Bricklayer
Don't Make Me Use The Bat
Whew! Held it under 40. 
Salmons ( C ) -- had a nice drive and dish to Hawes to start the game, and every once in a while looked like he wanted to show the Sixers what they were missing. Which as it turns out was the joy of being pathetic -- funny how that trait follows certain players around. Must get lonely out there as the only King even bothering to get into a defensive stance, and yet still got lit up by a very impressive Thaddeus Young before half. Came out int he third briefly looking like he was going to go one on the team against the Sixers again, as he has done in the other games on this road trip once it was clear nobody else was going to do anything. Had a little spurt, but not remotely enough, and then got quiet before leaving. Seems to be playing in his own head right now, very few of our guys are working together, and John is maybe foremost as just doing his own thing.
Moore ( F ) -- invisible to start against Brand, and quickly to the bench in favor of Thompson. But came back and was better and more active in the second stint as we closed a bit. Of course better is relatvie -- finished a fairly remarkable first half for a PF -- 17min 0pts 0rebs 0blk...and 3 ast. Then topped it by getting yanked less than two minutes into the third after he and Hawes combined for an incredible wussing ont the boards as the Sixers PG, Andre Miller, waded in to take the ball away from both. Never returned. Tears. Our starting power forward managed to grab a grand total of 4 rebounds during our 4 game road trip. Not 4 a game. 4 TOTAL.
Hawes ( B- ) -- scored a couple of hoops in the early going, but got into quick foul trouble. Better after returning in the second quarter, and was scoring ina variety of ways (note: with Spencer that often means he has run out to the perimeter to escape the big mean boys inside). Ended up with 2 blocks, but they were of that Miller punchless variety (and in garbagetime) -- he was not stopping anybody inside as we got pummeled inside and out once again. Got benched a minute and a half inot the third after he and Mikki combined to let Andre Miller outrebound them inside, and boy did he look pissed. Good. Do something about it. Some garbagetime activity -- can you say too little too late? This was a statline better than the game effort. Still one of our few decent players, but padded those rebounding and defensive stats up nicely after it no longer mattered. While the game was actually on he had maybe 11pts 4rebs and a frotnline seat to a Philly layup drill.
Martin ( D+ ) -- strong start, quick and aggressive and getting his shot himself as opposed to being set up. Had 10 points at the end of the first quarter, and they were a good looking 10. But started accumulating turnovers trying to do too much. And then...just pretty much disappeared. Tried to get a few things going, but came up just short. Never did do much of anything except score -- gave a defensive effort on two plays back to back in the third quarter, and I took note because it stood out. Box scores have been looking terribly empty to start things here -- 0reb 1ast 0stl 0blk. And left the game with us down 24 and him only having 14 pts, 10 in the first. Did I mention that he is killing my fantasy team right now? Bizarrely put back on the court in the 4th quarter as the lead ballooned to over 30. Risk the "franchise player" (quotes on purpose) for what exactly? But that is obviosuly Reggie, not him. In any case, started off looking good, but that was all over by the end of the first quarter. Has a demeanor sometimes like he is just disgusted with what is going on and maybe the effort falls off because of it.
Udrih ( C- ) -- invisible start, did not even make it to the first quarter halfway point before BJax was in. Was much better after returning in the second and doing most of our damage on the offensive end there for a stretch -- good thing too because he resembled a traffic cone down on the other end of the floor. Did not last long after half before Reggie just said screw it, and put in Bobby Brown and Quincy Douby for the rest of the game. Getting concerned about Beno --the whole contract year push phenomenon. Certainly does not seem to have responded to that new deal very well and is playing with absolutely no urgency right now.
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Thomspon ( B+ ) -- pretty good start, and even looked pretty settled when he was switched over to SF, calmly knocking down two midrange jumpers. Made a young mistake right before half that really hurt us, throwing a bad inbounds pass to Bobby after Louis Williams had just hit a layup, getting it picked off, and seeing Williams come right back and hit a three -- big swing before half when it looked like we might be able to get it down to 13 maybe, and then just like that, it was 20. Some nice work after getting the quick call in the third (with Mikki and Hawes insto-yanked for not rebounding). Was in front of family and friends and hustled his behind off, scored inside, and put up some nice garbagetime numbers. I mentioned when they happened for a reason -- they were garbagetime numbers this time out. While we were still within 20 this was maybe a B- or C+ after the big mistake right before half. But at least he never gave up, which a whole lot of Kings could stand to emulate right about now.
BJax ( F ) -- could not stay in front of superdart Louis Wiliams at all, and had nothing in return. Sucks getting old. Lost his second half minutes to Bobby Brown as a pissed off Reggie just said screw it. Not sure an F is truly warranted here as Bobby did not make us lose this one, but he got whipped on defense and did absolutely nothing to let me push the grade higher.
Douby ( B- ) -- canned a corner three to get us back within 10 just before the end of the first quarter, but otherwise Doubied his minutes that mattered to the tune of the usual 1-3 FG etc. etc. stuff. Was back for extended time during the forever garbagetime, and was pretty good (also per usual -- he always appears most comfortable when the game is over, there is no structure, and he can just play like he did in college doing whatever he wants on offense). Chipped in a couple more hoops, and even passed the ball a few times.
Williams ( B- ) -- did nothing this time in his first half stint other than rather sillily running into a Sixer in the open court while trying to set some sort of open court fastbreak moving screen? It was a strange lookng play. Did a little bit of good work inside on both ends in the early 4th, and like the other tow young bigs got to significantly pad his stats in garbagetime, as Reggie experimented with an all three young bigs on the court at once lineup -- Hawes at C, Williams at PF, and Thompson at SF. Like the other two, ahd a lot of turnovers and slop to go with the stat padding, and it may have been Shelden who was suppose dot be guarding Donyell Marshall as he turned bakc the clock and bombed ina series of threes in garbagetime -- obviously Shelden would normally rather stay inside. Again attempted a running whirling dervish spin move at the hoop, and as I'm pretty sur ethat these are the first times anybody has ever seen Shelden ever attempt to do something so cute with the ball in his hands, I really am thinking that maybe this is Reef's doing -- always said those moves were the only thing that Reef could possibly teach a big man about being a big man, but generally thought they were impossible to pass on without the talent. But Shelden is turning into a whriling madman in there..
Brown ( C ) -- into the game for the first time in the third instead of BJax, and had an adventuresome quarter. Intiially his quickness helped, just in pace if nothing else, and then he hit a corner three, and you are thinking, ok. But then he managed to in the space of maybe 4 minutes get just flattened by Reggie Evans on the Brad Milleresque open court blind screen, big time stuffed at the rim by Sixers rookie Makrkese Speights, and then trying to make up for that, missing a big dunk attempt a few seconds later. Welcome to the NBA kid! Perhaps a bit chagrined (although he does not seem the type), was mostly quiet in the 4th besides one corner three. Facing the just as quick Louis Williams instead of Andre Milller may have also had something to do with it -- during the preseason he seemed to noticeably struggle with other darts, perhaps because he was used to always being quicker than everybody in Europe.
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Theus ( C- ) -- I remain amazed that we fired our former all-time coach for allegedly not coaching defense. I want to play us. Seriously. I am going to put together the Kingsfans All Stars, and we will go out, and while we may not win, I don't see how we score less than 100. Slim can post up against our zero resistance. VF21 for three!! It will be glorious. Not satisfied with letting Orlando shoot 55% against us and score 121, we came out and let the Sixers shoot 59% and score 125. that's particularly impressive when you consider they scored all of 88pts on 41% shooting last game out against the mighty Atlanta Hawks and their defensive stopper Mike Bibby. In the 4th I thought we were engaged in a dubious battle to keep this from being a 30 point spanking, and then watched in dismay as the battle became to keep it under 40. As an aside...it does not appear that trading away a player of Ron Ron's abilities has helped this team in the short term. As with Webber, funny how that works. Before the season began I asked the question what happens when you take away the best defensive player from a lousy defensive team? The answer is rather impressive really. I also mentioned in the Fire Reggie thread that the only thing that could really threaten Reggie's job in the short term would be a debacle. Well...this was starting to feel like one. Not just the complete defensive collapse, and effort collapse of most players without the initials JT, but you could see already by game four Reggie getting frustrated by it. A minute and a half into the thrid quarter he had had enough, and just instantly yanked both Mikki and Spencer from the game after a pee poor effort on the glass, putting in Shelden and Thompson. And Spencer was clearly pissed. then he dissed BJax after a lousy first half and jsut threw in Bobby Brown for all the second half minutes. Then for some unknown reason he has Kevin back in the game with us down 30 in the 4th? Was he trying to keep it under 30? Trying to rub Kevin's nose in it? Do not know. Just know that the coach felt like he was getting chippy, and boy do we need not to suck on this homestand or you could see things rapidly start to get ugly. As an aside -- ACTIVATE DONTE GREENE. If we are going to suck this bad every night and be in blowout after blowout we are wasting precious development time for this kid, who could already be among the league leaders in minutes played with as much garbagetime as we have had. One positive, or at least point of interest -- Reggie repeatedly experimented with a big Hawes/Wiliams/Thompson frontline in this one, getting all the young bigs out there together (and pretty much everybody giving an effort too). Not sure if that was jsut to get those guys minutes, to couonter the Sixers superior rebounding (they still won the battle of the boards), or what. But I thought it was a worthwhile experiment, although one surely destined to stop once Cisco gets back. And again, if Greene were active, he could have got those garbagetime SF minutes. If you are the fan (singular) planning to show up for the homestand, please make a lot of noise. These guys need something. At least Reggie continues to show a better attitude about playing the kids this season.
Salmons ( C ) -- had a nice drive and dish to Hawes to start the game, and every once in a while looked like he wanted to show the Sixers what they were missing. Which as it turns out was the joy of being pathetic -- funny how that trait follows certain players around. Must get lonely out there as the only King even bothering to get into a defensive stance, and yet still got lit up by a very impressive Thaddeus Young before half. Came out int he third briefly looking like he was going to go one on the team against the Sixers again, as he has done in the other games on this road trip once it was clear nobody else was going to do anything. Had a little spurt, but not remotely enough, and then got quiet before leaving. Seems to be playing in his own head right now, very few of our guys are working together, and John is maybe foremost as just doing his own thing.
Moore ( F ) -- invisible to start against Brand, and quickly to the bench in favor of Thompson. But came back and was better and more active in the second stint as we closed a bit. Of course better is relatvie -- finished a fairly remarkable first half for a PF -- 17min 0pts 0rebs 0blk...and 3 ast. Then topped it by getting yanked less than two minutes into the third after he and Hawes combined for an incredible wussing ont the boards as the Sixers PG, Andre Miller, waded in to take the ball away from both. Never returned. Tears. Our starting power forward managed to grab a grand total of 4 rebounds during our 4 game road trip. Not 4 a game. 4 TOTAL.
Hawes ( B- ) -- scored a couple of hoops in the early going, but got into quick foul trouble. Better after returning in the second quarter, and was scoring ina variety of ways (note: with Spencer that often means he has run out to the perimeter to escape the big mean boys inside). Ended up with 2 blocks, but they were of that Miller punchless variety (and in garbagetime) -- he was not stopping anybody inside as we got pummeled inside and out once again. Got benched a minute and a half inot the third after he and Mikki combined to let Andre Miller outrebound them inside, and boy did he look pissed. Good. Do something about it. Some garbagetime activity -- can you say too little too late? This was a statline better than the game effort. Still one of our few decent players, but padded those rebounding and defensive stats up nicely after it no longer mattered. While the game was actually on he had maybe 11pts 4rebs and a frotnline seat to a Philly layup drill.
Martin ( D+ ) -- strong start, quick and aggressive and getting his shot himself as opposed to being set up. Had 10 points at the end of the first quarter, and they were a good looking 10. But started accumulating turnovers trying to do too much. And then...just pretty much disappeared. Tried to get a few things going, but came up just short. Never did do much of anything except score -- gave a defensive effort on two plays back to back in the third quarter, and I took note because it stood out. Box scores have been looking terribly empty to start things here -- 0reb 1ast 0stl 0blk. And left the game with us down 24 and him only having 14 pts, 10 in the first. Did I mention that he is killing my fantasy team right now? Bizarrely put back on the court in the 4th quarter as the lead ballooned to over 30. Risk the "franchise player" (quotes on purpose) for what exactly? But that is obviosuly Reggie, not him. In any case, started off looking good, but that was all over by the end of the first quarter. Has a demeanor sometimes like he is just disgusted with what is going on and maybe the effort falls off because of it.
Udrih ( C- ) -- invisible start, did not even make it to the first quarter halfway point before BJax was in. Was much better after returning in the second and doing most of our damage on the offensive end there for a stretch -- good thing too because he resembled a traffic cone down on the other end of the floor. Did not last long after half before Reggie just said screw it, and put in Bobby Brown and Quincy Douby for the rest of the game. Getting concerned about Beno --the whole contract year push phenomenon. Certainly does not seem to have responded to that new deal very well and is playing with absolutely no urgency right now.
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Thomspon ( B+ ) -- pretty good start, and even looked pretty settled when he was switched over to SF, calmly knocking down two midrange jumpers. Made a young mistake right before half that really hurt us, throwing a bad inbounds pass to Bobby after Louis Williams had just hit a layup, getting it picked off, and seeing Williams come right back and hit a three -- big swing before half when it looked like we might be able to get it down to 13 maybe, and then just like that, it was 20. Some nice work after getting the quick call in the third (with Mikki and Hawes insto-yanked for not rebounding). Was in front of family and friends and hustled his behind off, scored inside, and put up some nice garbagetime numbers. I mentioned when they happened for a reason -- they were garbagetime numbers this time out. While we were still within 20 this was maybe a B- or C+ after the big mistake right before half. But at least he never gave up, which a whole lot of Kings could stand to emulate right about now.
BJax ( F ) -- could not stay in front of superdart Louis Wiliams at all, and had nothing in return. Sucks getting old. Lost his second half minutes to Bobby Brown as a pissed off Reggie just said screw it. Not sure an F is truly warranted here as Bobby did not make us lose this one, but he got whipped on defense and did absolutely nothing to let me push the grade higher.
Douby ( B- ) -- canned a corner three to get us back within 10 just before the end of the first quarter, but otherwise Doubied his minutes that mattered to the tune of the usual 1-3 FG etc. etc. stuff. Was back for extended time during the forever garbagetime, and was pretty good (also per usual -- he always appears most comfortable when the game is over, there is no structure, and he can just play like he did in college doing whatever he wants on offense). Chipped in a couple more hoops, and even passed the ball a few times.
Williams ( B- ) -- did nothing this time in his first half stint other than rather sillily running into a Sixer in the open court while trying to set some sort of open court fastbreak moving screen? It was a strange lookng play. Did a little bit of good work inside on both ends in the early 4th, and like the other tow young bigs got to significantly pad his stats in garbagetime, as Reggie experimented with an all three young bigs on the court at once lineup -- Hawes at C, Williams at PF, and Thompson at SF. Like the other two, ahd a lot of turnovers and slop to go with the stat padding, and it may have been Shelden who was suppose dot be guarding Donyell Marshall as he turned bakc the clock and bombed ina series of threes in garbagetime -- obviously Shelden would normally rather stay inside. Again attempted a running whirling dervish spin move at the hoop, and as I'm pretty sur ethat these are the first times anybody has ever seen Shelden ever attempt to do something so cute with the ball in his hands, I really am thinking that maybe this is Reef's doing -- always said those moves were the only thing that Reef could possibly teach a big man about being a big man, but generally thought they were impossible to pass on without the talent. But Shelden is turning into a whriling madman in there..
Brown ( C ) -- into the game for the first time in the third instead of BJax, and had an adventuresome quarter. Intiially his quickness helped, just in pace if nothing else, and then he hit a corner three, and you are thinking, ok. But then he managed to in the space of maybe 4 minutes get just flattened by Reggie Evans on the Brad Milleresque open court blind screen, big time stuffed at the rim by Sixers rookie Makrkese Speights, and then trying to make up for that, missing a big dunk attempt a few seconds later. Welcome to the NBA kid! Perhaps a bit chagrined (although he does not seem the type), was mostly quiet in the 4th besides one corner three. Facing the just as quick Louis Williams instead of Andre Milller may have also had something to do with it -- during the preseason he seemed to noticeably struggle with other darts, perhaps because he was used to always being quicker than everybody in Europe.
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Theus ( C- ) -- I remain amazed that we fired our former all-time coach for allegedly not coaching defense. I want to play us. Seriously. I am going to put together the Kingsfans All Stars, and we will go out, and while we may not win, I don't see how we score less than 100. Slim can post up against our zero resistance. VF21 for three!! It will be glorious. Not satisfied with letting Orlando shoot 55% against us and score 121, we came out and let the Sixers shoot 59% and score 125. that's particularly impressive when you consider they scored all of 88pts on 41% shooting last game out against the mighty Atlanta Hawks and their defensive stopper Mike Bibby. In the 4th I thought we were engaged in a dubious battle to keep this from being a 30 point spanking, and then watched in dismay as the battle became to keep it under 40. As an aside...it does not appear that trading away a player of Ron Ron's abilities has helped this team in the short term. As with Webber, funny how that works. Before the season began I asked the question what happens when you take away the best defensive player from a lousy defensive team? The answer is rather impressive really. I also mentioned in the Fire Reggie thread that the only thing that could really threaten Reggie's job in the short term would be a debacle. Well...this was starting to feel like one. Not just the complete defensive collapse, and effort collapse of most players without the initials JT, but you could see already by game four Reggie getting frustrated by it. A minute and a half into the thrid quarter he had had enough, and just instantly yanked both Mikki and Spencer from the game after a pee poor effort on the glass, putting in Shelden and Thompson. And Spencer was clearly pissed. then he dissed BJax after a lousy first half and jsut threw in Bobby Brown for all the second half minutes. Then for some unknown reason he has Kevin back in the game with us down 30 in the 4th? Was he trying to keep it under 30? Trying to rub Kevin's nose in it? Do not know. Just know that the coach felt like he was getting chippy, and boy do we need not to suck on this homestand or you could see things rapidly start to get ugly. As an aside -- ACTIVATE DONTE GREENE. If we are going to suck this bad every night and be in blowout after blowout we are wasting precious development time for this kid, who could already be among the league leaders in minutes played with as much garbagetime as we have had. One positive, or at least point of interest -- Reggie repeatedly experimented with a big Hawes/Wiliams/Thompson frontline in this one, getting all the young bigs out there together (and pretty much everybody giving an effort too). Not sure if that was jsut to get those guys minutes, to couonter the Sixers superior rebounding (they still won the battle of the boards), or what. But I thought it was a worthwhile experiment, although one surely destined to stop once Cisco gets back. And again, if Greene were active, he could have got those garbagetime SF minutes. If you are the fan (singular) planning to show up for the homestand, please make a lot of noise. These guys need something. At least Reggie continues to show a better attitude about playing the kids this season.
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