[Grades] Grades v. Warriors 4/4/2014

[Bricklayer]

WANTED:
Professional basketball players, any position, any size
Must know how to: a) pass or b) shoot or c) defend. In the absence of all of the above willingness to compete will be considered.

So..uh...no. If you taped it, don't bother. All season long Mark Jackson has made his former assistant look like, well, an assistant. nothing changed tonight. Our rookies were just completely overwhelmed. The only person who showed up, after being critically taken out of the game again by fouls, was Cousins. Maybe a little JT off he bench. The grand total of everything we did that was not fugly during the entire game was this third quarter "play" Ray dribbles the ball up the floor, belatedly realizes his high difficulty chucks aren't working, and just slides the ball over to Cuz. Cuz throws the ball into the hoop. Rinse, repeat. The majority of Ray's "assists" were on that exact sequence, as were the majority of Cuz's points. And that was it. Everything else was horrible, this beadown reached 70-29 proportions before we "rallied". Ben and Cunningham almost airballed their attempts to get us over the 70 mark in the final seconds. Awful awful awful. I almost feel sorry for the poor Girls who are going to get their faces plastered all over this fugliness.

Your Consoritum Gluttons for Punishment tonight:
Bricklayer
Uncia03
Rainmaker
Capt. Factorial
Bajaden

Boxscore

Stats: 28min 10pts (2-8, 1-1, 5-7) 3reb 0ast 0stl 0blk 3TO
Gay ( D- ) -- within 2 minutes of the start of this game here was our dire situation: we were starting two rookies against the most potent backcourt in the league, one of our three 20pt scoring types was out with an "injury", another has just been taken out of the game by fouls within 2minutes, and our third was being guarded by one of the best defenders in the league. And Rudy played like it. Too hard boucne pass to Ray on an out of bounds play bounced away for a turnover, as we racked up 9TOs I the first quarter alone. Eventually got into foul trouble before making any impact whatsoever and went to the bench for DWill, who wasn't any better. There was one brief moment of semi-life in the mid 2nd where both he and Cuz went back to back to back and maybe...just maybe you were thinking ok we can struggle back and make this at least respectable. Did not happen for us, or Rudy. He did manage to lead us in first half scoring, with 9, but it was a messy struggle. And we went right into the third just as selfish as we had ended the first half. One pass at most, sometimes none, as everybody just tried to 1 on 1 tough shots. And even though Rudy is really good at those, not tonight. While Cousins came on in a big way in the 3rd, he was all alone out there as Rudy went dead silent and gave way again for DWill and never returned. Just a nothing night, and with the rookies giving less than nothing....bad.--Brick

Sarah Hyland

Stats: 14min 5pts (2-3, 0-0, 1-2) 5reb 0ast 0stl 0blk 1TO
Evans ( D ) -- Ugh! Double Ugh! I will admit that there was a point in the game when I stopped taking notes, and started drinking heavily. Hopefully I'll wake up tomorrow and this will all have been a dream, or rather, a nightmare.. Reggie only played 14 minutes and the results came close to being an INC. There were a few times when you noticed he was out there. Having a lane violation twice in a row was one of the highlights. In fairness to Reggie, O'Neals freethrow routine is similar to a long count by a quarterback trying to get someone to jump off sides. He did score 5 points and he pulled down 5 boards in his short time on the floor. In retrospect, maybe his grade should be higher since he shot over 50% from the floor while most of his teammates seemed to be shooting with blindfolds on. Defensively Reggie struggled. He got matched up against Draymond Green who moves at light speed compared to Reggie. Bottom line is, this was a very ugly game, and Evans had little to do with the result. --Baja

Luisana Lopilato

Stats: 27min 19pts (8-16, 0-0, 3-6) 11reb 0ast 0stl 0blk 2TO
Cousins ( C ) -- In what was an absolutely pathetic performance from our ball club tonight, Boogie at least showed up and gave us something. That something came later in the game, in the 3rd while we were down roughly 35 pts, so none of it meant much but at the least he showed some pride which is more than I can say for the rest of our roster. Started this one about as poorly as he could have by picking up two quick fouls less than two mins into the game. I re-watched the 2nd foul a few times and I didn't see any contact on O'neal's arm. Thought it was a bad call but either way that was all we saw of Boogie until the 2nd. The 2nd wasn't much better as Boogie attempted to avoid picking up his 3rd foul and didn't play much defense because of that, while going 1-4 for the quarter on the other end. To cap off the quarter he picked up a weak *** offensive foul in the post for lowering his shoulder, the type of foul which went uncalled probably 100+ times when Shaq did it routinely to our bigs back in our golden era. This league is getting too damn soft. Anyway, came out in the 3rd and showed that pride that apparently no one else had(Rudy excluded due to special circumstances) and started to get a rhythm going. Hit jumper after jumper. Stepped it up on the glass as well. Had 14/5 in the 3rd but that was pretty much it for the night. Played the first part of the 4th but did nothing. I will give Boogie some credit for not losing his temper at all tonight as if I was out there I'd probably have put a few of my teammates in a chokehold. This game was lost early on. Boogie's fouls clearly hurt us in the 1st but I'm not sure it would have made a difference as apparently no one else out there wearing purple knew there was a game tonight. --Rain

Jessica Biel

Stats: 41min 3pts (0-7, 0-3, 3-4) 3reb 1ast 0stl 1blk 3TO
McLemore ( F- ) -- 41 minutes and he didn’t deserve the amount of time being used to write up this grade.
He missed all 7 of his shots. And unfortunately none of them were even close. He clanged the ball all over the rim and back-board and nothing looked good leaving his hands all night. His off-ball movement wasn’t nearly as active as normal and he got zero looks on dives to the rim. He did try to dribble himself into the paint twice which resulted in two turn-overs due to his lack of handles. Oh, and he “guarded” Klay Thompson to the tune of getting lit up for 21 points on 8 of 12 shooting. Klay got to the rim pretty much at will. His only redeeming play was a hustle play to make a block to stop a fast-break lay-up. Other than that, absolutely nothing but poor play. If there was hope of seeing some improvement down the stretch, this isn’t one to inspire confidence. --Uncia

Ashley Greene

Stats: 43min 4pts (2-14, 0-2, 0-0) 2reb 10ast 2stl 0blk 2TO
McCallum ( F ) -- Well, Ray took 14 mostly terrible shots and what else do you associate with the number 14? Sonnets, because they have 14 lines! I'll do Ray's grade in a sonnet because it's the only way I can bring myself to even think about this game.

So when does one disparage ten assists?
Well, when the team has lost by thirty-three,
And no one cares and no one tries on D
A dime of dimes can quickly be dismissed.
Two shots - the sum McCallum hit all game
On one fast break, one floater off the wrist.
Two shots - the sum of scotch poured in my veins
At least I didn't drink for each he missed:
A jumper and a drive out of control
A turnaround, a three, another J
A J, a J, a J, a fadeaway
Two I ignored, a three, and that's the toll.
And note that Ray's two inches short of Curry
So quit this 6'3" nonsense in a hurry.--Capt.

Emily Sears

 

[Bricklayer]

Bench

Stats: 20min 10pts (4-9, 0-0, 2-2) 6reb 0ast 0stl 1blk 1TO
Thompson ( C ) -- Its hard to give any player a C on a night like this, but Jason didn't play badly. He was one of the few on the team that shot the ball well. Defensively, he had his bad moments, like losing Speights on a pick and roll who went uncontested to the basket for a dunk. But on a night where very little defense was played, JT was one of the better defenders, even if that's not saying much. And, on a night where very few of his teammates could locate the basket, he put up double digits with 10 points. I feel like that deserves some sort of award. He also added 6 boards and a blocked shot. Of course the Warriors were bombarding the Kings with so many shots, it seems like you might block one by accident. I'm not sure what the team shooting percentage was for the night, but it had to be close to a season low. For a while I wondered if the entire team had gone on a drinking binge the night before. Maybe it was jet lag. --Baja

Taylor Cole

Stats: 23min 6pts (3-9, 0-1, 0-0) 10reb 0ast 1stl 0blk 3TO
Williams ( C+ ) -- here was the good: he did work on the glass. It was something. But in a silly selfish no ball movement game DWill was amongst the worst on offense. In for Rudy early, and initially totally ineffective but hi a jumper and got a board late in the quarter for our first signs of life and 8th point (as a team) in the quarter. Did work on the boards, which comes and goes with him, but man oh man was his offense just selfish forces, one on team races into the teeth of the defense. No wonder it didn't fall very often. In the early 4th got out leading a 4 on 2 break, ignored his teammates, forced up his own contested shot, missed it and it led to a dunk the other way. Tried to post but not able to finish inside. Finally got something to go on a hesitation dribble out of a timeout with 9min to go in the 4th. Later got a follow of another McCallum miss. --Brick

Vivien Leigh

Stats: 27min 6pts (3-6, 0-0, 0-0) 3reb 0ast 0stl 0blk 1TO
Outlaw ( C- ) -- With a whole lot of garbage time and Malone throwing line-ups out on the court hoping to get some sort of spark, Outlaw ending up playing a full-sized 27 minute game. And typically you’d figure he’d be jacking up a lot of shots especially since Rudy and Cousins played limited minutes. But…he was pretty invisible out there tonight. He took 6 shots, pretty much all off of his own dribble, and hit 3 of them. Other than that, basically was just a guy out there. There have been times when he’s really stepped up his game in these instances, but this wasn’t one of them. He got dragged down into the misery that was the Kings team along with pretty much everyone else.--Uncia

Kat Graham

Stats: 13min 6pts (1-5, 0-3, 4-4) 0reb 1ast 1stl 0blk 0TO
Cunningham ( F ) -- Cunningham only took five shots, so you only get a limerick.

There was a guard named Jared Cunningham
Who always came in the game gunning 'em
But for each time he scored
He had to miss four
You'd think that the basket was shunning him. --Capt.

Barbara Palvin

Stats: 4min 0pts (0-1, 0-0, 0-0) 1reb 0ast 0stl 0blk 0TO
Acy ( D ) -- Not sure what to grade here as he literally did nothing and played only four mins. Did get an offensive rebound, so there's that. Also missed a dunk inside. And that, my friends, just about wraps it up. He didn't do anything else. Didn't help us at all on defense but in all fairness to Quincy, I have no idea why he's been run out as a backup center this year. That is not putting him in a position to succeed. You'll notice if you go to any of his profile pages it says, 6'7"/SF. Yeah....not a center.--Rain

Eva Mendes
http://www.cnn.com/video/data/2.0/video/showbiz/2013/05/29/fod-eva-mendes-sex-tape.funny-or-die.html

 

[KingMilz]

WANTED:
Professional basketball players, any position, any size
Must know how to: a) pass or b) shoot or c) defend. In the absence of all of the above willingness to compete will be considered.

That should be the first thing on the list, the fact we even have to bring it up for a professinal basketball team is a joke in the first place.

 

[HereWeBoogie]

Pathetic and embarrassing

 

[Bricklayer]

You know things went poorly when poor Consortium members are so dazed they begin writing their reviews in couplets.

 

[New Era]

Horrible game in every faucet. I do have to make one point. I'm not sure how you think Cousins #2 foul wasn't legit. They only showed about 3 replays of him clearly hitting the shooters elbow/arm. That's always going to be a foul if a referee sees it. I thought that Cousin's reaction was immature and pretty much set the tone for the entire game. Malone getting a T probably saved Cousins from getting one and being suspended.

Pretty disappointed about our 2 rookies. At this point, I'm only really tuning in to see what they can do because it's been exciting to see the progress the past couple of weeks. I've been one of the biggest RMac supporters here but maybe I'm putting the cart before the horse. Hopefully, it's just a horrible game for everybody and this won't happen again.

 

[rainmaker]

Horrible game in every faucet. I do have to make one point. I'm not sure how you think Cousins #2 foul wasn't legit. They only showed about 3 replays of him clearly hitting the shooters elbow/arm. T

Are you assuming I watched the Sac broadcast?

 

[mac]

Remember when we were optimistic and stuff and thought we'd be better than the Blazers and Suns?
http://www.kingsfans.com/threads/sheridan-august-power-rankings.53480/

 

[SacTownGrantFan]

I know it's bad when the embarrassment meter shoots up, and think 'Is this even have a professional basketball team?'. I think the Kings were down by 40 points in the third quarter. 40! Only one game, but such a disappointing game by BenMac and McCallum. Just awful.

 

[Kingster]

If I had $1000 for every time the Kings passed the ball three or more times on an offensive possession in this game, I'd have $0 in my pocket. ISO ball doesn't work. If Malone is going to consult with Cousins and Gay on the offense, then I suggest Cousins and Gay should consult with Pop in the off-season on how to run a real offense. ISO ball is failure. You can't expect Gay to go ISO against Iggy, Barnes, or O'Neal and come out with a win. You can't expect Cousins can carry the game by himself, especially when it's a planetary event that he can stay in the game for 38+ minutes. Playing a team like the Warriors isn't playing the hapless injury-depleted tanking Lakers. Junkyard ball isn't going to cut it.

 

[EJF]

Not really suprised to see these blowouts when the Kings have two rookies starting in the back court. Really sucks Ray couldnt keep his mini hot streak going, but a game like this is bound to happen. And jesus Ben, 0-7.....he just countiues his terrible rookie campaign. Overall, just by looking at the stats, I want to vomit.

 

[twslam07]

And note that Ray's two inches short of Curry
So quit this 6'3" nonsense in a hurry.--Capt

First off, great job on the write ups Capt haha.

Secondly, I to have been wondering why people think McCallum is 6'3". He measured 6'0.25" w/o shoes, and he measured 6'1.75" w/ shoes. I don't know where this 6'3" nonsense came from. It's probably just one site labeling him as a 6'3" PG and the rest of the sites just followed along...

 

[pshn80]

First off, great job on the write ups Capt haha.

Secondly, I to have been wondering why people think McCallum is 6'3". He measured 6'0.25" w/o shoes, and he measured 6'1.75" w/ shoes. I don't know where this 6'3" nonsense came from. It's probably just one site labeling him as a 6'3" PG and the rest of the sites just followed along...

He's taller when he wins and shorter when he loses.

Eight of us had a family dinner here last night so I didn't know anything (but my son's silence) until I checked the score with a few minutes to go in the 4th. Then I also saw the points scored in the first and second Qs. Long story short - I watched no part of the game.

Very disappointing outcome. Bring on Dallas I say bravely.

 

[Bricklayer]

all done

 

[KingMilz]

If I had $1000 for every time the Kings passed the ball three or more times on an offensive possession in this game, I'd have $0 in my pocket. ISO ball doesn't work. If Malone is going to consult with Cousins and Gay on the offense, then I suggest Cousins and Gay should consult with Pop in the off-season on how to run a real offense. ISO ball is failure. You can't expect Gay to go ISO against Iggy, Barnes, or O'Neal and come out with a win. You can't expect Cousins can carry the game by himself, especially when it's a planetary event that he can stay in the game for 38+ minutes. Playing a team like the Warriors isn't playing the hapless injury-depleted tanking Lakers. Junkyard ball isn't going to cut it.

I just don't understand why it's so hard for the players to see that, which is why I consistantly am questioning the IQ level on this team, the only time we literally consistantly off a pass get basket's is Cousins passing out of the post that's it. The pick n roll play is a joke other than Evans not a single player knows how to create space (or even set a screen) than time a role to the rim and Evans can't really finish, Ray and IT are limited as passers to top it off. In all our wins it just basically us winning off the little talent we have it's not winning by playing quality basketball which leads to great team chemistry and long term success.

The Cousins/IT/Gay trio is awful as far as playing winning basketball (the talent is solid) imo at least two have to go and it should be the latter two unless IT accepts a cheap deal and plays off the bench. As soon as any team turns up the heat on us defensively or Cousins get's in foul trouble we are cooked.

 

[Kingster]

I just don't understand why it's so hard for the players to see that, which is why I consistantly am questioning the IQ level on this team, the only time we literally consistantly off a pass get basket's is Cousins passing out of the post that's it. The pick n roll play is a joke other than Evans not a single player knows how to create space (or even set a screen) than time a role to the rim and Evans can't really finish, Ray and IT are limited as passers to top it off. In all our wins it just basically us winning off the little talent we have it's not winning by playing quality basketball which leads to great team chemistry and long term success.

The Cousins/IT/Gay trio is awful as far as playing winning basketball (the talent is solid) imo at least two have to go and it should be the latter two unless IT accepts a cheap deal and plays off the bench. As soon as any team turns up the heat on us defensively or Cousins get's in foul trouble we are cooked.

I don't think it's talent. I think it's the offensive system. Until they have a different system, the whole will be less than the sum of the parts. You just can't allow players to throw one pass and then play ISO ball.

 

[KingMilz]

I don't think it's talent. I think it's the offensive system. Until they have a different system, the whole will be less than the sum of the parts. You just can't allow players to throw one pass and then play ISO ball.

Yeah but the offensive system is like that cause of the players we have is it not? Are Rudy Gay/Thomas (fine if he plays like he does as 6th man) long term able to play differently? History suggests not. Which is why I say we can't build anything succesful with the main core we are trying to build around.

 

[bajaden]

Yeah but the offensive system is like that cause of the players we have is it not? Are Rudy Gay/Thomas (fine if he plays like he does as 6th man) long term able to play differently? History suggests not. Which is why I say we can't build anything succesful with the main core we are trying to build around.

While I agree that IT should be the sixth man if he's to stay with the team, I don't agree that we can't build around a core of Cousins and Gay. Now I don't know what the Kings have planned in regards to Gay, but if he stays past next season, I'll be happy. Rudy Gay's don't grow on trees. He's a very good basketball player, and seems to be coachable as well. He's already modified his game since he arrived here from how he was playing in Toronto. Not sure what you mean't by saying that McCallum and IT's passing is limited. By what? I don't know how anyone can pass judgement on McCallum. He's only played a few games as a starter, and that does not a season, or a career make. He's had little chance to build any chemistry with anyone else in the starting lineup. Hell, hardly anyone has had a chance to build much chemistry.

You watch teams like the Spurs, and wonder why we can't play like that? Well the fact that they've been together for a thousand years might have something to do with it. It doesn't happen overnight! Especially when we keep changing the parts. At some point, we have to settle on who our main core is going to be, and stick with them. As long was we keep changing players and coaches on a regular basis, we'll never be anything but a lottery team. I said from the beginning it was going to take around three years to turn this team around and I haven't changed my mind, nor am I that upset about the current results. I expected it! Doesn't mean I like it, but I'm not going to ignore reality. I realize that this is like year seven of the rebuild for everyone, but its only year one for the new owners and management. So basically were doing a reset, like it or not, and that's the approach I take. Its a little less painful that way.

 

[Glenn]

You watch teams like the Spurs, and wonder why we can't play like that? Well the fact that they've been together for a thousand years might have something to do with it. It doesn't happen overnight! Especially when we keep changing the parts. At some point, we have to settle on who our main core is going to be, and stick with them. As long was we keep changing players and coaches on a regular basis, we'll never be anything but a lottery team. I said from the beginning it was going to take around three years to turn this team around and I haven't changed my mind, nor am I that upset about the current results. I expected it! Doesn't mean I like it, but I'm not going to ignore reality. I realize that this is like year seven of the rebuild for everyone, but its only year one for the new owners and management. So basically were doing a reset, like it or not, and that's the approach I take. Its a little less painful that way.

I had to highlight this. At some point you have to let some chemistry develop and as long as he and Cuz get along personally and on the court, I see no reason to boot Gay, and "boot" seems to be the idea, just because of whatever the reason is concocted. We have been searching for a SF for a long time and now we have him. Rudy is very skilled and seems to be a leader and at the least, not a distracton. Let him have a preseason and get used to the guys and vice versa.

This musical chairs approach to finding a lineup is doomed to failure and I am not blaming PDA for the fact it happened this year. It was necessary. Now we have a few pieces that should stay.

 

[kupman]

Michael Buble' = A+

Any questions?

 

[bajaden]

Michael Buble' = A+

Any questions?

Michael Buble = Harry Connick Jr. = A+

 

[Bricklayer]

Michael Buble' = A+

Any questions?

quite a few actually

 

[theclash4u5]

With the Pistons winning today, we desperately needed this loss. With the way the other 6 teams below us are tanking right now, even if we lose every game this year I don't think we will even move down a spot. But a win here and there and we could easily be #9 soon.

 

[New Era]

Are you assuming I watched the Sac broadcast?

Well, if you didn't watch the Sac broadcast and didn't see a good replay then how can you say it was a bad call?

 

[kupman]

quite a few actually

do you understand why he earned an A+ in tonight's grades?

 

[VF21]

do you understand why he earned an A+ in tonight's grades?

I don't know about Brick, but I haven't a clue.

 

[Bricklayer]

do you understand why he earned an A+ in tonight's grades?

I barely know who he is. I have no idea of why he was mentioned here. Baja seemed to get something of the joke maybe.

 

[kupman]

Michael Buble' is married to Luisana Lopilato. If that is not A+ work, I don't know what is. As it turns out, handsome man + great voice + great bank account = super hot wife.

Btw, if you do not know who he is, you need to check out his music. He does really great stuff with the old singer and standards music.