[Grades] Grades v. Spurs 03/01/2013

[Bricklayer]

Good timing. Just last night I was watching a pretty aussie in a mediocre horror flick and wondering, hmm, wonder what her name is? And sure enough, I have call to go look it up.

So...nothing to say here. A complete mess from the opening bell. You will notice a few of our more selfish chuckers got their chucks up anyway. Trust me, that was more a symptom of the problem than a solution. Our passers were flat, off, frustrated, and posibly drugged. Our chuckers saw an opening and took it. Our scrubs were utterly devoid of leadership and just wandered around like lost sheep. Just a Girls outing almost from the opening bell, and I shall not disappoint.

Note a) Aaron Brooks got out of town just in time.

Note b) Cole Aldrich is an idiot -- he missed maybe his best career opportunity for minutes he will ever get in these last two games, 1 a laugher either way. It better have been a compound fracture.

Full Grading Consortium for tonight:
Bricklayer
Capt. Factorial
bajaden

Boxscore

Stats: 21min 3pts (1-7, 1-2, 0-0) 1reb 1ast 2stl 0blk 1TO
Salmons ( F ) -- I hate to give John an F, because he was playing hard. He simply wasn't shooting the ball well. It happens to every player, and the attmosphere tonight was such, that it was easy to get caught up in the, chicken with his head cut off, drama that was playing out. But it is what it is, and I'm a results guy, and John's results add up to an F. I won't bore you with all the gory details. He was 1 for 7 from the floor, and he missed, for the most part, wide open shots. There wern't any positives to talk about. This is one that you pretend never happened, and you move on. --Baja

Nina Agdal -- you know the most recent Carl's Jr. supermodel likes to eat our sloppy burgers commerical? The one on the beach with the guy with the raccoon eyed tan at the end from his sunglasses? That's SI model Nina Agdal, and she's prettyish.

Stats: 25min 6pts (3-6, 0-0, 0-0) 5reb 2ast 1stl 1blk 1TO
Thompson ( D ) -- JT was just one of many that didn't play well tonight. Most of the team played badly! And I think the Spurs had a hand in that. They look like a well oiled machine. JT started the game fine by bulling his way to the basket and powering it through. That was about it, because shortly after that, the starters were pulled and JT was sitting on the bench. He got back in the game with 1:20 left in the 1st quarter. His first act was to get a technical for complaining about a non call. The replay showed he was indeed fouled, and though I can appreciate his frustration in the moment, especially the way the game was going, it was counterproductive. He had a couple of good moments here and there. A dunk off a pass from Thronton, and a nice bounce pass to a cutting IT for an assist. But it was far too little. He also struggled guarding Duncan. In on instance, he bit on a pumpfake and let Duncan go right by him, and simply lost Duncan a couple of times. Not a good night! --Baja

Rachael Taylor -- and that pretty Aussie I was, ahem, forced to look up for this thread. Solid actress too.

Stats: 21min 9pts (4-9, 0-0, 1-2) 7reb 0ast 1stl 0blk 4TO
Cousins ( D- ) -- sometimes in these sorts of things Cuz can be a bellweather. In Orlando he came out and looked happy to be passing and dominating and having fun. In this one he was out of sorts and ineffective from the beginning. I think sometimes he just does not come ready to play and it frustrates him as much as anyone. Muscled down a few rebs as really the only thing that looked right. The offense was erratic and with no plan of attack. There were more of the really bad passes. Defensively of course the stupidest thing we ever did was let Dalembert go, because now this summer the new regiime is desperately going to have to get that shotblocker back next to Cuz to guard that rim, because he certainly cannot. Late in the half briefly struggled to a little internal effectiveness against Duncan, including a posterizing dunk as Duncan mysteriously gave him the lane to the middle. But it was just a brief burst, he looked hesistant and unsure again in the third and Smart ave up on the whole competing thing by midway through the quarter and just embraced his innner smallball. --Brick

Nadine Crocker

Stats: 22min 10pts (3-7, 2-2, 2-2) 2reb 2ast 2stl 1blk 4TO
Evans ( F ) -- Mom said that if you can't say anything nice, don't say anything at all. So I'll point out that Tyreke went 2-2 from beyond the three-point arc tonight, including a halftime-buzzer replication of the three-quarter court shot against the Grizz back in 2010. There. Now that the nice is out of the way, let's talk about the rest of Tyreke's game tonight. On offense 'Reke hit one layup but missed three others and missed another jumper for good measure. While he had two assists, one on a drive and kick to Salmons and another following a steal on a runout to IT, he balanced that with four turnovers, two on bad passes, once getting picked in the halfcourt, and once turning it over on an over-aggressive transition. That aggressiveness was atypical tonight, as he spent most of his time on offense just standing around and not doing anything. Defensively, he allowed 13 points on 8 shots including allowing Danny Green to hit three treys on him in the first half. Worse than that, he had absolutely no intention of boxing Green out, allowing him to get by at least three times in the late first and early second quarters - even though Green didn't get any rebounds to come towards him on those plays it was just a simply dismal effort out there, both offensively and defensively. Thankfully, Tyreke was benched after four and a half minutes of the third and didn't see the floor again on the night. --Capt.

Gemma Chan

Stats: 24min 18pts (6-12, 1-4, 5-5) 0reb 1ast 2stl 0blk 1TO
Thomas ( D ) -- Isaiah's recently-discovered defensive adequacy disappeared tonight, as one might expect against Tony Parker and Danny Green. Popovich targeted IT often, with the Spurs attempting 10 shots against him, and scoring 19 points, only missing once when Parker blew by IT but Tyreke cleaned up with a block at the rim (Parker abused him at least 4 other times in the game, getting three layups and one easy assist). Add in a completely stupid technical foul for bouncing the ball to the ceiling after Smart called timeout to yank the starters after their dismal start midway through the first quarter and IT would seem to be heading for an F. However, he did manage to shoot a reasonable 6-12 and add in 5 FTs for 18 points, so he wasn't a total loss in an ugly game. But "not a total loss" is about as much good as I can say tonight. --Capt.

Yesica Toscanini

 

[Bricklayer]

Bench

Stats: 21min 3pts (1-5, 0-2, 1-1) 2reb 4ast 1stl 0blk 2TO
Douglas ( D ) -- Looking at the box score you'd figure that Douglas had a decent passing game, but he got all of his four assists (as well as his only bucket) in a very short stretch in the late fourth quarter, so the entirety of his goodness was Garbage-Time Warrior mode. Was it all garbage time? Well, all of his second stint (the last 14:30 of the game) was, but even then, he must have mixed up his Patty Mills and Capt. Factorial scouting reports, because it's not like he bothered to guard Mills. Patty burned him hard for 10 points on 6 shots (Douglas gave up 14 points on 9 shots overall), so his great defensive outing against the Magic was not replicated tonight. He had a marginally better stint in the first half, bothering Parker on a drive and challenging two missed threes on help D. Still, not enough for a good grade. --Baja

Gal Gidot

Stats: 32min 25pts (8-13, 2-5, 7-7) 1reb 5ast 1stl 0blk 1TO
Thornton ( B ) -- you know...if you were going to give anybody a good grade in this game it would be Thornton. But the fact of the matter is not a thing he did mattered to the game in the least. He had 5 points at halftime. By the time he scored his first bucket of the 2nd half the lead was 25, and so he scored 20 pts in the final 14 minutes of garbagetime of a 30pt blowout. There were a number of selfish shots along the way as you might expect, but really I don't think to nearly such a degree as IT. Marcus's very first contribution of the game was busting a nice pass down inside to Patterson for an assist. His last was to clode the game with an assist to Outlaw for a dunk. His game is essentially selfish, and always will be, but there was some sense of responsibility for his teammates with him here, in particular in the second half when he just took over as sort of the garbagetime floor general. Mostly he looked for himself, but overall he was the only guy out there who seemed to have any plan at all. Still, for all that scoring 25 points in garbagetime against Spurs scrubs while your team is being embarrassed means not a whole bunch, this is three 20pt games in a row for Thornton who all of a sudden has returned to life, for better or worse. --Brick

Patsy Kensit -- from back in the day

Stats: 14min 8pts (3-3, 0-0, 2-3) 2reb 1ast 0stl 0blk 1TO
Hayes ( C ) -- Chuck at times seems oblivious to whats going on around him. While everyone is losing thier heads, he continues to just play his game. He only played 14 minutes, and most of that in the second half, he was the least responsible for what happened tonight. Chuck had 8 points on 3 of 3 shooting. He started his scoring by showing off a spin move in the key and laying it in. and was fouled in the process. However, he missed the freethrow. A bit later he grabbed a tough rebound under the basket, and was poked in the eye for his trouble. It earned him two more freethrow attempts, which he made. He entered the game in the second half with 2:30 left in the 3rd quarter. He scored on a putback of a miss by Patterson. He later scored on a left handed hookshot in the post. His only miscue, and I'm not sure who the culprit is, was a pass he made to Douglas under the basket that was mishandled. Chuck basicly did what he does. If everyone else had done what they were susposed to do, we might have seen a basketball game tonight. --Baja

Corinne Bishop -- the one on the left (she's Jamie Foxx's daughter)

Stats: 6min 6pts (3-6, 0-1, 0-0) 0reb 0ast 1stl 0blk 1TO
Johnson ( INC ) -- It's not like JJ had a decent game, but he just didn't have enough burn to earn a grade. Most of this game was JJ giveth and JJ taketh away. He backed down Leonard for a post bucket on top of hitting a layup and a jumper, but he forced up a dumb coast-to-coast layup that he missed very badly and missed two other jumpers to end up 3-6. He stole a poor outlet pass but countered that with his own turnover on a bad pass. On defense, he didn't get anything done, allowing Leonard two buckets in transition and one on a jumper for 6 points on three shots against. Luckily for JJ (and me) he didn't have to play too much in this stinker, sitting the entire second half. --Capt.

Skye Sweetnam

Stats: 26min 6pts (3-9, 0-1, 3-3) 5reb 1ast 3stl 0blk 1TO
Patterson ( D+ ) -- Statwise, he looks like maybe a C-, and I could buy an arguement that he deserves that. My problem is, that most of the good things he did, he did after the Kings were down by 20 or more points. He got into the game with 7:18 left in the first quarter, and immediately scored a layup on a beautiful pass from Thornton. He followed that by stealing the ball, and then missing a layup at the other end. There were a lot of missed layups by the Kings in this game. He went 3 for 9 in the game, and had 5 boards. He did hustle on defense, and contributed 3 steals in the process. But once again, a lot of his action came against the Spurs reserves. Actually, its hard to give anyone credit for playing defense in this game. Most of the game looked like a layup drill by the Spurs. --Baja

Jenna Dewan -- we've actually had Mrs. Channing Tatum on here before. Didn't hear any complaints then either.

 

[Bricklayer]

Stats: 20min 2pts (1-3, 0-1, 0-0) 1reb 3ast 0stl 0blk 2TO
Fredette ( D- ) -- looked helpless with his shaky handle in his early minutes as he turned it over repeatedly. Just awful and we need to end that experiiment now. He doesn't even look an NBA player when you ask him to bring the ball up. Eventually settled in after the game was over and was more invisible than awful while others gunned, but he did very little of use here, missed a wide open three, and is probably lucky Toney Douglas didn't make a better case for himself in the same game. --Brick

Jason Momoa

Stats: 8min 7pts (3-5, 1-3, 0-0) 2reb 0ast 0stl 0blk 0TO
Outlaw ( INC ) -- not going to lie to you and say that I was particularly paying attention by the time Outlaw entered the game in the deep garbagetime with us 30 points down. Kept on spotting up for threes and actually hit one. Clsoed the game with a big dunk from Thornton. All compeltely meaningless. --Capt.

David Gandy

 

[macadocious]

What happened with Aldrich?

 

[VF21]

I'd like to record an official protest for the poll options. Where's platypus?

 

[Agent23]

Can I give everyone who watched this game an A? That made my eyes bleed, lol. New owners, new arena, new GM, new coach....

 

[PurpleHaze]

San Antonio plays a "C" game for them, loses Parker - still wins big in a blowout as Kings play an "F" game.

My new Avatar for the heck of it. Just discovered species of crab found in The Philippines. Its unique characteristic. Only one. First crab ever seen that is PURPLE!

 

[LWP777]

LWP777's grades now available for viewing! See post #2 for all the good stuff!

WOW! I feel so honored. I have some work to do. It will be nice to bring some "fair and balanced' grading to these forums after years of the so called "experts" butchering the grades!

Thank you KingsFans forum!
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Game Analysis and Grades:

Well, I will say this. This will be my last time doing this. I will have ended up wasting about 4-5 hours of my life watching the game, rewinding plays, and now writing this up. What a waste of life. This game would have been normally been turned off halfway during the 2nd quarter but I make a commitment and I follow through with my commitments. ACCOUNTABILITY! Something our Kings players know nothing about.

This game made me think of IBM's "Big Blue" playing some pimply faced 13 year old junior high chess champion in a game. There was simply zero chance the Kings were going to win this game. This was evident at the opening tip. Despite the fact that the Spurs 3 main players are not that far away from collecting social security checks they simply outplayed and outclassed us in every category. Their basketball IQ is off the charts. Their coaching and the system they run is pure perfection. If they don't win the NBA championship it won't be because of mental mistakes or bad decisions, it will be because they simply run into a team with an abundance of talent that can't be overcome (Thunder, Heat).

There was basically nothing to be encouraged or excited about in this game. Nothing at all. We reverted back to our typical one on one, chucking game plan. Tyreke still can't finish around the basket and his Twittering brother could probably run a fast break better than he could. DMC went back to sulking up and down the court and complained about all 3 of his OBVIOUS foul calls to the referees. One of them was an open floor grab on Parker which was actually a smart foul because it saved a sure basket. But guess what, he even complained about that one. It just shows how immature he is and how he's not even close to understanding the game of basketball even though it's deep in his 3rd year.

Grades:

DeMarcus Cousins: D-

Watching this game as closely as I was because I knew I was grading made me realize just how horrible he is on not knowing how or when to rotate on defense. One particular play, he left Splitter wide open underneath the basket so that he could TRIPLE-TEAM a guard at the free throw line. See above. Doesn't understand the game. Does he have talent? Absolutely. Will that ever translate to greatness? Probably not.

He's starting to develop a bad habit of making bad passes. 4 turnovers tonight. He forces entry passes and usually makes 1 poor long pass per game now. Losing his focus (as if he ever had any). Got rejected by Duncan while being triple teamed. Blamed the ref. Duncan was just too long and skilled defensively for him.

He did have a good 2 minute stretch where he made a nice post move and a dunk over Duncan in transition.

Tyreke Evans: D

After a recent good stretch of basketball, he went back to his old bad habits. Played a lot of street ball. I think all 4 of his misses were layups in transition or drives to the basket. Pretty sure he was trying to guard Parker at times but had absolutely no luck with that (nobody really did). Played a lot of PG in the 2nd quarter and didn't really accomplish anything

The half court shot that went in saved him from getting a "D-"

IT: C

18 pts on 6-12 but only 1 assist. He pretty much went into selfish chuck mode again. It's contagious with this team when they play a superior team. He had a horrible time getting the team into their offense before Smart pulled all 5 starters (which I though was a necessary move). Had no clue how to guard anybody defensively.

Jason Thompson: C+

JT wasn't really a huge factor (nobody was really) but he pretty much stayed within himself tonight. Most of the outside shots he took were open looks and his inside moves were there for him.

John Salmons: F

Threw a cross court pass that ended up in the 8th row. Went 1-7 tonight. Completely lost his recent shooting touch. 1 rebound. Really offered nothing in his 21 minutes of action.

Patrick Patterson: C-

He didn't shoot the ball well but the thing I like about him is that he stays within himself. He went 3-9 but I don't really think he took a poor shot. Most of his looks were pretty wide open. Tied for 2nd in rebounding with 5 which is pretty sad. He's not a great rebounder. If the ball comes to him, he'll grab it but he doesn't have a knack for it. I think he'll be a nice glue guy once we get this mess sorted out next year.

Marcus Thornton: B+

Even though he went 8-13 with 25 points, it was extremely hard for me to give him a B+. A lot of his points were scored in garbage time when it was clear he was trying to pad his stats. In the beginning of the game he was in full chuck mode. His first shot was a chuck. I think he held the ball for about .3 seconds before it went up. He just really loves to shoot it. He ended up with 5 assists which is a miracle because I can only think of 2.

Chuck Hayes: B

For Chuck, he had a good game. He did the things he was supposed to do. Made a few baskets, grabbed, well, 2 rebounds. Tried to play defense but got killed because he's a midget. But what do you expect? It's really not his fault. We were the idiots who gave him a multi-million dollar contact.

Jimmer: D-

Was going to be an F until he started playing a little better in garbage time. First possession, tried to split a double team, lost the ball. Then shot a ball off the side of the backboard. Then had the ball just simply taken away from him for another TO. He was the Jimmer we saw in the first half of the season. No clue. No concept.

Douglas: C-

Was pretty much horrible although I did like the fact that he at least attempts to run the offense and get some guys involved -- in between his chucking. He did manage to lead the team with 5 assists in 25 heart throbbing minutes of action.

Outlaw: B

Missed a wide open 3. Made a wide open 3. Dunk. All garbage time stuff.

 

[Bricklayer]

I don't think you understood my message earlier. I copied them over for you.

 

[KingMilz]

Horrible game by everyone other than Thornton really, I think Kings need to try Patterson starting he brings more things than JT and can actually make a basic pass unliek JT who might be the worst passing PF I have ever seen. I agree with LWP's grades, but sae old same old no one can make a good pass, our guards are horrible tunnel visions players for the most part, got nothing out of the SF position like in 99% of games this year and the defense is non existent. I don't understand how the players are not embarrased by this, its happend that many times it seems like they seem to enjjoy it

 

[upinsmoke]

I wonder if we can get a lottery pick out of JT this year? (thinking out loud)

 

[UK_King]

Oh, i was kinda looking forward to watching this, now I'm kinda not.

 

[ParniValjak]

Stats: 21min 9pts (4-9, 0-0, 1-2) 7reb 0ast 1stl 0blk 4TO
Cousins ( D- ) -- sometimes in these sorts of things Cuz can be a bellweather. In Orlando he came out and looked happy to be passing and dominating and having fun. In this one he was out of sorts and ineffective from the beginning. I think sometimes he just does not come ready to play and it frustrates him as much as anyone. Muscled down a few rebs as really the only thing that looked right. The offense was erratic and with no plan of attack. There were more of the really bad passes. Defensively of course the stupidest thing we ever did was let Dalembert go, because now this summer the new regiime is desperately going to have to get that shotblocker back next to Cuz to guard that rim, because he certainly cannot. Late in the half briefly struggled to a little internal effectiveness against Duncan, including a posterizing dunk as Duncan mysteriously gave him the lane to the middle. But it was just a brief burst, he looked hesistant and unsure again in the third and Smart ave up on the whole competing thing by midway through the quarter and just embraced his innner smallball. --Brick

Dalembert is a free agent this off-season.....just saying!

BTW, so are Beno and Kirilenko?

 

[mac]

Capt: Sorry to pick on this again. Appreciate your detailing points on number of shots scored against a player, but just wondering whether you take into consideration the nature of those points allowed. For example: Tony Parker gets past his man on a pick and roll, our big rotates to cover him and Parker delivers a nice pass to Spurs big. Our wing player has to come over to prevent their big from getting a dunk, ball is kicked out to wing player's man on the corner for an open 3. In this case you can't really fault the wing for "giving up" a 3 pointer. Do you take such things into consideration when giving your grades?

 

[Spike]

I'd like to record an official protest for the poll options. Where's platypus?

You might have a point. The platypus is a testament to nature's cruel sense of humor.

 

[Kingster]

Given how horrid that game was, we really deserve more girls.

If anyone can figure how we can play so great against Miami and Orlando and degrade to this lowly state, please tell us...

 

[LWP777]

Warhark: First of all, that's not very nice to leave a message like that in my post and then close it! Not good manners at all! I made a commitment to grade one game. I never said I'd grade the entire season. But since you OBVIOUSLY love my grades so much I might consider doing it again, although I'm not happy at all about your leader Bricklayer merging my grades with this thread. They are getting overlooked and my publicity is going way down (not that there is any pub here to begin with, especially on this game).

Also, I had politely asked Bricklayer before if I could be added to the grading consortium. He rejected my request because he thought I'd just give DMC an F every game. Well guess what? He and I both gave DMC the same grade this game, a D-. It's much harder to grade all the players rather than just 1 or 2. I think I've more than proven myself with my game analysis and grading.

 

[whozit]

Given how horrid that game was, we really deserve more girls.

If anyone can figure how we can play so great against Miami and Orlando and degrade to this lowly state, please tell us...

Have to wonder about the psyche. The organization is a mess and the players know it. Try and play team ball and your stuck. Don't and your set free to join a potential playoff team. Intentional or not, that's hard to swallow even if you know the organization is about to get a face lift.

 

[whozit]

Warhark: First of all, that's not very nice to leave a message like that in my post and then close it! Not good manners at all! I made a commitment to grade one game. I never said I'd grade the entire season. But since you OBVIOUSLY love my grades so much I might consider doing it again, although I'm not happy at all about your leader Bricklayer merging my grades with this thread. They are getting overlooked and my publicity is going way down (not that there is any pub here to begin with, especially on this game).

Also, I had politely asked Bricklayer before if I could be added to the grading consortium. He rejected my request because he thought I'd just give DMC an F every game. Well guess what? He and I both gave DMC the same grade this game, a D-. It's much harder to grade all the players rather than just 1 or 2. I think I've more than proven myself with my game analysis and grading.

No. You have not.

Bricklayer knows all about the difficulty of grading all the players. He's done it for a long time until help arrived. The grades are opinions, nothing more and nothing less. I applaud their dedication irregardless if I agree with their grades or not. I'm glad I'm not the one doing it game in and game out.

I don't know but my guess is that the one thing you've shown is you have walked a mile in their shoes and got blisters. Hence, you decided you weren't going to waste your time doing it again.

From LWP777 grades: 'Well, I will say this. This will be my last time doing this. I will have ended up wasting about 4-5 hours of my life watching the game, rewinding plays, and now writing this up. What a waste of life. This game would have been normally been turned off halfway during the 2nd quarter but I make a commitment and I follow through with my commitments. ACCOUNTABILITY! Something our Kings players know nothing about.'

 

[LWP777]

No. You have not.

Bricklayer knows all about the difficulty of grading all the players. He's done it for a long time until help arrived. The grades are opinions, nothing more and nothing less. I applaud their dedication irregardless if I agree with their grades or not. I'm glad I'm not the one doing it game in and game out.

I don't know but my guess is that the one thing you've shown is you have walked a mile in their shoes and got blisters. Hence, you decided you weren't going to waste your time doing it again.

You only took out of my post what you wanted to see. I NEVER wanted to do all the grades every game. I asked Bricklayer, politely, if I could join the grading consortium and do just a couple of players each game and I was rejected. Even Bricklayer knows it's almost impossible to grade every player, every game.

 

[mac]

Warhark: First of all, that's not very nice to leave a message like that in my post and then close it! Not good manners at all! I made a commitment to grade one game. I never said I'd grade the entire season. But since you OBVIOUSLY love my grades so much I might consider doing it again, although I'm not happy at all about your leader Bricklayer merging my grades with this thread. They are getting overlooked and my publicity is going way down (not that there is any pub here to begin with, especially on this game).

Also, I had politely asked Bricklayer before if I could be added to the grading consortium. He rejected my request because he thought I'd just give DMC an F every game. Well guess what? He and I both gave DMC the same grade this game, a D-. It's much harder to grade all the players rather than just 1 or 2. I think I've more than proven myself with my game analysis and grading.

Not sure if serious ... I know this is a stupid question to ask, but dude, how old are you?

 

[Capt. Factorial]

Capt: Sorry to pick on this again. Appreciate your detailing points on number of shots scored against a player, but just wondering whether you take into consideration the nature of those points allowed. For example: Tony Parker gets past his man on a pick and roll, our big rotates to cover him and Parker delivers a nice pass to Spurs big. Our wing player has to come over to prevent their big from getting a dunk, ball is kicked out to wing player's man on the corner for an open 3. In this case you can't really fault the wing for "giving up" a 3 pointer. Do you take such things into consideration when giving your grades?

In that event, I either leave it alone, or if there's an obvious missed rotation assign it to the guy who missed the rotation. It doesn't happen quite as often as you'd think, but it does happen. Honestly, I'd say that more often the wing is slumping way off the perimeter player (usually happens more in the corner) to be available for help in the paint despite the fact that the ball's not yet in the paint, often there's no opponent yet in the paint, and the help rarely does anything anyhow. Then the pass goes out to the corner man for a quick three before the wing can recover. That I definitely assign to the wing. But if a player leaves his man to help and legitimately stops a bucket, he's no longer in charge of his man in my books.

 

[Warhawk]

Warhark: First of all, that's not very nice to leave a message like that in my post and then close it! Not good manners at all!

Um, dude, I didn't close that thread. And I will leave others to discuss your ability as a grader, etc., as again, I don't read them.

 

[Warhawk]

You only took out of my post what you wanted to see. I NEVER wanted to do all the grades every game. I asked Bricklayer, politely, if I could join the grading consortium and do just a couple of players each game and I was rejected. Even Bricklayer knows it's almost impossible to grade every player, every game.

You mean despite the fact he's been doing it for years? SMH.

 

[bajaden]

San Antonio plays a "C" game for them, loses Parker - still wins big in a blowout as Kings play an "F" game.

My new Avatar for the heck of it. Just discovered species of crab found in The Philippines. Its unique characteristic. Only one. First crab ever seen that is PURPLE!

I hate copycats! I suspose I have to look for a turtle avator now!

 

[bajaden]

LWP777's grades now available for viewing! See post #2 for all the good stuff!

WOW! I feel so honored. I have some work to do. It will be nice to bring some "fair and balanced' grading to these forums after years of the so called "experts" butchering the grades!

Thank you KingsFans forum!
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Game Analysis and Grades:

Well, I will say this. This will be my last time doing this. I will have ended up wasting about 4-5 hours of my life watching the game, rewinding plays, and now writing this up. What a waste of life. This game would have been normally been turned off halfway during the 2nd quarter but I make a commitment and I follow through with my commitments. ACCOUNTABILITY! Something our Kings players know nothing about.

This game made me think of IBM's "Big Blue" playing some pimply faced 13 year old junior high chess champion in a game. There was simply zero chance the Kings were going to win this game. This was evident at the opening tip. Despite the fact that the Spurs 3 main players are not that far away from collecting social security checks they simply outplayed and outclassed us in every category. Their basketball IQ is off the charts. Their coaching and the system they run is pure perfection. If they don't win the NBA championship it won't be because of mental mistakes or bad decisions, it will be because they simply run into a team with an abundance of talent that can't be overcome (Thunder, Heat).

There was basically nothing to be encouraged or excited about in this game. Nothing at all. We reverted back to our typical one on one, chucking game plan. Tyreke still can't finish around the basket and his Twittering brother could probably run a fast break better than he could. DMC went back to sulking up and down the court and complained about all 3 of his OBVIOUS foul calls to the referees. One of them was an open floor grab on Parker which was actually a smart foul because it saved a sure basket. But guess what, he even complained about that one. It just shows how immature he is and how he's not even close to understanding the game of basketball even though it's deep in his 3rd year.

Grades:

DeMarcus Cousins: D-

Watching this game as closely as I was because I knew I was grading made me realize just how horrible he is on not knowing how or when to rotate on defense. One particular play, he left Splitter wide open underneath the basket so that he could TRIPLE-TEAM a guard at the free throw line. See above. Doesn't understand the game. Does he have talent? Absolutely. Will that ever translate to greatness? Probably not.

He's starting to develop a bad habit of making bad passes. 4 turnovers tonight. He forces entry passes and usually makes 1 poor long pass per game now. Losing his focus (as if he ever had any). Got rejected by Duncan while being triple teamed. Blamed the ref. Duncan was just too long and skilled defensively for him.

He did have a good 2 minute stretch where he made a nice post move and a dunk over Duncan in transition.

Tyreke Evans: D

After a recent good stretch of basketball, he went back to his old bad habits. Played a lot of street ball. I think all 4 of his misses were layups in transition or drives to the basket. Pretty sure he was trying to guard Parker at times but had absolutely no luck with that (nobody really did). Played a lot of PG in the 2nd quarter and didn't really accomplish anything

The half court shot that went in saved him from getting a "D-"

IT: C

18 pts on 6-12 but only 1 assist. He pretty much went into selfish chuck mode again. It's contagious with this team when they play a superior team. He had a horrible time getting the team into their offense before Smart pulled all 5 starters (which I though was a necessary move). Had no clue how to guard anybody defensively.

Jason Thompson: C+

JT wasn't really a huge factor (nobody was really) but he pretty much stayed within himself tonight. Most of the outside shots he took were open looks and his inside moves were there for him.

John Salmons: F

Threw a cross court pass that ended up in the 8th row. Went 1-7 tonight. Completely lost his recent shooting touch. 1 rebound. Really offered nothing in his 21 minutes of action.

Patrick Patterson: C-

He didn't shoot the ball well but the thing I like about him is that he stays within himself. He went 3-9 but I don't really think he took a poor shot. Most of his looks were pretty wide open. Tied for 2nd in rebounding with 5 which is pretty sad. He's not a great rebounder. If the ball comes to him, he'll grab it but he doesn't have a knack for it. I think he'll be a nice glue guy once we get this mess sorted out next year.

Marcus Thornton: B+

Even though he went 8-13 with 25 points, it was extremely hard for me to give him a B+. A lot of his points were scored in garbage time when it was clear he was trying to pad his stats. In the beginning of the game he was in full chuck mode. His first shot was a chuck. I think he held the ball for about .3 seconds before it went up. He just really loves to shoot it. He ended up with 5 assists which is a miracle because I can only think of 2.

Chuck Hayes: B

For Chuck, he had a good game. He did the things he was supposed to do. Made a few baskets, grabbed, well, 2 rebounds. Tried to play defense but got killed because he's a midget. But what do you expect? It's really not his fault. We were the idiots who gave him a multi-million dollar contact.

Jimmer: D-

Was going to be an F until he started playing a little better in garbage time. First possession, tried to split a double team, lost the ball. Then shot a ball off the side of the backboard. Then had the ball just simply taken away from him for another TO. He was the Jimmer we saw in the first half of the season. No clue. No concept.

Douglas: C-

Was pretty much horrible although I did like the fact that he at least attempts to run the offense and get some guys involved -- in between his chucking. He did manage to lead the team with 5 assists in 25 heart throbbing minutes of action.

Outlaw: B

Missed a wide open 3. Made a wide open 3. Dunk. All garbage time stuff.

Well at least you seem to understand the time involved in doing this. And yes, there are times I would love to turn off the game. But I sit there and do my job, and write grades that likely very few are interested in reading after a game like this last one. Its easy to sit on the outside and throw stones at those who do the job. I could easily tear into what you just posted, but I won't. Why? Because its your opinion, and its subjective. Just like ours. The trick here is to not let one's personal bias interfere with his grading opinion.

I have my personal favorites just like everyone else. I'm a huge fan of Cousins, but I think you and perhaps some others don't understand why? It's not because he's a perfect person that I'd want my daughter to marry. Or that in some vicarious way, he's an extension of my manhood. Its because I can see him being an all star, and, if he puts in the work necessary, one of, if not the best center in the NBA. And thats enough for me, because if that comes to pass, then the Kings are going to be a very good team. I'm also able to step back and realize that he's just 22 years old, and as a result, is just a mere image of the person he'll be when he's 27 or 28 years old. So I'm willing to bet that he'll evolve into a mature leader of this team. I can still remember what an idiot I was at age 22.

This isn't about excuses. Its about vision and understanding. And yes, its a gamble. Everytime in your life you change jobs you take a gamble. Anyone that becomes a success in life has taken many gambles. Those that play it safe, are, well safe. But they never taste the same success that those that were willing to stick their necks out from time to time. Its been my experience in life, that those who protest the most, especially those that are extremely critical of others, too often see a reflection of themselves shining back at them. Not saying you, but if the shoe fits!

The fact that you said you wern't willing to do this again says everything. Sadly, it makes you look like a drive by protester. Your better than that!

 

[bajaden]

I wonder if we can get a lottery pick out of JT this year? (thinking out loud)

At least your not having a kneejerk reaction!

 

[bajaden]

Capt: Sorry to pick on this again. Appreciate your detailing points on number of shots scored against a player, but just wondering whether you take into consideration the nature of those points allowed. For example: Tony Parker gets past his man on a pick and roll, our big rotates to cover him and Parker delivers a nice pass to Spurs big. Our wing player has to come over to prevent their big from getting a dunk, ball is kicked out to wing player's man on the corner for an open 3. In this case you can't really fault the wing for "giving up" a 3 pointer. Do you take such things into consideration when giving your grades?

Our rotations are terrible, and as a result, the trust needed for good rotations is going south. I could talk for hours on this subject, and belive me, a great shotblocker would certainly help, but until everyone is on the same page on the defensive side of the ball, its going to be a disastor. Shotblocker or not!

Edit: And I might add! Next game, pay special attention to what IT does when Cousins defends the pick and roll by stopping the ball and doing a push. 90% of the time, IT just stands there and watches. What he's susposed to do is get in the passing lane to prevent the ballhandler from making a pass to Cousins man. As a result, you see the Duncan's of the world rolling undefended to the basket. At first observation, it appears that its Cousins fault, but in reality its IT's fault. And its not just Cousins. Three times in a game a few days ago IT did the same thing to Hayes, who had a heated disscussion with IT on the floor.

After a while, if your Cousins or JT or Hayes, you hang IT out to dry because you don't trust him to have your back. This idea that IT is a good defender is pure BS!

 

[upinsmoke]

At least your not having a kneejerk reaction!

More like exhaustion from watching all these players fall short of even the lowest expectations.

 

[whozit]

You only took out of my post what you wanted to see. I NEVER wanted to do all the grades every game. I asked Bricklayer, politely, if I could join the grading consortium and do just a couple of players each game and I was rejected. Even Bricklayer knows it's almost impossible to grade every player, every game.

Nice to know that someone understands my intentions/motivations or line of thinking (sarcasm indicator needed).

As far as I know there is nothing stopping you from putting a placeholder like brick does when the thread comes up. That way you could put your two cents in on the players you want, near the top. I wouldn't do it but to each their own.