[Grades] Grades v. Pelicans 3/31/2014

[Chubbs]

SA just demolished them. I don't think it's a turning point, a watershed, or any major achievement. Sorry.

Without Anthony Davis. San Antonio destroyed them minus Davis.

Otherwise they had won 5 in a row, three over playoff teams (Miami, Brooklyn and the clippers).

New Orleans minus Gordon Holliday and Anderson has been a much better team. I thought I heard 9 straight wins with only tyreke/Davis during the broadcast. They are a MUCH better team now than when they were when healthy.

No one is waxing the floor against the Davis/tyreke led pelicans. To think or expect that from these kings starting two rookies is laughable, or that this win is underachieving in any way. Very surprising, nice win. Unexpected by anyone paying attn to how New Orleans has been playing.

No one is arguing it's any of those things (turning point, watershed, or a major achievement). But don't let that stop you. Solid win? Is that ok with you?

 

[pshn80]

I think that's my point. Same observation; different conclusion. I'm looking for a little more at the end of the season against mediocre competition. Maybe my expectations are higher than others, but I don't think the Kings should be squeezing out a victory on a narrow margin from an injury-depleted team like NO. Maybe at the beginning of the season, but not now. I think it's all about where you thought this team would end up at the end of the season. If you have a thoroughbred in Cousins and another horse supposedly in Gay, and a nice performance from Ray, you should be waxing the floor with this team. I'm now looking ahead to next year and where this team will be and am wondering if we shall continue to see underachievement.

PS At least they had the brains to know how to defend Tyreke.

I wasn't so gloomy about the win, the team's play, or our prospects. Good team play is always an upper particularly when it leads to a win against anybody.

 

[Kingster]

Without Anthony Davis. San Antonio destroyed them minus Davis.

Otherwise they had won 5 in a row, three over playoff teams (Miami, Brooklyn and the clippers).

New Orleans minus Gordon Holliday and Anderson has been a much better team. I thought I heard 9 straight wins with only tyreke/Davis during the broadcast. They are a MUCH better team now than when they were when healthy.

No one is waxing the floor against the Davis/tyreke led pelicans. To think or expect that from these kings starting two rookies is laughable, or that this win is underachieving in any way. Very surprising, nice win. Unexpected by anyone paying attn to how New Orleans has been playing.

No one is arguing it's any of those things (turning point, watershed, or a major achievement). But don't let that stop you. Solid win? Is that ok with you?

I'm not as enamored with the Pelicans as you are. Rivers, Jackson, Aminu, Tyreke. Whatever. It's a win. Like I said, at least they had the brains to know how to defend Tyreke. It's not rocket science, but there are teams out there that don't care enough or know enough to do it, so I give them credit for that.

 

[Spike]

Good team play is always an upper particularly when it leads to a win against anybody.

That's what we've been seeing.

 

[ESP47]

McCallum has this weird talent where he's practically useless as a PG in a half court set. Yet once a play breaks down or we get an offensive rebound, he all the sudden turns into John Stockton and starts racking up assists.

 

[Bricklayer]

McCallum has this weird talent where he's practically useless as a PG in a half court set. Yet once a play breaks down or we get an offensive rebound, he all the sudden turns into John Stockton and starts racking up assists.

That's not a bad way of describing it actually.

 

[ninjabiscuit]

Here are McAllum's highlights for people (like me) who missed the game.

Here are game highlights.

 

[VF21]

Even a Pelicans blogger thinks Evans' flagrant 2 was dumb:

Reggie Evans or, if you prefer, the referees gave the Pelicans one more chance. With 1:05 of the third, Evans leaned hard into a shot and Anthony Davis caught an elbow to the face. It didn't seem all that intentional live, but when the referees witnessed the brutality of it on replay and probably recalled Evans penchant for contact, they called a flagrant two. An automatic ejection.

 

[VF21]

Stats: 44min 22pts (9-19, 1-2, 3-5) 2reb 10ast 2stl 0blk 1TO
McCallum ( A ) -- on by far and away the career night for a kid like this (although apparently not as career nighty as Jerry Reynolds was gushing over? I've heard disturbing tales), the only question is whether to go with an A or an A+. And the funny thing is at the start here it wasn't entirely clear which way this was going to go. Was the second half last game going to be just an aberration? Or was he going to build on it. Actually got flat beat twice back to back early by Brett Roberts, the second of which ended up putting a foul on Gay trying to clean up his mess. But Cuz set him up for his only three of the game (he would later try to pull up for one off his own dribble and miss badly), and he settled in. And when he returned in the second he got back to back layups, the second one on the break off his own steal, and got the refs to call a foul on a 3pt shot with 1sec left in the half as he raced down and got bumped on the desperation heave. In the third was in the background offensively, but notching assists to Cuz and Ben and staying out of the way. Did not feel the need to get his won at any point while things were going well. Notably a lot of his assist total tonight was out on the break, not in the halfcourt. That's both good and bad, I note it just because it was obvious. In the mid 4th after Cuz returned, stepped forward with three quick aggressive hoops in the pace of about 2 minutes that helped us maintain an 8pt lead and left the game in position for Cousins to seal it. The timing with Cuz's return was not entirely accidental, as he continues to show ability to work with Cuz on pick series up top. Meanwhile while all this was going on, Roberts lost all effectiveness and while Austin Rivers notched a big assist total, he never damages us with his scoring either. These aren't exactly all stars, but then again neither is Ray, and they were a combined 6-17 on the night. So be interesting to see if Ray is able to maintain this. Not that he's going to notch 22-10 on many nights, but just the confidence/competence. Beginning to be some patterns in his play, what he can do, what he can't. Tonight he was relatively hot with his shot. That hasn't been the case often this year, so it will be interesting to see if its coming into own, or if it falls back off, especially if IT returns and Ray is back to the bench.

Jerry Reynolds commented about Ray deserving rookie of the year honors. I quoted him in the game thread. I begged for someone to go to New Orleans before the plane took off to teach Mr. Reynolds the error of his ways...

 

[LPKingsFan]

Well, if Ray managed 22 and 10 every night he'd be ROY easily

 

[VF21]

man people here are excitable...

how can you POSSIBLY speculate that Mac is ready to start.... after 1.5 good games (that follewed on the heels of 2.5 abysmal games)

he is good enought to keep, and to cherish, and to hope to grow into something.. but to speculate that he is "there" based on one dat apoint is crazy talk ... give him the Tony Delk award for the night, and hope some of it sticks and carries over....

I think the point is he might be ready to start next year. Hope springs eternal, especially if it means getting our sixth man back.

BTW? The Tony Delk award goes to the opposing former-Kings player who lights us up like a roman candle, not one of our own players.

 

[Bricklayer]

everything is done

 

[Bricklayer]

For all you peeps stuck listening to Grant + Jerry every single night, this is what a big cousins game sounds like from the other side:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=C3Uj5RG2plw

 

[upinsmoke]

For all you peeps stuck listening to Grant + Jerry every single night, this is what a big cousins game sounds like from the other side:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=C3Uj5RG2plw

I would MUCH rather listen to Grant & Jerry than hearing "And DeMarcus Cousins" in the most generic tone all night long. Sure a certain amount of novelty goes along with them especially Jerry but I have grown up listening to them and they are apart of the fabric of the Kings in our community.

 

[ParniValjak]

Wow. Really? 3rd string backup? He's had very limited meaningful minutes this year outside of the crazy minutes he's received the last 4 games. I think he's showing that he possesses a lot of the intangibles that a lot of us here feel we need for our starting PG, especially if we keep Gay. He plays defense, has size, looks to get teammates more involved.

I think after the rest of this season, a solid offseason working on his game, and training camp, he might just be ready to make the leap to full time starter. The front office has made it very clear all along that they are very high on him. If he continues to have games like last night, I have a feeling that IT might be out. The biggest problem with IT is that if we do end up resigning him and Gay we are pretty much guaranteed to have zero salary cap flexibility for years to come. We will be saying that the "Big 3" is our core and we can build around them. While they probably would win more if they had better role players surrounding them I seriously have my doubts if three ball dominant 20 ppg scorers can really co-exist long term. It just seems like a much better fit to have a starting PG like Ray (who will be cheap for a few years), Cousins as the centerpiece, Gay as a legit #2 guy, hopefully another lottery pick who offers some rim protection, an improving Ben, along with other good role players like Reggie, Acy, etc.

might and will are two very different things. Now Ray might just be our PG but we are not in the position to take a risk. We need proven players, veterans to make that push into the play offs next season. Its a risk we just should not be taking.

Now I like Ray. I even said that he just might end up being a better player than McLemore back after game 1 of the summer league. I think he has a lot of the traits that I would like to have in our starting PG and I think in time, he will be a solid PG in the league but lets not act like he is the man for us at PG because he has proven nothing and certainly not on consistent basis.

Every year come late March and whole of April a number of average players have career best string of games resulting in high hopes going into next season only to flop majorly the next year. I am not saying Ray is one, and I am not saying that he isn't one but what I am saying is regardless of which one is true, we would have failed miserably as a franchise if we roll into next season with Ray McCallum as our starting PG. Its a risk we should just not be taking.