Boogie & Rudy's Excellent Adventure

Let's say when we become a contender we surround cousins with one more shot creator to go along with Boogie/Gay. My question is what separates cousins and marc gosal on defense is it just effort? They are the same size but Boogie is quicker and better at taking charges I know one thing is his pick and roll defense is atrocious so how is it fixed.
 

Bricklayer

Don't Make Me Use The Bat
Let's say when we become a contender we surround cousins with one more shot creator to go along with Boogie/Gay. My question is what separates cousins and marc gosal on defense is it just effort? They are the same size but Boogie is quicker and better at taking charges I know one thing is his pick and roll defense is atrocious so how is it fixed.
Gasol is actually quite a bit bigger. He's 7'1". But that's not why he's such a good defender, or its only part of the story. Just has a real knack for spacing. Always close enough to bother you, never so close you can go by him.
 

Mr. S£im Citrus

Doryphore of KingsFans.com
Staff member
It's not a matter of making them play with our rules. I understand there are many different rules we need to adapt to, but that one is just ridiculous. It ruins the game when you can just foul any guy on the court and stop a break
You say "ruin," I say "level the playing field."
 
Let's say when we become a contender we surround cousins with one more shot creator to go along with Boogie/Gay. My question is what separates cousins and marc gosal on defense is it just effort? They are the same size but Boogie is quicker and better at taking charges I know one thing is his pick and roll defense is atrocious so how is it fixed.
Cousins is big but Marc Gasol is a giant. Look at the difference in size next time he and Cousins are standing next to each other on the court. Don't go off of any statistics you find online, just trust your own eye judgment when the USA plays Spain. Gasol will look massive in comparison.

Cousins can be a lot like Gasol defensively if he just stays home on his man. Less swiping at the ball and reacting to pump fakes. Just stay home with arms up and force the opponent to have to shoot over the top of you. He'll get a few more blocks this way and the change of natural trajectory to get it over his reach will cause more misses from close range.
 
I'm loving this. Let Boogie and Rudy get used to playing with winners and they're gonna demand that our Kings play to the full extent of their abilities. I see good things. :)
That's a really good point actually. What'll happen is they'll have a huge amount of clout with their teammates, and that's what this team needs: clearly defined player leaders that have power and the respect of teammates so they can call people out if needed and inspire buy-in. Cuz is just psychologically built to be a leader. He's the kind of guy that, at first glance, may seem like he can't handle responsibility, but every single time he's been trusted and given more responsibility, he has totally come through. It's when he's doubted and his voice not taken seriously where the problems in the past have come up. And yes, he's clearly grown as a person, too. But that, combined with our FO trusting him, Coach K trusting him, now with the team USA on his resume... this is going to be an absolute break out year for him in terms of him being the unquestioned leader of our team, with his right hand man Rudy supporting him. This is only going to contribute to his performance on the court. I'm putting the league on notice. I don't say this lightly but I think Cuz could emerge as a legitimate MVP candidate.

I really like how the chemistry of our team is shaping up. Me-first guys just don't even get a look from us, and they've been pretty much removed from the roster. I'm still shocked at how quickly and completely IT was let go. Apparently we just never even spoke to him in free agency. I love it!
 

kingsboi

Hall of Famer
6 steals for Cousins? I gotta hand it to the big fella, he has good instincts when it comes to tipping the ball, sometimes he gets his hand caught in the cookie jar but I like the fact that he makes a effort rather than just reach in the back court as we all witnessed during his first couple of years.
 
I'm loving this. Let Boogie and Rudy get used to playing with winners and they're gonna demand that our Kings play to the full extent of their abilities. I see good things. :)
Totally agree... Hopefully they won't accept anything other than perfection from our team, and they learn a lot of different things they could bring back to the team that could help us.
 

Glenn

Hall of Famer
This is a well consrcted team.
That's a really good point actually. What'll happen is they'll have a huge amount of clout with their teammates, and that's what this team needs: clearly defined player leaders that have power and the respect of teammates so they can call people out if needed and inspire buy-in. Cuz is just psychologically built to be a leader. He's the kind of guy that, at first glance, may seem like he can't handle responsibility, but every single time he's been trusted and given more responsibility, he has totally come through. It's when he's doubted and his voice not taken seriously where the problems in the past have come up. And yes, he's clearly grown as a person, too. But that, combined with our FO trusting him, Coach K trusting him, now with the team USA on his resume... this is going to be an absolute break out year for him in terms of him being the unquestioned leader of our team, with his right hand man Rudy supporting him. This is only going to contribute to his performance on the court. I'm putting the league on notice. I don't say this lightly but I think Cuz could emerge as a legitimate MVP candidate.

I really like how the chemistry of our team is shaping up. Me-first guys just don't even get a look from us, and they've been pretty much removed from the roster. I'm still shocked at how quickly and completely IT was let go. Apparently we just never even spoke to him in free agency. I love it!
Very well put. Don't underestimate the amount of pride they bring to the Kings team by their successes with Team USA. It will help a great deal with the teammates. Although there are still guys who think that coming to Sacto is like being sent to hell, those days are limited.
 
K

KingMilz

Guest
Team USA has the best possible combo of Cousins/Davis for a C/PF combination and yet they don't play them together smh.
 

VF21

Super Moderator Emeritus
SME
Team USA has the best possible combo of Cousins/Davis for a C/PF combination and yet they don't play them together smh.
They've won every game quite handily. I think they know what they're doing. Just because we haven't seen a particular combo yet doesn't mean we won't.
 
K

KingMilz

Guest
They've won every game quite handily. I think they know what they're doing. Just because we haven't seen a particular combo yet doesn't mean we won't.
The Bucks would have trashed every team they faced so far, most these teams would struggle in the D-League. Why not build chemistry between the two before you face Spain?
 
Our front court has really been making these games enjoyable despite the team being geared towards the back court. Haven't been impressed with our guards at all.
 
Amazing what cousins can do without nba officials whistling him for every reach in, isn't it? It seemed like every time someone tried to back him down he took the ball, and with 7 steals in just 12 mins, that's almost literally true.

Davis plus boogie on the front line seems the way to go long term for team USA, but it's hard to knock faried when he's shooting 78% or whatever it is.

I think we'd all like to see boogie/AD together. It's basically a dream pairing of big men. Davis isn't quite there as an all around defender (he'll be a yearly DPOY candidate soon enough) but he's the ultimate rim protector to go with cousins. By 2016 those two will be terrifying.
 

Mr. S£im Citrus

Doryphore of KingsFans.com
Staff member
Brazil just smoked our margin of victory mark against Finland, at the expense of Egypt. :eek:

Speaking of Finland, New Zealand's mild "upset" over Finland really puts Ukraine in a bad spot. If I understand the tiebreakers correctly, that means that Ukraine has to beat the United States in order to advance to the knockout round.


 

Bricklayer

Don't Make Me Use The Bat
Box:
http://www.fiba.com/basketballworld...ed-States-of-America#|tab=boxscore_statistics

Yeah, Boogie was a little tired, you could see he had heavy legs. He's always been a player where fatigue shows pretty obviously. Wasn't bad. Some physical play in there and a few nice passes. But missed some bunnies in there and on the interior there were several times when he should have gone up and challenged a shot where he did not. Could have been fatgue/gathering his legs, but all tournament long it looks like he has mad eth choice to take away the alley oop cutter behind him rather than help on the driving guy. I'm guessing that's scheme, but the other centers do not seem to have had to make such a stark choice. Did have the biggest +/- on the team along with Faried.

And Rudy...was struggling.
 

funkykingston

Super Moderator
Staff member
Two notes:

1. Yes, Boogie was tired, but still put up decent numbers and more importantly, did NOT foul. A good sign of growth.
2. The Czar of the Telestrator is coaching Ukraine? When/how did that happen?

"You not say Ukraine is weak. You maybe say Ukraine play boring, slow paced offense".

On a serious (and non-Seinfeld referencing note) this has to be a tough time for the Ukrainian team and for Fratello as coach given what is going on at home. Definitely hard to have complete focus on a basketball game for a lot of players I'm sure.