Grades v. Sonics 2/10 & 2/11

[Miles and Miles]

Corliss is not a center. He should NEVER be played at center no matter how many injuries. Shreef or Potopako would have been better options to "backup" Williams. Why did Williams only get 2 minutes in the 2nd half?

 

[fnordius]

Corliss is not a center. He should NEVER be played at center no matter how many injuries. Shreef or Potopako would have been better options to "backup" Williams. Why did Williams only get 2 minutes in the 2nd half?

If Muss didn't play smallball, how else could he count on Seattle's centers to be +21 points, +10 rebounds, +3 blocks over ours?

The more serious answer: I don't think that Williams has the experience level needed to do more than slow down a guy like Wilcox, he may have the athleticism and the size, but he needs to learn all the tricks that veterans will pull on him. Had Muss been giving him spare minutes here and there over the last several games, it wouldn't have been so much of a problem... but he didn't.

Corliss in no way resembles a center, but Muss knew that he could count on him for some numbers, even if they wouldn't be enough to save the game.

I agree that it was a mistake, but Muss had already painted himself into a corner by denying Justin minutes earlier on, so we had no obviously great options available.

 

[Miles and Miles]

It's frustrating to see Corliss missing so many point blank layups and why were they trying to run every play through him? Were they thrown off my having someone (Corliss) standing in the paint on offense?

 

[Circa_1985_Fan]

Grades:
Sat= Jeckle
Sun=Hyde

 

[Kingster]

Kevin Martin has scored 20 or more in 8 out of the last 9 games, and during that stretch he's only shot under 50% from the field once (and in that game he still scored 26 points). I'm kind of tired of people saying he's not going to be a superstar -- he's really not very far off at this point. He's still improving, and meanwhile he's already playing like one of the best shooting guards in the league. He's slowly putting together more and more moves and scoring in more ways. If, next season he can create on his own a bit more and start playing better defense he could take the next step.

The only thing preventing Martin from reaching All-Star status is the lack of a killer mentality. He just needs to get his mind in the right place to start to devour teams. Because he's young, he's taking these upward steps, but each time he gets partially up the stairs he tends to look down and see how far he's come, congratulate himself, think that he's made it, and feel warm and cozy inside about his performance. Invariably, the next game, he plays without a purpose, complacent, passive, and mistake prone. When he finally gets the shark-like mentality - devouring every player in his way - we'll have an All Star.

 

[bibbinator]

Or it could be that he plays when we are losing and the oppenent has their starters in.

A frequent occurence.

One of the problems with playing for a team that loses a lot is that individual win / loss statistics like the one given above don't look so good, even for great players.

 

[VF21]

The more serious answer: I don't think that Williams has the experience level needed to do more than slow down a guy like Wilcox, he may have the athleticism and the size, but he needs to learn all the tricks that veterans will pull on him. Had Muss been giving him spare minutes here and there over the last several games, it wouldn't have been so much of a problem... but he didn't.

Corliss in no way resembles a center, but Muss knew that he could count on him for some numbers, even if they wouldn't be enough to save the game.

I agree that it was a mistake, but Muss had already painted himself into a corner by denying Justin minutes earlier on, so we had no obviously great options available.

GREAT points! I felt sorry for Williams, who didn't get drafted, went from training camp invitee to the NBADL, got picked up with the team that cut him from training camp only to keep a spot on the bench warm and then, in a cruel twist of fate, is asked to step in and start. No way he could be expected to compete with veteran bigs ...

Just another bone of contention I have over how Musselman coaches. He was going to be the one to bring the young guns along and yet he does very little of any consequence to give them any kind of relevant experience. When he has to go them, we can't be surprised if they don't outperform the guys who've been playing much longer than they.

 

[VF21]

Corliss is not a center. He should NEVER be played at center no matter how many injuries. Shreef or Potopako would have been better options to "backup" Williams. Why did Williams only get 2 minutes in the 2nd half?

If the Kings get to the point where they're actually giving Potapenko PT over any other breathing entity on the bench, we are so beyond doom-ed.

 

[Warhawk]

If the Kings get to the point where they're actually giving Potapenko PT over any other breathing entity on the bench, we are so beyond doom-ed.

Actually, for some it might be a sign af planning on serious activity on the trade/draft fronts.

 

[swisshh]

I thought Cisco had a good game in the second game. Not much satistically, but he didn't hurt the offense and he provided us with more ball possesions.

I had no problem with the fans booing in the third. They weren't booing the players as much as they were booing the situation. Don't start this playoff push and make for a change unless you really mean it. The fans want the team to go one direction or the other, not just barely beat middling to subpar teams for a 5 game stretch and then turnaround and get blown out.

As for Kevin being a superstar, it could be possible in the Reggie Miller sense. Reggie was pretty one dimensional, but he was the focus of his team's offense and he hit game winning shots, which turned him into a superstar like player.