The Hammer
All-Star
The great thing about being an optimist is I get to say "I told you so" when we win, not when we lose!
I TOLD YOU SO!!!
I TOLD YOU SO!!!
Yes, and the D-League's level of competition is similar to Europe. He's actually showing some of the same type of skills as Marc against lesser competition
From today:
yeah, mostly because Papa shows virtually none of the skills that Gasol did
marc was a Gasol. A fat Gasol, but a Gasol. Passing, shooting, and some post work. Papa...well, he's from Europe. Even if we were to get good enough for the league it would be as a radically different sort of player.
Let's not forget that teenage Marc Gasol was a doughboy that didn't look like a basketball player. Papa may still turn out to be a bust, but he's shown a lot of improvement IMO and still has a long time compared to when Marc was getting meaningful NBA minutes.
WCS starting and progressing next to Cuz is the variable i thought would move the needle most for this team before the season. Its one of those things that transforms you from a mediocre defensive team to playing vs a frontline that gives you nothing inside. The strength,length and timing of Cousins mixed with the freakish quickness and length of Stein.
I didn't see the game but if Willie was good, he is merely living up to my high expectations. He needed to grow up a bit and junk his goal of being an offensive monster and just do what he can do. Joerger taught him a lesson. Play to your strengths and leave that other stuff to later in your career. For a moment it didn't look like he would have a career. I think he noticed. Fly around the court, young man, and scare the hell out of the other team.
Did he fly around??
Let's not forget that what was at the time considered one of the worst trades in NBA history wound up with Memphis ending up with the better Gasol brother.
Malachi!
Willie and Richardson are the future and the future is now
I guess the guys did not get the memo that the season is over and we were supposed to be positioning for draft picks.
Obviously no one wanted to see Rudy go down the way he did, but I feel like the team is responding by all relying on each other and moving the ball. Cousins still gets all the touches he wants, but he's shown he's more than willing to find the open guy if they're hitting shots. This should have been a "sum of all parts" team from the beginning and I'm very curious to see what we can develop off these 2 wins.
Ok I'm gonna post what I put in the game thread to try to give folks a possible different way of looking at this bad news.
There are some positives. First, we may actually get better without Rudy. Much as I love the guy. My eye test tells me it just wasn't working out. We are still very much in the hunt for 8th seed.
This accelerates the team developing chemistry without Rudy, and opens room to play some younger players and guys we hope to keep around. If, like Joerger said, the first half was about using analytics to see who we wanted to go forward with, we can be sure Rudy did not make that cut. We can also be sure other guys did. We will now be playing those other guys.
Willie played well under Karl. He regressed this year under Joeger. Not saying Karl was great but for the sake of not introducing "alternative" facts let's not go overboard with Joeger improvement unless warranted.And none if this happens with any of the previous 92 coaches we had since Adelman. Jeorger is showing excellent long game coaching skills.
So now, all of the sudden, all the kids drafted and coached under Vlade/Joerger are looking pretty good - WCS, Malachi, Skal. It did take a while to extract the poison Karl infected Willie with. Looks like that's been accomplished.
You mean you have to beat the man for real. Not fake scripted wrestling.![]()
"To be the man you gotta beat the man"
-Ric Flair
Willie played well under Karl. He regressed this year under Joeger. Not saying Karl was great but for the sake of not introducing "alternative" facts let's not go overboard with Joeger improvement unless warranted.
Yes, Joerger first and foremost has been about getting the,defensive assignments and communication on defense right. It's the complete opposite of Karl who didnt stress any defensive principles other than increase pace. I think Joerger and his assistants are bringing the youth along correctly.He played ok, but was given no structure so Willie just kind of went nuts and neglected learning the basics or at least focusing his energy in the right places for development. He was then inexplicably (and without communication from Karl) benched for the final third of the season. It really messed with his head and he has finally gotten his sea legs under him.
Joerger has taken an interest in his long term development. Clearly the relationship is better, indicated by flourishing even after a period of being benched. Almost assuredly he was told why this time. He's a different player than two months ago. That's Joerger.
He played ok, but was given no structure so Willie just kind of went nuts and neglected learning the basics or at least focusing his energy in the right places for development. He was then inexplicably (and without communication from Karl) benched for the final third of the season. It really messed with his head and he has finally gotten his sea legs under him.
Joerger has taken an interest in his long term development. Clearly the relationship is better, indicated by flourishing even after a period of being benched. Almost assuredly he was told why this time. He's a different player than two months ago. That's Joerger.
Willie played well under Karl. He regressed this year under Joeger. Not saying Karl was great but for the sake of not introducing "alternative" facts let's not go overboard with Joeger improvement unless warranted.
I love how you just make this stuff up. Guy sucks the entire season, has two good games and all of a sudden he's got this perfect relationship with a coach who has been developing him so well all the time. You could make a movie out of this story you just told. You should become a creative story writer if you aren't one already.
I love how you just make this stuff up. Guy sucks the entire season, has two good games and all of a sudden he's got this perfect relationship with a coach who has been developing him so well all the time. You could make a movie out of this story you just told. Basketball player with no structure and a bad coach, along comes this guy who takes an interest in his life, and after a tumultuous start to their relationship they blossom and flourish together and become the greatest winning duo in NBA history. You should become a creative story writer if you aren't one already.
Btw, I thought this was one of the most entertaining and best Kings games I've seen in a long time.
Obviously no one wanted to see Rudy go down the way he did, but I feel like the team is responding by all relying on each other and moving the ball. Cousins still gets all the touches he wants, but he's shown he's more than willing to find the open guy if they're hitting shots. This should have been a "sum of all parts" team from the beginning and I'm very curious to see what we can develop off these 2 wins.
Yea, one thing Cousins has been doing very well as of late is passing the ball. Problem is we don't have real good consistent shooters. Would also like to see what happens if the ball is swung another one or two passes after Cuz makes the kickout.
Wow. Dave Joerger is pretty good coach when role players hit their shots, who knew?![]()
Not really, we've been asking for Malachi for a while now and he's finally playing, and he's playing well. I blame Joerger for not playing him sooner. And I'm still blaming him for not playing him enough.
Exactly what I waa going to say. Joerger has a process and knows how to develop players.have you stopped to consider that it may have been important to acclimate malachi richardson to the nba through a combination of developmental league play and kings team practices, and that coach joerger didn't want to thrust richardson into the fray until he was more prepared? i don't know about you, but the failure of ben mclemore is fresh in my mind, and he's a player who was undoubtedly given too much responsibility too soon. that richardson looked like a seasoned vet out there last night is evidence to me that joerger has taken the proper approach with his rookies; know that they're ready before risking their confidence on the court.
Rudy going down opened up minutes for these two and accelerated our arrival to this future.
Turns out it might not be the horror show we feared.