[Grades] Grades v. Thunder 12/16/2014

[Bricklayer]

Yep, we're still here! Owners and GMs bumble and fail, but we at the Grading Consortium are tough, hairy, and a little smelly, we can take it. At least until the buffoons cost us Cousins, then I am outie.

So, oddly different coach but same players = same results. We theoretically briefly took the lead in the 4th as what we disovered on the night was that we fired Malone to get more out of Sessions and Landry, and our bench dominated theirs all game long. But never at any point did I consider it a possibility we were gong to win the thing, and sure enough, as soon as they put Goatbrook back in the game he promptly thrashed us against a rock like a dying fish, we threw the ball all over the court while collapsing, and same ole same ole.

Oh...and we retired a jersey tonight, whattya know.

Boxscore

Stats: 35min 22pts (8-20, 1-2, 5-6) 6reb 3ast 1stl 1blk 3TO
Gay ( D+ ) -- This grade may seem a little harsh for a player that scored 22 points, and I'll admit that I'm going more on gut feeling than I'am results. You sort of knew from the outset that this wasn't going to be Rudy's night. After playing good defense on Durant, despite his scoring anyway, Rudy started of his offense by taking his eye off a pass from JT and letting it careen out of bounds for a turnover. After missing an eighteen footer, and then a corner three, he tried dribbling through a double team, and turned it over again. He ended up with three turnovers on the night, but to be honest, it felt like more than that. I started to have this apprehensive pall every time he touched the ball. To his credit, Gay never gives up, and never stops attacking. A trait that you have to admire, and at the same time abhor. I really, really like Gay, but there are some nights when I wish he would back off just a little, and stop thinking he has the world on his back, and only he can carry the load. He did have his moments. Several times he backed down Durant and hit turn around jumpers right in his face. His best moment came when he drove down the middle of the lane through traffic, and threw down a monster dunk right over Ibaka. You could almost see the frustration being expelled from Gay's body. There are two kinds of D's. There's the D you give because a player is just invisible on the court. The only thing you can really blame him for is lack of effort. Then there's the good D, if there is such a thing. That's when a player is busting his butt, but not getting the results. That's what Gay did last night. Defensively he was a mixed bag. He had some very good one on one moments, where he either got the stop, or made Durant take a very tough shot. And then he had moments, like when he just stood there, right in front of Durant, hands down and watched him hit a three. There is no explanation for that. Another night that Gay will want to forget. --Baja

Stats: 34min 6pts (3-8, 0-0, 0-0) 9reb 3ast 1stl 0blk 1TO
Thompson ( C ) -- this truly was a game about our bench. Our starters, Rudy halfway excepted, mostly got worked. JT...well, was invisible in the early going and not on the glass. But he got stronger as the game went along, set several guys up in the 2nd quarter with good passes, and got off to a good start to the third hitting a long facing jumper, and showing some sudden hustle on the offensive glass. These were minor pleasures though. On a night when we were hopelessly outclassed on the perimeter our starting bigs probably didn't even draw with theirs, and we badly lost minutes with JT and the starters on the floor. --Brick

Stats: 19min 4pts (2-6, 0-0, 0-0) 6reb 1ast 0stl 1blk 1TO
Evans ( C- ) -- well, looking around at the other grades I realize its going to fall almost entirely to my big man grades to explain how we noodled aroudn and pretended to be in this one for a while, but I don't think Reggie's grade is going to get us far on that path. He had several big hustle plays that gave us little inspiring moments and extra possessions, and after we got off to an 0-9 start, it was Reggie that got us our first hoop by hustling for an offenisve board and kicking it to Ben for an open three. Then he got our second hoop as he dunked on a pick and roll with Ben as they reversed roles. But offensively it became an issue as replacing Malone didn't suddenly make us stop trying to use him as a post weapon, and there were far too many possessions of him trying to bang has way into a warm of long Thunder bodies, throwing up junk, chasing it, bodies flying, the ball skittering out of bounds, empty possession. He came up with another huge hustle play, setting up our most inspring play of the night just before half as he went in for a flying offensive rebound that saw him crash to the floor while saving the ball out to set up that thunderous Rudy dunk. He finally did get one of his post moves to go in the early third as he got Adams pinned under the hoop 1 on 1, but that was it, and the couple of inspiring hustle plays aside, Reggie may well have been our least effective big on the night.. --Brick

Stats: 32min 10pts (4-11, 2-6, 0-0) 3reb 3ast 0stl 0blk 3TO
McLemore ( D+ ) --If we were going to have any hope of competing against OKC we needed Ben to step it up and win his match-up against the Thunder’s wing defender in Roberson. And you know what, Ben came out firing with the mentality that he needs in order to win a match-up like that.He missed his first two shots, the first being a baseline pop coming hard off a screen, and his second a drive where he faked the ball pass ala-Rondo to get an uncontested flip which also missed. He then proceeded to hit two 3-point shots and missing two more shots. But more than the shooting he was just being aggressive on the floor and pulled down two rebounds and had two assists.Now we were getting blown out in that first quarter, but Ben was at least having an impact on the floor. He left the first quarter with 2 3pt shots made and 4 field goals missed, along with the 2 boards and 2 assists and a single turn-over. During that period of time he started with guarding Roberson so he wasn’t having to worry too much about defending his own man.Then the 2nd quarter happened and everything fell apart.For the remainder of the game, 23 minutes of court time to be exact, he would give us a whopping 4 points on 5 shots, 1 Rebound, 1 Assist, and 2 turn-overs. And why did he essentially disappear and become an unproductive member of the Kings on the court? The answer was Russell Westbrook, who he got the delightful duty of having to guard. And simply put, he couldn’t stop Westbrook. Westbrook chewed him up and spit him out, and I think that Ben was so focused on this match-up and the fact he was getting destroyed, that it really impacted the rest of his game. He couldn’t hit a shot, he wasn’t making good passes, he wasn’t getting up for rebounds…it just wasn’t good basketball.And it’s a shame because he missed some key open 3pt shots which might have actually given us a better chance to hang with OKC down the stretch.So for his first stint he had some positive impact even though the team was getting killed, but it all went downhill from there, and in addition to not being able to do a single thing about Westbrook he pretty much didn’t contribute anything positive to help the team win. --Uncia

Stats: 26min 6pts (2-8, 0-2, 2-2) 5reb 3ast 2stl 1blk 3TO
Collison ( D ) -- You can really only say two nice things about Darren's game tonight. First, Russell Westbrook burned us for 32 points tonight, but very little of that was Collison's fault - because he was relieved of the duty of guarding Westbrook after picking up two quick fouls on him (and giving up seven points) in the first. The second thing is that Darren had a few very nice plays. Early in the first while we were getting smashed he broke up a fast break with a steal and found an open Ben Mac for a three; he broke up another fast break by blocking Andre Roberson's layup and then hit Ben Mac for an alley oop; in the end game when there was still a fighting chance he stripped Steven Adams down low and the refs inexplicably gave the ball to the Thunder after Adams tapped it about seven times as it went out of bounds. That of course led to Ben's breakdown and the thunderous jam by Westbrook that pretty much sealed the deal. But outside of these few good plays, Collison was definitely not on his game tonight. He only had three assists, and he was generally inept at moving the ball against the perimeter D of OKC. He shot very poorly. He somehow turned the the ball over only three times, but it seemed like so many more due to his inability to play his game tonight. And being too small to effectively guard Westbrook, he ended up having to be "hidden" on the OKC shooting guards - and he still didn't do a very good job, notably getting burned on a backdoor cut by none other than the illustrious Andre Roberson. A bad, bad game for Collison punctuated by a few highlights.--Capt.

 

[Bricklayer]

Bench

Stats: 22min 11pts (5-10, 1-3, 0-0) 4reb 4ast 0stl 0blk 1TO
Sessions ( C ) --Sessions started the game as the Ramon we all know and hate. He was playing miserable D, treating every screen that the Thunder set on him as if the screener were wearing a sign advertising "free hugs". He blew his first three shots including one layup and a completely open jump shot early in the second quarter. Then Ramon just inexplicably decided to go into beast mode. On two consecutive possessions he pushed the ball coast-to-coast for a contested layup, hit a wide-open three, and then added one more coast-to-coast layup for good measure. By the time the first half ended, he was tied with Rudy for the team high score with 11. Unfortunately, that was basically it for Ramon, because although he did grab three rebounds in his 8-minute stint in the fourth, he didn't score again, and he committed two turnovers, the first by dribbling off of his foot. But the second one was worse. With the Kings down four following a 5-0 Thunder run, Rudy won a jump ball but Sessions made a bad pass on the break for a four-point swing in the Thunder's favor. On the very next possession he allowed Westbrook an uncontested jumper, and that was pretty much that. He got yanked, but we never were able to get back into it. So it was basically eight minutes of junk, nine minutes of beast mode, and then eight minutes of junk. I'll give him a C just because the temporary beast mode was so unexpected that it gets more weight. --Capt.

Stats: 17min 6pts (3-3, 0-0, 0-0) 9reb 3ast 0stl 0blk 2TO
Hollins ( A- ) -- if you've been scanning these grades looking for a good one, well here you finally go. Within the minor little confines of a Ryan Hollins game, Ryan had a good one, and he and Landry, and during the first half, Sessions, were largely responsible for our little bench runs that sustained the illusion this game wasn't over before the opening tip. The big key was that Hollins, who is a crap rebounder most nights, was big on the glass this time out. And that created his offense, such as it was, as well. He was 3-3 from the field, and two of those three were tip jam follows of a Sessions miss early, and a Stauskas miss to start the 4th. He added a nice little slip inside for another hoop in the 4th, and he was surpisingly physical on the boards against a physical frontline, including he and Adams getting tangled up once for a double foul, entirely appropriate given the approach those two guys take to every game. Just good work. I was going to go b= here, but there has to be SOME explanation how we hung in this one right? See? Ryan Hollins new nickname = The Answer. --Brick

Stats: 16min 5pts(2-5, 1-3, 0-0) 1reb 0ast 1stl 0blk 0TO
Stauskas ( D ) --Stauskas didn’t have a great game and it can be pin-pointed to two factors: Passivity and Defense. He was simply too passive in the 15 minutes of play that he did get. He did take 5 shots (making two of them), but there were times where he had good looks and he passed them up and the Kings never got another look as good as the one he passed up. I like the fact that he is willing to make the pass and that he isn’t a black hole, but he’s got to shoot the ball when there is a good look. As far as the defense goes, it really wasn’t too bad, it was just unbelievably horrible right at the start, and so that tends to stick with you. Right after coming in to the game he gave Morrow way, way, way too much space and Morrow hit back-to-back 3pt shots. Ouch, that isn’t how you want to start things off. Later in the game Morrow hit another 3pt shot where Nik fouled him for the 4pt play opportunity, but I’m not going to blame Nik for that as he went for the defensive rebound, didn’t get it, and OKC got the offensive rebound and kicked it to the open Morrow. Those four points really hurt, but not really Nik’s fault there. He played better defense after that though he has a tendency to collapse way too much into the paint when he’s on the weak-side and I wonder if that is the game plan or him collapsing too much, but it is a problem and one that hopefully is addressed. He also got killed on a screen defending Lamb later in the game, giving Lamb a free run at the basket, but other than those plays his defense was adequate. The one thing that I did like about Nik’s game was the fact that he is showing more willingness to put the ball on the floor to try and create either for himself or his teammates. They really need to get him involved in more pick-n-roll action, but I think a major issue has been his discomfort in handling the ball, and it looks as if he’s starting to begin to get more comfortable in that area, which will only lead to good things down the road. Still, for this game, he didn’t have much of an impact…and he gave up a lot more points than he made up for…and so it can’t be viewed as anything but a poor outing.--Uncia

Stats: 22min 14pts (6-8, 0-0, 2-3) 4reb 3ast 1stl 0blk 3TO
Landry ( B ) -- first of all, I owe an apology to Carl Landry. Last game out he has himself a strong game, but I got distracted by other things before I got his grade up, and then Coachgate broke open, and he ended up never getting a grade despite a strong game. Well, he gives me some opportunity here to make amends as he had himself a 2nd strong game in a row. It neither opened or closed well, with him brakceting his night with an illegal screen turnover, and then just randomly throwing the ball out of bounds for another one in our final ridiculous turnover filled stretch run. but in between those two extremes, it was Carl along with Sessions who brought us back in the second, and it was Carl getting a lot of the late minutes as well. And other than a +1 off of ball movement in the early 4th (but missed the +1) for the most part it was Carl not fighting his shortness issue against the long Thunder frontline -- unlike Reggie he has offensive options, and so for the most part he settled in from the wings and drained 18 foot jumpers like his successor Marresse Speights does in, you guessed it, Golden State. A big man not rebounding and shooting facing jumpers =/= a great game. But it was an effective offensive one, and with our backcourt pretty much getting one man manhandled by Westbrook, we needed all the points we could get to give Rudy just any kind of support at all.
--Brick

Stats: 17min 8pts (1-5, 0-2, 6-6) 1reb 0ast 1stl 0blk 0TO
Williams ( F ) -- I hate giving D. Will an F, especially after he had been playing well the last few games. But it is what it is, and I didn't think he was giving his best effort out there, and I judge Derrick by his effort as much as his results. One rebound!!!! Please!! If your shot isn't falling and nothing is going right, you can still rebound, and that's one thing Williams should always bring to the table. Its all about effort. He did score eight points, most of them from the freethrow liine. Defensively he made quite a few mistakes. On one sequence he totally lost his man on the right wing. Stauskas who was guarding Morrow, saw him open, and immediately ran to cover him, leaving Morrow open in the corner. I think we all know the result of that one. Time and time again, he forgot to switch on picks, leaving his teammate hanging out to dry --Baja

 

[pshn80]

I agree. It was neat to see us fight back a couple of times and take the brief lead but
I never felt we would pull it out.

 

[KingMilz]

#Collison way to passive lately, he passes up to many quality looks and lets Rudy Gay take over way to much
#Hollins I thought was terrific and he helped drag us back and help us get a lead just with his energy and hustle
#JT tried hard he competed didn't really have a match up
#Rudy Gay, the shot selection at point just got absurd, if anyone needs Cousins back as soon as possible it's Rudy.
#Reggie Evans played way to much Ibaka is a nightmare match up for him at both ends.
#Mclemore started well but lapses in concentration and a couple bricks made this a average game for him (last year this would probably be a good game for him), but I'm happy with Ben
#Nik.....his defense and passing off drives is just beyond awful right now
#Sessions...finally showed some explosiveness to the rim and did well until the 4th where he seemed to become what he was earlier in the year
#Derrick did a couple nice things, did solid work off the bench


Russell Westbrook is right now the biggest athletic freak in the NBA and the stuff he's been doing since his injury is just insane, that kid is a killer.

 

[swisshh]

Bench played well. They seem to do that once every two weeks. Team played with energy. That tends to happen after a coaching change.

Ultimately, it was the same thing we had been seeing, except with more defensive breakdowns.

 

[HereWeBoogie]

Same crap, different day coach

 

[HereWeBoogie]

i voted end of season for Corbin, not based on my prediction of his performance, but based on the fact the kings brass has no plan for a coach

 

[Jojimbo]

Until the end of the year, because **** it!

 

[VF21]

Our tradition of losing the game on any night that involves a jersey being raised into the rafters continues.

 

[Iced Espresso]

For the poll, around January first, I'm wagering Karl and the Kings come to a deal after the holidays. Corbin remains with the organization in some form.

 

[PurpleHaze]

For the poll, around January first, I'm wagering Karl and the Kings come to a deal after the holidays. Corbin remains with the organization in some form.

I hope so. Otherwise several other current NBA coaches could be fired by then and Karl might be lost to another organization because of Kings FO procrastination.

 

[King Baller]

Brick I must give you your due. You predicted the pitfalls of the losing streak. Also you identified early on that the Kings Brain Trust seemed to have multiple personalities. I'm sure you take little pleasure in being right, but there it is.

KB

 

[King Baller]

For the poll, around January first, I'm wagering Karl and the Kings come to a deal after the holidays. Corbin remains with the organization in some form.

This is likely once Vivek determines what a garden path Mully and Petey have led him down. George Karl will take some of Vivek's cash and then run the team just how he pleases.

 

[Iced Espresso]

I hope so. Otherwise several other current NBA coaches could be fired by then and Karl might be lost to another organization because of Kings FO procrastination.

I see Karl of having the opportunity with some pieces to build off of to make a statement to end his coaching career, with potential to have multiple seasons in the playoffs in the near future. New arena, new vibes, nice weather, a good way to close out his legacy. Honestly I think it may be good for him and us provided the FO gives him what he needs.

 

[Jojimbo]

This is likely once Vivek determines what a garden path Mully and Petey have led him down. George Karl will take some of Vivek's cash and then run the team just how he pleases.

I hope you're right and I hope it's not 5 years from now.

 

[Kingfanpaul]

Not even a minute of play for Ray. Being that one of the so called reasons for letting Malone go was player development, I was hoping Ray would get more time.

 

[Prince_XY]

#Sessions...finally showed some explosiveness to the rim and did well until the 4th where he seemed to become what he was earlier in the year

Sessions was actually bad except for that stretch of luck he had. We need to get this guy sitting at the end of the bench or trade him to the Knicks.

Sessions style of play is too slow and extremely lacking intensity. As the back-up PG he slows down the tempo of the game to the point that a lot of the passes/plays are easily telegraphed/anticipated by the other team. I don't know why he likes to make everything extremely slow when nothing good happens out of it. The guy slows down everybody, makes the game less fluid, and makes his team mates play with less intensity.

BTW, the new coach also looks like another incompetent one. He looked so lifeless and without energy or enthusiasm coaching his players.

 

[John Galt]

I hope Rudy's grade is bumped up by a full score for posterizing Ibaka like that. That dunk was spine-tingling, up there with my favorites by a King (the greatest being 'the one' by Jim Jackson)

 

[PBNJ85]

Russell Westbrook. Best non MVP of the league.

 

[KingMilz]

I hope Rudy's grade is bumped up by a full score for posterizing Ibaka like that. That dunk was spine-tingling, up there with my favorites by a King (the greatest being 'the one' by Jim Jackson)

The Ronnie Price one on Boozer was my favorite.

 

[Gilles]

*I like to joke about Nik as much as anybody, but his defense is actually decent in its core. It's just the same decease Ben had last season of leaving his guy too much, and Stauskas has all the trouble in the world with screens due to a lack of technique to fight through, while also being pretty slow and weak.

*Ben is not ready for Russ, and at some point he just started to gamble on screens and got burnt every time - not his day defensively.

*Ramon obviously enjoyed Malone being canned, but taking personal feelings aside when there was an opportunity to push the ball Sessions looked like a 6th man, instant offense type of guy, that Kings sorely missed so far. When early offense didn't present itself though, he reverted back to old Sessions, we all enjoyed so much this season. If Boogie doesn't quit on the team, and Corbin is able to get starting unit back to what they were doing pre-virus, this new bench play might be a difference-maker.

*Williams with his patented 1 FGM, 1 rebound game, but at least he made all of his 6 FTs. I remember, somebody wondered, if he's able hit both FTs, so here's the answer, 3 times in a row.

*Boogie will be a head coach in two years. The way he instantly developed Hollins with his polished post move and 9 rebounds in 17 minutes (I saw Boogie explaining something to Hollins for half a minute, must've been a crash course on how to play as an NBA center )
P.S. Team came out confused not knowing, whether they should play hard. Bench was much more enthusiastic, and eventually starters joined, but game was never in jeopardy for Thunder.

 

[KingMilz]

Ben is not ready for Russ, and at some point he just started to gamble on screens and got burnt every time - not his day defensively.

)

Honestly there's not a single human being atm that is ready for him

 

[Warhawk]

Our tradition of losing the game on any night that involves a jersey being raised into the rafters continues.

Well, technically, they didn't raise it, they just retired it. They plan to do that at the next game after the first quarter I think.

 

[chasen4r1]

The Ronnie Price one on Boozer was my favorite.

That Ronnie Price dunk is up there, for sure. I think my favorite was Gerald Wallace dunking over someone on the Rockets. I was at this game and, while even though it was preseason, I was worried the roof at Arco might pop off.

 

[ppine]

Playing against the likes of D and W is a daunting task. The Kings stayed in the game and made some pushes to be competitive. Durant with the 8 foot wing span and one of the greatest shots in NBA history. People are starting to see that Westbrook really is a true basketball freak. He does everything well with speed and power.

I never thought I would be so happy to see Cousins back in the lineup. He is clearly the team leader. Rudy's a gifted player but not comfortable being the lead guy. He needs Cousins.

Has anyone noticed that Reggie Evans is really a crummy defender? Rebounding fool, with limited offense. I always assumed he must a good defensive player. I want to like the guy, in the mold of Acy and even J Brockman. But if you watch him away from the ball is not good on defense.
Sessions must have gone to the same finishing school as John Salmons, gliding around the floor looking like they are ready to take a nap on the bench. Ramon was a good player at the U of Nevada, but he was younger and more energetic then.

 

[CruzDude]

"A jazz director!" Thats what Vivek is to have said he needs according to James Ham in a special to ESPN. Hmm. My father-in-law was a jazz director at times while also the head of the music department at Cal Poly Pomona. Jazz musicians are notoriously independent each with their own style yet able to jam with each other while creating their own sound (play). In jazz there is no winning or losing per se just good, better, great or poor music. And not necessarily the same any two gigs. They always experiment and try new things, sometimes during a gig.

I shudder to think there is any similarity in jazz directing with NBA basketball coaching, at least from my perspective. Now if that jazz director is also a really good arranger and can get the musicians on the same page playing the same tune, well then, I'll take that. Wonder which one Vivek is thinking about?

@ESPNNBA: Kings owner Vivek Ranadive on the firing of coach Michael Malone: "What we need is a jazz director." (via @james_ham) http://t.co/g4IAKH0ZQ2

 

[pshn80]

This was a better loss than some of the recent ones. We came back, we had some runs, had a brief lead. Major factors in our loss - we out turnover end them AND Westbrook and Durant. Let's take what we learned and beat Milwaukie.

 

[kingsboi]

I appreciate the effort even though we had no chance of winning this game...Westbrook and Durant got whatever they wanted with absolutely no sweat, sickening. Gay is really bad at defense...he gets fatigued easily in games I notice. Collison has been a no show since the Lakers game.