[Grades] Grades v. Bulls 10/31/2012
- Thread starter Bricklayer
- Start date
That's why the Bulls shipped JJ to Toronto! He has alot of potential but tries to do to much and doesn't stick to the coach's orders!
Reminds me of Tyrus Thomas who has all the athletic gifts but a low basketball and team concept IQ
I had to remind myself that I wasn't watching a blur of DROSE when Tyreke attacked the basket! WOW!
Cuz started off good but Noah got to him and with him getting into foul trouble...really hurt his rythem as he was riding the bench.
I thought Tyreke looked good as a SF and with Thornton at SG and Thomas at PG, Cuz at C...that's alot of offense and excitement!
With the bad shooting the Kings still hung with the Bulls and Noah really punished the Kings with making 13 of 14 free throws with that ugly "tornado" shot of his!
I have to get that NBA league pass to keep up with this exciting team while living outside Chicago! GO KINGs!!!!
Reminds me of Tyrus Thomas who has all the athletic gifts but a low basketball and team concept IQ
I had to remind myself that I wasn't watching a blur of DROSE when Tyreke attacked the basket! WOW!
Cuz started off good but Noah got to him and with him getting into foul trouble...really hurt his rythem as he was riding the bench.
I thought Tyreke looked good as a SF and with Thornton at SG and Thomas at PG, Cuz at C...that's alot of offense and excitement!
With the bad shooting the Kings still hung with the Bulls and Noah really punished the Kings with making 13 of 14 free throws with that ugly "tornado" shot of his!
I have to get that NBA league pass to keep up with this exciting team while living outside Chicago! GO KINGs!!!!
Aside from the mental errors in the last minute or so, Evans really played a near perfect game. He was able to score in the 20's without being a ball stopper. It was a very, very smooth game for him. I didn't see a lot of excessive dribbling, he didn't turn the ball over (compared to the rest of the starters) ... It's easy to look at his numbers and say he should have shot the ball more, but what he did last night was so impressive that I almost don't want to mess with it. If he shoots the ball 4-5 more times, maybe those are forced shots that don't go in and further ruin the flow of our offense that was already not flowing.
I just couldn't have been more impressed.
One other note on our offense ... We really didn't get a chance to run. That is where a majority of our offense will come from, particularly with our bench unit that has Brooks, Thornton, Garcia, Robinson, and Hayes. Those guys aren't going to run good halfcourt sets. Brooks is barely a point guard... and those other guys aside from Hayes have no ability to create a shot for someone else unless it's on the break. In the second half we played better overall, but the bench also got better largely because Evans played with them. I still think this bench unit will put up points, but they need to push the ball. Chicago is a hard team to do that against.
I just couldn't have been more impressed.
One other note on our offense ... We really didn't get a chance to run. That is where a majority of our offense will come from, particularly with our bench unit that has Brooks, Thornton, Garcia, Robinson, and Hayes. Those guys aren't going to run good halfcourt sets. Brooks is barely a point guard... and those other guys aside from Hayes have no ability to create a shot for someone else unless it's on the break. In the second half we played better overall, but the bench also got better largely because Evans played with them. I still think this bench unit will put up points, but they need to push the ball. Chicago is a hard team to do that against.
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The hell was Smart thinking when he took Tyreke out in the first to put in Thornton? The guy was on fire and either scoring or dishing assists every time down the court. As soon as he left the game our offense sputtered until the final buzzer.
The good I saw from this game is last year we lose by 20 with this kind of offensive production. This year we lose by 6 because of all the hustle on D.
The good I saw from this game is last year we lose by 20 with this kind of offensive production. This year we lose by 6 because of all the hustle on D.
Well that's just the problem, good teams don't let you run. And that's why the best teams are either insanely good defensively that they create lots of TOs leading to fast breaks (Heat), have very steady halfcourt offensive execution (pre-Brown Lakers, recent Spurs) or they just smother you overall defensively and score what they can on the other end (Celtics a few years back, Bulls now)
We might have lost 3 more games in preseason by playing the Bulls instead of the Lakers, but I agree that we would have performed better last night and through the early part of the season because of it. I can't help but feel encouraged with the Kings - despite losing their opening game. JJ gets my vote for worst performance, but only on offense. Cousins was a close second.
I agree completely. I think Thomas earned a starting role with his play last season and scrappy defense, but with Aaron Brooks on the team it makes little sense to have him paired with Thornton off the bench. Starting Brooks lets him play the role that I have to imagine the team thought Jimmer would - a sharp shooting guard that stretches the defense and helps out with ballhandling while letting Tyreke have the ball in his hands quite a bit.
Thomas then runs the second unit which is good because I think a second string backcourt of Brooks and Thornton is asking for trouble.
I think Hayes has earned extra minutes with his defense but he and Robinson are undersized and not a great pairing. I'm not sure what to do there unless the team decides to deal a guard for a full sized backup or starting big. As it stands I'd try to have Cousins or Thompson on the floor to balance things out.
Thomas then runs the second unit which is good because I think a second string backcourt of Brooks and Thornton is asking for trouble.
I think Hayes has earned extra minutes with his defense but he and Robinson are undersized and not a great pairing. I'm not sure what to do there unless the team decides to deal a guard for a full sized backup or starting big. As it stands I'd try to have Cousins or Thompson on the floor to balance things out.
there was definitely good hustle on D from the kings, much more so than we've seen in some time, but i'd caution kings fans not to set unreasonable expectations just yet. even with derrick rose in the lineup, the bulls often have difficulty scoring through stretches of a given game. and without rose in the lineup, well, let's just say that the bulls committed 18 turnovers last night, only one less than the 19 turnovers committed by the kings. some of those were forced, but without derrick rose, the bulls tend to get very careless with the ball. while i appreciated the defensive effort by several of the kings last night, sputtering on offense might not keep you in close games against other teams in the league more prepared to score in volume...
ultimately, i was both encouraged and discouraged by last night's game. the kings did exactly what you must do on the road against a good team: tough it out and keep yourself in the game to the end so that you might put yourself in a position to win. however, the kings failed to take advantage of momentum that was clearly shifting their way in the final few minutes. missed layups, forced plays, and boneheaded mistakes kept them from the "w." these are the marks of a young team still trying to gel, and young teams that make those kinds of mistakes at the end of games tend to lose a healthy percentage of those games. but the kings need to start winning those games. they were on the road, against a stingy defense, and winning a close game like that makes all the difference in the world, both at the level of a team's collective confidence, but also in the w/l column. the latter part sounds like a big "duh," but really, when you're fighting for the eighth playoff spot in a conference up-for-grabs, you don't wanna be kicking yourself at the end of the season over games you could have won. you don't wanna be saying, "if only we weren't young and dumb, we might be in the mix this post-season." it's time to grow up, to make the push...
of course, it was only the kings first game, and the bulls are only the toughest defensive team in the league, derrick rose or no derrick rose. so there are silver linings. apart from a mini-meltdown at game's end (and its still not clear to me if smart called for that foul or if tyreke just made a poor judgment call), evans looked fantastic. his defensive intensity was otherworldly. we've seen him go hard before, but nothin' like that. i wanna see more of it. if he's determined to craft a reputation for himself as a gnarly, bull-headed defensive stopper in his fourth year, i say "by all means, tyreke. by all means." demarcus needs to pick it up quickly, though. he's the centerpiece of this team, and though he was efficient from the field, he's gotta be on the floor more this year than last. mostly, i just want to see the kings correct some of these problems in their late-game execution. if that's all they accomplish this season, they're easily a .400 ball club. they lost too many close ones last year. gotta start learning from these experiences...
ultimately, i was both encouraged and discouraged by last night's game. the kings did exactly what you must do on the road against a good team: tough it out and keep yourself in the game to the end so that you might put yourself in a position to win. however, the kings failed to take advantage of momentum that was clearly shifting their way in the final few minutes. missed layups, forced plays, and boneheaded mistakes kept them from the "w." these are the marks of a young team still trying to gel, and young teams that make those kinds of mistakes at the end of games tend to lose a healthy percentage of those games. but the kings need to start winning those games. they were on the road, against a stingy defense, and winning a close game like that makes all the difference in the world, both at the level of a team's collective confidence, but also in the w/l column. the latter part sounds like a big "duh," but really, when you're fighting for the eighth playoff spot in a conference up-for-grabs, you don't wanna be kicking yourself at the end of the season over games you could have won. you don't wanna be saying, "if only we weren't young and dumb, we might be in the mix this post-season." it's time to grow up, to make the push...
of course, it was only the kings first game, and the bulls are only the toughest defensive team in the league, derrick rose or no derrick rose. so there are silver linings. apart from a mini-meltdown at game's end (and its still not clear to me if smart called for that foul or if tyreke just made a poor judgment call), evans looked fantastic. his defensive intensity was otherworldly. we've seen him go hard before, but nothin' like that. i wanna see more of it. if he's determined to craft a reputation for himself as a gnarly, bull-headed defensive stopper in his fourth year, i say "by all means, tyreke. by all means." demarcus needs to pick it up quickly, though. he's the centerpiece of this team, and though he was efficient from the field, he's gotta be on the floor more this year than last. mostly, i just want to see the kings correct some of these problems in their late-game execution. if that's all they accomplish this season, they're easily a .400 ball club. they lost too many close ones last year. gotta start learning from these experiences...
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Along with curtailing silly fouls, having patience in the post, and seeing the floor better, Cousins needs to practice in front of the mirror to diminish his facial contortions at the calls he gets. Doesn't he think the refs notice the raised eyebows, the smirking, the scowling, and the pouting? Of course they do. Hey big guy: Fake It Until You Make It. Cut out the childish antics. Take an acting class. Do something. But when you think you've been done wrong make that face look look like you've been visiting a buddhist monastary for the last ten years and have found nirvana.
I love Cuz as much as everyone, and it was only our first game. But, I agree he needs to improve his body language if he wants to be the clear, positive leader of this team. Now, based on talent he'll be leader either way and the foundation, but I'm referring more to being a positive leader capable of leading this team to the playoffs and having the backing of your teammates.
He has a fiery personality on the court, which is great, but he can't have such negative body language towards teammates and appear to quit as much when things don't go well. I compare his somewhat to KG, with his oncourt persona, but KG's body language doesn't suffer and become negative in terms of a team concept when things go south. I don't mind Cuz not getting along with refs as much as some may, or getting into it with opponents as a KG does, but he needs to be more positive within the team.
At the same time, he's young, it's one game, and I'm more than confident he'll get there. There's no reason not to be patient with Cuz. The reward will be handsome.
He has a fiery personality on the court, which is great, but he can't have such negative body language towards teammates and appear to quit as much when things don't go well. I compare his somewhat to KG, with his oncourt persona, but KG's body language doesn't suffer and become negative in terms of a team concept when things go south. I don't mind Cuz not getting along with refs as much as some may, or getting into it with opponents as a KG does, but he needs to be more positive within the team.
At the same time, he's young, it's one game, and I'm more than confident he'll get there. There's no reason not to be patient with Cuz. The reward will be handsome.
^^ agree.
He needs to take a few notes from IT, the guy had a bad game last night and had to ride the bench, but he was still up supporting the team and rallying from the bench, no sulking, though I'm sure he was frustrated with his game.
The calls were iffy last night, but they've gone, move on and help the team, i can't help but think his two forced efforts at the end of the 4th were pure frustration and hurt us big time.
He needs to take a few notes from IT, the guy had a bad game last night and had to ride the bench, but he was still up supporting the team and rallying from the bench, no sulking, though I'm sure he was frustrated with his game.
The calls were iffy last night, but they've gone, move on and help the team, i can't help but think his two forced efforts at the end of the 4th were pure frustration and hurt us big time.
