[Grades] Grades v. Blazers 1/7/2014

[twslam07]

I want to give a huge shout-out to Thomas! He played excellent defense tonight. It was a thing of beauty. I had the best time watching Thomas lock up Lillard!! Also, a huge shout-out to Cousins locking up Aldridge 1-on-1. Keep up the effort on that side of the ball boys!!!

 

[Kingster]

I graded IT tonight, so I was watching Lillard extra close too. The 41 points he dropped look cool, but are worthless. Lillard started off in foul trouble and he turned the ball over a lot early on. He didn't show up until his team was down almost 20 points. By then the game was over with proper clock management and free throw shooting. It's really just stat padding as far as I am concerned, and I think IT knew that the game was over too.

...and many of the shots that Lillard took were in transition in which IT wasn't guarding Lillard; someone else (e.g. Thornton in a few cases) was. Lillard took advantage of when IT wasn't guarding him, not when he was.

 

[The_Jamal]

Let's not forget Thomas is still a young player learning the hardest position to play in the NBA. It's basically his first season under a real coach who actually has an offensive system.

Not only Thomas, but the whole team. Once you find a coach who knows what a basketball is, (I.E, not our coaches the last 6 years) then you need time for the guys to adjust to the system. Obviously, we can nit-pick Malone, but for the most part, he's done a nice job. Trying to build team chemistry and a defense with basically a brand new roster DURING the season is next to impossible. It'd be interesting to see how many NBA teams have changed 4 starters during the season for an extended period of time in NBA history.

 

[Padrino]

rudy gay's level of play since arriving in sacramento has surprised me considerably. watching him with the raptors earlier this season, and listening to him in interviews, he seemed utterly defeated. he sounded like a player who knew that his best days were behind him, that he was every bit as much of a detriment to his team as the critics had claimed. but playing with demarcus cousins has clearly opened up his game in ways that i wouldn't have thought possible, given just how far his reputation had sunk in the last couple of seasons...

last night you saw the full effect of the devastating offensive potential that cousins/gay have as a pairing. demarcus cousins played a total of 43 minutes. the impact of that extended time on the court was rather obvious (though i certainly wouldn't recommend it nightly, considering how gassed he looked in the 4th quarter). rudy gay played 31 minutes, before picking up the ticky-tackiest of his 6 fouls. his impact in those minutes was rather obvious, as well, particularly in his absence at the end of the game, as the kings' struggled to stave off a final blitz by the blazers...

weird as this game was, the weirdest part may have been the fact that the kings' offense looked sharpest when cousins/gay/fredette were on the court together. relax, jimmerfans, i'm not about to give jimmer that much credit, but, in his limited minutes, he played quite like a PG who understands his place in the pecking order, and knows how to stay out of the way. it allowed the offense to be run exclusively through couins and gay, and it was quite a sight to see those two dominating all over the court. it served as a partial example of what i would prefer from the kings' starting PG postion. as i said when the kings started a duo of demarcus cousins and tyreke evans, the team only really required a starting PG who could effectively move the ball, spot up a bit from outside, give some effort on defense, and know when he needed to get out of the way. in my opinion, the same generally holds true for a duo of cousins and gay...

given that gay is a much better outside shooter than evans, mid-career andre miller would actually be rather ideal as a starter on this team. 37-year-old andre miller would obviously just be a temporary patch at the position. a healthy rajon rondo would be the fantasy, because he's something like the very definition of an elite roleplayer. but the kings simply do not need isaiah thomas taking 14 shots per game in the starting unit. relax, IT acolytes, i'm not about to pile on the little fella. largely, he served his purpose last night, and, apart from the occasional lapse into hero-ball, it was distinctly a role player's performance. he did a solid job of setting up cousins and gay, and he was able to get out of the way when cousins and gay had their opportunities to dominate in one-on-one situations...

defensively, thomas was showing improved effort, but it was still quite a mixed bag with respect to results. i wouldn't give him nearly as much credit as i'm seeing across kf.com. it must be the burden of increasingly minimal expectations. simply witnessing thomas stay in front of his man or successfully fight through a screen is enough to make us go "wow," at this point. however, i maintain that he is still bound for a sixth man's role, if he remains in sacramento. in the meantime, i'll absolutely take a poor shooting performance from thomas and the W over a blistering shooting performance from thomas and a loss. the kings might be able to build some sustained chemistry if IT dials back the napolean complex on offense, and gives the right kind of effort everywhere else (again, a roleplayer's game). of course, that very napolean complex is what makes him a special talent, which is why i insist that the kings acquire a starting caliber PG in order to shift thomas back to sixth man, or leverage thomas' napolean complex into a worthwhile trade...

 

[Siranthony]

First, wheres the "All of the above" poll selection?

A great team effort! I really enjoyed watching last nights game. We have talent and things look to be shaping up.

 

[Kingster]

In the last 10 games the Kings have allowed on average 112.5 points per game. If they want to win some games, they better score a lot. There are going to be extremely few games of 95 points or fewer allowed from this bunch.

 

[FaStRmAn]

Not one to whine about refs but that call on Gay for his 6th foul was just.....foul. If that was a foul, they should just play a game of horse from the free throw line all night because every possession would end up being a defensive foul.

Love the game that IT, Cousins, and Gay had. Our big three was bigger than their Big 2 1/2 . I hope those rumors of Andre Miller are correct and the Kings pick him up. He is a good defender who can run a team. Unf0rtunatly they probably wont because he also likes to run his mouth too much. But we certainly could use a better defender/distributor from the guard position.

 

[sdballer]

Not one to whine about refs but that call on Gay for his 6th foul was just.....foul. If that was a foul, they should just play a game of horse from the free throw line all night because every possession would end up being a defensive foul.

Love the game that IT, Cousins, and Gay had. Our big three was bigger than their Big 2 1/2 . I hope those rumors of Andre Miller are correct and the Kings pick him up. He is a good defender who can run a team. Unf0rtunatly they probably wont because he also likes to run his mouth too much. But we certainly could use a better defender/distributor from the guard position.

The current miller is actually a rather poor defender, which may still be an upgrade for us.

 

[HighFlyingMonkey]

...and many of the shots that Lillard took were in transition in which IT wasn't guarding Lillard; someone else (e.g. Thornton in a few cases) was. Lillard took advantage of when IT wasn't guarding him, not when he was.

At a certain point you get tired of banging your head against a brick wall, just post the video, let people decide for themselves.

 

[Gilles]

Let's just say Malone tried everybody on Lillard, and there's simply no dynamic defenders on this roster.

 

[HereWeBoogie]

So he scored 7pts being guarded by ben, 3pts on Jimmer and 3 on DeMarcus. the rest of his 41 on Isaiah. i'd say Kingsters exaggerations are a little wild. always insisting that the majority of Isaiah's mans points are coming against other defenders.
and what in the world was Isaiah Thomas doing at 1:15? everyone in the paint was covered yet he was hanging out in there as if he was helping.



By the way: I want to mention that i did see a improved effort out of Isaiah on defense throughout alot of this game. i just find it comical that Kingster blames everyone else on the team for the points Isaiah's man scores every night

 

[treach1976]

At a certain point you get tired of banging your head against a brick wall, just post the video, let people decide for themselves.

The only defensive play (Blazers on D) they show was Lilliard's block on Jimmer's drive. It was grainy, but it looked like a hack to me. I don't think he touched the ball, but definitely hit Jimmer's forearm.

 

[Heuge]

Context matters...which was should have been clear in the grade write-up.
If the those numbers were up against a Chander-less struggling Knicks team resulting in a loss then you're absolutely correct and it's probably closer to an A- game.

Right now Cousins is having to fight gain respect and recognition as the most dominant big in the game. He's having to work extremely hard to change the narrative from 'He's a big kid with a lot of talent but will never reach that talent because he's got attitude issues.' to 'Wow, it looks as if he's got it pretty much figured out and...there isn't anyone in the league that can stop him.'
You get that narrative to change when you out-work, out-muscle, out-perform, and out-class the current MVP-discussion 'best big' while beating one of the top teams in the NBA.
The numbers are not as gaudy as you'd like them to be, especially since he did force some stuff and Lopez did do a good defensive job in many respects, but in reviewing the game Cousins looked like the All-star big who was forcing the other team to its knees, while Aldridge looked like a solid big who was knocking down shots in the flow of the offense. Cousins was a single made shot away from 50% and his missed FTs while frustrating did not hurt the Kings chances to win and the fact that Cousins had to go through a good defender in Lopez is testament to how forceful of a game he had.

These are the types of narrative-changing games that Cousins needs to continue to have in order to get the recognition that he deserves as well as bring the spotlight back to the Sacramento Kings as a team of some consequence.

I agree with nearly everything you said here. It is a matter of semantics but an A+ (perfect score here in the education world) in my opinion should be reserved for exceedingly great games. This game was very good, but it was not great. His free throws were so off the opposing team tried a hack-a-cuz (and failed).

Besides, during this particular game Cousin spent very little time both on defense or on offense 1 on 1 against MVP candidate Alridge.

 

[treach1976]

I agree with nearly everything you said here. It is a matter of semantics but an A+ (perfect score here in the education world) in my opinion should be reserved for exceedingly great games. This game was very good, but it was not great. His free throws were so off the opposing team tried a hack-a-cuz (and failed).

Besides, during this particular game Cousin spent very little time both on defense or on offense 1 on 1 against MVP candidate Alridge.

I agree with Heuge's assessment because I think DeMarcus is going to have more games like this, and more games better than this.

 

[sqwalk]

and what in the world was Isaiah Thomas doing at 1:15? everyone in the paint was covered yet he was hanging out in there as if he was helping.


That's the play that had me yelling at the TV. I kept rewinding as I couldn't believe that IT was complaining to his teammates that no one picked up Lilliard, yet it was HIS man. If they showed the whole transition play you would see that Thorton had his man, so IT just need to stay with Lilliard, but decided to double team Thorton's man on the break. It shocked me that IT would complain when it was clearly his fault. lol. I like IT, but please.

Anyway, I don't know if anyone caught this, but I found it quite humorous that Jerry Reynolds stated half way during the 4th quarter "As good as Lilliard is playing, Thomas is playing even better. Much better." Really? And that's after Lilliard already had 30 pts.

 

[Kingster]

So he scored 7pts being guarded by ben, 3pts on Jimmer and 3 on DeMarcus. the rest of his 41 on Isaiah. i'd say Kingsters exaggerations are a little wild. always insisting that the majority of Isaiah's mans points are coming against other defenders.
and what in the world was Isaiah Thomas doing at 1:15? everyone in the paint was covered yet he was hanging out in there as if he was My remarks are not intended to put IT on the All Defense team. It's merely to characterize appropriately his defense or lack thereof in proportion to his actual defense or lack thereof, not some a priori conclusion based on assumption.

By the way: I want to mention that i did see a improved effort out of Isaiah on defense throughout alot of this game. i just find it comical that Kingster blames everyone else on the team for the points Isaiah's man scores every night

Before coming to your conclusions, I'd ask that you go back over the last 3 games, grade every single defensive play, then opine on IT's defense or lack thereof. The point is to characterize IT's defense not on a priori assumption, but on a record of the facts. He's obviously never going to be Dennis Johnson or Gary Peyton, but it's just lazy to make conclusions on the basis of assumption, not observation.

 

[Bricklayer]

and what in the world was Isaiah Thomas doing at 1:15? everyone in the paint was covered yet he was hanging out in there as if he was helping.


That's the play that had me yelling at the TV. I kept rewinding as I couldn't believe that IT was complaining to his teammates that no one picked up Lilliard, yet it was HIS man. If they showed the whole transition play you would see that Thorton had his man, so IT just need to stay with Lilliard, but decided to double team Thorton's man on the break. It shocked me that IT would compain when it was clearly his fault. lol. I like IT, but please.

Anyway, I don't know if anyone caught this, but I found it quite humorous that Jerry Reynolds stated half way during the 4th quarter "As good as Lilliard is playing, Thomas is playing even better. Much better." Really? And that's after Lilliard already had 30 pts.

Oh I caught it. Reynolds is jumping the shark on the whole IT thing. Just constant drivel. Sounds desperate. The lectures in particular. Mentioned before if he wasn't married I'd wonder. He's got little hearts in his eyes. Grant does it too actually. Every single time he can't deny a mistake by IT (his preferred mode), the very next statement of his is inevitably "but that Isaiah, you sure can't ever question his effort though". Then Jerry chips in with something along the same lines "no that's right, he leaves it on the floor every night, if you don't love Isaiah Thomas then you just don't know what its like to have a man crush".

 

[Glenn]

I have run into the complaints about IT at 1:15 min of some video and I think the agenda of getting to IT's fans is going a bit far. One play in one game proves nothing and I even see that there is some disagreement about what this couple of seconds of time represents. If both sides were reasonable, it might be a very interesting discussion because IT is interesting. Unfortunately, a great number on both sides are exagerating and any time that happens, I tend to turn off. If exageration is necessary, I wonder about the underlying "truth."

 

[Prince_XY]

Nice win by our Kings.

We are probably one defensive and pass-first point guard away from being a playoff contending team. IT, no matter how much effort he gives on defense just wouldn't be enough. The guy is just too small to be our starting PG and will always be a big liability in defense.

 

[Padrino]

Oh I caught it. Reynolds is jumping the shark on the whole IT thing. Just constant drivel. Sounds desperate. The lectures in particular. Mentioned before if he wasn't married I'd wonder. He's got little hearts in his eyes. Grant does it too actually. Every single time he can't deny a mistake by IT (his preferred mode), the very next statement of his is inevitably "but that Isaiah, you sure can't ever question his effort though". Then Jerry chips in with something along the same lines "no that's right, he leaves it on the floor every night, if you don't love Isaiah Thomas then you just don't know what its like to have a man crush".

it's beyond overbearing, at this point. a casual observer might be inclined to believe that isaiah thomas is up for all-star consideration this season rather than demarcus cousins. i always assumed that grant and jerry had been operating under a cynical directive from the old regime to pump up isaiah thomas in an effort to sell tickets/jerseys, considering that demarcus cousins, for all of his skill and talent, isn't exactly mr. marketable. but it appears that either old habits die hard or grant and jerry really are in the middle of some bizarro world contest for the affections of "the hustlin' huskie"...

it's fairly irritating to put up with them gushing on and on and on and on about isaiah thomas, while failing to voice a single insightful or original though about, say, the kings' franchise cornerstone. this season, grant's been prone to repeating "no one can stop him, jerry" in response to cousins' dominance... but that's about it. it's as if grant and jerry have been so preoccupied with stroking off IT's ego that they've simply lost the ability to quantify the stellar play of any other king of note, although jerry's absolutely terrible nickname generator has peaked to hyperbolic levels of absurdity since rudy gay's arrival in sacramento, and it has me thinking twice about whether or not it's worth it to hope that either of these two bozos will have anything of substance to say about this kings team if they ever start winning again...

when the kings faced off against the lakers in the 2002 western conference finals, bill walton was offering color commentary for one of the networks that aired the nba playoffs. it was terribly nauseating to listen to walton's particular brand of verbal diarrhea, so my pops and i decided to mute the television broadcast, and we would listen to gary gerould call the games on the radio while we watched. grant and jerry's incessant blathering about isaiah thomas has me wanting to fall back on a strategy i haven't needed to use in over a decade. it's that bad...

 

[MassachusettsKingsFan]

I think needing a 'pass-first' point guard is kind of a phrase a lot of people like to use, but not exactly accurate for what we need. It's to simple.

We had a pass first point guard, and he was terrible. So was the team.

We could use a point guard who is a defender first and foremost, then passer, then shooter. I'd take elite defender over elite passer. But If you really want an upgrade to IT, that guy has to do all of those things. I think Thomas is a good enough passer, a good enough shooter, but not the defender we need him to be. Not on a team like this one.

Thomas is really good. I don't love the fit here anymore, but he's good. There are only a handful of point guards that actually make sense for this team AND would provide a big enough upgrade to rationalize pursuing.

Rajon Rondo is the guy. I thought MCW could be that guy. Jrue Holiday. The list is very short. There are others, but those guys just aren't available.

You could go out and get a guy like Mario Chalmers, or Kyle Lowry .. but I just don't know. I don't know if the team would be considerably better, if at all. I'd be open to giving Lowry a shot.

That's why I'd go after the defensive shotblocker / big man first. If you can get Rondo, get Rondo, if not - focus on the big we need.

This whole scenario changes if Gay opts out, or doesn't stick around for whatever reason. Then the added scoring out of our point guard would be needed, or made up somewhere else.

 

[HereWeBoogie]

Well we might be able to get that needed big in the draft. first name that comes to mind is Embiid. the guy is a legit 7'2 right now. and he has only been playing basketball for 4 years i believe. sky is the limit. and he is athletic and moves extremely well, he moves like Serge Ibaka as Bill Simmons suggested. rather than some of these clumsy dorky 7 footers like Brook Lopez and Roy Hibbert

 

[Bricklayer]

Before coming to your conclusions, I'd ask that you go back over the last 3 games, grade every single defensive play, then opine on IT's defense or lack thereof. The point is to characterize IT's defense not on a priori assumption, but on a record of the facts. He's obviously never going to be Dennis Johnson or Gary Peyton, but it's just lazy to make conclusions on the basis of assumption, not observation.

I've mentioned before that getting whipped so bad a teammates has to pick up your man doesn't mean you didn't blow the play. Getting caught on a pick 20 feet from the hoop and never recovering doesn't mean your man then scored on Cuz or JT trying to help. Being beat so routinely the coach switches defensive matchups to hide your sorry ass doesn't mean you aren't the defensive problem.

I do think the last 2 or 3 games Isaiah has shown considerably better defensive effort. But his man is still scoring a ton. And I think a huge issue remains his size. Isaiah can work as hard as he wants, physics and biology still mean that when Kemba Walker or Damian Lillard get hot from three, there's nothing he can do short of pantsing them. In high school the difference between 5'9" and 6"3 is often the difference between a PG and a PF or even a small center.

P.S. People talking like Lillard is a big driver that IT kept out of the lane. Lillard is not a driver at all. He finishes poorly despite the athleticism, and rarely uses the inbetween game. He's a bomber. An epic bomber of the Curry class. And he bombed us. Not because of bad It defense particularly, except for that one late play where he got picked. But being 5'9" certainly does not help when you try to get a hand up and all you can do is maybe pick the guy's nose.

 

[Padrino]

I think needing a 'pass-first' point guard is kind of a phrase a lot of people like to use, but not exactly accurate for what we need. It's to simple.

We had a pass first point guard, and he was terrible. So was the team.

We could use a point guard who is a defender first and foremost, then passer, then shooter. I'd take elite defender over elite passer. But If you really want an upgrade to IT, that guy has to do all of those things. I think Thomas is a good enough passer, a good enough shooter, but not the defender we need him to be. Not on a team like this one.

Thomas is really good. I don't love the fit here anymore, but he's good. There are only a handful of point guards that actually make sense for this team AND would provide a big enough upgrade to rationalize pursuing.

Rajon Rondo is the guy. I thought MCW could be that guy. Jrue Holiday. The list is very short. There are others, but those guys just aren't available.

You could go out and get a guy like Mario Chalmers, or Kyle Lowry .. but I just don't know. I don't know if the team would be considerably better, if at all. I'd be open to giving Lowry a shot.

That's why I'd go after the defensive shotblocker / big man first. If you can get Rondo, get Rondo, if not - focus on the big we need.

This whole scenario changes if Gay opts out, or doesn't stick around for whatever reason. Then the added scoring out of our point guard would be needed, or made up somewhere else.

the kings don't need an elite defender at the PG position, although that would be nice. what they need is an effective rim protector opposite demarcus cousins. but such a player is not exactly waiting around the corner to be scooped up by sacramento. those guys are hard to find. in the meantime, this team sure could use a starting PG who's a capable defender/distributor, and who is comfortable in a supporting role...

anyway, it's not about providing "a big enough upgrade" over thomas' production. there aren't that many guards in the league able to produce above IT's numbers from this season. but it's not even about numbers; it's about fit. if cousins/gay are the kings' primary scoring options going forward, then you simply don't need a scoring PG in the starting unit. thomas is a natural fit as the team's sixth man if cousins/gay are the major pieces going forward, so i'd go find a solid veteran role player to steady the ship a bit at PG, and either let IT rampage off the bench when the team needs a boost, or trade him while his value is high for more defensive help...

 

[HereWeBoogie]

what they need is an effective rim protector opposite demarcus cousins. but such a player is not exactly waiting around the corner to be scooped up by sacramento. those guys are hard to find.

The idea of this man playing next to DeMarcus Cousins is exciting.

the dream shake at 1:22

a player that can make plays like this in the frontcourt next to Big Cuz? sign me up.

 

[Bricklayer]

The idea of this man playing next to DeMarcus Cousins is exciting.

the dream shake at 1:22

a player that can make plays like this in the frontcourt next to Big Cuz? sign me up.

Unfortunately a pipe dream unless we get a real lucky ping pong bounce. Which we are due for mind you.

 

[CruzDude]

I'm looking forward to the Indiana game. Not so much against Orlando...

But the Magic game will be a true measuring stick of progress and togetherness and team defense. If they do it then real progress will be made. If not and they play down to the worse competition, then no real progress. They damm well know they are better but need to play like they need to prove it. Period.

 

[sqwalk]

Yeah, I've been watching a ton of college bball this year, and if the Kings can keep Rudy and then have the ping pong bounce the right way, Joel Embiid is a no brainer for this team. The guy has only played 4 years of organized ball, very athletic, and his idol is Hakeem. He's the perfect compliment next to Cuz.

I know it's a pipe dream, but if the Kings can somehow grab Embiid, they will be a force in a few years no doubt. With Cuz, Gay, and Embiid, they can prob make the playoffs every year even if the rest of their teammates are just scrubs.

 

[HereWeBoogie]

Unfortunately a pipe dream unless we get a real lucky ping pong bounce. Which we are due for mind you.

Not if we keep up the winning percentage we are at right now lol. we might be guaranteed like a top 6 pick at worst

 

[Bricklayer]

Not if we keep up the winning percentage we are at right now lol. we might be guaranteed like a top 6 pick at worst

Good luck with that.