's decision might have surprised some. The Kings were looking for a small striker emblematic of the size and length of the post since Rudy Gay suffered an Achilles fracture early in the 2015-16 season.

Now that they have one, Joerger will launch him as a small-ball attacker, although Barnes can still count for a few minutes. In fact, in the final minutes of Saturday's 119-116 victory over Oklahoma City, Joerger left Barnes on the ground with Fox, Buddy Hield, Marvin Bagley III and Willie Cauley-Stein.

The timing of this move is also interesting. The Los Angeles Clippers and San Antonio Spurs both lost on Sunday, leaving the Kings only one game in the seventh and eighth place in the Western Conference playoffs.

Barnes, who was acquired from the Dallas Mavericks on the eve of trades in exchange for Justin Jackson and Zach Randolph, is a versatile player who has recorded significant minutes in both forward positions throughout his career. The Warriors used him mainly as a small striker in 2012-13 and 2014-15, but he recorded most of his minutes in 2013-14 and 2015-16 at Power Forward. He played 80% of his minutes with the Mavericks this season at Power Forward, averaging 17.7 points in 49 games.

"Obviously, all the coach wants to do, I'm good at it, whether it's playing 3 or 4," said Barnes. "We are playing at such a fast pace, so there are a lot of changes to make, so often we're going to do a cross show anyway, but I just know that when I play the 4th, I'm definitely going to have to intensify my rebound . "

Nemanja Bjelica, one of the few players on the new squad, started with 55 of Power's first 56 games after signing a $ 20.475 million three-year deal with the Kings last summer. . Bjelica played an important role in the hot start of the team: 54.5% of the 3 points in October and 48.6% in November, but his contribution fades while he shot only 36, 4% of the back in January.

Bjelica has not participated in any of the last two games. Joerger was uncompromising when asked if Bjelica would return to the rotation.

"We'll see," said Joerger. "I told him that all guys have to be ready for their luck as always."