[Grades] Grades v. Sixers 1/30/2017

How is it possible to be pathetic on defense for so many years in a row?

  • Bad players

    Votes: 15 32.6%
  • Bad coaches

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Bad culture

    Votes: 16 34.8%
  • Bad Sacto water

    Votes: 1 2.2%
  • Migrating Indian burial grounds

    Votes: 6 13.0%
  • Cow flatulence

    Votes: 8 17.4%

  • Total voters
    46
  • Poll closed .

Bricklayer

Don't Make Me Use The Bat
#1




Link to Boxscore

Afflalo ( D+ ) -- you want to see somebody look small and old? Watch Arron Afflalo try to guard Robert Covington, who was one of the main players separating the teams. Got dominated on the glass, missed almost all of his shots, including the wide open game tying I'm-a-hero-again!!!...oh-crap three from the corner in the final seconds. At least moved the ball.

Cousins ( A ) -- 46pts 15rebs 5ast on 11-16 shooting and 20-22 from the line...and yet I can't quite add the "+" to the obvious A because of the 8 TOs that in the end also had something to do with the final result here. Nonetheless, another astounding Cousins game just trying to absolutely carry an unwilling team who couldn't suck it up and get any stops.

Koufos ( C ) -- because of the Sixers stretch 4s, made Cuz a fish out of water on the perimeter when Kosta was in. Got beat by Okafor head to head, but finally got into him late. Somehow never grabbed a board, but did convert his little hook things inside.

Temple ( C+ ) -- best thing he did on the night was pass, and was doing a very nice job of that in the first part of the game as a key element of our early ball movement. Unfortunately was as much culprit as cure this time to our perimeter defensive woes, as it seems that he can lock into All Stars, but now was struggling with Nick Stauskas and Gerald Henderson.

Collison ( D ) -- think he had chipped in with all of 2pts at halftime. Finally started scoring in the third, but it was accompanied by our complete defensive collapse, and DC could not stay in front of McConnell at ALL, nor get through picks, and as McConnell slashed and picked us apart Joerger went to Lawson and did not look back.

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Barnes ( B- ) -- this is a tough grade, because he was virtually the only guy giving Cuz shooting support and hit some big threes for us. You could also see him consciously trying to keep close to the 3pt shooters. Unfortunately that allowed such speedy players as Dario Saric and Nik Stauskas to blow around him and break down the defense again, and anotehr guy not helping Cuz on the glass.

Tolliver ( C ) -- hit two threes and made a nice kickout pass for an assist, but was getting badly enough roasted on defense by Saric, who just ran right around him, to stand out and get benched on a night when the whole team was getting roasted.

Lawson ( B+ ) -- really gave us a major push with his passing, and is the primary reason Willie had an impact offensive game as Ty found him time and again slashing to the rim. But he didn't score himself, and while he was called upon to replace DC's defensive disaster, he was only sporadically more effective on that end.

Richardson ( INC ) -- still manages to project solidity even when not doing much. Made a nice unselfish pass that led to a three early in his minutes, and competed better on defense (although he almost had the embarrassment of getting put on his backside by Sauce). But missed his two shots and never got back int he game as we were in yet another dogfight.

Cauley Stein ( A- ) -- from playing like a scrub, to major impact player on BOTH ends. His rim running was terrifically effective as Lawson found him again and again, and he threw in a couple of nice real shots too. On the other end we finally began to see Cauley-Stein the rim protector emerge. Wart remains the rebounding, where Cuz had 15...and the other 9 guys combined had 18 (Willie had 3). Unacceptable and killed us.
 
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gunks

Hall of Famer
#2
Quiz should be multiple choice.

Also, Malone is a ******* wizard for being able to get this team to play defense as good as it did.

But that took him longer than one summer and offseason. We'll see what Joerger does with another summer under his belt.

Another thing. .... during that mythical Malone run we had, Cuz was a legit anchor on defense. I can't imagine he has the energy for that these days, when he has to score 40+ just for us to have a chance.
 
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#3
Stupid bad call on Cousins 6th foul but it really didn't matter. You don't deserve to win when you let the other team score nearly every time they go down the court. That was a pathetic display of defense.

Matt Barnes is so frustrating. Stupid fouls. Stupid team defense. Stupid passes. Stupid defense to allow that Henderson layup at the end of the quarter. Then basically takes us from nearly no chance to having a high percentage chance of going to overtime. Frustrating to watch this guy play. What Barnes giveth, Barnes taketh away.
 

SLAB

Hall of Famer
#5
OT, but personally I found Cody Rhodes to be one of the most overrated wrestlers ever, especially on internet circles. Face of a company? Lol, hell no. Without his last name he stands out less than Zack Ryder.

On topic. Defense sucks. And it also sucks that game by DMC was wasted. One step forward. Three steps back. :(
 
#9
I put some on coaching today. Saric was too quick for Tolliver and Cousins and those are the guys Joerger played on him for three quarters. He continously drove right by them and finished or made good passes or hit opens shots. Putting WCS on him pretty much neutralized him but by that point it was way too late and the Sixers had all the momentum. WCS is should be starting, his defensive versatility is too good to be playing two lumbering centers together in Koufos and Cousins. Tonight though I thought it was pretty obvious that WCS and even a Barnes were better men to put on Saric, who was the only one creating offense for them.
 
#11
The Kings remind me of my golf game. One round I'll hit the ball good but then my short game will suck. The next round I'll putt like a pro but then I can't keep my driver in play. It's always some problem. I can never put it all together and at the end of the day, my score usually sucks.
 

Bricklayer

Don't Make Me Use The Bat
#12
FEELING FOUL


Cousins fouled out and a key offensive foul against him led to Covington hitting a 3 for 108-99 Sixers' lead. Cousins pulled his hoodie over his head and gave low-key answers until he was asked about the officiating. He looked up with a big smile and sarcastically acted thrilled about the calls.

He said: "I think the refs did an incredible job tonight. Unbelievable job from the referees, man. They just don't get enough credit for how hard they worked. The way they control these games, man, they just do an incredible job man."

Cousins stopped to clap, and added, "I applaud these guys. Great job, guys."
http://www.espn.com/nba/recap?gameId=400928501


I wonder how long the NBA is going to let him get away with that. You can't really PROVE anything. :p
 
#14
I thought the refs were bad on both sides of the ball. A lot of the calls that Cousins got were non fouls and the other way around as well.

I'll just never understand the NBA's fascination with blowing the whistle every other time down the court to shoot free throws. It does absolutely nothing for the game whatsoever. Does nothing for the fans. Nothing for the players. It just makes the game less entertaining for everyone. Last time I checked, there aren't any free throw highlight videos of a players best made free throws ever.
 
#19
Matt Barnes is so frustrating. Stupid fouls. Stupid team defense. Stupid passes. Stupid defense to allow that Henderson layup at the end of the quarter. Then basically takes us from nearly no chance to having a high percentage chance of going to overtime. Frustrating to watch this guy play. What Barnes giveth, Barnes taketh away.
I have been saying this exact phrase the past 3 or 4 games while watching at home with the family.

These Kings are going to continue to lose games like this.... quite a lot of them, actually.
As long as they continue to ease up and play reckless and passive as soon as they start to dominate a team and get a sizeable lead.

They are simply not good enough to get away with that, and they've proved it many many times already this season.

At this point, I don't know if they are capable of learning this lesson, and it may never go away unless Cuz gets more talent around him where it makes haphazard play to be less important.

Cousins is the worst offender of this issue, however, and his play dramatically changes as soon as he thinks they've accomplished something (like a double-digit lead).
He stops going into the paint, stops trying to get offensive rebounds, starts getting tricky with passes and passive perimeter play, and starts reaching more on defense.

Team-wide loss tonight, though.
Tragic, and may be the nail in the coffin for the season.
Unfortunately, they realistically need a better starting PG, SG, SF, and PF if they're ever going to be higher than #8 seed in the playoffs.
 
#20
I liked the way the team fought to the end. I thought it was over several times but they made it close and could have tied it. That is a change in culture. It should start paying off at some point.

My view on the turning point in this game. With 2:53 left in the second quarter Collison made a bad pass which caused a back court violation. Cousins threw a dirty look back Collisons way for everyone who was watching to see. Then in the last 2:53 Cousins commits two turn overs and there was a turn over on a shot clock violation. The Sixers pull from 15 down to within 7 to end the half. Then the Kings stop playing defense for the rest of the game. They allowed 42 points in the third and 32 points on the fourth. I don't know if Cousins scowl had an effect on how the other players played, but it looks that way.

Despite Cousins great 46 point game, he was -6 overall. The majority of the starters where minus except Kosta who was +8. But he only played 16 minutes. WCS looked good but the reality is he was a -4 overall.
 
#21
Oh, yeah - go watch that last play: http://www.espn.com/nba/recap?gameId=400928501

Tony Brothers (#25) called the foul on Cousins, and it was a absurdly light touch.
Interestingly enough, Afflalo raked the ballhandler pretty darn hard on the arm and shoulder, but didn't get a foul called on him.

Tony Brothers made an undeniably bad call, bordering on clear bias.
This is the kinds of calls the Kings as an organization need to be bringing up to the league, and making constant crap-fits about, or they will continue to happen.
I'm not saying they wouldn't happen anyway, but there has been a long history of organizations making big stinks over their stars not getting correct calls, and the NBA has a history of magically changing things in their favor as things went forward.

But when this organization has demonstrated such a luke-warm and weak support of Cousins throughout his career, it's no surprise to me that this kind of stuff keeps happening with Cousins, unlike any other NBA star I can remember it ever happening to.
They do not "suit up and go to war" with Cousins, that's for damn sure....
 
D

DC222

Guest
#22
Oh, yeah - go watch that last play: http://www.espn.com/nba/recap?gameId=400928501

Tony Brothers (#25) called the foul on Cousins, and it was a absurdly light touch.
Interestingly enough, Afflalo raked the ballhandler pretty darn hard on the arm and shoulder, but didn't get a foul called on him.

Tony Brothers made an undeniably bad call, bordering on clear bias.
This is the kinds of calls the Kings as an organization need to be bringing up to the league, and making constant poopoo-fits about, or they will continue to happen.
I'm not saying they wouldn't happen anyway, but there has been a long history of organizations making big stinks over their stars not getting correct calls, and the NBA has a history of magically changing things in their favor as things went forward.

But when this organization has demonstrated such a luke-warm and weak support of Cousins throughout his career, it's no surprise to me that this kind of stuff keeps happening with Cousins, unlike any other NBA star I can remember it ever happening to.
They do not "suit up and go to war" with Cousins, that's for damn sure....
Stop blaming the refs for the Kings ills. This type of thinking is what keeps the poor me culture going. Time to rise above and focus on execution on the floor.
 
#23
Gotta credit the Sixers too ... if they're supposedly a terrible team without Embiid (Simmons unproven, one Embiid injury away from being a bad lottery team - see game thread), what does that say about our future? Cousins has been playing extremely well, absolutely unstoppable. Shame he ain't gonna get any help anytime soon.
 
#25
Soon we can add the sixers to the list of teams that have properly torn down and rebuilt back into playoff teams since our last time being in the playoffs, heck most teams have done it multiple times and we still refuse to do it correctly even once!

When the guys around Cuz overachieve even slightly we either win the game or are at least in it, thats how good he is. But if you look up and down our roster we dont have a second guy who can even give us 10ppg on a nightly basis..... probably the worst roster in the league outside of Cuz.

With losing to the sixers (on a B2B and without freakin embiid) who were suppose to be trash and seeing IT score 24 in the 4th to put away the pistons it was like a double whammy yesterday.

Oh and this coming off watching Dion and Cuz win player of the week when they could have probably been teammates but we chose afflalo barnes toliver instead.
 
#26
I'll just never understand the NBA's fascination with blowing the whistle every other time down the court to shoot free throws. It does absolutely nothing for the game whatsoever. Does nothing for the fans. Nothing for the players. It just makes the game less entertaining for everyone. Last time I checked, there aren't any free throw highlight videos of a players best made free throws ever.
agreed. i've likewise been harping on this for years. the nba has over-legislated the game to the point of it having a strikingly deleterious effect on the entertainment value of their product. players complain about it. fans complain about it. referees are surely tired of facing the ire of players and fans alike every single night because of the impossibility of the task of interpreting the league's ever-growing and increasingly strict rulebook in real-time. and the worst part is that there's probably no going back. once you cross the threshold into calling foul on the majority of contact, it's difficult to justify scaling back the rulebook to accommodate a more physical style of play.
 
#27
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#28
Oh and this coming off watching Dion and Cuz win player of the week when they could have probably been teammates but we chose afflalo barnes toliver instead.
Last time I watched Waiters he was still a pure scorer. We scored 119 points against the Sixers but somehow lost the game. We are still one of the worst defensive teams in the league. How exactly would Waiters help us?
I agree, that watching smallish scoring guards like IT and Waiters is fun, but I still don't think they are the solution for the Kings. DMC is a different breed than most bigs in this league. Playing someone like Waiters, when you have Whiteside, who is basically a lob and rebounding machine and can cover the mistakes of his guards on D with his shotblocking, is one thing - playing someone like Waiters with DMC, who is one of the best playmaking bigs I ever watched, but isn't a leaper nor a great shotblocker, is a completely different issue.
I honestly think the key for success is to find a second guard and preferably a forward, who excel on the defensive end. To really make noise said guard needs to be able to shoot and create offense, when Cousins is having an off night.
Sounds much more like Bledsoe or Wall, than like IT or Waiters. Those guys are most likely pipe dreams, but give me a younger PG like Payton or preferably Smart (man the defense with Smart/Temple, Smarts fiery attitude paired with DMC......Bajaden could complain all he wants about this puny 30% from 3, I wouldn't care if only I could watch that D all night long :rolleyes:) or someone out of the 2017 draft, who really likes to defend and is at least 6'2 and I will gladly take them over IT or Waiters.
 
#29
I don't think the refs did a bad job tonight and his 6th foul WAS a foul and I'll bet the last 2 minute report shows that.
No it wasn't, despite whatever the 2 minute report says. Neither was the charge that was called on him before that.

As for the 22 FT's, doesn't matter when they foul you on on bogus calls in the most important part of the game. Same thing happened in Miami.
 
#30
Last time I watched Waiters he was still a pure scorer. We scored 119 points against the Sixers but somehow lost the game. We are still one of the worst defensive teams in the league. How exactly would Waiters help us?
I agree, that watching smallish scoring guards like IT and Waiters is fun, but I still don't think they are the solution for the Kings. DMC is a different breed than most bigs in this league. Playing someone like Waiters, when you have Whiteside, who is basically a lob and rebounding machine and can cover the mistakes of his guards on D with his shotblocking, is one thing - playing someone like Waiters with DMC, who is one of the best playmaking bigs I ever watched, but isn't a leaper nor a great shotblocker, is a completely different issue.
I honestly think the key for success is to find a second guard and preferably a forward, who excel on the defensive end. To really make noise said guard needs to be able to shoot and create offense, when Cousins is having an off night.
Sounds much more like Bledsoe or Wall, than like IT or Waiters. Those guys are most likely pipe dreams, but give me a younger PG like Payton or preferably Smart (man the defense with Smart/Temple, Smarts fiery attitude paired with DMC......Bajaden could complain all he wants about this puny 30% from 3, I wouldn't care if only I could watch that D all night long :rolleyes:) or someone out of the 2017 draft, who really likes to defend and is at least 6'2 and I will gladly take them over IT or Waiters.
Alot that I disagree with here,

How exactly would a scoring guard help us? is this a serious question? We have the worst backcourt by far in the entire league any type of player who can hit a jumper off the dribble or penetrate and kick/draw fouls because you cant touch guards whereas you can maul DMC would improve this team immensely, especially in late game situations.

Scoring guards arent just fun to watch, they win you games, see IT last night and Dion for the past 8 games since getting back from injury.

We need a forward or guard who can dribble, shoot off the dribble, create for themselves, and most importantly SHOOT without a slow hitch like the rest of our "shooters".

Keep Payton/Smart types away from this team that would clog up things for DMC even worse, when you have someone who can guard opposing PGs like Temple an ideal running mate is an offensively talented guard!

Sure in a perfect world Ill take a 2 way guard but if I had to settle I would put offense next to Temple.

Last nights scoring was a FLUKE we don't get that much scoring ever, we can cultivate and teach defense and apply a team defensive concept to help fix things as joerger is doing, we CANNOT teach offensive talent pure and simple.

Many times our only offense is DMC and when he checks out in the second half the other team makes a run. Boogie needs help on offense, defense should be a priority but having at least two creators/scorers on the floor is a must!

If Boogie didn't have such a giant offensive burden theres no doubt he could do most of what Whiteside can do.

Even though you can watch defense all night long its whoever scores the most points that wins and we usually cant generate any offense, Boogie is doing all he can but a one man offense isnt going to win you anything.