In commenting with bajaden about grades for various games, I realize individual grades, while important to many fans, are not what Coach Malone has told us is his plan for the team. To develop his (and PDA’s) culture will take a year or more. A culture of defense first and teamwork. Can’t happen over night or in a week or even a month or two. It takes a lot of time to get there and even more time (2 years?) to get the necessary consistency.
As of New Years Day, the Kings have played 30 games. The last 17 with Derrick Williams and the last 10 with Rudy Gay, Quincy Acy and Aaron Gray, and therefore without Salmons/Hayes/Vasquez/Patterson. Major changes. Short time. Tough schedule. Early in the season.
In the last 9 games with Rudy Gay the Kings are 4-5 having beaten 3 playoff teams including the Rockets twice and the Heat once. That is a giant WOW! Way ahead of schedule from this view. But a long way to go.
Way back in October near the end of preseason, the Bee published “Three Things to Watch” for the Kings. They were:
Paint Protection
Keep it Moving
Space it Out.
Those three things are as key today as they were back then. I would add a fourth item, “Help Defense”. So where have they gotten as a chameleon team so far?
Points in the Paint: Kings average 44.3 pts in paint good for 10th in the NBA. Opponents pts in Paint: 41.8, 16th in league. Good so far.
Keeping it moving: Kings rank 20th in Assists with 20.6/game. That means the Kings are not moving the ball enough but consider it has gotten better lately. Watch the Heat, Spurs, Pacers. For most of their made baskets, 3-4 players touch the ball every time down the court..
Spacing it out. The key here is FG%. Spacing yields better, open shots. Kings are ranked 19th in FG% (48.6%) but dead last in opponent FG% at 52.8%. That then leads to Help Defense and Paint Protection.
If players are overly concerned about Paint Protection, whether it is working or not, then perimeter players will sag off too much allowing perimeter shooters much easy shots. Since Kings don’t really have good perimeter defenders now, McLemore’s improvements not-with-standing, this is to be expected.
Poor perimeter defense is also supported by the Kings being last in the league in personal fouls per game mostly gotten when their man is getting past them. Keeping in front of their man is as much natural talent as it is learned talent. And with Cousins playing Matador defense every time he gets 2 early fouls, points-in-the-paint-allowed go up. Help Defense again can help here and can be improved with Coaching and practice.
Bottom line is Kings are improving based on their last 9 games going 4-5, all with Rudy Gay (and Acy and Gray). Spacing it Out will take awhile with the new players. Keeping it Moving means passing the ball more (more touches) not IT dribbling around like Mighty Mouse in a room full of cats. But his assist numbers are better the last 4-5 games, so a glimmer of hope.
A look at team power rankings for the year see Kings in 19th spot but in last 10 games they are up to 15th. Team improvement. Small steps for sure but progress. Yea!!! What to do next? My couch is too comfortable and I'm more worried about my next brew than to expend grey matter on such a daunting task.
Where did I get my “facts”? Here: NBA Basketball Team Stats & Stats Leaders 2 Jan 2014
As of New Years Day, the Kings have played 30 games. The last 17 with Derrick Williams and the last 10 with Rudy Gay, Quincy Acy and Aaron Gray, and therefore without Salmons/Hayes/Vasquez/Patterson. Major changes. Short time. Tough schedule. Early in the season.
In the last 9 games with Rudy Gay the Kings are 4-5 having beaten 3 playoff teams including the Rockets twice and the Heat once. That is a giant WOW! Way ahead of schedule from this view. But a long way to go.
Way back in October near the end of preseason, the Bee published “Three Things to Watch” for the Kings. They were:
Paint Protection
Keep it Moving
Space it Out.
Those three things are as key today as they were back then. I would add a fourth item, “Help Defense”. So where have they gotten as a chameleon team so far?
Points in the Paint: Kings average 44.3 pts in paint good for 10th in the NBA. Opponents pts in Paint: 41.8, 16th in league. Good so far.
Keeping it moving: Kings rank 20th in Assists with 20.6/game. That means the Kings are not moving the ball enough but consider it has gotten better lately. Watch the Heat, Spurs, Pacers. For most of their made baskets, 3-4 players touch the ball every time down the court..
Spacing it out. The key here is FG%. Spacing yields better, open shots. Kings are ranked 19th in FG% (48.6%) but dead last in opponent FG% at 52.8%. That then leads to Help Defense and Paint Protection.
If players are overly concerned about Paint Protection, whether it is working or not, then perimeter players will sag off too much allowing perimeter shooters much easy shots. Since Kings don’t really have good perimeter defenders now, McLemore’s improvements not-with-standing, this is to be expected.
Poor perimeter defense is also supported by the Kings being last in the league in personal fouls per game mostly gotten when their man is getting past them. Keeping in front of their man is as much natural talent as it is learned talent. And with Cousins playing Matador defense every time he gets 2 early fouls, points-in-the-paint-allowed go up. Help Defense again can help here and can be improved with Coaching and practice.
Bottom line is Kings are improving based on their last 9 games going 4-5, all with Rudy Gay (and Acy and Gray). Spacing it Out will take awhile with the new players. Keeping it Moving means passing the ball more (more touches) not IT dribbling around like Mighty Mouse in a room full of cats. But his assist numbers are better the last 4-5 games, so a glimmer of hope.
A look at team power rankings for the year see Kings in 19th spot but in last 10 games they are up to 15th. Team improvement. Small steps for sure but progress. Yea!!! What to do next? My couch is too comfortable and I'm more worried about my next brew than to expend grey matter on such a daunting task.
Where did I get my “facts”? Here: NBA Basketball Team Stats & Stats Leaders 2 Jan 2014
