[Grades] Grades v. Mavs 11/11/2014

[hrdboild]

Cousins against Gasol and Randolph wouldn't be as much of a problem if we can get solid play from Landry and Thompson when they're out there...

Against OKC they were fronting Cousins so aggressively that we couldn't get him the ball in the post. It didn't help that Collison left early because of foul trouble. Against Dallas though, Cousins was getting good position and sealing Chandler off so he could receive the ball. Chandler stopped him a couple times (with the aid of a double team) but I think in the fourth quarter we went away from him too quickly. After Cousins got turned away in a couple of possessions it seemed like the guards stopped looking for him. Both of these last 2 games were winnable but the players on the court need to know that Cousins gets the ball down the stretch. He's not going to be successful on every attempt, but he's still our best option when we need a basket. When you've got a player on your team who's shown us more advanced post moves in 5 games than I've seen in probably the last 5 years combined, you need to get him the ball and let him go to work.

 

[Gilles]

If you went into a game and only took one shot, and in this game, it was a forced shot with a hand in his face, does that make you a bad shooter. Stauskas is stuck in the same situation most rookies are stuck in. You get limited minutes, and you get limited shots. You miss your first couple of shots, and wa la your on the bench, and the fans think your a bad shooter. At Michigan, if he missed his first three shots, it wasn't a problem because he was going to get another 10 or so shots in the game. And he shot 44% from the three for two years at Michigan. Trust me, he can shoot the ball. His time will come. Right now he's not getting many touches, or shots, and its tough to look good in that situation. However, he is doing a lot of other little things that go unnoticed to the average eye. He does a good job of freeing up Cousins with back screens or intentional bumps in the post. He'll be fine, it's just going to take some time.

What amazes me, is the unrealistic expectations of fans. Were eight games into the season, and some are willing to throw Stauskas into the trash can. I don't know how to logically address that. I know we live in an instant gratification society, but come on folks, that's just ridiculous. But hey, what the hell do I know?

Last year Ben on the floor brought a few losses just by being there, if you judge his perfomanse overall. Nik doesn't play as much, and Kings lost only 3 games so far, while having a slew of other problems, so you can't assign even a single loss to his overall season contribution...yet, but it's coming. He's used primarily as a zone buster, waiting when his defenders give him enough space to shoot, and his teammates manage to deliver him the ball in time. At the same time he's exploited on the other end, and in this light I understand that contested 3 not like a chuck, but desperate attempt to contribute. Still he's hurting his team, so if TWill is any good, him in Kings uniform and Nik in Reno should be explored. Maybe there's some politics involved, and Nik is a favorite at the same level Sim is, so coaching staff is slow to attempt this move. Maybe coaching staff legitimately feels there's no available alternative to Nik (and Ray) as a backup SG, so we'll have to wait, until he learns to be burned every other possession. But I don't think anyone, who put a thought to it, would say he didn't expect massive defensive struggles from rookie Stauskas.

 

[King Baller]

I kind of Disagree on Stauskas bringing the ball up the floor. He did it one time last night and two Mavs tried to trap him. He got into a low stance and dribbled right out of it.

I'm not saying he is a PG. I am saying I would like him to get a chance to be more assertive and show what he can do, or not do

Ben was great last night. I just wish the team had kept feeding him the ball and he played the whole game

 

[rainmaker]

Sorry, Rainmaker, if I didn't express myself better. My point was that Nic and Omri should have been put on the floor, when Ramon and Rudy lost the touch with team ball. Not because they are better players. They just seem to be more team oriented and can be used to remind others about it. Pop would have done the substitution even if it would cost him the game.

For example, when Omri did his coast to coast run in the 4th quarter, nobody followed him for the pass. Clearly Parsons was more likely to get the call whatever the situation really was. Beyond passing, basketball requires also movement without the ball.

Ramon, and we have the body of work of his career to go on, is a shoot first PG. Without Collison and unless Ray really steps up, we're limited. We can't at this point plug Nik into the backup PG spot and expect him to not only set up the offense, but to create for others off the dribble and by penetrating . Thus far, I really haven't seen any evidence Nik can even run a side P&R.

I bolded the last part as it's key. It's not like Ramon and Rudy suddenly flipped the switch, became selfish and should have been replaced and that would have fixed our problems. Our spacing got far worse as the game went on. Our movement went from great to almost non-existent. The options a guy like Rudy had to pass to which were there early, evaporated in the second half. When there's options, Rudy has shown he's more than willing to pass. I suggest looking at his increasing chemistry with Ben or regularly looking to set up Cuz when they run the two-man game. But when the offense stagnates, Rudy is forced to go 1v1 at times. Sometimes it's his fault for forcing a poor shot, many other times it's the lack of movement from others.

There's two more issues here. One, Rudy doesn't have to be as aggressive if Cuz would at some point learn how to stay on the damn floor. Him averaging 30.4 mins is hurting us. It's inexcusable. He needs to learn how to stay on the floor another 6-8 mins per night.

Two, one of our top two players in Rudy going 7-14 with 8 asts, almost half of our team-wide 17 asts hardly speaks to him being the real problem with ball movement. He can be a problem at times, but just as big of a problem is the lack of creativity and stagnation in our offense/sets when things get tough. That's a coaching issue and an issue with all five guys on the floor. But when we're at times attempting to run a high-post offense through Reggie Evans and even Ryan Hollins, it speaks loudly to our system still needing a fair amount of work and our roster still needing significant upgrades, despite our 5-1 start.

 

[Livinthedream]

Last year Ben on the floor brought a few losses just by being there, if you judge his perfomanse overall. Nik doesn't play as much, and Kings lost only 3 games so far, while having a slew of other problems, so you can't assign even a single loss to his overall season contribution...yet, but it's coming. He's used primarily as a zone buster, waiting when his defenders give him enough space to shoot, and his teammates manage to deliver him the ball in time. At the same time he's exploited on the other end, and in this light I understand that contested 3 not like a chuck, but desperate attempt to contribute. Still he's hurting his team, so if TWill is any good, him in Kings uniform and Nik in Reno should be explored. Maybe there's some politics involved, and Nik is a favorite at the same level Sim is, so coaching staff is slow to attempt this move. Maybe coaching staff legitimately feels there's no available alternative to Nik (and Ray) as a backup SG, so we'll have to wait, until he learns to be burned every other possession. But I don't think anyone, who put a thought to it, would say he didn't expect massive defensive struggles from rookie Stauskas.

You don't send your lottery pick to the D league. The mistake is having 2 SG that are under development. Can't rectify that now.

I also disagree that you can blame losses on Ben last year. He was a rookie and just didn't have that much control over the situation or team.

 

[bloom]

The positives:

1. Most of the first half was great, we were passing the ball, working together and playing defense - except we tend to leave open 3 point shooters wide open a lot of the time (still got to work on that).
2. Ben was great…On Fire in the first half.… I’m so glad that he’s taken that step that I knew he could. He still needs to work on his defense and I’d like to see him move without the ball a little bit more - sometimes he stand around and is waiting for the ball to come to him.

The game wasn’t lost on the officiating (even though it was a problem), it was lost on 2 things (and I think someone else mentioned it earlier). It was the start of the complaints that came when we were up by 20. We allowed the whistle to affect our mental game (and that’s something that we still need to work on). And it was Derrick Williams 3 fouls in a min of action that created a change…and what really bothered me was that he was laughing about it - he’s not given that many chances to play and when he does come in he not only commits a swing of fouls but he’s ok with it.

We really should have won this game, we came in, we led and then we in a sense broke down - lack of player and ball movement and took our foot off the defensive end.

What happened to Jason Thompson’s jump shot? The guy could shoot before, I don’t know what happened but it seems that he can’t buy a bucket?

Nik seems to have taken a step back. I’m hoping he can come in and be more aggressive. I think that could help him a bit. Hopefully he’ll starting making shots and get himself going. I gave Ben some time to put it together, I don’t think Nik needs that long.

Anybody else wonder why we don’t get more transitional buckets?

Should have won the Dallas game, but I think it could be a good learning game for them - hopefully it’s not going to put us back to our old ways. OKC game was officiated horribly but we also didn’t come in with any energy. These games are good for learning and hopefully they will be. Next stop is Memphis and I know we can beat them, but we can’t do it individually.

 

[hrdboild]

The positives:

1. Most of the first half was great, we were passing the ball, working together and playing defense - except we tend to leave open 3 point shooters wide open a lot of the time (still got to work on that).
2. Ben was great…On Fire in the first half.… I’m so glad that he’s taken that step that I knew he could. He still needs to work on his defense and I’d like to see him move without the ball a little bit more - sometimes he stand around and is waiting for the ball to come to him.

The game wasn’t lost on the officiating (even though it was a problem), it was lost on 2 things (and I think someone else mentioned it earlier). It was the start of the complaints that came when we were up by 20. We allowed the whistle to affect our mental game (and that’s something that we still need to work on). And it was Derrick Williams 3 fouls in a min of action that created a change…and what really bothered me was that he was laughing about it - he’s not given that many chances to play and when he does come in he not only commits a swing of fouls but he’s ok with it.

We really should have won this game, we came in, we led and then we in a sense broke down - lack of player and ball movement and took our foot off the defensive end.

What happened to Jason Thompson’s jump shot? The guy could shoot before, I don’t know what happened but it seems that he can’t buy a bucket?

Nik seems to have taken a step back. I’m hoping he can come in and be more aggressive. I think that could help him a bit. Hopefully he’ll starting making shots and get himself going. I gave Ben some time to put it together, I don’t think Nik needs that long.

Anybody else wonder why we don’t get more transitional buckets?

Should have won the Dallas game, but I think it could be a good learning game for them - hopefully it’s not going to put us back to our old ways. OKC game was officiated horribly but we also didn’t come in with any energy. These games are good for learning and hopefully they will be. Next stop is Memphis and I know we can beat them, but we can’t do it individually.

Williams laughing on the bench after one of the worst stretches of basketball anyone has played here in awhile (which is saying a lot!) annoyed the hell out of me too, but his 1 minute or so of game time was not a factor in us losing the game. Yes it contributed to Dallas chipping into the lead but frankly, 4 free throws in the second quarter is not a primary factor in us losing this game. The whole attitude of the team changed in the second quarter -- we stopped playing hard and Dallas is not an opponent you can afford to take lightly. Until late in the fourth quarter this was still a game but when the other team is scoring every time down the floor in the last 5 minutes, you're never really in the game. The defensive commitment is what abandoned us. They scored 34 points, 30 points, and 28 points in the last 3 quarters. That's not acceptable. And yes, the foul calls were ridiculous and omnipresent but you don't get respect by asking for it, you get respect by demanding it. Had we kept our foot on the accelerator from beginning to end there's nothing the refs could have done to take this from us.

 

[HereWeBoogie]

As for the Poll, i think "any of the above" would have been a good option. Because really if just one of those hadn't happened, we would be 6-2 right now

 

[Gilles]

You don't send your lottery pick to the D league. The mistake is having 2 SG that are under development. Can't rectify that now.

I also disagree that you can blame losses on Ben last year. He was a rookie and just didn't have that much control over the situation or team.

He looked exactly like Stauskas this year: revolving door on D and couldn't buy a bucket. Competent SG and Kings win 3-4 more games last year, not that they needed that...

 

[bajaden]

Last year Ben on the floor brought a few losses just by being there, if you judge his perfomanse overall. Nik doesn't play as much, and Kings lost only 3 games so far, while having a slew of other problems, so you can't assign even a single loss to his overall season contribution...yet, but it's coming. He's used primarily as a zone buster, waiting when his defenders give him enough space to shoot, and his teammates manage to deliver him the ball in time. At the same time he's exploited on the other end, and in this light I understand that contested 3 not like a chuck, but desperate attempt to contribute. Still he's hurting his team, so if TWill is any good, him in Kings uniform and Nik in Reno should be explored. Maybe there's some politics involved, and Nik is a favorite at the same level Sim is, so coaching staff is slow to attempt this move. Maybe coaching staff legitimately feels there's no available alternative to Nik (and Ray) as a backup SG, so we'll have to wait, until he learns to be burned every other possession. But I don't think anyone, who put a thought to it, would say he didn't expect massive defensive struggles from rookie Stauskas.

First off, all it takes is one person to say a player is a bad defender, and everyone just takes it and runs with it. I'm certainly not saying he's a good defender. But he's not as horrible as some are implying. I take every game individually and judge it. Nik has had some good defensive moments. He actually played well against Klay Thompson, until he started posting Nik up. Put Nik on a quick PG, and yeah, he's going to be in for a long night. He's going to take his lumps, but in general, he's a far better defender than Ben was at the same time last season. I agree with you that their primarily using Nik as the kick out man in the event of a double, or a broken play. The problem is, he's capable of doing more than that. He's terrific at running the pick and roll, and just about every time he's run it with Cousins, which isn't many, its ended up as a basket for Cousins. He also knows how to use a pick properly.

I'm not suggesting he start, or play the point, but I wouldn't send him to Reno. I certainly don't equate him to Bhullar who is one notch above worthless at the moment. I seriously doubt there's politics involved. People are making way too much out of that stupid video, as though that was the defining moment of decision. Trust me, the Kings knew exactly who they were going to draft. Does anyone actually believe that teams fly blind into the draft and don't make a decision until their turn comes? Pure nonsense! Yeah, they pay scouts all year long to watch hundreds of college games just so they can flip a coin on draft day. The only way you change you mind is when someone you don't think will be there falls into your lap. We'll just have to disagree on this one.

 

[Gilles]

So all you can come up with as an example is the first game of the season, where it took a quarter for other coach to adjust and start exploiting Stauskas, and from that moment on there's no example of him playing anything close to average defense, so, yeah, he's a bad defender.
And Bhullar is worthless for Kings for next 3 years at least, if ever. I still think, Nik was the best player at #8, and it was a correct pick, but he's hurting this team, and this season's agenda is not about keeping Kings' pick away from the Bulls: Kings will have money to spend in the summer, and you can get much better contributor for $7 million, than with a #9 or a #10 pick.

 

[Prince_XY]

We saw plenty of Collison when he played for the Mavs. All I can say is "good luck with that."

Hadn't watched the Kings this season.

If you only have seen Collison's poor plays with the Mavs and you haven't even seen Collison play for our team for the first 6 games of this season I suggest you keep it to yourself about what you think about Collison.

Actually, when I read your multiple post about Collison, I was asking myself "What the f*** is this guy talking about?"

IT, is that you?

 

[IfAt1st]

I watched the reply of the first half.
I know the instant the game turned:

When the foul was called on Reggie Evans for properly boxing out his man, who then climbed up over his back, and Reggie got the foul - everyone on the Kings got up in arms. Even Carl Landry got a tech called on him, and it brought DMC up off the bench barking at the officials, and the Kings' heads were never the same again.
Of course, a lot happens during the course of a game, but when the refs make it impossible to play the game of basketball (by calling a defender for boxing out his man), a team starts to think some serious crap is going on.

Remember, against PHO the refs made it impossible to play basketball by calling DMC's 6th foul on an immobile screen. That time the team didn't let it get to their heads.

The past 3 games the refs have been absolutely hideous, on both sides of the ball - the amount of horrendous calls against whoever's guarding a player going to the basket on a fast break (even if they matador it) is alarming.

 

[CruzDude]

Some take aways from the game and from postings herein.
- RayMac needs more minutes and soon
- Evans starting with Cuz may not be such a bad idea if JT continues his funk play
- Nik after 8 games is way, way ahead of Ben last year for most of the year. Now with minutes should shore up his game and scoring.
- A primary ball handler has to be on-court at all times. Maybe impossible but some one to be a ball movement traffic cop.
- TO's have to be stopped, the unnecessary ones, the non-defensive ones.
- Hollins and DWill have to be glued to the bench.
- Landry for Evans, JT for Cuz and Omri for Gay for bench mob but not all 3 at one time.

Landry is coming along but will need another 10-15 games to work in with the other bench players.

 

[Livinthedream]

He looked exactly like Stauskas this year: revolving door on D and couldn't buy a bucket. Competent SG and Kings win 3-4 more games last year, not that they needed that...

So it was a poor roster that did not allow Ben develop slowly and properly. Not his fault per se. Just an easy target.

 

[Chubbs]

If you only have seen Collison's poor plays with the Mavs and you haven't even seen Collison play for our team for the first 6 games of this season I suggest you keep it to yourself about what you think about Collison.

Actually, when I read your multiple post about Collison, I was asking myself "What the f*** is this guy talking about?"

IT, is that you?

I know I'd hate to have people think I was the same person I am today as I was two years ago.

Many people keep making that mistake with Collison. Oh, he sucked in Indiana, did he? And? That was 4 years ago! Or even Dallas two years ago. Who cares? Let's judge him on now. Now looks good. Even with him shooting well below his career numbers.

 

[Larry89]

I know I'd hate to have people think I was the same person I am today as I was two years ago.

Many people keep making that mistake with Collison. Oh, he sucked in Indiana, did he? And? That was 4 years ago! Or even Dallas two years ago. Who cares? Let's judge him on now. Now looks good. Even with him shooting well below his career numbers.

I got a few names.. Goran Dragic, Steve Nash, Chauncy Billups, and Tony Parker.. far and few in between, but it is possible. Collison has been solid, and that is more than enough.

 

[Ron]

I'm going to reiterate some of the things said here. I think some of the Maveric comments were right on the money. This time I do think that Mike Malone has to take some responsibility of this loss. The team was playing brilliantly in the 1st quarter. When your shooting guard is producing basically without a fault, keep him going. He wasn't just on a shooting spree, he was doing it also in the D. Sessions obviously felt that he has to make a mark on this opportunity and started to work on his own stat line. Rudy did pretty much the same. The ball stopped moving and Dallas immediately identified the opportunity to come back. Mike Malone should had put Stauskas at the point and Casspi instead of Rudy to get the ball moving again. Stauskas is not the best ball handler, but he passes the ball. Casspi initiates ball movement.

This.
Only Ray Mac at the PG may be better IMHO.

 

[VF21]

First, welcome to the new members of the consortium - and welcome back to our old faves. And thanks for all the work you guys are gonna do for this thread.

Stats: 1min 0pts (0-1, 0-0, 0-0) 0reb 0ast 0stl 0blk 0TO
Williams ( F ) -- Yes, I’m giving Derrick an F for one minute of game time. Williams came in in the second quarter, committed three fouls and took a bad jumper. In one minute. Malone quickly yanked him and Williams chuckled on his way to the bench. He wasn’t ready to play. This was as pathetic as it sounds. It might have been the worst one-minute stretch of basketball I have ever seen.--Mass

THANK YOU! Derrick Williams should, IMHO, be permanently ensconced at the end of the bench for that stupid little chuckle. He has the IQ of three-day-old road kill and for him to take minutes away from Casspi is ridiculous. Omri may make the occasional mistake but he's always ready to play and he always aware what's going on. Williams is neither.

Williams deserves to be up there with Darko Milicic and Haseem Thabeet as proof that being picked #2 in the draft doesn't mean you're going to be good in the NBA.

 

[Mr. S£im Citrus]

Williams deserves to be up there with Darko Milicic and Haseem Thabeet as proof that being picked #2 in the draft doesn't mean you're going to be good in the NBA.

I can't believe you would disrespect Stromile Swift like that.

 

[VF21]

I can't believe you would disrespect Stromile Swift like that.

Oops. My bad.

 

[Kingston Jamaica]

Sorry about this, but I still think that when the coach sees that the team has stopped moving and the ball handlers do not have anybody to pass the ball to, call a time out and explain that to the players. Don't let the key players switch the game to iso.

I think there is way too much criticism on Nic. College ball and the NBA are both about basketball, but it's different. Therefore, 8 games into the season, you can't expect a guy play mature NBA bb like a veteran. A rookie needs a lot of patience. That is especially important with shooters. They need their confidence to shoot well. You need to help them with that, not ruin it.

My view is this. If you play good defense, you're not a liability on the floor. In offense, move well without the ball and you will get your chances.

 

[Kingston Jamaica]

On Collison I don't agree with Maveric. A player can dissapoint in many teams and come to a new environment an be a star player. Talking about the Maverics, Steve Nash is a great example. Why is Popovich so successfull? Because he has a system and he knows to play any player in that system to that players maximum. Many coaches in the NBA have the first part and it may even be brilliant. However, the second part is generally badly lacking.

I think Mike Malone is right in stressing defense. It should always be there. In good shooting nights and in bad shooting nights. The possibility that everybody has a bad shooting night is rare.

 

[VF21]

Sorry about this, but I still think that when the coach sees that the team has stopped moving and the ball handlers do not have anybody to pass the ball to, call a time out and explain that to the players. Don't let the key players switch the game to iso.

If he had done that in the Dallas game, we would have been out of timeouts within the first three minutes of the second half.

 

[pshn80]

You don't send your lottery pick to the D league. The mistake is having 2 SG that are under development. Can't rectify that now.

I also disagree that you can blame losses on Ben last year. He was a rookie and just didn't have that much control over the situation or team.

Agree but you can certainly and deservidely blame losses on the fact that Ben was on the floor, starting and playing big minutes. I think his presence and playing time the single biggest contribution to our lack of success. He HAS to play better this year to stay in the lineup and get big mimutes. So far he is doing pretty well but has a long ways to go.

 

[Livinthedream]

Agree but you can certainly and deservidely blame losses on the fact that Ben was on the floor, starting and playing big minutes. I think his presence and playing time the single biggest contribution to our lack of success. He HAS to play better this year to stay in the lineup and get big mimutes. So far he is doing pretty well but has a long ways to go.

There were veterans on our team last year who could not or would not step and perform in that SG role. That left Ben as the only option. I can find plenty of blame to go around before I get to Ben for that. He's a scapegoat for last season and it really makes no sense. We were winning 28 games a year before he even got there. All of a sudden he's the reason? Not buying it.

 

[Chubbs]

Agree but you can certainly and deservidely blame losses on the fact that Ben was on the floor, starting and playing big minutes. I think his presence and playing time the single biggest contribution to our lack of success. He HAS to play better this year to stay in the lineup and get big mimutes. So far he is doing pretty well but has a long ways to go.

Well, if MT hadn't been a big pile of worthless, we'd have been OK too. That was the plan until MT decided he no longer wanted to play basketball in Sacramento. If I recall, MT started the season as the starter, but was so terrible they just went with Ben and gave up on the veteran. There wasn't much of a choice. We are talking a vet making 8 million vs a 20 year old rookie, aand everyone seems to have selective memory about what really happened. MT was the starter. He didn't get it done. Let's not forget MT. Dude was overpaid and awful.

But let's blame the 20 year old rookie for last season. A lot of that going around, with Ben last year and now Nik. This is how it goes. This is how it was with Peja, Kmart, etc. It's also how it was with Douby, Jimmer, Trob, etc. But who knows how it plays out? I see the potential in Ben coming out. I don't even have an opinion on Nik cause it's 8 games in. Just silly to want to cut him loose, send to reno. Neither will be happening.

Not sure what people expect really. They need to at least try to develop these guys. Just getting some stop gap veteran may make us better in the short term, but certainly not a contender. The only way that happens is if the rookies and second year guys develop into much better players than they are today. I don't see much sense in giving up on the future for a mediocre veteran who MIGHT get you the 8 seed. Or you can go with the young guy who might eventually be part of a contender, but hurts you now. But it's really tough to have it both ways.

One can choose to be patient, or just beat your head against the wall every night wondering why the rookie isn't playing like a veteran.

 

[lawlman91]

I'm going to reiterate some of the things said here. I think some of the Maveric comments were right on the money. This time I do think that Mike Malone has to take some responsibility of this loss. The team was playing brilliantly in the 1st quarter. When your shooting guard is producing basically without a fault, keep him going. He wasn't just on a shooting spree, he was doing it also in the D. Sessions obviously felt that he has to make a mark on this opportunity and started to work on his own stat line. Rudy did pretty much the same. The ball stopped moving and Dallas immediately identified the opportunity to come back. Mike Malone should had put Stauskas at the point and Casspi instead of Rudy to get the ball moving again. Stauskas is not the best ball handler, but he passes the ball. Casspi initiates ball movement.

I don't see Stauskas bringing up the ball full-court with a guy pressuring him... makes me nervous

 

[Jkbiker]

Well, if MT hadn't been a big pile of worthless, we'd have been OK too. That was the plan until MT decided he no longer wanted to play basketball in Sacramento. If I recall, MT started the season as the starter, but was so terrible they just went with Ben and gave up on the veteran. There wasn't much of a choice. We are talking a vet making 8 million vs a 20 year old rookie, aand everyone seems to have selective memory about what really happened. MT was the starter. He didn't get it done. Let's not forget MT. Dude was overpaid and awful.

But let's blame the 20 year old rookie for last season. A lot of that going around, with Ben last year and now Nik. This is how it goes. This is how it was with Peja, Kmart, etc. It's also how it was with Douby, Jimmer, Trob, etc. But who knows how it plays out? I see the potential in Ben coming out. I don't even have an opinion on Nik cause it's 8 games in. Just silly to want to cut him loose, send to reno. Neither will be happening.

Not sure what people expect really. They need to at least try to develop these guys. Just getting some stop gap veteran may make us better in the short term, but certainly not a contender. The only way that happens is if the rookies and second year guys develop into much better players than they are today. I don't see much sense in giving up on the future for a mediocre veteran who MIGHT get you the 8 seed. Or you can go with the young guy who might eventually be part of a contender, but hurts you now. But it's really tough to have it both ways.

One can choose to be patient, or just beat your head against the wall every night wondering why the rookie isn't playing like a veteran.

Please don't mess with our SG duo, Yes Ben struggled last year, but it was as a Rookie! This year he is already showing flashes of having all sorts of Upside, Better shooting confidence, still very athletic and doing a better job on defense, has great work ethic

Nik showed a lot to us un summer league and preseason, so many of us right here on the board was talking like Nik could start, but if we have to get Nik thru his rookie year and get him minutes, that's just what you have to do to bring along a rookie

Both of our SGs have the potential to improve a lot for the next few years Im Excited!!!! I Love this team!!!!

 

[MassachusettsKingsFan]

All this talk about guard depth and backup PG nonsense...

We could have had Beno at the same price as Sessions. I love that guy as a bench guard.