Grades v. Thunder 03/10

[Nighthawk1]

As fun as discussing upcoming themes is I must break the good times...

Jason Thompson recent disappearing act. Do you guys feel he's streaky/inconsistent all year, or do you think his recent act is more of a trying to fix his foul problems. He has seemed almost timid lately, not getting in there and banging as much...

 

[VF21]

I think Jason Thompson is suffering from freshman fear...he's afraid he's not going to live up to his early potential; he's afraid he's not going to be the starting 4 once we get a real starter; he's afraid of getting popcorn in his car again; he's afraid of not listening to all the advice coming at him from every possible direction; and he's probably afraid of doing something really stupid and ending up with a very unflattering YouTube clip...

In other words, he's fine.

 

[tradepeja]

Best theme so far. I wouldn't have had to take Astronomy last semester if you had done this earlier.

Its funny how complicated and mysterious our solar system is when it is just the teeniest and tiniest of cogs in one of the galactic arms of our medium sized galaxy in our normal sized galactic neighborhood in our large galactic cluster which is in its own mind-boggingly large galactic supercluster of which there are many in the entire infinite universe. Phew.

 

[Oprostaj]

I think Jason Thompson is suffering from freshman fear...he's afraid he's not going to live up to his early potential; he's afraid he's not going to be the starting 4 once we get a real starter; he's afraid of getting popcorn in his car again; he's afraid of not listening to all the advice coming at him from every possible direction; and he's probably afraid of doing something really stupid and ending up with a very unflattering YouTube clip...

In other words, he's fine.

Understandable. I don't want our starting 4 to be so weak minded though. You can't play worried that someone better than you is going to take your job. You might think about it, but can't let it affect your play. Period. You play hard and have the mentality that you are the best. Otherwise, this league will eat you and spit you out. The mental aspect is just as much, if not more important than the physical.

 

[kingsnation]

Understandable. I don't want our starting 4 to be so weak minded though. You can't play worried that someone better than you is going to take your job. You might think about it, but can't let it affect your play. Period. You play hard and have the mentality that you are the best. Otherwise, this league will eat you and spit you out. The mental aspect is just as much, if not more important than the physical.

And JT has had these moments, where his confidence is soaring and he is playing like he knows no one can stop him.

But someone said it before, he's hit a rookie wall. Just a few months ago we were talking about Spencer's sophomore slump... and now he's looking good once again.

Young players not named Lebron go through stages, you just have to be patient.

Also, Just as a player needs to train his body to better prepare themselves for the beast known as the NBA - they also need to train their mind. Things like toning out the refs and media, knowing which advice to accept and which ones not to, feeling comfortable in your job, etc etc. Give JT some time, and let him develop his mind just as he would train his body.

Remember he's only been playing in this league for barely 6 months and starting for almost 4.

One more thing - you want JT to be secure in his job? Well for almost 3 months he was stuck on the bench behind Mikki Freaking Moore. Blame the staff for any insecurities he is experiencing. And we could be getting Blake Griffin next. The FO needs to allow him to feel comfortable as well.

 

[Mr. S£im Citrus]

Understandable. I don't want our starting 4 to be so weak minded though.

Starting four? Well, damn... no wonder we're losing so much!

 

[bloom]

Natt admitted he overlooked rookie Donté Greene in Tuesday's game as he continues to shuffle players in an attempt to find working rotations earlier in games.

"I still have Donté in mind in terms of primarily playing (power forward)," Natt said. "Guys were playing so great (Tuesday) night (that) it just slipped away from me. I might have kept Jason (Thompson) out there longer than I should have. Those were minutes Donté could have played."

Source: http://www.sacbee.com/kings/story/1692637.html

I can’t understand what Natt is thinking…It’s not a biased thing, it’s a I’m confused why he can’t play players in their own natural position. I don’t mind if he takes players out of position every once in a while, but he’s confusing.

"It happens that Noc was open, probably too open for him," Natt said. "I thought he had a good look, but he was just too open. … I told him at the end of the game when I went in the locker room and he had his head down that, 'Hey, it wasn't your shot that lost this game.' His effort on the defensive end is what I was most impressed with. Those are the things I'm looking at, not that shot."

How can a player be too open? I think the problem was that he thought about it. The loss wasn't his fault..but I never thought that a coach would ever say that a player can be too open.

 

[kingsnation]

How can a player be too open? I think the problem was that he thought about it. The loss wasn't his fault..but I never thought that a coach would ever say that a player can be too open.

I think that is what Natt meant when he said that. Noc was so open that it became a mental issue for him.

 

[kennadog]

Starting four? Well, damn... no wonder we're losing so much!

Maybe its a case of the sum of the parts being less than the parts.

I think it was Jerry who said it looked like Noc had a moment's hesitation on whether to drive to the basket or just shoot. Thinking got in the way of just doing.

Edit: speaking of which, I actually intended to say tahnk you to Brick for the interesting astronomy lesson. Made me feel smaller than this

 

[Kingster]

Thompson is thinking too much. As Reynolds said, too many coaches telling him what to do and not do. Being a good kid, he wants to do everything people have been telling him to do, resulting in doing very little. Natt needs to streamline the lines of communication so only one person is giving him guidance, and that guidance should be SIMPLE.

 

[Nighthawk1]

Source: http://www.sacbee.com/kings/story/1692637.html

I can’t understand what Natt is thinking…It’s not a biased thing, it’s a I’m confused why he can’t play players in their own natural position. I don’t mind if he takes players out of position every once in a while, but he’s confusing.

Can't agree more man. Donte's fast, tall, athletic, and can spread the floor with his range. Once he learns to attack the basket better I could see him being a great 3 in this league... For now playtime is playtime, playing the 4 might help him develop his post moves and put him in situations to attack the basket more but if this is Natt's master plan, I can only hope he's gone after this season. We need someone who can develop our rooks while we suck and I just can't see Natt filling that role unless we plan on sucking for the next decade

 

[fnordius]

Well, Natt talks about how maybe he should have given some of JT's minutes to Greene, although JT only played 28 minutes in that game. Nocioni played 43.5 minutes, yet he made no mention of maybe having played Nocioni too long. That, right there, should tell you something. In the Denver game, Nocioni played 37.8 minutes, more than anyone but Hawes. And he started in both of those games, prior to that he'd been doing 20+ minutes from off the bench... and Green, even then, was only getting minutes at PF. Any SF PT was getting split between Nocioni and Cisco.

I expect Nocioni to keep eating Greene's minutes through the end of this season. I think that Natt likes Nocioni too much to limit his PT at all. Donte's just going to have to get by on... popcorn.