jcwkings
All-Star
I would rather play Casspi 35 minutes and Gay 24-30 tbh. Casspi affects the game in many ways, Gay is a blackhole that does nothing else but score.
[Grades] Grades v. Brown Dwarfs 1/2/2016
- Thread starter Bricklayer
- Start date
I would rather play Casspi 35 minutes and Gay 24-30 tbh. Casspi affects the game in many ways, Gay is a blackhole that does nothing else but score.
The Hammer
All-Star
Sure, I get that.
But the basic breakdown is still within a certain range there. A range where WCS get significant minutes.
Siranthony
Starter
It seems like he has gotten better with more playing time.
Our defense wasn't that bad. You can't really look at much of the second half as good evidence. If good defense were played in blowout games they would more likely result in a team winning by 40 rather than 20.
J
JoseCousins
Guest
He just got back from injury and needs to get in game shape. Geez...I'm sure he will be get minutes like he did prior to injury soon.
J
JoseCousins
Guest
Have u seen iggy play defense? Gay has no chance there. We should hope he relies on the mid range and passes the ball when on the perimeter instead of ball stopping a double teamed postup
King Baller
All-Star
Watch who is guarding Rudy most games. Usually it is the other teams best wing defender. About the only time I recall Casspi being checked by the other teams defensive dog is the GSW game when Casspi posted a career high. Sometime around mid-game I noticed Iguodala in Casspi's face at the 3 point line. If you remember after that Omri found it more difficult to get open looks. Also Rudy has been working as a 4 and loses his height advantage he has over most 3's.
kingsboi
Hall of Famer
Yeah, getting yanked after one missed defensive assignment will be a great morale booster.
bajaden
Hall of Famer
bajaden
Hall of Famer
I don't see a problem with keeping Koufos. He's a solid backup center, and is fairly consistent in what he does. Actually I can see a three man rotation working just fine with Cuz, WCS, and Koufos. The problem starts when you enter Gay into the equation at PF. Keep Gay at SF, and it's not a problem, unless you see Casspi as our starting SF. If so, then you have to trade Gay. Personally, I have mixed emotions about it. I like Gay, but he only plays defense when he wants to, and he has trouble resisting the urge to dribble the leather off the ball at times. He has trouble rebounding at times. This season in particular, he's been very inconsistent. Easy to blame Karls system for that, and that in fact may be part of the problem, but, I've seen games where he's operating within the system, and he's played very well. So not sure. Gay is certainly athletic enough to play at a faster pace, and I'm sure it's not part of Karls system to dribble into double and triple teams. Especially after passing up an open shot on the perimeter. There's enough blame to go around for everyone.
bajaden
Hall of Famer
What your essentially saying, is that Gay isn't an upper tier player. Because if he were, then it wouldn't matter who is guarding him. At least not to the extent that it has this year. I remember someone asking Rick Barry, who in the NBA could stop him. He said, No one, but there are a few players that make me work harder. Gay is best when he's the number three guy on the team. Right now, he's holding down the number two spot, and at times, not always, he sucks the air out of the ball. I don't think Casspi is a number two player either, so in my opinion, were lacking that number two player.
I like our frontcourt the way it is with ideally Gay-WCS-Cuz starting and Casspi and Koufos getting heavy minutes off the bench.
Even Guy at PF is not that bad and I would argue it is needed specially when WCS is out since Cuz-KK pairing rarely works. Of course, Guy as PF should be used as needed, not as a rule.
J
JoseCousins
Guest
He didn't look dejected to me. He is a big boy. We need to stop babying players. I know WCS realize this is a mans league
kingsboi
Hall of Famer
What we also need to do is let players play through their struggles and especially a rookie you just spent a lottery pick on, who you know...will make mistakes, he needs a little more leeway from Karl to become the player this team expects him to become.
J
JoseCousins
Guest
I agree but it was his 1ST Game Back! For all you know he could have asked out.
kingsboi
Hall of Famer
What do you mean ask out? Trill didn't play until the game got out of hand...he played garbage minutes.
Dude, it's his first game back after a month. Absolutely 0 problems holding him out and letting him get back into a game day routine.
Reports said that it was likely he was going to make his return tomorrow anyway, and not on Saturday. He was likely just an emergency big if injuries happened.
kingsboi
Hall of Famer
I wasn't talking about playing him big minutes right away. I'm simply stating that with him back from injury now that Karl stops yanking him around and actually gives him some playing time this time around and not just spot minutes.
Agree. Leave it to Karl.
I don't particularly feel like those two posts are compatible with each other.
Ben needs to play with more aggressiveness and confidence. I see so much Jimmy butler potential in Ben but leaves me disappointed in most nights. I still believe he'll turn it around though.
King Baller
All-Star
Karl has reduced his minutes from 30+ minutes per game last season to 21 minutes a game this season. He primarily starts the 1st and 3rd quarters defending the other teams best guard. In the 2nd and 4th quarters most of the SG minutes are taken by Collison and Belinelli. Karl is choosing ball handling and the ability to get their own shots over Ben's better defense. I'm not saying Ben is a great defender, just that he is better than Belinelli. Collison is a good defender but at 6' tall he gets mismatched on the myriad of switches Karl has the Kings running on defense.
In Malones offense Ben got more open looks and now in Karls he has less opportunity. If Karl was serious about playing the best defensive players he would play Ben and Willie more minutes.
All that said a lot of this is on Ben because he needs to become elite at one NBA skill. I think he can hang his hat on defense but he needs to be schooled in NBA Dog Defense 101 or something. Ben needs to seek out advice from the likes of Tony Allen and Gary Payton. He has the physical tools but he needs to add the mental side of playing defense.
Karl is in desperate need of an overhaul of his game plan. I think Vlade should let Karl hang around but have someone else be the "real" Coach. See what Jerry Colangelo is doing in Philly.
SacKings384
Starter
I'd rather just get rid of Gay at this point. Every team he has left has gotten better upon his departure.
Bricklayer
Don't Make Me Use The Bat
I've mentioned this before, but most great defenders are either a) buttholes; or b) Battier type brains. And mostly its a).
I've mentioned before my disdain for soft little glory hound offensive players in any sport. great defenders have a different attitude. They are the tough guys. They like the work. The good ones like to inflict a little pain. The great ones like to receive it too. And they want to dominate you and make you cry if they can. They cheat. They wag their finger in your face. They bang you around just because they can. They whisper sweet nothings about your mother. And they compete and they compete and they compete. Its just what they are, and you can't be a great defender unless you burn with that sort of fire.
Ben is not going to be a great defender. he's not even naturally disruptive. He's not naturally physical, which is a bit disappointing given that he once was a high school center (I'm thinking must have just been tallest kid/rail thin runner type). And he's entirely too nice for the job, without even a remote hint of the sort of BBall IQ that let a guy like Battier professor his way into defensive excellence. He might become solid, even a possibility of good I suppose, but he'll never have what Tony Allen or Gary Payton had. You can't teach it.
I would have said that most elite defenders have been borderline sociopaths. But "***holes" works, too.
bajaden
Hall of Famer
The offense that Karl runs is made to order for elite athlete's that can jump and run. Unfortunately they also have to be able to handle the ball. While Ben has improved his ballhandling, he still has a way to go to reach the level of a Butler etc. My point is, that if Ben can't find touches in this system, then the problem is his, not the system or Karl, or his teammates. This system is made to order for him. But he has to be aggressive, and that's been the knock on him since highschool. We can't wish him into someone he's not, he has to do that. I don't know if he ever will. Right now, he's an NBA player, but he's not an elite player. As an example, Gerald Wallace was an elite athlete, but very unskilled in many areas. Just like Ben. But Wallace was an aggressive SOB, and you knew it was just a matter of time before he turned into a very good player. The only thing stopping Ben, is Ben. Not the coach, his teammates or the system.
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kingsboi
Hall of Famer
But....Paul George and Kawhi Leonard aren't "A holes" and they are considered elite. Jimmy Butler on the other hand...
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