[Grades] Grades v. Thunder 04/20/12

[Bricklayer]

Could we actually be tanking? Typically, with 1 or 2 exceptions every year all the tanking talk around the league is just softbrained hogwash. Its like black helicopters sent by the U.N. on behest of the Illuminati. You don't understand something, so you buy into the first stupid story that passes on by. But I don't know, our player usage of late here has been decidedly odd. Smart's usage is always odd, but its gotten even worse of late. Nothign he does makes one lick of sense. There is not another coach in the entire NBA who would be subbing guys like this, making these lineup decisions.

Its probably just because our coach is better than all those other guys.

Tonight we ignored our most efficient player for 2/3 of the game, benched and completely DNPed the most logical matchup for Durant, randomly subbed Cousins out in the final 5 minutes just long enough to wrap up the loss, and it even caught little IT, the mighty "Hustlin' Husky" (who btw got compared to Steve Nash and John Stockton tonight, and who also, wait for it, leads all rookies in assists since March 16th! March 16th!? Sigh.), when he found himself abruptly benched for nearly the entire 4th quarter and didn't get i until less than a minute was left. I do wonder how many more wins we might have if we had a real experienced winning coach (not an old washed up retread). 'Course that's only important if we are actually trying to win...

BTW, we played hard. Any specualtions about anything do not involve the players. We did not quit this time. Never really threatened after half, but hung aorund and fought for things.

Boxscore

Outlaw ( F ) -- drew the Durant duty to start after Smart clearly came home and caught Donte hiding under the bed again (what a horndog). Outlaw was backed right down by Durant to start, which is kind of embarrassing given Durant's stringbeanness. Responded with a series of bricks and airballs in a worthless offensive performance. He actually made a few defensive plays, but let me copy paste from a post I made a few posts down to explain this grade:
Travis Outlaw:
27min 1pt (0-6FG 1-2FT) 4reb 0ast
Kevin Durant:
38min 29pts (9-15FG 9-10FT) 14reb 7ast

This place has gotten as gloomy as a turkey farm on Thanksgiving, so I have decided to post random funny stuff. This video is great.

Thompson ( B ) -- strong on the d-boards to start, and was being found repeatedly by Rekw for easy shots. But he also quickly got into foul toruble, picking up his 2nd with a fingertip foul on Durant that Durant barely survived. Came into the game in the second and just attacked offensively, and looked good doing so. The Thunder were loading up on Cousins, and did not consider Jason any kind of threat -- of course when they changed their mind about that, Jason's percentages plummetted. Got a couple of blocks against Ibaka which would be a great way to thumb his nose at our personal torturer if Ibaka has not blocked another EIGHT against us. EIGHT. That means in three games he has blocked TWENTY FIVE shtos against us. And I am dead serios when I saw that could very well be an All Time NBA record for a three game stretch against one opponent. That's over 8 a game. Most on peeps other than Jason though, and not a factor in his grade.

This is not a joke or a mockup. Dominos is actually building these things in Europe.

Cousins ( C- ) -- entered this game wqith an all too obvious edge to him after what happenrd last time. I say all too obvious, because again the Thunder were waiting for him in there. Was going up for a big early dunk...and this time got stripped by Durant not Ibaka. Several bad pass turnovers. Went up and thought he would get some revenge on Ibaka with a big swat, but it was goaltending. Forcing and playing too fast and dumb early and it was hurting us. Just chucking up garbage in there, and shot something like 3-14 in the first half. Nor was he rebounding as he got caught in one of those emotional loops, where he was deteremined to score, got frutstrated, which made it less likely he was going to score, which frustrated him further...and along the way he was forgetting everything else. Lack fo focus might have explianed him missing his FTs as well. Really should have been pulled ot cool off I think, probably about the time when he got another frustration foul. More in control to start the second half, and started to have better results because of it. Unfortunately did start to get wild again as he thrid wore on qnd things got heated, but a little time over on the bench calmed him again. Brought him back relatively early in the 4th, and nice power move to start. Mysteriuosly pulled for a chunk of the final minues resulting in us getting killed on the boards. Much more in control second half than first half, but the first half was a mess and if he's going to be our main guy going forward he just has to be steadier than that.

Been around a while: for fans of the 1982 Schwartzenegger pulp classic (not that embarrassment from last summer).

 

[Bricklayer]

Evans ( B ) -- lucky thing for Reke Thornton was out, as he was actually going to get a chance to play in this one, rather than guard Durant. In fact it was IT who ended up guarding their much bigger player, as obviously remebering how badly IT did on defense against Westbrook last time we had Reke take Westbrook and while IT was hidden over on Sefalosha, who is nearly a foot taller but had no offensive game to take advantage of the situation. And Reke did a nice job on Westbrook in his minutes against him, breaking up an attempted alley oop to him to start the game, and staying in front of him for most of th night. And on the other end fo the floor pulled up for his first jumepr and it barely rippled the net. Spectacular drive and blind dish to JT for the dunk as well as he was also paasing well. The problem? He couldn't get the ball. The specific and troubling problem? Even with Thronton out, IT would not pass him the ball in the first half, and we ran no plays for him. In a first half where Cousins shot 3-14, Reke finished the half 3-4, and it was 3-3 for 8pts as the jumper was on until he was first frozen then brough back in for the final 40 seconds of the half to chuck up a cold jumper. Suppose you could say he made the most of his opportunities, which was good, given that he wasn't given any. And that's jsut not a winning strategy for this Kings team, even less so when Thornton is out. Did better against Westbrook than Harden as a defender in the first half, and was back on him to start the 3rd. Finally had his very first play of the entire game callled for him with 2 minutes to go in the third, as they iso'd him in the post agasint Harden, and he and promptly beat him 1 on 1 to get the bucket. Then, in one of the few good coachign ideas we had tonight, we suddenly went right back to the same play two more times, getting open looks for Outlaw and IT out of it (neither guy hit the shots). Finally, we had found a way to use Tyreke Evans. What coaching genius! Was more involved the rest of the way, but made back to back mistakes to close the third, committing a sloppy foul, and then turning it over on the quarter ending attempt. Meanwhile during the game it was tweeted that Reke's reps were meeting with the team about his future here. Gee I wonder why. I don't see this as an IT vs. Reke issue, although I think they are oil and water and IT is a Reke suppressant. I think it is more a Reke or Smart issue, and if that's the choice the coach wants to make, if I were running the team I would resolve the tension for him about 30 minutes after the season ended.

Awwwww....wookie, its a cute little baby monkey! His mommy apparently rejected him, so he's being handraised in a zoo. Since their are only about 1000 of this species left, everyone counts. And yes baby monkeys suck their thumbs too.

Thomas ( C+ ) -- as mentioned hid him on defense on Sefalosha to start, and it largely worked. Not much IT could do against a guy that size, but Sefalosha missed the only real attempt they made to go at the matchup, and we came out of it fine. Again had defensive issues against Westbrook when he had to take him, and that just may be a bad matchup for him. Heck, its a bad matchup for almost everyone. Got on an early hot streak, and if it weren;t for the taking turns aspect of it (and most of the time it was ITs turn) you could say our guards were kicking butt early. Scored on a casual little flip over his shoulder after passing through the lane, as he got the big shotblockers to relax. Added a spectacular spin pass on the break, but the ball only seemed to be reaching one side of the floor as he fed Cousins and fed himself, and everybody else was locked out. 9pts and 3ast by the end of the first, but you can see the problem as he only finished with 12pts and 4 ast (some of that problem his, some the coach's). Back in in the 2nd and immediately scored over by Westbrook. Threw up garbage to close the half. Came back out for the third and had a s single three off a kick and an easy dish to Cousins on the break for a dunk. Otherwise not much, but it was still a mystery when IT, who seemingly has been the one player immune to having his minutes/role jerked aorund for months now, was suddenly mysteriously benched most of the 4th so a less than stellar Jimmer could get the minutes? Did not return until less than a minute was left in the game and it was pretty much over. Predictably did not look terribly happy about it.

Awwwww....wookie, its the same cute little baby monkey! I just liked this shot and the hands in particular -- it makes me laugh, and not in a good way, that zealots to this day try to deny the relationship betwen humans and that critter. I mean, look at it!

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Bench

Hayes ( B+ ) -- in early for JT, and it didn't take him long to randomly decide to take one of those ugly out of nowhere drives against Ibaka. Because of course that is the smart, saavy veteran play to make. Duh. But much more aggresive and effective than we've seen him oboth ofensively, where he even got a few of those grammar school moves to fall, and on the boards where he was able to sneak in repeatedlybehind the defnese for offensive boards. And then of course we again used him as a point forward, On many recent nights its been the only value he has had. But in this one, with a little scoring, some aggressive rebounding, and then some nice setups to Cisco runing back door cuts, and Jimmer spotting up, Chuck Hayes was actually a valuable player on the night. Imagine that.

Fredette ( C+ ) -- came in with a whimper as he had several sloppy bad pass turnovers after entering for the 2nd quarter. But once we got him off the ball as a shooter he was able to do the things he does adn start putting up points. Defense on Fisher was better. Shot selction was not. Getting really tired of the random 28 footers off his dribble stuff. A man has to know his limitations. And not buy into his hype. Hit two shots from Hayes late in the game as we sort of semi competed. The lack of major defensive woes this time allows me to bump this grade up. Too many forced shots, but put points on the board and did not get hurt the other way.

Showin' who's boss.

 

[Bricklayer]

Garcia ( B+ ) -- remains a frustrating player, as on nights like tonight he is a very useful roleplayer, even against a good team. Yet he may come out tommorow and just give us nothig at all. Scored on a backdoor cut from Hayes soon after entering. Stole an inbounds pass, and then made the assist to Thompson for a dunk. Was playing a strong all around roleplayer game, and his three in the late 4th cut the Thunder lead back under 10 and forced them to call timeout. This may even have been an A- as guys who fill up every corenr of the statsheet >>> one dimensional types, and tongith Cisco did. But somehow just did not feel impacty enough for that. Still a strong game that if he could have bottled at any point in his 6 yr career he would be looked upon as somebody's valuable roleplayer.

Williams ( C ) -- a little sloppy after entering, on both ends of the floor, but made a great crosscourt pass to Jimmer in the corner for a three. Tried to use him to attack Harden on defense, but the shto wasn't falling. Should note btw that while I think its great that Jimmer has a personal assistman now, there were several times when I thought TWill might have missed better options to try to get it to his pet project. Hit a three in the esarly 4th to answer a three Harden had hit over him, but overall not one of his better nights, and in a relatively rare occurrence, he was not one fo the bench guys we carried forward to teh end tryign to win this.



in progress...

 

[kingsnation]

"They may be your friends, but I can't play em all!"

Coach Smart on not playing Donte Greene, right after comparing his substitution patterns to Greg Popovich's.

 

[rainmaker]

I honestly do not think Smart is trying to tank. I really do think he's trying to win these. Don't think he's smart enough to manage mins/lineups just enough to lose, and make it appear as he's trying to win and we were just short of pulling it off. If he had orders to tank, I'd think we would see Reke/Cuz firmly planted on the bench the entire 4th.

Could there be orders to put a set number of mins of a few of our better players? Maybe. Could MT have maybe gone today and instead orders came down to hold him out? Maybe, just guessing here. Not sure Smart can feel so safe with his job status that he can go 3-14 in his last 17 and definitely have a job next season.Don't know his contract amount, but Grant did say yesterday he's by far the lowest paid coach in the league, and eating that amount and looking for another coach, if that's what the Maloofs decide, wouldn't be an issue. But, it is Grant, so who knows the thinking behind the scenes.

 

[Bricklayer]

"They may be your friends, but I can't play em all!"

Coach Smart on not playing Donte Greene, right after comparing his substitution patterns to Greg Popovich's.

Travis Outlaw:
27min 1pt (0-6FG 1-2FT) 4reb 0ast

Kevin Durant:
38min 29pts (9-15FG 9-10FT) 14reb 7ast

 

[Sac.1989]

yep and thats the sad part. It makes sense when you look at the facts that we are tanking but its not the case and just brings you to the realisation that this is our sacramento kings

 

[Arkitect]

I honestly do not think Smart is trying to tank. I really do think he's trying to win these. Don't think he's smart enough to manage mins/lineups just enough to lose, and make it appear as he's trying to win and we were just short of pulling it off. If he had orders to tank, I'd think we would see Reke/Cuz firmly planted on the bench the entire 4th.

Could there be orders to put a set number of mins of a few of our better players? Maybe. Could MT have maybe gone today and instead orders came down to hold him out? Maybe, just guessing here. Not sure Smart can feel so safe with his job status that he can go 3-14 in his last 17 and definitely have a job next season.Don't know his contract amount, but Grant did say yesterday he's by far the lowest paid coach in the league, and eating that amount and looking for another coach, if that's what the Maloofs decide, wouldn't be an issue. But, it is Grant, so who knows the thinking behind the scenes.

The Maloofs have not spent a dime they did not need to spend in 3 seasons on coaches or players. I have no doubt Smart will be the coach starting next season. Even with Nate McMillan ripe for the hiring.

 

[PurpleHaze]

Maybe we need a poll after week of nonsense capped off by more inexplicable nonsense. Favorite bottled water?

 

[VF21]

"They may be your friends, but I can't play em all!"

Coach Smart on not playing Donte Greene, right after comparing his substitution patterns to Greg Popovich's.

SACRILEGE!!!!! Sorry, but "Coach" Smart should be fined for even mentioning his name in the same breath as Pop's.

I am not a happy camper. http://www.kingsfans.com/forums/showthread.php?45299

 

[rainmaker]

The Maloofs have not spent a dime they did not need to spend in 3 seasons on coaches or players. I have no doubt Smart will be the coach starting next season. Even with Nate McMillan ripe for the hiring.

Maybe...

Amick was clear the Maloofs did seek out and talk to Sloan last summer. Does that mean they would do it again with Sloan or another coach, or actually pay them? I don't know. But I won't completely write off them considering it. A few times now they've gone and talked to potential coaches while they still had one and were paying them. So who knows. I have a slimmer of hope here.

 

[kingsnation]

SACRILEGE!!!!! Sorry, but "Coach" Smart should be fined for even mentioning his name in the same breath as Pop's.

I am not a happy camper. http://www.kingsfans.com/forums/showthread.php?45299

I agree. He said that the Spurs don't play every single player because they have one goal in mind: Winning. So he can't play all the players every single night either...

Ugh. Does Smart really thinking he is running a ship like the Spurs here?

 

[Arkitect]

Maybe...

Amick was clear the Maloofs did seek out and talk to Sloan last summer. Does that mean they would do it again with Sloan or another coach, or actually pay them? I don't know. But I won't completely write off them considering it. A few times now they've gone and talked to potential coaches while they still had one and were paying them. So who knows. I have a slimmer of hope here.

They talk a good game until they have to actually open the pocket books. Where have I seen that before?

 

[AL/kfan]

For a while I was a coach Smart supporter but over time I have come to agree with some of you who have become disenchanted with the substitution patterns and decisions of our head coach. Too bad the Maloof’s pulled the trigger and signed him into next season. Granted, he is not paid as well as other coaches but as the saying goes you get what you paid for

 

[mac]

I agree. He said that the Spurs don't play every single player because they have one goal in mind: Winning. So he can't play all the players every single night either...

Ugh. Does Smart really thinking he is running a ship like the Spurs here?

Yet, that never stopped him the past. I've come to realise that Keith Smart is just a guy who has no idea what he's doing, and who changes tactics every other week. He has NO consistency in his coaching whatsoever. If we put in the effort we can easily find multiple times where he's gone back and contradicted himself in speech, or said one thing and then not do it in the game, or change his lineups around for no reason etc.

You know, for that I give Isaiah Thomas credit. If I'm going to say that Tyreke did not have the luxury of having a proper coach then the same goes for Isaiah Thomas. He could help our team out SO much more if we ran proper plays, got guys in proper spots, found a way to hide his SIZE on defense (his quickness allows him to stay with guys and he's a competitor, but size does play a part too).

 

[Tetsujin]

At this point, I'd even be willing to settle for Larry Brown.

 

[Bricklayer]

At this point, I'd even be willing to settle for Larry Brown.

Just hired at SMU? IN any case, not even ole happy feet is likely to switch jobs before he's even coached a game.

 

[Spike]

They talk a good game until they have to actually open the pocket books. Where have I seen that before?

Winner!

 

[gunks]

Man...Cousins needs to learn how to use his body against those skinny shotblockers. He needs to play Hassan 1 vs 1 before he gets it. Ibaka has stuffed him something like 15 times in 3 games....That is embarassing.

 

[king4life89]

Coach smart is horrible....id rather see honeycut get minutes why booo outlaw he's trasssshhhhhh

 

[Tetsujin]

Man...Cousins needs to learn how to use his body against those skinny shotblockers. He needs to play Hassan 1 vs 1 before he gets it. Ibaka has stuffed him something like 15 times in 3 games....That is embarassing.

That's great and all except for the fact that he was going against Kendrick Perkins for most of last night who is not, in any sense of the word, "skinny". OKC has perhaps the best defensive frontline in the NBA in Ibaka and Perkins. Perkins being perhaps the best post defender in the league if his head in the game and Ibaka thus able to just sit back and swat at anything in his vicinity.

 

[Krunker]

Dang, I just wasted 20 minutes on all those videos! Hadn't seen the TNT or Conan ones before, those were great

 

[gunks]

That's great and all except for the fact that he was going against Kendrick Perkins for most of last night who is not, in any sense of the word, "skinny". OKC has perhaps the best defensive frontline in the NBA in Ibaka and Perkins. Perkins being perhaps the best post defender in the league if his head in the game and Ibaka thus able to just sit back and swat at anything in his vicinity.

Ah. I missed the game and was just going off the boxscore, wherein Cuz had 5 blocks against and Ibaka had 8 blocks total.

Cousins usually messes Perk up, but shotblockers always destroy him...