[Grades] Grades v. Clippers 1/6/2017

[Bricklayer]

Your Sacramento Kings, pulling defeat out of victory since...well, pretty much forever.

Link to Boxscore

Gay ( B ) -- gave an entirely decent performance in his return to action, and, second quarter aside, it helped smooth out our scoring. The problems came when he insisted stationing himself outside and chucking threes, including on a key late position. Inside though, he helped.

Barnes ( C ) -- got the start, and in one of those shrug and accept it little bits of oncourt synergy, the starting unit did very well with him out there, without much of it being Matt himself. Greasing the wheels with 6 assists and no turnovers helped. Shooting 1-6 including a grotesque missed layup in the 2nd quarter meltdown did not.

Featured Grade
Cousins ( B ) -- While coming three assists shy of a triple double, it was not enough to beat the Clippers. Seemed to be off to start this one with 2 misses including an air ball but followed up with making his next 3 18 footers. Only scoring 25 tonight, he did look for his team mates often including an over the shoulder pass to a cutting Collison. Was more active on the boards than he had been of late, pulling down 11 to go with 3 steals and 2 blocks including a timely one late in the 4th when we still had a shot. The unfortunate technical, usual complaining and a bad pass in the paint to Rudy sully an otherwise good game from our best player. -- ???

Lawson ( B- ) -- played a strong offensive game given the 2 PG sets the whole night, but his size became a real problem on defense as the Clippers guards shot right over him.

Collison ( C+ ) -- seems to be a walking defensive breakdown, and yet CP3 had 6pts on him until living at the FT line in the final 2 minutes. At least go the "shooting" part of Sg down that baffles Ben so. But at the end of the game, ended up in the Cs with mysterious decisionmaking in the clutch.

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Tolliver ( D+ ) -- missed all his shots and was part of the utterly punchless first half bench that started the 2nd quarter debacle. With Rudy back, the necessity of his minutes plummeted and Joerger went away from him.

Temple ( C ) -- have mixed feelings about Temple's game. It wasn't one of his vintage ones to be sure. Some real hustle on the glass, some good defensive moments on CP3. But also really struggled with his shooting and let Austin Rivers can a series of big threes on him.

Afflalo ( D ) -- you know how many times we got Afflalo's post game to work this time? 1 frickin' time. And it wasn't for lack of trying. But the Clippers were ready for it, chased him off it, and he was bad at everything else when forced to improvise. Luckily Rudy was back, because the Afflalo x-factor re-disappeared.

Koufos ( C- ) -- in the first half had far more problems than he should have against Mo Speights (never have figured why that guy isn't valued more), but gave a better showing of himself in his second stint. Still never looked comfortable or in rhythm though.

 

[jcwkings]

Watching this Grizz game and Zbo is just planting himself down in the post possesion after possesion to punish the small Warriors. Cousins lives on the perimeter these days even when guards or pansies like Luke Babbit are guarding him.

 

[jcwkings]

Next up: a pissed off Warrior team.

 

[gunks]

Watching this Grizz game and Zbo is just planting himself down in the post possesion after possesion to punish the small Warriors. Cousins lives on the perimeter these days even when guards or pansies like Luke Babbit are guarding him.

Right?!

#postcuz2017

 

[Sac.1989]

At least ISO Rudy is back without too much rust

 

[KingsFanSince85]

Watching this Grizz game and Zbo is just planting himself down in the post possesion after possesion to punish the small Warriors. Cousins lives on the perimeter these days even when guards or pansies like Luke Babbit are guarding him.

Raymond Felton guarding him on the last meaningful possession. You know, the one where the Kings could have got a 2 for 1, but settled for just 1.

How does Cuz not just take his time once he drove and just use his size to get the basket instead of trying to pass off to Rudy freaking Gay?? Hell, it was Mbah a Moute who came to help. Not exactly a large player either.

That's 2 games in a row, at home, where the Kings completely misplay an important possession with under 1 minute to play.

 

[origkds]

This is getting really tiresome.

Make other teams shoot two's instead of three's and we win more games than we lose. Analyze what other good three point defending teams do and do the same. Simple.

 

[mac]

This is getting really tiresome.

Make other teams shoot two's instead of three's and we win more games than we lose. Analyze what other good three point defending teams do and do the same. Simple.

That would seem to imply that we actually did some pre-game preparation, which honestly doesn't ever seem to be the case. Up till this game Joerger's just been happy munching on cheeseburgers and starting KK and Ben every game.

 

[Siranthony]

Just like last year. Looked good for a minute. Lost the 8th seed again. The big home stand starts off with two losses in a row. When will we be consistent?????????????????

 

[Siranthony]

That would seem to imply that we actually did some pre-game preparation, which honestly doesn't ever seem to be the case. Up till this game Joerger's just been happy munching on cheeseburgers and starting KK and Ben every game.

Not starting them didn't make any difference.

 

[Tetsujin]

Not for nothing but the Kings have an unreal winning percentage when Doug Christie has been the color commentator and have seemingly lost in the intermittent games between Doug's where Jerry is running color.

 

[IfAt1st]

Hey, look-
at least the Kings were close to winning against the Clippers.

*ignoring sig*

 

[FaStRmAn]

Hope.... it's a funny thing.....

I hope Vlade can trade Gay for a 2 guard who can consistently score and play defense. Preferably one with some tread left on the tires. Afflalo plays old. His game looks old. Ben is still a Bust. Might have a chance if he plays somewhere else but he's a bust for us. Malachi Richardson? Can't get off the bench. Why? Can't be any worse than Ben the Bust or Afflalo the Aged. I think Jager has done a decent job but he is very reluctant to play young players. He really needs to see if he has anything at the end of the bench because he has holes in his starting lineup, an older slower 2nd team, and no outside firepower in the new "hoist a 3" NBA.

One last thought. Not sure if it's scheme or effort, but the Kings can NOT defend against the 3. And it's well KNOW league wide. Teams get off the bus launching 3 against them. Whatever defense they are running, it's creating wide open 3 point shots for the other team. Might want to consider changing up how they defend the 3! Kings play well against teams who don't shoot the 3 real well. But even Miami came into the G1 and launched 3's at an alarming rate. They will continue to lose playing that kind of D. I see guards cheating off deadeye shooters to help in the post when no help is needed far too often. How about coaching them to stay on their man and force them to drive or pass?

One other last thought. Did WCS's agent tell him to sandbag until he can escape Sacramento? That guy is mailing it in. Looks like he doesn't want to be on the floor. He was our only shot blocking threat. Great defender who could guard several positions. Great defensive rebounder. What the Hell happened to that guy ? Looks lost and disinterested. Very disappointed in Willie's effort so far this season.

But I still have hope. Hope they can make a trade to shake this team up. Because we have the best center in the league and NOT MUCH ELSE. Good guards come out of the draft every year. Yet we keep drafting bigs? I like Skal an Papa but how about drafting a stud guard that can shoot and play defense? They just need to trade Gay for either a good 2 guard who can shoot 3's or a draft pick so we can draft a decent guard.

 

[mac]

Hope.... it's a funny thing.....

I hope Vlade can trade Gay for a 2 guard who can consistently score and play defense. Preferably one with some tread left on the tires. Afflalo plays old. His game looks old. Ben is still a Bust. Might have a chance if he plays somewhere else but he's a bust for us. Malachi Richardson? Can't get off the bench. Why? Can't be any worse than Ben the Bust or Afflalo the Aged. I think Jager has done a decent job but he is very reluctant to play young players. He really needs to see if he has anything at the end of the bench because he has holes in his starting lineup, an older slower 2nd team, and no outside firepower in the new "hoist a 3" NBA.

One last thought. Not sure if it's scheme or effort, but the Kings can NOT defend against the 3. And it's well KNOW league wide. Teams get off the bus launching 3 against them. Whatever defense they are running, it's creating wide open 3 point shots for the other team. Might want to consider changing up how they defend the 3! Kings play well against teams who don't shoot the 3 real well. But even Miami came into the G1 and launched 3's at an alarming rate. They will continue to lose playing that kind of D. I see guards cheating off deadeye shooters to help in the post when no help is needed far too often. How about coaching them to stay on their man and force them to drive or pass?

One other last thought. Did WCS's agent tell him to sandbag until he can escape Sacramento? That guy is mailing it in. Looks like he doesn't want to be on the floor. He was our only shot blocking threat. Great defender who could guard several positions. Great defensive rebounder. What the Hell happened to that guy ? Looks lost and disinterested. Very disappointed in Willie's effort so far this season.

But I still have hope. Hope they can make a trade to shake this team up. Because we have the best center in the league and NOT MUCH ELSE. Good guards come out of the draft every year. Yet we keep drafting bigs? I like Skal an Papa but how about drafting a stud guard that can shoot and play defense? They just need to trade Gay for either a good 2 guard who can shoot 3's or a draft pick so we can draft a decent guard.

Firstly, I'm not sure when he ever was a great defensive rebounder. But to answer your question, George Karl apparently.

 

[Ugolino]

You mean like the last play of the game?

 

[ESP47]

Great now Austin Rivers is looking like Zach Lavine and we still can't even develop a single young prospect.

 

[Kingster]

If you boil it down, the Kings don't have the confidence in their guards to make a play at the end of the game. Therefore, they give it to their best player, the 270 lb Cousins, at the 3 point line, who tries to be a point guard by driving the ball to the basket and passing to another player. Or, in other games in the closing minutes he's given the ball and he hoists a 3 pointer. You may say it's a testament to how good Cousins is that the coaching staff would do such a thing. I say it's also a testament to how bad the guards are. No way in hell this team ever becomes good without a very good guard who can create his own shot, drive, pass off the dribble, and defend.

 

[kingsfan1984]

Good guards come out of the draft every year. Yet we keep drafting bigs? I like Skal an Papa but how about drafting a stud guard that can shoot and play defense?

Being a fan of Vlade as our GM, i noticed you left out the 3&D sg Richardson that looks prmising....and that other SG Bogdonavic we also picked up....was there another SG you wanted us to draft that looks better so far than Richardson?

 

[KingsFanSince85]

Great now Austin Rivers is looking like Zach Lavine and we still can't even develop a single young prospect.

Let's not jump to conclusions just yet. Rivers hasn't done much of anything the first 4 seasons of his career and is still barely averaging double-digit points in this "breakout" season.

Ben's younger and has been in the league 1 less season than Rivers -- who was in the same place last season as Ben is now in his development.

In short, I'm not convinced Rivers is ever going to live up to his lottery draft position any more than Ben. They're both disappointments.

 

[Dime Dropper]

Watching this Grizz game and Zbo is just planting himself down in the post possesion after possesion to punish the small Warriors. Cousins lives on the perimeter these days even when guards or pansies like Luke Babbit are guarding him.

OMG totally agree! Our 29/10/4 center is really holding us back. Wish he could be putting up Z-bo type numbers.

Cuz has looked flat out tired the last couple of games. Not surprising since he has been putting up monstrous numbers and carrying the team on his back. Our guards desperately need to step up.

The logic of some Kings fans is still as idiotic as ever. Akin to victim blaming.

 

[Suicide King]

We won both the 1st and 3rd quarters by 10 points each and lost the 4th by only 6. So where did we go wrong? That would be when the team was outscored 34 to 12 in the second quarter.

Team wide fail in that quarter. We score 20 and we win the game.

 

[Kingsfan23]

Joerger has done a subpar job so far, and I liked his hire initially

 

[dude12]

Joerger has done a subpar job so far, and I liked his hire initially

I'm on the other end of the spectrum with him.. I think he's done a very good job with what he has and in trying to get this roster to the playoffs. Very little offensive threats, missed the starting PG for the first part of season, missed Gay for about 10 games, he's resurrected Lawson's career, getting quite a bit out of Temple and Tolliver.....

He has some ill-fitting pieces on the team such as WCS, Ben has been even worse which is hard to do considering where he's started, he's benched Afflalo which resulted in Afflalo coming back and being productive off the bench.

Some small victories here, nothing great, but solid when taking everything into consideration.

 

[Sam0ah]

Joerger has done a subpar job so far, and I liked his hire initially

I feel He has done the best job with the hand he has been dealt. This team last year had a horrible culture problem last year. Joerger has made them not give up in certain games. Unlike last year the Kings would just pack in and check out for most games under Karl. We do need to learn how to guard the 3pt line though.

 

[Mr. S£im Citrus]

I feel He has done the best job with the hand he has been dealt. This team last year had a horrible culture problem last year. Joerger has made them not give up in certain games. Unlike last year the Kings would just pack in and check out for most games under Karl. We do need to learn how to guard the 3pt line though.

I'm not so sure. I think that he's done a good with the hand he's been dealt, but there's still plenty of room for improvement on his part. You said as much yourself, the three-point defense has been atrocious; there's got to be some way that he could tighten that up, a little bit. His lineups and rotations also continue to be suspect, and he has an inexplicable determination to take away Cousins' advantage by playing him at power forward.

On the aggregate, I think that we're definitely trending upwards, but I'd have a hard time justifying giving Joerger higher than a B- on his midterm.

 

[gunks]

Joerger has done a subpar job so far, and I liked his hire initially

I get the criticism, and I'm not trying to single you out with this reply, there are a lot of people disappointed in Joerger here. ...

... but I kinda want to hold off on judgement. Our roster is atrocious outside of Cuz.

In Memphis he had a top flight pg in Conley and one of the better Cs in the game in Marc. Not to mention Z-Bo and a quality roleplayers.

Here he has Cuz and one solid roleplayer in Temple. That's about it.

DC is underachieving horribly this season. Our only other decent big isn't a good compliment to Cuz and plays the same position. Rudy has talent but no brains or heart... dude kills our offense and is the least clutch player I've ever seen on the Kings (ok, slight hyperbole).

We need shooting. We need a PF (or two). We need a solid PG (come on DC, that can still be you). We need another offensive threat who doesn't take horrible shots or kill offensive flow like Rudy. We need a wing defender. We need a reliable SG.

This roster is crap.

To be fair, I'd like to see a little bit more organic improvement. All you naysayers make very valid points. That Cuz/KK pairing? Joerger needs to cut that **** out.

 

[kupman]

Just like last year. Looked good for a minute. Lost the 8th seed again. The big home stand starts off with two losses in a row. When will we be consistent?????????????????

Well, we are consistently on pace for about 35 wins.

 

[mac]

I get the criticism, and I'm not trying to single you out with this reply, there are a lot of people disappointed in Joerger here. ...

... but I kinda want to hold off on judgement. Our roster is atrocious outside of Cuz.

In Memphis he had a top flight pg in Conley and one of the better Cs in the game in Marc. Not to mention Z-Bo and a quality roleplayers.

Here he has Cuz and one solid roleplayer in Temple. That's about it.

DC is underachieving horribly this season. Our only other decent big isn't a good compliment to Cuz and plays the same position. Rudy has talent but no brains or heart... dude kills our offense and is the least clutch player I've ever seen on the Kings (ok, slight hyperbole).

We need shooting. We need a PF (or two). We need a solid PG (come on DC, that can still be you). We need another offensive threat who doesn't take horrible shots or kill offensive flow like Rudy. We need a wing defender. We need a reliable SG.

This roster is crap.

To be fair, I'd like to see a little bit more organic improvement. All you naysayers make very valid points. That Cuz/KK pairing? Joerger needs to cut that **** out.

But isn't underachieving as well as poor young player development on the coach? It apparently was last season ..

 

[KingsFanGER]

But isn't underachieving as well as poor young player development on the coach? It apparently was last season ..

It is, but not only on the head coach, but on the entire coaching staff as well as the director of player personell and development. So far we can't judge the ability of the new coaching staff to develop young players.
What we can say is, that WCS and Ben took a step back. But we have to keep in mind, that Ben started the season well. He looked comfortable in his role as a bench scorer. Sadly the resurgence of Ben didn't last long. Is this on Joerger and his lineup tinkering? Maybe.
WCS looked good last year, because he had Rondo throwing lobs and we played at a fast pace. This year he seems to be checked out mentally. There is no fire or fight in him right now. Is this on Joerger? Maybe, but it seems like Cousins is very frustrated with Willie too. At least that's what I make out of the one scene visible on TV this year, where Cousins is shaking his head and barking at WCS from the bench, after Willie turned the ball over, because he opted for a difficult pass underneath the basket instead of going up to dunk the ****ing ball!
In a culture, where guys like Barnes, KK, Temple or Lawson come out nearly every game aggressively, WCS is the one guy, who really refuses to take part. Still he is getting his opportunities and is left on the floor, when he is doing ok.
There seems to be some personal dynamic behind the scenes or else Willie wouldn't appear so lifeless. Joerger might have something to do with that.
But in the end WCS hasn't shown enough for me to side with him and to make his situation a case against Joerger.
It's not that is Joerger above criticism. It's just, that I get the reasoning behind his lineup decisions and think he is doing well enough to give him the benefit of the doubt (as I did with Karl until he completely and obviously lost the team).

 

[KingsFanGER]

I'm not so sure. I think that he's done a good with the hand he's been dealt, but there's still plenty of room for improvement on his part. You said as much yourself, the three-point defense has been atrocious; there's got to be some way that he could tighten that up, a little bit. His lineups and rotations also continue to be suspect, and he has an inexplicable determination to take away Cousins' advantage by playing him at power forward.

On the aggregate, I think that we're definitely trending upwards, but I'd have a hard time justifying giving Joerger higher than a B- on his midterm.

Actually I think our three-point-defense was excellent for stretches against the Clippers. In the first quarter we did a great job, running them off the line. In the pick&roll with Jordan involved we constantly opted for doubling down on the shooter and gave Jordan his points, which is maybe the best you can do versus this combination, which is absolutely lethal and extremely difficult to guard. Most of the 3 pointers Rivers and Reddick made, were against a defender. There weren't too many wide open looks. Obviously you can't defend a team like the Clippers without mistakes, so our defense wasn't flawless, but it wasn't bad. The problem against Rivers is, that the guy is good enough to attack the basket, when you get too close as a defender trying to guard the 3. So Rudy backed off a bit, allowing him to shoot with a hand in his face. Rivers made those shots. Pretty much nothing you can do about it, when you aren't able to run him off the line in the first place.
We had our opportunities to win the game. In the second quarter we bricked open shot after open shot, allowing the Clippers to come back and take the lead. And even then we made it a close one in the end and lost, because Paul is simply more seasoned and smarter, than Rudy and Cuz.
I would be happy, if our guys would bring the same kind of effort on D, they showed against the Clippers against every opponent, because then teams like Miami wouldn't beat us and our three-point-defense wouldn't look that bad statistically.