Bricklayer
Don't Make Me Use The Bat
Well folks, until its official I will still be here keeping the lights on. Heck maybe even after its official. Haven't made up my mind on that yet. And through all the off courst stuff, what we had was another very competiive game against a quality opponent, with some more flashes of big time stuff from our young guys, and another game coming up short late. It was a good watch, if you could bear to watch. Thronton has perhaps kicked this team's potential up even another gear. Reke, Cousins, Thronton and another high lottery pick? Or major player we swap that pcik for? And free agent money? Wish everybody could have seen that earlier, or enjoyed it cleaner next year. So anyway, on with the grades...
In recognition of ongoing events, I'm going to get sentimental here, and tonight will be the first of several Kings related themes betwen here and the end of the season. First up: Sacramento Kings: The Early Years, 85-91 (pre-Richmond)
Offical Boxscore
Greene ( D ) -- Omri missed this one with back spasms, and so Donte got the start. Unfortunately he did not give a really good reason why he should get more. Got an early dunk on a cut courtesy of Cousins, but otherwise was offensively inviisble, having one of those no boards nights, and not particularly having a defensive impact on Kirilenko despite being able to match his length. Took and missed a tough post move down the stretch of a tight game, and was replaced for most of the finish by Cisco.
The Kings arrived in 1985 to tiny Arco 1 -- a 10,000 seat bandbox. Legend has it that people showed up ton opening nigh in suits and tuxedos to greet them. Why? I don't know -- I was too young to be a part of that, and in fact it took me a few years to fully shift my attention to the local boys from my childhood team...ahem...the Lakers. Of course at the time I had decided I was going to be a Reagonite Republican too -- you have lots of silly notions as a kid of which you grow out. Notice in the picture above Jerry Reynolds -- already with white hair 25 years ago -- as an assistant coach, and Reggie having unerringly found a way to be front and center fro the cameras. I think Mark Olberding is hidden entirely behind the mass of Joe Kleine. Not sure where Terry Tyler is.
Cousins ( B+ ) -- got the start at PF as we started the twin towers line, and I would say acquitted himself very well thank you. Very aggressive early, and we were running the offense through him as he picked the Jazz apart. Unfortunately quick foul trouble got him again, although this time it was at least on legit attempts at interior defense -- he and Daly combined for 7 blocks on the night. He was showing those great mits on the glass too. Came up with a huge o-reb and power finish +1 to get him to a first half double double wiht his 10th t and 10reb. In what could have been a critical play got called for the offensive over the back foul in the final 30 secodns of the half. It was his 3rd, and with DeMarcuse that could have meant severely limted minutes the rest of the way. Continuing to show growth in that way thought, and managed to play the final 29 minutes of this one having picked up only 1 more foul. Offensively got slowed by the Jazz interior defense as the game went on, and a lot fo his ground bound forces were getting sent back in his face. But he contiued making a lot of great passes and strong rebounds in traffic on his way to his career rebounding night. Huge power follow of a missed Thronton post move in the early 4th, and came up with two more big offensive boards and drew the foul at the 3:49 mark. But from that point forward three things became notable -- the free throw shooting got shaky, with Demarcus splitting two pairs, and then flat out choking on two of them at the 1:40 mark -- in an OT game obviously any of those made would have won it for us. Twice diown the stretch of regulation he and Beno hooked up wiht Beno playing the slasher and DeMarcus the paser in sets that reminded one a lot of the old Vlade/Webber plays. And finally, DeMarcus again maybe got a lesson in how hard it is to close out games, as we went to him again and again, and he could not finish inside. Everything was blocked or knocked away. As I said last time, bad for our record, but maybe good inthe long run. Both so that he will adapt and learn how to hit those shots, and so that it will knock his ego down a peg about others failing to hit them. So this one featured inefficient offense, but everything else was top notch. I have to respect the offensive strugles late and the critical missed FTs in the grade, but DeMarcus was clearly, and I do mean CLEARLY, the most talneted player on the floor. And I suspect in future years that's going to be said a whole bunch.
Joe Kleine -- that is big Joe Kleine, the ultimate corn fed farm boy and first draft pic of the Sacramento Kings era that may be bookended by the drafting of another young center in DeMarcus. Fortunately the Kings are a lot better at evaluating talent now than they were then, and back in those old days the team still, and really for most of tis time, refused to rebuild, and it specilaized in seemingly every year getting the #6 or #7 pick, and then blowing those picks. Joe LKleine was famously taken instead of Karl Malone, Chris Mullin, Detlef Shrempf, Charles Oakley, Joe Dumars, A.C. Green and Terry Porter. Kenny Smith was taken ahead of Kevin Johnson, Reggie Miller, Horace Grant, Mark Jackson and Reggie Lewis etc. etc. Our drafting was a huge reason why we could not escape the lottery for all those years.
Dalembert ( C+ ) -- put up a respectable statline (there are entire seasons we would have killed for somebody who could put up 7pts 8rebs and 4blks in 24min), but really not one of Daly's best efforts. Had a couple of memorable moments including tracking and timing Devin Harris all the way down the court on a break, and swatting away his layup attempt -- back in the summer after an early look at DeMarcus I pronounced him a non-shotblocker because he just didn't move like one. On that play Daly 100% moved and thought like the shoblocker -- it was predatory. Nonethless not terribly effective early, and nto one of his better offensive efforts. Did ok against Big Al, but never shut him down. Did force him to take more jumpers than he normally does, but he can hit that shot now, and for the bigs who are effective against Daly that is normally a major reason why. Was racking up fouls from the beginning here, and eventually fouled out in the final minutes of regulation. Shouls be noted that Al did pick up the pace after Daly was gone -- he had 17 pts in the first 45 minutes, and 10 more in the final 8 to help slam the door on us, so it would be nor surprise at all if Daly was impeding him more than it appeared at a casual glance.
Pervis Ellison -- of course the most famous draft blunder of them all for the Kings was the drafting of Pervis Ellison #1 in 1989 (yes, we actually won the lottery). But some of that really has been more legendary oversimplification than anything else. Pervis was supposedly drafted because he reminded us our complete loser of a coach at that time -- Bill Russell. And if that meant being a skinny 6'9" guy undersized for the modern game then they had it right. But there weren't many great options at the top of the draft that year -- the other bigs Stacey King, J.R. Reid and Danny Ferry all had undistinguished careers. Glen Rice or Sean Elliot would have been the better picks, but they weren't franchise guys either. And then we went a step further, and dumped him after 1 injury plagued season for peanuts -- ugly peanuts. Bob Hansen, Erick Leckner and a pick that I think became either Anthony Bonner or Duane Causewell. You don't dump #1 overalls after one season for those kind of packages, but we did. It was a move that turned out to be both stupid and prescient, as Pervis emerged wihtin 2 years as a 20-10 guy in Washington, and threatened to make us again look stupid, but just as quickly saw his career disntegrate into an eternal series of injuries.
Thornton ( B ) -- Marcus got his first start for us, and in the early going you wondered if it was a good idea -- with DeMarcus rolling, Marcus was kind of a forgotten man. Of course that would be even more true once Reke is back and he and DeMarcus are out there together. Hit his first shot, and it was a turnaround in the post. But otherwise wasn't really involved with DeMarcus being the show. Interestingly came more alive once Taylor checked in for Beno. With essentially a no-PG look in the backcourt, I think it let Thornton bring the ball up and take the shots he wanted to take. Of course that may or may not have been a great thing as there were a few too many quick 1 on 1 forces tonight, and those are the shots he has to tame out of his game in order to fit smoothly into a system. But he also quicjky canned two threes, and made a lightning split of a double up hihg to slash in for hsi 10th point. Was also coming up with some strong physical d-boards using his hops in there, although it seems to be a few spectacular ones here and there for him rather than that boarding rhythm Reke gets into. Started the 4th with a quick 5pt burst. Some selfish 1 on1 shots again, but agina they were going so you jsut shrug for the moment. Came up with the biggest shot fo the game for the Kings when he hit the huge clutch three off of the good ball miovemnent at the 14 secon mark -- an extra clutch shooter at the end of games could again be a huge thing with Reke and DeMarcus. But made back to back mistakes in the OT, trying to split a double out of a timeout and turning it over, and then missing a three next time down. And at the end of the day this may have proven more by being a standard 20pt scoring game -- the shooting was only 8-21, there were TOs -- than he has proven to date with the ridiculous 10-16 type shooting nights. Reaosn being that this was legit -- this was the game that showed that even when starting, even when not on fire, he might STILL be a 20pt scorer even on of days. Lots of guys can score big when tehy are hot. In a lot of ways the real test is do you continue to even when you're not? Not going to help his grade mind you, but something to keep in mind going forward.
Sampson and his knees -- and Derek Smith and his knees. And Rodney McCray and his desease, or whatever. And Lionel Simmons and his knees and... Ralph here jsut beomes a poster oy for a larger trend for the Kings -- unable to draft their own talent, they made move after move to pick up to team's roleplayers or washed up long term injured guys on the theory that they were on TV once, maybe they'll recover their mojo and get us there. Did not work that way, and added cap woes paying all these non-productive players to everything else.
In recognition of ongoing events, I'm going to get sentimental here, and tonight will be the first of several Kings related themes betwen here and the end of the season. First up: Sacramento Kings: The Early Years, 85-91 (pre-Richmond)
Offical Boxscore
Greene ( D ) -- Omri missed this one with back spasms, and so Donte got the start. Unfortunately he did not give a really good reason why he should get more. Got an early dunk on a cut courtesy of Cousins, but otherwise was offensively inviisble, having one of those no boards nights, and not particularly having a defensive impact on Kirilenko despite being able to match his length. Took and missed a tough post move down the stretch of a tight game, and was replaced for most of the finish by Cisco.
The Kings arrived in 1985 to tiny Arco 1 -- a 10,000 seat bandbox. Legend has it that people showed up ton opening nigh in suits and tuxedos to greet them. Why? I don't know -- I was too young to be a part of that, and in fact it took me a few years to fully shift my attention to the local boys from my childhood team...ahem...the Lakers. Of course at the time I had decided I was going to be a Reagonite Republican too -- you have lots of silly notions as a kid of which you grow out. Notice in the picture above Jerry Reynolds -- already with white hair 25 years ago -- as an assistant coach, and Reggie having unerringly found a way to be front and center fro the cameras. I think Mark Olberding is hidden entirely behind the mass of Joe Kleine. Not sure where Terry Tyler is.
Cousins ( B+ ) -- got the start at PF as we started the twin towers line, and I would say acquitted himself very well thank you. Very aggressive early, and we were running the offense through him as he picked the Jazz apart. Unfortunately quick foul trouble got him again, although this time it was at least on legit attempts at interior defense -- he and Daly combined for 7 blocks on the night. He was showing those great mits on the glass too. Came up with a huge o-reb and power finish +1 to get him to a first half double double wiht his 10th t and 10reb. In what could have been a critical play got called for the offensive over the back foul in the final 30 secodns of the half. It was his 3rd, and with DeMarcuse that could have meant severely limted minutes the rest of the way. Continuing to show growth in that way thought, and managed to play the final 29 minutes of this one having picked up only 1 more foul. Offensively got slowed by the Jazz interior defense as the game went on, and a lot fo his ground bound forces were getting sent back in his face. But he contiued making a lot of great passes and strong rebounds in traffic on his way to his career rebounding night. Huge power follow of a missed Thronton post move in the early 4th, and came up with two more big offensive boards and drew the foul at the 3:49 mark. But from that point forward three things became notable -- the free throw shooting got shaky, with Demarcus splitting two pairs, and then flat out choking on two of them at the 1:40 mark -- in an OT game obviously any of those made would have won it for us. Twice diown the stretch of regulation he and Beno hooked up wiht Beno playing the slasher and DeMarcus the paser in sets that reminded one a lot of the old Vlade/Webber plays. And finally, DeMarcus again maybe got a lesson in how hard it is to close out games, as we went to him again and again, and he could not finish inside. Everything was blocked or knocked away. As I said last time, bad for our record, but maybe good inthe long run. Both so that he will adapt and learn how to hit those shots, and so that it will knock his ego down a peg about others failing to hit them. So this one featured inefficient offense, but everything else was top notch. I have to respect the offensive strugles late and the critical missed FTs in the grade, but DeMarcus was clearly, and I do mean CLEARLY, the most talneted player on the floor. And I suspect in future years that's going to be said a whole bunch.
Joe Kleine -- that is big Joe Kleine, the ultimate corn fed farm boy and first draft pic of the Sacramento Kings era that may be bookended by the drafting of another young center in DeMarcus. Fortunately the Kings are a lot better at evaluating talent now than they were then, and back in those old days the team still, and really for most of tis time, refused to rebuild, and it specilaized in seemingly every year getting the #6 or #7 pick, and then blowing those picks. Joe LKleine was famously taken instead of Karl Malone, Chris Mullin, Detlef Shrempf, Charles Oakley, Joe Dumars, A.C. Green and Terry Porter. Kenny Smith was taken ahead of Kevin Johnson, Reggie Miller, Horace Grant, Mark Jackson and Reggie Lewis etc. etc. Our drafting was a huge reason why we could not escape the lottery for all those years.
Dalembert ( C+ ) -- put up a respectable statline (there are entire seasons we would have killed for somebody who could put up 7pts 8rebs and 4blks in 24min), but really not one of Daly's best efforts. Had a couple of memorable moments including tracking and timing Devin Harris all the way down the court on a break, and swatting away his layup attempt -- back in the summer after an early look at DeMarcus I pronounced him a non-shotblocker because he just didn't move like one. On that play Daly 100% moved and thought like the shoblocker -- it was predatory. Nonethless not terribly effective early, and nto one of his better offensive efforts. Did ok against Big Al, but never shut him down. Did force him to take more jumpers than he normally does, but he can hit that shot now, and for the bigs who are effective against Daly that is normally a major reason why. Was racking up fouls from the beginning here, and eventually fouled out in the final minutes of regulation. Shouls be noted that Al did pick up the pace after Daly was gone -- he had 17 pts in the first 45 minutes, and 10 more in the final 8 to help slam the door on us, so it would be nor surprise at all if Daly was impeding him more than it appeared at a casual glance.
Pervis Ellison -- of course the most famous draft blunder of them all for the Kings was the drafting of Pervis Ellison #1 in 1989 (yes, we actually won the lottery). But some of that really has been more legendary oversimplification than anything else. Pervis was supposedly drafted because he reminded us our complete loser of a coach at that time -- Bill Russell. And if that meant being a skinny 6'9" guy undersized for the modern game then they had it right. But there weren't many great options at the top of the draft that year -- the other bigs Stacey King, J.R. Reid and Danny Ferry all had undistinguished careers. Glen Rice or Sean Elliot would have been the better picks, but they weren't franchise guys either. And then we went a step further, and dumped him after 1 injury plagued season for peanuts -- ugly peanuts. Bob Hansen, Erick Leckner and a pick that I think became either Anthony Bonner or Duane Causewell. You don't dump #1 overalls after one season for those kind of packages, but we did. It was a move that turned out to be both stupid and prescient, as Pervis emerged wihtin 2 years as a 20-10 guy in Washington, and threatened to make us again look stupid, but just as quickly saw his career disntegrate into an eternal series of injuries.
Thornton ( B ) -- Marcus got his first start for us, and in the early going you wondered if it was a good idea -- with DeMarcus rolling, Marcus was kind of a forgotten man. Of course that would be even more true once Reke is back and he and DeMarcus are out there together. Hit his first shot, and it was a turnaround in the post. But otherwise wasn't really involved with DeMarcus being the show. Interestingly came more alive once Taylor checked in for Beno. With essentially a no-PG look in the backcourt, I think it let Thornton bring the ball up and take the shots he wanted to take. Of course that may or may not have been a great thing as there were a few too many quick 1 on 1 forces tonight, and those are the shots he has to tame out of his game in order to fit smoothly into a system. But he also quicjky canned two threes, and made a lightning split of a double up hihg to slash in for hsi 10th point. Was also coming up with some strong physical d-boards using his hops in there, although it seems to be a few spectacular ones here and there for him rather than that boarding rhythm Reke gets into. Started the 4th with a quick 5pt burst. Some selfish 1 on1 shots again, but agina they were going so you jsut shrug for the moment. Came up with the biggest shot fo the game for the Kings when he hit the huge clutch three off of the good ball miovemnent at the 14 secon mark -- an extra clutch shooter at the end of games could again be a huge thing with Reke and DeMarcus. But made back to back mistakes in the OT, trying to split a double out of a timeout and turning it over, and then missing a three next time down. And at the end of the day this may have proven more by being a standard 20pt scoring game -- the shooting was only 8-21, there were TOs -- than he has proven to date with the ridiculous 10-16 type shooting nights. Reaosn being that this was legit -- this was the game that showed that even when starting, even when not on fire, he might STILL be a 20pt scorer even on of days. Lots of guys can score big when tehy are hot. In a lot of ways the real test is do you continue to even when you're not? Not going to help his grade mind you, but something to keep in mind going forward.
Sampson and his knees -- and Derek Smith and his knees. And Rodney McCray and his desease, or whatever. And Lionel Simmons and his knees and... Ralph here jsut beomes a poster oy for a larger trend for the Kings -- unable to draft their own talent, they made move after move to pick up to team's roleplayers or washed up long term injured guys on the theory that they were on TV once, maybe they'll recover their mojo and get us there. Did not work that way, and added cap woes paying all these non-productive players to everything else.
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