[Game] Kings @ Suns - Tuesday, Jan. 7 - 6PT/9ET

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There's no reason why Dedmon shouldn't be able to contribute like this most nights. We aren't asking him to be a world-beater, just to play something like he did the past two seasons in Atlanta.
Might just (hopefully) be a case of the yips for him. Gets the big contract, expected to be the starter playing 28+ minutes a night and a key cog to put this team over the top. Then struggles early and loses his job to Richaun who never gives it back. Would get in the head of just about anybody.
 
to be fair I listened to the Dunc’d on Podcast today with Nate Duncan and Danny Lecroix. They didn’t have Fox as a top 10 player under 23. From their view Fox was at best a solid starter/top 10 point guard.

If Fox plays defense like he did tonight I think that changes. But Fox isn’t Curry, he needs to be Gary Payton who plays lock down defense and breaks down opposing defenses creating open shots for teammates.
If they had Trae Young on it, and I bet those hipsters did, then they’re not worth listening to.
 

VF21

Super Moderator Emeritus
SME
Like what coach said about the vets being out there the entire 4th. They earned it. That use to drive me crazy about joerger. He would yank out the team that got us back into the game and it would usually bring a bad result.
That's one of the pluses of having a head coach who actually played the game (and whose dad is one of the 50 greatest to ever play the game). Walton has a better view into what makes players tick than a lot of other coaches.
 
Yep, that's the closest comp, but I don't think Fox has even more offensive potential.
I’m assuming you meant to say “I do think Fox has even more offensive potential”. Payton averaged 16.3 points a game so you might be correct though I hope he focuses on defense and running the half court offense which has been poor.
 

Tetsujin

The Game Thread Dude
to be fair I listened to the Dunc’d on Podcast today with Nate Duncan and Danny Lecroix. They didn’t have Fox as a top 10 player under 23. From their view Fox was at best a solid starter/top 10 point guard.

If Fox plays defense like he did tonight I think that changes. But Fox isn’t Curry, he needs to be Gary Payton who plays lock down defense and breaks down opposing defenses creating open shots for teammates.
I mean, I realize people are low on him for some reason but who are the ten young players that they said are better than him?

Off the top of my head, I'm guessing it's Luka, Mitchell, Zion (despite him not even playing a single minute yet), Ja (people jumping on the bandwagon hard for him), Trae (modern stat heads love his offensive numbers), Tatum (people absolutely love the dude despite him being Rudy Gay 2.0), and Ingram (raw numbers) but after those guys I'm struggling to come up with more names of young guys who you could even consider to be better than him.
 
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Kingster

Hall of Famer
I’m assuming you meant to say “I do think Fox has even more offensive potential”. Payton averaged 16.3 points a game so you might be correct though I hope he focuses on defense and running the half court offense which has been poor.
Yes, I edited my typo, but yes you got my meaning. I think Fox can average 20+ in his prime years with very good efficiency. The key with him is his 3 point shot, which I think will come with time. I think he needs challenges and having coach put him on Booker is exactly what was needed. He should be the guy to shut down the best guard every single night, imo. Eventually, the refs are going to get a brain and he's going to get a lot of calls that he's currently not getting. There's absolutely no reason whatsoever he can't be the best defensive point guard in the league.
 

Capt. Factorial

trifolium contra tempestatem subrigere certum est
Staff member
That's one of the pluses of having a head coach who actually played the game (and whose dad is one of the 50 greatest to ever play the game). Walton has a better view into what makes players tick than a lot of other coaches.
That's an interesting point. There's probably a good argument to be made that Luke is a Phil-Jackson type coach. Better known for managing egos than Xs and Os. (Not that he hasn't drawn up a few nice out of bounds plays at the end of games, though.) The thing is, we weren't quite a .500 team last year. Which means that we (unlike the Jordan Bulls and the Kobe/Shaq Lakers) weren't basketball-ready for the ego manager. We still had some Xs and Os to learn.

Now, perhaps we had to strike when the iron was hot - once Walton was fired, if we didn't jump on him somebody else would have - but it seems like it was a season too early at best. The question now is whether Walton can do enough X/O coaching to get the team up to where the ego manager is the role we need. Sometimes we look like we're almost there. Most of the time, we don't.
 
I mean, I realize people are low on him for some reason but who are the ten young players better than him?

Off the top of my head, I'm guessing it's Luka, Mitchell, Zion (despite him not even playing a single minute yet), Ja (people jumping on the bandwagon hard for him), Trae (modern stat heads love his offensive numbers), Tatum (people absolutely love the dude despite him being Rudy Gay 2.0), and Ingram (raw numbers) but after those guys I'm struggling to come up with more names of young guys who you could even consider to be better than him.
I’m not going to go into it extensively because you can also hear the podcast but their reasoning was Fox’s poor defensive numbers and the Kings poor rankings in the half court. Both are reasonable criticisms but something Fox can change if he wants to.
 
As an aside, perusing Suns boards, and they seem to think Booker will want out in the not too distant future. Interesting. He kind of got Igor fired by never running the offense though, so there’s that.

Great effort from the Kings all around tonight. Well, there was one exception, but I’ll let it go. I’d kind of like to see Luke go ballistic and get tossed the next time Fox doesn’t get the superstar treatment, and then chalk up the $50K fine and tear the refs up in the press conference after, too, and demand Fox get the calls he deserves.
 

VF21

Super Moderator Emeritus
SME
That's an interesting point. There's probably a good argument to be made that Luke is a Phil-Jackson type coach. Better known for managing egos than Xs and Os. (Not that he hasn't drawn up a few nice out of bounds plays at the end of games, though.) The thing is, we weren't quite a .500 team last year. Which means that we (unlike the Jordan Bulls and the Kobe/Shaq Lakers) weren't basketball-ready for the ego manager. We still had some Xs and Os to learn.

Now, perhaps we had to strike when the iron was hot - once Walton was fired, if we didn't jump on him somebody else would have - but it seems like it was a season too early at best. The question now is whether Walton can do enough X/O coaching to get the team up to where the ego manager is the role we need. Sometimes we look like we're almost there. Most of the time, we don't.
In my mind, Walton does okay with the Xs and Os when the players do what he's drawn up. I think he's a blend of ego/XsOs - and I think that's exactly why Vlade grabbed him up so quickly.
 
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