[Grades] Grades v. Thunder 11/7/17

[Kingster]

A lot of credit has to go to Joerger for this victory. Joerger can't make shots for the Kings, just get them open shots, and he's doing that. While the Kings were passing and moving without the ball, the Thunder offense did nothing with 3 All Stars. I really like how Joerger is using Fox and Jackson when they move without the basketball and cut to the basket. I would expect to see more effectiveness of this motion/passing offense as time goes by, as it takes a while for players to get used to the timing and keys. One example: it is obvious I think to everybody that teams load up on Skal when he gets the ball in the post. At this point Skal is going one on three. I'm look forward to some effective counters to that in the coming games.

 

[Kingster]

Hield tied Zach in rebounding. He's led this team in rebounding the last three games. Can't say enough about his effort. My only criticism at this point is his over-dribbling in some situations, but I'm hopeful he'll start to understand how to move without the basketball as time goes by.

 

[JCTNKINGFAN]

yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaayyyyyyyyyyyy

Zach Randolph (B-) -- 26 min, 18 pt, 8 rb, 3 ast, 2 stl, 0 blk, 6 tov, 2 pf
And here we had it. Z-Bo in all his ridiculous, inefficient, semi-out-of-control glory. Like your best friend's date to senior prom, Z-Bo showed up to the gym drunk, loosened up, and ready to go... And then he puked on his shoes and went to cry in the bathroom for a hour. But then, when it was time for the slow dance to begin, he reemerged from a toilet stall, eyes red from the crying, mascara hastily and drunkenly reapplied, and gave his boyfriend the dance of his life. Then, when the lights went up and it was time to call it a night, he tripped over his own two feet and ripped his dress and cried until he passed out in his date's backseat. It was, nevertheless, a night to remember.

Personal experience?

 

[King Baller]

It's gotta be that personal reasons issue whether it would be a loss in the fam or a break up, its hard as hell to focus on your job

Agreed, it is easy to forget these guys are human beings with families and lifes outside of Basketball.

 

[lawlman91]

https://www.reddit.com/r/Thunder/

 

[Larry89]

Fox gets better every game, this game was seriously impressive for a rookie pointguard

 

[VF21]

https://www.reddit.com/r/Thunder/

????

 

[jcwkings]

What I like about Bogi is even when he is having a bad shooting night, he does so much more. Plays good smart defense, using his length and angles. Makes the simple basketball play, he is really good at the hockey assist where his initial pass leads to another pass that leads to an open shot. Something that seems seems small but is actually huge, essentially the "Spurs" way of playing.

 

[Vladizzle]

Fox A- : I just liked his demeanor a lot. He played tight D, had explosive moments, and most of all creates mismatch problems with any slower PG (Felton in this case).

Bogdan C : Chalk it up as an off night to me. The whole starting unit just has been awful no matter what, I wish they'd just start banging right away instead of trying to run this only Joerger post ball. He still made some plays and kept composure despite missing.

Vince B+ : IDK why everyone is so hard on this guy. He's not here to do a whole lot, but what he does is never on stats.. He leads YELLS at everyone to keep them motivated. He gets the crowd into it, even at his age. He makes great passes and played legit lockdown on Melo a few possessions, which takes a lot of effort for a 40 year old. His length on D is pretty valuable on defense to survive.

ZBo A- : About as good a game as we'll ever get from Zbo. He seems to have matured a bit too with his attitude to try leading by example more.

Skal D : Really tough to watch him this game. He gets super stagnant and indecisive sometimes and we can't have that. Needs to strengthen up a bit.

WCS C+ : He had a few moments. Was more active. Still just a bit low on him this year. The look last night was way better though from what I remember from him.

Hield A : Obviously, he was on fire. He takes some iffy shots, but if that's what it takes to break the slow mo offense open, go for it. He was going after rebounds too.

KK A++ : For surpassing Kareem Abdul Jabaar's reliable, dominant, legacy cementing hook shot in traffic with the shot clock winding down, falling away, angels gazing down.

Jackson B : He held his own. Tayshaun Prince esque to me.. Very slow in his movements and shooting, but he just may be able to get it to work.

Melo A : Thank you, again, for showing why hero chucking can shoot you out of as many games as it wins you.

Temple B : Just solid per usual.

Hill D : Really struggling out there since the Dallas win. Kind of strange for such a respected player.

 

[Folsomkingsfan]

Fox gets better every game, this game was seriously impressive for a rookie pointguard

He definitely has what it takes to succeed at the NBA level. My only concern with him is that he tends to play outside of his strengths a lot. For example, almost 40% of his shots are coming from 16 feet away or farther and he's converting those at a pretty low rate. He's also forcing passes that he is not capable of making at this stage in his career. Outside of that I'm more than impressed with his overall game so far. He's very poised for his age and experience level.

 

[ppine]

What tanking??
I think the Kings' bottomed out at the end of the first quarter. They have lost 7 in a row and then embarassed themselves at home with a 10 point first 12 minutes. They must have looked at each other and decided to start playing for real.
It started with defense. Then the effort goes up for rebounding because they are already working hard to make stops and get the ball back.
Then the offense starts gaining some confidence and breaks from defensive rebounds. It is like a Chinese puzzle, and the Kings' figured out how to solve it last night.

Hill plays defense and can lead the team sort of . We expect more but he is a steadying influence. Buddy seems to love coming off the bench, great performance. Bogdan seems slow a foot compared to the quick guards in the league. The 3 may be where he stays. Fox is really fun to watch. Temple is a good role player. Jackson is already waking up and showing that he belongs in the league. Great game from him.

Now the bigs. Randolph is really the only King with the "give me the ball" attitude at the end of games. He worked hard last night and got up and down the floor. Skal and Willie were very disappointing although their defense seemed to give Anthony and George fits at times. It is possible that they just focused on defense last night. The guards out rebounded them though which is hard to figure.

I would like to single out Koufus for being the closest thing to an enforcer the Kings have. He can rebound and play defense and has a fierce attitidue compared to Skal and Willie. That is important. He adds some offensive rebounds and interior jump hooks. Adams is one of the most improved big men in the NBA.

Last night we saw something new besides intense defense. The Kings showed some great interior passing and back door cuts. I could not be happier about both of those things. Fox and Bogdan both see the floor really well. We have seen a glimmer of hope. Now we all want more of it.

 

[sactowndog]

I missed the game, but I notice that when Bogs has a terrible boxscore like tonight, people always come to his defense.

I've seen one of his "bad" games, and he never really looks like he's having a bad game when you watch him.

Gotta love players with intangibles.

Props to Buddy for continuing to beast it off the bench. I hope he can keep this up!

I think people are reacting to his D grade.

Giving Bogs a C is fine as offensively he was limited but defensively I thought he played well.

As for offense some of that was also ZBo. Dude never kicks the ball out even if he has 3 players around him. We won last night because of him but I still hate his game. The value of having a player who can draw a double team is severely diminished if said player rarely or never passes out of it to open players on the weak side.

 

[kingdivac]

Much Needed win. Great to see Hield have an on shooting night. If he can just do that most nights.

 

[Suicide King]

It is good to see Buddy have such an effective game that kept this from being a possibly historic blowout. When he came in and started hitting shots, everything else started clicking better, from our offense to our defense.

Apparently Buddy has been getting good advice from our "Rookie Veteran" Bogdan, and I couldn't be happier. Bogdan knows how to play at a highly successful level, and Buddy seems keen on utilizing Bogdan's knowledge base.

http://www.nbcsports.com/bayarea/kings/help-unlikely-source-buddy-hield-rescues-kings-win-over-okc

 

[The Hammer]

Buddy Hield (A) -- 27 min, 21 pt, 7 rb, 1 ast, 1 stl, 0 blk, 3 tov, 3 pf
Well that's more like it. When Buddy was sent to the bench, I, conditioned to expect a Kings shooting guard's production to crater the second his butt hit bine, feared the worst would happen. Buddy, much to his credit, appears to have eschewed the Marcus Thornton/Marco Bellinelli route of sucking eggs and sulking as a bench guy and has rather embraced the role of second unit scorer guy. And score he did, only taking nine shots to achieve an incredibly efficient 21 point night, also snagging 7 boards for good measure. Buddy's also shown a surprising commitment to the defensive end of the court this season and didn't look particularly outmatched going against the Thunder perimeter guys (although he spent more time on the benignly terrible at offense Andre Roberson than anyone else). If this is what Bench Buddy looks like, that's one less problem Joerger and his staff has to worry about going forward.

People need to start giving Joerger credit. The fact that virtually NO player during his entire tenure has sulked on the bench, but often has been sat, straightened right up, got back in the fight, and played BETTER... is 100% elite coaching.

The curse of coaching in the NBA is that to be successful, it takes an incredible array of skills, most of them interpersonal, and most of them invisible, to most people. This means it's easy to pass over giving credit and easy to assign blame.

Good thing is you all have me here who can see what's happening between Joerger and his guys.

I'll leave you with this: despite our horrible record and 7 game losing streak, body language has not lagged. No pouting, no shoulders down, no cold shoulders from one player to another. I hope you can all realize how incredibly valuable that is for a young growing team who is going to lose a lot (on the way to winning 50 of course).

This is 100% because of Joerger.

 

[EIM86]

Championship

 

[ppine]

This discussion brings up the concept of how NBA players are reviewed by their peers.
The great players rarely have an off night.
The good players contribute the majority of the time.
The bench and average players make big contributions once in awhile.

 

[KingsFanGER]

He definitely has what it takes to succeed at the NBA level. My only concern with him is that he tends to play outside of his strengths a lot. For example, almost 40% of his shots are coming from 16 feet away or farther and he's converting those at a pretty low rate. He's also forcing passes that he is not capable of making at this stage in his career. Outside of that I'm more than impressed with his overall game so far. He's very poised for his age and experience level.

I think he will have more opportunities to drive all the way now that Joerger has committed more to a 4out system with one big man. Both Fox and Jackson seem capable of taking advantage of backdoor cuts. That's a really nice skill to have that early in their careers.
Fox has to work on keeping his dribble alive. Often he just picks the ball up too early, when he wants to pass it. He will find himself in a lot of pressure situations by doing that.

Kudos to Joerger for adjusting his strategy, giving the rookies more space to operate in, with only one big in the floor. Everything is easier, when there is enough space.

Willie once again showing flashes. If only he would have his head in the game like this every night.

Still not a fan of our big man rotation and Papa just being big man number 4. If Joerger decides to keep playing small a lot going forward, there will be no m in minutes left for Papa unless Kosta gets traded. I like Kosta a lot, but at this point I want as much development minutes as possible for our young guys. Minutes already are hard to get for Papa, but when Giles returns things will get even worse.

 

[ppine]

Papa Man belongs on the bench at this stage of his career.

 

[Vladizzle]

People need to start giving Joerger credit. The fact that virtually NO player during his entire tenure has sulked on the bench, but often has been sat, straightened right up, got back in the fight, and played BETTER... is 100% elite coaching.

The curse of coaching in the NBA is that to be successful, it takes an incredible array of skills, most of them interpersonal, and most of them invisible, to most people. This means it's easy to pass over giving credit and easy to assign blame.

Good thing is you all have me here who can see what's happening between Joerger and his guys.

I'll leave you with this: despite our horrible record and 7 game losing streak, body language has not lagged. No pouting, no shoulders down, no cold shoulders from one player to another. I hope you can all realize how incredibly valuable that is for a young growing team who is going to lose a lot (on the way to winning 50 of course).

This is 100% because of Joerger.

Up until this win, none of this was true, and all of the sulking, lack of effort was certainly existent.

 

[The Hammer]

Up until this win, none of this was true, and all of the sulking, lack of effort was certainly existent.

??

Frustration is completely different from team chemistry breakdown, guys getting at each other, giving up, pouting.


There was remarkably little of that.

 

[Vladizzle]

??

Frustration is completely different from team chemistry breakdown, guys getting at each other, giving up, pouting.


There was remarkably little of that.

Not true. A few posters all noticed it. Guys like WCS, Zbo, Hill weren't even putting in effort. A main complaint on here wasn't the losses, but the way they were losing. A mixture of frustrating rotations/offense and effort was the most shocking. Look at our rebounding numbers, that says plenty.

Of course the rookies aren't going to fit in that.

 

[The Hammer]

Not true. A few posters all noticed it. Guys like WCS, Zbo, Hill weren't even putting in effort. A main complaint on here wasn't the losses, but the way they were losing. A mixture of frustrating rotations/offense and effort was the most shocking. Look at our rebounding numbers, that says plenty.

Of course the rookies aren't going to fit in that.

Eh, ok. You win. But I just saved 15% on car insurance.