Grades v. Suns 10/19

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Bricklayer

Don't Make Me Use The Bat
Artest ( B+ ) -- started off the game well hitting a pair of inside layups, but
then ventured outside and began throwing up bricks again. Had a good stint after being reinserted late in the 2nd quarter, hitting a couple of shots and hitting Corliss on the pass for a dunk to close the half.
Thomas ( C- ) -- another quiet outing of empty minutes. Doesn't look like a guy fighting for a spot.
Miller ( B- ) -- went on a big scoring streak in the early first with a couple of
wide open threes and then an inside hoop. In the second half it was scrappy. Got punked by Raja Bell at one point, and unfortunately did not respond very well. Kind of that one burst to start things and then w whole lot of nothing.
Martin ( C- ) -- struggled to start, missing his shots and seeing Raja Bell convert
on the other end. And seemed to begin to press and get out of control. Didn't get much better in the second half, and was the first starter to the bench as Salmons stole some of his minutes. First bad game of the preseason for Kevin.
Bibby ( C ) -- quiet start, and got victimized on defense for the first time this
preseason. Just did very little out there.
Salmons ( A ) -- in the first half contributed again in little ways with some
saavy veteran plays, and helped out on the glass as well. And earned Muss's confidence to such a degree he took most of Kevin's second half minutes, lef the team in PT, and racked up a Bonzi-esque guard double double in 33min.
Reef ( C+ ) -- mixed bag in the first half, dropped a nice score on Amare, also got beat for a
rebound by Marcus Banks (Suns #3 PG) . Peppered in a few shots in the second half, but no rebounding once again.
Garcia ( B+ ) -- in the first half hustled, but looked a little out of control on offense again. Did make a great open court block to save a fast break basket. Gave us some more good hustle in the second half, and also did a nice job of creating shots for others. Had to leave the game early with a cut over his eye.
Price ( B ) -- struggled to start after an early insertion, turned it over,
bricked his shot. But settled down and late in the half had a couple of solid in control baseline drives. Scored well, but not much else, and was kind of just in the run up and down and gun mode of the Suns.
Douby ( D ) -- still forcing on offense, and did almost nothing of note out there.
Williamson ( B+ ) -- in the first half came in and scored quickly and helped on the glass. Scored nicely in the second half, but disappeared on the glass. Still making his argument for PT. No room at SF...maybe at PF? Scary thoguht.
Taylor ( C- ) -- did very little out there, but did throw one nice bounce pass to Garcia in low (the shot was blocked). Have to wonder, how much incompetence will it take to cause us to call him a mistake and go with a kid instead?
Hart ( INC ) -- not much in a short first half stint
Admundson ( C- ) -- hustled, but looked badly underskilled for this type of game
Williams (INC) -- think I spotted him in there for maybe one bleeping minute of garbagetime?


Muss ( N/A ) -- our starters got rather badly outplayed by the Suns starters, and that's really all you can take out of this one. We didn't try much full court pressure this time, which of course makes sense against the Suns. We also once again got next to nothing out of our frontcourt -- indeed outside of one little streak by Brad, the WHOLE frontcourt (unless you call Corliss a PF). Only Salmons, truly impressed, with a little support from Cisco, Corliss and Price. Not sure why Loren, Justin and Louis all got dropped from evaluation until late garbagetime.
 
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Placeholder "I guess I'm the only one who hasn't seen the Maloof's Carl's Jr. commercial, and I'll probably miss it again since I'll be switching back to the Cards/Mets game"
 
Well, at least I'm impressed about Salmons. :)

Now Mussleman get some homework. As I saw first two preseason games except this one, I realized Mussleman used trap defense and a lot of help defense as a team defense. I think that's good strategy because we don't have super individual defender except Artest. The team defense looked good.

At the same time I worried about his defense system, because trap defense and following double teams make one of opponents open. So if opponent team is good at finding an open player and passing to him, and if they are good perimeter shooting team... the system will be collapsed.

IMHO, this game must be something like that, though I don't watch yet. Suns has one excellent passer, and has a lot of perimeter shooting.

Coach, show me your another answer please. So far as I'm very impressed about you.
 
I agree today ! ! ! your dead on with almost everything...

mINUS Amundson wow C ???? its time to get off the bandwagon.... he is way to undersized for his type of game and no offense...
AND BY THE WAY .... on offense the Kings are dying when he gets on the floor.... teams are leaving he not just wide open they dont even look his way... not good for us and spacing the floor
 
Well, this looked like a team with one foot on the plane home if you know what I mean. The starters game out with very little energy, like they wanted the game to just be over with.

The positives were definitely John Salmons and Cisco. They were able to bring up the energy a bit while they were in there.

One thing I noticed, Kevin was severely disrespected by the officials. So many bad calls, and too many non-calls for the Kings. I was surprised it took so long to get a T out of someone.

I really wish they would look to find Douby for the shot. It's like they are avoiding him out there.

And I really don't think Brad got punked. If anything Raja did. He looked a little bit scared when Brad got up pissed off.
 
Well, at least I'm impressed about Salmons. :)

Now Mussleman get some homework. As I saw first two preseason games except this one, I realized Mussleman used trap defense and a lot of help defense as a team defense. I think that's good strategy because we don't have super individual defender except Artest. The team defense looked good.

At the same time I worried about his defense system, because trap defense and following double teams make one of opponents open. So if opponent team is good at finding an open player and passing to him, and if they are good perimeter shooting team... the system will be collapsed.

IMHO, this game must be something like that, though I don't watch yet. Suns has one excellent passer, and has a lot of perimeter shooting.

Coach, show me your another answer please. So far as I'm very impressed about you.


We actually didn't trap or pressure that much in this one.
 
I've made a few desicions following this game.

1: Amundson's ceiling is that of Mark Madsen...Undersized, athletic, hustling white guy with no offensive skills...I really think there is no place on the team for him.

2: Taylor is a mistake...He looks terrible...We are playing the guy who got cut by the Knicks instead of...

A: Justin Williams, the guy who should be getting the exact same type of shot as Amundson. Especially because his ceiling could pan out to that of a Keon Clark.

B: Loren Woods, the guy who was brought in to intimidate inside, in small spurts.

3: Hart still sucks...Potopenko still is invisible.

4: Keep proving me wrong John Salmons...Keep proving me wrong!

And lastly...Honestly, I really see absolutly no reason why Justin Williams should get cut...He should be on this team before.

1: Mo Taylor...He got cut by the Knicks for corn's sake!
2: Vitaly Potopenko...Still can't snuff the floor...Still should not be anywhere near an NBA roster.
3: Louis Amundson...Mark Madsen 2.
4: Jason Hart...About point guard number 6 on the depth chart...Even behind a shooting guard and 3 small forwards.
 
Actually I am not too disappointed in Taylor. He was horrendous on the boards tonight but he mixes it up on the defensive side of the ball. I think tonight he could have really been used to push around the Suns players. He was doing it his first stint.

I agree though. It's time to see Woods and Williams.
 
I honestly think you guys are being way too critical for this point in the season. We're watching scrimmages as our coaches try and figure out what they've got and what they can do with it.

And about the Mark Madsen comment? He may be a hustling white guy with no offensive skills but he has a ring. And he earned it by being that hustling guy who would come in off the bench and give it his all while the starters took a break. And he had no problem in dishing the fouls.

I think there's more to Amundson than we've seen so far. And remember, we're seeing him on the court with a bunch of other bench players. In actual games, if he came in with at least a couple of starters, it might be a lot different.

I guess I'm just asking for people to show a little patience. It's mid-October. We've been without basketball for a long, long time. I think some of you are just expecting too much too soon.

:)
 
Bonzi Salmons has a career high in rebounds at 10.
It seems like Kingsland helps develop this particular skill but unfortunately only for guards. ;)
 
No minutes for Corliss? He can get about 10 behind Ron every night. And if he gets 4 and 4 in that 10 (like he started with tonight) I'll take it!
 
So far Salmons is looking good. I Like his consistency and confidence. If he pans out, gotta give Petrie credit for believing in this guy. Is everyone surprised as I am?
 
So far Salmons is looking good. I Like his consistency and confidence. If he pans out, gotta give Petrie credit for believing in this guy. Is everyone surprised as I am?
Honestly, I hadn't seen him play much at all. But going by what many people wrote here, yes I am surprised. ;)
 
So far Salmons is looking good. I Like his consistency and confidence. If he pans out, gotta give Petrie credit for believing in this guy. Is everyone surprised as I am?

We will see. He played very well, but I've watched him for years in Philly, and he has had more tease games than any other player in the NBA. Then he'll get in a funk, pout, play like crap for a couple of weeks, and then come up with a good one again. And you just saw a freakish thing with him on the glass -- not what he does. He's a good ballhandler for a 2, and he's got the quick first step. The rest of it...well he is going to have to prove that he can consistently bring it for more than a week at a time during the regular season.
 
No minutes for Corliss? He can get about 10 behind Ron every night. And if he gets 4 and 4 in that 10 (like he started with tonight) I'll take it!

Cisco + Salmons might really put the squeeze on those minutes, even if there are actually 10 (Ron might be near 40). And 10 is actualy barely rotation anyway. Too many bodies.
 
Well, so far Corliss has only seen time at PF so it may be moreso Kenny/Reef/Taylor putting the squeeze on Corliss. Either way it's quite the squeeze.
 
but if williamson continues to outplay at least garcia.. i think he should play ahead of them....

most likely will depend on matchups at the 3...
 
Salmons so far looks good. If he has some consistency maybe we put Artest at the 4 and Salmons at the 3? Then let KT and SAR fight for minutes off the bench.

That would have Cicso (?), Corliss & Douby as our only SF shooters off the bench. And only Douby has a 3pt shot. Cisco struggles and its beyond range of Corliss whose game is inside of 15 ft. WOW, we ARE short of outside shooters there.

Price I think has Bibby's back and he can shoot the 3's. I see Price, Bibby and Kevin on the court at same time against a number of teams. This also leaves us a bit short at the 2 spot. Who subs for Kevin that can shoot outside, bring the ball up and defend? Cisco maybe, but he is more a 3 than 2.

So we need a 2/3 who can make some 3's, run and defend. We definitely have a couple of bigs to trade.
 
Ron is a bad rebounder for a SF. Grabbed all of zero yesterday. Putting him at PF would just get us killed on the glass. Really don't understand the issue either. Tough enough, strong enough, quick for his size. Can't jump, but how a 6'7" 260lb tough guy can ever grab zero rebounds, or average maybe 5 in 40mpg is just beyond me.
 
Brick i totally agree on Taylor. He is absolutley lost on the court and is about as useless as boobies on a fish. Mistake?? yes indeed the kids have an upside and athletisism makes up for inexperience they may have. All in all the 2 rooks look better than the two FA vets we got.
 
I really don't understand how someone who was signed for one year at the veteran minimum can be considered a mistake.
 
Yea man, i was surpised that kmart didnt have a good game. he had so many turnovers last night... hopefully he will pull it back together and start doing better. Douby really didnt do much either... was hoping to see something from him. Maybe tonight...
 
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