[Grades] Grades v. Rockets 1/13/12

When Cousins isn't going who needs to step up the most to give Reke support?

  • Salmons

    Votes: 15 33.3%
  • Hickson

    Votes: 9 20.0%
  • Fredette

    Votes: 13 28.9%
  • Garcia

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Greene

    Votes: 1 2.2%
  • Thomas

    Votes: 1 2.2%
  • Thompson

    Votes: 6 13.3%

  • Total voters
    45

Bricklayer

Don't Make Me Use The Bat
This could have been a 1950s horror movie: Reke vs. the Flying Rockets.

Cousins got Daly'd and looked awful. Jimmer looked afraid to look bad. Salmons was pathetic. At least we got some solid performances out of those roleplayers off the bench but Marcus had better suck it up and get over his leg thing quick because when Cousins isn't bringing it things get awfully lonely out there for Reke.

Theme = More Odd Museums. Back when I first started doing themes a few years back when teh Kings got good and terrible, one of my early ones was an Unuusal Museum theme, which included such things as a Baked Bean museum and a museum dedicated to phalluses, wiht a giant whale phallus outside marking the entrance. This theme, I suppose, could in some ways be part II of that earlier thread.

Boxscore

Salmons ( F ) -- is making me mad now. I of course have never been a John Salmons fan and have had to be careful trying to be semi fair to him, but at this point he is just flat out killing us now, and its going on and on and on and we can't get a coach to make the simple decision to pull his *** from the game before he kills us anymore. Just has to be right up there as one of the worst fulltime starters in the NBA this season, and somebody else noted that he has now missed 20 straight threes dating back 7 games. The irony is that in the very early going here his offense looked better than his defense, as he hit 2 of his first 3 shots but kept on turning his head and letting his men go behind him on defense. But unfortunately whether it was overconfidence from actually hitting a couple, or coachign directions or his own decision to try to give Reke some support, he just kept on getting more and more selfish and worse and worse on offense. It wasn't just that he was again missing everything. It was the way he was doing it -- in many ways doing exactly what everybody feared he would when he arrived, stopping the ball, refusing to pass, and instead turning everything into a one on one dribble around and chuck a brick contest. Appears in some deluded way to be convinced he is the offensive show, leaving me just hoping that the show gets cancelled. Enough already.
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RV-MH Museum and Hall of Fame -- if you ever happen to be out around Elkhart Indiana and are looking for a little excitement...http://www.rvmhhalloffame.org/

Hickson ( C ) -- actually our second best starter, which in this one meant almost nothing. Good defense on his first try against Scola, but he would eventually get worked over pretty badly. Followed the defensive stand by getting out on the break for a dunk. Working hard early on both sides but missed some shots he should have made. Came up with a huge rebound and putback it an important time late in the third as the Rockets were widening the lead, but it was just one play. Bad forced turnaround jumper attempt in the early 4th as everybody took turns forcing up dumb shots.
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Museum of Bad Art -- (Boston, MA) I have for some time wanted to take a few of my friends who proclaim that there is no such thing as bad art up to this museum for a looksee, but have not yet got around to it. http://museumofbadart.org/

Cousins ( F ) --okay this was just mysteriosuly awful and such a letdown after the monster breakout performance that I was actually happy to find out after the game that he was sick. In fact the mroe violently ill the better (and remember Tyreke's halftime episode in Denver? Could be going around the team). In any case, sick or not I had no choice on this grade. His former backup/mentor/starting companion completely and uttely kicked his butt in every way out there. If he wasn't sick, it was embarrassing. If he was...it was still embarrassing. Got rebounded and scored over on his first possession. Got his shots stuffed right back in his face. Looked listless and passionless doing it. Not involved at all and played awfully for a full quarter before sitting almost the entire 2nd until briefly returning at the end of the half. Go his hands on several balls on defense in those final few minutes of the hafl to briefly have me thinking there was life there, but no such luck. Finally chased all the way out to 18 feet for his first and only hoop before sitting down for good a few minutes later. Meanwhile Dalembert was flipping the bird to Geoff/the Maloofs on his way to 21pts 16rebs 4blks on 9-11 shooting, with what hurts more being the fact he was doing that every once in a while for us the second half of last season, and now we're struggling to get anybody on our team to step up.
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Leila's Hair Museum -- (Independence, MO) Here, let me let Leila explain it herself: "The ONLY hair museum in the world with hundreds of wreaths and thousands of jewelry pieces made from human hair." Woot! http://leilashairmuseum.com/index.html

Fredette ( D ) -- well found an original way to dodge anymore threat of Fs -- just don't do anything, adn then you can't screw up! Well did once with an early jump in the air and pass turnover when Cousins wasn't ready for the ball, but that was halfway on Cousins actually. And other than that...stay away from the ball, when you get it just move it, and by all means don't take any chaces. And actually to tell you the truth iut was an improvement for a while at least. His early defgense was respectable, and he even got his hands on a few steals, and whether it was his plan, the coaches', or his teammates losing confidence in him, his lack of involvement offensively did mean that he really didn;t even have chances to screw up. Of course it also meant there wasn't much point in him being out there on a night that Reke desperately needed the help and the shots were clearly there for anyone with the talent to make something of them. Finally had a little, well, given the overall game we'll call it a burst in the mid third when he hit a jumper for his only hoop and made a couple of passes for assists. But Lowry was tearing him, and us, a new one (both he and fellow rook IT actually) and when a guy is threatengin to drop a 25-10-10 on you you just can't keep on countering with a rookie ho looked so afraid to make a mistake that he wasn't going to try anything on his way to 4pts 2ast in 20 min.
Liberoachi.jpg

The Cockroach Hall of Fame -- (Plano, TX) Opened up by a pest store owner (the store is reasonably named The Pest Store) in Plano Texas, he turned part of his store into a museum for cockroaches. And not jsut any cockroaches, as he has preserved them, dressed them, and posed them. Above is Liberoachi. You can also meet David Lettrroach,Marilyn Monroach, and dozens of others. Lucky you. http://leilashairmuseum.com/index.html
 
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Evans ( A- ) -- hey, about time we had a good grade right? And it was the right person to have it. I continue to say that so long as Reke and Cousins continue coming online as full fledged young stars we will be ok in the end. Maybe not this year, but once you have your stars and know how they play it, you would have to be an idiot not to be able to put the right roleplayers around them. In any case, played a really strong first half, and it wasn't just the offense. The offense did look nice, and just so complete compared to the normal mix. The jumper looked good, was moving without the ball, was pushing the tempo and really running the break jsut perfectly (except his attempted lob passes were all off target/time, so maybe something that needs work). It was just a very professional half where he did little wrong besides miss a couple of tough layups. Seemed he was eternally in space, and when not, he created it. Doing a great job on Kevin when he was guarding him too. But the danger signs for us were there as he was having to completely carry us by himself, there was no hint of a second gun, and we had no separation from the Rockets. After half was never as strong/smooth. Continued to make good plays, going back inside for boards, kept diving back to knock balls away and pick up steals, made several long passes ahead to trigger our break, had a couple of little scoring bursts...it was a pretty good half. But he did not control the game in the second half the way he had in the third. And again when we started slipping back and with nobody else emerging to give him any real help, he started forcing more trying to bail us out. So I went minus here for the overall game, but it was another big 27pt 6reb 5ast game, and bringins his averages since Smart took over to a cool 25pts 6reb 5ast, which would btw make him the 5th leading scorer in the NBA. Now we just need to get Cousins and Thornton back as wingmen, and maybe we will have something going here.
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Giant Shoe Museum -- if you're ever up Seattle way, this is of course a can't miss.

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Bench

Garcia ( B ) -- the first of our bench roleplayers who was finally effective this game. Started the game finally hitting a three, and ran the break for several layups from Reke. Nicely timed a double team on Hill to disrupt him and force a miss. Came up with a timely tough jumper in the early 4th to help switch momentum, but he missed the open three we needed a few minutes later down 11. Wasn't perfect, and even with our improved bench roleplayer play they still shot a combined 3-13 from the 3pt line. But this was his best game of the season and he showed he could still help.
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Vacuum Cleaner Museum -- the Portland, Oregon version. http://atlasobscura.com/place/vacuum-cleaner-museum

Thomas ( B ) -- worked well with Reke from the moment he stepped on the floor, although it took hi a while to heat up statistically. Started to turnover the ball over and make errors the longer he was out there. But came up with a three and an alley oop to Donte for a dunk (the three would be his only hit in 4 tries on the night). Bad turnvoer in the early 4th helped key a Rockets and stood no chance on defense against Lowry. Combined to hold down his grade a bit.
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Vacuum Cleaner Museum -- the St. James, Missouri version. I mean talk about roadside attractions. http://vacuummuseum.com/index.asp

Greene ( B ) -- contiuing to carve himself out some minutes, unfortunately as a smallball PF instead of a bigball SF. Came in and looked sharp with back to back long jumpers, and then a dunk on the break from Thomas. Working hard inside for defensive boards., which is something we have not seen before from him. Doing a respectable job on Scola on defense it the post and Westphal deemed him basically our best big or the night, and gave him more minutes than any of other frontcourt types.
james-brown-vacuum-cleaner-museum.jpg

Vacuum Cleaner Museum -- the Nottingham England version. Who would have known there were so many museums fighting over the rather limited Vacuum Cleaner Museum marke? http://technabob.com/blog/2010/02/22/vacuum-cleaner-museum-sucks/

Thompson ( C+ ) -- in and immediately with a nice post move to help. But got quiet and no more than bought time while getting outperformed by Daly in there. Later minutes were better but nothing to write home about
 
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Cousins > Horrible
Salmons > Ongoing horrible
Reke > Really good playin' pickup B-ball
Fredette > Thornton can't come back too soon
Hickson > Too bad JT is actually worse

Meanwhile, at least three Rocket starters brought their A game start to finish > Lowry, Daly, Scola
 
With Cousins struggling this game, Tyreke didn't have any help. Salmon and Jimmer are still in their funk. There were times when the Kings were going to break through, and then Houston comes up with some of the most crazy shots that just somehow goes in and leaves you throwing your hands up "WTF!" Thereby breaking whatever momentum the Kings had going.

I hope Cousins learn from this experience. Dalembert dominated him, but I have confidence that Demarcus will learn and come back better the next time they play against each other.
 
I had totally given up on Donte Greene. But now that Westpaul is gone, and seeing Keith Smart make an effort to teach the young players, I'm going to hold off judgement on Greene like I am with the rest of the young players like Tyreke, Cousins, Jimmer. Greene looked good out there in the first half. He has a lot of potential being a 6'10' athletic SF that can defend.
 
Tonight I saw the thing that will bring Cousins down the most. When he misses a string of shots, he gets frustrated and gives up or starts doing silly desperate things.

Fredette took two shots tonight. Huh?

Salmons took ten shots tonight, but it felt like at least twice that many.

Hickson's defense was lackluster and got crushed on the boards, but offensively wasn't a disaster with 50% shooting and 2 assists.

The bench played great all around. Greene running breaks to Garcia, Thomas running breaks to Greene.

Evans came to play.

Hints of cohesion on the team. I am also praying that Salmons somehow does something to breach the contract on his end and the team can dump him. The rest of the team has given up on the hero ball (with the exception of Tyreke, but the way he's been playing I'll allow it.) Time to get with the program or wear a suit to the games.
 
Kawhi Leonard sure would look good at SF for us right now. Not giving up on Jimmer by any means, but Beno and Leonard >>> Jimmer and Salmons.
 
I really don't understand why people would have given up on Donte Greene? This guy has been pushed around from 2-4 most of his career in Sac. He's always been a good defender, athletic, he can cut well (for some reason settles for outside shots) and when he's patient is a pretty decent outside shooter. He's definitely shown to be more capable then Salmons and Outlaw this season in his short playing time.

I won't give up any hope on Jimmer, he just needs time. It looks to be more of a mental issue then anything so far. The pressure seems to be getting to him, maybe he will be more natural off the bench for awhile as he gains confidence to break his mental issues.
 
Yeah Cousins being sick is not surprising. I actually wondered out loud if he was sick in the game thread. He just looked terrible and he has actually been consistently great for the last 4 games. Something seemed off.
 
Not only did Cousins have a cold and look exhausted, he was going up against one of the best big men defenders in the league. I think we should cut him some slack. Salmon's on the other hand. I think he did the most damage to our team, and imo cost us the game. 90% of the time that he has the ball, he ends up forcing up a shot or shooting and missing. He obviously isnt very interested in playing team ball. I say trade him asap for a good additude player. Even if the only thing we can get is a scrub.
 
Man, no excuses, Salmons looking like a failed experiment right now.


In defense of Salmons, it's only a few games into the season after a coaching change. But if he keeps this up into February, I'm not sure we could even trade him for a draft pick since his contract is horrible. He either turns it around or he gets amnesty at the end of the season.
 
Not only did Cousins have a cold and look exhausted, he was going up against one of the best big men defenders in the league. I think we should cut him some slack. Salmon's on the other hand. I think he did the most damage to our team, and imo cost us the game. 90% of the time that he has the ball, he ends up forcing up a shot or shooting and missing. He obviously isnt very interested in playing team ball. I say trade him asap for a good additude player. Even if the only thing we can get is a scrub.

I truly don't think he's tradeable. That's been the thing about his aquisition. He has a big, for his talent level, contract lasting 3 more years and just...we're stuck. Nobody is going to take it from us. Nobody else thinks John Salmons is their answer, especially off this start.
 
In defense of Salmons, it's only a few games into the season after a coaching change. But if he keeps this up into February, I'm not sure we could even trade him for a draft pick since his contract is horrible. He either turns it around or he gets amnesty at the end of the season.

Scary little factoid, but in this shortened season we are actually already almost 20% done.
 
In defense of Salmons, it's only a few games into the season after a coaching change. But if he keeps this up into February, I'm not sure we could even trade him for a draft pick since his contract is horrible. He either turns it around or he gets amnesty at the end of the season.

There's not much point in trading him. We'll get stuck with another contract. Just imagine the garbage being sent our way in order to trade him.

I think we're better off using the amnesty on him this summer, and simply benching him for the time being. But he may very well drive me into a dark depression which I won't awake from in time to see his a** on a one way ticket elsewhere.
 
Only chance of getting rid of Salmons at this point is amnesty over the offseason. He looks terrible out there. What a debacle of a trade.
 
Kawhi Leonard sure would look good at SF for us right now. Not giving up on Jimmer by any means, but Beno and Leonard >>> Jimmer and Salmons.

After a slow start on the offensive side Leonard has looked great. Offensively he plays within himself and he looks like he could become one of the better defenders at the sf spot.

I didn't have much faith in Salmons before he got here and I have even less now. Jimmer still has time to turn it around. I hope he does because that trade is looking worse and worse.
 
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I would trade Salmons crappy contract for another equally bad contract of a guy who provides leadership or knows to get out of everyone's way. I'm not saying that exists, but the only other option is amnesty. If you bench Salmons, he just quits. So benching him is about even without amnesty.
 
if Petrie doesn't amnesty him, then I will locate every copy of his contract and burn it.

Say what Salmons? You said your contract runs through 2014?
PROVE IT!
 
I can't get over the fact we're paying 17M this year for Salmons/Cisco/Outlaw. We have Outlaw right where we want him, getting DNP-CD's. We want Salmons to join him. Cisco hasn't been impressive but I don't mind a few mins given our current roster. But if we bench Salmons, which I'd be all for, that's 11M worth of sf's getting DNP's, on a broke team! That's almost a 1/4th of our 46M payroll!

I hate hearing we don't have money, when we're practically throwing away 1/4 of our payroll. It's not that we don't spend, which we don't with the lowest payroll currently, but more that we don't spend wisely, and really aren't in the ballpark. I don't know if the Maloofs have given Petrie too tight of restrictions, or this was fully Petrie/Westy decisions, but we have an incredibly wasteful problem on our hands which is sucking the life out of our team.
 
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I can't get over the fact we're paying 17M this year for Salmons/Cisco/Outlaw. We have Outlaw right where we want him, getting DNP-CD's. We want Salmons to join him. Cisco hasn't been impressive but I don't mind a few mins given our current roster. But if we bench Salmons, which I'd be all for, that's 11M worth of sf's getting DNP's, on a broke team! That's almost a 1/4th of our 46M payroll!

I hate hearing we don't have money, when we're practically throwing away 1/4 of our payroll. It's not that we don't spend, which we don't with the lowest payroll currently, but more that we don't spend wisely, and really aren't in the ballpark. I don't know if the Maloofs have given Petrie too tight of restrictions, or this was fully Petrie/Westy decisions, but we have an incredibly wasteful problem on our hands which is sucking the life out of our team.

Great post. I don't know how much impact Westphal and the Maloofs had on personal decisions, but the front office has flat out failed this team with trades and free agents.
 
Great post. I don't know how much impact Westphal and the Maloofs had on personal decisions, but the front office has flat out failed this team with trades and free agents.

Didn't Westphal want Salmons and Hayes over Dalembert? Hayes is a nice player, but this team has absolutely zero defensive inside presence.
 
I don't want this to be a blame everything on Salmons deal. Problems exist outside of John, but he is connected to every problem in some way. Replacing him with a guy who won't overdribble, kill clock or force shots would greatly balance the roster.
 
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