[Grades] Grades v. Pistons 3/11/2014

[kupman]

Is there a big man in the league that turns the ball over more frequently than DMC? It has become a significant issue with him.

 

[Bricklayer]

Ben is up.

 

[Bricklayer]

Is there a big man in the league that turns the ball over more frequently than DMC? It has become a significant issue with him.

young, offensively aggressive big, and frankly maybe trying to make more passes to teammates given his position than anybody else on the team. Its a problem, but a predictable one. At the same age Hakeem was averaging 3.0 and Admiral 3.1, and Cousins has more handling skills than either. Webber was at 3.2. Cuz is a little high, but even in his prime you would figure 2.5-3.0 would be normal, and about par for the course.

Ideally you would like there to be other passing posts to take the pressure off him however.

 

[PurpleHaze]

I couldn't resist bragging about my favorite scenic island(s) paradise - in and around Phuket, Thailand. Was there last April/May and have been several times over the years. Watch this 4 minute video that reveals the stunning island spectacular plus nice music to it. One bonus on that trip to Southeast Asia last year was missing final couple weeks of Kings "Smart season."

GO KINGS!

 

[Bricklayer]

I couldn't resist bragging about my favorite scenic island(s) paradise - in and around Phuket, Thailand. Was there last April/May and have been several times over the years. Watch this 4 minute video that reveals the stunning island spectacular plus nice music to it. One bonus on that trip to Southeast Asia last year was missing final couple weeks of Kings "Smart season."

GO KINGS!

My brother is headed to Thailand for a couple of weeks at the beginning of April.

 

[Padrino]

What the hell is really wrong with the Kings?? That is the question no one seems to be able to get a handle on. The coach is always the first convenient scapegoat. Malone needs more time with a stable roster. I say look elsewhere. The management of the team in the FO is business oriented, with a lot of turnover. It is starting to remind me a little bit of Daniel Snyder and the Redskins. It takes more patience than the FO is showing to develop a winning team. The culture has not changed.

uhm... *raises hand*... i think i can answer that question fairly simply: the kings are a top-heavy team with offensively-inclined, defensively-deficient talent amongst their so-called "big three" and an absence of regular contributors just about everywhere else. their ball dominant, score-first PG isn't a natural playmaker, and while their ball dominant, score-first C and ball dominant, score-first SF are both willing passers, they are not skilled enough in that area to make up the difference. that said, the kings remain an exceedingly poor defensive team that too often gets mired in isolation sets on offense that yield mixed results depending on the matchups...

really, they'll never be better than .500 in this configuration; there's not nearly enough defense, there's not enough passing, and there's not enough shots to go around, which is damaging to chemistry and balance. the rotation requires 1) greater balance between the offensive and defensive sides of the ball, and 2) greater contributions from the bench on either side of the ball. where do they go from here, then? well, acquiring a starting-caliber roleplayer at PG who can pass and defend reasonably well would allow the kings to return isaiah thomas to sixth man duties, and such a move should clear up some of these problems, as it would immediately create greater offensive balance in the rotation, though many defensive holes would still need plugging. so there, these factors are what's "really wrong with the kings."

 

[PurpleHaze]

My brother is headed to Thailand for a couple of weeks at the beginning of April.

I first went in 1985 to Thailand and been back about 20 times all across Southeast Asia. My daughter is 19 and 1/2 Thai/Asian - me being Caucasian. She is now on full ride academic scholarship at UC Santa Barbara school of engineering. Thank goodness she was extremely smart high school student in winning UC scholarship as now can spend a lot of that money saved for her college fund over two decades on more worldwide travel adventures for Dad

 

[pshn80]

Couple of suggestions to help win tonight's game against 76ers, an accomplished loser. Start Ry and Orlando at the 1 and 2, and put JT back in the starting lineup and to hell with practice time. Let's learn a completely new way to lose (or win). Try it for just 5 games. If it works, keep it, it it doesn't, whatever. Let's improve play up to a level where we can choose to tank. We can't now.

 

[Bricklayer]

McCallum, Acy, DWill up

 

[Bricklayer]

Travis The Man The Myth The Legend is up

 

[Bricklayer]

JT and we're done

 

[The_Jamal]

Is there a big man in the league that turns the ball over more frequently than DMC? It has become a significant issue with him.

Well, for his USG%, it's only slightly above where it should be. Right now, he's 3rdin the NBA in USG by only 0.5% behind Durant and Melo. Having the ball more=more TO's.

I think the bigger question is do we really want Cousins to have a 30%+ USG? If we're trying to promote ball-movement amongst all 5 guys on the floor, then we need the guys at the top to reduce their USG across the board. IT, predictably for around here, gets blamed for the lack of ball movement, but Rudy and Cousins play just as big a part in our ball-stopping offense

 

[Kingster]

6/15 shooting and 5 turnovers is a bounce back?

Like I said, a couple of the TOs were not caused by him; also, he had a pretty efficient shooting game. And he played good defensively. I'd give him a B

 

[Chubbs]

Like I said, a couple of the TOs were not caused by him; also, he had a pretty efficient shooting game. And he played good defensively. I'd give him a B

Then you expect very little.

 

[Padrino]

Well, for his USG%, it's only slightly above where it should be. Right now, he's 3rdin the NBA in USG by only 0.5% behind Durant and Melo. Having the ball more=more TO's.

I think the bigger question is do we really want Cousins to have a 30%+ USG? If we're trying to promote ball-movement amongst all 5 guys on the floor, then we need the guys at the top to reduce their USG across the board. IT, predictably for around here, gets blamed for the lack of ball movement, but Rudy and Cousins play just as big a part in our ball-stopping offense

well, yeah, that's what happens when you stuff three ball dominant, high usage, score-first talents into the same starting lineup. at least one needs to take a back seat in order for the offense to smooth over, and IT would appear to be the odd man out in such an equation. he could easily return to a bench role, providing greater balance to the rotation, given that the kings are able to acquire a capable starting-caliber PG who would play a lesser role in the offense.

 

[HighFlyingMonkey]

People are hitting the panic button too early. This team, as presently constructed (with IT/Rudy/Cousins as the core, as much as the IT bellyachers will whine) is roughly a .500 team. Thats a far, far cry from what we had last season (and really since Artest was on the roster 7 years ago).

Its a process. Right now, we have a "Big 3" with little support. We don't have the right defensive roleplayers around them and we don't have enough talent off the bench. Ben McLemore and Derrick Williams have been up and down and unreliable as offensive support. The Landry signing could have helped with some offensive punch off the bench but injuries scuttled that ship. And there still isn't any rim protection, although Cousins is showing nice progress on that end.

So basically, we will float on our merry way at about a .500 clip for the rest of the season with this roster. The real building will come in the offseason to see what our front office is really made of.

 

[sdballer]

People are hitting the panic button too early. This team, as presently constructed (with IT/Rudy/Cousins as the core, as much as the IT bellyachers will whine) is roughly a .500 team. Thats a far, far cry from what we had last season (and really since Artest was on the roster 7 years ago).

Its a process. Right now, we have a "Big 3" with little support. We don't have the right defensive roleplayers around them and we don't have enough talent off the bench. Ben McLemore and Derrick Williams have been up and down and unreliable as offensive support. The Landry signing could have helped with some offensive punch off the bench but injuries scuttled that ship. And there still isn't any rim protection, although Cousins is showing nice progress on that end.

So basically, we will float on our merry way at about a .500 clip for the rest of the season with this roster. The real building will come in the offseason to see what our front office is really made of.

The problem is that core probably maxes out as a .500 team, even with better support players. It simply isn't balanced and has too many defensive issues.

 

[Mr. S£im Citrus]

The problem is that core probably maxes out as a .500 team, even with better support players. It simply isn't balanced and has too many defensive issues.

Wouldn't better support players conceivably resolve many of the defensive issues, or are you working with some other definition of "support"? Of course, I don't consider Thomas to be any part of this team's "core" (and I don't think I need to repeat what I think of the description of those guys as a "Big Three"), so YMMV.

 

[randymoss1881]

We don't have a big 3. We have a number 1 scoring DMC (with franchise potential ((top 5 player)) if he gets his defense from average to good). Then we have a number 2 scorer in gay, and IT is a 6th man.

 

[sdballer]

Wouldn't better support players conceivably resolve many of the defensive issues, or are you working with some other definition of "support"? Of course, I don't consider Thomas to be any part of this team's "core" (and I don't think I need to repeat what I think of the description of those guys as a "Big Three"), so YMMV.

It would help but if you are conceivably running the "Big 3" 35+ minutes/night you are counting on 2 guys to counter for 3 average to below average defenders. They'd have to be extremely good defenders and even with that, we'd still have balance issues on offense. Now, IT playing 25 minutes/night as an offensive sparkplug off the bench and we'd be closer.

 

[Mr. S£im Citrus]

Hey, you're the one mentioning Thomas as part of a "core," and him possibly playing 35+ minutes next season. My solution would involve drafting a rim protector, and replacing the entire backcourt in free agency (with SG hopefully being a stopgap, to give McLemore another year to get ready); if it were up to me, Thomas won't even be here next season.

As far as the offense, I've made no secret of the fact that I think that offense is overrated, and offensive "balance" doubly so.

 

[HighFlyingMonkey]

The problem is that core probably maxes out as a .500 team, even with better support players. It simply isn't balanced and has too many defensive issues.

The team is .500 right now with terribly mismatched pieces. You don't think they get ANY better with better support players?

 

[sdballer]

The team is .500 right now with terribly mismatched pieces. You don't think they get ANY better with better support players?

I think they can get marginally better but I don't want marginally better. I want a team that can contend and you'd be hard pressed to find an example of a team that relied on 3 ball dominant/defensively challenged offensive starters. It won't happen overnight but I'd hate to commit our dollars to this "core".

 

[sdballer]

Hey, you're the one mentioning Thomas as part of a "core," and him possibly playing 35+ minutes next season. My solution would involve drafting a rim protector, and replacing the entire backcourt in free agency (with SG hopefully being a stopgap, to give McLemore another year to get ready); if it were up to me, Thomas won't even be here next season.

As far as the offense, I've made no secret of the fact that I think that offense is overrated, and offensive "balance" doubly so.

We're in violent agreement.

 

[LPKingsFan]

Remember the Peja/Bibby/Miller "core"?

 

[HighFlyingMonkey]

I think they can get marginally better but I don't want marginally better. I want a team that can contend and you'd be hard pressed to find an example of a team that relied on 3 ball dominant/defensively challenged offensive starters. It won't happen overnight but I'd hate to commit our dollars to this "core".

Meh, you're entitled to your opinion. I'd dispute the notion that we're relying on three defensively challenged starters (I'd say only one) and I'd also dispute that better support only makes us incrementally better.

 

[pshn80]

Doug Christie added to the present bunch would be a big improvement. Put all your available money on him and go with the rest.

 

[Mr. S£im Citrus]

Doug Christie? Man, if you've got access to a time machine, and you've been holding out, I will be quite cross.

 

[Spike]

well, yeah, that's what happens when you stuff three ball dominant, high usage, score-first talents into the same starting lineup. at least one needs to take a back seat in order for the offense to smooth over, and IT would appear to be the odd man out in such an equation. he could easily return to a bench role, providing greater balance to the rotation, given that the kings are able to acquire a capable starting-caliber PG who would play a lesser role in the offense.

Furthermore, I don't mind if Cousins is a ball-stopper (so to speak). As a franchise center who is among the offensive elite, it should stop with him more than any other player on the team. If there is a hierarchy in terms of scoring, it should always be Cousins at the top. That said, he does have the ability to involve his teammates more than others on this team, and it behooves them to continue to run the offense through Cousins.

 

[ppine]

Besides IT and T Evans, who was the last King to score over 20 points and more than 5 assists?