Grades v. Suns 12/05

[sidney]

I need to say something. Am I the only one that thinks Kevin needs to be given the green light in regards to his iso plays? I mean he jabs just to pass the ball around the horn. He needs to be aggressive and get to the line. I don't know how many times Nash got switched onto him that I was like "take it to the hole Kevin!!!"

He was going to do that with the other 15 minutes he was supposed to play tonight

 

[Mr. S£im Citrus]

Muss ( F ) -- oh lord, we just started Ronnie Price in an NBA game as our strategy for winning it, and gee, what a shocker that the Suns responded by hitting 7 straight layups or dunks to open the game, and had dropped 41 on us by the end of the first quarter. Talk about a coaching staff outsmarting itself. Our coach Ran through the entire 10 man rotation in the first half and generally looked like a chicken with his head cut off searching for answers... And so here we are, back below .500. But back below .500 on a sour note and with a real question whether our coaching staff has a clue how they want to right this thing. At least when Rick was struggling last year you knew what he wanted to do, whether it was getting done or not. Right now with Muss? No idea. Its a constant ad lib. And not a very good one either.

More like Mad Libs. Because, when I went on break tonight and found out what the starting lineup was, Mad Libs are precisely what I was thinking of:

At center, Kenny Thomas, at "power forward," John Salmons...

 

[BMiller52]

The sad thing is that this team may actually be a top defensive team if they get some protection at the rim. John Salmons is looking real good as a defender. He is easily our second best defender behind Ron. Those two guys could reek havoc if they weren't worried about the basket being unprotected.

I wonder what the hell are the Maloofs thinking? I mean I saw Joe with my own eyes in the offseason say that they needed someone to protect the rim.

When?

 

[SacTownKid]

He was on one of the sports shows on CSN. He made a point of saying they needed to get some shotblockers to protect the rim.

Yet they drop Loren Woods in favor of the vital cog Mo Taylor??? I don't get it. No matter how bad Loren did couldn't justify him being replaced with a guy that is buried behind Vitaly Potapenko on the bench it would seem.

 

[fnordius]

How many games have the Kings alllowed the opposition to shoot 50+% now?

It wasn't bad at all for the first few games. And in others, the overall FG% isn't super high, but the percentage on 3s is.

Minn.: .486 and 4/9 on 3s
Chi.: .410
Milw.: .528 and 9/17 on 3s
Minn.: .412
Det.: .394
Tor.: .417

Then our D went away, and we started playing some non-punching-bag teams.

Mem.: .527 and 9/20 on 3s
GS: .577
SA: .442
Utah: .548
Sea.: .463
Por.: .457
LAC: .306
Dal.: .487, and 11-21 on 3s
SA: .473, and 11-22 on 3s
Orl.: .529
Pho.: .495, and 14-31 on 3s

So, in fact, only 3 teams have shot over 50% against the Kings... but 7 of the last 10 have shot over 46%, and 3 of the last 4 have shot >45% on threeballs.

We're currently in 18th place for 3-ball percentage allowed, and 21st place for FG% allowed. What makes that stink, is that we are in 25th place for FG %, and 27th place for percentage on 3s, so the suckage is at both ends.

Hey, the Warriors lost, so at least we aren't in sole possession of 11th place.

 

[SacKings384]

4 teams... And Pho missed it by .5% But thanks for doing the research!

 

[fnordius]

4 teams... And Pho missed it by .5% But thanks for doing the research!

Quite right.

What can I say? I'm not very worried about wins and losses, but watching the team play like absolute **** drives me to distraction and drink.

 

[Pqster]

Thomas ( D ) -- meet your new center. Sigh. Not surprisingly was completely unable to shut down the middle in that first quarter, and finished with an empty first half. Helped with hustle a little in the third, but still we are talking about 4pts 3rebs in 19 minutes with no impact.

The misleading or ignorance of the game has got to stop!

1. Yes traditionaly centers or "bigs" clog the middle - you are correct but what allows them to "shut down the middle" is the guy you are guarding is in the middle and you can abandon your man to provide help defense. Stoudemire plays the perimiter which is the guy KT was guarding when he was playing center therefore you can not leave your man that is 15 feet from the basket and expect to be there in time to close the lane! The other option you have is to play zone and plant your big in the lane to clog it up. We did not play zone when KT was at center in the first quarter. Which by the way was the only time KT was on Stoudemire. Which brings me to my next point

2. I think we can all agree KT's roll on this team is to play defense rebound and support our scorers. 1st quarter when KT was on Stoudemire (arguably their most talented player).
4 points
2 turn overs
2 fouls
1 rebound
Looks to me like he fulfilled his role in the game. For this you give him a "D" why? because our scorers did not keep up or because everyone else that was in the game let their men run wild and score on us at will! If I follow this logic and put 2 and 2 together the Kings had a bad game offensivly and deffensivly = KT is to small and deservs a "D" for his performance! 2+2=5, hugh! If we agree this is KT's role was it really a "D" performance or does this add validity to your agenda.

I only addresss the 1st quarter because that was the majority of KT's minutes and you already addressed his performance in the 3rd quarter in your post.

I don't want this to turn out to be a discussion on "are you saying KT is a good center" or "KT did great the rest of the team sucks" I don't bash or degrade other player to further my agenda! Just be real and be objective!

 

[VF21]

Just a few points:

1. It was the 4th game in 5 nights.
2. Bibby/Price/Martin/Salmons/Thomas vs. Nash/Bell/Marion/Diaw/Stoudemire
3. The Kings just aren't that good right now.

Any one of those three points could be enough to explain a loss. When you add all three of them together, you pretty much have a blueprint for what happened last night.

If you have blood pressure issues, the Kings just aren't the team you need to be watching right now.

 

[bibbysac]

that was just embarassing

 

[Pqster]

Just a few points:

1. It was the 4th game in 5 nights.
2. Bibby/Price/Martin/Salmons/Thomas vs. Nash/Bell/Marion/Diaw/Stoudemire
3. The Kings just aren't that good right now.

Any one of those three points could be enough to explain a loss. When you add all three of them together, you pretty much have a blueprint for what happened last night.

If you have blood pressure issues, the Kings just aren't the team you need to be watching right now.

Great Points! Finnaly got to see a Kings game in person!

 

[Burrito06]

Muss dosent even care you can see it on his face.

I agree, I can't remember the last time I saw him coach an entire game.

 

[Roman]

The misleading or ignorance of the game has got to stop!

I'm normally on the opposite side of Pqster in most debates, but I have to agree.

I don't think KT was to blame and he did things that statistically wouldn't show unless you really looked.

He's one guy and can't be accountable for everyone else refusing to stay with their defensive assignments. This team's problems aren't the forwards or centers all the time. There has to be accountability on the outside.

What's the first thing you learn in pre-k basketball - "STOP THE BALL!"

Penetration kills any team.

All the guards need to do is stay in front of their man the majority of the time. If they mess up a few times, no big deal. But, every time down court and they don't do their job. KT/SAR/Corliss/Miller/God/King/Country can't be responsible for double duty.