[Game] Game 31: Sacramento Kings @ Brooklyn Nets - 12/29/14 - 430 pst 730 est

VF21

Super Moderator Emeritus
SME
#1
I'm starting this early so I can share the injury report. If Tetsujin feels up to it, he can post his intro and I'll merge it with this first post. :)

Injury report

12/28/14 - Eric Moreland - PF - Shoulder - Out for Dec. 29 at Brooklyn
12/28/14 - Ramon Sessions - PG - Back - Doubtful for Dec. 29 at Brooklyn
 

VF21

Super Moderator Emeritus
SME
#2
Getting @boogiecousins to smile means job well done! I don't care what anyone says! He's a big softie deep down

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(from Kayte Christensen's Instagram)

EDIT: Major props to Kayte for conducting an interview with DMC right after the Knicks game. The fact she got intelligible answers to her questions AND a smile from a very frustrated Cousins shows her skill. Nice job, Kayte!
 
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kingsboi

Hall of Famer
#3
I wonder how many points the Nets are going to score...let's play a over/under 109 points. I'm sorry to say but losses need to accumulate and what better way to hit the road and lose to these bottom feeding Eastern Conference teams. YAY defense!
 

VF21

Super Moderator Emeritus
SME
#4
I wonder how many points the Nets are going to score...let's play a over/under 109 points. I'm sorry to say but losses need to accumulate and what better way to hit the road and lose to these bottom feeding Eastern Conference teams. YAY defense!
Losses need to accumulate? Are you that hell-bent on losing DeMarcus?

If the TEAM manages to win, it will be because of DeMarcus Cousins and his unwillingness to allow all the "other stuff" going on to destroy what he and the rest of the Kings were working on so hard before the meningitis took him out of the game.

I'm sorry, but rooting for losses is crap. I'm rooting FOR DeMarcus Cousins, Rudy Gay, Ben McLemore, Omri Casspi, Derek Williams, Darren Collison, and all the rest of the guys who are having to work under very stressful conditions. THEY need our support.
 

kingsboi

Hall of Famer
#5
Losses need to accumulate? Are you that hell-bent on losing DeMarcus?

If the TEAM manages to win, it will be because of DeMarcus Cousins and his unwillingness to allow all the "other stuff" going on to destroy what he and the rest of the Kings were working on so hard before the meningitis took him out of the game.

I'm sorry, but rooting for losses is crap. I'm rooting FOR DeMarcus Cousins, Rudy Gay, Ben McLemore, Omri Casspi, Derek Williams, Darren Collison, and all the rest of the guys who are having to work under very stressful conditions. THEY need our support.
You are more than welcome to root for those guys but I am rooting for a new coach....now whether that happens this season or not remains to be seen but I think it's safe to assume we won't be seeing Corbin here long.
 
#6
I wonder how many points the Nets are going to score...let's play a over/under 109 points. I'm sorry to say but losses need to accumulate and what better way to hit the road and lose to these bottom feeding Eastern Conference teams. YAY defense!

I AM SICK of rooting for losses. Too many seasons rooting for losses, and WHAT has it gotten us? I believe it is time to root for wins. The draft has been unkind to us anyways so why should we care where they draft? I don't trust the NBA or their shady draft process. Why root for losses to get a crappy draft pick anyway? We need to root for wins. Hire an NBA Caliber coach and make the Kings respectable enough that free agents will sign in Sacramento. That is the way they will improve this team. The draft is less than a crap shoot. Lets hope that the Malone Misstep is an aberration and not the norm for this front office. And if they don't hire a REAL COACH and go with Corbin the rest of the way to a sub 20 win season, that will be Strike TWO for this front office.
 

kingsboi

Hall of Famer
#10
I AM SICK of rooting for losses. Too many seasons rooting for losses, and WHAT has it gotten us? I believe it is time to root for wins. The draft has been unkind to us anyways so why should we care where they draft? I don't trust the NBA or their shady draft process. Why root for losses to get a crappy draft pick anyway? We need to root for wins. Hire an NBA Caliber coach and make the Kings respectable enough that free agents will sign in Sacramento. That is the way they will improve this team. The draft is less than a crap shoot. Lets hope that the Malone Misstep is an aberration and not the norm for this front office. And if they don't hire a REAL COACH and go with Corbin the rest of the way to a sub 20 win season, that will be Strike TWO for this front office.
You misread my post. Nowhere did I mention losing for draft picks...we most likely won't have a draft pick this season anyways...it belongs to Chicago I believe? The point of the losses is to speed up the process and force Pete/Vivek's hand to hire a quality head coach and enough of these coaching carousels that Sacramento is known for. You will never win anything if there is no consistency....that requires patience and ineptitude, two traits our front office lacks at the moment, unfortunately.
 
#11
You misread my post. Nowhere did I mention losing for draft picks...we most likely won't have a draft pick this season anyways...it belongs to Chicago I believe? The point of the losses is to speed up the process and force Pete/Vivek's hand to hire a quality head coach and enough of these coaching carousels that Sacramento is known for. You will never win anything if there is no consistency....that requires patience and ineptitude, two traits our front office lacks at the moment, unfortunately.
The front office lacks ineptitude?
 
#12
You misread my post. Nowhere did I mention losing for draft picks...we most likely won't have a draft pick this season anyways...it belongs to Chicago I believe? The point of the losses is to speed up the process and force Pete/Vivek's hand to hire a quality head coach and enough of these coaching carousels that Sacramento is known for. You will never win anything if there is no consistency....that requires patience and ineptitude, two traits our front office lacks at the moment, unfortunately.
The pick is top 10 protected through 2017 at which point (if not conveyed) it becomes a protected 2nd round pick.

The Kings are currently out of the bottom ten (tied for 11th worst with Denver) but if things don't change it's certainly possible they'll keep that pick. And a month ago we were hoping for playoffs.

Sheesh.
 
#15
Deron is coming off the bench now. So RayMac has a tough assignment.

Bropez is playing, but has lost playing time to Plumlee.

I'll be watching how JT is used. If the Kings are going to get back to playing defense, then that involves Jason Thompson. However, JT has lost a lot of minutes since the coaching change and the move to NBA Windows 8.0. The Nets also play a stretch 4 at times. So will JT get playing time or will it devolve into run n gun?
 
#16
EDIT: Major props to Kayte for conducting an interview with DMC right after the Knicks game. The fact she got intelligible answers to her questions AND a smile from a very frustrated Cousins shows her skill. Nice job, Kayte!
I am a big Kayte fan, and I know she was just doing her required job interview, but.....

damn! Can't she give Boogie the rest of the night off from talking? Guy almost killed himself out there - did you hear his voice? That was one sick puppy who should have immediately been put back on his IV-drip right after the game.
Put him back in the bubble and wheel him out at the beginning of the next game, then immediately back in it when over.
 
#17
Losses need to accumulate? Are you that hell-bent on losing DeMarcus?

If the TEAM manages to win, it will be because of DeMarcus Cousins and his unwillingness to allow all the "other stuff" going on to destroy what he and the rest of the Kings were working on so hard before the meningitis took him out of the game.

I'm sorry, but rooting for losses is crap. I'm rooting FOR DeMarcus Cousins, Rudy Gay, Ben McLemore, Omri Casspi, Derek Williams, Darren Collison, and all the rest of the guys who are having to work under very stressful conditions. THEY need our support.
Just to reiterate kingboi's approach:

It is certainly a valid tactic to root for Kings losses.
I am POSITIVE, without a doubt, Boogie and Rudy, etc have thought about it.
They know what's going on and aren't idiots - if they keep winning, it takes pressure off PDA and the ill-fitting roster and style that have been forced on them.
If the Kings lose, it increases the likelihood that Vivek will be forced to resolve this unsustainable conflict within the organization (FO vs players/coaches).

There is an alternate future wherein losing every game after firing Malone would have left this team in a much better place due to increased pressure forcing moves sooner, rather than later.

So a Kings fan rooting for losses is not like previous years, and it's not for lottery reasons.
Yes, there are potential dangers to losses (not the least of which would be potentially dooming Boogie's All-Star chances, but I think he may be a lock to be chosen by the coaches by this point) but there are also potential dangers to middling wins, as well.
 

Glenn

Hall of Famer
#18
I am a big Kayte fan, and I know she was just doing her required job interview, but.....

damn! Can't she give Boogie the rest of the night off from talking? Guy almost killed himself out there - did you hear his voice? That was one sick puppy who should have immediately been put back on his IV-drip right after the game.
Put him back in the bubble and wheel him out at the beginning of the next game, then immediately back in it when over.
In the after game interview he was pretty hoarse. I've said it elsewhere but this guy will run himself into the ground to help this team even even if it seems a bit hopeless.
 
#21
I think our defense would improve when Cuz gets his fitness back and when they play JT more minutes, a lot more minutes. Cuz can't do it yet and the coaches differ with me on the usage/playing time of JT. He could usefully have some of Reggie's minutes and some of DWill's minutes. It would improve our defense and wouldn't hurt our offense much.
 
#22
I am rooting for as quick of a resolution to this mess as humanly possible.
If Corbin is truly a 'lame-duck' coach, then I want him gone as soon as possible.

If the plan is really to install Mullin as the new coach, then I would far rather see his hand forced and him take over this season so we can see the experiment fail this season, rather than having to trudge though the rest of this season, then have to deal with all the 'growing pains/we don't know why Mullin's system isn't working' at the start of next season.
If the plan is to actually do the only smart thing and bring in Karl, I want Karl ASAP.

So I am actually torn here.
The play-offs are now completely out of reach despite Vivek's insistence that firing Malone was going to improve our odds. (I just can't get over the fact that he said that and all indications were that he was convinced of that....insanity)
I don't care about whether or not we keep our lottery pick or not. (In fact the way this FO has handled this mess, they deserve to end up with the 11th spot, 20 games out of the play-offs, lose their 1st round pick, and see STHs abandon them in droves)

All I care about is a speedy resolution...so I will be heartily rooting for all of the player's success on the court...and of course will also be rooting for the 'system' to be so flawed that wins are impossible to come by...because frankly, I think that is going to be the best way to force the FO's hand to actually do something....and I want that more than anything else at this point.

I want to mention one more thing...and it concerns the Phoenix Suns. If I was a fan of theirs...I'd be devastated right now.
There is zero chance that the small-ball stuff that is keeping them in the play-off discussion will have any hope of getting them 'real' play-off results.
And so if I were a fan of theirs, I would be rooting for my players, but rooting against actually winning, because winning in that system would only re-inforce the idea that the system 'could' work...and I would want the FO to abandon that mentality as quickly as possible.
I don't know if that makes sense...but all I care about is having a system put in place that will allow the Kings to be truly competitive in the future....and so I am desperate for something to happen which can give me a glimmer of hope...because right now...it's pretty bleak.
 

Bricklayer

Don't Make Me Use The Bat
#23
Here's the thing: I don't want Boogie to fail, for a variety of reasons. If he is going to try to just do the full on superstar bit and try to singlehandedly right this ship and get us playing like winners again, I want to see him succeed. And we probably want to see him succeed -- I have several times remarked about how if I was his legal side I would be preparing his way out, and this most recent nonsense just confirms that that might end up being in my client's best interests. Remarkably, the national media and public seem to have suddenly got it with Boogie after years, even into last year, of just fighting it tooth and nail. But now all of a sudden, they didn't forget that hot start. They aren't tagging him with this most recent example of losers in charge. That's great. But it also means this: Boogie is now officially in the process of outgrowing us. If we as lovable losers married a chubby chick who didn't take care of herself and considered flip flops high fashion, well 5 years into the relationship, she has really cleaned herself up, gotten into shape, and turned into one of the beauties of the county. She's becoming the belle of the ball, and everyone is going to start flirting with her. And if you just keep on slouching around your couch with your beer gut hanging over the waistband of yesterday's rumpled clothes, a 3 day old beard, and a can of cheap beer, you're going to lose her.

We do NOT want Cuz to start to see his own suddenly expanding horizons limited by our incompetence. We do NOT want to see him miss the All Star game again and look at us. We do NOT want to see him suffer through another 50 loss season and look at us. If he's truly ready to become a superstar leader dictating his team's style of play and success, then you want to see that go about as well as it can.
 

VF21

Super Moderator Emeritus
SME
#24
I am a big Kayte fan, and I know she was just doing her required job interview, but.....

damn! Can't she give Boogie the rest of the night off from talking? Guy almost killed himself out there - did you hear his voice? That was one sick puppy who should have immediately been put back on his IV-drip right after the game.
Put him back in the bubble and wheel him out at the beginning of the next game, then immediately back in it when over.
She had an assignment to do and she did it, as did all those reporters in the locker room who were a lot more intrusive than Kayte was.
 

VF21

Super Moderator Emeritus
SME
#25
Kings injury report for tonight:
Ramon Sessions (low back strain) - OUT
Eric Moreland (left shoulder labral tear) - OUT
 

Mr. S£im Citrus

Doryphore of KingsFans.com
Staff member
#26
What are you local types getting over KHTK right now? Because I don't know what this is that's being broadcast over the online version, but I'm pretty sure it's not Napear's show.
 
#28
I'm really liking pre-game TV analyst Doug Christie replacing Bobby Jackson last couple Kings games. Excellent analysis, clearly spoken, too the point. I assume this is permanent and it should be. BJax was ok, Doug is much better.
 

VF21

Super Moderator Emeritus
SME
#29
I'm really liking pre-game TV analyst Doug Christie replacing Bobby Jackson last couple Kings games. Excellent analysis, clearly spoken, too the point. I assume this is permanent and it should be. BJax was ok, Doug is much better.
I don't know if you can make that assumption. It's interesting, however, that Bobby has just dropped off the radar...
 
#30
What are you local types getting over KHTK right now? Because I don't know what this is that's being broadcast over the online version, but I'm pretty sure it's not Napear's show.
Apparently Napear show was not on today starting at 3pm PT due to pre-game starting on radio and TV at 4pm. Similar programming before for these east coast games on radio plus holiday season seems to have created some minor on-air changes with various personnel shuffles. Just heard Doug Christie on radio so not sure if he's just subbing for BJax on TV or will do some of both or back on radio full-time at some point.