[Grades] Grades v. Nuggets 1/3/2017

Most Important Season High Tonight?

  • Koufos

    Votes: 1 2.2%
  • Collison

    Votes: 30 65.2%
  • Afflalo

    Votes: 15 32.6%

  • Total voters
    46
  • Poll closed .

Bricklayer

Don't Make Me Use The Bat
#1


Three season highs (Koufos, Collison and Afflalo) let us open open up some distance, and while I typically have internal grading rules about handing about more than 2-3 As, its hard not to when guys are putting in their best work of the season.



Link to Boxscore

Featured Grade
Barnes ( D ) -- On a night when four Kings went for 18+ points, Matt Barnes seemed content to go out there tonight and just occupy a space on the floor. Unfortunately that space was usually not quite near enough to Danilo Gallinari, the man he was generally tasked to guard. Tonight the best contribution that Barnes could have given us would have been solid D on the Nuggets’ high scorer on the season, but that just didn’t happen. Offensively Barnes was often less than quiet, particularly in the first half when he missed both of his threes (one very badly) and blew a dunk in transition. He did throw two good outlets to Collison early in the game and found him on an around-the-horn pass for a three in the late going, but other than that, he was pretty much invisible. -- Capt.

Cousins ( A- ) -- not quite Zen Boogie this time out, not with Nurkic in there to bang and yap, but Cuz played a largely in control game, that until a couple of loose who cares threes in the dying minutes, was close to mistake free. Never in foul trouble, zero TOs, several of his misses were desperation against the clock. be nice to have the Boogie boarder back though.

Koufos ( B+ ) -- got beat quite a bit by Jokic/Nurkic, but competed hard against them, and was highly efficient on the other end with his little hooks for finishes. Even added an uncharacteristically nice interior pass to a cutter.

McLemore ( D ) -- played a pointless first half where he was just taking up space. But in the early third hit a couple of threes to help us hold off the Nuggets surge. Of course Harris was scoring too easily the other way, to make that surge possible, and with Afflalo finally arriving, Ben sat the rest of the way.

Collison ( A ) -- there were still some shaky moments, and specifically the 3rd when the Nuggets crept back into things, but I think you have to give an A to a guy's best game of the season. Finally looked to score, and did in a major support role for Cuz. And Mudiay and Nelson were hardly a threat the other way.
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Tolliver ( C ) -- having a hard time going higher than this for a 7pts 2reb game. Did hit a three, and a long two late that was nearly a three. But mostly he was just in there for matchups with 3pt shooters at the 4 chased Koufos.

Casspi ( C ) -- I think this was a little better than the numbers indicate, and of course the numbers don't indicate much with 0pts. But he did hustle, and gave an effort on D with mostly good results as part of the hustling bench crew.

Cauley-Stein ( INC ) -- ok, look, I'm not going to F a 1+ minute stint, but Willie basically played himself right to the bench after getting a 2nd quarter look and playing soft on both sides,

Temple ( B ) -- for much of this game he couldn't hit the broad side of the backboard (although Mudiay did with a noble attempt to break one). But he filled in at backup PG, began to make defensive plays, and by the end of the game his hustle play, including a late o-reb and finish to help close things, overwhelmed the outside shooting woes.

Afflalo ( A- ) -- and as soon as Lawson disappeared, Afflalo suddenly reappears. Odd that, but oh so well timed. And not only did Afflalo reappear, it was with perhaps his best game of the season. We finally got major use out of his guard/SF post game, and seemed to be using him in Rudy sets. Gave us an effort on defense, and was the 3rd of Boogies tripod of support scorers.
 
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kingsboi

Hall of Famer
#2
Collison asserting himself more offensively is a good thing...let's see more of this moving forward. Despite the win, I really wanted some Malachi in this, maybe versus Miami he will get a shot. Stay true to your word coach.
 
#7
Collison asserting himself more offensively is a good thing...let's see more of this moving forward. Despite the win, I really wanted some Malachi in this, maybe versus Miami he will get a shot. Stay true to your word coach.
There is no reason Ben should be playing. If Malachi is gonna get a shot, Temple should start. Afflalo is basically our best backup SF right now and he fits there better.

Id like to see this when we get healthy

Collison
Temple
Gay
Tolliver
Cousins

Bench unit

Lawson
Malachi
Afflalo
Barnes/Casspi
Koufos
 
#10
There is no reason Ben should be playing. If Malachi is gonna get a shot, Temple should start. Afflalo is basically our best backup SF right now and he fits there better.

Id like to see this when we get healthy

Collison
Temple
Gay
Tolliver
Cousins

Bench unit

Lawson
Malachi
Afflalo
Barnes/Casspi
Koufos

In time I am with you. But until Lawson returns Temple is needed at the point.
 
#11
It's either all or nothing with Afflalo. It bothers me that he suddenly was ready when it sounded like his job was being lost to a rookie.

Important win for the Kings. They need a good homestand. Cousins' post game message was really good in this one. Team knows its got a tough road forward.

Hopefully Collison can continue his play and Lawson can return. 48 minutes of productive PG scoring would add to the win total. Ont hat note, I felt having Barnes or Cousins in with Temple running the point alleviated the issues GT had earlier in the season. It could also be a case of the team learning the offense.
 
#13
There is no reason Ben should be playing. If Malachi is gonna get a shot, Temple should start. Afflalo is basically our best backup SF right now and he fits there better.

Id like to see this when we get healthy

Collison
Temple
Gay
Tolliver
Cousins

Bench unit

Lawson
Malachi
Afflalo
Barnes/Casspi
Koufos
I won't argue too much with your suggestions: (1) Temple deserves to start (2) Malachi deserves look at back-up SG and (3) Affalo is definitely a SF. I have been saying so for a month. In fact he may become our starting SF if and when Rudy is traded! They say as a player gets older he moves down a position, like Bird became a PF towards the end, Kobe a SF. Same goes for Affalo, without the storied career.

In regards to Ben, there are two reasons to play him, neither of which have to do with his performance: (1) in hopes he plays better to boost his trade value (2) play him with your best player to minimize his role. Ben has less to do with the starters besides play D and make 3s, whereas as back-up he would be asked to be more prominent role as scorer and facilitator. This job is better suited to the better player, i.e. Temple.

In other words, Temple is the glue to the second unit. Ben is not the glue to any unit. I don't know if this is best approach, but I think this is Joerger's mindset.
 
#14
There is no reason Ben should be playing. If Malachi is gonna get a shot, Temple should start. Afflalo is basically our best backup SF right now and he fits there better.

Id like to see this when we get healthy

Collison
Temple
Gay
Tolliver
Cousins

Bench unit

Lawson
Malachi
Afflalo
Barnes/Casspi
Koufos
I've been voicing this starting unit for a long time now. I'm glad to see someone finally join me in this line of thinking.

I am curious how we would spread the minutes across this 10 man rotation you've suggested. I just posted in another thread this starting lineup with a bench of Lawson, Afflalo, Casspi, & Koufos which makes the minute spread pretty simple, but below is what my minute distribution would be with those 10 players (cutting out Barnes).

PG - Collison (28 min) / Lawson (20 min)
SG - Temple (28 min) / Richardson (20 min)
SF - Gay (28 min) / Afflalo (20 min)
PF - Tolliver (20 min) / Casspi (22 min) / Gay (6 min)
C - Cousins (36 min) / Koufos (12 min)

Cousins - 36 min
Gay - 34 min
Collison - 28 min
Temple - 28 min
Casspi - 22 min
Lawson - 20 min
Richardson - 20 min
Afflalo - 20 min
Tolliver - 20 min
Koufos - 12 min
 
#15
It's either all or nothing with Afflalo. It bothers me that he suddenly was ready when it sounded like his job was being lost to a rookie.

Important win for the Kings. They need a good homestand. Cousins' post game message was really good in this one. Team knows its got a tough road forward.

Hopefully Collison can continue his play and Lawson can return. 48 minutes of productive PG scoring would add to the win total. Ont hat note, I felt having Barnes or Cousins in with Temple running the point alleviated the issues GT had earlier in the season. It could also be a case of the team learning the offense.
Affalo got his game going be getting post-ups. This hasn't happened enough this season. That's where he is at his best and it is the coaches and teammates job to get him touches there.
 
#16
I swear this Kings' defense is freaking terrible. It's arguably worse than George Karl's.

We let the Nuggets attempt 38 3s...they made 18 of them!!!! 47.4%!!!!!!!!!!!

Only way we won tonight was by outscoring our opponent instead of playing quality defense. We're lucky that our offense was clicking tonight. If it wasn't, this would've been a blow-out lost.

For being a defensive guru, Joerger's team sucks ass at defending the 3pt line. I guess at least we aren't switching??? really pathetic
 
#17
I've been voicing this starting unit for a long time now. I'm glad to see someone finally join me in this line of thinking.

I am curious how we would spread the minutes across this 10 man rotation you've suggested. I just posted in another thread this starting lineup with a bench of Lawson, Afflalo, Casspi, & Koufos which makes the minute spread pretty simple, but below is what my minute distribution would be with those 10 players (cutting out Barnes).

PG - Collison (28 min) / Lawson (20 min)
SG - Temple (28 min) / Richardson (20 min)
SF - Gay (28 min) / Afflalo (20 min)
PF - Tolliver (20 min) / Casspi (22 min) / Gay (6 min)
C - Cousins (36 min) / Koufos (12 min)

Cousins - 36 min
Gay - 34 min
Collison - 28 min
Temple - 28 min
Casspi - 22 min
Lawson - 20 min
Richardson - 20 min
Afflalo - 20 min
Tolliver - 20 min
Koufos - 12 min
Uhm holy ****. That's a lot of minutes for Richardson, and arguably, way too many minutes. Just don't see that happening at all. At the most, he takes up Ben's minutes which is like 12mpg.
I know Ben has been terrible this year, but I don't understand the urge to give Richardson big minutes. He's done nothing to deserve 20mpg... You're also playing Tolliver way too many minutes too. 20mpg?

We're already a horrible rebounding team, and limiting Koufos to only 12mins would make us worse. Temple can do a lot of things, but being a plus rebounder is not one of those things. Tolliver would also be a defensive liability. He doesn't have the lateral quickness to defend a lot of small ball 4s, so he reaches in a lot.
With your proposed minutes, it's seriously George Karl 2.0 all over again... absolutely 0 defense, and fast pace. I also don't know why you're giving both Barnes and WCS 0 minutes.

There's really 0 justification in giving Richardson 20mpg when our deepest position this year is at our wing.
 
#18
I've been voicing this starting unit for a long time now. I'm glad to see someone finally join me in this line of thinking.

I am curious how we would spread the minutes across this 10 man rotation you've suggested. I just posted in another thread this starting lineup with a bench of Lawson, Afflalo, Casspi, & Koufos which makes the minute spread pretty simple, but below is what my minute distribution would be with those 10 players (cutting out Barnes).

PG - Collison (28 min) / Lawson (20 min)
SG - Temple (28 min) / Richardson (20 min)
SF - Gay (28 min) / Afflalo (20 min)
PF - Tolliver (20 min) / Casspi (22 min) / Gay (6 min)
C - Cousins (36 min) / Koufos (12 min)

Cousins - 36 min
Gay - 34 min
Collison - 28 min
Temple - 28 min
Casspi - 22 min
Lawson - 20 min
Richardson - 20 min
Afflalo - 20 min
Tolliver - 20 min
Koufos - 12 min
I think this exercise is kind of futile until we see what happens with Rudy. I also don't get how you can be so adamant about starting Tolliver when he's been in the league for a decade and never proven to be a capable starter. He's a spark off the bench and has slowly adapted to this role after rough start. But he can't rebound or defend interior nearly as well as Koufos against starting players. Koufos is coming on strong shooting 60% FGs and you want to cut his minutes from 20 MPG to 12 MPG? Um no. Regardless, I think this team is going to look different in one month or less. And if it doesn't it won't be for lack of trying.
 
#19
Uhm holy ****. That's a lot of minutes for Richardson, and arguably, way too many minutes. Just don't see that happening at all. At the most, he takes up Ben's minutes which is like 12mpg.
I know Ben has been terrible this year, but I don't understand the urge to give Richardson big minutes. He's done nothing to deserve 20mpg... You're also playing Tolliver way too many minutes too. 20mpg?

We're already a horrible rebounding team, and limiting Koufos to only 12mins would make us worse. Temple can do a lot of things, but being a plus rebounder is not one of those things. Tolliver would also be a defensive liability. He doesn't have the lateral quickness to defend a lot of small ball 4s, so he reaches in a lot.
With your proposed minutes, it's seriously George Karl 2.0 all over again... absolutely 0 defense, and fast pace. I also don't know why you're giving both Barnes and WCS 0 minutes.

There's really 0 justification in giving Richardson 20mpg when our deepest position this year is at our wing.
It's hard for any of us to speculate on what minutes Richardson deserves right now because the fact of the matter is that we can't see what he is doing in practice against the rest of his teammates.

Tolliver? No, I disagree. He's an average defender at worst who can guard out on the perimeter. His rebounding is suspect, but his floor spacing is a big plus.

Really not sure why you think this rotation would be poor defensively...
 
#20
Ben shouldn't play at all anymore I would give his mins to Richardson personally. WCS is making me nervous but he still falls into the prospect category for me. That said if we have to give him up in a Rudy trade to get something worth it back sign me up.
 
#21
I think this exercise is kind of futile until we see what happens with Rudy. I also don't get how you can be so adamant about starting Tolliver when he's been in the league for a decade and never proven to be a capable starter. He's a spark off the bench and has slowly adapted to this role after rough start. But he can't rebound or defend interior nearly as well as Koufos against starting players. Koufos is coming on strong shooting 60% FGs and you want to cut his minutes from 20 MPG to 12 MPG? Um no. Regardless, I think this team is going to look different in one month or less. And if it doesn't it won't be for lack of trying.
Because we don't have anyone who would be better at that position in the starting lineup. It's that simple. When we get a better PF, then yes, Tolliver goes to the bench.

We have to work with what we got. Saying someone hasn't been a starter for a decade has nothing to do with THIS team. Many people on here were stating that Afflalo should start over Temple to start the season because Temple has never proven to be a starter and Afflalo has started on other teams. Guess what? I recall being the ONLY one that called that one correctly...
 
#22
It's hard for any of us to speculate on what minutes Richardson deserves right now because the fact of the matter is that we can't see what he is doing in practice against the rest of his teammates.

Tolliver? No, I disagree. He's an average defender at worst who can guard out on the perimeter. His rebounding is suspect, but his floor spacing is a big plus.

Really not sure why you think this rotation would be poor defensively...
I mean, you're not going to give a rookie 20mins/game out of the blue, after not playing him at all. Richardson was really raw at college, and I just don't think giving him 20mpg would be the best choice...especially if you're talking about winning. Matt Barnes is easily our 2nd best SF despite how much I dislike him for his off-court shenanigans. He's not going to get DNPd..this means you'll have to move Afflalo to SG minutes. This is why I don't think Richardson gets anywhere near 20mpg. We have better options. At the most, he takes Ben's minutes...which is 12mpg?

Tolliver's floor spacing is good, but I just can't over-look defensive deficiencies and rebounding. In the last 5 games, he's played 27mins, but averaged only 3.8rebs....

I think we'd be poor defensively because C0llison can't contain his man. Once he gets passed him, we'll force Tolliver to contest. Tolliver isn't a shotblocker. He actually has one of the lowest block rates of any PF...
I think Temple would be a huge upgrade for our starters, but taking him out of the bench unit makes the bench worse.

At best, Lawson is a pesky defender...IT-style. Richardson is an unknown, but he was about average on defense in the DL. Afflalo is a defensive liability. Unless he's motivated, he's not very good. Casspi is just ok. Koufos is good.

With our starting lineup, we lack a lot of rebounding and rim protection. With our bench unit, we'd be a poor perimeter defending team. I don't think Koufos alone would be able to clean up the mess.

With your addition of floor spacing in the starting lineup, as well as more scoring-oriented players in our bench, it definitely seems like moves centered an offensive minded team. Not very much defense..especially for a team that's probably bottom 10 in defense as it already is.
 
#23
Not very much defense..especially for a team that's probably bottom 10 in defense as it already is.
The Kings are 24 out 30 in defensive efficiency and 27 out of 30 in three point shooting allowed at 37.2%. Basically no better than a Karl coached defense.
 
#24
Things looking cloudy for Denver after their lost
Malone's comment:
It's a joke right now we have no leadership, no veteran leadership stepping up, don't hear anyone speaking, taking the lead. We have two young guys trying to speak up on the team which you applaud, but we need some leadership to shine and step up

Gallo's reply:
Danilo Gallinari on Michael Malone saying the team has no veteran leadership: "I don't agree with that. That's definitely not the problem."
 

Tetsujin

The Game Thread Dude
#25
The Kings are 24 out 30 in defensive efficiency and 27 out of 30 in three point shooting allowed at 37.2%. Basically no better than a Karl coached defense.
Well actually they're better than last season's Karl coached defense but only because that defense was so freaking horrible.
 
#26
Well actually they're better than last season's Karl coached defense but only because that defense was so freaking horrible.
If you want to split hairs, the Kings defense efficiency is 107.5. Last year it was 106.3. Defensive efficiency is points per 100 possessions and is considered the most accurate measure of team defense since it accounts for pace. In this regard, the Kings defense is worse than last year.
 
#27
If Rudy Gay is traded, Aaron Afflalo may have some potential as a Small Forward for the Kings. :p
This is one thing that the "keep Gay" crowd don't get. We are a pretty deep team. Other guys will step up. Collison and Lawson can create pretty damn well, without the ball stoppage that is Gay.

Don't get me wrong. It would be great if Gay would get with the flow of the offense. Remember, he was phenomenally efficient when we first got him, under Malone. So I'm not sure what happened. But the Gay of the past month must go. If that is replaced with the Gay of two years ago, I can live with that. But if it's replaced with a first round pick and a back up point guard, so be it. We have other scorers on the team that we can make room for.
 
#30
If you want to split hairs, the Kings defense efficiency is 107.5. Last year it was 106.3. Defensive efficiency is points per 100 possessions and is considered the most accurate measure of team defense since it accounts for pace. In this regard, the Kings defense is worse than last year.

Stats don't always tell the whole story. The teams we face are different this year too . Look at Houston and the scoring machine they've become. They were not like that last year. They've been torching almost everybody and this affects their opponents defensive rating too. This year I feel like we can come up with stops when we need to. A lot of it has to do with Temple. Last year , we were getting torched by guards left and right .