Bricklayer
Don't Make Me Use The Bat
10-36, but a better looking loss. Well...if you ignore getting outrebounded 49-25 and giving up 117pts to another team (we are allowing an unheard of 114ppg to opponents in January).
Only 3 people got the margin right (6-10pts) in a game that probably ended up about right scorewise, but that saw us down by 20 in the 4th. PMs are going out -- it will be their theme choice for tommorow (if anybody responds).
Tonight, as promised: 10 Best SFs in Kings History
Salmons ( B- ) -- the good news is that Salmons has been one guy actually playing in the 4th quarter of games this month. That bad news is he is doing exactly jack and...dung for the three quarters that proceed it, and these one quarter games of his are creating havoc for my grading schemes. Spent most of the game getting whipped by LeBron, and getting chippy about it too. Did have a couple of good early takes, but LeBron was sitting at 17pts 10rebs 5ast by halftime and the only time he got stopped was when we triple teamed him. Meanwhile I think John was in single digits through three quarters. As usual opened the 4th trying to do his force takeover thing with Kevin out, but swarming defense caused him to almost turn it over and Natt only let him do it for a minute or two before resinserting Kevin (John did not lok happy). After he returned latyer he was caught somewhere in between padding his stats and being a 4th quarter hero again. A couple of 4th quarter hits, including a three, which were far too little too late, but did succeed in getting LeBron reinserted (uh...yay?). And then just took it right at LeBron after he returned, spalshing two shots in his face and then getting inside and to the line. Of course it just did not matter with us letting the Cavs score every trip as well, and predictably the more evident that became, the more John started going one on one and forcing, particularly after one starnge play where Kevin bizarrely passed up a perfect wide open three so he could rack up a turnover instead. So, stuck on this one I am going to pay rather more respect to the scoring numbers and 4th quarter push than I probably should. This wasn't actaully a good game, this was a good quarter. And the goodness in the quarter came after we were already down 15-20. So I was tempted by the C+ type grades.
#1 Ron Artest
Career Stats
With Kings: 06-08
Best Year With The Kings: 07-08 20.5pts 5.8reb 3.5ast 2.3stl 0.7blk
Love him or hate him, here he is. So recent as to be an uninteresting selection, and with only one player anybody might quibble should be above him, this should be a simple selection, and yet it wasn't. Ron Artest is a remarkable talent. He can play both ends of the court in dominant fashion. His physicality makes him a nightmare matchup for the finesse weenies that infest a sport like basketball. He has amazingly quick and strong hands on defense, understands the draw and kick, how to split double teams, his outside shot is very underrated, and other than unacceptably pedestrian rebounding numbers, he fills up a stat sheet as well as anybody below the Lebron class of players. And yet he will never be what he could be, could never be our main man, because of the solid rock perched atop his shoulders. Selfish, deluded, troubled, his years with us were ultimately failures like his years with everybody else have been, but as we spiral into oblivion here, it becomes more and more obvious just what an impact he had for us just by elevating what have been exposed as a very sad set of teammates to a facade of competititveness.
Thompson ( B- ) -- not much against what's left of Big Ben in the early going. Had one good hit where he gathered himself in the post, but otherwise looked uncomfortable and was almost completely shut off of the boards. Started off the second half better, and was attacking Wallace inside and out (and Wallace was laughable at the other end, fumbling passes, badly missing a dunk, airballing a FT, you name it) Jason in fact was actually the main guy keeping us in it there for a stretch as the Cavs were flirting with getting it to double figures in the third. Did not have much to do late as once again Natt smallballed down the stretch, because I guess he decided we weren't getting whipped on the glass badly enough (49-25) as it was. Then again with us in azone most of the night, Jason did absolutely nothing for us on the glass this time out, so maybe it really did not matter. 16pts, 2rebs -- kind of the Kevin Martin of PFs this time out, and so I could not go any higher with this grade. Kevin's one dimensionality keeps him from being elite, but he still plays a position with a lot of one dimensional guys. A PF with that kind of one dimensionality...well, lets hope (and I do assume) its just a one time aberration.
#2 Peja Stojakovic
Career Stats
With Kings: 98-06
Best Year With The Kings: 03-04 24.2pts 6.3reb 2.1ast 1.3stl 0.2blk
And once Ron Ron appeared at #1, it was of course beyond obvious who would be sitting there at #2. And it should have been equally obvious which picture I was going to use. Dreamy golden boy and the object of Ailene's adoration, the designated shooter right through the golden era of Sacramento Kings basketball, and now filling a similar (although much deteriorated) role for another great team down in New Orleans. He never had the versatility to his game that Ron did, did not have that same sheen of potential franchise player. But as a steady weapon that you could just plug into a great team, few were better. One of the best long range shooters to pass through the NBA, and despite physical limitations eventually worked himself into respectability in most other areas of the game. Was never the same after his fellow countryman and mentor Vlade left, and got exposed toward the end of his run with the Kings. Complaints about his toughness, hustle and heart helped sour his once golden reputation in Sacramento, but I suspect that will eventually fade as his time here gets the romantic wash of being part of "the good ole days."
Miller ( C ) -- had a couple of early scores, then disappeared for the rest of the half and in fact rarely played after recieving a little cut over his eyebrow. Not sure if it was related or not. Was back out for the beginning of the third, and for a while there at least provided a little rebounding on a night when basically nobody else did (Kevin led the team with 7). But then largely disappeared for the remainder of the game as we experimented with Spencer and of course more smallball. His opponents inside did absolutely nothng as well, which factored into holding this grade up. But Brad was inolved for maybe 6 minutes of this one at the very beginning , and then jsut no part of the story thereafter.
#3 Lionel Simmons
Career Stats
With Kings: 90-97
Best Year With The Kings: 91-92 17.1pts 8.1reb 4.3ast 1.7stl 1.7blk
And now we move out of the realm of the obvious, and into the realm of the many good but not great SFs the Kings have trotted out there over the losing years. Truly a testament to how easy it is to find a 15-18ppg wing scorer, and juat how little most of them matter to W/Ls. L-Train is my choice for #3 however, because ugly, flatfooted, and unathletic as his game was, as the numbers show, he could truly do it all (including getting his flatfooted post moves blocked at a remarkable rate). Part of our historic (and historically blundered) 4 first round picks in 1990, he finished 2nd in the rookie of the year voting, and was steady and versatile for us at a time when few of our guys were. Lacking only a smooth stroke on his jumper, he looked destined to one day be a roleplaying do everything sidekick on a good team surrounded by great players. When Mitch arrived, I thought maybe the Mitch/Lionel pairing would be the beginning of a turnaround for us, but alas, bad knees cut off Lionel's productive years after only 4 seasons. He hung around for a few years thereafter -- he was known as a good locker room guy -- but just as an end of the bench shell of himself.
Only 3 people got the margin right (6-10pts) in a game that probably ended up about right scorewise, but that saw us down by 20 in the 4th. PMs are going out -- it will be their theme choice for tommorow (if anybody responds).
Tonight, as promised: 10 Best SFs in Kings History
Salmons ( B- ) -- the good news is that Salmons has been one guy actually playing in the 4th quarter of games this month. That bad news is he is doing exactly jack and...dung for the three quarters that proceed it, and these one quarter games of his are creating havoc for my grading schemes. Spent most of the game getting whipped by LeBron, and getting chippy about it too. Did have a couple of good early takes, but LeBron was sitting at 17pts 10rebs 5ast by halftime and the only time he got stopped was when we triple teamed him. Meanwhile I think John was in single digits through three quarters. As usual opened the 4th trying to do his force takeover thing with Kevin out, but swarming defense caused him to almost turn it over and Natt only let him do it for a minute or two before resinserting Kevin (John did not lok happy). After he returned latyer he was caught somewhere in between padding his stats and being a 4th quarter hero again. A couple of 4th quarter hits, including a three, which were far too little too late, but did succeed in getting LeBron reinserted (uh...yay?). And then just took it right at LeBron after he returned, spalshing two shots in his face and then getting inside and to the line. Of course it just did not matter with us letting the Cavs score every trip as well, and predictably the more evident that became, the more John started going one on one and forcing, particularly after one starnge play where Kevin bizarrely passed up a perfect wide open three so he could rack up a turnover instead. So, stuck on this one I am going to pay rather more respect to the scoring numbers and 4th quarter push than I probably should. This wasn't actaully a good game, this was a good quarter. And the goodness in the quarter came after we were already down 15-20. So I was tempted by the C+ type grades.
#1 Ron Artest
Career Stats
With Kings: 06-08
Best Year With The Kings: 07-08 20.5pts 5.8reb 3.5ast 2.3stl 0.7blk
Love him or hate him, here he is. So recent as to be an uninteresting selection, and with only one player anybody might quibble should be above him, this should be a simple selection, and yet it wasn't. Ron Artest is a remarkable talent. He can play both ends of the court in dominant fashion. His physicality makes him a nightmare matchup for the finesse weenies that infest a sport like basketball. He has amazingly quick and strong hands on defense, understands the draw and kick, how to split double teams, his outside shot is very underrated, and other than unacceptably pedestrian rebounding numbers, he fills up a stat sheet as well as anybody below the Lebron class of players. And yet he will never be what he could be, could never be our main man, because of the solid rock perched atop his shoulders. Selfish, deluded, troubled, his years with us were ultimately failures like his years with everybody else have been, but as we spiral into oblivion here, it becomes more and more obvious just what an impact he had for us just by elevating what have been exposed as a very sad set of teammates to a facade of competititveness.
Thompson ( B- ) -- not much against what's left of Big Ben in the early going. Had one good hit where he gathered himself in the post, but otherwise looked uncomfortable and was almost completely shut off of the boards. Started off the second half better, and was attacking Wallace inside and out (and Wallace was laughable at the other end, fumbling passes, badly missing a dunk, airballing a FT, you name it) Jason in fact was actually the main guy keeping us in it there for a stretch as the Cavs were flirting with getting it to double figures in the third. Did not have much to do late as once again Natt smallballed down the stretch, because I guess he decided we weren't getting whipped on the glass badly enough (49-25) as it was. Then again with us in azone most of the night, Jason did absolutely nothing for us on the glass this time out, so maybe it really did not matter. 16pts, 2rebs -- kind of the Kevin Martin of PFs this time out, and so I could not go any higher with this grade. Kevin's one dimensionality keeps him from being elite, but he still plays a position with a lot of one dimensional guys. A PF with that kind of one dimensionality...well, lets hope (and I do assume) its just a one time aberration.
#2 Peja Stojakovic
Career Stats
With Kings: 98-06
Best Year With The Kings: 03-04 24.2pts 6.3reb 2.1ast 1.3stl 0.2blk
And once Ron Ron appeared at #1, it was of course beyond obvious who would be sitting there at #2. And it should have been equally obvious which picture I was going to use. Dreamy golden boy and the object of Ailene's adoration, the designated shooter right through the golden era of Sacramento Kings basketball, and now filling a similar (although much deteriorated) role for another great team down in New Orleans. He never had the versatility to his game that Ron did, did not have that same sheen of potential franchise player. But as a steady weapon that you could just plug into a great team, few were better. One of the best long range shooters to pass through the NBA, and despite physical limitations eventually worked himself into respectability in most other areas of the game. Was never the same after his fellow countryman and mentor Vlade left, and got exposed toward the end of his run with the Kings. Complaints about his toughness, hustle and heart helped sour his once golden reputation in Sacramento, but I suspect that will eventually fade as his time here gets the romantic wash of being part of "the good ole days."
Miller ( C ) -- had a couple of early scores, then disappeared for the rest of the half and in fact rarely played after recieving a little cut over his eyebrow. Not sure if it was related or not. Was back out for the beginning of the third, and for a while there at least provided a little rebounding on a night when basically nobody else did (Kevin led the team with 7). But then largely disappeared for the remainder of the game as we experimented with Spencer and of course more smallball. His opponents inside did absolutely nothng as well, which factored into holding this grade up. But Brad was inolved for maybe 6 minutes of this one at the very beginning , and then jsut no part of the story thereafter.
#3 Lionel Simmons
Career Stats
With Kings: 90-97
Best Year With The Kings: 91-92 17.1pts 8.1reb 4.3ast 1.7stl 1.7blk
And now we move out of the realm of the obvious, and into the realm of the many good but not great SFs the Kings have trotted out there over the losing years. Truly a testament to how easy it is to find a 15-18ppg wing scorer, and juat how little most of them matter to W/Ls. L-Train is my choice for #3 however, because ugly, flatfooted, and unathletic as his game was, as the numbers show, he could truly do it all (including getting his flatfooted post moves blocked at a remarkable rate). Part of our historic (and historically blundered) 4 first round picks in 1990, he finished 2nd in the rookie of the year voting, and was steady and versatile for us at a time when few of our guys were. Lacking only a smooth stroke on his jumper, he looked destined to one day be a roleplaying do everything sidekick on a good team surrounded by great players. When Mitch arrived, I thought maybe the Mitch/Lionel pairing would be the beginning of a turnaround for us, but alas, bad knees cut off Lionel's productive years after only 4 seasons. He hung around for a few years thereafter -- he was known as a good locker room guy -- but just as an end of the bench shell of himself.
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