[Game] Preseason Game 1: Kings @ Blazers 12/11/2020 7:30pst,10:30est

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It almost felt like he had too much respect for NBA defenders and was afraid to be too aggressive
I saw non-jackass Bogi out there.

I see him getting into trouble offensively a lot of the same ways as Bogi but instead of hoisting up several off-balance bricks he defered to teammates, perhaps a little bit too much.

Defensively though...
 
I truly thought I would care more post-Vlade but here I am feeling pretty much indifferent tonight. I’m way more pumped for this Houston/Boogie game and to see Giles. Lol
The ghost of Vlade is still haunting this franchise though, and the putrid stink of his cigarette breath still hangs over us like a fog. My care levels went from like 10% to like 50%, and it's not all the way back because of that.

This is his lame-duck coach, plenty of his bad contracts are still here, and tonight in particular we got hit by the double whammy of Giles and Gary Trent Jr.
 
Pros:
- Tyrese after a mostly invisible first few minutes showed some promise on defensive end. Played somewhat too passively (moving the ball on the wing to Cory Joseph for a 3 should never be your first option) but that's to be expected. Not much showing on the offensive end.
- Ramsey looked pretty good
- Buddy looked decent

Cons:
- If De'Aaron doesn't learn to shoot we are screwed. His 3 pointers were not even close, and he was bad from the FT line. Hopefully it's just first game jitters given that lots of team mates have been singing praises, but his game performance was no different than many games last year.
- Luke Walton continues to be in the employ of the Sacramento Kings
I agree that Halliburton played too passively on offense last night. I hate the on the ball split between Joseph and Halliburton. It was like 90/10 Joseph to Halliburton. Should be 50/50. Vlade gave Joseph $12M per year. Just lolzzzz. On defense, dude was flashing like a young DC. Once Halliburton settles the nerves and gets half a season under his belt, his two way game is going to get him slotted in as the starter over Buddy Love.

It's not that Fox missed his shots, its how he missed them. They were hard, flat rebounds. Not much chance for your teammates to rebound the ball when they come off like that.

Buddy shot the ball well, but did pretty much nothing else. We know how he feels about defense, but what about making others better?

I really think Holmes is going to be a square peg in a round hole this year. Not enough length on defense, not enough skill on offense. Whiteside starts over him within 10 games--if not immediately.

Kaminsky looked good.

Obviously this isn't fair, but another game, another DNP for Bags. This needs to be the last DNP of the year.

One game in and I'm already not a fan of GRIII. Dude's a black hole. He lead a 3 on 1 break and managed to get stuffed. SMH. Lolzzz.

Parker looked like a jumbo sized tight end out there. There was an article earlier in the week about how he was flashing. I didn't see it. I saw a tank commander last night. We'll see.
 
Interesting game all things considered. IMO our Rookies looked good. Take into account that there was no Summer League, no pick up games and one week of practice then it was off to Portland.

Haliburton looked intent of moving the ball and playing defense, he did both well. He hit his first shot in the NBA, a corner three. Late in the game he did bring the ball up the court and initiate the offense. His defense especially in the passing lanes looked good. Woodard had a quiet 6 minutes but did not look physically over matched. Ramsey looked like the epitome of No Fear out there. Lets see where these young men are in 25 games or so.

Portland really improved their squad adding Covington and Jones, two hard nosed 3 and D specialists who have been there and done that. They led the Blazers in scoring last night with 21 and 19 respectively.

Rip city was on fire shooting the lights out with a 50% average from the three point line. The usual Blazer suspects were shooting daggers. But Gile's and Trent's performances were pretty hard to witness since Vlade drafted them both. Trent was traded on draft night in 2018 and Giles was lost when Vlade chose to not pick up his deal and make him an unrestricted Free Agent. Good for them they may be in the rotation for a Playoff team.

Overall about what I expected. A loss to start the season of 2020 but hopefully a new beginning.
 
Interesting game all things considered. IMO our Rookies looked good. Take into account that there was no Summer League, no pick up games and one week of practice then it was off to Portland.

Haliburton looked intent of moving the ball and playing defense, he did both well. He hit his first shot in the NBA, a corner three. Late in the game he did bring the ball up the court and initiate the offense. His defense especially in the passing lanes looked good. Woodard had a quiet 6 minutes but did not look physically over matched. Ramsey looked like the epitome of No Fear out there. Lets see where these young men are in 25 games or so.

Portland really improved their squad adding Covington and Jones, two hard nosed 3 and D specialists who have been there and done that. They led the Blazers in scoring last night with 21 and 19 respectively.

Rip city was on fire shooting the lights out with a 50% average from the three point line. The usual Blazer suspects were shooting daggers. But Gile's and Trent's performances were pretty hard to witness since Vlade drafted them both. Trent was traded on draft night in 2018 and Giles was lost when Vlade chose to not pick up his deal and make him an unrestricted Free Agent. Good for them they may be in the rotation for a Playoff team.

Overall about what I expected. A loss to start the season of 2020 but hopefully a new beginning.
This is a very thoughtful post. Had to comment since it seemed so out of place.
 
I think Whiteside starts ahead of Holmes. Holmes lack of length, in this defense, is a liability. And offensively, he doesn't have the passing skills to maximize the space of a 5 out system.
I don't know as far as total package that Whiteside is better, but its probably close.

Holmes was automatic early last year on his little in between shots. He shot 47% from 3 to 10 ft, well above average, and 64% from 10 to 16, which is like a baseball player batting 400. His defense looked solid but he's not a difference maker.

While his effort and hustle is real, its starting to look like that hot efficient start was a fluke. So if he hasn't added a 3 PT shot, he's looking like a situational 15 min energy big, and not a 30 minute starter.
 
Interesting game all things considered. IMO our Rookies looked good. Take into account that there was no Summer League, no pick up games and one week of practice then it was off to Portland.

Haliburton looked intent of moving the ball and playing defense, he did both well. He hit his first shot in the NBA, a corner three. Late in the game he did bring the ball up the court and initiate the offense. His defense especially in the passing lanes looked good. Woodard had a quiet 6 minutes but did not look physically over matched. Ramsey looked like the epitome of No Fear out there. Lets see where these young men are in 25 games or so.

Portland really improved their squad adding Covington and Jones, two hard nosed 3 and D specialists who have been there and done that. They led the Blazers in scoring last night with 21 and 19 respectively.

Rip city was on fire shooting the lights out with a 50% average from the three point line. The usual Blazer suspects were shooting daggers. But Gile's and Trent's performances were pretty hard to witness since Vlade drafted them both. Trent was traded on draft night in 2018 and Giles was lost when Vlade chose to not pick up his deal and make him an unrestricted Free Agent. Good for them they may be in the rotation for a Playoff team.

Overall about what I expected. A loss to start the season of 2020 but hopefully a new beginning.
Thank you....this thread was already turning into a train wreck after the first freaking pre-season game in what will likely be a NBA season like none we have ever seen (and hopefully never will again).

I thought Halliburton looked pretty good all things considered. My eyes were only focused on him when he was in the game and seemed like they mostly had him spotted up in the corner on offense. I suspect some of this is by design to get his feet wet; however, I think people are going to be disappointed If they expect him to be an aggressive shot maker. That’s not his game at all.
 
We’ve been through this with Harry before. It’s not like he hasn’t proven capable of big nights. It’s the four or five bad games in between them that’s the problem. It’s a better version of the Skal dilemma.
I've been hesitant to talk about Harry because I'm genuinely happy he had a big, emotional game. He's a good kid and deserved the moment.

But the Kings have a couple of bigs who didn't play tonight who can post those numbers regularly. And honestly, on any given night if they did, the comments would start with "yeah but...."

Vlade was convinced he could resign Giles without the risk of another team offering more money. McNair did not see Harry as a priority. 30 other teams passed, as far as we know, and he got the minimum. Maybe, just maybe the NBA professionals are making decisions on the basketball player and not the emotions of how they feel about him as a person. I'm not saying Vlade shouldn't have extended Giles. Just that you have to look at the big picture and recognize that most GMs see the situation the way Vlade and McNair did.
 
He also mentioned not having Baze and Len, and how much it hurt without them defensively and trying to fit everyone in.

Deal with it Tank Commander!
I've heard coaches blame a bad loss on not having players available that game. But I've never heard of the players he's missing not actually being on the roster to begin with. This is a bad bad start for Luke. Is he trying to get fired?
 

Capt. Factorial

trifolium contra tempestatem subrigere certum est
Staff member
Obviously this isn't fair, but another game, another DNP for Bags. This needs to be the last DNP of the year.
It won't be his last DNP, because he didn't travel to Portland due to not yet clearing COVID protocol. He'll miss Sunday's game too.
 
I've heard coaches blame a bad loss on not having players available that game. But I've never heard of the players he's missing not actually being on the roster to begin with. This is a bad bad start for Luke. Is he trying to get fired?
I would tend to agree. Its a new year. Let's focus on the present.
 
In a stunning display, the Kings hoisted 30 3-balls in the first 24 minutes of play. They couldn’t keep up the pace in the second half, but Sacramento still managed to shoot 16-for-50 from long range, which if in the regular season, would have fallen just short of the franchise record of 51 3-point attempts.

https://www.nbcsports.com/bayarea/k...-learned-127-102-preseason-loss-trail-blazers
now looking like a sage move getting Whiteside to clean up all these rebounds
 
Portland shot the lights out.
Fox played like he had the flu and a hangover.
The new guys are going to help but the guards are rooks.
Bjelica looked lost and a step too slow.
Whiteside may help the Kings with rebounding and inside presence.
Holmes is a great player to watch, but he cannot dominate games.
The announcers made some flattering comments about the team, and emphasized that defense is the area that keeps them from getting to .500.
Giles looked like we made a big mistake.
One game tells us very little. But the Kings are likely to struggle to make the playoffs yet again. Lackluster performance. Sigh.
 
I agree that Halliburton played too passively on offense last night. I hate the on the ball split between Joseph and Halliburton. It was like 90/10 Joseph to Halliburton. Should be 50/50. Vlade gave Joseph $12M per year. Just lolzzzz. On defense, dude was flashing like a young DC. Once Halliburton settles the nerves and gets half a season under his belt, his two way game is going to get him slotted in as the starter over Buddy Love.

It's not that Fox missed his shots, its how he missed them. They were hard, flat rebounds. Not much chance for your teammates to rebound the ball when they come off like that.

Buddy shot the ball well, but did pretty much nothing else. We know how he feels about defense, but what about making others better?

I really think Holmes is going to be a square peg in a round hole this year. Not enough length on defense, not enough skill on offense. Whiteside starts over him within 10 games--if not immediately.

Kaminsky looked good.

Obviously this isn't fair, but another game, another DNP for Bags. This needs to be the last DNP of the year.

One game in and I'm already not a fan of GRIII. Dude's a black hole. He lead a 3 on 1 break and managed to get stuffed. SMH. Lolzzz.

Parker looked like a jumbo sized tight end out there. There was an article earlier in the week about how he was flashing. I didn't see it. I saw a tank commander last night. We'll see.
It may have been a good thing that Haliburton didn't do a ton of ball handling last night. He was just passing the ball to whoever was open at the time. Which is something any player can do. We know he's capable of more but the offense would have most likely looked next level horrible if he was split 50/50 with CoJo yesterday.

We know what Fox can do on the regular. I'm not holding my breath that he'll ever become a good 3pt shooter. If he can just be Westbrook Jr, that's good enough for me.

Now you want Buddy out there making others better? I thought we didn't want the ball in his hands for anything other than shooting? Buddy was the best player on the team last night.

GRIII is an end of bench guy. People got over excited with the signing but he's basically a Lawrence Funderburke type.

Parker will flash some really good offense that no other big on the team can flash but his defense makes him completely unplayable. He might be watchable next to Whiteside but that's really it.
 
I've been hesitant to talk about Harry because I'm genuinely happy he had a big, emotional game. He's a good kid and deserved the moment.

But the Kings have a couple of bigs who didn't play tonight who can post those numbers regularly. And honestly, on any given night if they did, the comments would start with "yeah but...."

Vlade was convinced he could resign Giles without the risk of another team offering more money. McNair did not see Harry as a priority. 30 other teams passed, as far as we know, and he got the minimum. Maybe, just maybe the NBA professionals are making decisions on the basketball player and not the emotions of how they feel about him as a person. I'm not saying Vlade shouldn't have extended Giles. Just that you have to look at the big picture and recognize that most GMs see the situation the way Vlade and McNair did.
For everyone that hates vlade and loves Giles. We will never know but any chance vlade believed in Harry but knew his worth? Don’t extend him, and when it’s time to resign him, pay barely over the minimum to keep him? Maybe I’m giving him too much credit but vlade is the one that drafted him knowing they would waste year to red shirt him. My bet is he would have wanted to see him flourish as a king. Monte prob had other plans. Everyone bashed vlade for not extending Giles thinking other teams would get him for barely over 4 mil a year. They were all wrong.
 
For everyone that hates vlade and loves Giles. We will never know but any chance vlade believed in Harry but knew his worth? Don’t extend him, and when it’s time to resign him, pay barely over the minimum to keep him? Maybe I’m giving him too much credit but vlade is the one that drafted him knowing they would waste year to red shirt him. My bet is he would have wanted to see him flourish as a king. Monte prob had other plans. Everyone bashed vlade for not extending Giles thinking other teams would get him for barely over 4 mil a year. They were all wrong.
They were wrong on how much he would command on the market but was losing him really worth that small amount of money? It's not like that money is going to go toward building anything or is going to be the difference in signing and losing a top player.
 
I've seen some comments about this quote. I don’t really have a problem with it depending on the way you want to spin it. If he's stating that he doesn't give a rat's tail about it, that's a problem. If he's stating he may never be the greatest at defense BUT needs to not be a total sieve that is something totally different.
He plays defense like he cares. He's just not good at it.

He's bulked up quite a bit from last year but I'm really not sure why. No one has ever thought that Hield's game will reach another level if he just gets stronger. It's his lateral quickness and fundamentals that need work. Not his frame.
 
I've seen some comments about this quote. I don’t really have a problem with it depending on the way you want to spin it. If he's stating that he doesn't give a rat's tail about it, that's a problem. If he's stating he may never be the greatest at defense BUT needs to not be a total sieve that is something totally different.
I read it as Buddy being a realist. He knows the team doesn’t expect him to be great because he can’t be. Just can’t be a total liability.

Our best player can’t even play defense and he has all the tools. Size, length, speed, quickness and bbiq and he still gets smoked most of the time.
 
For everyone that hates vlade and loves Giles. We will never know but any chance vlade believed in Harry but knew his worth? Don’t extend him, and when it’s time to resign him, pay barely over the minimum to keep him? Maybe I’m giving him too much credit but vlade is the one that drafted him knowing they would waste year to red shirt him. My bet is he would have wanted to see him flourish as a king. Monte prob had other plans. Everyone bashed vlade for not extending Giles thinking other teams would get him for barely over 4 mil a year. They were all wrong.
That's worse. WAY worse, and it's exactly the reason I hated the move. If he had just made it clear he didn't believe in Giles anymore I wouldn't have made nearly the stink. He played fast and loose with an asset that for all intents and purposes he still seemed to believe in.

Maybe if Vlade was still here Giles would still be here (which I find unlikely), but it just goes to show you need a certain level of planning and competence for these things. Vlade botching it in the way he did is like being unable to read.

The express goal was to decline his option in order to motivate him into a BETTER contract... with us? That's what every report was saying in the aftermath of that moment. That's also not a thing.

It's like saying that you're trying to tank for the first pick and then you expressly start winning games in pursuit of that goal, and then say that those games you won mathematically improve your odds.
 
I think Whiteside starts ahead of Holmes. Holmes lack of length, in this defense, is a liability. And offensively, he doesn't have the passing skills to maximize the space of a 5 out system.
Holmes is much better for modern defense though. This team looked GOOD defensively with Holmes at C and 4 small ballers with him just like it has been for over a year now. Whiteside is worth more than a min. deal but there are major flaws in his game defensively when it comes to guarding pick and roll and if they truly are trying to be this switch team (cleary Walton isn't on board with that still Monte) then Whiteside likely can't be a starter level minute piece.
 
Interesting game all things considered. IMO our Rookies looked good. Take into account that there was no Summer League, no pick up games and one week of practice then it was off to Portland.

Haliburton looked intent of moving the ball and playing defense, he did both well. He hit his first shot in the NBA, a corner three. Late in the game he did bring the ball up the court and initiate the offense. His defense especially in the passing lanes looked good. Woodard had a quiet 6 minutes but did not look physically over matched. Ramsey looked like the epitome of No Fear out there. Lets see where these young men are in 25 games or so.

Portland really improved their squad adding Covington and Jones, two hard nosed 3 and D specialists who have been there and done that. They led the Blazers in scoring last night with 21 and 19 respectively.

Rip city was on fire shooting the lights out with a 50% average from the three point line. The usual Blazer suspects were shooting daggers. But Gile's and Trent's performances were pretty hard to witness since Vlade drafted them both. Trent was traded on draft night in 2018 and Giles was lost when Vlade chose to not pick up his deal and make him an unrestricted Free Agent. Good for them they may be in the rotation for a Playoff team.

Overall about what I expected. A loss to start the season of 2020 but hopefully a new beginning.
Take this into account though. The worst unit on the floor was THE unit that Walton has used or had used for the majority of last season. It was the units that didn't seem to have much practice or time that didn't look terrible. It would make you wonder if you didn't know already huh? LOL.
 
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