Does NBA 3.0 Include DMC?

[Livinthedream]

Was listening to a "Best of" morning show with Carmichael Dave on my way into work. He was interviewing PDA after the DWill for Mbah Mute trade. CD specifically asked about DWill as a defensive liability. PDA'S response was that he's studied DWills defense and then he quickly shifted the conversation to talk about how versatile an offensive player DWill is.

I'll repeat myself here, but this whole thing is not about basketball. When PDA says "Style" he's talking about marketability. He's talking about sell ing jerseys. Cousins being able to run and be as effective is irrelevant. Cousins playing pt center is absolutely ok with PDA as long as it gets ooohs and ahhhs and people in India turn on their tv sets to watch it.

I think we are spinning our wheels trying to find a basketball angle to this. PDA has been telling us all along it's about glamour and glitz if you listen carefully.

 

[funkykingston]

Well OK. In this case PDA must seem to be the worst GM on this planet for you guys. This would be ridiculous.

In a world that still contain Isiah Thomas that would have to read as hyperbole. That said, I disagreed with most of D'Alessandro's moves in his first year as GM outside of the Gay trade (where I still thought the Kings should have substituted Jimmer for Patterson and possibly Outlaw for Vasquez) but he'd built up a measure of goodwill this season due to the Kings surprising start. And that's despite the bench he assembled being possibly the worst in the league.

Still, when the Kings are in the middle of their best start in a decade and the GM flies out to convince the owner to fire the coach and then goes into interviews and flat out says, "it's not about wins and losses, it's about style of play" then yes, I have lost faith in that man's ability to do the job he was hired for.

Is D'Alessandro one of the worst GMs in the league? I don't know. And frankly I don't care.

What I do care about is whether the events he's put in motion over the last two weeks have set the Kings up for yet another setback, another terrible coaching hire (yeah, if it's Mullin I'm calling it now) and yet another rebuild in a few years. These are the Sacramento Kings we're talking about. If there's the briefest spark you need to nurture it and fan the embers to see if it becomes something. This franchise doesn't have the luxury of being able to rebuild quickly.

 

[steelevt]

You guys claim that the FO doesn't do enough to surround Cousins? Seriously? We have literally been involved in almost every trade rumored.. we are trying to surround Cousins with better talent.. we are trying to go the extra mile, but it takes 2 teams to tango.

I'm sorry that Rondo didn't want to come here. I'm sorry that Iggy didn't want to come here. I'm sorry that Josh Smith didn't want to come here.

It's not like the FO isn't trying.. they are. What can they do with very limited assets?

The Kings new FO inherited a mess of a team.. it doesn't help that players don't want to come to Sacramento and other teams don't want to trade with us.

You know who does want to come here and might influence free agents to come. George Karl.

 

[Capt. Factorial]

But that's not 3.0.

Frankly, I don't know what NBA 3.0 is. If you read here, it's about putting fairies and elves on the floor using their magic wands to hopefully put balls into baskets. But I thought NBA 3.0 was about developing marketing strategies in potentially ripe markets like India and enhancing the in-game experience using pervasive mobile technology, not about the on-court play style.

 

[funkykingston]

Now that it was out that Malone was the one reluctant on Gay and Cousins' extensions, you think Gay and Cousins will care that much about the coaching change?

And exactly what was the context for those comments that originated from the Kings front office?

When Malone took over the team? When Gay had played 20 games as a King?

The fact that this bit of info trickled out from the Kings side of things AFTER Malone's firing was met with criticism by the vast majority of fans makes it slightly suspect in my eyes. Still, even if we accept it as true what does it matter? Malone's job was to coach the team that D'Alessandro assembled. And I think he was doing a very good job.

For anyone who doesn't or who agree with this move I have a simple question. Do you think firing Malone will improve the team THIS season. Even with Boogie missing all those games with viral meningitis Malone had the team on pace to win 38 games this year. I'll gladly make a wager with anyone who thinks the Kings will now win 39 games or more if Corbin stays on for the rest of the season.

 

[Chubbs]

I think our definition of running is really different. Do you really think PDA is dumb enough to try to turn DMC into Griffin?
They very obviously talk about a more fluid offense and about running, if there is a possibility. DMC can do this, like every other big man can. No GM, Owner orCoach will want a player build like Boogie to sprint up and down the court non stop, jacking up shots after shots.
Under Malone our offense was relying on DDMC way too much. We demanded him to handle double or even triple teams all the time. This results in a bunch of turnovers and forced shots. Lets say against a swarming defense Boogie has 4 To and was forced into 4 Bad shots against multiple defenders. Thats basically 8 posessions the other Team can score on. Turnovers most likely result in fastbreaks and those are difficult to defend. Lets say we do a good job defending - most likely this are still 8+ Points wie give to the opposing Team, cause we force the Ball into DMC and demand him to handle anything the defense throws at him.
The recent game against the Lakers we saw our D really pressuring Kobe. He couldn't handle it and we took advantage. While DMC is a heck of a talent, one can argue if we rely on him too much and fall apart, once a team really pressures him a lot.
It may still be possible to win, if we play stellar defense, but our FO didn't believe it was the right approach to move forward. I tend to disagree with them, but i unterstand the reasoning behind this decision.
The only real Problem was the timing and the way they communicated.

To add to the chorus , yes, I do believe PDA is that dumb. And I believe Corbin will go along with it to keep his job.

 

[Bricklayer]

But I thought NBA 3.0 was about developing marketing strategies in potentially ripe markets like India and enhancing the in-game experience using pervasive mobile technology, not about the on-court play style.

I only wish.

 

[HereWeBoogie]

NBA 3.0 is about replicating the Golden State Warriors. Before they were good.

and promoting Vivek's daughters music career

 

[Gilles]

In a world that still contain Isiah Thomas that would have to read as hyperbole. That said, I disagreed with most of D'Alessandro's moves in his first year as GM outside of the Gay trade (where I still thought the Kings should have substituted Jimmer for Patterson and possibly Outlaw for Vasquez) but he'd built up a measure of goodwill this season due to the Kings surprising start. And that's despite the bench he assembled being possibly the worst in the league.

Still, when the Kings are in the middle of their best start in a decade and the GM flies out to convince the owner to fire the coach and then goes into interviews and flat out says, "it's not about wins and losses, it's about style of play" then yes, I have lost faith in that man's ability to do the job he was hired for.

Is D'Alessandro one of the worst GMs in the league? I don't know. And frankly I don't care.

What I do care about is whether the events he's put in motion over the last two weeks have set the Kings up for yet another setback, another terrible coaching hire (yeah, if it's Mullin I'm calling it now) and yet another rebuild in a few years. These are the Sacramento Kings we're talking about. If there's the briefest spark you need to nurture it and fan the embers to see if it becomes something. This franchise doesn't have the luxury of being able to rebuild quickly.

It's always a chicken and egg semantics: was the GM a visionary or the Coach just found a way to best utilize players. Adelman was known to build around his players' skillsets. And given, that certain guys like Williams, Sessions and Stauskas (rookie, so he gets the pass) pretty much failed under Malone with their bad defense, I would guess, that starting five success belongs to him.

 

[Swaze]

NBA 3.0 is about replicating the Golden State Warriors. Before they were good.

LOL I could imagine that speech from Vivek and PDA to the assistants and other owners. "We want to be just like Golden State.......you know before they were good."

 

[ParniValjak]

Not sure how legit this is considering its coming from Bruski, but on the latest CK podcast he mentioned how a bumber of Kings employees are getting sick abd tired of the antics of the hierarchy and saying that these huys are forgetting that this is not Bay Area. This is Sacramento and they are losing touch with the fans that welcomed them with open arms and worshipped them.

It wouldn't surprise me if it is true. There is too much GSW (and not the current GSW but the Nellieball stinkers) feel to this whole thing. I am hoping Vivek and co realise that the Bay Area approach will never work on Kings fan base. We are unique and want results, not glitz and galmour. We are a "working class" team who like the guts and determination in our wins which is what he had under Malone. None of this style and no substance! With us, its about wins and nothing else matters!

 

[KingMilz]

NBA 3.0 is about replicating the Golden State Warriors. Before they were good.

and promoting Vivek's daughters music career

Thankfully he is doing that since that will be the only decent thing to look at for the rest of this season

 

[Uk kings fan]

Not sure how legit this is considering its coming from Bruski, but on the latest CK podcast he mentioned how a bumber of Kings employees are getting sick abd tired of the antics of the hierarchy and saying that these huys are forgetting that this is not Bay Area. This is Sacramento and they are losing touch with the fans that welcomed them with open arms and worshipped them.

It wouldn't surprise me if it is true. There is too much GSW (and not the current GSW but the Nellieball stinkers) feel to this whole thing. I am hoping Vivek and co realise that the Bay Area approach will never work on Kings fan base. We are unique and want results, not glitz and galmour. We are a "working class" team who like the guts and determination in our wins which is what he had under Malone. None of this style and no substance! With us, its about wins and nothing else matters!

Christ didn't realize things were this bad... I love the CK podcast btw!! I recommend it too all exiles.

 

[Kingster]

So far I haven't seen a faster pace without Malone. I've just seen a poorer defense. The poor defense seems due to 1) the unhealthy of Cousins and his poor stamina, 2) players just not caring to play D (it's either a check-out or a cop-out or a combination of both), and 3) the players we've got individually aren't that talented on D.

My view is that, yes, you could have more fast breaks if you got several new players who were athletic enough, shot the ball better, and were higher in IQ than what the Kings currently have on their roster. That's the GM's role. I don't buy, however, that Cousins and a running team are incompatible. There are plenty of historical examples that demonstrate otherwise.

 

[Glenn]

So far I haven't seen a faster pace without Malone. I've just seen a poorer defense. The poor defense seems due to 1) the unhealthy of Cousins and his poor stamina, 2) players just not caring to play D (it's either a check-out or a cop-out or a combination of both), and 3) the players we've got individually aren't that talented on D.

My view is that, yes, you could have more fast breaks if you got several new players who were athletic enough, shot the ball better, and were higher in IQ than what the Kings currently have on their roster. That's the GM's role. I don't buy, however, that Cousins and a running team are incompatible. There are plenty of historical examples that demonstrate otherwise.

I don't buy that having Cousins eliminates the running game. However, I don't think it is the best use of Cousins.

 

[206Fan]

So far I haven't seen a faster pace without Malone. I've just seen a poorer defense. The poor defense seems due to 1) the unhealthy of Cousins and his poor stamina, 2) players just not caring to play D (it's either a check-out or a cop-out or a combination of both), and 3) the players we've got individually aren't that talented on D.

My view is that, yes, you could have more fast breaks if you got several new players who were athletic enough, shot the ball better, and were higher in IQ than what the Kings currently have on their roster. That's the GM's role. I don't buy, however, that Cousins and a running team are incompatible. There are plenty of historical examples that demonstrate otherwise.

I think at times they're bringing the ball up faster. I've noticed that plays have developed quickly, but the Kings are having trouble either running them or executing them.

The offense is faster, but the players are still a little dazed.

I think Cousins can be in a running team, but it wouldn't be the best use of him. He excels with half court.

I think the fast pace the FO is referring to is pushing the ball up faster and looking for that easy shot, and when it's not there, settle into our offense then. I think the players are trying to figure out what exactly is expected out of them on offense and they're trying to play at the speed they're supposed to, therefor, they get overwhelmed on defense.
I do not ever want to see the Kings put up 130pts again nor give up 120pts. This is not Reno...stop that crap now. Especially to a crap team like the NYK. It's arguable that defense wasn't played at all by either team.

 

[Padrino]

My view is that, yes, you could have more fast breaks if you got several new players who were athletic enough, shot the ball better, and were higher in IQ than what the Kings currently have on their roster. That's the GM's role. I don't buy, however, that Cousins and a running team are incompatible. There are plenty of historical examples that demonstrate otherwise.

most aren't viewing cousins as incompatible with a fast-paced offense. most are questioning whether or not it's the best way to maximize his through-the-roof talents so that the team manages to win games in the process. but of course he's not incompatible with a "running team." demarcus cousins is so f***ing good that you could drop him into just about any "style of play" and he'll succeed individually. but will the team win?

the showtime lakers ran with an aging and slow-as-lava-flow kareem abdul jabar. they did all right. problem is, i don't see in-his-prime magic johnson walking through that door. i don't see in-his-prime steve nash walking through that door, either. big cuz is at the center of the kings' universe. rudy gay is an imperfect #2, and, in my opinion, neither are best-utilized in the kind of offense that d'allesandro seems to believe the kings should be playing...

 

[Kingster]

most aren't viewing cousins as incompatible with a fast-paced offense. most are questioning whether or not it's the best way to maximize his through-the-roof talents so that the team manages to win games in the process. but of course he's not incompatible with a "running team." demarcus cousins is so f***ing good that you could drop him into just about any "style of play" and he'll succeed individually. but will the team win?

the showtime lakers ran with an aging and slow-as-lava-flow kareem abdul jabar. they did all right. problem is, i don't see in-his-prime magic johnson walking through that door. i don't see in-his-prime steve nash walking through that door, either. big cuz is at the center of the kings' universe. rudy gay is an imperfect #2, and, in my opinion, neither are best-utilized in the kind of offense that d'allesandro seems to believe the kings should be playing...

Then I am in agreement with most.

Yes, that is the problem. Add Worthy to the list.

Yes, Gay is not compatible with a running team. But I'm not quite sure why you are saying Cousins isn't compatible (in theory) when before you said he was (in theory). In theory, with the right complement of players, I think Cousins would be fantastic. Like you say, just surround him with Magic and Worthy and Rambis (we already have McLemore instead of Scott). Easy peezy.

Frankly, I really don't know what PDA wants other than "uptempo." Does he want a Paul Westhead running offense where you run on the opponents made baskets? THAT is the extreme logical conclusion at one end of the continuum if he wants that, but to my knowledge PDA hasn't specified what exactly uptempo is, which when you think about it is very convenient for PDA, isn't it?

 

[HereWeBoogie]

We don't need Boogie for NBA3.0. We have Eric Moreland, leading the league in offensive rating!

if we had 5 Eric Moreland's we could put up 170+ per night!

 

[VF21]

We don't need Boogie for NBA3.0. We have Eric Moreland, leading the league in offensive rating!

if we had 5 Eric Moreland's we could put up 170+ per night!
View attachment 5094

I know you don't mean it that way, but that comes across really negatively for Moreland and he hasn't done a thing to merit that kind of snark.

 

[IfAt1st]

I know you don't mean it that way, but that comes across really negatively for Moreland and he hasn't done a thing to merit that kind of snark.

I viewed it solely as the obvious snark on the uselessness of Advanced Stats dictating how an organization is run (and a direct cap on PDA, not Moreland in any way).

 

[arusinov]

I viewed it solely as the obvious snark on the uselessness of Advanced Stats dictating how an organization is run (and a direct cap on PDA, not Moreland in any way).

In this specific case it doesn't have anything to do with uselessness or usefullness of statitics. The only reason why Moreland has off. rating of 175 (and PER of 41.6, 36 pts per 36 min and TS% of 1.0...) is that he played ~2 minutes all season... By case there were succesfull 2 minutes, and Moreland even got one basket on one attempt and 1 reb. So it's just sample size. Noone is stupid enough to run organization using stats collected over 2 min.

By the way I don't see they use adv. stats too much...
Casspi has off. rating of 123 (best in team not counting Moreland), PER of 17.8 (4th in team not counting Moreland - after DMC, Gay and Collison), 16.3 pts per 36 min (4th not counting Moreland like PER) and TS% of 0.638 (2nd not counting Moreland - after... Hollins). And it's on 423 minutes - not on 2 min.
Still Omri is not used too much and got only 4 min. last game... And it's not like this fact bothers FO.

 

[Kingster]

I think the fast pace the FO is referring to is pushing the ball up faster and looking for that easy shot, and when it's not there, settle into our offense then. I think the players are trying to figure out what exactly is expected out of them on offense and they're trying to play at the speed they're supposed to, therefor, they get overwhelmed on defense.

And I think that is exactly what Malone preached! He was an opportunist on offense. He wanted to take advantage of the weapons he did have to run - Collison, Casspi, McLemore - but not force the issue. Remember those times when Collison used his speed to catch unaware opposing teams getting back on D? Or Casspi or McLemore getting the long pass as they scorched up the sidelines? It all happened under Malone. If the FO sincerely and legitimately had an issue with Malone about running the floor (a doubtful premise in view), then their disagreement appeared to be over mere crumbs. It's as if PDA and Malone would be reviewing the same game film and PDA would be second guessing the players on the floor - see Mike, Collison "could have" gone for it there, Gay "could have" passed to McLemore there, Cousins "might have" passed the long ball there. All of those kind of "missed opportunities" are tactical in nature; not strategic. They are heavily dependent on judgment on the floor and BBIQ, not coaching per se. The rhetoric that I've heard from the FO on this issue is empty, imo.

 

[KingsFanGER]

And I think that is exactly what Malone preached! He was an opportunist on offense. He wanted to take advantage of the weapons he did have to run - Collison, Casspi, McLemore - but not force the issue. Remember those times when Collison used his speed to catch unaware opposing teams getting back on D? Or Casspi or McLemore getting the long pass as they scorched up the sidelines? It all happened under Malone. If the FO sincerely and legitimately had an issue with Malone about running the floor (a doubtful premise in view), then their disagreement appeared to be over mere crumbs. It's as if PDA and Malone would be reviewing the same game film and PDA would be second guessing the players on the floor - see Mike, Collison "could have" gone for it there, Gay "could have" passed to McLemore there, Cousins "might have" passed the long ball there. All of those kind of "missed opportunities" are tactical in nature; not strategic. They are heavily dependent on judgment on the floor and BBIQ, not coaching per se. The rhetoric that I've heard from the FO on this issue is empty, imo.

Yes maybe it was simply a power struggle between PDA and Malone and those playstyle comments are pretty much empty. This also means, that all those assumptions of emulating GS before they were good, 4vs5, junkball are empty.
The offense under Malone was stagnant at times and turnover prone. Maybe this was more about the players, but maybe PDA hopes to fix that with a coaching change.

 

[lawlman91]

Yes maybe it was simply a power struggle between PDA and Malone and those playstyle comments are pretty much empty. This also means, that all those assumptions of emulating GS before they were good, 4vs5, junkball are empty.
The offense under Malone was stagnant at times and turnover prone. Maybe this was more about the players, but maybe PDA hopes to fix that with a coaching change.

Some guesses:
- PDA and/or Vivek discussed some sort of strange trade with Malone, and Malone said no
- PDA and/or Vivek discussed rotation issues, and Malone said no
Whatever it was, it could have boiled down to Malone saying "no" to something and then PDA and/or Vivek saw that as the last straw.

 

[206Fan]

And I think that is exactly what Malone preached! He was an opportunist on offense. He wanted to take advantage of the weapons he did have to run - Collison, Casspi, McLemore - but not force the issue. Remember those times when Collison used his speed to catch unaware opposing teams getting back on D? Or Casspi or McLemore getting the long pass as they scorched up the sidelines? It all happened under Malone. If the FO sincerely and legitimately had an issue with Malone about running the floor (a doubtful premise in view), then their disagreement appeared to be over mere crumbs. It's as if PDA and Malone would be reviewing the same game film and PDA would be second guessing the players on the floor - see Mike, Collison "could have" gone for it there, Gay "could have" passed to McLemore there, Cousins "might have" passed the long ball there. All of those kind of "missed opportunities" are tactical in nature; not strategic. They are heavily dependent on judgment on the floor and BBIQ, not coaching per se. The rhetoric that I've heard from the FO on this issue is empty, imo.

I disagree with you. I did not see that very often. I saw a stat somewhere that said Collison brought the ball up to halfcourt slower than IT did last year. Our offense was SLOW with Malone. Collison would slowly bring the ball up after each basket and he never really looked to push it. We've only seen that a few times under Malone, but not very much. Plays under Malone developed slower than they do under Corbin. But as I said, under Corbin a lot of players are having trouble executing it.

I agree with your other points though. I think the FO wants the players to pass the ball out a lot more than they have. Ball stops a lot at Rudy, but he's getting better at passing it. It's more of a mindset thing for him. When he commits to his iso, no one else will ever touch that ball. Even under Malone, there were a ton of things wrong with this offense.

We can't really see how the offense is working under Corbin because of the limited number of games played by a healthy team, but the defense ha been bad.

 

[The_Jamal]

I disagree with you. I did not see that very often. I saw a stat somewhere that said Collison brought the ball up to halfcourt slower than IT did last year. Our offense was SLOW with Malone. Collison would slowly bring the ball up after each basket and he never really looked to push it. We've only seen that a few times under Malone, but not very much. Plays under Malone developed slower than they do under Corbin. But as I said, under Corbin a lot of players are having trouble executing it.

I agree with your other points though. I think the FO wants the players to pass the ball out a lot more than they have. Ball stops a lot at Rudy, but he's getting better at passing it. It's more of a mindset thing for him. When he commits to his iso, no one else will ever touch that ball. Even under Malone, there were a ton of things wrong with this offense.

We can't really see how the offense is working under Corbin because of the limited number of games played by a healthy team, but the defense ha been bad.

And this is what really grinds my gears.

I have no issue if you disagree with your coaches philosophy and want something different. But go get a freaking coaching the day after the season ends and let the players get comfortable with the change for the next 5 months in the off-season. When you making a coaching change mid-year and want your players to do something different, it sacrifices games because players are uncomfortable playing in a different way.