[Grades] Grades v. Suns 11/4/2015

[Bricklayer]

Boxscore

Stats: 25min 15pts (5-15, 4-10, 1-1) 0reb 2ast 2stl 0blk 3TO
Summary: after a laughable first half, got hot and shot us right back in the game in the early 3rd. Unfortunately it could not last.
Anderson ( ) started off this one demonstrating all the talent limitations that have had people poo pooing the idea of starting him. He only hit 1 of 8 first half shots, bricked open threes, and several times turned the ball over trying to do things he cannot. But coming out of the halftime break suddenly we were treated to James Anderson, Splash brother...or at least Splash Second Cousin. In the space of less than 2 minutes he hit not 1, not 2, but 3 three pointers to key a little charge to tie the game up at 55 early in the third. Of course from that point on we would embarrass ourselves one more time letting the Suns pour in another 63 points and blow us out of the building. But that can't really be blamed on Anderson either, as when he was switched over to guarding Bledsoe, all of a sudden Bledsoe got quiet (i make no claims of stopperhood here, just not sievehood). In any case, Anderson never did do much other than hit those threes -- he added a 4th one late after it no longer mattered. He actually gave us zero rebounds, but some of that may have been due to starting out of position at SF, where initially he was matched up with PJ Tucker, who has him by 40lbs. Still, limited thought the contributions may have been here, at least there were contributions, and at least you knew he was out there trying, no matter how limited his tools.

Stats: 30min 9pts (4-13, 0-1, 1-2) 8reb 3ast 2stl 1blk 1TO
Summary: at least Boogie had an excuse for not showing up. Rudy's was he just was not good enough, and we could not afford that.
Gay ( D ) -- Tasked with playing the 4 from tip-off, Rudy should have had a big night going up against Morris. Instead, he had an inefficient, unproductive night where his major contribution was being average (for a PF) on the boards. Rudy got outscored by Markieff Morris on 4 fewer shots, and was just generally a non-factor defensively as the team's rotations all night were horrible. He did come up with two steals on the night as the Suns were about as careless with the ball as the Kings. His sole highlight of the night was a reverse dunk on a leakout. Rebounding saved him from getting an F. --Hadlowe

Stats: 16min 0pts (0-0, 0-0, 0-0) 4reb 0ast 0stl 1blk 0TO
Summary: starting C? Not yet. Koufos was much better and more solid.
Cauley Stein ( F ) -- WCS was up against the veteran version of WCS in Tyson Chandler. I don't know what the problem was, but WCS looked like he was afraid of the rim tonight. No shots, no offensive boards, and bad defensive rotations in his fifteen minutes of play. He did have one big block on the night on a Markieff Morris jumpshot, but his contribution ended there. F for no effort. --Hadlowe

Stats: 32min 13pts (6-10, 0-2, 1-2) 1reb 6ast 0stl 0blk 4TO
Summary: one of the few Kings to do something, for a while, but not talented nor physical enough.
Collison ( ) -- --Cruz

Stats: 29min 9pts (4-10, 1-2, 0-2) 3reb 6ast 1stl 0blk 2TO
Summary: its obvious how much better Rondo is with a star to play off of. Can't bend the defense himself because nobody respects his O.
Rondo ( ) -- I'm beginning to think this offense may not be a great fit for Rajon either. Like everyone else he starts stationed outside. but he's not much of a threat out there, and opposing teams don't guard him close. Then when he does catch the ball he wants to try to be a PG and create for others, but few people are moving, and he is not considered a big enough threat for teams to really run at him. Instead tonight he starts to slash and team just sort of lightly shadow him and try to guide him . Nobody helped off their man on him, and so he didn't create many open shots. two or three times there would be a little movement, normally by Koufos, and he's hit him with a nice little interior pass. But most of the night on offense was spent probing, finding nothing opening up, and circling back out to dump it over to the next guy so he could begin his own probe. The larger issue was on the other side, where for a second night in a row Rajon was just a non-entity. Slow around screens, when he even reached them, sometimes lost entirely, rarely physical at all, and so Bledsoe just ran by him at will in the first half. he needs Boogie, he needs the ball to play PG, and he might need Thibs, who was the defensive coordinator during his defensive prime in Boston, to show up and reignite his effort on that end.

 

[Bricklayer]

Bench

Stats: 20min 8pts (2-5, 2-2, 2-4) 4reb 1stl 1stl 0blk 2TO
Casspi ( C ) -- One of the three guys who didn't outright stink shooting the ball. That's not to say he was great tonight. He continues driving into traffic, getting too cute with his dumpoff passes, and throwing up weak, inaccurate floaters instead of getting into the body of shotblockers inside. He hit a couple of threes as the Kings were going down big to pull them back within striking distance and did reasonable work on the boards in his time on the floor. Defensively, he was just rarely involved, as the Suns focused on Gay (foul trouble) and our guards who were constantly stuck on islands against their "big" men. --Hadlowe

Stats: 28min 16pts (8-11, 0-0, 0-0) 7reb 0ast 1stl 2blk 1TO
Koufos ( B+ ) -- well, if anybody was going to bet a B-level grad in this godforsaken mess of a game, it was going to be Kosta. Big man meat and potatoes. Came in and played some aware defense on Chandler, and ran the floor well for follows of our numerous misses. Had a nice tie up block of Alex Len as well. Was less effective on both ends in the 2nd, and for most of the night had more problems with Len than he did Chandler. His third stint went better again, blocked a shot to trigger a break, took a pass from Rondo slashing down the lane for the finish, and got several little big man meat and potato hooks to go in (making me wonder if we can post up Kosta, why not Boogie?). Seemed to run out of steam near the end, as once again Alex Len was presenting him with problems. Never once looked like any kind of star or talent. Just a smart solid big man with good size sticking to what he knew and battling the Suns own solid but unspectacular big men to a draw. One of the very few Kings who at the end of this one could look in the mirror and truthfully say he didn't have anything to do with the loss. --Brick

Stats: 26min 15pts (6-11, 2-5, 1-1) 2reb 3ast 1stl 0blk 1TO
Belinelli ( ) -- --Cruz

Stats: 6min 0pts (0-1, 0-1, 0-0) 0reb 0ast 1stl 0blk 1TO
Butler ( INC ) -- I don't have any notes for Butler. I guess he came up with a steal in his time on the floor, but I missed that. On a night we could have used some veteran leadership, Butler got all of 6 minutes to miss a shot. --Hadlowe

Stats: 14min 9pts (4-6, 1-1, 0-0) 2reb 1ast 0stl 0blk 3TO
McLemore ( ) -- --Cruz

Stats: 5min 3pts (1-2, 1-2, 0-0) 0reb 2ast 0stl 0blk 0TO
Curry ( ) -- --Cruz

Stats: 3min 0pts (0-0, 0-0, 0-2) 1reb 0ast 0stl 0blk 0TO
Moreland ( INC ) -- I stopped paying attention to the game by this time, focusing on more pleasant things like that stuff that keeps growing between my toes. --Hadlowe

Stats: 4min 0pts (0-0, 0-0, 0-0) 1reb 1ast 0stl 0blk 0TO
Acy ( INC ) -- See Eric Moreland.

 

[Entity]

Point blank we don't trust each other on defense and we don't have the personnel to run fast paced. Collison probably could but rondo, Rudy, Demarcus are not run and gun type players. To me Karl has mis managed the players he has trying to get them to be players he don't. If we want to emulate a team. Golden state is not the answer. Maybe Memphis or San Antonio or the clippers

 

[VF21]

Point blank we don't trust each other...

That's all that needs to be said.

 

[HereWeBoogie]

F for everyone

 

[Entity]

That's all that needs to be said.

That usually come with time. You develope chemistry and continuity. But the starting lineups and sub patterns change from quarter to quarter. When the Kings were good you knew who was starting each and every night. You could set a timer to know who and when the subs came in. This crap show Karl is running now is like little league. Stupidity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result the rondo/collison backcourt combo is outstandingly awful

 

[Entity]

Also has there been a point in the last two years where Rudy at the 4 was a good option and we played well?

 

[swisshh]

I don't like that Karl's post game comments were upon a lack of defensive energy. I don't feel that's it at all.

Rather, they're expending more energy than they need to and accomplishing less. I didn't see the Suns players getting to lose balls and no Kings there. I saw Kings players chasing loose balls. I saw them chasing rotations, but late and, eventually, in an exhausted manner.

When you make bad switches, it causes everyone else to have to over-rotate. That expends more energy than needed. When you give up dribble penetration, it creates the same problem. Team runs around to recover, and if they do well, then they get a missed shot that only leads to the other team getting an offensive rebound because your bigs are having to shotblock right at the rim. Meanwhile, your guards are racing to fast break, expending energy that leads to nothing.

If there is anything I saw that was lazy, it was the offense. Everyone by the 3pt line, setting poor screens and picks, and jacking up threes. Players aren't cutting off of movement. Only Kosta crashes the boards. The team puts up a quick, bad shot, and has to race back on defense with poor positioning.

It's not energy. It's lack of design. Either they aren't being taught the purpose or they aren't grasping it.

 

[sdballer]

That usually come with time. You develope chemistry and continuity. But the starting lineups and sub patterns change from quarter to quarter. When the Kings were good you knew who was starting each and every night. You could set a timer to know who and when the subs came in. This poopoo show Karl is running now is like little league. Stupidity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result the rondo/collison backcourt combo is outstandingly awful

When he did all if his experimenting in preseason, people said it didn't matter. I think we're seeing that this team didn't build stability or the foundation it needed.

 

[sdballer]

I don't like that Karl's post game comments were upon a lack of defensive energy. I don't feel that's it at all.

Rather, they're expending more energy than they need to and accomplishing less. I didn't see the Suns players getting to lose balls and no Kings there. I saw Kings players chasing loose balls. I saw them chasing rotations, but late and, eventually, in an exhausted manner.

When you make bad switches, it causes everyone else to have to over-rotate. That expends more energy than needed. When you give up dribble penetration, it creates the same problem. Team runs around to recover, and if they do well, then they get a missed shot that only leads to the other team getting an offensive rebound because your bigs are having to shotblock right at the rim. Meanwhile, your guards are racing to fast break, expending energy that leads to nothing.

If there is anything I saw that was lazy, it was the offense. Everyone by the 3pt line, setting poor screens and picks, and jacking up threes. Players aren't cutting off of movement. Only Kosta crashes the boards. The team puts up a quick, bad shot, and has to race back on defense with poor positioning.

It's not energy. It's lack of design. Either they aren't being taught the purpose or they aren't grasping it.

But that's a deliberate part of Karl's plans. Switch on d. Dribble drive on o. We just don't have the players to run those systems

 

[Livinthedream]

When he did all if his experimenting in preseason, people said it didn't matter. I think we're seeing that this team didn't build stability or the foundation it needed.

If he tinkers this much, it's because he doesn't like the roster. It's obvious. These are not the players he wants.

 

[Iced Espresso]

Koufos gets a B or B+ from me.

 

[swisshh]

But that's a deliberate part of Karl's plans. Switch on d. Dribble drive on o. We just don't have the players to run those systems

The team is switching when it doesn't need to. Get over the screen and you don't have to switch. If you get caught in the screen then switch.

If you dribble drive, then someone needs to cut to the lane as the defense rotates, and another needs to slide to the corner for the three. You move into space off the drive.

 

[kingsboi]

With all my passion and might, I loathe small ball. That is all.

 

[VF21]

I don't like that Karl's post game comments were upon a lack of defensive energy. I don't feel that's it at all.

Rather, they're expending more energy than they need to and accomplishing less. I didn't see the Suns players getting to lose balls and no Kings there. I saw Kings players chasing loose balls. I saw them chasing rotations, but late and, eventually, in an exhausted manner.

When you make bad switches, it causes everyone else to have to over-rotate. That expends more energy than needed. When you give up dribble penetration, it creates the same problem. Team runs around to recover, and if they do well, then they get a missed shot that only leads to the other team getting an offensive rebound because your bigs are having to shotblock right at the rim. Meanwhile, your guards are racing to fast break, expending energy that leads to nothing.

If there is anything I saw that was lazy, it was the offense. Everyone by the 3pt line, setting poor screens and picks, and jacking up threes. Players aren't cutting off of movement. Only Kosta crashes the boards. The team puts up a quick, bad shot, and has to race back on defense with poor positioning.

It's not energy. It's lack of design. Either they aren't being taught the purpose or they aren't grasping it.

I didn't expect George Karl to come out and respond with much detail in the post mortem. In fact, I would prefer that they not even talk to the coach on a losing night. He was not happy. You could tell he was not happy. I want him to talk to the players about their failings, not the media.

 

[lawlman91]

I remember early last season when one of our strengths was offensive rebounding. We were relentless. We drew fouls.

 

[Sac.1989]

the memories are all we have right now because as it stands we are heading in a whole other direction and thats not just a reference to wins and losses but styles and systems, focus areas. We're small-ball pace and space merchants now.

 

[sdballer]

We're small-ball pace and space merchants now.

With the important distinction of not actually having the talented guards/shooters to make that system work

 

[Sac.1989]

you need to get the most out of your squad and players - One of them is the best big man in the league who has a body of work which suggests clearly where he is most effective. I just dont know what we are trying to achieve here and for what ? its clearly not sustainable

 

[sono]

It looks Brick run out of girls.

 

[Siranthony]

Koufos gets a B or B+ from me.

He was good. Our best player tonight.

 

[KingMilz]

For me Kosta and Anderson were our two best players clearly, James started rough but like I said in the other thread that to me was clearly due to nerves (which you expect from a guy on his last chance in the NBA) but on D he did very well on Bledsoe and got a number of deflections during the game he also showed he could get to the rim but again I just think him being a bit edgy made him miss some bunnies and he got a lot of shots when the clock was literally at 3 secs or less. I liked the physical and mental toughness he showed out there and unlike Ben he was aggressive from the second he got on the floor and never stopped being aggressive.

 

[Dime Dropper]

Find myself switching off these games earlier and earlier into the fourth.

Our defense is pourous and we're directionless offensively.

 

[Kingster]

The boat is leaking and the sharks are circling. Houston, GS, and SA up next. Oh boy. Time to panic?

 

[pshn80]

The boat is leaking and the sharks are circling. Houston, GS, and SA up next. Oh boy. Time to panic?

No, time to concede these games and use them to try out ne starting lineup. Maybe a little emphasis on defense.

 

[Kingster]

Rudy Gay with 9 points and a wrist in a game in which he is the so-called first option. I have this feeling of deja vu. I think Karl, or maybe Gay, finally figured out in the second quarter that Gay is not an initiator of any offense; he's a guy that needs to get the ball after the 3rd, 4th of 5th pass, when he gets the ball closer to the basket or he has some space and can use his one dribble and put up a shot. We've been to this rodeo a zillion times before: Gay is a finisher; not an initiator. How does that dynamic fit into the Karl system? From what I can tell, it doesn't. If Karl likes "free ball" and decision making, Gay is not your guy. I'm not really sanguine about Cousins' return being the magic bullet for this team. Yes, with Cousins the Kings demolished the Lakers, a poo-poo team. Would the Kings have defeated Memphis or Phoenix with Cousins? It's a 50-50 proposition to my mind. No doubt, Cousins defense and rebounding helps this team run, which is Karl's system. But when the game gets tight in the 4th and starts to slow down, I'm not so sure. I'm watching to see how much Karl tinkers with the system to fit the players' talents before it actually becomes a different system altogether.

 

[bajaden]

I figured there was no way we could beat Memphis without Cuz, but that the Suns game was winnable. I was wrong. For some reason several of our players seemed to be living in an alternate universe. Bledsoe was reeking havoc in the first quarter. Not sure who of Collison and Rondo was supposed to be guarding him, but it was a epic failure, and of course, he couldn't miss. Later, in the second half when they put Anderson on him, he returned to being human. Both Gay and Rondo seemed out of sync last night. You don't see Rondo making errant passes very often like he did last night trying to get the ball to WCS. Casspi seemed to be playing at warp speed at times, and out of control.

I don't agree that we don't have the parts to play the system that Karl is trying to install. We have plenty of athleticism on the team, and we can run with anyone. I haven't seen Cuz laboring to get up and down the floor. But I do think it's going to take some time before we start to look like we know what were doing. Put us up against a team that plays little defense (the Lakers), and we look great. But put us up against a team that puts pressure on us, and not so good. Doesn't mean it won't work, especially while Karl is trying to figure out his starting lineup and his rotation. My original thought was that if might take 20 or so games, and I still think that. If we have Cuz in the lineup through those twenty games, I think we'll win our fair share. Without him, well, that's another story.

I thought Willie played OK last night, but there's not doubt, he's at his best next to Cousins, who draws all the attention in the post. For now, he's a good defensive complimentry player who helps cover Cousins back. But without Cousins out there, he'll get little respect on the offensive side of the ball. Last night he was put in a stand alone position, and he's not ready for that yet. The Suns just ignored him on the offensive side of the ball, and so did his teammates. I think that will change in the future, but for now, that's the reality of the situation.

 

[Livinthedream]

For me Kosta and Anderson were our two best players clearly, James started rough but like I said in the other thread that to me was clearly due to nerves (which you expect from a guy on his last chance in the NBA) but on D he did very well on Bledsoe and got a number of deflections during the game he also showed he could get to the rim but again I just think him being a bit edgy made him miss some bunnies and he got a lot of shots when the clock was literally at 3 secs or less. I liked the physical and mental toughness he showed out there and unlike Ben he was aggressive from the second he got on the floor and never stopped being aggressive.

Yes. Made all the difference in the results, didn't it.

 

[bajaden]

Rudy Gay with 9 points and a wrist in a game in which he is the so-called first option. I have this feeling of deja vu. I think Karl, or maybe Gay, finally figured out in the second quarter that Gay is not an initiator of any offense; he's a guy that needs to get the ball after the 3rd, 4th of 5th pass, when he gets the ball closer to the basket or he has some space and can use his one dribble and put up a shot. We've been to this rodeo a zillion times before: Gay is a finisher; not an initiator. How does that dynamic fit into the Karl system? From what I can tell, it doesn't. If Karl likes "free ball" and decision making, Gay is not your guy. I'm not really sanguine about Cousins' return being the magic bullet for this team. Yes, with Cousins the Kings demolished the Lakers, a poo-poo team. Would the Kings have defeated Memphis or Phoenix with Cousins? It's a 50-50 proposition to my mind. No doubt, Cousins defense and rebounding helps this team run, which is Karl's system. But when the game gets tight in the 4th and starts to slow down, I'm not so sure. I'm watching to see how much Karl tinkers with the system to fit the players' talents before it actually becomes a different system altogether.

I think your right about Gay not being the guy that can carry a team all by himself. And that's why Cuz makes a huge difference. With him in the game, less attention is paid to Gay, which helps free him up. It helps Willie get easy baskets when his man doubles down on Cuz. Karl's system allows the players on the floor a lot of freedom to create on the fly. Which means you need players that can make good decisions and play within themselves. Something I don't think McLemore is capable of right now. Last night, I thought we were out of sync for the most part, and perhaps we were trying too hard to make up for Cousins absence. Our perimeter defense, in the first quarter in particular was horrible. There were times when our ball movement was nonexistent. Everyone was trying to be a hero. In limited minutes, I think Curry is making a case to get some minutes that matter. Anderson, at least for one game, played better than McLemore has been playing. By the way, Stauskas put up 14 pts last night. Didn't shoot the ball particularly well, but overall played well and made some very nice passes. He appears to have the starting job locked up for now.

 

[kingsboi]

Find myself switching off these games earlier and earlier into the fourth.

Our defense is pourous and we're directionless offensively.

I second this. I no longer have the stomach to watch defenseless basketball and no hustle, heart. The last couple of seasons I've made it a priority that when the Kings get down by 20...it's time to turn the channel.