[Grades] Grades v. Nuggets 12/16/2012

Got Your Christmas/Holiday Shopping Done?

  • Yes

    Votes: 4 13.3%
  • No

    Votes: 4 13.3%
  • Almost

    Votes: 10 33.3%
  • Have not even started

    Votes: 12 40.0%

  • Total voters
    30
  • Poll closed .

Bricklayer

Don't Make Me Use The Bat
The "Gimme a Break! version.

Ok, so, pathetic and all that. Pretty much from the opening tip. For excuses we have this: the Nuggets have one of the deepest collections of little men in the league, and we were without our only 2 with a chance to compete in Thornton, and then Reke after an ineffective attempt to go early (and that knee has gone from annoying, to worrisome in a hurry). And thatsaid, we jsut did not compete, no matter who was out there. Chickens with their heads cut off. Our two bigs did what you can do against the Nuggets, which is beat them up inside. But they never had any impact while doing so. Eveybody else got embarrassed.


So somebody in the game thread mentioned our cheerleaders. I think I've already done that, but I'll check. If I have already done them, it will be Girls of course. After 5 years of this nonsense its a good thing there are 3-4 billion of them on the planet to choose from. If this keeps up much longer though don't be surprised if you start seeing pictures of your grandmother up here

Boxscore


Stats: 21min 4pts (1-8, 0-4, 2-2) 0reb 1ast 0stl 0blk 1TO
Salmons ( D- ) -- willing ball mover early again, but began missing his shots from the beginning again as well (he's now a nifty 2-15 his last two games), Seemed to be mixed up, and at times was passing shots he needed to take, and taking ones he needed to pass -- until you began to notice it might be better for us if he ALWAYS passed. Another night of being too small to check the opposing SF, as Gallinari ignored him, and he was caught on several switches against the Nuggets' bigs. Got his one and only hit late in the first, but then just nothing. Missed multiple open threes on perfect setups -- those always bother me because we ran the offense perfectly at times, get the wide open shot...and then our scrub misses it. Call me a cynic but when that happens I always worry that our guys will give up doing the right thing because its pointless and just fall back into old habits. Blew the gimme layup to start the third, as he was quite determiend to suck tonight. And it wasn't just an offensively impotent night, as he cherry on topped the whole thing with 0 big rebounds.
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SKD Royalty -- Heidi

Stats: 26min 16pts (7-14, 0-0, 2-2) 10reb 1ast 2stl 1blk 0TO
Thompson ( A- ) -- our best player on the night, and virtually the only one who looked comfortable and in rhythm out there. Scored on the post move over Fareid, and then a hustle follow inside. Was banging inside, aas he and Cousins pounded away but couldn't get anything to fall with all their touchless tips. Certainly did not win all the battles, but on the night outplayed Fareid. Kept on swithcing on defense, and got scored over virtually every time. Can;t say his touch looked any better than normal, but was about the only guy doing anything for long stretches, and just kept at, getting balls back repeatedly to go try again. Was still solid after half in limited minutes. In contorl on offense, hustling, and made several good passing decisions, even if only one of them was rewarded wiht an assist. This was a good game for JT, just nobody else came along for the ride.
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SKD Royalty -- Becca

Stats: 33min 19pts (5-14, 0-0, 9-11) 11reb 1ast 0stl 0blk 1TO
Cousins ( C ) -- called play jumper to start, and trying and trying early but missing all those shots around the rim. Lot of effort on the offensive boards. Not so much on defense where the center wiht some of the best hands in the league has responded to all the foul toruble and suspensions by sticking them firmly in his pockets anymore. Hes' staying on the floor now. Unfortunately its at the cost of letting everyboyd walk by him. In fact as part of his new nice guy image even got a technical....for trying to BREAK UP a scuffle, rather than start one, as he pulled a chippy Aaron Brooks away from Dre Miller. Hoping that one might get looked at and rescinded, because even though it was part of a double technical during the game and had no game effect, Boogie has racked those things up so fast this seaosn he's doomed to a series of late seaon 1 game mandatory suspensions for having too many Ts. Was scoring mostly from outside, and part of that was the refs seemed to have seriously swallowed the whistles on him -- actually on our whole team. I generally don't like to complain about the refs, but in that first half we just could nto get a call. After half, and after Smart actually picked up a technical on Boogie's behalf after another big no call, DeMarcus and Isaiah both started just slamming thier bodies inside and forcing the refs to call something every time. scored to start the 2nd. but then did not get downt he court to mathc McGee on the break, and committed a dumb offensive foukl the other wahy. scorign form outside mostly. Never looked nearly as comfortbale as JT in this one, but in classic Boogie fashion, racked up impressive numbers anyway.
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SKD Royalty -- Lisa

Stats: 10min 2pts (0-4, 0-2, 2-2) 1reb 0ast 0stl 0blk 0TO
Evans ( INC ) -- started off the game oddly, settling for, and missing, long jumpers, and generally not being involved enough as the Nuggets started ti pull away. Then we got our explanation, as he went ot the bench at the 10m minute mark and never returedn with that damn knee again. For all our problems you still have to winder if it weren't for Tyreke and his knee at the most inopprtune times, if we couldn't have pulled off 2 or 3 more victories, and been sittinghere at 10-13 or sowe such instead of 7-16 and gasping.
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SKD Royalty -- Camille

Stats: 21min 9pts (3-10, 1-4, 1-2) 2reb 2ast 0stl 0blk 2TO
Brooks ( D+ ) -- swatted on the called backdoor cut play early, but near the end fo the first had his best/only burst of the night, scoring on a hustle offensive board and follow, then a three, and then in an interesting moment got chippee and hammered Andre Miller with a hard defensive foul that actually resulted in some scuffling out there. And hey, I actually liked that -- only fight we showed all ngiht out there. Little guy has a bit of a temper as we've seen. Unfortunately there was not much game to match his temper, and as things spiraled he started forcing things off his own dribble again, including airballing one of them in the early 3rd to the jeers of the crowd. The home crowd I should note. With "crowd" in quotes.
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SKD Royalty -- Candace
 
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Bench

Stats: 27min 20pts (3-10, 1-3, 13-15) 3reb 4ast 1stl 0blk 4TO
Thomas ( C ) -- well, put up another 20pt night, but this one was much different, and inferior, to the last one. He got in in the first half, and was ok in the second quarter, too small to guard Miller, but at least he beat the first quarter buzzer with a runner off the glass to close the gap to 9. But this time the overaggression/selfishness thing which has just swallowed his season rose up to define this fame as well. Overdriubbeld and ran right into a turnover in the early 2nd that started yet another Nuggets break. Was making some hustle plays, but just as many out of control mistakes the other way. Pressing pressing, but where's the control? Kept turning his head on Lawson for some reason after that became the matchup. As in literally looking away from Ty Lawson, while he had the ball. By the time he looked back he was gone. Isn't that something you should be able to pretty easily predict?. Most of his production came in the supergarbage 4th when he was just forcing and forcing and forcing everything. Jsut ignoring teammates to slam inside again and again. Hey, it was ugly, it was not good bball. But at least he played hard.
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Andrea -- I've liked me some Andrea ever since she first showed up on the SKD website this summer

Stats: 20min 6pts (3-7, 0-1, 0-0) 1reb 2ast 2stl 0blk 0TO
Johnson ( C ) -- out of the timeout in the early 2nd forced a drive into traffic and chaotic again. Defensive effort, but seemd to be challenging and losing most of the time. Took a few of his near airball jumpers before settling down. After the game didn't matter was solid enough, but the guy we intended to be our dfensive stopper was just a guy.
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SKD Royalty -- Jeannie

Stats: 19min 7pts (3-5, 1-3, 0-0) 0reb 1ast 1stl 0blk 0TO
Garcia ( C+ ) -- came in and hit the open jumper late in the first quarter and broke up a pass insdie. hit a three, got a drive. Fairly quiet overall, not an impact game, but just here and there would step up with a good play. Missed an open three on the good set up from JT in the thrid as his shooting joined ours down in the dumps after half. Nothing to be excited about here, but this was actually low level solid, a game after being awful.
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SKD Royalty -- Sara -- is the one on the left. But seemed like a nice team spirti pic and all. Even has the Kings bling.


Stats: 12min 2pts (1-1, 0-0, 0-0) 3reb 1ast 1stl 0blk 0TO
Hayes ( D+ ) -- interesting in that this was the fish out of water game we saw from Hayes last year -- in an up and down high scoring affair he just has nothing to do, and the coach seemd to acknowledge as much, barely playing him until it was garbagetime. We triued him very briefly in the first half, and Javale Mcgee jsut pogoed right over him treating him like a prop in the dunk contest. Of course being smart, we went stupidly tiny for aspell with Hayes our only "big". That didn't work so he was out quickly. Got hsi solitary hoop in the garbage minutes late, but did not matter the least whiel he was out there. just another guy in shorts and a tank top jogging up and down the court.
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SKD Royalty -- Jenn -- who in case you did not know is actually a fitness model and bodybuilder as well as the longtime SKD tenured woman in charge

Stats: 17min 0pts (0-4, 0-2, 0-0) 2reb 0ast 0stl 0blk 0TO
Outlaw ( F ) -- comically bad as usual. Getting nothing done on either end. Normal ofensive production., which is to sya he missed everything. And "Smart" decided this was the guy he was goign to bounce up in the roation over TRob to match the run n gun Nuggets. Travis may be a nice guy and I don't wish him ill, but if I was the GM and the owners wouldn't let me fire the coach, I might seriosuly consider jsut releasing Outlaw to prevent any more coahcing stupidity. Not as if he contributes anything on the court unless we're in the rose Garden. Sorry about that Travis if you are reading this.
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Megan -- a little Megan for Christmas (think she is supposed to be a toy soldier)
 
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once again the season grows more and more embarrassing with each game.

and as usual. Smart blamed the fact that he was missing players
 
I'm thinking Reke is just checking himself out of every game once we go down by about 10 in hopes that we get blown out and Keith Smart gets fired. I certainly wouldn't blame him for that, heck I'd advocate it. Cousins needs to do the same thing. I still for the life of me cna't understand why Westphal gets fired after a 2-5 start but Keith Smart is here to stay forever with his brilliant record of close, well-fought games.

You know, people here like to throw the term "bball iq" around, and talk about how our team won't be successful because the players have no bball iq. Well ladies and gentlemen, I present to you specimen A - Javale McGee. This guy is arguably the dumbest player that gets minutes in the NBA in terms of basketball IQ, and yet you see him setting good screens and rolling to the rim, cutting to the rim to get passes off of penetration and stuff. These guys are NBA players for a reason, they aren't as dumb as people think they are on the basketball court. All they need is for good coaches to give them specific roles and then practice makes perfect. Not on our team though, on our team the coach just yells and gets angry with guys because they aren't "executing" (whatever that means), and every guy outside of our starting lineup and MT can be playing or benched every other night.

To be honest I think the Spurs' second unit of Patty Mills, Nando de Colo, Danny Green, Matt Bonner and Tiago Splitter would have a better record than us.
 
Re: Poll

Bad enough that the Christmas shopping is still not done, some people are preparing for the end of the world in less than a week
 
well this doesn't sound very good. Sounds like the players respect Smart as much as we do


Jason Jones ‏@mr_jasonjones
T-Rob on if the was told why he dind't play in 1st half: "I don’t know. I don’t ask him for anything really anyways."
 
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In other news, Brooks this time was the one who told the media to blame the players and not the coach.

Well alrighty then, if we aren't going to fire this excuse for a coach let's make some trades and get these guys outta here! **** rebuilding man, why rebuild properly when you can just acquire high lotto picks year after year and then just keep blowing up the team because it's always the players' faults? Keith Smart is here to stay forever.
 
In other news, Brooks this time was the one who told the media to blame the players and not the coach.

Well alrighty then, if we aren't going to fire this excuse for a coach let's make some trades and get these guys outta here! **** rebuilding man, why rebuild properly when you can just acquire high lotto picks year after year and then just keep blowing up the team because it's always the players' faults? Keith Smart is here to stay forever.

Our lotto picks haven't amounted to anything other than role players at this point.
 
Our lotto picks haven't amounted to anything other than role players at this point.

Which is one of the real problems: there are no roles! and there are no role players. That is coaching or lack thereof in my view.

Bricks use of word "pathetic" was appropriate. Something is terribly wrong. Other NBA sources are saying it is not the coach. OK. But we can't fire the players. But do we know the coach is doing everything? and the players are not responding? or just what? Gotta be a pony in there somewhere (comment from an optimist seeing a barn full of horsh_ _!).
 
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I don't go to as many games as I like and try to enjoy them, win or lose. My 9-year old son asked if we could leave at the half. I obliged him at the end of the 3rd. Sad.
 
I don't go to as many games as I like and try to enjoy them, win or lose. My 9-year old son asked if we could leave at the half. I obliged him at the end of the 3rd. Sad.

Yes that is sad. Really sad. Feel bad for him.
 
This is no longer a coaching issue but simply a talent/lack of effort and IQ, our guards/SF's (other than Reke) can't shot, lack creativity and have tunnel vision when going to the bucket. DeMarcus Cousins is literally a better PG than Thomas, Brooks and Jimmer combined when he penetrates he can actually see the whole floor and made some nice passes which these so called PG's simply can't do.

Salmons, Johnson and Outlaw are simply put scrubs who would struggle to be impact players in the D-league and consistantly get broken down which means our big are always moving to help meaning wide open lay ups and rebounds (same applies to our guards). Everytime they got wide open shots they pump fake take it to the middle and do nothing with it.

How many times did the Denver guards/forwards make drop off/easy passes after breaking down our D to there big men? Well Javale Scored 19 and Kofous 12 and 0 of there points none came on 1 on 1 moves so roughly 10-12 times. Now how many times did our guards/forwards go tunnel vision mode instead of dropping it off to our big men tbh I have no idea but all I know is our big men had to work 1 on 1 for virtually every bucket and we did a lot of penetration into walls.

Firing Keith Smart will not solve anything and will cost the Kings more money the team is the issue simply put, when your centre is better at breaking down defenses from the top and dishing than your PG's thats beyond sad. Top it of with a complete lack of effort out of everyone not named IT and JT and you have a 30 point belting. We got to many limited players and in general other than our top main scoring options we have ZERO talented passers.
 
Keith Smart is sounding a lot like Eric Musselman…I think Keith’s quotes speak for themselves. Here’s the first one of what I’m sure many many more fun quotes from our coach…

“It’s unfortunate that we had to play this way in front of our fans, but that happens.”

I really wish we had a coach like Pop or Rick. Lets make the call to Phil Jackson, maybe he wants to prove something after the Lakers left him hanging. Nate McMillan? I think Doc Rivers might want to change his address…Seriously what’s up with..”that happens” how many times has this happened?

Seriously if the NBA allows for this team to leave…the Maloofs have no right, in any way, shape or form to leave with our team. They can take Coach Smart with them and they can go down to Anaheim & enjoy themselves. We deserve owners who are willing to spend the money on this team – quality players, the right coach, allow the gm to make their move, and provide some stability.

You can enjoy the post game interview here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4WPS7XqKLJs&list=UUSgFigczGdNMilV1K23JgUQ&index=1

Here’s another beautifully eloquent answer….Lovely

The reporter is asking him why he didn’t put in Jimmer and Robinson in the game sooner…take a look at the 30 second mark http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IqDnax9Zy5U&list=UULdQbj2Kadmbogn7R40ZwaQ&index=1
 
Keith Smart is sounding a lot like Eric Musselman…I think Keith’s quotes speak for themselves. Here’s the first one of what I’m sure many many more fun quotes from our coach…

“It’s unfortunate that we had to play this way in front of our fans, but that happens.”

I really wish we had a coach like Pop or Rick. Lets make the call to Phil Jackson, maybe he wants to prove something after the Lakers left him hanging. Nate McMillan? I think Doc Rivers might want to change his address…Seriously what’s up with..”that happens” how many times has this happened?

Seriously if the NBA allows for this team to leave…the Maloofs have no right, in any way, shape or form to leave with our team. They can take Coach Smart with them and they can go down to Anaheim & enjoy themselves. We deserve owners who are willing to spend the money on this team – quality players, the right coach, allow the gm to make their move, and provide some stability.

You can enjoy the post game interview here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4WPS7XqKLJs&list=UUSgFigczGdNMilV1K23JgUQ&index=1

Here’s another beautifully eloquent answer….Lovely

The reporter is asking him why he didn’t put in Jimmer and Robinson in the game sooner…take a look at the 30 second mark http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IqDnax9Zy5U&list=UULdQbj2Kadmbogn7R40ZwaQ&index=1

Q: Why did you do it?
A: Well I did it.

Keith Smart, communicator extraordinaire.
 
Re: Poll

Bad enough that the Christmas shopping is still not done, some people are preparing for the end of the world in less than a week

I'm volunteering to help all those poor souls to rid themselves of material things. They can send all their Christmas presents to me.

:p
 
sry, would have already starteed these, but left the device with all my grading notes elsewhere.

if it helps any, I know which girls I am going to use. :p
 
You can enjoy the post game interview here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4WPS7XqKLJs&list=UUSgFigczGdNMilV1K23JgUQ&index=1

Here’s another beautifully eloquent answer….Lovely

The reporter is asking him why he didn’t put in Jimmer and Robinson in the game sooner…take a look at the 30 second mark http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IqDnax9Zy5U&list=UULdQbj2Kadmbogn7R40ZwaQ&index=1

That's quite a video. I wonder how many people on this forum would want a coach who answered questions like Smart does. Keep watching and see the effect on TRob. TRob doesn't sound like he has a clue what he is supposed to be doing. Is that TRob's fault? Isn't there a tweet where TRob indicates he has no relationship with Smart? There's no point in saying anything more. I'm pretty burned out by this franchise.
 
Sadly, Trob is a guy who could have made a big impact tonight. Denver loves to get out and run and they have a bunch of athletic bigs who get up and down the floor. Would have liked to see him get a shot to slow Gallo down or match-up with Faried
 
We could have had Rondo too... and Roy Hibbert...

yeah it's easy to go back to a draft and look for a "better pick"
 
We could have had Rondo too... and Roy Hibbert...

yeah it's easy to go back to a draft and look for a "better pick"

Well in this particular case, the uglifying issue is this. My own personal, ont he record rantings from the last two years are something like this:

2010 draft -- undecided. low interest and would have likely traded the pick. liked Kanter, but doubted his fit. had interest in Leonard but wasn't expecting much. If forced to take a PG type most likely Kemba, but didn't beleive in him either. Did not beleive in Williams. Not a fan of Knight (liek him better as a pro). Anyway, so most likely trade the pick.
Not hindsight, like I say, ont he record.
2011 other #1 -- liked the way Beno worked wiht reke and Thornton, woudl nto have traded
2011 other #2 -- badly wanted to resign Dalmebert. Vehemently opposed to Hayes instead
2011 other #3 -- really saw Kirilenko as perfect SF fit, would have pursued heavily + made happen if there was any way or number
2011 Casspi for Hickson trade -- argued for it talentwise. was nervous it meant just what it did, that we were going to go offensive and lose Dalmebert, but thought it wa a good trade on talent, so let's say I do that
2012 draft #1 -- was open about considering Drummond and MKG as the two best fits/only fits I was interested in. In that order actually. Argued against Trob amongst others. never considered Lillard. Barnes did not excite. did not want a SG. was willign to listen to Henson, but only if he proved his body wasn;t an issue. In any case, Drummond/MKG draft for me.
2012 draft #2 -- when it became clear that Toroton was shopping Lowry for a pick, advocated making that move...unless Drummond impressed, because he wa the guy.

Okay, now this isn't about me. There have been a LOT of people on this board operating in that same general vein with me, and some of them I think may have even had more of the details right. But those lot of people, some of the best and brightest on this board, are participating less on this board in utter disgust because this is the team I/they might have right now:

1) C- Dalembert
2) C/PF - Cousins
3) C/PF - Thompson
4) SF/PF - Kirilenko
5) SG - Thornton
6) PG/SG - Udrih
7) PG/SG - Evans
8) + either PG Kyle Lowry, or PF/C Andre Drummond (one or the other who may still have been available wherever we picked despite improved play last season, assuming we were still a lottery team)

do you realize how much comically better that team is than the one we have? Let's say we still draft IT #60 -- I can't take any credit for seeing that one, but let's just say the scouts still recommend him etc. So he's there deep. Cisco still hanging on. And that team does not even include whoever we drated in 2011 (or my preference of a trade). If forced to pick maybe I do take Leonard. Some other people on here claim they definitely would have. How do you like that 8 with Kawhi Leonard, Isaiah Thomas and Francisco Garcia as guys 9-11? And hey, James Johnson only cost a 2nd rounder, and its the only move I liked from this past summer due to pure cheapness, so we'll make him guy #12. So how do nyou liek your entirely possible Ak47/Kawhi Leonard/James Johnson big defensive SF platoon? Meanhile Jimmer, Outlaw, Salmons, Hayes, Brooks, all names that never get near the roster.

And that is all ON RECORD. All stuff widely suggested, and specifically sugegsted by myself and others in the last 2 years. Now I keep pressing the points aroud here that all is not lost, but how ****ing frustrated do you think I am underneath when you look at MY team, MY Kings as I saw them constructed, and compare it to the one we have. My version of the Kings is a playoff team. A tough exciting one stacked with tough veteran defenders, rebounders, roleplayers, the works. Especially since my version also includes a real coach. And it was all right there. EWvery one of those moves were things we could ahve done, and did not (the biggest question being was there a number that would have brought Kirilenko back, since we tried and failed in reality). And then you have us as we are. Small, weak, full of chuckers and blown draft picks. And you can't do anything but work with it. But please don't pooh pooh it all as hindsight. For the many people around here who were much much smarter than our real life front office the last few years, nd have the internet records to prove it, this is brutally frustrating. Its like watching your close frined make one dumbass relationship deciion after another, year after year, while you try your best to tell them that that girl/guy is not right, nor that one, its not going to work. And the fool does it anyway again and again. It gets exhausting. Eventually you get tired of it and start to pull back in disgust. Their stupidity is pulling you down. They created the mess, let them wallow in it until they figure it out. Its the same dynamic here.
 
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I wasn't aiming the statement at you personally, it's more the "facebook" culture comments that just shout names and trades.

"Trade for D12!!"
"shuld av drfted lilared"

It annoys me to see people trumping Lillard as a worldy when he was a sure fire bust and a quincy douby before the draft, nothing more nothing less. I don't doubt there are countless knowledgable basketball fans on this site who had foresight of certain moves and picks that could have worked to our advantage, so i don't deem to slight anyone by speaking in generalities, but the point still stands, in general, it's easy to go back to any draft and find a pick that looks great now and just say it in capitals on a forum or a facebook page.
 
We could have had an arena and a basketball team who was committed to staying in Sacramento too.

I watched the 49'ers instead.
 
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