Nate Kingz's shooting ability will help Syracuse smooth over some rough edges

As we countdown to tipoff for the Syracuse basketball season beginning on Nov. 3, The Juice Online will be doing a player-by-player preview. Today, we look at Syracuse forward Nate Kingz.

Nate Kingz has climbed through multiple ranks of college basketball over his career, reaching Oregon State two years ago before suffering a knee injury that cost him a full season. Kingz returned to action last season and earned a starting role at Oregon State before transferring to Syracuse in the spring.

He was the second player the Orange brought in through the transfer portal and projects to be a high-impact addition due to one simple trait: perimeter shooting.

Kingz is a lights-out shooter, but how good is he?

For the Beavers last season, Kingz was a lights-out long-range bomber, hitting 44.6 percent of his shots from beyond the arc. Kingz was not conservatively letting them fly from deep, as 130 of his 242 field goal attempts were 3-point shots.

While a true long-range marksman, Kingz was also effective inside the arc, shooting 56.7 percent on 2-point field goal attempts. Those high marks combined with the sheer number of 3-point buckets gave Kingz a true shooting percentage of 65.3 percent, good for 71st in the nation, and powered him to the top of the leaderboard of the WCC in offensive rating.

Of the 70 players in front of him in true shooting percentage, only six made more total 3’s while making them at a higher rate than Kingz and only one of that group did it while playing at a mid-major school with the others at low majors. That one, Taelon Peter, is now on a two-way contract with the NBA’s Indiana Pacers. Based on these numbers, you can make a case that Kingz might be the best overall shooter in college basketball coming into this season.

Kingz is not entirely one-dimensional on the floor

Kingz was an excellent catch-and-shoot player last year, as all but one of his 56 3-pointers against Division I opponents were assisted. That catch-and-shoot ability is underscored by his low usage rate (sixth on Oregon State) and very low turnover rate. That is not to say Kingz completely without playmaking skills, as he logged a 12.3 assist rate last season, a little below what Eddie Lampkin did last season for SU.

Kingz was a fair defensive player for the Beavers, finishing fifth on the team in defensive win shares per 40 minutes and fourth among their seven rotation players in defensive rating. An easy place for Kingz to improve on that end of the floor is in defensive rebounding, as he posted a well-below average defensive rebounding rate.

How badly did the Orange need a shooter of Kingz's capabilities?

His perimeter shooting, however, is a potential game-changer for SU. Kingz can warp an entire defense with the level of attention he will demand on the floor. The Syracuse coaching staff will be charged with utilizing that ability to open things up on offense for every player on the floor, not just Kingz.

With a point guard like Nait George on the floor and other accomplished scorers in Donnie Freeman and J.J. Starling around him, Kingz has the ability to be a multiplying force on the offensive end. He can create driving lanes for some teammates, shooting space for others, and room near the basket, just with his mere presence on the floor.

That presence is something the Orange lacked last season, even with Chris Bell on the roster. While he made 84 3-pointers at a 42.0 percent clip as a sophomore, Bell regressed to make just 47 treys at a 35.3 percent mark last season, leaving him second on the team in shooting percentage behind Lucas Taylor. As a result, Bell could not demand enough attention from opposing teams to truly make things easier for his teammates.

The SU staff cannot let that happen with this year’s sharpshooter. Kingz should be expected to flourish and be a linchpin of the Syracuse offense, both in his own scoring and by enabling others to succeed, as well.

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