[Grades] Grades v. Sixers 03/24/2013

[Bricklayer]

Some stats:

Our three top scorers:
Thomas 25pts 3reb 0ast 3TO
Thornton 22pts 1reb 0ast 1TO
Evans 19pts 2reb 8ast 1TO

The center matchup (boo!!):
Cousins 8pts (3-9FG) 9reb 2ast
Hawes 14pts (7-13FG) 10reb 3ast

Philly:
Allen 20pts 7reb 1ast 9-13FG (career high points)
Wright 22pts 3reb 6ast 6-13FG (season avg: 8.3pts on .393FG%)
Sixers Team 117pts (season average 92.4ppg, dead last in NBA)

Here, BTW, is how it sounds to be disrespected:

It helped Philadelphia mentally knowing that the Kings allow the most points per game in the NBA. Sacramento also leads the league in scoring since the All-Star break.

"They don't want to move on defense; they want to get out and run and shoot the ball as quick as they can," said Wilkins, who had six of Philadelphia's 31 assists. "We did a good job of moving the ball and finding the open man for good shots."

As a lifelong defensive minded everything, you could hardly insult me worse if you said something about my mother. Actually, that's much worse than saying something about my mother. So, she slept with you and she even brought the handcuffs. That's got nothing to do with ME. Now saying I'm a gutless gloryhound weenie who just wants to get out and statpad rather than do the defensive dirty work...well now we are going to have a confrontation.

Two Man Grading Consortium for tonight:
Bricklayer
bajaden

Boxscore

Stats: 31min 5pts (2-9, 1-6, 0-0) 5reb 2ast 0stl 0blk 0TO
Salmons ( C- ) -- If John had shot the ball well, he probably would have gotten a B. But he didn't, and you don't reward failure. He was 1 for 6 from the three, and ironicly, he hit his first three of the night. Which was right after he missed a pullup 16 footer. His one glaring mistake was a pass to Cuz over the top that had three defenders there waiting to intercept it, which they did. That was all the scoring he would do in the first half. His one basket in the second half came off of a Cousins steal when John went end to end and laid it in. Wanting JT to feel better about his airball, John decided to airball a three with 21 seconds left in the game. It really didn't matter at that point because the game had already been decided. John did hustle on defense, and was one of the few out there that did. Not a good night all the way around. --Baja

Stats: 27min 8pts (4-10, 0-0, 0-2) 8reb 0ast 0stl 1blk 2TO
Thompson ( C ) -- Hey, a C is better than a D. Jason had 8 pts tonight on 4 of 10 shooting, and most of his shots were good shots. One a point blank 3 footer that I could have made. He didn't get off to a good start. He missed a little half hook. He then bulled his way into a crowd and turned it over. He followed that by grabbing a board and then almost throwing it away. For a while JT was living a nightmare, but then things turned around. he scored on a very nice pass from Tyreke. He then backed down Young, and scored over him. He finished the half by missing an open foul line jumper, but then hitting a little half hook. The second half was a mixed bag. He started by being short on a 17 foot jumper. He then posted up Hawes and was fouled. Unfortunately he missed both freethrows, one being an airball. He did manage to hit one more baseline jumper on another nice setup form Tyreke. Jason did grab 8 boards and blocked a shot. He probably hustled more than some others out there, especially in the second half, when everyone seemed to be in slow motion compared to the 76'ers
--Baja

Stats: 27min 8pts (3-9, 0-0, 2-2) 9reb 2ast 1stl 1blk 2TO
Cousins ( D ) -- for a few minutes early in this one it looked like Boogie might have enough energy to be a factor. He looked strong on the boards at least, although clearly playing a support role on offense to the Reke Show. But after he returned in the second was just ineffective all quarter long, both on defense where the Sixers were popping jumpers on him, and on offense where there was little life or energy and everything was rolling off. To top things off near the end of his stint he started getting into it with Thaddeus Young, and got a double technical out of it. We started the third trying to force feed him inside, but it just was not there tonight. Finally got another shot to fall when he stepped out for a little baseline jumper from Reke on the drive, but he remained slow to recover off of rotations back to Hawes for his jumpers and he really wasn't getting much accomplished and finally got his 5th foul after we left him on the court with 4. By the time he returned in the early 4th we were down 20, and while we slightly cut inito the lead, this was no night for DeMarcus to be leading the charge. Even the great hands were not as sure ont his night, as severasl boards he normally gets escaped him. Gets the grade he does largely for having some excuse from the night before, and still leading us in rebounding, as even an exhausted Boogie is better on the baords than anything else we've got.--Brick

Stats: 34min 19pts (8-15, 1-3, 2-2) 2reb 8ast 2stl 1blk 1TO
Evans ( A- ) -- got off to another roaring start to this one. It may not have been quite as good as the ridiuclous thumping he laid on Chicago in the first half a couple of weeks ago, but it was cut from the same cloth. Philadelphia simply had nobody who could stop him, and Reke took full advantage of it. But it wasn't just his his ability to slash to the rim again and again, and completely ignore Hawes as an impediment once he got there. It was also his smartly using his penetration to set up team members all night long off of drive and kicks, in the process becoming the only one of our three main scorers this time to record even a single assist. In his case, 8 of them. He was not pereect however, there were a couple of forced acrobatic finish attemtps which should ahve been more kicks I think, and that got more prominent as the game went along. And defensively he was just so so, and committed the don't leave the three point shooting specialist open at the three point line, please pretty please, error again. Nonetheless, if he had played the entire game at the elvel he played the first half this was an easy A. Unfoirtunately he began to slow after half, at a certain point I don't know if he was going to get the ball back from IT anyway, and he disappeared compeltely in the 4th (literally), and now reports have come out that he was vomiting at halftime and could not go late. That sucks, for both him and us as he was the difference maker tonight, and when he ran out of special, we ran out of steam. --Brick

Stats: 29min 25pts (10-15, 4-7, 1-1) 3reb 0ast 0stl 0blk 3TO
Thomas ( B ) -- B you say! Why not an A? Well zero assists is why. If his name was John Salmons, then he would have gotten an A. And despite scoring 25 points, I'm not sure how much he helped the team tonight. Maybe I'm just upset that he fouled with just 16 seconds left in a game that was already lost. I had to wonder if it was his intent to have more time to pad his stats (he did hit a three with just 9 seconds left), or he just wanted to punish me by making me watch longer than I should have had to. Almost all of his scoring came in the 2nd half. In the first half, he played off the ball a lot, and at times was invisible. He didn't score, or take a shot until there was 8:06 left in the 1st quarter, when he hit a corner three. Contrary to what Reynolds said, he had little to do with stopping Holiday from scoring as he struggled to stay in front of him. Holiday simply missed open shots. Shots he wouldn't miss in the second half. He attempted assists, like the bullet bounce pass he tried to get to Cousins, which was almost uncatchable. A bit later he fumbled a nice pass from Tyreke and turned it over. He did have one nice move in the post when he drove, stopped, and then reversed for a layup. The second half was a series of three's, and driving layups. Yes he did score, but at the expense of his teammates. Between him and Thornton, most of the shots in the second half were sucked up. His stat line looks good for a shooting guard, but zero assits just doesn't cut it for a PG. --Baja

 

[Bricklayer]

Bench

Stats: 34min 12pts (5-11, 2-3, 0-0) 7reb 2ast 2stl 0blk 1TO
Patterson ( C+ ) -- Patrick probably deserves a higher score than this, or at least thats the way it feels to me. I thought he played well, especially in the first half, where it seemed he couldn't miss a shot. He entered the game with 5:28 left in the 1st for Cousins. He immediately stepped into the passing lane and stole the ball. He then hit a 12 footer on a nice pass from Tyreke. (I had a lot of notes that said, "On a nice pass from Tyreke) He followed that with a corner three, on yes, another pass from Tyreke. He then pulled up for a 16 foot jumper. Which he followed by hitting another corner three. These were important shots because Philly wasn't missing anything during this period. He entered the second half with 5:41 left in the 3rd. He started by grabbing a tough rebound, but missed the putback. He then went over 4 minutes without touching the ball on offense. This was when Thornton, and IT were taking turns going one on one. Yes, they, especially Thornton were making shots, but some of these shots weren't good shots. The rest of the half was a mess. Douglas passed him the ball in the corner with a defender in his face and 4 seconds left on the shot clock. Thank you very much! He did score by following a missed shot by Douglas, but otherwise, he seemed to drown in the whirlwind of stupidity that surrounded him. He did have 7 boards and 2 steals. To no avail........
--Baja

Stats: 27min 22pts (9-12, 1-4, 3-3) 0reb 1ast 0stl 0blk 1TO
Thornton ( B ) -- came in and played well in the early going as Reke's running mate, and then after Reke left started flying up and down the court and scoring at will with great confidence. Maybe too much confidence. When he returned could barely touch the ball with IT and Reke dominating it, and acted otu ratehr badly once the 4th quarter started. Took a bad selfish forced shot to start the 4th , and then a quick shot three. Was just determined to shoot, and as impressive as his fast hard fastbreak finishes were, there too he did not even glance at teammates. Things were falling -- the only shots he missed on the whole night were threes, but he was a little bull wiht his head down out there, and notably again not contributiing in any other aspect -- in the double header Thornton got up 25 shots to go with 2ast and 2reb. I'll B him up for stretches fo very imipressive punchy offense, while hollding the grade down because the longer you watched it, the more it felt like he was playing on an island of his own making.--Brick

Stats: 21min 0pts (0-3, 0-1, 0-0) 2reb 3ast 0stl 0blk 2TO
Douglas ( D+ ) -- no no no. Not this time. Did have stretches of pesky defense sticking to Holiday -- indeed that was why he was out there. Because everything else was impotent. No offense at all, occasionally a random shot attempt, even blew an open court layup. Minimal running of the team, no rebounding at all, missing several he should have had. Just an ineffectual night on the dark side of roleplayerdom. --Brick

Stats: 5min 2pts (1-1, 0-0, 0-0) 0reb 0ast 0stl 0blk 0TO
Outlaw ( INC ) -- only note was that he drove in for a double clutch baseline dunk after his defender flew at him on the corner three --Brick

Stats: 5min 2pts (0-0, 0-0, 2-2) 1reb 0ast 0stl 0blk 1TO
Aldridge ( INC ) -- not in until the end of the first half as Smart finally noticed we were getting killed on the glass. Ended up getting fouled and scoring our final two points of the half before nearly ending up the goat when just before the buzzer he threw a terrible return pass under our hoop to Tyreke, saw the pass get picked off, and nearly had the Sixers score to go up going into the half. As impressive as his +40 +/- was aginst Chicago, a -13 in less thna 5 min of action tonight is also impressive (then again, our best player Tyreke has the lowest +/-, and a stugglign Cuz had the highest, so tells you something about that stat).--Brick

 

[HereWeBoogie]

I wonder if IT and Nate Robinson are having a competition to see who can score more points in garbage time of games.

 

[kingsnation]

Some stats:

Our three top scorers:
Thomas 25pts 3reb 0ast 3TO
Thornton 22pts 1reb 0ast 1TO
Evans 19pts 2reb 8ast 1TO

The center matchup (boo!!):
Cousins 8pts (3-9FG) 9reb 2ast
Hawes 14pts (7-13FG) 10reb 3ast

Philly:
Allen 20pts 7reb 1ast 9-13FG (career high points)
Wright 22pts 3reb 6ast 6-13FG (season avg: 8.3pts on .393FG%)
Sixers Team 117pts (season average 92.4ppg, dead last in NBA)

placeholder...

Just got home and missed the game. So I looked at the box before coming here and the first thing that jumped at me was IT's big zero. You just can't have that from your starting PG in the NBA. Especially, if they led the team in scoring and tied in shots taken.

 

[VF21]

This game was winnable. Our abysmal third quarter, thanks to the usual suspects and suspect coaching decisions, is the reason we lost.

 

[pshn80]

Unfortunately for me I was there. Several impressions: Cousins was lethargic, Cousins defense was not inspirational, several guys moved without the ball but quickly saw it was for naught, Evans first half scoring orgy was fun to watch but fools gold, EVERYTHING was iso, one.-on-one, it was an awfull example of that ailment which regularly dooms the Kings. Other than that it was an OK evening until we dropped out of sight.

 

[Tetsujin]

Isaiah: D for the game, A for not being Spencer Hawes

Sean Cunningham ‏@News10Sean 55m
Isaiah Thomas on the fans booing Spencer Hawes throughout the game: "When you say what you said, you deserve it" #NBAKings #76ers

 

[lwc]

Isaiah: D for the game, A for not being Spencer Hawes

What did Spencer Hawes say?

 

[PurpleHaze]

What did Spencer Hawes say?

That he's rooting for Seattle to get the Kings

http://www.sacbee.com/2013/03/25/5290024/kings-notes-hawes-roots-for-seattle.html

 

[mac]

Unfortunately for me I was there. Several impressions: Cousins was lethargic, Cousins defense was not inspirational, several guys moved without the ball but quickly saw it was for naught, Evans first half scoring orgy was fun to watch but fools gold, EVERYTHING was iso, one.-on-one, it was an awfull example of that ailment which regularly dooms the Kings. Other than that it was an OK evening until we dropped out of sight.

Sometimes I really wonder what it takes to please guys like you. We don't run plays! Or if we do, they're not very good ones! Evans is an iso player, and part of that is because we don't ever run plays for him off the ball. I think in his 4 years here he's maybe made 10 baskets moving on an off-ball screen set for him. It's not as if he wasn't passing the ball - he racked up 4 assists in the first half. So tell me kind sir, just what you would have liked to see from Evans himself in the first half, knowing full well that this is the Sacramento Kings coached by Keith Smart?

 

[mac]

Jason Jones ‏@mr_jasonjones 10h
Tyreke Evans said he spent part of halftime vomiting. Will see a doctor...tried to play 4Q, said he couldn't.

 

[Big Cuz 15]

the stats don't lie.. anybody else sick of hearing about the hustlin huskie? you'd think he's the franchise player the way grant n jerry talk about him on air.

Some stats:

Our three top scorers:
Thomas 25pts 3reb 0ast 3TO
Thornton 22pts 1reb 0ast 1TO
Evans 19pts 2reb 8ast 1TO

The center matchup (boo!!):
Cousins 8pts (3-9FG) 9reb 2ast
Hawes 14pts (7-13FG) 10reb 3ast

Philly:
Allen 20pts 7reb 1ast 9-13FG (career high points)
Wright 22pts 3reb 6ast 6-13FG (season avg: 8.3pts on .393FG%)
Sixers Team 117pts (season average 92.4ppg, dead last in NBA)

Here, BTW, is how it sounds to be disrespected:

As a lifelong defensive minded everything, you could hardly insult me worse if you said something about my mother. Actually, that's much worse than saying something about my mother. So, she slept with you and she even brought the handcuffs. That's got nothing to do with ME. Now saying I'm a gutless gloryhound weenie who just wants to get out and statpad rather than do the defensive dirty work...well now we are going to have a confrontation.

placeholder...

 

[bajaden]

My grade hasn't been posted yet, but I think You'll see what I think of the Hustling Husky's performance. I was being as kind as I could be. Evans was absolutely terrific until he either ran out of steam or got sick. The whole team looked dead tired in the second half. It looked like they spent all their amunition in the first half, and had nothing left. By the way, I just read a report on centers. I'll admit by a suspect source, but none the less, their stats hold up. Cousins is the least assisted center in the NBA, and therefore ranks as one of the best centers in the NBA. What does that mean? It means that Cousins doesn't have a Steve Nash getting him easy baskets. Almost every basket he scores, he has to create for himself. Thus his lower shooting percentage, and higher turnover rate. When you take into consideration the players he has around him as well, which allows other teams to gamble more and double or triple him, he puts up damm good stats.

Its easy to pick on him, and say he looks tired out there, but centers put out a lot more energy than little guys hanging out around the perimeter. Those little guys aren't dragging other 270 pound players around the floor, fighting for position like a sumo wrestler, and then being ignored by a midget PG who thinks all is right with the world as long as he's scoring.

 

[pshn80]

I usr picked on Cousis' lethargy because of late it seems he doesn't have the gas to get up and back like a starting center should. I've heard no one else mention it so maybe I'm wrong. If I'm right and I think I am, it would help to explain much.

 

[Capt. Factorial]

By the way, I just read a report on centers. I'll admit by a suspect source, but none the less, their stats hold up. Cousins is the least assisted center in the NBA, and therefore ranks as one of the best centers in the NBA. What does that mean? It means that Cousins doesn't have a Steve Nash getting him easy baskets. Almost every basket he scores, he has to create for himself.

Not to simply play Devil's Advocate, but I'm not sure Cousins gets himself into position for assisted baskets at the rim very often. At least, that's the way it seems to me.

 

[Section 101]

Not to simply play Devil's Advocate, but I'm not sure Cousins gets himself into position for assisted baskets at the rim very often. At least, that's the way it seems to me.

This has been a problem with the team for several years now. The assists they get are mostly on jump shots. Chuck has been able to hit some on back door passes, not enough. The interior passing has been just as bad in the paint to find people for easy dunks.

And it has been brought up before with Cuz, he will roll to the basket and be open and the guards never get him the ball. After a few times he stops going to the basket.

 

[andjel]

This has been a problem with the team for several years now. The assists they get are mostly on jump shots. Chuck has been able to hit some on back door passes, not enough. The interior passing has been just as bad in the paint to find people for easy dunks.

And it has been brought up before with Cuz, he will roll to the basket and be open and the guards never get him the ball. After a few times he stops going to the basket.

No surprise.

You do not have to teach much ISO, 1 on 1 stuff.
Team work, pick and roll, passing the lanes, setting plays that involve more than 1 person, requires some planning, teaching, organizing.... what was the that weird word... ah coaching, which happened to be incompetent in all years since Adelman.
As somebody pointed out in the other thread, it really stands out how all the folks that we acquire that come from coached teams are standing out with their BB IQ and knowledge of the game on this team.

 

[IfAt1st]

I was at this game with my youngest son.
3 main observations/critiques:

1) This team has to be the worst-coached team in the league. And by "coached", I mean that most loosely.

The Kings are simply not running plays.
An ISO is NOT A PLAY. I can tell Tyreke, or Salmons, or IT to "Go out there and shoot a basket", that doesn't mean I'm coaching the Kings.

Worse, on the majority of plays the Kings ran in the 1st half when DMC was on the floor, he had obviously been told to simply stand on the opposite side of the floor and don't get in the way. He was not involved in the offense in ANY fashion, and had little hope of getting to any semblance of offensive rebounding position. What kind of offense (this was not just IT, mind you - it was every person who handled the ball) purposely has their monster offensive rebounding machine play outside of the paint on most plays?
Which leads to:

#2) DMC is being frozen out of the offense by the Kings, and he is being absolutely JOBBED by the refs.
In my biased eyes, there is a league conspiracy to ensure DMC does not get good numbers, in the 76er game at the least.
Both teams were able to do physical, hand-slappy/reachy defense. I saw no less than 8 hands and forearms hit in the act of shooting in the 1st half alone.
Yet, the instant Demarcus' hand was anywhere close to a 76er hand upon release, he got a foul called.
His other fouls were equally ticky-tack. IIRC, only 1 was remotely a foul when compared to the play going on the court. The foul he got when his knee hit someone else's, then Spencer (?) drove and fell down was criminal.
It should be quite apparent to anyone who watches, that there have been many games this season that it simply doesn't matter what DMC does out there, he's on the **** list and he's not going to get impressive numbers at times.
I don't blame him at all for being depressed and unmotivated. Having said that, I DO blame him for not running or at least jogging on the floor. He makes me tired watching him play out there. My eyes hurt watching him (and Pat Pat at times) labor to turn around the other direction and start lurching down the floor because they know they're not going to be in the play on the other end.

#3) If this was supposed to be some kind of Here We Buy #2 game, this was an embarrassingly poor effort.
I haven't been at a game with more empty seats, and I've been watching empty seats every single time I've gone (~3 times per year for a decade).
There were some loud groups there, but the place was over half empty. No exaggeration.

 

[pshn80]

Sometimes I really wonder what it takes to please guys like you. We don't run plays! Or if we do, they're not very good ones! Evans is an iso player, and part of that is because we don't ever run plays for him off the ball. I think in his 4 years here he's maybe made 10 baskets moving on an off-ball screen set for him. It's not as if he wasn't passing the ball - he racked up 4 assists in the first half. So tell me kind sir, just what you would have liked to see from Evans himself in the first half, knowing full well that this is the Sacramento Kings coached by Keith Smart?

You do what Tyreke did in the one Q in the first at some jeopardy to the team. It was great to watch, it racked up points in a hurry, it's what Evans has been good at for his four years but it knocks the crap out of team hood if done very often and on this team it is done or tried frequently by Evans, Thomas, cousins -our stars- Tornton, Fredette. It is the problem of our team, you can't blame all of it or even most of it on our coach. I know folks do but think about for a couple of minutes.p

 

[Spike]

You do what Tyreke did in the one Q in the first at some jeopardy to the team. It was great to watch, it racked up points in a hurry, it's what Evans has been good at for his four years but it knocks the crap out of team hood if done very often and on this team it is done or tried frequently by Evans, Thomas, cousins -our stars- Tornton, Fredette. It is the problem of our team, you can't blame all of it or even most of it on our coach. I know folks do but think about for a couple of minutes.p

Except that when Evans does it it turns the defense on its heels, allowing for greater penetration and increased opportunities for others. How many assists did he have last night? Evans needs the ball in his hands. He causes defensive breakdowns. The ISO is on coaching. If he's breaking down his defender when others are moving, good things happen. If everyone stands around, well, then it doesn't matter who has the ball because nothing good will happen.
Let me put it this way: letting Evans run the ball us like feeding your running back for the first three quarters of a football game. By the fourth quarter, the defense wears down and he'll break off big gains.

 

[bajaden]

Not to simply play Devil's Advocate, but I'm not sure Cousins gets himself into position for assisted baskets at the rim very often. At least, that's the way it seems to me.

Hey by the way, how's the devil doing lately? One could argue that its a chicken or egg thing. I think if you have a top PG, you'll feel more confident about working to get into position. Not just Cousins, but in every game I see golden opportunities for a good PG to make great pass for an assist. In just this last game, Cousins twice, Patterson twice, JT once, and Tyreke once, were all open under the basket with IT at the top of the circle. These opportunities are only there for a brief moment, and then they're gone. Not once in any of those did IT make the Pass. However, Tyreke did take advantage of some those moments, or helped create some.

 

[bajaden]

You do what Tyreke did in the one Q in the first at some jeopardy to the team. It was great to watch, it racked up points in a hurry, it's what Evans has been good at for his four years but it knocks the crap out of team hood if done very often and on this team it is done or tried frequently by Evans, Thomas, cousins -our stars- Tornton, Fredette. It is the problem of our team, you can't blame all of it or even most of it on our coach. I know folks do but think about for a couple of minutes.p

Evans isn't the PG on this team, but he had 8 assists, while our susposed PG had zero! A lot of the drives that Evans made ended up as an assist on a made basket by a teammate. Its really hard to find fault with what he did last night. He was one of the few effective players on the floor at both ends of the court.

 

[Padrino]

it amazes me that people continually point to tyreke evans' [efficient] offensive game as if he's the problem, or, more emphatically, as if the kings' offense, in general, is the problem. here's the facts, dear friends: to this point in the season, the kings have a top-10 offense, but they are dead last in points allowed per game. DEAD EFFING LAST...



the oklahoma city thunder average less than an assist per game more than the kings. they get by just fine with an iso-heavy offense (2nd in the nba in points per game), because they are a well-balanced team. they're not chock full of chuckers intent on disrupting their internal hierarchy. the thunder's roleplayers understand their roles, and they allow kevin durant and russell westbrook to be what they are: the team's two best players, and the first and second option, respectively. more importantly, they are a disciplined team on both sides of the ball...

now, if you haven't been paying attention lately (as in, the last two seasons), you may have missed the fact that keith smart's entire defensive strategy consists of reaching in for the steal, and slacking off jump shooters to help in the paint. as a result, the kings' opponents get easy shots all game long while the kings scramble to get back on shooters and recover from their overplays. it is so goddamn easy to exploit keith smart's defensive strategy. i mean, ****, the philadelphia 76ers are 29th in the league in points scored per game (92.8 ppg average), yet they put up 117 on the kings!! that's 24 points above their average!!

in short, evaluating the kings problems is not complicated. just look at the team's history in the last five to seven years. it's all on one side of the ball. demarcus cousins and tyreke evans can form a strong, physical offensive combination. but the team needs some defensive roleplayers to fill in the gaps, and a head coach willing to instill some discipline into a young team that's been at an extreme lack for it since rick adelman was run out of town...

 

[Tetsujin]

#3) If this was supposed to be some kind of Here We Buy #2 game, this was an embarrassingly poor effort.
I haven't been at a game with more empty seats, and I've been watching empty seats every single time I've gone (~3 times per year for a decade).
There were some loud groups there, but the place was over half empty. No exaggeration.

Not to be a Spencer or anything but you can't follow a blatant exaggeration with the phrase "No exaggeration."

 

[HereWeBoogie]

Jason Jones ‏@mr_jasonjones 10h
Tyreke Evans said he spent part of halftime vomiting. Will see a doctor...tried to play 4Q, said he couldn't.

he could have played through it if he had Heart

 

[Kingster]

it amazes me that people continually point to tyreke evans' [efficient] offensive game as if he's the problem, or, more emphatically, as if the kings' offense, in general, is the problem. here's the facts, dear friends: to this point in the season, the kings have a top-10 offense, but they are dead last in points allowed per game. DEAD EFFING LAST...



the oklahoma city thunder average less than an assist per game more than the kings. they get by just fine with an iso-heavy offense (2nd in the nba in points per game), because they are a well-balanced team. the thunder's roleplayers understand their roles, and they allow kevin durant and russell westbrook to be what they are: the team's two best players, and the first and second option, respectively. more importantly, they are a disciplined team on both sides of the ball...

now, if you haven't been paying attention lately (as in, the last two seasons), you may have missed the fact that keith smart's entire defensive strategy consists of reaching in for the steal, and slacking off jump shooters to help in the paint. as a result, the kings' opponents get easy shots all game long while the kings scramble to get back on shooters and recover from their overplays. it is so goddamn easy to exploit keith smart's defensive strategy. i mean, ****, the philadelphia 76ers are 29th in the league in points scored per game (92.8 ppg average), yet they put up 117 on the kings!! that's 24 points above their average!!

in short, evaluating the kings problems is not complicated. just look at the team's history in the last five to seven years. it's all on one side of the ball. demarcus cousins and tyreke evans can form a strong, physical offensive combination. but the team needs some defensive roleplayers to fill in the gaps, and a head coach willing to instill some discipline into a young team that's been at an extreme lack for it since rick adelman was run out of town...

Well, what do you know. You stick around until the end of time and you find there is some agreement on something. In addition to Tyreke, IT is near the least of the worries on defense. Throw in Douglas and I like the defensive capability of our backcourt. It's interior D where this team is getting killed. All you have to do is watch the first few plays of the opposing team to know where they are going with the ball - the interior. They play switching games with Salmons, JT and Cousins, and the games end up with very easy open shots in the paint. And while I'm on the subject, how about rebounding? Did you know that JT is averaging 5.1 rebs in 29 minutes for the last 10 games? That his high has been 8 rebs, his low was 1?. Also, he managed 2 rebounds and 3 rebounds in games within this 10 game stretch. By the way, IT outrebounded JT in his 1 rebound game by 4. Do you ever think JT is going to hear the end of it in the lockeroom?

 

[Padrino]

Well, what do you know. You stick around until the end of time and you find there is some agreement on something. In addition to Tyreke, IT is near the least of the worries on defense. Throw in Douglas and I like the defensive capability of our backcourt. It's interior D where this team is getting killed. All you have to do is watch the first few plays of the opposing team to know where they are going with the ball - the interior. They play switching games with Salmons, JT and Cousins, and the games end up with very easy open shots in the paint. And while I'm on the subject, how about rebounding? Did you know that JT is averaging 5.1 rebs in 29 minutes for the last 10 games? That his high has been 8 rebs, his low was 1?. Also, he managed 2 rebounds and 3 rebounds in games within this 10 game stretch. By the way, IT outrebounded JT in his 1 rebound game by 4. Do you ever think JT is going to hear the end of it in the lockeroom?

hahaha, well don't get too far ahead of yourself. it doesn't exactly require considerable basketball acumen to ascertain that the kings need to shore up their defensive weaknesses and rebounding issues...

 

[rainmaker]

There's a real lack of understanding around here of why things are a certain way and how the system effects outcomes. Many are just looking at the results, the final stats, whether in grading them or commenting on them. Rarely are posters analyzing the systematic issues and the greater effect they have.

Cuz doesn't get enough easy baskets so we're only looking at IT who misses him. A real PG can get Cuz easier looks and more assisted baskets. While that's true, that's only part of the issue, and even as someone who's not high on IT I don't lay all the blame on him for missing Cuz. The greater issue is our offense. We don't have sets which create easy baskets, whether for Cuz or anyone else. I posted a video thread with clips of how to use our players more effectively, movements, screens, spacing, and I'm wondering why I even took the time to do that. It showed numerous examples of sets/spacing we could use to create opportunities for Cuz and others. Yet all that somehow was ignored and people would just rather look at IT missing Cuz on a pick & roll or a quick flash to the basket. Exactly how many cross screens did we see from our PF to get Cuz on the move, rolling ball side to the box? How many pick & rolls did we see with either IT or Reke and a side cleared? How many back screens set on Cuz's man at the high post allowing him to dive? How about just the simple, quick pass into the paint before the defense is completely set? But it's easier just to ignore our sets/systematic issues and instead look at the final result. Who cares if IT missed Cuz a couple times? That's just a symptom of a larger problem.

It's similar to how Reke is graded or commented on. Often how he is used in our offense isn't taken into consideration. He was passive, didn't score enough, didn't create, so he gets a bad grade. Sure the final result might not look good, but what goes into that? I've detailed with video exactly how we can use Reke more effectively, where to get him the ball and how the floor should be spaced. Yet, he rarely even gets a play run for him, is stuck much of the time watching IT pound the ball up top, has a shorter leash than any other starter, yet it's many times ignored.

We arguably use our top two players less efficiently than any other team in the league, just call iso's for them with poor spacing then blast them for not doing enough.

I also question those who think what we really need is a pure PG. The top teams in the league in OKC, SA and Mia don't have pure PG's. Chi doesn't either when Rose is healthy. Lakers were better without Nash. We didn't have a pure PG with Bibby. What we did have was an offense built on movement and misdirection, with bigs who can pass. Guess what, we have a big who can pass. We have a big who can run the high post offense. We have a big most agree the offense should run through. Yet instead of looking at our actual system and how to improve it, movements/screens/fades/dives and how to actually run an offense off Cuz, we have people campaigning to take the ball out of Cuz's hands and have a pure PG dominate the ball instead. As if Cuz not getting an easy basket or two from a PG is our real problem. Actually run a good system and Cuz will get easy baskets, and the system will allow that to be done without needing a Nash or Rubio type.

It's funny. The problem apparently isn't our system which relies on IT dribbling in circles with little movement or good spacing, the problem is IT missing Cuz a couple times per game. So, just get a pure PG, let him dribble in circles and as long as he hits Cuz that time or two each game, we're set. That's ridiculous. That's not a system which uses our best players effectively. A pure PG who dominates the ball is not what will make Reke/Cuz most effective. I know some think if you think that way you're just rooting for your favorite player, but the flipside of that is we apparently have fans who simply root for their favorite type of system as a pure PG gets them all hot and bothered, and they ignore the type of talents we have and how they can be best used.

Was it a pure PG creating for Peja? No, it was a high post offense based on movements/screens/mis direction. Because of that system it didn't matter who had the ball, as we knew where Peja would be, where he'd expect the ball, and Bibby, Christie, Webb or Vlade would hit him when open. Our system under Rick started basically after that first pass into the high post. Then it was movement, the best in the league. Yet listening to people around here we'd probably have been a better team if we ditched Bibby and got a pure PG and had that PG create, as you can't create easy baskets/looks without a pure PG dominating the ball, even though that line of thinking is regularly proven incorrect. If you really love pure PG's, you should probably go root for a team who's top players aren't Reke/Cuz.

 

[VF21]

We could have the best players in the league and they'd still be useless without effective coaching - a man with a plan who could get them to work together and do those things that mean the difference between a bunch of guys in matching uniforms and A TEAM.

 

[The_Jamal]

There's a real lack of understanding around here of why things are a certain way and how the system effects outcomes. Many are just looking at the results, the final stats, whether in grading them or commenting on them. Rarely are posters analyzing the systematic issues and the greater effect they have.

Cuz doesn't get enough easy baskets so we're only looking at IT who misses him. A real PG can get Cuz easier looks and more assisted baskets. While that's true, that's only part of the issue, and even as someone who's not high on IT I don't lay all the blame on him for missing Cuz. The greater issue is our offense. We don't have sets which create easy baskets, whether for Cuz or anyone else. I posted a video thread with clips of how to use our players more effectively, movements, screens, spacing, and I'm wondering why I even took the time to do that. It showed numerous examples of sets/spacing we could use to create opportunities for Cuz and others. Yet all that somehow was ignored and people would just rather look at IT missing Cuz on a pick & roll or a quick flash to the basket. Exactly how many cross screens did we see from our PF to get Cuz on the move, rolling ball side to the box? How many pick & rolls did we see with either IT or Reke and a side cleared? How many back screens set on Cuz's man at the high post allowing him to dive? How about just the simple, quick pass into the paint before the defense is completely set? But it's easier just to ignore our sets/systematic issues and instead look at the final result. Who cares if IT missed Cuz a couple times? That's just a symptom of a larger problem.

It's similar to how Reke is graded or commented on. Often how he is used in our offense isn't taken into consideration. He was passive, didn't score enough, didn't create, so he gets a bad grade. Sure the final result might not look good, but what goes into that? I've detailed with video exactly how we can use Reke more effectively, where to get him the ball and how the floor should be spaced. Yet, he rarely even gets a play run for him, is stuck much of the time watching IT pound the ball up top, has a shorter leash than any other starter, yet it's many times ignored.

We arguably use our top two players less efficiently than any other team in the league, just call iso's for them with poor spacing then blast them for not doing enough.

I also question those who think what we really need is a pure PG. The top teams in the league in OKC, SA and Mia don't have pure PG's. Chi doesn't either when Rose is healthy. Lakers were better without Nash. We didn't have a pure PG with Bibby. What we did have was an offense built on movement and misdirection, with bigs who can pass. Guess what, we have a big who can pass. We have a big who can run the high post offense. We have a big most agree the offense should run through. Yet instead of looking at our actual system and how to improve it, movements/screens/fades/dives and how to actually run an offense off Cuz, we have people campaigning to take the ball out of Cuz's hands and have a pure PG dominate the ball instead. As if Cuz not getting an easy basket or two from a PG is our real problem. Actually run a good system and Cuz will get easy baskets, and the system will allow that to be done without needing a Nash or Rubio type.

It's funny. The problem apparently isn't our system which relies on IT dribbling in circles with little movement or good spacing, the problem is IT missing Cuz a couple times per game. So, just get a pure PG, let him dribble in circles and as long as he hits Cuz that time or two each game, we're set. That's ridiculous. That's not a system which uses our best players effectively. A pure PG who dominates the ball is not what will make Reke/Cuz most effective. I know some think if you think that way you're just rooting for your favorite player, but the flipside of that is we apparently have fans who simply root for their favorite type of system as a pure PG gets them all hot and bothered, and they ignore the type of talents we have and how they can be best used.

Was it a pure PG creating for Peja? No, it was a high post offense based on movements/screens/mis direction. Because of that system it didn't matter who had the ball, as we knew where Peja would be, where he'd expect the ball, and Bibby, Christie, Webb or Vlade would hit him when open. Our system under Rick started basically after that first pass into the high post. Then it was movement, the best in the league. Yet listening to people around here we'd probably have been a better team if we ditched Bibby and got a pure PG and had that PG create, as you can't create easy baskets/looks without a pure PG dominating the ball, even though that line of thinking is regularly proven incorrect. If you really love pure PG's, you should probably go root for a team who's top players aren't Reke/Cuz.

Bravo. The concept of the "Pure PG" is a thing of the past. Virtually every PG, no matter the system, has to have the ability to score in today's game. Rubio, Calderon and Nash are probably the only 3 left who fall under the assist-first, score later category.

People want IT to be some amazing playmaker, while keeping Reke and Cousins involved in the offense. It's an impossible task. What is possible (and we should be doing) is treating IT as a SG in the offense and taking advantage of his scoring ability off of offense created from Reke and Cousins. I've been saying it all year: We have the potential for an incredibly dangerous offensive trio if we put them in the right system.