[Game] Kings @ Wizards - Monday, March 11 - 4PT/7ET

[SacTownKid]

Disappointing end to the playoff run, but I'll gladly take our "season" ending on Marc 12th rather than before the new year as has been the case for over a decade. Bagley being out couldn't have come at a worse time when we went through that gauntlet stretch of teams and our offense completely changes because we dont have an interior offensive presence to take the pressure off our lead ball-handlers. Not a coincidence 2 of our roughest stretches this season were when he was out with injury.

Think Barnes is a keeper. Defense is significantly better with him on the floor and after a rough start with his shot when some of you were panicking that he couldnt shoot, he's shooting 41% from 3 on 4.8 attempts/game in his past 5. Getting him an off-season to work with the team and the playbook will help tremendously; I imagine it's incredibly difficult to work in a 35+ min rotation guy mid-season.

Bagley going down on top of adding new pieces was certainly a challenge for Joerger and his staff but I think in the long run it will benefit the team. I don't think they've scratched the surface of what Barnes can bring to the team offensively. Once Buddy and Fox realize they have some real help and start to defer to him a bit more during the tough moments their lives should get a lot easier out there.

 

[mac]

Coaches don’t get to where they are by being outwitted by random users on Kingsfans.com. But it takes self-reflection to understand that. I don’t know if it’s delusional, but maybe arrogant, of not understanding there may be a bigger picture than what appears to you

Without any comment on Joerger, nobody here is claiming to be a better coach than Joerger. But that doesn't mean a random keyboard warrior can't spot flaws in what the coach is doing. By that logic, coaches would never make adjustments since they never make mistakes. And by extension, a random keyboard warrior though not being himself a better coach might be able to spot a coach who would do a better job.

 

[mac]

One thing that struck me as peculiar was how Buddy kept talking about him having to be "more efficient" post all star break. Maybe somebody said something to the effect of him needing to get to the rim more??

 

[kb02]

A few things have become evident:

1. Giles is a better player than WCS. WCS provides a bigger body and is the better defender at the moment, but dude's bbiq and skill set is so low that, on offense, the difference when on he's on the court vs. when Giles is on the court is drastically noticeable.

2. Buddy is playing with his head off recently. The hustle is there. He's doing more (put back dunks, boards), but those stupid turnovers, failing to jump on the floor for a loose ball, playing iso/hero ball has cost the Kings a bunch of recent games.

3. Kings miss Bags.

4. Opposing teams are attacking the 3 spot. Whether it's Bogie or Buddy. I'm not in the Joeger is an idiot crowd here. What are you going to do? Slot Brewer at the 3? Play Bjelly at the four? Brewer is not a starting 3. Bjelly at the four just invites the other team to shift their strategy to attack Bjelly on the perimeter. Bjelly is a 5 and operates well on defense in the interior. But, as we saw earlier in the year, unless you're willing to anchor him as the 5, teams will just take him off the dribble on the perimeter and get 5 early fouls by the second quarter.

5. This off season, Kings need a better defending #1, who can swing to the #2 (Brogdon?), sign WCS for $10 to $12m and have him come off the bench going forward or let him walk, sign another NBA level 3 (Ariza?), and draft a few lotto ticket 3s in the second round.

 

[ppine]

The long winded discussion of rotations and substitutions is a waste of time. Joerger knows his players 10x times better than the best wanna coach on the forum.

Anyone that has coached at the college or pro level raise your hand.

 

[Chupacabra]

A few things have become evident:

1. Giles is a better player than WCS. WCS provides a bigger body and is the better defender at the moment, but dude's bbiq and skill set is so low that, on offense, the difference when on he's on the court vs. when Giles is on the court is drastically noticeable.

2. Buddy is playing with his head off recently. The hustle is there. He's doing more (put back dunks, boards), but those stupid turnovers, failing to jump on the floor for a loose ball, playing iso/hero ball has cost the Kings a bunch of recent games.

3. Kings miss Bags.

4. Opposing teams are attacking the 3 spot. Whether it's Bogie or Buddy. I'm not in the Joeger is an idiot crowd here. What are you going to do? Slot Brewer at the 3? Play Bjelly at the four? Brewer is not a starting 3. Bjelly at the four just invites the other team to shift their strategy to attack Bjelly on the perimeter. Bjelly is a 5 and operates well on defense in the interior. But, as we saw earlier in the year, unless you're willing to anchor him as the 5, teams will just take him off the dribble on the perimeter and get 5 early fouls by the second quarter.

5. This off season, Kings need a better defending #1, who can swing to the #2 (Brogdon?), sign WCS for $10 to $12m and have him come off the bench going forward or let him walk, sign another NBA level 3 (Ariza?), and draft a few lotto ticket 3s in the second round.

I would put Bjelica at the 5, and start Bagley at 4. This way you still stretch the floor with both big man spots and you can have a full sized 3 in Barnes. That leaves a bench of Bogdon, Giles, Brewer, Burks, and Yogi, WCS.

 

[Showtime]

I would put Bjelica at the 5, and start Bagley at 4. This way you still stretch the floor with both big man spots and you can have a full sized 3 in Barnes. That leaves a bench of Bogdon, Giles, Brewer, Burks, and Yogi, WCS.

I think this could work against a lot of teams, but against bigger centers we would need a Kosta type to come in and handle them because foul trouble would be an issue. But, if the team upgrades the C position in the off season with a legit scoring threat, then you would have two frontline guys that might demand a double at some point, opening things up a different way.

 

[Cojc]

I didn’t expect us to fill every need at the trade deadline as that would of been near impossible.

Barnes going forward was a very good pick up and makes us much better.
Brewer has given us what I expected and Burks is a good player at a position that takes time to adapt to a new system and in a position tough to crack right now. I will expect a lot more next year from him.

Now that Skal is gone and I really doubt that KK will be with us next year opens up a push to bring in a new center next year.

We didn’t trade WCS so I think we wait to see what the market value will be for him while we shop for someone else.

 

[Kingster]

The thing is that Giles and Bjeli have done a really good job of stepping up in his absence but the constant slow starts thanks to our small ball lineup featuring two shooting guards who seem to have forgotten how to pass (or shoot) are putting us in a hole that is impossible to overcome.

IMO, they haven't done as as good of a job on the defensive end of the floor and they haven't done as good of a job being a low post threat as Bagley. I could very easily see wins against the Celtics and the Wizards with Bagley in the lineup. He's certainly worth a few points in the final score.

I agree with you that it does help to make some open shots. But Bagley demands double teams, relieving pressure off the rest of his teammates and making them better. That's at least worth a few less turnovers all by itself, and a few more wins because of it. Giles just isn't quite there yet; maybe we'll see that next year from him.

Bjelica is highly match-up dependent. He matches up very well against the relatively non-athletic Wizard's front line (15 points & 12 rebs in 36 minutes); he matches up terribly with the Celtics (in 30 minutes he had five points and five rebounds, and he definitely doesn't match up with the Celtics on the defensive end of the floor). The old adage about good players being consistent is right-on. Bjelica just isn't consistent.

As far as Bogs is concerned, he either hurts you in the starting lineup, or he hurts you off the bench. Pick your poison. Do you know that Bogs has "led" this team in the minus column for the last three games? -11 against the Celtics, -4 against NY, and -20 against the Wizards. I'd love to see more of Burks and less of Bogs in this last month of the season to see what he can do with this team once he gets comfortable, especially now that the playoffs are out of the question.

 

[Cojc]

I would like to see some new faces coming off the bench the last 10 games or when we actually throw in the towel. bring in Caleb off the bench and start Giles at center and give them a run. Tell WCS we want him here but at this point in the season we need to see what we have in those two. Even Bagley at center against a slow center would cause the opponents fits.
Playing Burks off the bench at the 2 and rest Bogi is another option I would like to see.
The last 10 games or so the lineup starting I would like to see is.

Giles
Bagley
Barnes
Buddy
Fox

Bring Caleb in for Giles and play him with Bagley. Then Beli and brewer come next with burks and yogi to follow.

 

[SLAB]

As much as I want Giles to get more minutes, I’m still fine with his usage this season. He’s coming off multiple years where he hasn’t played this much basketball. Don’t force it with him.

Leash comes off next season though. And hopefully he’s bulked up and ready to go.

 

[BLNINJA #81]

I think major two reasons for the recent struggles

1. Pressure got to them that result of so many stupid turnovers and forced plays
2. The league has figured out how to defend us:
Buddy: Make him dribble
Fox: Be physical with him
Bjelly: Run him off the 3pt line
Bogie: make him play one on one
Willy: Aggressive on the O-board and defend the lob

This, I believe, is the actual truth based on what I'm seeing unfortunately. Too bad coaches don't seem to have made any necessary adjustments. That combined with bad half-court play and regression from bogs have also hurt. Funny as it seems, trading shump hurt somewhat as well. Barnes is at best a 3rd fiddle type player, and he hasn't been that more often than not. So it's a bunch of factors...

 

[gunks]

As much as I hate small ball, I still think Joerger's hand was forced by injuries and inconsistent play in the front court. And can we really blame Joerger for Bogi being *** this season? He's sucked in every role given to him. If Bogi played as well as his rookie season, a ton of those close Ls would have been Ws, and keeping Joerger wouldn't even be a conversation.

His rotations can be iffy, and he tends to be slow to fix what isn't working. ... but other than that I think he's been fine!

This team has over achieved tremendously. It sucks that we (most likely) won't make the playoffs, but to even be in the conversation really speaks to the work done by this coaching staff.

I could see the FO/ownership getting impatient and firing Joerger if the Kings start slow next year, but honestly, I wouldn't be surprised to see this team make another big jump. The engine of this team going forward is the Fox/Bagley combo, and those two have barely scratched the surface.

So, hopefully Joerger sticks around, even with his warts.

 

[burekijogurt]

As much as I hate small ball, I still think Joerger's hand was forced by injuries and inconsistent play in the front court. And can we really blame Joerger for Bogi being *** this season? He's sucked in every role given to him. If Bogi played as well as his rookie season, a ton of those close Ls would have been Ws, and keeping Joerger wouldn't even be a conversation.

His rotations can be iffy, and he tends to be slow to fix what isn't working. ... but other than that I think he's been fine!

This team has over achieved tremendously. It sucks that we (most likely) won't make the playoffs, but to even be in the conversation really speaks to the work done by this coaching staff.

I could see the FO/ownership getting impatient and firing Joerger if the Kings start slow next year, but honestly, I wouldn't be surprised to see this team make another big jump. The engine of this team going forward is the Fox/Bagley combo, and those two have barely scratched the surface.

So, hopefully Joerger sticks around, even with his warts.

Is the poor shooting affecting the perception of his play in other aspects? For example, do you think he sucks as the backup playmaker? He is averaging 4 assists, second behind Fox who is at 7.2 (the next player is WCS at 2.5). His assist to turnover ratio is good at 2.22 with 1.8 turnovers per game. Do you feel that if the minutes in that role were give to someone else (Yogi/Buddy/Mason/etc...) the overall result would have been better?

 

[SacTownKid]

As much as I hate small ball, I still think Joerger's hand was forced by injuries and inconsistent play in the front court. And can we really blame Joerger for Bogi being *** this season? He's sucked in every role given to him. If Bogi played as well as his rookie season, a ton of those close Ls would have been Ws, and keeping Joerger wouldn't even be a conversation.

His rotations can be iffy, and he tends to be slow to fix what isn't working. ... but other than that I think he's been fine!

This team has over achieved tremendously. It sucks that we (most likely) won't make the playoffs, but to even be in the conversation really speaks to the work done by this coaching staff.

I could see the FO/ownership getting impatient and firing Joerger if the Kings start slow next year, but honestly, I wouldn't be surprised to see this team make another big jump. The engine of this team going forward is the Fox/Bagley combo, and those two have barely scratched the surface.

So, hopefully Joerger sticks around, even with his warts.

Has it though? The Kings have feasted on teams that are either younger or less talented than them. The Kings are 11-24 against +.500 teams and 22-9 against those below. It's not like this team is devoid of talent and a good part of the team they rely on game in, game out is knocking at the door of their physical prime. I think exit interviews might play a big part in the imminent direction post season.

 

[ESP47]

Kings are 8-11 without Bagley.

 

[Cojc]

Kings are 8-11 without Bagley.

I was looking at our two big losing streaks or losing 5 out of 6 games and Bagley missed those games.

 

[gunks]

Has it though? The Kings have feasted on teams that are either younger or less talented than them. The Kings are 11-24 against +.500 teams and 22-9 against those below. It's not like this team is devoid of talent and a good part of the team they rely on game in, game out is knocking at the door of their physical prime. I think exit interviews might play a big part in the imminent direction post season.

Yup. Most folk here, and just about every outsider had this team in the mid 20s for Ws.

And beating bad teams but losing to good teams is natural young team growth curve stuff. We played a lot of those good teams super tough and just pooped the bed down the stretch. Experience will fix that.

And who are these geezers the team relies on for Ws that you speak of? Buddy? Dude is 26 and keeps himself in tip top shape. He has at least 5-7 more years of prime left in him. Guards can go longer than bigs.

I understand a lot of the criticism Joerger gets, but it would be crazy to fire him after this season. Who the hell is out there that all the anti-Joerger guys covet? Mark Jackson? Kidd?

 

[Heuge]

It's nutty to think this team hasn't over-achieved. The only reason one would conclude that is because of a preexisting agenda.

Having two legitimate candidates for MIP says much about the trajectory change that occurred here this year. 25-sh wins to 40-ish wins.

This was not the Fox or Buddy we saw last year. Respect has to be given to the staff and to the players.