[Game] Game 81: Kings v. Lakers, 4/13/15 - 7pdt, 10edt

[Chicken Chaser]

Almost the end of the 4th quarter and the game thread hasn't even broken 1 page yet lol

 

[Mr. S£im Citrus]

That settles it: trade Landry and the pick for a starting quality PF, make Thompson the full-time backup C, give Evans a rally towel, and throw Hollins off the roof of STA.

 

[sdballer]

They trade Cousins in another rebuild and watch what happens to game threads then

 

[Tetsujin]

They trade Cousins in another rebuild and watch what happens to game threads then

All I'm saying is that if they trade Boogie, I'm going to stop telling people I'm from Sacramento and start telling them I'm from Fresno.

 

[Mr. S£im Citrus]

Almost the end of the 4th quarter and the game thread hasn't even broken 1 page yet lol

You and @IfAt1st seem to be obsessed with this topic, but this still isn't close to the worst it's been. You can go back in the Archives, and see that we've had Game threads with less than half this many posts.

 

[Chicken Chaser]

Anyone notice George is wearing his old glasses?

 

[Mr. S£im Citrus]

Good, no mercy.

 

[Mr. S£im Citrus]

Cue Luda.

 

[Mr. S£im Citrus]

I wonder if Thompson is still allowed to call Casspi "Rook"?

 

[Tetsujin]

And, of course, the SF that we reportedly don't want back comes up with other good performance to lead the team.

Yet another successful pick by Geoff Petrie or something...

 

[Capt. Factorial]

And, of course, the SF that we reportedly don't want back comes up with other good performance to lead the team.

I'm not sure I'm going to elevate that conjecture from Dave to "reportedly". Dave seems to think there's going to be a lot of turnover in the offseason. So be it. Doesn't mean we don't want Casspi back. With the way he has played this year we basically have to bring him back as long as we can fit it in with whatever other plans we make.

 

[NowImLost]

I didn't get to catch the game tonight, good thing I didn't while reading Slim's posts.

Looks like Omri and Derrick had productive games.

I definitely would like to see both back in Kings' uniforms next season.

Go Kings!
Sacramento Proud!

 

[Mr. S£im Citrus]

I didn't get to catch the game tonight, good thing I didn't while reading Slim's posts.

:: shrugs ::

Can't please everybody.

 

[jcwkings]

The only thing noteworthy I saw was that both Ben and Nik were benched at the end. Neither was good enough to be on the floor against the LA D fenders. YIKES.

 

[KingMilz]

Casspi been terrific to finish out the season (which could make him to expense to re-sign) and has without any contest been the Kings best bench/hustle player this year, Derrick was solid (still did quiet a bit of dumb stuff) and Dre once again ran the offense to perfection for stretches.

Better rookie season Thomas Robinson or Nik? Nik to me has been considerably worse than Ben was.

 

[Ron]

Casspi been terrific to finish out the season (which could make him to expense to re-sign) and has without any contest been the Kings best bench/hustle player this year, Derrick was solid (still did quiet a bit of dumb stuff) and Dre once again ran the offense to perfection for stretches.

Better rookie season Thomas Robinson or Nik? Nik to me has been considerably worse than Ben was.

You're forgetting Reggie. I think he was great off the bench.
That's SOME competition to Casspi's performence, at least...

 

[mac]

Real reason why guys were inactive:

 

[Tetsujin]

Real reason why guys were inactive:

Rudy and Boogie seem to like each other... Let's trade them!

 

[twslam07]

Casspi been terrific to finish out the season (which could make him to expense to re-sign) and has without any contest been the Kings best bench/hustle player this year, Derrick was solid (still did quiet a bit of dumb stuff) and Dre once again ran the offense to perfection for stretches.

Better rookie season Thomas Robinson or Nik? Nik to me has been considerably worse than Ben was.

I disagree. You could always tell Nik had a feel for the game. Even when he wasn't effective earlier in the season. To me, that reassured me that he would eventually figure it out. McLemore didn't have that same feel for the game which made me worry about him a lot more, but he showed great progress this season. Give him credit for his work ethic. I actually think both of our young guys are headed in the right direction in their development. The question is how soon will they be able to contribute at the level we need them to (meaning a vet SG would be nice)?

Stauskas at least finished the season strong (before he started having back spasms). Ben wasn't playing as well as Stauskas was to end the year last year. We were just kind of left with questions. Stauskas put together a 46%/47% month from the floor and 3pt land. He seemed very comfortable during that stretch prior to his injury. He was knocking down shots with confidence, seemed more aggressive with his dribble, and was making good passes/smart decisions with the ball.

I come away with more hope for Stauskas than I did McLemore last year.

 

[Mr. S£im Citrus]

Stauskas at least finished the season strong (before he started having back spasms). Ben wasn't playing as well as Stauskas was to end the year last year. We were just kind of left with questions. Stauskas put together a 46%/47% month from the floor and 3pt land. He seemed very comfortable during that stretch prior to his injury. He was knocking down shots with confidence, seemed more aggressive with his dribble, and was making good passes/smart decisions with the ball.

I don't know what it is that you're basing this statement on, but a comparison of the last fifteen games of McLemore's rookie season and the last fifteen games of Stauskas' rookie season does not favor Nik Stauskas, even if you factor for minutes.

 

[Tetsujin]

I disagree. You could always tell Nik had a feel for the game. Even when he wasn't effective earlier in the season. To me, that reassured me that he would eventually figure it out. McLemore didn't have that same feel for the game which made me worry about him a lot more, but he showed great progress this season. Give him credit for his work ethic. I actually think both of our young guys are headed in the right direction in their development. The question is how soon will they be able to contribute at the level we need them to (meaning a vet SG would be nice)?

Stauskas at least finished the season strong (before he started having back spasms). Ben wasn't playing as well as Stauskas was to end the year last year. We were just kind of left with questions. Stauskas put together a 46%/47% month from the floor and 3pt land. He seemed very comfortable during that stretch prior to his injury. He was knocking down shots with confidence, seemed more aggressive with his dribble, and was making good passes/smart decisions with the ball.

I come away with more hope for Stauskas than I did McLemore last year.

Ben ended his rookie season with a stretch of solid basketball, capping it off with a 31 point, 5 rebound, 5 assist performance, which is 90% likely to be a better last game of the season than whatever performance Nik can put together tomorrow.

This isn't a crap on Nik post. Rather I feel like we're letting our own perceived versions of Ben the non-star player cloud our perception. While he probably isn't ready to start in this league, he's still performing better than Nik and has at least proven himself to be worthy of a roster spot.

I kind of feel like Ben's situation is a bit like Jason Thompson's in which there'll always be a really vocal contingent of guys looking to displace him for (random player A), mainly because the guy hasn't turned out to be a star in the league as a lottery pick.

 

[twslam07]

I don't know what it is that you're basing this statement on, but a comparison of the last fifteen games of McLemore's rookie season and the last fifteen games of Stauskas' rookie season does not favor Nik Stauskas, even if you factor for minutes.

Right, that's why I took into consideration his injury.

 

[pshn80]

I don't know what it is that you're basing this statement on, but a comparison of the last fifteen games of McLemore's rookie season and the last fifteen games of Stauskas' rookie season does not favor Nik Stauskas, even if you factor for minutes.

Any observations on the comparison besides stats? For me, Nik has the advantage talent-wise even today. Ben has th advantage right now physically even though Nik is 1 1/2 niches taller. With the assumption that Nik gets stronger, I give him the long term advantage.

Never-the-less, I clearly believe we need a starting SG that's farther along than either one f them. So we need to trade for a new SG, better pla maker, which most likely means one of our two must go. Give the coach and the trademakers the flexibility here.

 

[twslam07]

Ben ended his rookie season with a stretch of solid basketball, capping it off with a 31 point, 5 rebound, 5 assist performance, which is 90% likely to be a better last game of the season than whatever performance Nik can put together tomorrow.

This isn't a poopoo on Nik post. Rather I feel like we're letting our own perceived versions of Ben the non-star player cloud our perception. While he probably isn't ready to start in this league, he's still performing better than Nik and has at least proven himself to be worthy of a roster spot.

I kind of feel like Ben's situation is a bit like Jason Thompson's in which there'll always be a really vocal contingent of guys looking to displace him for (random player A), mainly because the guy hasn't turned out to be a star in the league as a lottery pick.

I guess I was more impressed with how Stauskas played throughout the entire month of March before gettting hurt versus the last 4 games of the season for McLemore. I'm not trying to put one down versus the other. I'm just remember back to how I felt about McLemore at the end of the year versus how I feel about Stauskas towards the end of this year.

 

[Spike]

Rudy and Boogie seem to like each other... Let's trade them!

Why build camaraderie? What does getting to know your teammate have to do with creating a winning product? Turnstyles until it works! NBA3.0 baby! Eventually some combination will create an instant championship!!

 

[Chubbs]

The only thing noteworthy I saw was that both Ben and Nik were benched at the end. Neither was good enough to be on the floor against the LA D fenders. YIKES.

He's saving them for another run at the summer league championship.

 

[Mr. S£im Citrus]

Any observations on the comparison besides stats? For me, Nik has the advantage talent-wise even today. Ben has th advantage right now physically even though Nik is 1 1/2 niches taller. With the assumption that Nik gets stronger, I give him the long term advantage.

I'm not feeling it. I don't see any particular talent advantage that Stauskas has over McLemore. Also, what reason do I have to believe that Stauskas is ever going to close the strength and conditioning gap between him and McLemore?

 

[pshn80]

I'm not feeling it. I don't see any particular talent advantage that Stauskas has over McLemore. Also, what reason do I have to believe that Stauskas is ever going to close the strength and conditioning gap between him and McLemore?

Talent-wise, right now I see Nik much closer to the non-PG play maker that Karl spoke of in his presser yesterday than Ben. So, as to your question about whether we have any reason to expect Nik to strengthen and improve his conditioning, I would raise the same question about Ben becoming the play maker that Karl wants. But you are right, it is not clear what the future holds for improving by either. Let's get a journeyman play maker for the job until we find out if either is going perform as a starter.

 

[Bricklayer]

Talent-wise, right now I see Nik much closer to the non-PG play maker that Karl spoke of in his presser yesterday than Ben. So, as to your question about whether we have any reason to expect Nik to strengthen and improve his conditioning, I would raise the same question about Ben becoming the play maker that Karl wants. But you are right, it is not clear what the future holds for improving by either. Let's get a journeyman play maker for the job until we find out if either is going perform as a starter.

I think stylewise you are right. We need a rich man's Nik, not a Ben.

Problem is we just have normal Nik, and so the style is right, but the talent is very VERY much in question after he wasn't even able to put together the traditional late rookie season fake charge.

 

[Mr. S£im Citrus]

What does a "rich man's" Stauskas look like, exactly? Prime!Brent Barry, maybe?