[Grades] Grades v. Grizzlies 12/31/2016

Malachi Richardson should....

  • Be starting over Ben

    Votes: 14 33.3%
  • Be a rotation player getting nightly backup minutes

    Votes: 16 38.1%
  • Get spot minutes to develop

    Votes: 11 26.2%
  • Wait his turn until we've cleared out the debris and made our playoff run

    Votes: 1 2.4%

  • Total voters
    42
  • Poll closed .

Bricklayer

Don't Make Me Use The Bat
#1


So a competitive game that descended into debacle in odd fashion after the half.

A big part of it was Cousins getting whistled for 4 variously cheap fouls in about 6 minutes of gametime after we as a team did not get called for 1 in over a quarter to start the game. Severely damaged his and our calm with us almost out of offensive creaters to even pretend to be able to spell him. All had a whiff of last year with Cuz playing hopeless and trying to do too much.

Another part of it...is we have to get the big guy some help here stat. And that's on Vlade. Gay is AWOL. Afflalo is AWOL. We may have just lost Lawson. And Temple has been pumpkining too often of late. Leaving us with....not much. Barnes and Temple hit their threes. And we managed to pump some life into Collison's corpse by getting him off ball and letting him score more than create.

So anyway, the Grizzlies got stupid hot from three, because its us of course. But they are a poor shooting team that suddenly looked like the Warriors. And 2016 ended unsatisfactorily, except in our kids getting a few minutes, and looking better than many of the vets ahead of them.



Link to Boxscore


Barnes ( B+ ) -- look, it didn't FEEL like anybody should be getting an A of any kind in this one, but Matt shot the hell out of the ball, knocking down 5 of 7 threes, and helped on the glass with Cuz not getting them. Parson did nothing against him, but letting Old Man Carter get some Vinsanity viagra was not good.

Cousins ( B- ) -- started off this game playing a very controlled game as we had obviously made a switch to let Cuz create for DC + others from up top rather than have DC dribble a hole in the floor trying to do the same. Gasol was totally ineffective. But things fell apart, Cuz got some cheap fouls, lost his cool, began forcing. Too bad, we were right there.

Koufos ( C+ ) -- played an important early role while we were still in things, rebounding on the backside and providing physical defense on old teammates Gasol & Zbo. But had the full Kosta klang offensive incompetence thing going, and we lost ground in his second stint as the Grizz abandoned Gasol and went with 3pt shooting next to one big.

McLemore ( D ) -- hit one in rhythm jumper, missed his threes, let Tony Allen out hustle and out score him. No rebs or assists. This is year FOUR of this stuff. I've been calling for an end to it since year two. Malachi to the rescue?

Featured Grade
Collison ( C ) -- If you only looked at Collison's boxscore, and his name was McLemore, you'd give him a B for his effort. But his name isn't McLemore, and he's not a SG, he's a PG, and PG's are supposed to make life easier for their teammates. If your a PG and you play 39 minutes, and you only have 2 assists, your not doing your job. But lets put that aside for a moment. How about the other end of the floor, where he played matador defense on Conley all night long. Conley abused him time and time again, a couple of times blowing by him for uncontested layups. Offensively, Collison had a pretty good game scoring 16 points on 8 of 16 shooting. And without Gay, the team needed someone to step up in that area. My knock is that for the most part he shows off his dribbling ability, but seldom creates anything for a teammate. If he drives into the lane, it's to score the ball. He seldom kicks the ball out. His skill level and style of play is more suited to coming off the bench. Defensively, he was terrible tonight. --Baja


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Tolliver ( B ) -- its hard. Realistically, this is about as much as Tolliver can give. I've said before his one job is to hit threes, and he did just that. He also got a few FTs off cuts, and, for him, was entirely absent on the glass. And yet its hard to go any higher. Balls kept seeming to fall around him unmolested. JaMichael Green felt more dynamic. Not why we lost at least.

Lawson ( C- ) -- was not hitting his shots, and was a step off, and then we lost him when he took a blow to the face. It was actually a big moment, because without Gay or Afflalo, and with Temple playing poorly, we suddenly lost our bench captain and ability to do anything without Cuz. Being checked out for a facial fracture. Sucks.

Cauley-Stein ( F ) -- should be an INC, but I find wussiness borderline intolerable and probably wouldn't make it as a coach because my response would be to beat it out of the wuss. We had him guard Zach Randolph. Zach saw a juicy steak, slammed his shoulder into him a few times, Willie squeaked, Zach scored repeatedly. -9 in 3 min of action.

Temple ( D ) -- bad on a night when we could not afford it, with no Gay, no Afflalo, Ben ineffective again, and losing Lawson. But limited effect even on D, did not hit his shots, and no creativity in place of Ty. Running out of impact guys, can't have Garret remember who he is until we get guys back.

Casspi ( INC ) -- made a nice cut without the ball and Cuz hit him for the layup, btu forced some sloppy drives, and things went south during his minutes. If Tolliver and Barnes were not shooting so well, think he would have been back.

Richardson ( B ) -- in his first stint did not slow the onslaught against us, but looked good in the garbagetime again. Just absolutely has a feel for the game, how to score, and size on defense. Really should play over Ben says me.

Labissiere ( INC ) -- garbagetime, but had a nice offensive move, a sloppy turnover, and a couple of solid mobile boards.

Papagiannis ( INC ) -- just the garbagetime
 
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#2
Temple should start with Malachi getting the reserve minutes. At least for a game or two to see how it goes. Also, team needs to look to get someone else going and not stray away from that approach. Team needs a heat check guy.

Ben's poor shooting from three is bewildering. That is the one aspect of his game that has been reliable in the past.

This loss goes on Cousins losing the mental game. Season depends on balancing out the roster.
 
#3
Joeger needs to change his defensive scheme or whatever the hell he tells the guys. We're practically giving 3pt shots away.

Fighting for 8th seed makes no sense...especially if it means we could fall short and lose our pick. I don't care how many times we've whiffed on draft picks. Lotto pick>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>no pick.

We're tied for 8th seed with Denver with the advantage. Are we really going to risk losing our draft pick to try to reach for 8th seed? What if we fall short and only get 9th seed? No playoffs...no draft pick...then what?
 

Bricklayer

Don't Make Me Use The Bat
#4
Joeger needs to change his defensive scheme or whatever the hell he tells the guys. We're practically giving 3pt shots away.

Fighting for 8th seed makes no sense...especially if it means we could fall short and lose our pick. I don't care how many times we've whiffed on draft picks. Lotto pick>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>no pick.

We're tied for 8th seed with Denver with the advantage. Are we really going to risk losing our draft pick to try to reach for 8th seed? What if we fall short and only get 9th seed? No playoffs...no draft pick...then what?
Then we've fought for something for the first time in forever.

Playoffs is goal, but even a playoff chase helps Joerger set his never give in tone. you can't teach tenaciousness/relentlessness game after game if you start giving them away. Its just an incompatible philosophy. Joerger's trying to get us game to game tough.
 
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dude12

Hall of Famer
#5
Temple, Casspi and Lawson were a combined 2-12 shooting. All 3 missed wide open 3's. those guys tonight did not play well
Cousins 26 points, 8 assists, 5 stls...too many TO's with 5
Grizzlies 17-35 from 3 point land

Must have been Boogie's fault...somehow, someway
 

Kingster

Hall of Famer
#7
Coach said he's going to give more minutes to the youngins. Coach isn't sweating it. Just havin some fun. Seemed amused about a question regarding how the Kings can get some momentum in the next several home games. Waited a long while, and then asked, "You mean winning, right?"
 

SLAB

Hall of Famer
#8
Temple, Casspi and Lawson were a combined 2-12 shooting. All 3 missed wide open 3's. those guys tonight did not play well
Cousins 26 points, 8 assists, 5 stls...too many TO's with 5
Grizzlies 17-35 from 3 point land

Must have been Boogie's fault...somehow, someway
He mentally brought the team down or something, and that combined with him letting the Grizzlies get hot from 3 sealed it.

Clearly this L is on Cuz and we're winners without him.
 

Bricklayer

Don't Make Me Use The Bat
#12
Start Malachai Richardson?
If Joerger is really determined to keep Temple on the bench? Sure. Or if Temple is now needed as the backup PG off the bench.

The thing is, Malachi is a kid, but from what I've seen in most ways his game is "older" than Ben's. He has a natural feel for how to do things that Ben has never had or developed. He has no aggression/confidence problems. He's also bigger. If we've felt that starting Ben was somehow reasonable, I don't see how we could feel Malachi would somehow not be so.


Afflalo's true status may be key.
 

Larry89

Disgruntled Kings Fan
#13
I don't see how Malachai Richardson could be worse than Ben, Ben can't dribble run pick and roll or set off ball screens or anything really besides do cool dunks.
 
#14
Seemed like at one point the Grizzlies hit about 10 three's in a row on about 12 possessions. Thing is that we were hot during that streak as well, just not quite as hot. We would have closed the game up at that point if the Grizzlies didn't shoot like Steph Curry for about 5 minutes straight there.
 

SLAB

Hall of Famer
#15
Seemed like at one point the Grizzlies hit about 10 three's in a row on about 12 possessions. Thing is that we were hot during that streak as well, just not quite as hot. We would have closed the game up at that point if the Grizzlies didn't shoot like Steph Curry for about 5 minutes straight there.
#BlameCousins
 
#16
I'm assuming Malachi is a given heading forward, but I'm fearing we're still going to have to see WCS at the expense of Skal, if only for the team worried about his potential trade value
 
#17
Malachi plays within himself. If you've seen his story, he's had a lot of pro tips whispered in his ears by family members while growing up. It's still another step to translate that to the pro game. What will hold him back is keeping up with the team defense. My guess is that's the biggest worry for coach, so I don't expect him to be thrown in with starters. It's tough to make entirely new line-ups gel. If he is given 20 minutes off the bench, then he needs to be aggressive offensively and listen to his teammates on defense for help.

Team has to be worried about Lawson's injury, as the bench without a true PG was pretty terrible early in the year.
 
#18
Malachi plays within himself. If you've seen his story, he's had a lot of pro tips whispered in his ears by family members while growing up. It's still another step to translate that to the pro game. What will hold him back is keeping up with the team defense. My guess is that's the biggest worry for coach, so I don't expect him to be thrown in with starters. It's tough to make entirely new line-ups gel. If he is given 20 minutes off the bench, then he needs to be aggressive offensively and listen to his teammates on defense for help.

Team has to be worried about Lawson's injury, as the bench without a true PG was pretty terrible early in the year.
He's day to day, not too bad
 

Entity

Hall of Famer
#21
Holy crap if I see one more person concerned about this years pick I'm gonna get a private msg from a mod. **** the damn pick. What have picks gotten us since cousins? Not to mention it will be after 10. If any team is calling about any player on this team outside of cousins. We need to be listening.
 

Entity

Hall of Famer
#22
Somebody calling about Kosta? Do what you can. His 6 rebounds be damned. It's not like his min will go to a nugget. They will have arms and legs. Somebody calling about Rudy? Do it. Just by sheer salary alone the player will be serviceable. We have three serviceable players that are consistent; Cuz, Temple, and Lawson. Barnes would make 4 but consistency gets him. Collison should be but I think he left his heart in 2014. The rest you ask.

Ben - to passive and hasn't improved talent
Omri - so boneheaded. For every great play he makes he turns around bounces the ball off the lights
Tolliver - meh. Gets hot from three every 16 games
WCS - hope you enjoyed rookie salary
Afflalo - mistake. Talentless and selfish is hard to do
 
K

KingMilz

Guest
#24
Malachi plays within himself. If you've seen his story, he's had a lot of pro tips whispered in his ears by family members while growing up. It's still another step to translate that to the pro game. What will hold him back is keeping up with the team defense. My guess is that's the biggest worry for coach, so I don't expect him to be thrown in with starters. It's tough to make entirely new line-ups gel. If he is given 20 minutes off the bench, then he needs to be aggressive offensively and listen to his teammates on defense for help.

Team has to be worried about Lawson's injury, as the bench without a true PG was pretty terrible early in the year.
Tony Douglas is available
 

SacTownKid

Hall of Famer
#28
Teams aren't isolating the Kings to death, they're using the old screen and roll play and dishing out to wide open 3 point shooters. Those are filed under: HELP DEFENSE. The only way to fix that is adjusting the team defensive strategy.

And the season of "how are we defending the 3 point line tonight?" continues on! Although the Grizz did get insanely hot so this particular game shouldn't represent the norm, but it does show how impossible it can be some nights for the Kings to win if they don't address certain issues. They had it figured out for a good stretch during the win streak. We even saw some switching. Hopefully this is just a hiccup on the way to consistency.
 

Larry89

Disgruntled Kings Fan
#30
Yeah, I saw Zach Lowe point out on Twitter how Collison was repeatedly going under screens and Conley was taking advantage. Is that a scheme issue?
I didn't get to see the game, but it is a shared responsibility by also whoever's man is setting the screens on our guards to help on pick and roll defense.