Well that could have gone better. mommy.
Peja ( C- ) -- popped in jumpers here and there, but never really on, and never an impact in any other aspect of the game. Got his points, but with roughly the least impact possible. And the sad part was that he was still probably our second best starter. Rebounding reverted to 04-05 form after a few semi-encouraging games there in the late preseason.
Reef ( B ) -- fast start, picked up two early fouls, but liked the type of fouls they were -- ofensive fouls over the back aggressively going after rebounds. Team rebounding fell way off when he left. made a nice hustle play as well after returnign in the 2nd to knock a ball off of Hornets PG Chris Paul. Very satisfied with his hustle and boardwork tonight. Defense...eh, repeatedly left PJ Brown open to hit side pop after side pop. Nonetheless, while I can't in good conscience give anybody an A of any sort tonight, Reef was the one King who brought it.
Miller ( D- ) -- slow statistical start, but playing good defense. Unfortunately that was all he was doing, and after the defense began to fade the charm wore off quickly. Just completely invisible out there. 4 pts 3 rebs? Lost his cool in the 3rd and headed to the bench never to return. Given the way he was playing, no big loss. Misses the F purely by actually proving he could defend for a few minutes there.
Bonzi ( F ) -- grabbed a few rebounds but otherwise did nothing at all to help. Looked sluggish from the start. Struggled to contain the aptly named Speedy Claxton when the Hornets went small, and was not able to return the favor by taking advantage of the little man in the post on the other end. Began to lose his cool in the 2nd quarter after a questionable no-call. And then capped off the wonderful night by getting repeatedly beat by 2nd year pro J.R. Smith in the 3rd. As good as he occassionally was in the preseaon, just completely ineffective tonight.
Bibby ( F ) -- nondescript first quarter, but in the second began to slip back into that icky zoned out look he had for much of preseason. Miss open shots. Make bad mistakes. And in the third just got run over, around, and everything else by rookie Chris Paul. The Hornets had TWO PGs better than Mike tonight. So much for waking up. Again got the real feeling that he is thrown completely for loop by the teamwide malaise. Unexpected. And not the stuff of a leader. Leaders have to pull you out of a funk, not sink into it with you.
Thomas ( C ) -- missed everything on offense, but gets a little grade for at least grabbing a few aggressive boards in there on a night when we were getting crushed.
Hart ( D- ) -- really struggled to contain Speedy in the first half, did make a nifty steal running across the court to double a Hornets big up top, but against his own man was really struggling. And could not run the team at ALL. He, like many of the other Kings, just looked baffled out there and ended up resorting to trying to score the ball himself. Avoids the F merely by effort and by not being that good in the first place, but did not in any way accomplish his job tonight.
Martin ( F ) -- brought in for Bonzi at the end of the first to try to get a quicker OG to match up with the small ball tactics of the Hornets. Didn't work. And Kevin did absolutley NOTHING to help us tonight other than come up with a couple of loose balls. His offense was passive. And when he shot he missed. He turned it over. Had no real effect defensively.
Skinner ( B- ) -- came in with a bang, rejecting another high flyer (Desmond Mason) at the rim, and then running down to the other end to hit an open bank shot. Got Mason again a few mintes later. Good active first stint, but wasn't getting on the glass and struggled against Birdman when he was in there. Less effective in the second half, and while the shotblocking was definitely appreciated, he really didn't do much else for us out there tonight (4pts 2rebs).
Garcia ( D- ) -- entered his first NBA game int he second and immediately badly forced a shot, followed up with a missed three, and only lasted a couple minutes therafter. Not preseason anymore and he has to stop that to get minutes. Got beat off the dribble by Mason, but bailed out by Skinner, later inexplicably turned his head against Chris Paul with the result that the dart ran right by him. Eventually scored a few points in garbagetime, but did little else and just not an auspicious start for him.
Corliss ( D ) -- didn't get in until garbagetime, and came in and immediately traveled and turned it over. Oh, and in case I didn't mention it, with no Sampson, he basically came in at center. Woohoo!
Price ( INC ) -- garbagetime, not enough to tell
Adelman ( D- ) -- Wow. Well, the good news is that we played about 6 minutes of pretty good defense there. And...Shareef looked good. And...we didn't lose by 30 to the worst team in the NBA??? As usual much of this grade is a team grade -- which tonight was a complete F. I gave Rick the smallest of bumps above that grade because while us being completely unready to play lands in his lap, after the game started, Rick had almost NO place to go. It was Shareef and...Shareef...and. I couldn't even put together 5 Kings who would have been close tonight. We shot 31%. We got outrebounded by 16. Outscored by 26. 13 assists to 18TOs. Very sad. Rick actually did go with the 10 man rotation this game, and if I never see it again I will be thrilled. As in the later preseason games, the bench unit completely fell apart. But this game actually counted, and so Rick did not stay with them long. Unfortunately the starters were no better and we just got our asses handed to us by nobody and his pal nonexistent. Maybe more disturbingly, the expected 2nd half charge due to pride not only did not materialize, but we actually got WORSE. Just one game. But one of, if not the, worst game I have seen the Kings play in 5 years at least. Maybe I should go back and make this grade an F after all. But Rick didn't lose this one. In the game at least. The team just flat out sucked in the worst way from the very opening bell. Most bad grades I've handed out. But still only one game. Has to be the mantra after tonight.
Peja ( C- ) -- popped in jumpers here and there, but never really on, and never an impact in any other aspect of the game. Got his points, but with roughly the least impact possible. And the sad part was that he was still probably our second best starter. Rebounding reverted to 04-05 form after a few semi-encouraging games there in the late preseason.
Reef ( B ) -- fast start, picked up two early fouls, but liked the type of fouls they were -- ofensive fouls over the back aggressively going after rebounds. Team rebounding fell way off when he left. made a nice hustle play as well after returnign in the 2nd to knock a ball off of Hornets PG Chris Paul. Very satisfied with his hustle and boardwork tonight. Defense...eh, repeatedly left PJ Brown open to hit side pop after side pop. Nonetheless, while I can't in good conscience give anybody an A of any sort tonight, Reef was the one King who brought it.
Miller ( D- ) -- slow statistical start, but playing good defense. Unfortunately that was all he was doing, and after the defense began to fade the charm wore off quickly. Just completely invisible out there. 4 pts 3 rebs? Lost his cool in the 3rd and headed to the bench never to return. Given the way he was playing, no big loss. Misses the F purely by actually proving he could defend for a few minutes there.
Bonzi ( F ) -- grabbed a few rebounds but otherwise did nothing at all to help. Looked sluggish from the start. Struggled to contain the aptly named Speedy Claxton when the Hornets went small, and was not able to return the favor by taking advantage of the little man in the post on the other end. Began to lose his cool in the 2nd quarter after a questionable no-call. And then capped off the wonderful night by getting repeatedly beat by 2nd year pro J.R. Smith in the 3rd. As good as he occassionally was in the preseaon, just completely ineffective tonight.
Bibby ( F ) -- nondescript first quarter, but in the second began to slip back into that icky zoned out look he had for much of preseason. Miss open shots. Make bad mistakes. And in the third just got run over, around, and everything else by rookie Chris Paul. The Hornets had TWO PGs better than Mike tonight. So much for waking up. Again got the real feeling that he is thrown completely for loop by the teamwide malaise. Unexpected. And not the stuff of a leader. Leaders have to pull you out of a funk, not sink into it with you.
Thomas ( C ) -- missed everything on offense, but gets a little grade for at least grabbing a few aggressive boards in there on a night when we were getting crushed.
Hart ( D- ) -- really struggled to contain Speedy in the first half, did make a nifty steal running across the court to double a Hornets big up top, but against his own man was really struggling. And could not run the team at ALL. He, like many of the other Kings, just looked baffled out there and ended up resorting to trying to score the ball himself. Avoids the F merely by effort and by not being that good in the first place, but did not in any way accomplish his job tonight.
Martin ( F ) -- brought in for Bonzi at the end of the first to try to get a quicker OG to match up with the small ball tactics of the Hornets. Didn't work. And Kevin did absolutley NOTHING to help us tonight other than come up with a couple of loose balls. His offense was passive. And when he shot he missed. He turned it over. Had no real effect defensively.
Skinner ( B- ) -- came in with a bang, rejecting another high flyer (Desmond Mason) at the rim, and then running down to the other end to hit an open bank shot. Got Mason again a few mintes later. Good active first stint, but wasn't getting on the glass and struggled against Birdman when he was in there. Less effective in the second half, and while the shotblocking was definitely appreciated, he really didn't do much else for us out there tonight (4pts 2rebs).
Garcia ( D- ) -- entered his first NBA game int he second and immediately badly forced a shot, followed up with a missed three, and only lasted a couple minutes therafter. Not preseason anymore and he has to stop that to get minutes. Got beat off the dribble by Mason, but bailed out by Skinner, later inexplicably turned his head against Chris Paul with the result that the dart ran right by him. Eventually scored a few points in garbagetime, but did little else and just not an auspicious start for him.
Corliss ( D ) -- didn't get in until garbagetime, and came in and immediately traveled and turned it over. Oh, and in case I didn't mention it, with no Sampson, he basically came in at center. Woohoo!
Price ( INC ) -- garbagetime, not enough to tell
Adelman ( D- ) -- Wow. Well, the good news is that we played about 6 minutes of pretty good defense there. And...Shareef looked good. And...we didn't lose by 30 to the worst team in the NBA??? As usual much of this grade is a team grade -- which tonight was a complete F. I gave Rick the smallest of bumps above that grade because while us being completely unready to play lands in his lap, after the game started, Rick had almost NO place to go. It was Shareef and...Shareef...and. I couldn't even put together 5 Kings who would have been close tonight. We shot 31%. We got outrebounded by 16. Outscored by 26. 13 assists to 18TOs. Very sad. Rick actually did go with the 10 man rotation this game, and if I never see it again I will be thrilled. As in the later preseason games, the bench unit completely fell apart. But this game actually counted, and so Rick did not stay with them long. Unfortunately the starters were no better and we just got our asses handed to us by nobody and his pal nonexistent. Maybe more disturbingly, the expected 2nd half charge due to pride not only did not materialize, but we actually got WORSE. Just one game. But one of, if not the, worst game I have seen the Kings play in 5 years at least. Maybe I should go back and make this grade an F after all. But Rick didn't lose this one. In the game at least. The team just flat out sucked in the worst way from the very opening bell. Most bad grades I've handed out. But still only one game. Has to be the mantra after tonight.
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