[Grades] Grades v. TWolves 11/10/10

[Bricklayer]

Bad bad loss. BAD loss.

The only good news is that since it was Minny/Sacto, nobody but us actually watched it (including nobody being at Arco). The bad news is that we actually DID watch it.

I'll figure out a theme. Can't double dip on the pretty girls, since we had them last time. Somebody gave me a Pretty Boys list that wil go up some game, but I won't further torture people with that tongiht. Somebody else has a suggestion for a Donte related theme, but maybe not quite right now that he returned briefly from the dead. I'll figure something.

Okay, time to grit the ole teeth and do this one. Needed somethign cheery, so theme this morning will be: The Best of Me


Casspi ( B- ) -- unable to slow Beasley from the very beginning, but ws raggedly but aggressively running the floor for breakouts. Late in the half made a dangerous pass that knifed through the defense to Dalembert for the dunk. Two inches to the left or right and its a TO, as it was it almost appeared to bend around two Wolves and hit Daly right in the hands. Was the first and only King to get his shooting going as he sit several big threes in the 4th as we tried to hang on, but then got baited into running over Beasley and sending him to the line to help squelch any thoughts we had of coming back. Hit a big three, but missed an open critical one at the 2:30 mark that effectively ended our chances of closing the gap and trying to steal it. Tough grade, because Omri not only was the only King to get his shooting going, but also by t he end led the team in scoring (with a modest 17), and yet the defining trait fo this game was his (and others) complete inability to defend Beasley -- should be noted that I have some beef with Westphal on that point, as after you have tried half your roster on a guy and he has torched all of them, why the hell not double team him?? He scored nearly half their points. And its the Wolves. Who else over there is going to beat you if you shut down Beasley? Anyway, just have to represent Omri getting his butt kicked on that end in this grade somehow. 17pts for your starting SF, 42pts against isn't exactly a great triumph.

Landry ( D ) -- sigh. We've got a lot of things going wrong right now, and Landry might be tops on that list. He is just killing us out there, for no apparent reason. Coming into a contract year, he had a poor camp, and its just carried over. Don't get it. One thing I do get is that he really shouldn't be starting -- this is a guy who made a rep as an energetic dynamic sparkplug off the bench for Houston, and its hard to imagine a less dynamic presence than what he has been giving us as a starter. Its like having Shareef back wiht the bum knees. And yet the day that Westphal moved Daly into the starting lineup he announced that he hoped it would be the last starting linuep change of the season -- somebody else already posted a facepalm pic so I won't bother. Shot poorly in the early going of this one, nor really much on the glass, and ended up losing most of his first half minutes. Love wasn't doing much (although we had Carl hidden on Darko half the time) so it wasn't that his man was killing us. It was just Carl not doing anything to argue for staying out there. After more indifferent minutes in the third, was brought back in the early 4th I think to be our goto weapon with Reke fouled out, and was just completely passive offensively -- so much so that he too was eventually replaced by Jackson, who if nothing else has been dependable. The rebounding was a little better today. Nothing else was, and watching him out there there is no way if this is the first time you had seen him that you would have thought he was a talented player expected to average ini the high teens this season.

Dalembert ( B+) -- adn through all the negatives, Daly keeps chugging along. Just knows how to play. Was easily squishing Darko early, not a big statistical half, but some nice defense and rebounding plays intimidating, getting his hands on balls. Came out of the locker toom in the third with a set play to get him an alley oop from Evans, one of several of those hookups on the night as they have been developing some chemistry -- maybe Daly can be Chandler to Evans' CP3 for us. Nice show way up top on Telfair, and then recovering all the way back to defend Darko in the post on the pass. Big block on Beasley in the mid-3rd and turned to the crowd for a big celebration. Repeatedly put in the postion of an offensive scorer down the stretch and had no choice to put it up and give us offense as we clung to life. Another strong effort, and that's great, but when Samuel Dalembert is your best player on the night chances are you aren't going to win the game. He's supposed to be the strong support roleplayer, not the guy holding everything together.

 

[Bricklayer]

Udrih ( B ) -- impressive looking statline that was considerably less os uif you watched the game. Scored on an early layup, but otherwise not much and was one of the first guys subbed out. Started the second and got it into gear hitting his little pullups and igniting the break. Even made a few defensive plays, which is significant because otherwise he mostly got torched by another nobody (Telfair) and I don't know what the answer there is (nor apparently does Westphal). Intrerestingly was still turning down threes and instead trying to dribble in for hsort jumpers until he finally hit one in the mid-3rd. Is only shooting shooting .176 on the year, and does not look confident at all ont hat shot, and I don't know why. Came up with a beautiful spin move and pullup hit in the last minute of the third, but could not hit the shot to tie it at the buzzer going into the 4th. With Reke fouling out so prematurely, it was Beno's show down the stretch, but it failed rather miserably as a showcase. There was no goto guy and nobody who could create their own offense, and Beno wasn't helping create for them. So we ended up just passing the ball around the perimeter and forcing up challenged shots, and politely lost to the worst team in the league. Mayeb showed why he doesn't have confidence from three point land when he airballed a three from the top with 5:00 to go.

Evans ( D ) -- went back and forth and all around on this grade. Essentially what it came down to was this: the Wolves were absolutely determined to collapse to stop Reke's penetration, and our "shooters" couldn't hit the broad side of Shaq. And the best part of Reek's game tonight was that he responded by doing avery ncie job of drawing tons of attention and dumping passes to open guys all over the court. It also looked liek we were going to try to work him in the post in the early going, but we went away from that fairly quickly. So that was the good. But the problem is that was the good. And despite all the "pure PG" stuff that gets tossed around, that is NOT what we need out of reke. We need him to dominate. Particularly on a nngith when an opposing guy is dropping 42 on us. Our lineup is full of kids and career benchers. Reke has got to be the man, and he simply wasn't. didn't look quite sure how he wanted to attack the defense, and never looked terribly determined to, adn so our star played the game of aroleplaye. Using that starness to draw attention and kick, sure. But other than maybe 5 minutes ot start the third, never dominating any stretch of the game. And then there was the foul trouble again. And how. Picked up 2 fouls in the final 30 seconds of the first quarter, the first on a questionable charging call, which signficantly dimmed our prospects. Got his thrid on another charge late in the half, picked up tow more on ill advised hustle plays after half, and fouled out on a blatant and stupid charge running over Telfair at full gallop in the open court (the 5 TOs are a bit deceptive as 3 were charges). And that again is just something that he cannot do. Two times in three games he has shut himself down with fouls, and while these were tough calls on hsutle plays and charge calls (including one that should not have been called) he just can't do that. He even almost got hurt again as he finally got his first hoop on a great swoop to the hoop in the third to give us a 4pt lead and amazingly got his ankle twisted yet again when he stepped on a damn cameraman. In the game of our discontent, Reke was posterchild. Did some things that had merit, but this was not the performance we need out of him to consistently compete.

Bench

Cousins ( C+ ) -- this was a tale of two halves for DeMarcus, who had a very strong first stint that only began to fall apart at the very end, and shaky, and limited minutes therafter as he looked confused, began to force, and started turning the bal over left and right. Was in early for Landry and went right into the post against Darko and got to the line. Was active and energetic, started grabbing some tough tough boards on the offensive glass and taking them on up, and even finally drew a successful charge in the press at midcourt. Nice pases to guards too. Strong stretch there from the late first into the mid second. Even the man defense was looking betetr for a while, albeit only against Darko. But near the end of that stint he seemed to get a little wild, and may have been tiring. And after half so much of the good got washed away in a rush of forces and turnovers that left him fruistrated and lookign clueless on how he wanted to attack. It also left him without his customary "down the stretch" minutes, a move which made sense in the case of Dalembert, less so in the case of Landry or Jackson. And really, this is the Cousins to the bench worst case scenario still playing out. Daly has played very well, he's eating up more and more minutes as the critical (and only) defensive anchor, and DeMarcus does not look like he knows how ot play off the bench and is being increasingly marginalized.

Garcia ( C+ ) -- I wanted to like this performance by Cisco, but the simple fact of the matter was he couldn't shoot worth beans tonight, and as our designated shootist, if he's not shooting worth beans we are in trouble. Did a nice job on defense after coming in, making the first (and virtually only) impact on Beasley, who despite his college position is prima3rily just a jumpshooter in the pros. Not knocking down his shots thguoh, and only 1-6 from 3pt land. Should also note in a bummer loss all the flopping and dram queening and faking injuries and stuff gets far less amusing and I wanted to just shout "grow a pair!" after a while. Came up with a nice basket saving hustle block late in the 4th on the break. Lot to like if he just could have shot the damn ball. In fact wiyht decent shooting this might be our highest grade. There wasn't decent shooting.

 

[Bricklayer]

Greene ( INC ) -- holy George Romero Batman! Back from beyond the grave, Donte came, Donte saw, Donte returned to the bench having accomplished little. Got the first quarter look wiht Beasley killing us, a frist quarter sighting with Beaseley killing us. Not able to slow him. Got fouled and split a pair of FTs, and that was that. Not exactly the stirring return to action.

Head ( INC ) -- was in briefly with Reke's foul trouble mostly because Westphal absolutely insists on playing every single person and mucking up rotations whenever huymanly possible. Looked bad. Missed one of his leaning trees, added a bad pass turnover. Left after 3 minutes.

Thompson ( C ) -- in to start the 2nd and immediately got an offensive foul. Was quickly yanked but back in, as a SF of course, when Beasley returned and forced a turnover with active defense. A little pressure on Beasley on defense too as he went at him in the post. Dived full length trying to save a ad pass and splatted under the hoop. Lost conrol of Beasley though as he was unable to stay with him outside and he started raining jumpers on us again. Delivered a hard foul to Brewer with 7:00 to go in the 4th. Repeatedly split pairs of FTs on the night.

Jackson ( D ) -- you know, its not Darnell's fault at all, because he again was solid (with a huge wart, see below) but our rotations are completely fractured right now, and I can't help but feeling that Darnell is the bowling ball who did it. Landry, JT, Donte, Cousins, Hassan...basically every big on the roster except Dalembert has felt the ripple effect from this particualr stone being dropped. int he water. Started the 2nd getting to play PF while Jason had to play SF, and outlasted JT as he got to play his natual position. Hit a baseline J and just played simple meat and potatoes basketball as a finisher while racking up points. In early for Landry in the third and while he continued to get finishes in aroud the rim, you began to notice that somethign else was missing -- namely he outLandryed Landry and grabbed a grand totla of zero rebounds in 23 minutes of action. In late in the 4th again for the ineffective Landry and immediately made a bad mistake and fouled Love beyond the 3pt line. Luckily he hit only 1 of the 3 FTs, but we never threatened therafter.

Wright ( INC ) -- in in the late 3rd for the first time as again Westphal will leave no scrub unturned. Of course a defensive specialist...who came in and immediately got beat by Telfair. Then got beat by Beasley. Then sat back down.

 

[kingsboi]

I should of never watched this game in the first place. I can't believe a Kings game was this boring to me, I can't remember the last time I said this. I don't know whether it's just the opponent or just not giving a crap anymore since the players are so awful at what they do and how sloppy the offense/defense/coaching substitutions are. My god, I know we are rebuilding, but watching youth should be fun & give life to the fans! Not dull them to death.

 

[The Hammer]

We reduce turnovers to a respectable 12, that's seven less chances for them, say 7-10 less points, and 7-10 more points for us. That's a 14-20 pt. swing. That's the game. But turnovers aren't strictly a mathematical issue. They kill any momentum you may be building, and the create momentum for the other team. It totally takes you out of rhythm and prevents you from going on those runs that you always need a few of in any game you want to win. Our TO's weren't quality TO's either. They were lazy, lazy passes. Just bad ones. Over and over. We could have still won this game even with Beasley beasting, and us playing not so hot defense. There's no way we could have won this game giving the ball over as many times, and in that ways that we did. Absolutely no way.

 

[Capt. Factorial]

How about "beer". That's a theme we can all get into after a loss like this one.

 

[PurpleHaze]

I vote TOs although there were a couple other choice farts. How many of Tyreke's 6 fouls were charges - at least 3 although I think it was 4. UGH!

 

[Circa_1985_Fan]

So...when will PW figure out he needs to switch Landry for Cousins...I know Cousins is a kid, but we're getting killed with bigger forwards that can shoot from the outside...DMC needs to be in to lay some lumber down! 14 minutes and 3 shots is horrible...it's time to realize that Landry needs to be the Super 6th for us...or even 7th...our bench would be more rounded with him too.

 

[Kingster]

Bad bad loss. BAD loss.

The only good news is that since it was Minny/Sacto, nobody but us actually watched it (including nobody being at Arco). The bad news is that we actually DID watch it.

I'll figure out a theme. Can't double dip on the pretty girls, since we had them last time. Somebody gave me a Pretty Boys list that wil go up some game, but I won't further torture people with that tongiht. Somebody else has a suggestion for a Donte related theme, but maybe not quite right now that he returned briefly from the dead. I'll figure something.

placeholder...

Yes, Donte returned from the dead. He is one of the walking dead.

 

[Kingster]

So...when will PW figure out he needs to switch Landry for Cousins...I know Cousins is a kid, but we're getting killed with bigger forwards that can shoot from the outside...DMC needs to be in to lay some lumber down! 14 minutes and 3 shots is horrible...it's time to realize that Landry needs to be the Super 6th for us...or even 7th...our bench would be more rounded with him too.

First Gay torches the Kings. Then Beasley. We have no athlete that can guard these guys. We're going to get killed by athletic 3s all year, barring a trade. Just can't wait for the Miami game....

 

[PurpleHaze]

As far as a theme. How about all-time torchings by opposing players laid on Sacramento Kings. The Tony Delk memorial award.

 

[RookieOfTheDay]

The 3 and 1 start was fools gold and I think it did the team more harm than good because it gave them a false sense of confidence. None of those games were won convincingly. They were all come from behind wins Vs. bad teams. They're very lucky they aren't 0 and 7 right now. Back to reality. Let's face it, The Kings still suck.

I must admit that I (foolishly) got my hopes up just like a lot of folks did after the 3 and 1 start but that hope has faded now. They're losing to middle and low tier teams at home during the easiest stretch of the season. They still have 4 of the next 5 at home but that doesn’t mean much because they’re now 0 and 3 in their last 3 home games. So much for reestablishing that good ol' Arco home court advantage. The schedule only gets tougher after the end of November. If something doesn’t drastically change, soon, they’ll be 10 or 12 games under 500 by Christmas.

It’s easy to blame Westphal for the starting rotation constantly changing. But if you stop and think about it, the team is comprised of mostly bench quality players so it stands to reason that it’d be difficult to settle on a starting lineup when the teams lacks starter quality players in general.

Lowest salary in the NBA = one of the worst teams in the NBA. You get what you pay for in life and basketball players are no exception to that rule.

But hey, they’ll get better next year, right? LOL!

 

[Jechtsphere]

How can you pick one? We missed 12 free throws and if we continue to shoot 60% on FT's even in games we play well we will lose.

 

[LWP777]

Even though we will probably end up with more wins this year, last year was so much more fun to watch. Terrible arena, tons of empty seats, lifeless play. This is depressing. I think it's time for them to move to Seattle.

 

[LWP777]

Couldn't agree more with your post.

I should of never watched this game in the first place. I can't believe a Kings game was this boring to me, I can't remember the last time I said this. I don't know whether it's just the opponent or just not giving a crap anymore since the players are so awful at what they do and how sloppy the offense/defense/coaching substitutions are. My god, I know we are rebuilding, but watching youth should be fun & give life to the fans! Not dull them to death.

 

[RookieOfTheDay]

Even though we will probably end up with more wins this year, last year was so much more fun to watch. Terrible arena, tons of empty seats, lifeless play. This is depressing. I think it's time for them to move to Seattle.

What good would a move to Seattle do? The problem isn't Sacramento, the problem is The Kings.

 

[SacTownKid]

Why did Cousins only play 13 minutes in this one? He was going off and then Westphal stuffed him until near the end of the 3rd.

 

[pshn80]

I couldn't find what I wanted so I picked turnovers. What I was looking for was "extremely poor play by the team". The team was not working at any time during the game no matter what lineup, no matter offense or defense. Too many (most) players contributed significantly to poor team play and nobody tried to save the day. I was there and it was an awful Kings fan experience. I promised myself I would get through this post without mentioning or alluding to any one player. Didn't have to, it was truly a shared team experience.

 

[pshn80]

Why did Cousins only play 13 minutes in this one? He was going off and then Westphal stuffed him until near the end of the 3rd.

He was playing awful and was totally frustrated as usual lately.

 

[sackings]

How well did donte perform?! I did not get a chance to watch the game.

 

[SacTownKid]

He was playing awful and was totally frustrated as usual lately.

I didn't see that at all early. He struggeled when he came back in late but he was already sitting on the bench for a long time. That first stretch he had like 7 points and 5 boards in like 9 minutes. Sitting him for that long after made no sense to me. It's hard to break back into a game after sitting for that long.

 

[jon e]

As far as a theme. How about all-time torchings by opposing players laid on Sacramento Kings. The Tony Delk memorial award.

i like this... who gets the ben handlogten award?

 

[Andre87]

I smell another 25 wins season coming...

 

[RookieOfTheDay]

I smell another 25 wins season coming...

Sure looks that way. I guess we should all start hoping for another top 5 pick, lol.

 

[QoooooQ]

I think this looks like a team that can reach a win total in the low 30s. We seem to be about even with the lower half of the league which will net us about 20 wins, then we sneak in 10 wins against upper half teams on good nights. Generally we don't seem to have home court advantage against any opponent.

 

[kingsnation]

Only the Kings can turn Michael Beasley (42 points on 17/31 shooting) into Kobe Bryant. Seriously that's a Iverson/Kobe line, yet we gave it to Beasley and the laughably bad Wolves in our house.

Pathetic.

In 13 years as a Kings fan - I've always waited to blame the coach as my last option - until now. Westphal sucks.

There's no way around it. Greene is gone, DMC got 14 minutes. Are you kidding me? Darnell Jackson got 20+ min... Don't forget JT.
Landry gave us another monster statline of 4 and 5.

It seems that sometimes our bright future is dimmed by our dull coach.

 

[DeMoN]

Only the Kings can turn Michael Beasley (42 points on 17/31 shooting) into Kobe Bryant. Seriously that's a Iverson/Kobe line, yet we gave it to Beasley and the laughably bad Wolves in our house.

Pathetic.

In 13 years as a Kings fan - I've always waited to blame the coach as my last option - until now. Westphal sucks.

There's no way around it. Greene is gone, DMC got 14 minutes. Are you kidding me? Darnell Jackson got 20+ min... Don't forget JT.
Landry gave us another monster statline of 4 and 5.

It seems that sometimes our bright future is dimmed by our dull coach.

LOL @ bringing Donte in for desperate defense on Beasely then taking him out 3 minutes later, and never playing him again while the whole game we continue to get torched the ennnnnnnnnntire evening by him.

 

[Boogie-havoc]

I don't get why people complain about Darnell Jackson getting minutes.. so far he earned every minute he got on the floor, and quite frankly should get more from how he plays.

 

[FaStRmAn]

I don't get why people complain about Darnell Jackson getting minutes.. so far he earned every minute he got on the floor, and quite frankly should get more from how he plays.

Totally agree with this! Jackson is not the problem. His play has been solid and he hasn't taken games off or just went through the motions. Jackson, it can be argued, has been our most consistent player all year. He shows up and only does what he can to help the team win. He plays within himself, never trying to do too much. We NEED MORE players like D. Jackson!

This game really made me sick in my stomach. I think Tyreke is more hurt than he is letting on. His quick moves to the basket were not that quick against the T-Pups. I think that the Kings need to trade for a top flight scoring 3 who can play defense and trade players if necessary. Is Beasley really so good that he is totally unguardable by anyone on the Kings team? Really? I find that hard to believe. If so, we have one of the worst defensive teams in the league. They MUST shore up the SF position! Casspi is SOOOO Up and down, you dont know whether to pat him on the back or hit him across the face and tell him to wake UP! Donte Greene still looks a little winded after his stint in the game. Hopefully after tonights efforts, Greene will be able to work his way back into the rotation. Whatever the Kings Rotation IS! The Kings Rotation is so haphazard that you would think a stoner came up with it. Pass the Duchie from the Left Hand Side! But seriously, there is no rhyme nor reason for the way players are subbed in and out. I can understand the team would like to have difined roles. But Coach PW cant seem to stay with the same rotation more than 1 or 2 games before he starts tinkering with the chemistry. Hope he finds the proper rotation and sticks with it. And find a SF before we have to play Miami and get totally embarassed !!

 

[Spike]

Keeping with the theme: