[Grades] Grades v. Mavs 12/9/2013

[Dime Dropper]

That wasn't a feel good game, it was a feel great game. Our "big 3" were all pretty much unstoppable. Big Cuz got the easiest 32/19 you can get, he flat out dominated. Some unnecessary TOs, but I'll live with that after the 32/19. D-Wills shot was falling, he was hustling and playing good defense. His confidence is very high right now and he had a really great game last night. And lastly, but not least, IT. Apart from a small few possessions where he forced his own offense, he was just brilliant. Got most of his shots within the flow of the offense and regularly found teammates - Cousins off the pick'n'roll, and others through nifty, creative looks. Could sense that he was looking to get his teammates involved more tonight, which is a positive sign, even if he did take a handful of bad shots. I honestly don't know who I'd give player of the game to, I almost feel it'd be unfair to single one out. Maybe, as another poster said, Salmons.

Does beg the question of what will happen when Gay is in the line-up, with so fewer shots to go around, but hopefully Malone can make it work.

 

[Chubbs]

That wasn't a feel good game, it was a feel great game. Our "big 3" were all pretty much unstoppable. Big Cuz got the easiest 32/19 you can get, he flat out dominated. Some unnecessary TOs, but I'll live with that after the 32/19. D-Wills shot was falling, he was hustling and playing good defense. His confidence is very high right now and he had a really great game last night. And lastly, but not least, IT. Apart from a small few possessions where he forced his own offense, he was just brilliant. Got most of his shots within the flow of the offense and regularly found teammates - Cousins off the pick'n'roll, and others through nifty, creative looks. Could sense that he was looking to get his teammates involved more tonight, which is a positive sign, even if he did take a handful of bad shots. I honestly don't know who I'd give player of the game to, I almost feel it'd be unfair to single one out. Maybe, as another poster said, Salmons.

Does beg the question of what will happen when Gay is in the line-up, with so fewer shots to go around, but hopefully Malone can make it work.

Gay needs to be a totally diff guy than he was in Toronto for this to work. That's the bottom line. Not enough basketballs out there, and it really may ake away from Ben (not worried about cousins and IT). Eh, good night, but this may get dysfunctional quick. Gays rep right now is about as rock bottom as it can get for a 19 ppg scorer. It's actually amazing, everything I read. Is he that much of a soul crushing presence as some GMs make him out to be? I guess we will find out soon enough. I haven't watched him lately and my vision of him is the Memphis version. There's a lot of concern that he can't finish at the rim anymore, etc. it goes beyond ball hogging, some think it's a physical problem.

We shall see. FO is counting on him putting some butts in the seats.

 

[steelevt]

I don't know who was playing for the Kings last night. It was a different team. The entire starting unit was playing off the hook and not giving an inch. It was nice to see. I think we can stop being worried about our draft pick this year. We may not need it.

I was wondering about this. I'm not saying we are playoff bound now. It's just 1 game. But if, and its a very unprobable if, we start playing .500 ball and show improvement and build around this nucleus. Is it worth losing this years draft? This is such a loaded draft but I'm tired of so much losing that the selfish fan in me likes seeing us win. Also these wins can build confidence in players like dmc or keep players like IT here maybe at a discount if he sees potential for the following year. Just a thought.

 

[ppine]

The last thing anyone should be worrying about is having enough ball to go around. The NBA season is a long grind for players. They need to be able to take turns having the hot hand. I agree with other posters about consistency being really important for success.

Anyone that still thinks that the Kings' are "Cousins and a bunch of scrubs" needs to wake up and smell the roses.
The Kings made additions to the their team this week by subtraction. Great to see those 4 go.
Now comes Gay which will probably be a great addition. I think Coach will be able to get the most out of him.
The "IT will never be able to start at PG" nonsense needs to stop. Malone is helping IT in the mental department.

 

[Chubbs]

The last thing anyone should be worrying about is having enough ball to go around. The NBA season is a long grind for players. They need to be able to take turns having the hot hand. I agree with other posters about consistency being really important for success.

Anyone that still thinks that the Kings' are "Cousins and a bunch of scrubs" needs to wake up and smell the roses.
The Kings made additions to the their team this week by subtraction. Great to see those 4 go.
Now comes Gay which will probably be a great addition. I think Coach will be able to get the most out of him.
The "IT will never be able to start at PG" nonsense needs to stop. Malone is helping IT in the mental department.

That was a significantly more true statement 3 weeks ago, the scrubs comment.

However, outside of IT and Gay and cuz, everyone has something to prove. And the bench is very scrubby. Not sure gray and acy are much more than filler. Now, do you need a good bench? Well, at some point. Guys can't play 40 mpg long term. IT has never been a 35 minute guy. Now he has to be. The bench is vacant. Marcus took a trip to lala land and hasn't came back all season. Another completely terrible 24 min stint. Didn't make a basket. We need Landry or the bench may just kill us,

Will gay be moved to get a bench? Like Toronto just did? For more Malone type guys, defenders, distributors, role players, not the riffraff we just unloaded? Just speculation, but one way or another, I don't think we are done trading at all. I think we need at least one more move to even have money available for IT. Someone please correct me in a nice way if that isn't true.

No one said IT couldn't start, but that he shouldn't. Let's see what happens when gay and cousins and IT all need shots. I think cuz is ok, but gay and IT may have issues. There may be some very dirty look sent Gay's way if he plays the way his reputation says he does. And Ben is left there watching. Which may be quite ok at the moment. Malone has IT playing like a man possessed. I need to re calibrate my thinking on him apparently, the smart coached IT seems to have left the building. Sure, he still takes bad shots (does anyone make more 'bad shots' in the league?), but the pg duties are being done at a much higher level. His d is tolerable surrounded by the bigger stronger players we have. It's just a different situation now.

 

[Kingster]

The last thing anyone should be worrying about is having enough ball to go around. The NBA season is a long grind for players. They need to be able to take turns having the hot hand. I agree with other posters about consistency being really important for success.

Anyone that still thinks that the Kings' are "Cousins and a bunch of scrubs" needs to wake up and smell the roses.
The Kings made additions to the their team this week by subtraction. Great to see those 4 go.
Now comes Gay which will probably be a great addition. I think Coach will be able to get the most out of him.
The "IT will never be able to start at PG" nonsense needs to stop. Malone is helping IT in the mental department.

Totally agree with all of the above. We all know that good teams are known to have different players carry the load from night to night. They just have to buy in to sharing the ball, and if they start winning some games, buying in becomes a lot easier.

 

[spok22s]

Guy came creepin in on Kayte LOL

"Say Hello guys"
"Hello guys"

 

[Capt. Factorial]

Will gay be moved to get a bench? Like Toronto just did? For more Malone type guys, defenders, distributors, role players, not the riffraff we just unloaded?

That would seem terribly unlikely to me. Toronto moved him because they hated his salary and because he didn't mesh with the only other decent player on their team (DeRozan). By trading Gay for our leftovers, they are going full-tank. And, if rumors around the national talking heads that hated the trade for the Kings are true, nobody but nobody else in the league wants Rudy's contract. If you ask them, we traded for that white elephant, and we won't be able to get rid of it. (Fortunately, elephants are quite highly regarded in India!)

Just speculation, but one way or another, I don't think we are done trading at all. I think we need at least one more move to even have money available for IT. Someone please correct me in a nice way if that isn't true.

Technically, we can sign IT without having cap space, because he is our own player with Bird Rights. That allows us to go over the cap to sign him. If you don't know about this site (Larry Coon CBA FAQ link) you should probably take a look. A super-in-depth summary of all the salary cap, free agent, trade rules, etc. and a fantastic reference.

That said, right now we would appear to be hovering right at the edge of the luxury tax for the '14-'15 season. Signing IT without any further moves would certainly put us into the luxury tax, though we would drop out of it the next season.

I agree with you that PDA is not done making moves, and I suspect that he's doing everything he can to find a way to salary dump Thornton. I'm a bit intrigued by the suggestion bandied about here of JT+MT for Ben Gordon+Biyombo. It would help our bottom line a lot in summer 2014, and it's the kind of thing you just might imagine Charlotte going for. They're a game out of the #3 slot in the playoffs right now, and they're missing that second veteran post presence to play beside Jefferson and could use some scoring punch from outside. It's a win-now move, but they could possibly be enticed.

 

[Hadlowe]

That would seem terribly unlikely to me. Toronto moved him because they hated his salary and because he didn't mesh with the only other decent player on their team (DeRozan). By trading Gay for our leftovers, they are going full-tank. And, if rumors around the national talking heads that hated the trade for the Kings are true, nobody but nobody else in the league wants Rudy's contract. If you ask them, we traded for that white elephant, and we won't be able to get rid of it. (Fortunately, elephants are quite highly regarded in India!)

That's where I've seen him before. Gaynesh

 

[ShastaKingsFan]

Guy came creepin in on Kayte LOL

That might just be the strangest interview in Kings history. The "move" didn't even phase Kayte. Hillarious

 

[Chubbs]

I don't mean flip Gay today. But sometime next year. They'll give it a chance to work of course. Someone pointed out bargnani got traded. Anything is possible. I think as an expiring next season he'll have tremendous value. Right now he's rock bottom. But gms are full of it. An expiring 19"million deal won't be tradeable? Of course it will. Next season. If he takes the player option.

Worst case, we suck it up and are stuck with the NBA's current succubus by reputation for a season and a half. It's not a dream killer.

Gms may not want him as the center piece of their team, and gets paid like a center piece. But he's not worthless. Prob untouchable the rest of this year, but if he shows he can blend and fit in with talent instead of being the man, he could be very good. His talent is significant no matter how the rest of the basketball world is treating. I swear, these days with advanced stats, guys like Gay can get a terrible rap, become untouchable despite being pretty good players. It's bizarre. Once it starts, that rep is hard to beat. Fortunately, reps don't play the games, players do.

Just don't extend Gay's contract! Not anytime soon. Tread lightly. I'm not sold yet he doesn't have physical issues, or just age related decline. Seems early for that, but there's a lot of mileage there already. Not mention baggage.

I'm still a little confused by this sudden win now attitude. It really looked like we were going for picks a month ago. Now it looks like we'd be fine with playing ourselves out of a pick completely.

I'm just along for the ride.

 

[ShastaKingsFan]

D-Will was balling tonight, what a steal to get him for Mbah.

Great all around game. Have you noticed that our arena announcer Scott Moak, after Derrick scores,...by the time Scott is done saying Wwwwwiiilllllliams, the shot clock going the other way is darn near down to 14 seconds

 

[Padrino]

tough to say anything negative about last night's performance; it was pretty fuggin' spectacular. i was most surprised by the rebounding effort by the kings. much of that was to demarcus' credit, but it was nice to see the kings crush another team on the glass for a change. however, i would absolutely caution against too much overzealous prognostication. given DMC's propensity for outright dominance and IT's mighty mouse routine, the kings were always going to have the occasional home game where they simply outperformed the opposition, particularly against older, slower teams like the mavericks. but with almost no bench to speak of, a struggling rudy gay who will need to find his place in the offense, a rookie starting SG, and a defense that's still too prone to lapses, i'd hardly expect this team to "turn the corner" in the manner that many might like to see. after this week, the schedule also starts to get much tougher, and increasingly road-heavy through the end of december. but hey, let 'em prove me wrong, if they can. there was a lot of athleticism and a lot of scrappy play from this team on display last night. it is to be commended...

 

[Hadlowe]

tough to say anything negative about last night's performance; it was pretty fuggin' spectacular. i was most surprised by the rebounding effort by the kings. much of that was to demarcus' credit, but it was nice to see the kings crush another team on the glass for a change. however, i would absolutely caution against too much overzealous prognostication. given DMC's propensity for outright dominance and IT's mighty mouse routine, the kings were always going to have the occasional home game where they simply outperformed the opposition, particularly against older, slower teams like the mavericks. but with almost no bench to speak of, a struggling rudy gay who will need to find his place in the offense, a rookie starting SG, and a defense that's still too prone to lapses, i'd hardly expect this team to "turn the corner" in the manner that many might like to see. after this week, the schedule also starts to get much tougher, and increasingly road-heavy through the end of december. but hey, let 'em prove me wrong, if they can. there was a lot of athleticism and a lot of scrappy play from this team on display last night. it is to be commended...

I'm with you on most of it, but here's the big positive light that I can see.

IF the front office was serious about slotting Gay in as a stretch 4, and if Gay and Williams play together with McLemore and IT, that lets the Kings do the athletic Miami swarming defense thing, which makes it less immediately necessary to find the Serge Ibaka type.

 

[Kingster]

I don't mean flip Gay today. But sometime next year. They'll give it a chance to work of course. Someone pointed out bargnani got traded. Anything is possible. I think as an expiring next season he'll have tremendous value. Right now he's rock bottom. But gms are full of it. An expiring 19"million deal won't be tradeable? Of course it will. Next season. If he takes the player option.

Worst case, we suck it up and are stuck with the NBA's current succubus by reputation for a season and a half. It's not a dream killer.

Gms may not want him as the center piece of their team, and gets paid like a center piece. But he's not worthless. Prob untouchable the rest of this year, but if he shows he can blend and fit in with talent instead of being the man, he could be very good. His talent is significant no matter how the rest of the basketball world is treating. I swear, these days with advanced stats, guys like Gay can get a terrible rap, become untouchable despite being pretty good players. It's bizarre. Once it starts, that rep is hard to beat. Fortunately, reps don't play the games, players do.

Just don't extend Gay's contract! Not anytime soon. Tread lightly. I'm not sold yet he doesn't have physical issues, or just age related decline. Seems early for that, but there's a lot of mileage there already. Not mention baggage.

I'm still a little confused by this sudden win now attitude. It really looked like we were going for picks a month ago. Now it looks like we'd be fine with playing ourselves out of a pick completely.

I'm just along for the ride.

DA said this move was a "tryout" of sorts. Maybe the keep him; maybe not. And if they keep him they don't have to sign him for his current salary level; it could be less.

 

[Kingster]

I'm with you on most of it, but here's the big positive light that I can see.

IF the front office was serious about slotting Gay in as a stretch 4, and if Gay and Williams play together with McLemore and IT, that lets the Kings do the athletic Miami swarming defense thing, which makes it less immediately necessary to find the Serge Ibaka type.

You saw some of that last night. Add Gay and you get even more. Switches are faster, guys can extend the defense further. They can also take some more risk on getting steals because they have guys backing them up who can cover if they miss.

 

[Chubbs]

DA said this move was a "tyrout" of sorts. Maybe the keep him; maybe not. And if they keep him they don't have to sign him for his current salary level; it could be less.

There's no other way to look at it. I'm not quite sold they expect to win now consistently.

 

[ShastaKingsFan]

You saw some of that last night. Add Gay and you get even more. Switches are faster, guys can extend the defense further. They can also take some more risk on getting steals because they have guys backing them up who can cover if they miss.

That's what I really like with Gay and Williams starting and playing together. We'll have interchangeable forwards who can switch any time, with no real drop off in defensive presence. Example, we just saw Williams do a nice solid job on Nowitski, when he was on him

 

[Kingster]

There's no other way to look at it. I'm not quite sold they expect to win now consistently.

DA as much said that they don't expect to win consistently. That would be unrealistic. He also said that it's one thing to have a group of individuals; quite another to have a team. Creating a team, takes time, according to DA. Let's just have fun with the new more talented team that we have. We can talk prophetically and theoretically about playoffs and championships at a later date.

What also interested me about the DA interview was that although he was circumspect about many things, he did say unequivocally: "We want to get up and down the floor and run. (And he emphasized run.) So for all those who think having Cousins as your center means you have to slow down the pace, DA doesn't believe that. The two are not mutually exclusive per the DA way of thinking.

 

[spudfan]

There's no other way to look at it. I'm not quite sold they expect to win now consistently.

I don't think they expect it either. Going into the season I thought we might be able to hit around 40 wins on Cousins talent alone. Then our bench and others guys started the season out by being worthless. If you factor in IT's stellar play and the extra talent Gay brings I think we can beat any team in the league if the star align, much like happened last night. The consistently part is going to take time though, and a few more pieces to consistency win against good teams.

The best part now is how every game has more of a chance to be exciting. Something I have missed dearly in recent years.

 

[Chubbs]

DA as much said that they don't expect to win consistently. That would be unrealistic. He also said that it's one thing to have a group of individuals; quite another to have a team. Creating a team, takes time, according to DA. Let's just have fun with the new more talented team that we have. We can talk prophetically and theoretically about playoffs and championships at a later date.

What also interested me about the DA interview was that although he was circumspect about many things, he did say unequivocally: "We want to get up and down the floor and run. (And he emphasized run.) So for all those who think having Cousins as your center means you have to slow down the pace, DA doesn't believe that. The two are not mutually exclusive per the DA way of thinking.

Cousins looks just fine with an uptempo game. Kareem did it, and he was much older. I think we vastly understate his talent by thinking he can't be part of an uptempo team.

 

[Mr. S£im Citrus]

Great all around game. Have you noticed that our arena announcer Scott Moak, after Derrick scores,...by the time Scott is done saying Wwwwwiiilllllliams, the shot clock going the other way is darn near down to 14 seconds

Moak has been known to ham it up? The hell you say!

 

[Glenn]

Cousins looks just fine with an uptempo game. Kareem did it, and he was much older. I think we vastly understate his talent by thinking he can't be part of an uptempo team.

I would never predetermine any deficiency in Cousins' game.

 

[FaStRmAn]

WOW. Great game ! Considering the shorthanded nature of the bench and all. Cousins is quickly becoming a dominant force in the middle. If he keeps his cool, he might even get some votes for Center in the AS game. IT was stellar. Passing, shooting, defense. It was all on display. Now as for a backup PG, we need help in that area. Hopefully Mcallum just had first game jitters. They picked his pocket like a tourist. Jimmer needs to be a throw-in on the next trade so he can be a bench fan favorite someplace else. D-Will was a monster. If we can get half of that every night it would be a great improvement. Next trade needs to bring a quality PG. Hayes and Salmons leaving is addition by subtraction. Patterson never quite fit in. Neither did Vasquez. When we can incorporate Gay into the mix with another distributing PG, this team will win some games. Need Mac to get his shot going. He is going to get a lot of open looks with Boogie dominating inside. He needs to hit a better percentage of those outside jumpers. I hope Gray can play backup minutes at the 5 just to spell Cousins. Thompson is report to be on the trading block. Not sure how I feel about that. He is a decent bench big, and they are hard to find. Great game but need to follow it up with a good practice and then a good effort against Utah at home.

 

[New Era]

Fun game to watch and, like a previous poster mentioned, every game now is exciting because we don't know quite what will happen. They now have players that are fun to watch and root for. We have no idea how they will gel together. I like the idea that both DWill and Gay came from situations that weren't working for them and both have the "new start" outlook. That can be very beneficial to the team in how they will fit in. I think we've already seen it with DWill. He has fit in beautifully. Gay has the opportunity to turn things around here and fix his bad rep. If he can accomplish that, then the league would just say that it was Toronto that was the problem and not him. I'm excited to see how it's going to work. For the first time in YEARS, we actually have some excitement and buzz around our team. It's just such a breath of fresh air to have new owners and management.

Just one little nitpick about Cousins. First of all, that was the easiest 30/20 game (I know, 19) game I think I've ever seen. He looked like he wasn't even trying. They had absolutely no answer for him. The Mavs looked awful. I can't believe they have the record they have. But DMC really needs to stop dribbling the ball up the court. Yes, sometimes, he'll make a spectacular play. A play that almost no 7 footer can make. But, I think he had 3-4 possessions where he dribbled the ball up the court and ended up turning it over. It just has to stop. It's an easy fix really. Malone has to be stern with him and tell him to get the ball to a ball handler ASAP and then get up the court. He easily could get rewarded with an easy dunk or layup if he runs hard with one of the ball handlers directing the break. I know it's nitpicking in a blowout game where he was fantastic (except the TO's) but I think his overall game and the team's success will improve a bit if he can stop this bad habit, and it's a habit that we see almost every game.

 

[Hadlowe]

WOW. Great game ! Considering the shorthanded nature of the bench and all. Cousins is quickly becoming a dominant force in the middle. If he keeps his cool, he might even get some votes for Center in the AS game.

Unfortunately, the NBA, in all of its collective wisdom, has done away with the "center" designation for votes. Partially because the position is the second weakest in the league right now (seriously, where did all the shooting guards go?) Partially because you end up with all-stars like Roy Hibbert and Anderson Varajao with no marketing appeal.

In any case, Cousins has to beat out one of Griffin, Aldridge, Durant, Love, Duncan, Lee, Randolph, and Howard. That's a pretty tough row to hoe.

 

[hrdboild]

I don't really have a problem with Cousins dribbling the ball up court when he has space. He's solid enough as a ball handler to move it across half court without a problem most of the time. It's what he does when he gets there that's a problem. He's keeping the dribble at the three point arch and acting like he's going to make a play from there with the defense set, which is ridiculous. Take the ball up if you have a lane. If not, pass it to someone else. I hope he learned his lesson a little bit in this one. He was obviously getting into the game and having a fun time but there's a time and a place for showoff stuff and it's called the All Star game, not the regular season.

Speaking of which...

In any case, Cousins has to beat out one of Griffin, Aldridge, Durant, Love, Duncan, Lee, Randolph, and Howard. That's a pretty tough row to hoe.

Statistically speaking Duncan, Lee, and Randolph are not All-Stars this year. Duncan gets a free pass maybe because his team is dominating and he's so well respected but Golden State isn't playing well enough to deserve two All-Stars. Same with Memphis really but it's even more unlikely that Conley sneaks in at the stacked guard position in the West. Bottom line is, it's going to be really hard to leave Cousins off the team if he keeps having games like he did last night.

 

[Glenn]

Fun game to watch and, like a previous poster mentioned, every game now is exciting because we don't know quite what will happen. They now have players that are fun to watch and root for. We have no idea how they will gel together. I like the idea that both DWill and Gay came from situations that weren't working for them and both have the "new start" outlook. That can be very beneficial to the team in how they will fit in. I think we've already seen it with DWill. He has fit in beautifully. Gay has the opportunity to turn things around here and fix his bad rep. If he can accomplish that, then the league would just say that it was Toronto that was the problem and not him. I'm excited to see how it's going to work. For the first time in YEARS, we actually have some excitement and buzz around our team. It's just such a breath of fresh air to have new owners and management.

Just one little nitpick about Cousins. First of all, that was the easiest 30/20 game (I know, 19) game I think I've ever seen. He looked like he wasn't even trying. They had absolutely no answer for him. The Mavs looked awful. I can't believe they have the record they have. But DMC really needs to stop dribbling the ball up the court. Yes, sometimes, he'll make a spectacular play. A play that almost no 7 footer can make. But, I think he had 3-4 possessions where he dribbled the ball up the court and ended up turning it over. It just has to stop. It's an easy fix really. Malone has to be stern with him and tell him to get the ball to a ball handler ASAP and then get up the court. He easily could get rewarded with an easy dunk or layup if he runs hard with one of the ball handlers directing the break. I know it's nitpicking in a blowout game where he was fantastic (except the TO's) but I think his overall game and the team's success will improve a bit if he can stop this bad habit, and it's a habit that we see almost every game.

Hey, he almost had a triple double!!! Think positively!

 

[Bricklayer]

Unfortunately, the NBA, in all of its collective wisdom, has done away with the "center" designation for votes. Partially because the position is the second weakest in the league right now (seriously, where did all the shooting guards go?) Partially because you end up with all-stars like Roy Hibbert and Anderson Varajao with no marketing appeal.

In any case, Cousins has to beat out one of Griffin, Aldridge, Durant, Love, Duncan, Lee, Randolph, and Howard. That's a pretty tough row to hoe.

If it were that simple, it would be no problem. Lee and Zach can't hold his jock at this point and Tim Duncan died this year.

Unfortunately the list is actually closer to Love, Aldridge, Griffin, Howard, Davis, and Dirk. And Cousins. Pick 6 of 7. If this trade revitalizes us to get up near .500 it helps a ton. Boogie's numbers, and frankly game, can match any of those guys (Howard and Davis are obviously better defenders). But they'll be looking to find some excuse, any excuse to exclude somebody from that list to make their decision for them (and Howard and Blake probably get voted in anyway). if we are big time losers that could be just the one so they can play the losing team/he'll have plenty of All Star chances in the future card.

 

[ShastaKingsFan]

Unfortunately, the NBA, in all of its collective wisdom, has done away with the "center" designation for votes. Partially because the position is the second weakest in the league right now (seriously, where did all the shooting guards go?) Partially because you end up with all-stars like Roy Hibbert and Anderson Varajao with no marketing appeal.

In any case, Cousins has to beat out one of Griffin, Aldridge, Durant, Love, Duncan, Lee, Randolph, and Howard. That's a pretty tough row to hoe.

I would actually prefer that Cousins doesn't make the All Star team this year. Keep him hungry with a chip on the shoulder. Feed into full beast mode...punish the entire league