Game -1: Sacramento Kings vs. Los Angeles Lakers, 10/24/14, 7 PM PST 10 PM EST
- Thread starter Tetsujin
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its not totally meaningless. Ask Mike Malone if he thinks its meaningless.... this was one of the hardest games to watch i can remember because the level of competition. there were like 5 empty chairs on the Lakers bench the whole game. Our starting unit was just awful (minus Cousins will always get his). This was straight embarrassing, and preseason or not its highly concerning. Most likely a signal of things to come if they don't figure some things out quick.
Ok, I was saying preseason doesn't matter....
I see what people were saying. We look awful. Cousins looks unstoppable. As a team? Really terrible.
It's going to be hard to win with the worst SG in the nba starting for us. Not sure how getting another kid is supposed to fix that. Just an avg SG would make a tremendous difference.
I'm not at all optimistic. And I'm really starting to question Malone. And Vivek/PDA for putting this position less mess together. Feeding Evans in the high post expecting him to facilitate? That nonsense has to stop. Know your personnel Malone. Play Ray. He's better right now than both Nik and Ben.
Malone could be fired really quickly this year. We look like a team thrown together at a pickup game. Vivek/pda seem pretty self satisfied with what they put together. That means the coach goes. It's absurd, cause no one could coach this, but that's the nba.
Expecting to compete for the playoffs with Nik/Ben as your SGs looks like a fantasy. And to not address PF in any way? Unless you count picking up a summer league superstar like Moreland. Not sure what the thinking is when 3 of the 5 starting spots seem up for grabs. That's not a team ready to win at all.
Looks like another 28 win team folks.
I see what people were saying. We look awful. Cousins looks unstoppable. As a team? Really terrible.
It's going to be hard to win with the worst SG in the nba starting for us. Not sure how getting another kid is supposed to fix that. Just an avg SG would make a tremendous difference.
I'm not at all optimistic. And I'm really starting to question Malone. And Vivek/PDA for putting this position less mess together. Feeding Evans in the high post expecting him to facilitate? That nonsense has to stop. Know your personnel Malone. Play Ray. He's better right now than both Nik and Ben.
Malone could be fired really quickly this year. We look like a team thrown together at a pickup game. Vivek/pda seem pretty self satisfied with what they put together. That means the coach goes. It's absurd, cause no one could coach this, but that's the nba.
Expecting to compete for the playoffs with Nik/Ben as your SGs looks like a fantasy. And to not address PF in any way? Unless you count picking up a summer league superstar like Moreland. Not sure what the thinking is when 3 of the 5 starting spots seem up for grabs. That's not a team ready to win at all.
Looks like another 28 win team folks.
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The problem with Ray is he's a ball hog, I don't think he's a selfish player intentionally he's just an over dribbler, when he's at PG a lot of possessions are end of shot clock situations, I think every single possession we had with him in at the end was something similar.
I've been happy with Nik, not done anything special, just solid, needs to do better from the midrange but everything else has been as advertised, he's a rookie, he's not going to be scoring 25 points a game. Ben is starting to do my head in to be honest, so so erratic.
I've been happy with Nik, not done anything special, just solid, needs to do better from the midrange but everything else has been as advertised, he's a rookie, he's not going to be scoring 25 points a game. Ben is starting to do my head in to be honest, so so erratic.
If this is another 28 win team then D'Alessandro should be fired. When you have a near luxury tax payroll, no young players expected to take a big leap (Stauskas should be good but not a star, Ben looks like a bust, Ray a solid bench player but not more) and a team that doesn't win despite being in "win now" mode then that's on the guy who put the roster together over two years.
To me it comes back to not knowing your fan base. Kings fans would have been content with a rebuild if it was done the right way. And with the added bonus of opening the new arena with an up and coming squad.
Orlando, Philadelphia, New Orleans, Phoenix, Toronto, Washington, Minnesota and Milwaukee were all in about the same position as the Kings when PDA was hired and I'd say pretty much every one of them now has a roster with more reason for optimism than the Kings.
That's depressing.
It's only preseason so I'm hoping that things click and this team puts it together and starts winning some games. But this preseason hasn't given much evidence that improvements are in store other than possibly for Cousins himself.
To me it comes back to not knowing your fan base. Kings fans would have been content with a rebuild if it was done the right way. And with the added bonus of opening the new arena with an up and coming squad.
Orlando, Philadelphia, New Orleans, Phoenix, Toronto, Washington, Minnesota and Milwaukee were all in about the same position as the Kings when PDA was hired and I'd say pretty much every one of them now has a roster with more reason for optimism than the Kings.
That's depressing.
It's only preseason so I'm hoping that things click and this team puts it together and starts winning some games. But this preseason hasn't given much evidence that improvements are in store other than possibly for Cousins himself.
This front office / coaching staff is so goddamn stubborn. Start Stauskas already.
I actually like the offense we ran to start this one. Cousins had the ball on almost every possession, we ran everything through him. Back screens, cuts, etc.
But there is no one to spread the floor. Gay has been bad from three for a few seasons now, but he is hardly attempting threes these days anyway. Collison can shoot, but he was extremely passive last night. Ben actually had some open shots, and he missed them all. I think he was 0-6 when he was in there with the original starting unit.
Stauskas hasn't even been that good, but I KNOW he can shoot when he's open. Ben can't. Time to move on.
I think Malone and co. know this. What has Ben done to actually win a spot in the starting lineup? that 'competition' was a farce. Nik got one start all preseason. They are just deathly afraid of losing Ben completely, which I'm starting to think will happen either way. Sending him to the bench is going to crush the little confidence he has left, but I think it has to be done. He's just giving us nothing out there.
Jason Thompson is a little more defendable. I'd like to see more energy out of him, but he is a guy who almost literally never touches the ball. In some ways, he could serve us better off the bench, because I'd much rather see JT get the post up / jump shot attempts Landry got last night.
This season is going to be rough if we don't start really prioritizing winning. They say they are, but I can't take that message seriously if they keep sending Ben out there.
I actually like the offense we ran to start this one. Cousins had the ball on almost every possession, we ran everything through him. Back screens, cuts, etc.
But there is no one to spread the floor. Gay has been bad from three for a few seasons now, but he is hardly attempting threes these days anyway. Collison can shoot, but he was extremely passive last night. Ben actually had some open shots, and he missed them all. I think he was 0-6 when he was in there with the original starting unit.
Stauskas hasn't even been that good, but I KNOW he can shoot when he's open. Ben can't. Time to move on.
I think Malone and co. know this. What has Ben done to actually win a spot in the starting lineup? that 'competition' was a farce. Nik got one start all preseason. They are just deathly afraid of losing Ben completely, which I'm starting to think will happen either way. Sending him to the bench is going to crush the little confidence he has left, but I think it has to be done. He's just giving us nothing out there.
Jason Thompson is a little more defendable. I'd like to see more energy out of him, but he is a guy who almost literally never touches the ball. In some ways, he could serve us better off the bench, because I'd much rather see JT get the post up / jump shot attempts Landry got last night.
This season is going to be rough if we don't start really prioritizing winning. They say they are, but I can't take that message seriously if they keep sending Ben out there.
I think we need to a big gamble on a player. I know this wouldn't be a popular choice, but I think A-STAT would be ideal for this team if he's healthy. Especially if we're trying to push into a "win" now mode. He has an expiring contract of 23million. It's really difficult to put it into the trade machine, but I'd do something like
Landry+DWill+Ben for A-STAT+Shumpert. Shumpert has the same ceiling as Jimmy Butler. I would jump on this trade, but I don't know how to make it work. ASTAT is a player I'd gamble on. If he's healthy, he can be a huge success to our team.
Landry+DWill+Ben for A-STAT+Shumpert. Shumpert has the same ceiling as Jimmy Butler. I would jump on this trade, but I don't know how to make it work. ASTAT is a player I'd gamble on. If he's healthy, he can be a huge success to our team.
That trade doesn't work cap wise. To make it work (without Gay or Cousins being dealt) you'd have to include Jason Thompson. And that's not a win now move. Production wise it's hard to argue that Stoudemire gives you more than JT and obviously he's a much bigger health risk. The only reason to do that sort of trade would be to let Gay and Stoudemire walk and open up boatloads of caproom. That's a rebuilding move. And the time to do that sort of thing would have been last season if the goal were to strip the team down to the studs and start over, something the new ownership and FO had apparently no interest in doing.
But maybe the saddest aspect of that trade proposal is that I don't even think there's any way Phil Jackson would consider it. A $23 million expiring looks like a pot of gold to the Knicks when it opens up caproom to convince free agents to come play with Carmelo.
But maybe the saddest aspect of that trade proposal is that I don't even think there's any way Phil Jackson would consider it. A $23 million expiring looks like a pot of gold to the Knicks when it opens up caproom to convince free agents to come play with Carmelo.
For those calling for Pete's or Malone's head...I would can Pete before letting Malone go. I'm not saying I am ready to do so just yet but his moves have been troubling and since he has come here we have been bleeding of talent. Tyreke and IT were let go, and while they may have been ball dominant players, they were still talents that Petrie drafted and if the front office knew before hand that IT wasn't in the long term plans a trade should of been made before the summer came. Pete's MO does not coincide with Malone's, that's the big issue here. When you have two different philosophies in mind, you get the product that we are seeing out there. I appreciate that Pete is aggressive and all but his moves do not seem to serve any purpose and I want to see our record three months in before I start calling for someones head.
It doesn't work cap wise, but I think we have trade exemptions and other stuff to work it all out.
If Stoudemire is healthy this year, it'll be a bounce back year. I'm not sure how that would be a rebuilding move considering that we'd be giving up 31 yearold Carl Landry (coming from injury) with a 3 year contract left, expiring D-Will, and Ben for STAT and Shumpert.
I think he should consider it. Ben is a player who he can work with. Landry may or may not help them off the bench. Shumpert is a defensive player we've all been looking for. He can contribute in many ways and I'd be comfortable with giving Landry's old contract to him.
If Stoudemire is healthy this year, it'll be a bounce back year. I'm not sure how that would be a rebuilding move considering that we'd be giving up 31 yearold Carl Landry (coming from injury) with a 3 year contract left, expiring D-Will, and Ben for STAT and Shumpert.
I think he should consider it. Ben is a player who he can work with. Landry may or may not help them off the bench. Shumpert is a defensive player we've all been looking for. He can contribute in many ways and I'd be comfortable with giving Landry's old contract to him.
Mccallum to start over Nik and Ben? You've got to be kidding me. He shoots around 38% and has done nothing to show he can be a shooter in the NBA. The guy (who I actually like btw) has a few good minutes in preseason and somehow people are calling for him to start?
Ben and Nik will improve. It's fairly obvious Nik is still trying to find his place in this offense and until that happens, he's going to play like a rook. Ben has good nights and bad nights. I don't think he will ever change that, which makes me think his days as a starter will come to an end soon.
Preseason for a team like ours is about building chemistry and getting the O and D absorbed. There are so many new players that this will bleed into the season. Give it a couple months before we put a likely career emergency bench PG in over two 1st round SGs.
Ben and Nik will improve. It's fairly obvious Nik is still trying to find his place in this offense and until that happens, he's going to play like a rook. Ben has good nights and bad nights. I don't think he will ever change that, which makes me think his days as a starter will come to an end soon.
Preseason for a team like ours is about building chemistry and getting the O and D absorbed. There are so many new players that this will bleed into the season. Give it a couple months before we put a likely career emergency bench PG in over two 1st round SGs.
this whole position less basketball is really strange. The team has no identity and everybody looks like they are clueless besides cousins, gay, and stauskas.
another thing...
name to me one player on this team that is good at defense? I'd honestly trade Ben for a thing at this point and thabo seffalosa would give you probably more offence and a while lotmore defense. Trade dwill and jt and try to get anything resembling a quality big who can block shots.
I had really high hopes for this season...but seeing our summer league team composing of most the guys in our rotation struggling was worrisome. Seeing our starting lineup getting beat by the spurs bench....well that was worrisome.
but last night we let guys like sacre and Wes Johnson and Lin look like all stars. That was a d-league team for most of the night and we barely beat them...sigh...
its not gonna take me very long to start hating on PDA if this roster doesn't improve.
another thing...
name to me one player on this team that is good at defense? I'd honestly trade Ben for a thing at this point and thabo seffalosa would give you probably more offence and a while lotmore defense. Trade dwill and jt and try to get anything resembling a quality big who can block shots.
I had really high hopes for this season...but seeing our summer league team composing of most the guys in our rotation struggling was worrisome. Seeing our starting lineup getting beat by the spurs bench....well that was worrisome.
but last night we let guys like sacre and Wes Johnson and Lin look like all stars. That was a d-league team for most of the night and we barely beat them...sigh...
its not gonna take me very long to start hating on PDA if this roster doesn't improve.
I am hoping its a case of them having nothing to prove and suddenly reemerging once the season starts.
Because one the other or both of the front office/Malone is earning my contempt otherwise if they are going to continue to force deadweight in Ben, Carl and Derrick upon us for no better reason then that they ****ed up and don't want to admit it, perhaps not even to themselves.
Because one the other or both of the front office/Malone is earning my contempt otherwise if they are going to continue to force deadweight in Ben, Carl and Derrick upon us for no better reason then that they ****ed up and don't want to admit it, perhaps not even to themselves.