[Grades] Grades v. Jazz 02/04/13

MT/Salmons/Jimmer shot 4-26 tonight. How many do you think will be back next season?

  • All three

    Votes: 3 7.5%
  • Just Jimmer

    Votes: 17 42.5%
  • Just Marcus

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Just Salmons

    Votes: 1 2.5%
  • Jimmer and Marcus, not the Fish

    Votes: 8 20.0%
  • Jimmer and the Fish, not Marcus

    Votes: 5 12.5%
  • Marcus and Fish, not Jimmer

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • None of them

    Votes: 6 15.0%

  • Total voters
    40
  • Poll closed .

Bricklayer

Don't Make Me Use The Bat
#1
Truly we are the road warriors.

Well, thx DeMarcus.

Meanwhile for about 18 minutes of the second half JT and Chuck deserved a lot of credit for stepping up in Boogie's place and giving us a real shot to win this. Unfortunately the clock struck 12, they remembered who they were, and our efforts to let Jason be Boogie and win it as an interior goto guy late worked out about how you'd expect. With neither Reke nor Isaiah as good as their numbers, and with the rest of our perimter players just godawful (Salmons, Marcus and Jimmer combined to shoot 4-26 from the field, including 1-13 from 3pt land), its a testament to a certain amount of late roadtrip scrap that we were even in this one late enoguh to make it to OT.

A loss, a non-blowout loss, on a weeknight...hey that generally calls for a theme. Non-girls even as the poor ladies need a rest at this point. Since last normal theme out we went with Tiny Houses , how about this time we go the other way and go with Big Ole Trees .

Still keeping the lights on:
Grading Consortium
Bricklayer
Capt. Factorial
Bajaden


Boxscore


Stats: 36min 2pts (1-9, 0-4, 0-0) 3reb 2ast 1stl 1blk 1TO
Salmons ( F ) -- you know, you can look to find exuses for this, you can say ooh, he was one of only two Kings to have a positive +/-, you can do a lot of things. But this was just a foul effort. He just simply could not shoot at all, and made up for it by doing nothing else of significance. He made two plays I noted all night, both of them because he actually grabbed rebounds, which is an incredible rarity. On his very first rebound of the game, after some 18 minutes of play, he jimmediately looked up court and hit a streaking IT on the leak out. Yay. And wiht 35 seconds to go he grabbed a strong rebound even to help us secure OT. but other than that it was an unbroken wall of clanks and clunks, some of them at stupid times. he came back intot eh game late and immedaitely threw up a brick. On one late possessin we got into a scramble and not once, but twice ont eh saem possessin John ended up with open threes and bricked htem both. In the late third Smart made na odd decision. IT was being selfish again, but at least somewhat effective. John was not. So Smart inserts Thornton, also ineffective ont he night, leaves John in to play the PG, and grinds our team to a halt. Why did that happen? I have no answer. In any case though, I'm not buying he helped in subtle ways, he was doing sneaky stuff that nobody saw, noticed, or recorded or anything else. He sucked. Hard. And once again is playing like the guy with one leg in the grave of last year. Grade? You got it. F. --Brick

The Major Oak -- this famous gnarled old tree used to sit in the heart of Sherwood Forest, when there still was a Sherwood Forest -- in fact local legend tries to claim it as tree in which Robin Hood and his merry men slept at night. Its estimated to be 800-1000 years old, with a trunk that measures 33 feet in circumference. Its been on the preservation lists in England for so long that the scaffolding you see there helping support its massive old limbs was actually first put up during Queen Victoria's reign.

Stats: 45min 23pts (9-18, 0-0, 5-8) 10reb 0ast 2stl 1blk 1TO
Thompson ( A ) -- JT brought everything tonight, and had he hit one of two relatively easy shots in the lane in the final minutes of regulation, we might have won this game. Still, I have no basis to complain about his night at all. He pulled down 10 rebounds, he went 9-18 for 23 points, and he played the entirety of the second half and OT (minus a few offensive possessions late where the 3-pt shooters were on the floor) because Cuz got himself kicked out again. And on top of that, JT played fantastic defense. Maybe not quite Chuck Hayes level defense in the post, but easily the best defensive output I can remember from anybody wearing purple in years. Looking purely at shooting numbers, he allowed 8 points on 9 shots (though there's a huge asterisk on the FTs that were awarded to Millsap late in the OT and this ought to have been 6 points on 8 shots). But aside from that, JT was involved in ELEVEN Jazz turnovers, not counting that offensive foul he obviously should have drawn on Millsap. That's 2 straight steals, 5 pressure D causing the Jazz to lose the ball out of bounds, 1 pressure D causing a 24-second violation, 1 pressure D causing a travel, 1 strip, and 1 offensive foul actually called. And if you want to assign half-credit where other players were involved in the play he still gets 9.5 turnovers forced. Unreserved A, and if we had won I might have had to give him the +, too. Loved JT out there tonight. --Capt.

The Dragon Tree -- this ancient tourist attraction in the Canary Islands is reputed by local legend to be over 1000 years old, a claim that is difficult to dispute since dragon fern trees don't produce growth rings like other trees to measure. Scientists still think 650yrs or so is more likely.

Stats: 19min 10pts (5-8, 0-0, 0-0) 6reb 2ast 2stl 1blk 3TO
Cousins ( INC ) -- just chalk up another completely unnecessary wart on Boogie's resume. Not much to say toher than duh. Makes it impossible to grade, because what is the scale? Was playing well, best player on the floor for us, then doesn't even just lose his cool, but persists in a running debate with a ref lasting 5 minutes at least and into the halftime before he gets the boot. I mean, just duh. Don't even know that the first tech was warranted. Don't know that the second one was either, other than the refs getting tired of telling him to just shut up, shut up, SHUT UP. But you put it all together, and its just duh. So, as for the game, like I say looked good while we had him. Jumped out to the fast start, with a block, a strong board, then a steal jumping int he passing lane and rumbling all the way the other way for a dunk. Was peppering in his jumpers. Got robbed of a nice assist wehn TRob displayed those hands of stone again on what should have been a dunk. Big Al was nearly matching him though, as they have often played to near draws not being able to stop each other and this looked to be on a similar trajectory. But then the Big Dumb came, and if somebody near Cuz could just point out to him that not being able to control your emotions is a sign of weakness, I think it might go a long way to curing the problem. Because he fancies himself strong, and he's not. And nobody is going to fix it but himself. --Brick

The Sunland Baobab -- one of the oldest living organisms on Earth, this enormous tree in South Africa is estimated to be some 6000 years old, meaning it was already there just as civilization was getting started in Ancient Sumeria. The same tree also makes lists of the world's most unusual bars, because its so huge that a hollow in the middle of its merged main trunks has been turned into a tiny pub.

Stats: 40min 20pts (7-15, 0-3, 6-10) 2reb 3ast 0stl 0blk 2TO
Evans ( C+ ) -- Tyreke played hard tonight and at times played very good defense. He played 40 minutes and scored 20 pts. He only had 3 assists, but if someone could have made a basket he would have easily had 6 or 7 assists of his passes. He started the game by missing an open 3 from the right corner. Moments later he grabbed a tough rebound in traffic, drove the baseline, and was fouled. He made 1 of 2. At the other end, he went for the steal in the passing lane on Foye, and missed, resulting in a wide open shot and make from Foye. He later scored a layup on a break on a nice pass from Thornton. He ended the first half by bulling his way through two defenders to lay it in. He started the second half by driving the lane and getting fouled. Unfortunately he misses both freethrows. He posted up on his next possession and used a nice hookshot to score. He couldn't get his jumper to fall tonight, and scored almost all his points at the basket or the freethrow line. He also played some nice defense on Marvin Williams at times. If it wasn't for some silly turnovers, especially a silly one in overtime when he threw the ball 4 rows up into the stands, and his reverting back to standing at the top of the 3 pt circle and dribbling the clock away, and then driving into traffic, he would have had a B. Subjective of course, but I'm not a big fan of exclusionary basketball where one person dominates the ball while his teammates watch. --Baja

Pillalamrri -- a huge banyan tree in southeastern India, its branches cover almost 3 acres of land. The secret to that unlikely statistic stems from the banyan trees' use of powerful aerial roots, which dangle down from their branches, take root beneath them, and eventually grow thick enough to be almost a secondary trunk to support their wild undisciplined limb spread. Pillalamrri has dozens of them, appearing to be a small forest all its own, but all of the trees are linked together as one organism.
 
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Bricklayer

Don't Make Me Use The Bat
#2
Stats: 38min 17pts (6-13, 2-4, 3-3) 2reb 3ast 1stl 0blk 1TO
Thomas ( C ) -- on a night peppered with selfish 1 on 1 plays, some of which even worked, IT was still clearly our 2nd best guard. He got started early, forcing a dumb 1 on 2 jumper on the break with nobody under to rebound. Missed it, and of course we automatically lost the possession. It was basically a turnover. But he settled, hit a similar shot a few miuntes later, and hit a three on the kickout from Reke -- one of two spot threes he hit on the night (the other from Cousins on the kick). He also missed 2 mor, including a wide open look from Reke later in the game, but on a night when we shot an abysmal 3-2 from out there, he had to count as the hot hand. Had me squirming in the third with more selfish decisionmaking, but selfish or not, was at least producing a little something, and so it was rather mysterious when midway throught the third we rbought back Thornton, who barely produced anything, and swapped out IT rather than Salmons, or thankfully Reke. We then had to endure a good 9-10 minutes of a wonderful Salmons/Jimmer platoon that shot a combined 1-14 between them before IT was finally returned to the game...to immediately throw up a selfish force that turned into a falling down +1 when he hit the shot falling backwards. Er...welcome back little guy? Still, it was infinitely better than our alternatives tonight, or at least the ones Smart tried (Brooks did not play), and for a whiel there in the 4th he had some posiitve impact. He set up Reke with a nifty slip pass to the hoop in the mid quarter, and on defense he was able to use his quickness to disrupt Burks, who the Jazz had running backup PG in a Salmons like role. Was nto to last however as down the stretch it was a steady drumbeat of missed opportunities. Made a terrible selfish turnover at the 3:35 mark after he dribbled around for 12 seconds and just refused to pass it, finally dribbling into a triple team and turning it over. Mised the open corner three at the 3:00 mark. And after the timeout at the 1min mark of the OT we called the IT iso (or he did)...and he missed it too. Closed out his statline with a meanigless little gameover layup with 10 seconds to go, but the grading book was already closed by then. --Brick


Jomon Sugi -- an ancient cryptomeria tree (called sugi in Japan, Japanese Cedar elsewhere) on the island of Yakushima south of Japan, it has a trunk 53 feet in circumference, and is estimated to be anywhere from 2200 to 7000 yrs old. There are multiple trails to it, but its in a very remote part fo the island, 4 or 5 hours from the nearest road. And hence because humans suck, a couple of vandals stripped off a 4 inch wide strip of bark a few years back. My simple solution would be to find them, catch them, and strip off a 4 inch wide strip of their skin and see how they liked it.

Bench

Stats: 26min 9pts (3-12, 1-6, 2-2) 3reb 1ast 2stl 0blk 0TO
Thornton ( D ) -- Marcus must have been drinking whatever Jimmer was drinking before the game, because he couldn't get his shot to drop either. He did score 9 pts on 3 of 12 shooting. He did have a good moment here and there, but dammed few. He made a nice pass to Tyreke on a fast break who scored. But to be honest, he looked like a man on a mission determined to make his mark on the game. I don't think he made the mark he wanted to. All to often he drove into heavy traffic and threw up a wild shot, or had his shot blocked. On two occasions when he was guarding Foye, he decided to leave him to double on Jefferson. Not a good idea to leave the best three point shooter on the Jazz open. And of course, Foye made both shots. The irony of the situation was that I thought Jimmer and Thornton both did a good job of looking for one another. Now if just one of them could have hit a shot. --Baja

Bartek -- an famous ancient oak in Poland. Polish kings in the middle ages used to hold court underneath its branches. Its in decline now, but its still there, they are not.

Stats: 15min 4pts (2-4, 0-0, 0-0) 4reb 0ast 0stl 0blk 0TO
Robinson ( C- ) -- There were two players who played great defense down low for the Kings tonight, but Thomas Robinson was not one of them. He had a tough assignment on Derrick Favors and was aggressive in fronting him to deny the ball, but didn't get the best results, allowing Favors to get around him four times (3 made baskets and 2 of 3 free throws) and Millsap once (made layup) while only forcing one Favors miss on a post attempt - that's 10 points on 6 shots. Robinson continued to have some trouble with his hands, booting an easy pass for a dunk on a Cousins steal in the backcourt, fumbling a pass in the lane, and failing to get the handle on an entry pass he should have stolen while fronting Favors. Still, he did some things well. He crashed the offensive boards aggressively resulting in 2 rebounds and a putback, but more importantly being in great position for several other potential opportunities that didn't pan out. He also put a great spin move on Favors for an easy left-hand finish, and that's the kind of thing I'd like to see over and over as the season progresses - you don't get a lot of defenders that can out-resumé Favors so that kind of move should work for him pretty consistently. I can't give him a great grade because of the defense, but just about everything else was on par (for his standards anyhow) and he definitely brought the energy again. --Capt.

The Big Tree -- this ancient live oak used to sit inthe middle of Lamar, Texas. Lamar was utterly destroyed by the Union navy in the Civil War. The tree endured. In fact in its more than 1000 years of life climatologists say that it has endured through some 40-50 major hurricanes, and countless lesser storms as well.

Stats: 13min 0pts (0-5, 0-3, 2-2) 2reb 1ast 1stl 0blk 3TO
Fredette ( F ) -- Not much to say. He couldn't get a shot to drop, and at least 3 of the 5 shots were wide open looks. When you add 3 turnovers into the bowl of results, it just adds up to an F. The one shot he did make, was nulified by an offensive foul from Cousins. He did make two freethrows, and should have had two more when he was hammered by Kanter on a drive to the basket, but it just wasn't his night. --Baja

General Sherman tree -- of California. Sometimes called the largest living thing on Earth, although I think that distinction goes to some titnaic undrground fungus thingie up in Oregon or some such. In any case, its the biggest tree. Not quite the tallest -- at "only" 275 feet tall its 100 feet shorter than the titanic Hyperion tree along the California coast. Not the thickest -- the baobabs of Africa are thicker. But nothing else so thick is so tall.

Stats: 7min 2pts (1-1, 0-0, 0-0) 2reb 0ast 1stl 1blk 1TO
Johnson ( INC ) -- out there in the second as MT and Jimmer were playing gun it if you got it, so wasn't going to make much of an impact on offense. Made some contributions in other area wiht a few rebs, some tough defense, although he found himself undersized as the Jazz are the anti-Kings, prone to throwing out huge lineups with MIlsap as a SF rather than running 3 guards and losing 2/3 of their games for a solid half decade. Final "contribution" was not one, as he threw a real lose pass up top for a bad turnover back to back with Jimmer doing the same. Given John's "excellence" no reason there could not have been more minutes here, but given Smart's record I suppose you take a shortened rotation no matter how you can get it.--Brick

Dave Evans Bicentennial Tree -- or possibly the Gloucester Tree. Wasn't clear whihc one this was a picture of. In any case, in Warren National Park in Southwestern Australia, there are these three giant 200+ foot tall karri trees that have long been used as fire lookouts. This was accomplished by driving 130 spikes into the trunk to create a kind of winding stair circling up the tree to the two-ton viewing platform 200 feeet overhead. Yee haw.

Stats: 26min 2pts (1-2, 0-0, 0-0) 5reb 1ast 1stl 0blk 1TO
Hayes ( B+ ) -- Hayes, like JT, played great D out there tonight. He was absolutely dominating Al Jefferson in the post for basically the entire second half. In fact, Jefferson scored 3 points on him all night, and nobody else scored anything (not Kanter, not Millsap, not Foye on a switch at the end of regulation when he was forced to pass to Jefferson for an ugly 3). All told, that's 3 points on 6 shots (not counting the two missed jumpers he pressured) and Jefferson's free throw...well, the slo-mo replay sure made it look like a clean strip. He wasn't quite as proficient as JT in forcing turnovers, but I'd still say that the three TOs he did force in the post (all on Jefferson - a straight steal, a travel, and fumble out of bounds) is still a good number, and you can credit him with another strip of Jefferson that the Jazz picked up. I can't even imagine why the Jazz kept going to Jefferson because he had exactly nothing going on with Hayes on him - it was a thing of beauty. Chuck's rebounding and scoring were meh, but it is Chuck Hayes after all. Interestingly, the team did not run the offense through Chuck very much tonight, and that might not have been the best plan as his post passing is an asset. Still, his main role is defense and he certainly did that tonight. --Capt.
 
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LWP777

Guest
#3
Almost 3 hours after the game and no posts yet in this thread. These are some dark days to be a Kings fan.

On another note, I was wondering when the next Boogie blowup was going to be! It usually comes every couple of weeks. I don't even care anymore though. I am numb...
 
#4
Almost 3 hours after the game and no posts yet in this thread. These are some dark days to be a Kings fan.
Anyone who would call these days "dark days" is not a real Kings fan! :rolleyes:
Haven't you heard? We've got three big time pieces in Evans, Thornton and Cousins! Rejoice! Great days (are here again) are just around the corner...
Seriously, though, I've had about all I can take for an inexcusable season without progress. Even regression on most counts.
 
#5
What's happened to Tyreke's FT shooting as of late? Can any of you stat pros get his % over the last 5 or so games?
 

Bricklayer

Don't Make Me Use The Bat
#6
What's happened to Tyreke's FT shooting as of late? Can any of you stat pros get his % over the last 5 or so games?
Not much to say when a guy hits a slump at the line. Nothing's really changed except they aren't going in as consistently.
 
#17
what the hell did DeMarcus do to get the first T? it appeared he was playing defense and had his back to the ref that called the T from across the court
 

Capt. Factorial

trifolium contra tempestatem subrigere certum est
Staff member
#18
what the hell did DeMarcus do to get the first T? it appeared he was playing defense and had his back to the ref that called the T from across the court
He was definitely complaining up and down the court about a no-call, I think. Last night, I think he definitely earned both of his Ts, unlike the last ejection against the Jazz where he probably didn't earn either of them.
 

CruzDude

Senior Member sharing a brew with bajaden
#20
Does anyone else just have an irrational dislike for a certain team? For no good reason I really dont like the Jazz. I think its their commentary team.
Driving home listening to Jazz radio broadcast team my wife and I agreed they are the worst on-air guys we've ever heard. The worst. Their color analyst isn't much better but he tried. Ended up watching play-by-play on internet connection while my wife drove thru greater LA area at commute time. At least we could use the diamond lane!
 

Kingster

Hall of Famer
#21
Hard to believe, but Jason Thompson's whining is starting to bug me more than the Cousin's meltdowns. I guess it's because Thompson was never the "problem child" and is quite a bit older than Cousins. You expect more. I really used to like Jason Thompson because of his work ethic and his hustle, but now it looks like he's just a spoiled immature brat who consistently puts his need to whine to the refs over the needs of the team. It's as if he thinks that his whining gives him some faux status in the league, when in reality it just makes him look like a mediocre crier. And it's the last thing that Cousins needs to see on the court from his "role model" vet.
 
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LWP777

Guest
#23
Hard to believe, but Jason Thompson's whining is starting to bug me more than the Cousin's meltdowns. I guess it's because Thompson was never the "problem child" and is quite a bit older than Cousins. You expect more. I really used to like Jason Thompson because of his work ethic and his hustle, but now it looks like he's just a spoiled immature brat who consistently puts his need to whine to the refs over the needs of the team. It's as if he thinks that his whining gives him some faux status in the league, when in reality it just makes him look like a mediocre crier. And it's the last thing that Cousins needs to see on the court from his "role model" vet.
Couldn't agree more! And, furthermore, some of the plays he whines about are just stupid. Nothing there. In the first half last night he dove for the ball and the ref called him OOB and he was whining saying the Jazz player pushed him down (which it didn't look like he did). JT looked really foolish. I think it just goes along with his basketball IQ....he just doesn't get it sometimes.
 

Kingster

Hall of Famer
#24
Couldn't agree more! And, furthermore, some of the plays he whines about are just stupid. Nothing there. In the first half last night he dove for the ball and the ref called him OOB and he was whining saying the Jazz player pushed him down (which it didn't look like he did). JT looked really foolish. I think it just goes along with his basketball IQ....he just doesn't get it sometimes.
What gets me going is when he is whining to a ref instead of getting back on D. That's just selfish basketball...
 
#25
JT has always whined a lot. After every foul he would cry about how he was standing straight up and didn't touch anyone. Not sure why you guys think this is something new.
 

gunks

Hall of Famer
#28
A lot of our guys whine. Wasnt there a player from another team quoted as saying that they game plan for our players whining and then get fast breaks off it?

It all goes back to coaching. Permissive/weak parents have obnoxious kids. Permissive/weak coaches have obnoxious players.
 
#29
A lot of our guys whine. Wasnt there a player from another team quoted as saying that they game plan for our players whining and then get fast breaks off it?

It all goes back to coaching. Permissive/weak parents have obnoxious kids. Permissive/weak coaches have obnoxious players.
On the issue of getting back on D, I like how at the end of the second quarter when Cuz got a steal and went the other way for a dunk, and was kinda hanging around the baseline giving the look to the fans, Tyreke yelled at him to get back. Good stuff.
 

VF21

Super Moderator Emeritus
SME
#30
A lot of our guys whine. Wasnt there a player from another team quoted as saying that they game plan for our players whining and then get fast breaks off it?

It all goes back to coaching. Permissive/weak parents have obnoxious kids. Permissive/weak coaches have obnoxious players.
Ding! Ding! Ding! We have a winner.