[Grades] Grades v. Suns 2/11/12

[Larry89]

Tyreke evans 1-9 4 points 4 turnovers 6 assists in 30 minutes

 

[Glenn]

Thornton is probably always going to be second fiddle to Reke. Hence why there are the questions about Reke... He's a big part of our franchise!

I understand that. Yet there is a thread about Thorton (sic). I just thought Thornton last night put that thread to rest.

Now, Tyreke is a leader as is Cousins. They are also too young to have the wisdom of Nash and Hill or Hayes for that matter. They need to learn that this is their career and drinking, partying, and getting laid is secondary. THAT is their responsibility to those people who pay them outrageous amounts of money. I remember myself at 21 and if I was tall, famous, and had a few million, I might very well be doing the three thimgs mentioned earlier. It isn't right though. It needs to be learned. It's the price we fans pay for having a team that just barely can legally order a beer. They don't have the big picture in mind and the variation in play from day to day may have as much to do with their night time activities as anything else.

22 year olds do not have the wisdom of 32 year olds and with no veteran leadership on this team except Hayes, this erratic play will continue until they are told or figure it out.

BTW, I'll bet Thornton's night life may have more to do with being at the practice facility than cruising for women. I can be wrong but that's the impression he gives me.

 

[Glenn]

Yet, as bad as losing is, this game was a different kind of loss. The announcers were pointing out the whole game that as bad as the Kings were playing, they should have been down by 20+ the whole game, and yet, they had it close a few times but just couldn't get over the hump. My gut says the starters were just tired and couldn't maintain.

Or hung over.

 

[Glenn]

No, we need to keep them both open.

Hey, I feel for ya going to the games you've seen.

 

[cuad]

So wait you don't think that Marcus Thornton can get any girls with his puffy face and funny voice?

 

[Glenn]

So wait you don't think that Marcus Thornton can get any girls with his puffy face and funny voice?

I'll bet Gortat could get anyone he wanted.

 

[upinsmoke]

Wanted: PG

 

[Hadlowe]

Wanted: PG

About a dozen teams around the league who want the same thing. I hear there's a guy up in Minnesota hogging them all, though.

 

[IfAt1st]

Wanted: PG

We traded ours away for the stinky fish.

We didn't need him.

 

[PurpleHaze]

Wanted: PG

Interesting poll right now on ESPN.com asking, "Who is best PG in NBA?" Choices are: Lin, Rondo, Paul, Rose, or Someone else. "Someone else" is getting some votes with Rose in lead. Magic Johnson said today that Lebron James is best PG and should be playing it if he isn't already doing the duty every time he's on floor for Miami.

 

[The_Jamal]

Interesting poll right now on ESPN.com asking, "Who is best PG in NBA?" Choices are: Lin, Rondo, Paul, Rose, or Someone else. "Someone else" is getting some votes with Rose in lead. Magic Johnson said today that Lebron James is best PG and should be playing it if he isn't already doing the duty every time he's on floor for Miami.

This Lin hype really is sick. He's played 5 strong games. Get. Over. It.

 

[upinsmoke]

I would like to see DJ from the bobcats in purple&white.

 

[jalfa]

Oh, and for Slim:

Melissa Rauch -- not a Brit per se, but she is a native English speaker so close enough.

That's Kaley Cuoco. Melissa Rauch stars alongside her in The Big Bang Theory. She's the small girl whose bra size is to be found in later stages of the alphabet (unsurprisingly, seeing whose suggestion it was). Looks like this:

 

[Bricklayer]

That's Kaley Cuoco. Melissa Rauch stars alongside her in The Big Bang Theory. She's the small girl whose bra size is to be found in later stages of the alphabet (unsurprisingly, seeing whose suggestion it was). Looks like this:

that explains a lot -- could not figure out how she looked so different photo to photo. In my own defense though if you right click the bikini photo you will see somebody mislabeled it and I just stumbled into it as I am of course, pure, innocent, and compeltely incapable of objectifying women and accordingly never have any idea which lovely, intelligent, talented, kind hearted lady is which.

 

[Kingster]

Agree with this assessment, unfortunately. Giving Thornton a B- was also a gift. His 20 points were nice but he adds no BBIQ to the back court which, in my view, is the biggest failing they had in this basketball game and in too many others. Sometimes their play is so bad that I think it discourages Smart from calling plays or even thinking them up in the first place.

Speaking of BBIQ, I just have to bring up Thompson. How many times do we have to see Thompson trying to take a charge with his arms outstretched at a FORTY-FIVE DEGREE angle to the floor instead of straight over his head? The guy just drives me nuts with that stuff. He's 25, been in the league for 4 years, and he still doesn't even know how to take a charge? He must have no body awareness whatsoever to be doing that. Then he compounds how foolish he looks by looking around after the blocking call like he has no idea of what he did. Then, believe it or not, he puts his arms outstretched at 45 degrees on another attempted block later in the game. (The guy is obviously a quick learner). Fortunately, the Suns' player avoids him so Thompson doesn't get another blocking call. I dunno. Maybe electroshock therapy or lobotomy is called for in these extreme circumstances...

 

[Glenn]

Chapter 1

I have a huge bone to pick with Smart in this game and am a little surprised no one but Brick mentioned it. The Suns almost literally had 5 guys in the paint and we kept attacking the paint. It was so packed that a simple 18 ft jumper would have been adequate and there is not a guy on our team that can't shoot a 18 footer - well, maybe not Hayes. Why keep doing what isn't working? I swear I haven't seen a defensive team get away with this for such a long time. Ridiculous. This is my first major criticism of Smart and I have hopes that he will watch game films and note what happened. Couldn't some assistent coach whack him in the head and tell him what was going on? It's a failure of coaching. I still have hopes that Smart will learn.

Good grief, even Jimmer was passing up 18 footers to attack the rim. Did they want to set a record for blocked shots in consecutive games? Gortat is not Ibaka but the way they played, he might as well have been Ibaka. BTW, does Ibaka have a brother?

Not saying we would have won as I think we were determined to keep the Suns lead between 8-12 points for as much of the game as possible. No runs by either team which is quite amazing.

Chapter 2

I am going to complain about the night life of young men from now until 2015 or until we get another respected vet to hit these guys a whack on the head to wake them up. I know how I felt after what little intramural athletics I played and the drinking that inevitably followed. The next day I didn't necessarily feel like crap but I was not at my peak. Fortunately I didn't have another game to play. This HAS to be an issue with this team. A coach doesn't tell his guys to be in by 1PM or something of the sort as it is childish, a little insulting, and can't be enforced anyway. BUT .. it has to be mentioned by either the coaching staff (Bobby?) or a guy like Hayes. These guys know they don't feel at their peak the next day. They are young and think they can play through it but they aren't playing through it. Then again maybe I am way off base but I doubt it.

Seems like we have some leadership that are down to earth and can explain the facts of life to these guys. I personally would listen to Hayes or Bobby Jackson on advice of this sort. I would leave the other coaching to Smart. I'll get shouted down for this but can you imagine a guy like Eyen (sp?) or that other goofy looking whte guy advising a young black man on how to conduct his social life? Won't work. Only Carril had the gravitas to be listened to and he isn't around. Am I off base in bringing up race in this matter. Read it carefully. I am just saying a middle age white guy will probably be ignored by a young, talented, and rich black stud.



I think this "chapter" labeling method works well for me. I wake up and usually have a lot to say. The chapters allow for certain topics to be ignored if the reader wishes. Personally I wouldn't want to miss a jewel that comes from my brain but each to his own.

 

[IfAt1st]

Speaking of BBIQ, I just have to bring up Thompson.

See, up until this season, from seeing his play on the court for 3 years, I assumed he had some kind of learning disorder. He had shown little-to-no ability to learn the NBA game.

But over the summer, he magically figured some things out and he's been very consistent this year and I'm glad to say I'm happy the Kings have him. It was his BBIQ that drove me nuts for years with him - I couldn't stand to have him on the floor.

I wasn't aware of the 45 degree rule and him repeatedly making that mistake and not learning it.
But now that he's shown that he can learn and put together some increase of BBIQ, I will assume he can learn that move, too.

Eventually.

 

[Kingster]

See, up until this season, from seeing his play on the court for 3 years, I assumed he had some kind of learning disorder. He had shown little-to-no ability to learn the NBA game.

But over the summer, he magically figured some things out and he's been very consistent this year and I'm glad to say I'm happy the Kings have him. It was his BBIQ that drove me nuts for years with him - I couldn't stand to have him on the floor.

I wasn't aware of the 45 degree rule and him repeatedly making that mistake and not learning it.
But now that he's shown that he can learn and put together some increase of BBIQ, I will assume he can learn that move, too.

Eventually.

Unfortunately, I don't see Thompson practicing charges several hundred time with his arms straight up. I would advise it though....Yes, Thompson has through his hard work developed a decent back-to-the-basket game. It's the ugliest back-to-the-basket move in the NBA (sometime I think he's going to kill somebody with his legs kicking out or his hands thrown out in epileptic jerkiness), but it goes in a fair amount of the time. If Thompson ever takes up ballroom dancing he's going to end up breaking the feet of every dance partner that is courageous/foolish enough to give it a go with the guy...