Ok...this was just a terrible basketball exhibition. Here was the one thing you need to know about this game: we didn't lose to a Sixers team on its way to the all time loss record.
So there it is. Whoopee! Otherwise this was basically unwatchable. Some people got numbers. Some did not. All irrelevant in this fugly scrimmage.
I'm going to go ahead and do a theme even though we won, just to entertain...well likely myself given the plummeting viewership numbers. So given that tonight we tried out our third starting PF in 3 nights I thought I would look at Who Were the Power Forwards of the Great Centers.
Your Consoritum Graders tonight:
Bricklayer
Uncia03
Bajaden
MassacheusettsKingsFan
Henkel
Boxscore
Stats: 35min 27pts (5-12, 1-3, 16-19) 7reb 5ast 2stl 0blk 4TO
Gay ( B+ ) -- first 5 or 6 minutes was in the same malaise as the rest of the team. Took a bad contested jumper to start things. Missed a three out of our first timeout. It was a tough contested runner for his first hoop. But that was all it took to get him going, and it wasn't long until he was carrying the offense. And with the refs blowing their whistles like they were being paid by the tweet, Rudy soon took up semi-permanent residence at the FT line, and had 11 points by the end of the quarter as we surged into the lead. It was never "clean" dominance. When he returned to the game and got a steal he promptly dribbled the ball off his own leg for a turnover. Late in the half he went inside, got rejected by Sims (who had a silly game for him) but got the ball back and hit McCallum cutting for the layup. And that maybe was the most impressive thing that happened. With Boogie AWOL and IT delivering not a single first half assist, Rudy took over as main creater of offense, and made a number of not just solid, but really sharp passes leading directly to layups and open shots. I barely bothered taking notes after half as this game's fugliness stunned me into trying to pick every single lint ball from the pillow I was leaning on, but after half Rudy;s offensive output slowed a bit with Cuz stepping up to shoulder more load. But he still made some more nice passes, still got to the line, and while he continued to miss open looks and never really ignite into "hot", he was just easily the best player on the floor.--Brick
Maurice Lucas
Height: 6'9"
Weight: 215lbs
Wingman To: Bill Walton
Stats w/Blazers: 29.7min 15.6pts (.461 .763) 8.7reb 2.5ast 0.8stl 0.7blk 2.6TO
Traits: when your nickname is "The Enforcer" it tells you much of what you need to know. Blocked bodies, not shots. Often considered an early prototype for PFs who followed, but as wingman to a great center were some differences. Was tough, thuggish even, strong on the glass, an intimidator. But also took a ton of shots compared to most more modern PF wingmen. Key was that Walton was not a dominant scorer. Was an All-Star all 4 years with Walton, made the playoffs each year. An All Defensive first teamer 1 yr, All Defensive Second Team 1yr.
Stats: 31min 5pts (1-5, 1-3, 2-4) 6reb 1ast 2stl 0blk 2TO
Williams ( D+ ) -- well...I suppose the good here is that this was bad enough that you probably did not have to hear Jerry Reynolds' normal spiel about how he's better at PF. If I had to guess I would say he got the start here because of the Thaddeus Young matchup, after Young nuked us last time we faced them. And on that front, maybe it kind of worked. Young struggled. Its hard to pin too much of that exactly on DWill, but he was certainly a closer match than our other PFs. On the other end of course throwing yet another offensive player in amongst the starters just created a mess, and Dwill, like anybody in that position, was rarely going to get an opportunity. Unfortunately the few times he did he looked bad, missing open shots, or forcing things in traffic. At least when he finally did hit a three, his only hit of the night, it was at a good point in the late third to get us up 14. --Brick
PJ Brown
Height: 6'11"
Weight: 225lbs
Wingman To: Alonzo Mourning
Stats w/Heat: 31.2min 9.9pts (.472 .755) 7.9reb 1.4ast 0.9stl 1.1blk 1.3TO
Traits: was wearing the wrong jersey in that photo, but seemed appropriate. Long defensive stud F. Had actually started his career playing some SF, but bulked up his 6'11" frame. Drab offensive player, but could post along the baselines, and had the faceup jumper. Think a bigger stronger and much meaner Tayshaun Prince. Not a great rebounder, but could block a shot and intimidate, and was a tough guy involved in some of the 90s ugliest brawls. Made the playoffs all 4 years with Mourning (and it seemed like more than 4), and was a 2x Second Team All Defensive selection during those years.
Stats: 27min 19pts (7-16, 0-0, 5-7) 12reb 2ast 1stl 0blk 5TO
Cousins ( C+ ) -- Started out with a couple of nice offensive possessions by getting to the line and then knocking down a turnaround jumper. For the rest of the half he wasn't able to find much of a rhythm. Missed a shot inside followed by a jumper that rimmed out. Didn't get back on defense as Sims beat everyone down the court for an easy dunk to put the Sixers out to their biggest lead of the night. It wasn't all so egregious but was out hustled in this one. Managed a successful break off of a steal that he took all the way to the rim from half court. While it's always fun to watch his batting average in this game alone wasn't great, and bigger picture contributes to his turnover troubles. Tried to find Gay cutting to the basket, but the pass wasn't close sailing out of bounds. Sims managed to score on him and then draw the foul for a couple free throws. Took a seat with a few minutes left in the first after one of his least impressive runs in recent memory. After reentering was aggressive going to the rim and managed to draw the foul. On his next chance missed a easy one inside. Got the ball back about 5 feet from the basket but traveled for another careless turnover. Picked up his second foul clearing out on the screen for a easy call. Shortly thereafter got his third swiping at the ball rather then attempting to defend the post. Had to sit for the rest of the quarter after only logging a few minutes in the second. Played better in the second half and owned the boards in the third. Grabbed a couple offensive rebounds early while picking up the foul call. Knocked down a couple 18 footers off of nice setups by IT, while having mixed results around the basket. Was getting deep in the post on his drives just not able to finish. Got a couple easy basket in transitions as the Sixers struggled to bring the ball up the court for much of the quarter. Did score a tough basket inside towards the end of the quarter along with grabbing another offensive rebound. On the other end Sims was having a big night mostly off of effort plays. Put up some numbers during this stint, although they were made less impressive due to the pathetic nature of the Sixers. For some reason came back in to close out most of the fourth. Didn't do much as he seemed content to just move the ball and get this one over with. Put his mark on this game in third, but overall a lackluster effort against a team where even less was required. --Henkel
Kurt Rambis
Height: 6'8"
Weight: 215lbs
Wingman To: Kareem Abdul Jabbar
Stats w/Lakers: 17.7min 4.9pts (.550 .681) 5.5reb 0.8ast 0.8stl 0.6blk 1.2TO
Traits: token starter w/ Clark Kent glasses was a pure hustle player, overall Lakers numbers pulled down a bit by an end of career return, but even during his biggest Lakers season was 5.5pts 7.0reb in 21min. Think Scot Pollard basically. No talent, but did all the dirty work, made all the hustle plays, and the Lakers hasd so many offensive weapons they needed nothing from him on that end. When he was replaced by the slightly more talented A.C. Green, Lakers fans started a "No Rambis, No rings" campaign. Showtime Lakers obviously made the playoffs all 7 years during his first stint with the team, but he returned for one of their once a decade dips in the mid 90s and missed both those years as a deep bencher.
Stats: 28min 15pts (5-7, 3-5, 2-2) 1reb 1ast 1stl 0blk 3TO
McLemore ( B ) -- You know what? Ben showed some flashes tonight. It wasn’t all good, and some of it was still pretty sloppy (as was the entire game), but overall it was one of the better games he’s had as a pro. He was extremely quiet for most of the first half, and when he did have an opportunity at an open 3 (off of a really nice half court set) he bricked it. He later hit a deep, questionable 3, fumbled the ball around like he’s been known to do, and went into halftime without much going on for him. It’s worth noting that while his offense was pretty non-existent in that first half, his defense was solid throughout. I’m actually pretty sure I had to grade McLemore last time the Kings played the 76ers, because I remember mentioning how lucky he was to be guarding Hollis Thompson. He was lucky again tonight, as Hollis just isn’t any sort of threat. Hit stat line says he had 4 steals and 3 blocks, and this was largely because he didn’t have to play Thompson tight, allowing him to do a little bit of roaming and poking at the ball. When he was forced onto James Anderson or Tony Wroten his defense wasn’t as good. I noted one really nice strip on a Michael Carter-Williams drive. His second half was much better. And it didn’t take anything complicated to turn his night around. He just started hitting his open 3’s, running hard in transition (had a really nice highlight oop off of a IT pass), and taking the ball to the hoop with a purpose. Of course, some of this good play late happened when the game was pretty much over. I’d like to see McLemore have this sort of performance with a little more balance, but it’s a start, and a good little indication of what the Kings want and need McLemore to be moving forward: a knock down shooter with elite athleticism who can defend. He’s far from that guy right now, but he showed some of that guy tonight. It’s just so hard to take anything concrete away from a game like this because of how aggressively terrible the 76ers are, plus the lunacy that was the Kings free throw attempts tonight. It was a weird, sloppy game, but I came away from it pleased with how McLemore played. --Mass
A.C. Green
Height: 6'9"
Weight: 225lbs
Wingman To: Kareem Abdul Jabbar (+ 1yr late career Shaq)
Stats w/Lakers: 29.2min 10.6pts (.503 .747) 7.7reb 1.1ast 0.9stl 0.5blk 1.3TO
Traits: iron man who replaced Rambis due to wider skillset. Good but not great rebounder. Strong man defender. Had a faceup jumper but little else on offense. Fast for his position and ran the floor with Showtime. 11-12ppg 8-9rpg guy next to Kareem. Lakers fans one year thought it would be fun to mess up the All Star game by stuffing the ballot box to make Green an All Star starter instead of Karl Malone. Lakers made playoffs in all 8 of his seasons with them.
Stats: 37min 20pts (4-10, 1-4, 11-12) 5reb 6ast 4stl 0blk 4TO
Thomas ( B ) -- If you were hoping for a good basketball game this wasn’t it. The PG match-up was between IT who’s been struggling to figure out how to balance his scoring instincts with the need to run the team and MCW who had his 2nd triple-double of the season in this last game and the fastest as a rookie since the Admiral. And both were equally terrible at running their teams in this game of FTs and bad turn-overs. Just so that you’re fully aware of how badly both sides played team basketball the Kings had a perfect 1 to 1 ratio of assists to turnovers with 21 assists and 21 turn-overs. And their opponent, the mighty 76ers who just finished setting a franchise record of 14 consecutive losses at home and 17 straight losses in total also had a perfect 1 to 1 ratio of assist to turnovers with 20 assists and 20 turnovers. Just dreadful basketball play all the way around, especially when you consider that the Kings went to the line 50 times in this game, which just prolonged the misery. With all that said, IT gets a fairly good grade in this one for two factors. First he had a better game than MCW who apparently decided to crash and burn after recording his triple-double the last time out. IT had a couple of good defensive moments, but MCW was just awful out there. He couldn’t hit an outside shot to save his life (except for his 1st attempt) and he couldn’t get a pass cleanly to his teammates. MCW went 5-14 from the field and had 7 turn-overs to only 3 assists and it was mostly due to him playing poorly rather than IT forcing the issue. IT on the other hand really didn’t have a good game either from the PG position, and after playing the entire 1st quarter he only had 2 moments where he set up a player for an assist. He didn’t get an assist as both shots were missed, but his 2nd attempt was on the last play of the quarter. So he went 11 minutes and 50 seconds with only one play that could have resulted in an assist. He got back into the game with 8 minutes left in the 2nd quarter and guess what…didn’t get a single assist opportunity in those 8 minutes. So…basically 20 minutes of playing time with no assists and only 2 opportunities which could have resulted in assists. Did I mention the PG play was terrible on both sides? My guess is that he got a talking to at half-time because for a 5 minute stretch to start the 3rd quarter things changed drastically as he recorded 4 assists in the first 5 minutes of the third. So like I said, he did better than MCW, though the PG play itself wasn’t that great. The second thing that IT did well was hit his free-throws. The Kings almost set a record in Philly with the number of FT attempts and IT was a big part of that going to the line 12 times and making 11 of them. That is where the majority of his points came from as he went 4-10 from the floor while taking pretty bad shots the entire night. Three times he took 3pt shots with 18-20 (18 once and 20 twice) seconds left on the clock making 1 of three. And two other shots were rushed shots as he tried to score back on MCW who had gone at him on the other end, and he missed both of those. By and large his shooting selection wasn’t great, but he was aggressive driving to the rim and the Refs were calling everything which allowed him to live at the FT line along with Rudy. So poor PG play and shot selection, but he outplayed his counterpart in MCW, he was aggressive getting to the line and knocking down the free-throws, and we blew out the opponent. --Uncia
Charles Oakley
Height: 6'9"
Weight: 245lbs
Wingman To: Patrick Ewing
Stats w/New York: 33.0min 10.4pts (.493 .782) 10.0reb 2.3ast 1.2stl 0.2blk 2.2TO
Traits: Elite rebounder (2x NBA Rebounding Champ), tough as nails, durable, physical to point of dirty, groundbound but stout post and team defender, had solid faceup jumper, no post game, 10-12ppg scorer, Knicks made playoffs all 10 years he was with them and Ewing
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). Its just four games, but its nice to see a spark, even if its a tiny one.
