[Grades] Grades v. Lakers 12/3/10

Bricklayer

Don't Make Me Use The Bat
I've got nothing to serve as an adequate balm for this guys. I can't post porn. Sorry.

Forgot the poll, my apologies.

And becuase this team needs one desperately, the off the cuff theme will be: Leaders of Men

Official Boxscore

Greene ( C- ) -- hit a three to start this one as we were ever so briefly competitive. Was able to use his size against Artest going at him at one end and looming ovber him at the other. Kept going baseline on the right side, but the Lakers figured that out pretty quickly and took it away. And that was pretty much it for the offense. Seemed to be playng pretty good defense on Kobe when he was on him as things got away from us, but playing pretty good defense on Kobe is not the same thing as stopping him, and after the first 6 minutes really had no impact anywhere on the floor and disappeared along with everybody else.
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Vince Lombardi (legendary coach of the Green Bay Packers) -- I thought I would start this one off with a coach (bearing an uncanny resemblance to my grandfather in that picture), because fact is that is the second possibility for us. We need a leader, but if our potential leaders ON court are either too young or have the wrong personality, then the next place you find a leader is on the sidelines, and it appears if Westphal is leading, nobody is following at this point. He also provided these words of leadership wisdom: "The leader can never close the gap between himself and the group. If he does, he is no longer what he must be. He must walk a tightrope between the consent he must win and the control he must exert." —Vince Lombardi

Thompson ( B ) -- impossible to grade fairly. Some low level productivity while the game was still on, but looked as clumsy and out of control as ever, and racked up the fouls, as always. Then garbagetime starts, we are down 30pts for the entire 4th quarter and all of a sudden he has manic energy and hustle and racks up the big statline. Which BTW = thx, any effort by anybody at any point of the game is notable and appreciated with us. But you can't really go off and give a guy a good grade when he was largely ineffective until the game was decided and scrubs were on the floor, and then he started dominating.
Gets no leader behind his grade, as I instead include this old video -- just substitute the word "garbagetime" for "ghetto" (okay maybe "garbage" would keep the cadence better, but that's insulting. Maybe "g-time"):

Dalembert ( D ) -- this might be the first truly bad game Dalembert has had. Maybe the 2nd. Adn while I think there is some real question if his knee is ok, so many of the problems here were associated with his other limbs -- namely his hands. Just turnover after turnover early, not able to catch, not able to finish even pretty good setups. And on the other end not able to really close the middle. That's the side where maybe a lack of lift could have made the difference. Bad enough that DeMarcus got the start to begin the third, but when Daly finally came in in the third finally able to have a little effect on defense/the glass. Oh, and BTW sounds like off this game Westphal is going to make ANOTHER set of lineup changes, so the bad game may be the last of Dalembert starting for at least another 2-3 games until Coach changes his mind again.
Winston-Churchill.jpg

Winston Churchill -- the stubborn old man who provided the backbone for an empire during its darkest days. By sheer force of will, not to mention the invention of radio (the same tool which helped Franklin Delano Roosevelt lift a nation's spirits in the Great Depression), he simply refused to let the Brtiish give up in WWII. Oh to have a leader with such backbone on this team.

QU920Churchill.jpg
 
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Head ( D- ) -- In the last game I mentioned that it appears maybe Luther's 15 minutes of fame were up. And off of another nothing performance here, it appears that they certainly are, and that the next lineup change will either bring back Beno or stick Cisco in his spot. Tried him on Kobe here off of some good minutes against him last time we faced the Lakers, and there was just no effect. Punchless offensively too, and played only 14 scorless minutes. Like Darnell, our training camp heroes are now all back to the deep bench it appears.
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Alexander the Great -- one of the all time great conquerors of course, but more than that, a tremendous military leader who's troops followed him fanatically. He came from the era when you led from the front, and he was famed for charging out audaciously into the midst of seemingly impossible odds and always emerging victorious. It was a dumb era. But maybe an instructive one to a young buck like Tyreke.

Evans ( C- ) -- almost immediately with an injury to start, banging knees and off to the locker room. Came back shaky on offense again, but getting his hands on a lot of balls on defense. Only two hits early were threes. Kept getting to the rim but getting blocked. Easily our most productive player pre-garbagetime, but this was a strange productivity that has no place in his game and you can't built anythign around -- he just started standing outside the three point line and chucking up bombs. And he hit them at a pretty good clip, which is more than can be said for any other King. But its still just a bleh.
gandhi.jpg

Gandhi -- (a dangerous late game foe in that game BTW -- if he's nearby to start its very much worht it to build a pack of axemen and go knock him out of the game before he gets going). The king of passivity, which is not really a lesson of which we need more, and which is adangerous game to play depending on your opponents being more or less civilized so they don't just off you. Nonetheless he inspired one of the largest nations on Earth to an irrepressible independence movement without firing a shot while dressed in a sheet. That's a pretty impressive leadership feat. Inspiring others by example is also leadership.

Bench
Udrih ( D+ ) -- in early with Reke going to the lockerroom, and tried to play the Reke role with him out, and not very successfully. Unable to create all alone out there. Was a little more effective playing off the ball after Reke returned. Just off on the halfcourt shot at the end of the first as it rolled in and out. Long long empty minutes after the half as we just had so many people rack up big minutes while just doing nothing.
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Douglas MacArthur (WWII General) -- a tough arrogant S.O.B. (he had to be to get away with that silly Popeye pipe) who left you no choice but to follow him or he'd kick your ***. His arrogance was his undoing however, and he got us in trouble in Korea by dismissing Chinese capability and disrespecting the chain of command (i.e. the President says jump, you jump, even if you're a war hero and think you run the show unilaterally).

Cousins ( C- ) -- forced some stuff into the teeth of the Lakers defense and quickly picked up three fouls and had to sit in frustration again. Got the start to the third with Daly struggling so badly. Some little good things inside, a few good kick passes, a lot of fouls, no abilty to defend the rim. Unable to play defense at all in the garbagetime with 5 fouls going into the 4th, but survied the whole quarter by basically leaving 4 on 5 on that end of the floor. think the 5 fouls largely knocked him into all around passivity however as he really accomplsihed nothing during the entire period.
Leonidas_by_VegasMike.jpg

Leonidas -- silly comic book adapatation for the kiddies aside, what the grownups know is that King Leonidas managed to convince 300 Spartans (and several thousand Greek support troops who often get shortshifted by history) to march out with him to the pass at Thermopylae on a suicide mission to hold the pass for a few critical days against one of the largest armies ever assembled -- an army of Persians estimated to have numbered more than a quarter of a million. Not only did they do it, but they held fast for 3 days, giving the Greek city states behind them time to prepare, before being betrayed and fighting to the last man. We don't actually know much about Leonidas, and the feat may have had as much to do with Spartan's nearly reilgious militaristic fascination as his own leadership, but anybody who can convince 300 to stand fast and fight against 250,000 can lead my troops any day.
 
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Landry ( D ) -- just gave us nothing off the bench in the first half. Just embarrassingly nothing, and his complete lack of size was just fatal against the Lakers length. After half gave us a couple of hoops. One of the primary examples of our sickness rihgt now. I do not for an instant believe that Carl Landry, at 26, has suddenly had the talent he has displayed in his first 4 years in the league stolen away by gremlins. I do beleive the chemsitry sucks, the effort is down, and the system isn't playing to anybody's strengths.
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Martin Luther King -- another man who came to embody a movement, and in his case through remarkable oratory ability. Like many of the great movement leaders, survived long enough to see his movement based on reconciliation and peace splinter off into division and anger, as its always a lot easier for the lesser leaders who follow to lead by fear mongering than idealism.

Garcia ( F ) -- see notes on Landry. Just gave us nothing besides a lone three. In fact our entire veteran core was just pathetic. Three starters friom last year (Daly, Beno, Landry) and a guy who strted the year before that (Cisco) give us 4pts, 6pts 4pts and 3pts, miss shots, turn it over, and do their best imitation of roadklill out there. Maybe Cisco gets the F just because this late int he grades I am sick of it.
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Nelson Mandela -- hey, it takes something to topple a regime from a jail cell, although again, this is a risky strategy dependant on your opponent not being ruthless enough to simply close the deal. A bigger/better trick was getting out, getting elected, and finding ways to try to create harmony and silence the extremsit voices that would have called for a race war.

Casspi ( C ) -- did not even get in until the early 3rd, and then played the rest of the way as there was no life elsewhere so might as well get him some run. Got a flagrant foul called on a fastbreak raceout when he was hacked from behind by Shannon Brown. Was not terribly effective, but was playing a littel bit of that glue roll that Donte has been playing. Ineffective offensively, but moving the ball more than he is usualy wont, and providing a little reboudning help.
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Flash Gordon -- hey, anybody who can fly billions of miles through space to a planet named Mongo, lead a revolution against a guy named Ming the Merciless amongst the various people of an interstellar kingdom, and get not one but two hot girls out of the deal is the alpha to the male.

Jeter ( B ) -- in for the garbagetime 4th and put up numbers, but numbers that are hard to get excited about given that he was mostly just one on one pulling up jumpers like a mini-A.I.
 
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There shouldn't even be any grades for these guys. This should be an incomplete grade thread and just post images of dead animals.
 
im over this team... this is a bunch of trash.... pending a trade or trades... or the obvious firing of Paul Westphal .... im officially done with this season...
put evans in a suit and on the IR....let him rest this season is over....
 
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Yah this is worse than a rebuilding team should look like. I hope we didn't put all our eggs into Evan's basket only to have him turn out to suck butt.
 
I really don't know how you handle this. You start the seasoned with "heightened" expectations (to me, the 30 wins I was expecting were "heightened expectations"), with the easiest, home-heaviest schedule and blah.

I don't think you can fire Westphal right now. How do you bring on a new coach knowing how difficult the schedule is in January/February? There is literally a chance we could play for two months and not win a game.

How terrible. Really. I'm not sure I'm able to watch any longer knowing we're literally un-competitive in the majority of the games we play in.

We could literally end the season with 12, 13 wins. This is just awful.
 
Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered weak and weary,
Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore,
While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping,
As of some one gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door.
`'Tis some visitor,' I muttered, `tapping at my chamber door -
Only this, and nothing more.'

Ah, distinctly I remember it was in the bleak December,
And each separate dying ember wrought its ghost upon the floor.
Eagerly I wished the morrow; - vainly I had sought to borrow
From my books surcease of sorrow - sorrow for the lost Lenore -
For the rare and radiant maiden whom the angels named Lenore -
Nameless here for evermore.

And the silken sad uncertain rustling of each purple curtain thrilled me -
filled me with fantastic terrors never felt before;
So that now, to still the beating of my heart, I stood repeating
`'Tis some visitor entreating entrance at my chamber door -
Some late visitor entreating entrance at my chamber door; -
This it is, and nothing more,'

Presently my soul grew stronger; hesitating then no longer,
`Sir,' said I, `or Madam, truly your forgiveness I implore;
But the fact is I was napping, and so gently you came rapping,
And so faintly you came tapping, tapping at my chamber door,
That I scarce was sure I heard you' - here I opened wide the door; -
Darkness there, and nothing more..... THE RAVEN by POE (partial)
 
My friend put a status on facebook before the game saying he was glad the lakers would finally end their losing streak tonight, i told him to knock and wood and he said why?

sigh..
 
Reke needs to get shut down for at least a month. He isnt helping us, and he's wearing a walking boot to bed?!! Come on... Noah sat for a long while with plantar fasciitis, now he's back to beasting. Let Reke heal.

Westphal needs to get fired. I'm down for Elie. Even if he's a bad coach he'll be an improvement. Our offense stinks. Our D stinks. The body language is bad. Our team culture is bad. All the youngsters are regressing, and so are the vets. Same story different team with Westphal. If he was able to muck up his inherited 60 win teams, of course he's gonna muck up the Kings.
 
how about great movie monsters of all time. because this is getting scarey. At one time tonight I longed for the Kevin Martin, Brad Miller combo. they could score.
 
Gee...I wonder if the staff at Arco will have to put the curtain around the upper level due to lack of attendance at upcoming games? If there's 10,000 people there for any of those games I'd be surprised...*sigh*...

Edit: start the busses...this team's leaving town...
 
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Brick had the foresight before the season started to solicit for theme suggestions (as though we would need it given the team's youth and promise). It's time to get to work. I'm working on a Vancouver-based theme.

Have no comment but I haven't lost faith in either the coach or some of the players. It could just be one more player added who turns this all around.


 
Brick had the foresight before the season started to solicit for theme suggestions (as though we would need it given the team's youth and promise). It's time to get to work. I'm working on a Vancouver-based theme.

Have no comment but I haven't lost faith in either the coach or some of the players. It could just be one more player added who turns this all around.



I'm afraid that Jordan is retired and isn't coming back to the NBA anytime soon lol...
 
Well, I lasted about midway through the 2nd quarter before I turned it off tonight. It's extremely rare that I ever even get to the 4th quarter with the way they've played this season.
 
here's a grade...

Bill Walton: F

this man has no filter. he just spews an endless stream of consciousness. blah blah blah. my boyfriend...who doesn't really follow basketball, was so horrified by listening to walton's blathering he was compelled to write the maloofs a letter.

this game = the wound
bill walton = the salt

so much salt
 
Its feasible you add Mike Bibby or Billups to this team they could have a significant change in the ball movement and success of running the plays. The problem is you bring in guys like that and they are going to be short term solutions long term it needs to go back to Tyreke and someone else cause really we are looking 3 years down the road to be back on top again and a vet isn't going to be worth much at that time. So to get these types of guys we need to not give up parts we will need in 3 years so its tricky.

Sometimes a coach change can have the same or similar affect and alot of us see our current sideline leadership as hurting the development of our players. The longer we take to develop them now the longer it will take to become relevant the more likely we will end up having to blow things up to make any short term change and lose the chance to be winners again.

We needed to make a showing this year and our coach was too busy starting guys he was going to cut in preseason and playing guys that are not feasible going forward with in and jerking the lineup and rotations around when we should have had it taken care of in camp and preseason. 1-12 we have enough talent to have guys run harder and wear both themselves and the opponents out getting in transition and pushing and sprinting and playing hard. The talent level isn't great enough except win Reke is healthy to say 100% of the time this player should always be on the floor over these even if they are tired. Push it harder and run opponents out of the building play hard in your face defense for 24 min and it would hide our horrible 1/2 court sets till we can get them streightened out. Play and reward the guys who go out and make the other team work use our youth and depth. Rest Tyreke until he can be a + out there.

If we didn't have to make min roster and didn't sign anyone after the draft we would have a better record IMO and thats on the coach. Since he slimmed down the playbook I think he might have cut the wrong plays.
 
here's a grade...

Bill Walton: F

this man has no filter. he just spews an endless stream of consciousness. blah blah blah. my boyfriend...who doesn't really follow basketball, was so horrified by listening to walton's blathering he was compelled to write the maloofs a letter.

this game = the wound
bill walton = the salt

so much salt

Bill Walton was the only thing good about the game. At least with Walton you're getting some truth. Now truth in a game like this might not be a tasty morsel, but I'd rather have that than spin.
 
Bill Walton was the only thing good about the game. At least with Walton you're getting some truth. Now truth in a game like this might not be a tasty morsel, but I'd rather have that than spin.

Ha ha! Yeah, Walton was about the only thing I enjoyed during the game. He may overdramatize, but he's telling the truth.
 
Wow, and our group has to return to the scene of the crime on Monday night. The crime being the Kings lying that they are an NBA team. Monday at the Clips will be interesting.
 
Ha ha! Yeah, Walton was about the only thing I enjoyed during the game. He may overdramatize, but he's telling the truth.

wait a minute, didnt you enjoy DMC's game, you forgot about your son DMC
 
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