Grades v. Warriors 11/09

Which young player had the most impressive game for the Kings?

  • Bobby Brown

    Votes: 30 37.5%
  • Spencer Hawes

    Votes: 40 50.0%
  • Jason Thompson

    Votes: 1 1.3%
  • Rob Kurz

    Votes: 9 11.3%

  • Total voters
    80
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Bricklayer

Don't Make Me Use The Bat
#1
So a team that two years ago ran you out of the gym with an explosive crew of Baron Davis, Jason Richardson, Stephen Jackson, Al Harrington, Andris Biedrins, Monte Ellis and Matt Barnes, now comes into Arco and throws out CJ Watson, Kenneth Azubuike, Jackson, Biedrins, Brandon Wright, DeMarcus Nelson, and Rob Kurz. Now THAT's some good front office work.

Salmons ( B ) -- of course the push push right to the lottery style is right up John's ally, and he got off ot the fast start. Not sure whether he got hurt, or did something wrong or what, but after the fast start Reggie got the kids minutes by simply not playing John anymore in the half. Brad racked up 17+ min, Mikki 13+, John only the opening 6. Back out picking up where he left off in the third, and hsi push helped us open it up to double digits where it pretty much stayed. Defense was not as good as the past couple of games, nor was this the best rounded of efforts. But probably outplayed a sloppy as usual Stephen Jackson in limited minutes (24).

Moore ( B ) -- did not get much going to start vs. the emerging Brandon Wright except his normal foul trouble, but got going in the second quarter late as the Warriors mysteriously threw out on the court Notre Dame's latest great white stiff contribution to the league (the immortal Rob Kurtz). Short minutes after half with the Warriors not even trying ot put up a fight, during which he uncharacteristically blocked a few shots along the way (given our atrocious perimeter defense in hte early going he certainly had plenty of opportunities with slashers charging the rim at will).

Miller ( A- ) -- active start, and contiunes to look more mobile than he did even a couple of years ago and got to the hoop numerous times with the decepive head fake and lumber into the paint maneuver. Mostly tried to finsih them too rather than his too common fall on his back and look for the foul routine. As predicted again and again set up Kevin for backdoor layups, and was a significant factor in Kevin's good night. Began to let Biedrins dominate the glass in the second quarter however, and probably fought him to no better than a draw ont he night. Made some hustle plays to help Kevin in the early third and his night would have and should have been done until the Warriors cut it down to 13 late in the 4th, and Reggie threw both he and Salmons back out onto the floor to secure things.

Martin ( A ) -- of course the push push right to the lottery style is right up Kevin's ally too and this was all too easy for him for most of the night. At least on one end of the court -- was alternating spectacular takes on one end with shoddy defense on the other as CJ Watson and friends ran right by him at will. Was probably on his way to a 35-40pt night assuming he did not tire until he took a hard fall in the third quarter. And this was no flop. Think he was either trying to spin up a shot after contact, or was trying to spin away from the 2nd player coming over to challenge the shot, but either way he was clipped in mid air and spun around out of control and splatted. Had to leave the game limping, although walked out on his own power. Guess we'll see. The defense here could argue this down into the A- category, as could the calber of competition and stat inflation a game played at this pace creates, but this was still a point a minute outing, and while Brad deserves considerable credit for a lot of it, Kevin himself had some nifty moves we don't normally see out of him -- including a power dunk and maybe the first behind the back escape dribble I think I've ever seen him attempt. So straight A this time. Clearly the best player (offensive player) on the floor while he was out there.

Udrih ( C+ ) -- Not terrible, but continuing to play the weak sister role amongst the starters. Got off to the pretty good start in the wild pickup game that this one began as, but came up with largely empty 2nd quarter minutes and I think of all the starters his minutes might have been the ones limited as much by performance as anything else. Continues to combine with Kevin for some truly horrific perimter defense, but against the embarrassing lack of talent calling itself the Warriors backcourt at this point it was not a fatal flaw. And he did stick his head in there a few times to scoop up some of the loose balls when the Warriors got sloppy.

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Hawes ( A- ) -- first big off the bench in place of Mikki, and if you guessed that Spencer's response to a smallballing run n' gunning up and down free for all would be to join right in and start chucking threes, you win a cookie. Fit right in, and that was a little drool (well a little more drool) that you saw dripping down Nellie's jowels. Was pretty perimeter oriented in the first half, but did come up with a big block at the rim and was able to grab a lot of boards with all the smallballing going on. In the second half got his inside work going on against the likes of Rob Kurz, with some nifty moves as usual, but also some odd awkward forces given that he towered over everybody normally guarding him. Put up another impressive statline in limited minutes, but made a number of mistakes and slop, fumbling the ball around the gym and again getting himself in quick foul trouble. Kid clearly needs to start, but if he wants to advance that argument he has to prove he is going to be able to make it 30min a night wihtout fouling out.

Thompson ( B- ) -- came in impressively putting Turiaf on his *** with nice step through post move that may have resulted in Turiaf's permanent benching by Nellie, but was otherwise suffering from that too much activty for too little production bug he somtimes does, and was only something like 1-5 or 2-6 at half. At least the minutes were more regular this time out with the Warriors barely competitive, and Reggie benching various vets for extended stretches to experiment with the kids. In the second half renwed the activity, but was more effective with it. Of course then again his 2nd half opponents were often fellow rookies Anthony Randolph and Rob Kurz, so perhaps that was to be expected. Some flashes of niftiness here, but I think that the strong per minute numbers overstated the positive impact this time out.

Brown ( A- ) -- another push game lover of course, and came into the game firing and thinking hey, this is just like the playgrounds. Probably also was thinking hey, some of the guys I played on the playground were better than CJ Watson and Demarcus Nelson. And hey, even my mom is better than Rob Kurz. In any case, started things off nicely with a pair of immediate hits from outside, and then a nice open court alley oop to Jason Thompson late in the half. Was going well enough that when he came in for Kevin after Kevin went down in the third, we did not lose much. Still out there mostly to shoot, but when teamed with fellow combo guard BJax the two add up to almost one full PG. And the shooting mentality actually helped when he had to fill in once Kevin left the game.

Jackson ( B+ ) -- in for a minute in the first half just to say hi to the fans and launch a (missed) three, but got a much longer stretch in the second half of extended semi-garbagetime. Was maybe the most like an old Bobby game we have seen this season, with tough inside play and some hustle plays. Missed a lot of shots, but the points started coming late as well.

Williams ( INC ) -- in for a few minutes early, and then a few as Reggie experimented with the big Spencer/Thompson/Williams frontline again. The game was maybe too fast for him and he couldn't get anything to go down.

Greene ( INC ) -- Hey, what do you know, even Donte Greene got a little run in the 4th, and it was pre-true garbagetime as well. Was kind of an odd sub by Reggie at about the 9-10 minute mark of the 4th, I am guessing brought on by the Kevin injury, but not sure. In any case had one nice offensive board using his size over a guy's back, and later on got a couple of FTs. Still just a flash here and there stuff, and replaced downt eh stretch as the Warriors had closed within theoretical striking distance and reggie went back to Salmons.

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Theus ( A- ) -- A much better night for kiddie development, to whatever degree you can develop players in a glorified summer league matchup. Actually, not even glorified -- some of those summer league teams had more talent than what the Warriors threw out there tongiht. Basically this was one of those silly little games Don Nelson likes to engage in even when he doesn't have the talent to make it work, and more closely resembled rec league ball than the NBA. It was different than in years past, when playing at this pace was a trap the Warriors tricked you into while they ran you into the ground. Now we have a whole bunch of young guys who really aren't mature enough to scare anybody in the halfcourt, but who love to just get out and run around withotu a conscience, and meanwhile the Warriors lost their star PG, then their best returning player, and just aren't at that same level of talent. So now maybe the pace is a push, or even to our advantage. Of course it was still a trap of sorts, as we were playing some incredibly loose and fundamentally unsound ball out there. Just run around, chuck up a shot, half *** it back to the other end of the court, wait until they shoot so you can run back down and chuck up another shot. It was just a talent question. The Warriors played all 12 guys on their roster tonight, and of the 12 you had maybe THREE who are established NBAers not on their rookie contracts. With 2 of the 3 of the Stephen Jackson/Maggette/Ellis trio out for this one, Jackson, Biedrins, and then Rony Turiaf (for 1:18 seconds) were about it. The rest of the garbage? CJ Watson, DeMarcus Nelson, Kenneth Azubuike, Brandon Wright (who will one day be good), Anthony Randolph, Rob Kurz (signed off the street), Anthony Morrow, Marco Bellinelli, and Marcus Williams. Yikes. Yikes or no, our defense was almost as pathetic as theirs in the first half, and there were zones popping up all over the place trying to disguise the lack of individual defenders...or defensive effort. Reggie's substitution patterns in this one were a complete mystery to me -- Salmons plays only 6 minutes before half. Donte Greene is brought in at the start of the 4th quarter, but does not make it to the end. We trot out three big guys together in a run n gun game, etc. -- but since the net result was that the kids got pretty decent time, as a group at least, it was all good.
 
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Gary

All-Star
#3
How about 28 points 21 rebounds 6 assists 5 blocks from our centers?

Way to go Brad/Spencer! I know Hawes played quite a bit of 4 tonight, but still.. Damn fine game by Brad and Spence!
 
#5
Can anyone tell me why Marcus Williams is not playing? He can't be worse than C.J. Watson or DeMarcus Nelson, even if he doesn't 'know the system', or whatever.
 
#6
No need to put Kelenna Azubuike in the "scrub" category. He was a breakout player last year, helped my fantasy team early on before he wilted a little...but definitely not a bonafide scrub.
 
#7
I was under the impression that Salmons was in for pretty long when I watched the game, like I thought he was the only starter remaining on the floor with Hawes Brown Bjax and Jason. Then at the start of the second shelden came in and Kevin came back in for Bjax?
 
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