[Grades] Grades v. Pistons 1/23/2017

Best future with the Kings?

  • Willie

    Votes: 9 18.8%
  • Malachi

    Votes: 21 43.8%
  • Skal

    Votes: 5 10.4%
  • Bogdan

    Votes: 13 27.1%

  • Total voters
    48
  • Poll closed .
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Bricklayer

Don't Make Me Use The Bat
#1



Link to Boxscore

Afflalo ( D+ ) -- there's some fight on defense still left in him, which keeps me from really tanking these grades, but basically out there to shoot threes, and bricked most of them on a night when Cuz was swarmed and kicking them. One wild stretch trying to create for himself was no more productive.

Cousins ( C ) -- not at all a vintage Cousins game, but a big rebound (he was on the glass in a big way this time) and tough sealing shot in the final minute helped erase the "-" that was sitting by this grade. Defense was not up to par, shot was off, and the Pistons swarmed him until he was out of rhythm. Should have had even more assists though if guys would just hit those kickout passes.

Koufos ( C+ ) -- an odd grade because in some ways his minutes were dictated by the Pistons' 3pt shooting matchups, and the effect that had on Cousins, more than they were by his own play. He did fine for his part, but Cuz was having trouble chasing Leuer and Morris at the 3pt line, and then Willie played well enough to steal minutes, so...

Temple ( C+ ) -- relatively quiet game where he didn't feel like the primary driver, even on defense where Caldwell-Pope just shot like crap without much help. Made a few headshaking bad fouls, and blew another break -- a real wart for such a smart player, blows more breakaways, and this one was 3 on 1. Hit a key late three.

Collison ( C+ ) -- got off to the ugly rhythmless start as we did our traditional not come out ready thing. But was better after half, and began to scoot in with timely scores. Just nowehere near as dynamic as Lawson tonight.

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Barnes ( B ) -- best game in a good while. His forceful spastic offense actually fit in with our bench crew in the first half, and he created shots. He began to spazz into bad-Matt form late in the half, but was benched before too much damage was done. And he came back after half and was solid after half and helped get on the boards to make up for Tolliver's non-existent baordwork.

Tolliver ( D ) -- got in early to try to stop Jon Leuer from dropping 50 on us, but another barely productive game when he as by far the weakest of our frontcourt players and even overshadowed by Willie. Did make a good stop of Drummond down inside though.

Lawson ( A ) -- he's been playing great for the last month, but this was actually full on Denver-Ty. Minus the bars hopefully. In any case attacked the Pistons relentlessly, often sneaking his way to the rim, but also making the whole bench unit go, and never notching a single turnover. 19pts 6ast 0TO in 23 minutes? More of that works for me.

Richardson ( C+ ) -- made several more sophisticated offensive plays to the hoop, and dropped a smart assist showing the maturity to pass up his own shot. On the other end though got rooked several times in the first half.

Cauley Stein ( A ) -- this has been brewing for the last few games as Willie has suddenly started to come to life in the last two weeks. But today he wasn't just a contributor, he was actually an impact big off the bench who used his length to disrupt and showed more sophistication on offense than just tall guy who can dunk. Blew by Drummond for a highlight dunk.
 
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kingsboi

Hall of Famer
#4
Saw more Malachi in this one, I loved when he was in there along with Willie. Lots of energy once again with disruptive defense & athleticism to boot. Still waiting on Skal to get his name called, in due time hopefully. Too bad the Kings can't play the Pistons and Raptors more often, they love playing them.
 
#5
Malachi and Bogdan can both shoot and put it on the floor. Of course i need to see Bogdan in an actual NBA game before we can say anything.
 

kingsboi

Hall of Famer
#10
Yeah he did. I said it in the game thread, he just passes the "eye test." He actually looks like a solid basketball player out there, which is more than McBen has ever accomplished.
Slowly, but surely, coach is showing more confidence in playing him and as the season progresses, I'd like to see his minutes get to 18-20.
 
#14
Yeah Malachi got rook'd on the defensive end, namely through getting bodied by screens, but he also worked hard on the D end and made a couple of plays. Deflected a ball into a steal and challenged a corner three. He also got into rebounding position. Overall, his game is pretty mature. Right now, he's not cutting off the ball and that was the second most noticeable thing for me.

I'm not shocked that Leur killed the Kosta/Cuz lineup. That is what he did all last year against slow bigs. Really good signing by Detroit.

You can sort of tell that Willie is playing better when he's running to the ball coming off the rim. When he's watching the rebound, you know it's going to be a bad game. That turn and dunk he did on Drummond is often there in games. That's the first time I really see him go to it.
 

Bricklayer

Don't Make Me Use The Bat
#17
I love that Boogie is at such a level that 22/14/6/2/2 in 32 minutes can now count as an off-game
Demarcus Cousins is one of the 15 best centers to ever play the sport of basketball. And I'm being slightly conservative there given that some people think Dwight Howard is around #10, and most have him no lower than #15.

There, I have said that, and I will defend it. Before Boogie's done he's going to have scored 20,000-25,000 pts in the league, be a however many time All-NBAer if we can just win just a little bit, and walk into the HOF. In our jersey it sounds like. So yeah, 8-21FG 6TO nights with a number of defensive lapses just isn't up to snuff for that level player. And Boogie's actually self aware enough he'd probably tell you the same thing.
 
#19
Demarcus Cousins is one of the 15 best centers to ever play the sport of basketball. And I'm being slightly conservative there given that some people think Dwight Howard is around #10, and most have him no lower than #15.

There, I have said that, and I will defend it. Before Boogie's done he's going to have scored 20,000-25,000 pts in the league, be a however many time All-NBAer if we can just win just a little bit, and walk into the HOF. In our jersey it sounds like. So yeah, 8-21FG 6TO nights with a number of defensive lapses just isn't up to snuff for that level player. And Boogie's actually self aware enough he'd probably tell you the same thing.
Dwight Howard is a legitimate #10 - he made DPOY several times, and was easily the best athlete at his position ( or maybe overall) in the NBA during his prime for 4 or 5 years. He was an eraser on defense, though his lack of a jumpshot and in general offense was eye-opening and the reason he's not higher on the list.

Cousins is maybe above average on defense, though Cousins shines with his skill set - most especially his superior footwork, possibly the the best in the NBA right now, and footwork around as good as Tim Duncan or Zach Randoph in their primes. He needs to clean up his act on the court some to reach the HOF later imo despite the individual statistics, though I doubt professional athletes during their careers give 2-shakes about the Hall-of-Fame anyway.
 
#23
Nice to see the great defense in the second quarter. That is what won the game. And it was led by Lawson and the bench. I love Lawson. Resign the guy. Malachi, I have hope for this kid. Tall , athletic and can score.
 
D

DC222

Guest
#25
Would love to see WCS in the starting lineup instead of Kosta. WCS is the best playing next to Cousins and that's what we had originally drafted him for to complement DeMarcus with his shot blocking and defense.
It's up to him to outplay koufas and force joerger hand. Until then koufas should get the nod.
 

Mr. S£im Citrus

Doryphore of KingsFans.com
Staff member
#26
Let's put it this way...he wasn't a deer in the headlights, he didn't run around like a decapitated chicken, and he didn't lose his man and stand there trying to find him. He was, in a word, the anti-Ben. And it was good.
Well, there was that one time in the first quarter but, aside from that, he looked like he belonged on an NBA court.
 

Mr. S£im Citrus

Doryphore of KingsFans.com
Staff member
#27
Cousins ( C ) -- not at all a vintage Cousins game, but a big rebound (he was on the glass in a big way this time) and tough sealing shot in the final minute helped erase the "-" that was sitting by this grade. Defense was not up to par, shot was off, and the Pistons swarmed him until he was out of rhythm. Should have had even more assists though if guys would just hit those kickout passes.
I'd like to see the role players start making more hard cuts to the basket, so that Cousins can make some passes for plays at the rim, as opposed to trying to make all of those passes across the court, often into the waiting hands of the defense.
 
#28
Would love to see WCS in the starting lineup instead of Kosta. WCS is the best playing next to Cousins and that's what we had originally drafted him for to complement DeMarcus with his shot blocking and defense.
I'd prefer him playing with the second team for 2 reasons. Ty is better at setting him up around the rim and he is going up against bench bigs to help build his confidence. Now if Ty begins to start or wcs's progression speeds up to the point he can hang with opponents' starting bigs then yeah, start the man.
 
#29
It's up to him to outplay koufas and force joerger hand. Until then koufas should get the nod.
I'd prefer him playing with the second team for 2 reasons. Ty is better at setting him up around the rim and he is going up against bench bigs to help build his confidence. Now if Ty begins to start or wcs's progression speeds up to the point he can hang with opponents' starting bigs then yeah, start the man.
Agreed, Would like WCS to build from last night's performance and eventually take over Kosta's starting spot. Imagine a more dynamic frontcourt with Demarcus and a more athletic WCS roaming around blocking shots and defending the pick and roll , as opposed to a more slower Demarcus and Kosta frontline.
 
#30
I wonder how a starting lineup of Demarcus, WCS, Barnes, Temple, and Lawson would do. Might not have so many slow starts like before.
 
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