[KINGS] Comments that don't warrant their own thread (Redux)
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Tom got some things wrong (including getting Fox’s free agency wrong) but I thought this was a nice segment on the kings. The headline only represents a portion of the video. A lot more knowledgeable about the team than typical media. Lots of advanced metrics, talk about Keon, Fox, Keegan and Demar. Some coach talk to.
With the Kings rating amongst the best in the league in a number of these metrics, it does beg the question why it's not translating to wins. We ought to be around 6th in the West and 9th overall in the league based on Net Rating and this chart suggests that's still underselling how good we've played. Yet even after a 7 game winning streak we're fighting just to stay above .500. "Underperforming because of the coach" doesn't count as an explanation to me because even if that's true, we still have 5 less wins than the on-the-court performance suggests we should have.
It's often been asked if Ben Simmons is really a point guard, or if he's more of a ballhandling PF. But clearly his best position is tank commander. I suppose it's a luxury to be able to rest him on back-to-backs when your primary season goal is to "Capture the Flagg".
Maybe the most amazing part of the Nets losing by nearly 60 points is that the game was tied after the first quarter.
Maybe the most amazing part of the Nets losing by nearly 60 points is that the game was tied after the first quarter.
Personally, I think he got fired because he was unable to motivate the team to keep playing hard despite the bad officiating. For whatever reason his motivational techniques which had worked in the previous two seasons were now being tuned out. It also appears to me that the more immediate cause came after the Detroit game when, in the midst of a losing streak, rather than saying "this is on me" Coach Brown tried to call Fox out publicly in order to motivate him to take more ownership of the team and Fox did the exact opposite. This put the front office in a position where they felt they had to choose one or the other.
But if you want to trace this all back to bad officiating, I wouldn't argue with you. Winning breeds good chemistry and losing has the opposite effect. Expectations are high for this team because of the job Mike Brown did in that 2022-2023 season. As a coach in any major sports league you're expected to show improvement year to year so in a way he's also guilty of accelerating his own demise. I do think the team overall was showing signs of improvement this season with the notable exception of the end of game execution but whether the blame for that lies more on the players, the coach, or the officials is an eye of the beholder thing and clearly we all have our own biases about each.
But if you want to trace this all back to bad officiating, I wouldn't argue with you. Winning breeds good chemistry and losing has the opposite effect. Expectations are high for this team because of the job Mike Brown did in that 2022-2023 season. As a coach in any major sports league you're expected to show improvement year to year so in a way he's also guilty of accelerating his own demise. I do think the team overall was showing signs of improvement this season with the notable exception of the end of game execution but whether the blame for that lies more on the players, the coach, or the officials is an eye of the beholder thing and clearly we all have our own biases about each.
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The Clippers went on a big run early in the 2nd quarter (21 to 4 or 5 IIRC) and I think the Nets just gave up. They were outscored 37-14 in the 2Q but then 44-16 in the 3Q. Noah Clowney got ejected after a 2nd technical (out of frustration I'm sure) and things just kept going downhill. New Jersey doesn't have much talent when everyone is healthy at this point, but when Ben Simmons, Cam Johnson, Cam Thomas and D'Angelo Russell are all out they aren't going to win many games. But that's different than just rolling over.