[Grades] Grades v. Suns 12/26/2014

[bajaden]

Entertaining at times. Our players are athletic, make great plays and run. But somehow the other team always beats us by double digits. How is it humanly possible for the other team to shoot so well? It's hard to fathom.

Don't know if you noticed, and you probably have, teams like the Warriors and the Suns, teams that play the supposed style that Vivek and PDA say they want to play, have players that can actually shoot the ball. Both those teams try and beat you from the outside, and if you let them shoot from out there, they probably will beat you. We, on the other hand, are bringing a knife to a gunfight when we try and play their style. Name for me all the great outside shooters on our team. And, the players that are considered good outside shooters, seldom touch the ball.

Right now, this team is in no man's land. It's caught somewhere between being a half court team that leaves you with bruises on your body, and a team that runs up and down the court with no apparent plan. We went from a team that was starting to create an idenity, to a team in chaos. The stupidest comment that PDA ever made, was saying that every player can run, implying that any team can become a run and gun team. Sorry my little genius, but not every person can run the hundred meter dash. Oh excuse me, your right, they can, but they won't win. Not every player is capable of stopping on a dime at the three point line and shooting. Oh excuse me, they can, but the shot won't go in. You don't hire an auto mechanic to fix your computer, nor vice versa

There's reality and there's fantasy. Right now, unless there's a master plan I'm unaware of, the Kings brain trust is living in fantasy. What has always separated the great coaches from the wanna be's, is the ability to adapt to the personnel on the team. A great coach finds a way to get the best from all his players. Riley went from a showtime, run and gun team in LA, to a slow down the ball, beat the hell out of you team in NY. Jackson developed a system that you could plug just about anybody into. Ditto Pop's in San Antonio. You can't plug a round peg into a square hole. If the Kings want to be like the Warriors and the Sun's, then they need a serious change of personnel. And that might include Cousins. I detected the taste of vomit in my mouth as I wrote that.

Here's a clue for you Mr. Ranadive. When you have one of the best players in the NBA, and not just one of the best players, but a throw back center in the mould of Shaq and Wilt, you don't ask him to change who he is as a player. You embrace it, and build a team around who he is. Memphis has probably one of the few centers that's similar to Cuz, and you don't see them running up and down the court like they're fleeing a crime scene. Quite the contrary. They beat you to death inside, while they defend the perimeter. And they win!!!!!! Silly concept I know, but as fans, we would be happy with that result. I doubt many Grizzly fans go to bed at night worrying about their teams lack of style.

So here's my question for our illustrious GM. The two highest paid players on our team, are best suited for the half court game. I'm not saying they can't run up and down the court, its just not their strength. So I'm curious, if you wanted to emulate the Warriors, then what were you thinking? I didn't sign them, you did, and I commend you for it. But right now, it looks like a bad marriage. You look like the man that marries a woman, and thinks he can change her into what he wants. Sorry, but that usually ends up in a divorce. Soooo, respectfully, and with no ill will intended, if a divorce happens, I hope it's you walking out the door, and not Cousins and Gay.

 

[bajaden]

If you watch the "defense" of this team when the Suns were in a fast break or semi-fast break it's about as poor as you can get. Guys were either not interested in playing D or their innate defensive talent is very low. Maybe a combination of the two. We have a lot of guys on this team who are poor in guarding in space. A few times the Phoenix player would just blow by a player and then that player would do the embarrassed "comb" through his hair with his hand.

LOL! I call that the Gary Payton move, born out of the time J. Will froze him and blew right past him. Sometimes, there's just nothing you can do except try to look as cool as possible while being embarrassed. Stauskas needs to do little more work on that move. Not bad for a rookie though.

 

[VF21]

Ownership is tanking the season. Cousins sat because he would care too much to lose to IT like this. IT has no idea why the Kings fired Malone. Corbin offering solemn cliche answers to what is happening. Just please don't lose to the Knicks .... Please let there exist a more dysfunctional team than the Kings.

Why would that do that?

Come on, people. We aren't tanking. We suck because PDA couldn't Malone to buy into a stupid plan for making the team more exciting, with a different style.

Right now I guaranfreakingtee you all that they're scratching their heads and trying to find out if anybody got the license of the bus that hit them. They had NO idea the fanbase would react so strongly to the ridiculous timing of the Malone firing.

We are NOT tanking. We are NOT purposefully losing. What we are trying to do is emulate a style of play our team isn't suited for and cannot possibly succeed at.

Word is rapidly spreading that the fans are NOT happy and that STH are really questioning whether they want to put out a deposit in the next few weeks for their tickets for 2015-2016. I know I would have to do some real soul-searching if it was me in that position. I'm assembling contact information on all the local merchants/businessmen who put up 1 million. I think messaging them might help get the word out on real fan dissatisfaction.

 

[pshn80]

Why is this interim period with Corbin necessary? Are you suggesting firing Malone was necessary? The uproar is because it was and is completely unnecessary. There was no need to blow up a good thing aside from Vivek/Mullin/PDA preferring a different style, a style btw which has seen us become less competitive and be the worst defensive team in the league.

And I think this is acceptable to ownership, which is also why there's an uproar. Our own GM said wins/losses don't matter. Our own GM said Malone would have been fired even if he we had started 16-9. They made the decision to blow up success without a backup plan. This is intentional. It's also incompetent.

Not sure I buy into to your "incompetent". Mistaken, sure, but not incompetent. Mistakes can be fixed just like success is passing. The two elephants in the room are ticket sales now and ticket sales in the future. PDA and Mullin may not care about ticket sales now but they will pretty darn soon. I suspect Vivek has made his living correcting the heading of the ship whenever it needs it.

I have said I thought they had a plan and I do still. I don't believe that process is going according to plan or if it is we will start to play better real soon or else. I don't believe ownership is happy with where we are now or white we are within the plan.

Firing the coach was a drastic step whether a good one or a bad one. It will be followed by more drastic steps if this thing doesn't right itself pretty quick. I don't care what the drastic steps are but I would like to see some "winning" ones muy pronto.

 

[HereWeBoogie]

You just don't understand. It's not about wins and losses. It's about style of play . . .

"It wasn't about wins and losses," D'Alessandro said Monday. "I don't really care what our record was. It's really about who we want to be, what we want our identity to be as a team.

 

[TheJewishKing]

I don't know where to write since there is no thread about the Knicks and Kings game but DeMarcus Cousins is now probable for tonight's game against the Knicks.

Hopefully the Kings will get the W.

 

[chasen4r1]

"It wasn't about wins and losses," D'Alessandro said Monday. "I don't really care what our record was. It's really about who we want to be, what we want our identity to be as a team.

I'm on my phone on the car right now (as a passenger ), so I won't expand any further than to say...

What an absolute joke. This just sucks.

 

[Mr. S£im Citrus]

Don't know if you noticed, and you probably have, teams like the Warriors and the Suns, teams that play the supposed style that Vivek and PDA say they want to play, have players that can actually shoot the ball. Both those teams try and beat you from the outside, and if you let them shoot from out there, they probably will beat you. We, on the other hand, are bringing a knife to a gunfight when we try and play their style. Name for me all the great outside shooters on our team. And, the players that are considered good outside shooters, seldom touch the ball.

Arguably more important than that, is the fact that, unlike the Warriors or, say, the Spurs, we don't have anybody on our team whose first instinct when they get the ball is to pass it. Even if you believe that "everybody can run," which I absolutely don't, if you have a team full of guys who aren't necessarily looking to pass, it's still not going to work.

 

[IfAt1st]

It can sometimes come as a surprise just how capable NBA players are at making shots when they're left wide open

Actually, this is a simplification that misses the real picture, IMO.

In the first 14 games (when the Kings were winning) I remember distinctly that many teams (Clippers, Denver, Suns, Spurs, etc) had wide open shots - they were missing more wide-open shots than they are getting now. But now they are sinking a TON of them.

I don't think it is as easy as people here want it to be. For some reason, teams are shooting absurdly well against us now, and some of them are VERY tough (low %) shots. I have no explanation for why they're making them now, when they missed easier shots earlier in the season, but it is the difference between winning and losing much of the time.

Pull-up 3-ptrs from behind the line are impossible to stop in the NBA. If they make them, they make them - all you can do is be somewhat near them and jump somewhere close. They SHOULD be low % shots that you WANT them taking. Ever since Harden made that insane pull-up 3-ptr in the Houston game, our opponents have been making them at a ridiculous clip. Now, the lids off the basket and everything is falling for the other teams, just like years past, and I don't know how Malone made them miss before unless he had a ghost brother stopping them from going in.

 

[kingsboi]

looking at those PPG since Malone's departure just completely sucks all the passion I have left for this team and by the looks of it...it's gotten to the point where we really have no shot of beating anybody anywhere if this is the PPG we will be seeing for the next couple of months.

 

[Bricklayer]

Actually, this is a simplification that misses the real picture, IMO.

In the first 14 games (when the Kings were winning) I remember distinctly that many teams (Clippers, Denver, Suns, Spurs, etc) had wide open shots - they were missing more wide-open shots than they are getting now. But now they are sinking a TON of them.

I don't think it is as easy as people here want it to be. For some reason, teams are shooting absurdly well against us now, and some of them are VERY tough (low %) shots. I have no explanation for why they're making them now, when they missed easier shots earlier in the season, but it is the difference between winning and losing much of the time.

Pull-up 3-ptrs from behind the line are impossible to stop in the NBA. If they make them, they make them - all you can do is be somewhat near them and jump somewhere close. They SHOULD be low % shots that you WANT them taking. Ever since Harden made that insane pull-up 3-ptr in the Houston game, our opponents have been making them at a ridiculous clip. Now, the lids off the basket and everything is falling for the other teams, just like years past, and I don't know how Malone made them miss before unless he had a ghost brother stopping them from going in.

Comfort. If a guy smothers you and beats you up for 47 min and then abruptly you get free for a good look, you're a mess. Physically, mentally, everything, you'll rush the shot, or want to make it count, or wonder where he is, is he coming, and do everything but just smoothly knock it down. If you get y our 10th straight open shot against an opponent that rarely challenges you, that let's you shoot them in your rhythm and doesn't make you work much on either end, that same open look is a much higher percentage shot. We aren't even remotely dictating which open shots the offense gets now. They're dictating. its like practice shots.

 

[funkykingston]

looking at those PPG since Malone's departure just completely sucks all the passion I have left for this team and by the looks of it...it's gotten to the point where we really have no shot of beating anybody anywhere if this is the PPG we will be seeing for the next couple of months.

Here's the simplest encapsulation of things for me. Last season and quite a few seasons before that my feeling was that the Kings were going to lose most nights. My expectation was that they'd lose. I was happy if they made it a game but unless they had a huge lead in the last 5 minutes of the fourth quarter I expected them to let the other team make a run and ultimately lose. This season was the first time where I actually thought the Kings had a chance most nights, regardless of opponents. They had an identity. They had a defensive scheme. They had guys buying in and playing for each other. They were having some success and from my view it was a sustainable approach. I was excited to turn on games.

Now? I'm back to expecting them to lose every night.

 

[IfAt1st]

Comfort. If a guy smothers you and beats you up for 47 min and then abruptly you get free for a good look, you're a mess. Physically, mentally, everything, you'll rush the shot, or want to make it count, or wonder where he is, is he coming, and do everything but just smoothly knock it down. If you get y our 10th straight open shot against an opponent that rarely challenges you, that let's you shoot them in your rhythm and doesn't make you work much on either end, that same open look is a much higher percentage shot. We aren't even remotely dictating which open shots the offense gets now. They're dictating. its like practice shots.

Exactly -
so can we analyze what exactly the Kings were doing before on defense that they aren't now that made teams uncomfortable enough to miss the open shots they're making now (and have been making for 8+ years)?

 

[Kingster]

LOL! I call that the Gary Payton move, born out of the time J. Will froze him and blew right past him. Sometimes, there's just nothing you can do except try to look as cool as possible while being embarrassed. Stauskas needs to do little more work on that move. Not bad for a rookie though.

Both Gay and D-Will did that comb move. It would really be hilarious if a guy who had a shaved head did it!

 

[rainmaker]

Pull-up 3-ptrs from behind the line are impossible to stop in the NBA. If they make them, they make them - all you can do is be somewhat near them and jump somewhere close. They SHOULD be low % shots that you WANT them taking. Ever since Harden made that insane pull-up 3-ptr in the Houston game, our opponents have been making them at a ridiculous clip. Now, the lids off the basket and everything is falling for the other teams, just like years past, and I don't know how Malone made them miss before unless he had a ghost brother stopping them from going in.

Brick hit the nail on the head in his response and it really is about rhythm. Teams were hitting less open shots and shooting worse against us under Malone and during out hot start because we slowed the game down, they were attacking against a set and physical defense and many of the shots they got were slightly out of rhythm or the 3rd/4th option rather than the 1st/2nd, where as now, and this is largely due to our increased pace and our opponents not attacking a set defense, they'd getting more open looks in rhythm.

In an up and down game it's much easier to run to your spots, get a timely pass and that scenario reflects shootaround. But when the angles are cut off, guys are run off their preferred spots, the timing of the delivery is disrupted, they're getting beat up more by battling out in a slower, half-court style, it throws shooters off. Their legs start to go as well.

This is why Cuz or no Cuz, going up-tempo is fools gold and a blueprint for failure. If you have a Steph/Klay backcourt, hey, you can work with it but when you don't you're not only foolish for jacking up shots from all over the floor with poor shooters and going away from your strength, in our case Cuz, but you're also severely handicapping your defense.

 

[Kingster]

Arguably more important than that, is the fact that, unlike the Warriors or, say, the Spurs, we don't have anybody on our team whose first instinct when they get the ball is to pass it. Even if you believe that "everybody can run," which I absolutely don't, if you have a team full of guys who aren't necessarily looking to pass, it's still not going to work.

....and I'll raise you one: We don't have guys who if they want to pass can make the quick decision to do so.

 

[IfAt1st]

Brick and rainmaker -
Great replies and general descriptors. To help illustrate the point more, (in a perfect world) I'd love to see some film breakdowns to show me the exact WAY in which our defense was so different then opposed to now.

But can either of you conjecture why (with so many millions of dollars riding on success) Vivek, Mullin, and PDA don't appear to understand these concepts?

Seriously - it's getting hard to comprehend that people in charge of so much money and power are incapable of seeing the results right in front of their faces, and continuing to be unsuccessful on the court?

But then again, you'd have to make me understand why Malone kept making the same damn mistakes on the court which led to failure time and time again, yet kept repeating them. (Like the 1-4 flat in crucial game-losing playcalls, playing Sessions and Stauskas, feeding Reggie at the high post, etc.)

 

[kingsboi]

Here's the simplest encapsulation of things for me. Last season and quite a few seasons before that my feeling was that the Kings were going to lose most nights. My expectation was that they'd lose. I was happy if they made it a game but unless they had a huge lead in the last 5 minutes of the fourth quarter I expected them to let the other team make a run and ultimately lose. This season was the first time where I actually thought the Kings had a chance most nights, regardless of opponents. They had an identity. They had a defensive scheme. They had guys buying in and playing for each other. They were having some success and from my view it was a sustainable approach. I was excited to turn on games.

Now? I'm back to expecting them to lose every night.

Unfortunately that's the norm around here once again and it sure didn't last long because somebody in the organization didn't like having a slow down identity and they were in fear I take it that fans didn't want to watch the team score 95 points a game...the ride was fun while it lasted now this season is heading down in a spiral sooner than we all thought.

 

[Chubbs]

Why would that do that?

Come on, people. We aren't tanking. We suck because PDA couldn't Malone to buy into a stupid plan for making the team more exciting, with a different style.

Right now I guaranfreakingtee you all that they're scratching their heads and trying to find out if anybody got the license of the bus that hit them. They had NO idea the fanbase would react so strongly to the ridiculous timing of the Malone firing.

We are NOT tanking. We are NOT purposefully losing. What we are trying to do is emulate a style of play our team isn't suited for and cannot possibly succeed at.

Word is rapidly spreading that the fans are NOT happy and that STH are really questioning whether they want to put out a deposit in the next few weeks for their tickets for 2015-2016. I know I would have to do some real soul-searching if it was me in that position. I'm assembling contact information on all the local merchants/businessmen who put up 1 million. I think messaging them might help get the word out on real fan dissatisfaction.

And this is the most bizarre aspect of all of this for me. Vivek is a good business man. Why would they do this now? It's an awful basketball decision that is rapidly becoming a train wreck of a business decision. And that's not something I would have ever expected from Vivek.

You could not time this any worse. Such a potentially catastrophic decision with such little upside.

Now your star is clearly, very very clearly, saying the front office is going about things the wrong way. He's mocking them (like almost everyone here) with air quotes around "playing style."

Peter's grave is dug. It's just time to throw him in it and bury him.

Now that'll just result in Mullin as GM. Maybe that's been Mullin's plan all along.

 

[Capt. Factorial]

Peter's grave is dug. It's just time to throw him in it and bury him.

I think this idea is silly. It's fairly obvious that there was a power struggle between Malone and PDA. Vivek allowed PDA to fire Malone - and not just to fire him, but to fire him midseason ina year when we had been more competitive than we had for a long time. This says pretty clearly that he sided with PDA in the power struggle. He's not going to turn around and fire him.

 

[Sac.Kings]

How awesome would it be if Corbin just said "screw it", ditched NBA 3.0, and went back to the half court offense. What's he got to lose? A job he already will lose? If it were me, I would go down swinging.

 

[Bricklayer]

I think this idea is silly. It's fairly obvious that there was a power struggle between Malone and PDA. Vivek allowed PDA to fire Malone - and not just to fire him, but to fire him midseason ina year when we had been more competitive than we had for a long time. This says pretty clearly that he sided with PDA in the power struggle. He's not going to turn around and fire him.

That depends how much pain is inflicted.

Pete measured out his own rope with this one. You make a move like this, it blows up in your face, embarrasses your owner, and threatens to cost him potentially millions of dollars if the season ticket holders revolt, well now you are next on the firing block. You made a completely unnecesary move, convinced your know nothing owner it was the thing to do. If it goes badly, you're a dead man walking. As badly as Vivek's impatience has ****ed up this season, that same impatience will cause the axe to swing again if things continue to spiral.

 

[Sac.Kings]

Hey Bricklayer is there a grade coming for Cousins? I enjoy reading your assessments.

 

[theclash4u5]

Hey Bricklayer is there a grade coming for Cousins? I enjoy reading your assessments.

He didn't play against the Suns

 

[Sac.Kings]

He didn't play against the Suns

Ah ****, didn't even look at the title of the thread. Saw "grades" and went for it. My bad

 

[Livinthedream]

I think this idea is silly. It's fairly obvious that there was a power struggle between Malone and PDA. Vivek allowed PDA to fire Malone - and not just to fire him, but to fire him midseason ina year when we had been more competitive than we had for a long time. This says pretty clearly that he sided with PDA in the power struggle. He's not going to turn around and fire him.

Or he let PDA do his GM job. In that case, it gives Vivek a clear path to fire PDA when it doesn't work out. I also wouldn't be surprised if Vivek won't write the check for Karl in order to see this thing fall a part and get rid of PDA. My only concern is who replaces both PDA and Corbin.

 

[Chubbs]

I think this idea is silly. It's fairly obvious that there was a power struggle between Malone and PDA. Vivek allowed PDA to fire Malone - and not just to fire him, but to fire him midseason ina year when we had been more competitive than we had for a long time. This says pretty clearly that he sided with PDA in the power struggle. He's not going to turn around and fire him.

Vivek was also convinced the firing would lead to an immediate turnaround and we'd win more under Corbin and make the playoffs. And he said just that.

When that doesn't happen... Chop chop.