The days of DNP’s and watching NBA games exclusively from the bench may be over for former Kansas All-American Frank Mason III.
A rookie second-round pick for Sacramento, Mason has experienced an escalation in opportunity of late, playing 20-plus minutes in six of the Kings’ seven previous games.
Though the 23-year-old point guard has only appeared in 14 of 21 contests entering Friday’s game at Chicago, Sacramento coach Dave Joerger has made Mason a regular member of his rotation off the bench the past couple weeks — even going as far at times as to play Mason over the team’s No. 5 overall draft pick, De’Aaron Fox, late in games.
Joerger referred to Mason as [a “stud muffin” earlier this week][1], and that was before the backup guard from KU scored a career-high 14 points and dished 4 assists in the Kings’ surprising road win over Golden State (without Kevin Druant and Steph Curry).
> “He’s tough and he picks guys up. He
> gets in the lane and he makes plays,”
> Joerger said of Mason. “He can shoot
> it a little bit. … I’m a big fan of
> his, and I look forward to coaching
> him for a long time, hopefully.”
https://twitter.com/SacramentoKings/status/935584100588519424
As pointed out by [Colin Ward-Henninger of CBSSports.com][2], in the Kings’ six most recent games, Mason has a net rating of +23.6, compared to a -25.6 net rating for Fox.
Since Mason became a regular contributor, over the past seven games the 5-foot-11 reserve has averaged 8.9 points, 4.3 assists and 1.7 turnovers in 21 minutes a game, while shooting 49% from the field, 6-for-8 on 3-pointers and 10-for-11 at the free-throw line.
It’s a far different role from the first few weeks of the season, when Mason didn’t even play a single second in seven of Sacramento’s first 12 games.
Mason recently told [Jason Jones of The Sacramento Bee][3] the early portion of his rookie year wasn’t too different from his freshman season at Kansas.
> “I played 15 minutes a game, and I
> thought I should be starting as a
> freshman but Coach (Bill Self) thought
> different,” Mason remembered. “So I
> just played the role of coming off the
> bench and I think I was pretty good.
> Sophomore year I adjusted and
> started.”
Sooner or later, Fox will become the point guard Sacramento envisioned when the organization took the 6-3 19-year-old from Kentucky as a lottery pick this past June. In the meantime, Mason has a chance to not only gain experience but prove to the Kings he belongs on the court just as much as Fox will.
Sacramento (6-15) is in the very early stages of a youth movement overhaul centered around Fox, Willie Cauley-Stein, Skal Labissiere, Bogdan Bogdanovic and Buddy Hield. It’s easy to project Mason as a key cog within that group moving forward.
KU fans witnessed how Mason’s methodical dedication made him supremely more effective over the years. That’s not to say he’ll be an NBA all-star in a few seasons, but Mason seems too quick, too good a shooter and too determined to be passed over — just as he’s shown in the first month and a half of his professional career.
[1]: https://www.cbssports.com/nba/news/deaaron-fox-may-be-the-future-but-right-now-frank-mason-is-the-kings-best-rookie/
[2]: https://www.cbssports.com/nba/news/deaaron-fox-may-be-the-future-but-right-now-frank-mason-is-the-kings-best-rookie/
[3]: http://www.sacbee.com/sports/nba/sacramento-kings/kings-blog/article185949903.html
