[Grades] Grades v. Mavs 1/31/2014
- Thread starter Bricklayer
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I have said it before, Thomas gets tired if he is left in to long. You can only be the energizer bunny for so long. The guy plays well above his size. I think he is great! But the coach doesn't seem to think we have anyone else to put in there and I can't blame him. but we need to limit his minutes.
Jerry Reynolds during the game at one point when Calderon beat IT said everybody thinks you need a great defender at pg. truth is with NBA rules all pgs can score on anybody. So you really need a scoring pg. it wasn't five min later IT had a drought of turnovers and missed shots. Jerry then then attributed ITs play to great defense by Calderon? WTF Jerry.
Grant and Jerry spend at least 20 min of broadcast time taking up for IT from what seems to be Internet chatter or grants radio show.
Grant and Jerry spend at least 20 min of broadcast time taking up for IT from what seems to be Internet chatter or grants radio show.
I watched IT carefully tonight, which was easy because Thornton and McLemore wern't doing much. My biggest issue with him was his ball distribution. Jimmer in the few minutes he played managed to create a couple of shots for Acy, and I believe Williams right under the basket. He ended up with 2 assists and should have had three. My point is that you get assists by trying to get assists. As far as IT's defense, I personally didn't think it was very good. He did have some good moments where you could tell he was making a surpreme effort, but there were other times when Calderon, or Ellis went where they wanted on the floor. Lets also remember that IT wasn't always guarding Calderon. There were times in the game when he was guarding Ellis, and either Thornton or McLemore was on Calderon.
But I don't want to hammer IT on the defense. He is what he is, and I don't care how hard he tries, there are times he giving away 5 or 6 inches to the opposition. My problem is with how many shots he's taking and his lack of ball distribution. If your not passing the ball to a player like Thornton, your telling him you don't trust him to make a shot. Thornton hit a three to start the 2nd half, and then went almost 7 minutes without touching the ball on the offensive side. This was in the third quarter when the Kings couldn't make a shot, or should I say, neither IT or Gay (his only bad moments in the game) could make a shot. If your the PG, that's on you. Its supposed to be a team game.
But I don't want to hammer IT on the defense. He is what he is, and I don't care how hard he tries, there are times he giving away 5 or 6 inches to the opposition. My problem is with how many shots he's taking and his lack of ball distribution. If your not passing the ball to a player like Thornton, your telling him you don't trust him to make a shot. Thornton hit a three to start the 2nd half, and then went almost 7 minutes without touching the ball on the offensive side. This was in the third quarter when the Kings couldn't make a shot, or should I say, neither IT or Gay (his only bad moments in the game) could make a shot. If your the PG, that's on you. Its supposed to be a team game.
Rudy Gay is fun to watch, isn't he... IT is what he is, and it's up to the coach to get the most out of what he has, and right now Malone is failing the Kings and their fans in this dept. Jimmer with his most productive pt as a pro, and doesn't see the floor at all in the 2nd half? I'm not a huge Jimmer fan, but, huh??? Down your best big and your other big in foul trouble early, and DWill still only tallies 23 minutes? Have you noticed his ability lately to rebound the basketball, and when he does he pushes the ball as well as anyone on the squad. Although Gray gave us some good minutes, we should have seen JT at C and DWill at PF more during this one... Unfortunately there is more, and we can only hope Malone is humble enough to recognize his mistakes and grow from them
Interesting observations. Those are the parts of IT's game that concern me the most. I think getting all the guys we have on the floor a set up for a good shot or two or three is important and useful. It better keeps everyone in the game which doesn't happen now because it is not what IT thinks he's good at. He's probably right but the team needs it to happen nevertheless.
I often read on here that the offense needs to go through this guy or that gut or both or through our no. 1 guy or our no. 2 guy or both. That is too much of an over simplification for me. You need the offense to go through as many as you can as often as you can with emphasis on your best scorers. Right now we are not doing it well at all. It is and will always be tough for IT to do this because his passing lanes and routes are limited by his size. Hope he can get better as our lead distributor but it seems to be a lot to hope for.
I often read on here that the offense needs to go through this guy or that gut or both or through our no. 1 guy or our no. 2 guy or both. That is too much of an over simplification for me. You need the offense to go through as many as you can as often as you can with emphasis on your best scorers. Right now we are not doing it well at all. It is and will always be tough for IT to do this because his passing lanes and routes are limited by his size. Hope he can get better as our lead distributor but it seems to be a lot to hope for.
The offense operates best when, first, the floor is spaced properly, and second, when there is good ball movement. The floor spacing last night was good at times and not so good at other times. But the ball movement was nonexistent. For the most part we kept running isolation plays for either Gay or IT. Not sure whose choice that was, but that was the overall result. Essentially, the other team has to guard the ball. Its much harder to do that if your passing it, than if your dribbling it. I think there's a time and a place for isolation plays, and if I had to put my money on one player to run an iso right now, it would be Gay. He's been terrific. But your overall offense has to be more than just that, or we'll just get easier to guard
This is interesting I think. Last year, we could not get a guy to get even 5 assists/game. In just 1 year IT assists have gone from 4/game to where he is now - about 6.5/game. That is significant progress from year 2 to year 3. How much more progress can he make?
Also, he is tied with Conley right now in assists/game. In fact, IT stats are very similar to Conley's not only in assists, but also in shots/game, FG% and points/game. Conley is considered an All-Star snub. He has 2x the NBA experience as IT. FWIW, I would love Conley as my team's PG.
Also, he is tied with Conley right now in assists/game. In fact, IT stats are very similar to Conley's not only in assists, but also in shots/game, FG% and points/game. Conley is considered an All-Star snub. He has 2x the NBA experience as IT. FWIW, I would love Conley as my team's PG.
Iverson averaged over 6 himself. IT completely dominates the ball on this team, which is his preference I think, but which is also the result of us trading away or letting go every other guard with a better handle than I have. You constantly have the ball, you will eventually notch some assists. You have to look at team structure when you are looking at assists. What offense are they running. Who is competing with them for the ball etc. IT is not Iverson. There are on and off attempts by him to run the team. But there is a world of difference in saying IT averages 7ast/gm and saying that Jason Williams once did.
IT's offensive game did indeed hurt the Kings last night. 8-21 is not a good enough number. His 3 ball just looks flat lately.
What people seem to be forgetting is that IT is still getting burned pretty badly on the defensive end. And whenever he is interviewed about defense, he seems to deflect his own responsibility into 'nope, it's a team effort. It's not me'.
And yet, (in my opinion) on a few occasions Isaiah got burned so badly and laughably that Calderon could have sleepwalked his way to a layup. (Or just lost his guy). The inability to keep his opponent in front of him collapses the entire defense. This team's defense doesn't have a chance if it can't keep the point out at the perimeter on a more consistent basis. I'm not saying it's all Isaiah's fault, because of course it's not, but he clearly played a big part in the poor defensive effort.
He isn't good enough to struggle on offense. 8-21, plus the aforementioned - nope, not gonna work on this team.
Please Malone, when it comes to minutes and shots, change that game-long green light into a yellow. And give more minutes to Jimmer
What people seem to be forgetting is that IT is still getting burned pretty badly on the defensive end. And whenever he is interviewed about defense, he seems to deflect his own responsibility into 'nope, it's a team effort. It's not me'.
And yet, (in my opinion) on a few occasions Isaiah got burned so badly and laughably that Calderon could have sleepwalked his way to a layup. (Or just lost his guy). The inability to keep his opponent in front of him collapses the entire defense. This team's defense doesn't have a chance if it can't keep the point out at the perimeter on a more consistent basis. I'm not saying it's all Isaiah's fault, because of course it's not, but he clearly played a big part in the poor defensive effort.
He isn't good enough to struggle on offense. 8-21, plus the aforementioned - nope, not gonna work on this team.
Please Malone, when it comes to minutes and shots, change that game-long green light into a yellow. And give more minutes to Jimmer
Per 36s can be handy ways to track real vs. minutes related development sometimes:
11-12 16.3pts (.448 on 12.4FGA .379 .832) 3.7reb 5.8ast 1.2stl 0.2blk 2.3TO
12-13 18.7pts (.440 on 14.1FGA .358 .882) 2.7reb 5,4ast 1.1stl 0.1blk 2.4TO
13-14 19.9pts (.444 on 16.1FGA .382 .860) 3.0reb 6.7ast 1.4stl 0.0blk 3.0TO
And pretty much what you get is just a guy shooting more, not really better. While back around the new year I thought there were some scattered attempts to play more PG than mini-SG, the slight uptick in assists here can be accounted for almost entirely by no longer having to share the ball with Reke and pretty much just completely ignoring the SG spot. IT is, as they say, what he is.
11-12 16.3pts (.448 on 12.4FGA .379 .832) 3.7reb 5.8ast 1.2stl 0.2blk 2.3TO
12-13 18.7pts (.440 on 14.1FGA .358 .882) 2.7reb 5,4ast 1.1stl 0.1blk 2.4TO
13-14 19.9pts (.444 on 16.1FGA .382 .860) 3.0reb 6.7ast 1.4stl 0.0blk 3.0TO
And pretty much what you get is just a guy shooting more, not really better. While back around the new year I thought there were some scattered attempts to play more PG than mini-SG, the slight uptick in assists here can be accounted for almost entirely by no longer having to share the ball with Reke and pretty much just completely ignoring the SG spot. IT is, as they say, what he is.
I did post it.
Jerry is wrong. Didn't the heat just win two titles without a scoring pg? Aren't the pacers leading the league right now without a scoring pg?
It's a fallacy to say you NEED a scoring PG to win. Can you win with one? Of course. Westbrook, Curry, Parker, etc. Do you have to have one? Well, clearly not. And as for Curry, the W's aren't even a lock for the playoffs.
The thing about assists is that being a pg is about more than that. It's getting everyone touches. It's making the pass that leads to the pass that gets the assist (the hockey assist). MT goes 7 mins without touching the ball after hitting a 3. That's inexcusable. It's about running an offense that involves everyone, even if they're not shooting. At this point, the rare times our sgs touch the ball, they shoot. They won't get it back for half a quarter sometimes.
The kings score a lot of points, but the offense is pretty terrible to watch. I'm ready to put Gene Hackman at coach and demand 4 passes before a shot.
The stats back up what it looks like. The kings are next to last in assists per field goal made. It's just one on one offense. The offense is extremely unimaginative, and seems unable to adjust to the personnel as well. Are we really trying to post up Gray like he's Cuz, or give Gray the ball on the wing so he can hit a 15 foot jumper? Cause I've seen that happen. Gray probably hasn't taken a 15 footer in years, much less made one. That's not his game, never will be. That's Cuz's game, but you can't run the same damn plays with Gray.
I'm officially starting to question Malone. When I see how much better Charlotte and Phoenix got defensively without major talent upgrades, I start to wonder. Why are we still as terrible as ever? Charlotte throws in Al Jefferson and goes from bottom of the league defensively to top 10? How? It ain't Al. If anyone knows, tell Michael Malone please. What he's doing is not working.
Those per 36 numbers for our pg show little progress as a player. Sorry folks.
http://www.teamrankings.com/nba/stat/assists-per-fgm
Jerry is wrong. Didn't the heat just win two titles without a scoring pg? Aren't the pacers leading the league right now without a scoring pg?
It's a fallacy to say you NEED a scoring PG to win. Can you win with one? Of course. Westbrook, Curry, Parker, etc. Do you have to have one? Well, clearly not. And as for Curry, the W's aren't even a lock for the playoffs.
The thing about assists is that being a pg is about more than that. It's getting everyone touches. It's making the pass that leads to the pass that gets the assist (the hockey assist). MT goes 7 mins without touching the ball after hitting a 3. That's inexcusable. It's about running an offense that involves everyone, even if they're not shooting. At this point, the rare times our sgs touch the ball, they shoot. They won't get it back for half a quarter sometimes.
The kings score a lot of points, but the offense is pretty terrible to watch. I'm ready to put Gene Hackman at coach and demand 4 passes before a shot.
The stats back up what it looks like. The kings are next to last in assists per field goal made. It's just one on one offense. The offense is extremely unimaginative, and seems unable to adjust to the personnel as well. Are we really trying to post up Gray like he's Cuz, or give Gray the ball on the wing so he can hit a 15 foot jumper? Cause I've seen that happen. Gray probably hasn't taken a 15 footer in years, much less made one. That's not his game, never will be. That's Cuz's game, but you can't run the same damn plays with Gray.
I'm officially starting to question Malone. When I see how much better Charlotte and Phoenix got defensively without major talent upgrades, I start to wonder. Why are we still as terrible as ever? Charlotte throws in Al Jefferson and goes from bottom of the league defensively to top 10? How? It ain't Al. If anyone knows, tell Michael Malone please. What he's doing is not working.
Those per 36 numbers for our pg show little progress as a player. Sorry folks.
http://www.teamrankings.com/nba/stat/assists-per-fgm
And then he returned to his mean.
I remember post-Webber trade when Mike Bibby had an epic All Star level month. But that's what he had, and epic All Star level month.
Yes on the scouting reports BTW.
Given that this past month went:
36.9min 21.pts (.412 .327 .867) 2.9reb 6.7ast 1.2stl 0.1blk 3.0TO
I am more concerned right now with whether the above represents a permanent Isaiah after they adjusted to him, or whether as I suspect he will round out his season at about career norms.
I remember post-Webber trade when Mike Bibby had an epic All Star level month. But that's what he had, and epic All Star level month.
Yes on the scouting reports BTW.
Given that this past month went:
36.9min 21.pts (.412 .327 .867) 2.9reb 6.7ast 1.2stl 0.1blk 3.0TO
I am more concerned right now with whether the above represents a permanent Isaiah after they adjusted to him, or whether as I suspect he will round out his season at about career norms.
When you have Lebron James on your team, you don't have to play by the rules. You can get away with many things that other teams can't get away with. The Heat won two titles without a legit post threat or a rim protector. Does that mean the Kings can get away without putting a shot blocker next to Cousins?
Fine. Pick a different number. In the last 25 years, the NBA champion's starting pg averaged:
18+ (twice-Ithomas and Tparker)
16+ (add Billups)
The rest were mostly the kinds of guys I described and the kind of guy most people that don't want IT starting are looking for. We have 2 lethal scorers plus a whole bunch of other offense first guys. There is nothing in NBA history to suggest the best way to build around those 2 guys is with an undersized, offense first, defensively challenged PG.
Nothing. Zip. Zero.
18+ (twice-Ithomas and Tparker)
16+ (add Billups)
The rest were mostly the kinds of guys I described and the kind of guy most people that don't want IT starting are looking for. We have 2 lethal scorers plus a whole bunch of other offense first guys. There is nothing in NBA history to suggest the best way to build around those 2 guys is with an undersized, offense first, defensively challenged PG.
Nothing. Zip. Zero.
I guess I’m glad that I didn’t get a chance to watch the 4th quarter…I’m disappointed that Coach has resorted to putting Jimmer back on the sidelines. I feel bad for him….Glad to see Isaiah still getting love by Grant and Jerry *Sarcasm* - they’re doing so much more harm than good.
I hope we’re going to have another trade before the trade deadline.
I hope we don’t rush Demarcus back from his injury. I want him to fully heal before he gets back on the court.
I hope we’re going to have another trade before the trade deadline.
I hope we don’t rush Demarcus back from his injury. I want him to fully heal before he gets back on the court.