[Grades] Grades v. Wizards 11/28/2016

Who was the most pathetic?

  • Gay

    Votes: 13 37.1%
  • Collison

    Votes: 1 2.9%
  • Afflalo

    Votes: 4 11.4%
  • Casspi

    Votes: 4 11.4%
  • Barnes

    Votes: 2 5.7%
  • Temple

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Joerger

    Votes: 11 31.4%

  • Total voters
    35
  • Poll closed .

Bricklayer

Don't Make Me Use The Bat
#1


Make no mistake about it -- we lost this game. Blew the opportunity. In fact no matter who came out ahead on the scoreboard here it was going to be a case of the other team losing the game, because because teams stunk with the sharp fetid stench of week old gym socks left in a pool of raw sewage under a hot sun.

That was just pathetic. From beginning to end, relentlessly. Only the silly level greatness of DeMarcus Cousins even bought us an OT, and with him out of gas and the whole Wizards team appropriately ignoring the other ballboys wearing our uniforms, we now fall to 0-3 on the year in OT games. The basketball, on both sides, was terrible. If you watch these things on delay, just delete it unseen and use those precious hours of your life on something more enjoyable. Which is to say virtually anything.




Link to Boxscore

Starters

Gay ( D+ ) -- no energy or brains from the start. Which made him a perfect canary for the whole team tonight. Only looked more dead as things went along. Every once in a bit hit a shot, but led nowhere. And complete collapse late elft Cuz out there completely alone. Missed everything in OT.

Cousins ( A- ) -- Cousins' assault on the record books -- I forgot to mention he was working on the 17th best PER season of all time for a big man coming in -- continues with a 36-20 night, and yet the silly thing is I have to minus it. Started sluggish and like the rest of the team wild forces and bad decisions. Big time one man heroed us down the stretch with remarkable plays, but in the end maybe a career worst FT night could have made all the difference, and he ran out of gas in OT.

Koufos ( C ) -- might have played closet to his normal game of all the roleplayers, but that ain't much. Gortat wasn't a train in much need of slowing. At least Kosta boarded a little, because nobody else but Cuz showed anything at all on the glass.

Afflalo ( F ) -- early in the game I really didn't think that Beal's explosion was all on Arron. but as the game wore on, and Beal became the one single Wizard to play well as Afflalo just did absolutely nothing in return, that distinction died for purposes of this grade. Cuz just needed ONE wingman. One anybody to step up and hit a couple of shots, make a couple of smart plays. Arron most certainly did not.

Featured Grade
Collison ( C+ ) -- From an offensive point of view, Darren Collison just didn't show up tonight. For the first four straight possessions he brought the ball up, handed off to Cousins, and went to hide in the corner. The rest of the game was hardly better. His jumper was off, and outside of two nifty passes, one a behind-the-back look to Koufos and the other a quick whip down into the post to Cousins, he really was unable to elevate our pathetic offense. Defensively, he was quite a good sight better. John Wall simply was not able to get just about anything he wanted tonight, at least not when Collison was on him. By my count, Collison only gave up 5 points to Wall, and none until midway through the third quarter. He stifled John Wall's only post attempt, and after getting benched for most of the fourth quarter for a "curl-in-the-middle-of-his-forehead" Lawson, Collison came up with a huge block on Wall with the Kings down three with 1:45 left in the fourth that gave his lethargic team the opportunity to push the game into overtime. He wasn't exactly the reason that we lost, but he certainly didn't get us over the top.
--Capt.


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Bench

Lawson ( B ) -- the one King other than Cuz to cut through the sleeping sickness that was this game, and took advantage of an obviously stoned John Wall to notch multiple steals. But Ty knows a thing or two about intoxication too, and this grade is held down by some seriously stupid decisionmaking once he got the ball back and advanced it to our side of the court.

Barnes ( D- ) -- with a dead starting unit and not surprisingly no spark from koufos, we needed Matt to come through for us and did not. Missed wide open shots, was no on the board at all, showed he's not even truly a stretch 4 as he struggled to muscle with Markieff Morris.

Temple ( C ) -- I never want to see Temple play in Washington again. Pioneered a new approach to getting even against your old team, by instead starting off outlandishly bad, airballing shots and making lousy decisions. Late in the game moved the needle on this grade back up as he was the guy who finally managed to contain Beal, and wore him as a shirt for the final quarter+OT.

Casspi ( D ) -- Omri's inconsistency may have jumped up to bite him in the butt, as he simply is not deeply enough embedded in our rotations yet to survive such ineptitiude. Maybe sensed his shot was off, because sure didn't seem eager to let fly, and we needed him to. Made to look the D-leaguer by Oubre Jr., who completely smothered him in his second stint.

Cauley Stein ( C+ ) -- as Kings players went, and as Willie games go, actually came as close to helping us as any non-Cuz except Collison. Made some plays with his hands. Got a few of his dunks. Boardwork remained pathetic however, and multiple bad hands/lack of awarness plays keep the grade down.
 
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kingsboi

Hall of Famer
#3
moral victory number one thousand and three. Such hideous basketball from both teams in this one but someone had to win and it sure wasn't going to be the Kings, you are welcome Washington.
 

Kingster

Hall of Famer
#4
Wall was the most pathetic. Ten turnovers and he's out there laughing. It's a travesty he can get paid for that game. He's got to be one of the biggest underachievers in the NBA. Washington was godawful. Kings can't help but play down to the competition. It's their nature.
 

SLAB

Hall of Famer
#6
Worst loss of the season. Even worse than the Milwaukee no-show or any of the others I can't recall off the top of my head.

Games like these are why it's nearly impossible to be optimistic about this team. Pathetic effort by absolutely everyone not named DeMarcus. And that includes Coach. This just isn't a game a team trending in any positive direction can lose.

My pitchfork is out tonight and I am salty.... But I'll be back and I'll be tricked into thinking they're turning a corner when they win another game. Still irritated though...
 

kingsboi

Hall of Famer
#7
Wall was the most pathetic. Ten turnovers and he's out there laughing. It's a travesty he can get paid for that game. He's got to be one of the biggest underachievers in the NBA. Washington was godawful. Kings can't help but play down to the competition. It's their nature.
Which is precisely why he isn't in the elite tier of PGs and another reason why the Wizards are a major disappointment so far.
 
S

sactownfan

Guest
#12
Koufos and Cousins starting the OT together!!! BRILLIANT!!! ... against Morris and Gortat... who was Koufos gonna guard? the stretch 4?? just like every game we go down by 5-10 pts immediately .... OT was no different ... great job Coach way to adjust to the team that had only 1 true big on the floor...

it didn't work in the first quarter... or after that ... but damn it!!! if Coach doesn't stick with the same mistake that continues to doom this team at the start every game....
 
#13
Worst loss of the season. Even worse than the Milwaukee no-show or any of the others I can't recall off the top of my head.
I personally don't think it's a worse loss than blowing a 19 pt lead and losing at home to the Lakers.

Winning on the road is hard -- especially for non-elite teams. Doesn't matter who the opponent is. But you gotta win at home.
 
#14
It's times like this we all wish we could have Stauskas coming off the bench ;p
Not Stauskas, but this team does need a consistent deep shooter. We have a few guys that can get hot and help out from time to time, but the Kings just don't have that guy defenses have to fear leaving out on the perimeter when they focus most their attention on Cuz.

Ray Allen in his prime is too much to ask for, but how about a JJ Reddick, Kyle Korver, Jamal Crawford, or Danny Green type? I know a couple of those guys are old, but I'm referring to their best years. The Kings really need a complimentary player like that.
 

hrdboild

Hall of Famer
#18
Not Stauskas, but this team does need a consistent deep shooter. We have a few guys that can get hot and help out from time to time, but the Kings just don't have that guy defenses have to fear leaving out on the perimeter when they focus most their attention on Cuz.

Ray Allen in his prime is too much to ask for, but how about a JJ Reddick, Kyle Korver, Jamal Crawford, or Danny Green type? I know a couple of those guys are old, but I'm referring to their best years. The Kings really need a complimentary player like that.
You know, I think this might actually be the second most important position on the floor for us. More than a second big or a PG or a scoring wing we just need a knockdown shooter. There's some hope though that the guys Vlade drafted this year (Richardson, Bogdanovic, maybe even Labissierre with the long 2) could fill that role for us in the future.
 

VF21

Super Moderator Emeritus
SME
#21
I put this loss squarely on Dave Joerger. He continually talks about not ever having both Rudy and Boogie off the court at the same time and yet... Tonight it allowed the Wizards to get a lead they shouldn't have had.

One tiny corner of that square of loss has to go on the officials. I'm anxious to see the L2M report as DMC clearly should have had an +1 on his last regulation bucket.

Even I, the ultimate optimist, didn't feel real good about this loss.
 
#22
If there's one thing that's damn near a guarantee it's that the Kings will lose if they have to go to overtime. I mean it's almost like clock work every time. Lose the tip, fall behind quick and then brick the shots you'd normally make for the rest of the 5 minutes and go home with a loss.

Also Joerger, I like you, but seriously, quit starting Kofous and Cousins together. It didn't work last year. It doesn't work this year and it's not going to work in the future. Save us the 10 point hole we have to climb out of every 1st quarter and start anyone else at PF. Kofous is solid nearly every time he backs up Cousins off the bench and total crap when he starts at C next to Cousins.

Also when you have Ty Lawson on the court and you have the final possession of the quarter, don't have him pass the ball to Temple to run the clock out and go 1 on 1 to finish the quarter. He's not that type of player. Just let Lawson break down the defense and at least give us a chance.
 
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#23
I put this loss squarely on Dave Joerger. He continually talks about not ever having both Rudy and Boogie off the court at the same time and yet... Tonight it allowed the Wizards to get a lead they shouldn't have had.

One tiny corner of that square of loss has to go on the officials. I'm anxious to see the L2M report as DMC clearly should have had an +1 on his last regulation bucket.

Even I, the ultimate optimist, didn't feel real good about this loss.
He's been questionable. The merry go round rotations, is like he doesn't understand the concept of continuity
 
#24
If we blow the team up it will be BECAUSE of losses like this, and no, we will not be glad for it.
IMO it can go either way, if your getting value for Cousins/Gay and getting a top pick in this draft (tanking this year). Value for players that might leave and you would play the other youngsters (Skal/WCS/Malachi) minutes they wouldn't receive ordinarily

It can go either way which would be best in long run. Hopefully they do pull together as a Cousins fan
 
S

sactownfan

Guest
#26
I put this loss squarely on Dave Joerger. He continually talks about not ever having both Rudy and Boogie off the court at the same time and yet... Tonight it allowed the Wizards to get a lead they shouldn't have had.

One tiny corner of that square of loss has to go on the officials. I'm anxious to see the L2M report as DMC clearly should have had an +1 on his last regulation bucket.

Even I, the ultimate optimist, didn't feel real good about this loss.
Btw in my thread about the coach ... I did mention quite a few "pros" .....

but seriously I'm concerned how long its taking him to get that certain things aren't working... his refusal to adapt is worrisome .... his yanking Ben, Casspi's mins around while Affalo and Koufos are getting starters mins while hardly providing very little to nothing most nights...

Ben has had so many games he's gotten scorching hot and then didn't see the floor for an entire quarter or more. totally inexplicable. On nights like tonight where we clearly needed scoring and Temple, Matt, and Affalo are seriously struggling to give anything. Ben should have have a few mins instead.

We've played some of the best defense i've seen in a long time... and yes the ball is moving around better. But he's putting this team at a disadvantage to start every game. its a no duh kinda moment for Dave who just said a few games ago that "HE HAD SEEN ENOUGH OF THE BIG LINEUP, AND WAS GOING TO GO SMALLER" ... he also said as you pointed out "RUDY AND OR COUSINS NEED TO BE ON THE FLOOR AT ALL TIMES." well thats BS too...

If the coach would just STICK to his OWN WORD... we'd be getting off to better starts and not having such huge drop offs in consistent scoring.
 
#27
So much fail this game. Just, across the board.

And, regarding the recent gushing over Cousins by the opposing teams' announcers...obviously he's amazing, but I think it's starting to sink in with them that he could actually be available soon. Losses like this don't help. So I expect to hear many more rave reviews and much less 'yeah, but he's a head case' from these crews.
 
#28
Joerger takes this loss.
His resolute dedication to keeping the backups in the entire first 6 minutes of the 4th quarter (up against The Wiz's starters) was such a blatant mistake, I can only surmise he was making some obscure statement about the team.
He chose to lose this game, by not putting the starters back in until they were in too big of a hole.

Rudy is pathetic in OT, but at least I believe he was trying to win the game.

Joerger has ZERO EXCUSE why he played the lineups he did tonight, after (has already been pointed out) he has said himself he is done with the 2-center lineup and he supposedly thinks one of Rudy or Cuz should be on the floor at all times.

It's like he won't listen to himself.
 
#29
I agree that Joerger takes this loss. It's really the rotation in the second half and going back to starting Kosta.

When Kosta comes off the bench, there's two things that happen. 1. Your bench unit is really good. 2. You get 48 minutes of quality center play which allows Cousins to rest.

In this game, Joerger went with an extended stretch with struggling line-ups. Kosta struggled against the Wiz starters a bit. He was an early sub-out, but not a quick sub in. WCS played the Cousins rest minutes and was better than he had been, but the second half stint was a real struggle without any offense.

Joerger also did not take Rudy out early when he was struggling, so again, no ability to stagger minutes. So we got extended bad stretches of Rudy and then extended offense-less stretches because of no Cousins or Rudy. Game should have ended in regulation, as the Kings dominated once Cousins came back in. However, rather than return at say 6-5 minutes left, the duo had to return at 4-5 minutes left and not enough time to regain the lead.

Once OT hit, the energy was dead.
 

Tetsujin

The Game Thread Dude
#30
Btw in my thread about the coach ... I did mention quite a few "pros" .....

but seriously I'm concerned how long its taking him to get that certain things aren't working... his refusal to adapt is worrisome .... his yanking Ben, Casspi's mins around while Affalo and Koufos are getting starters mins while hardly providing very little to nothing most nights...

Ben has had so many games he's gotten scorching hot and then didn't see the floor for an entire quarter or more. totally inexplicable. On nights like tonight where we clearly needed scoring and Temple, Matt, and Affalo are seriously struggling to give anything. Ben should have have a few mins instead.

We've played some of the best defense i've seen in a long time... and yes the ball is moving around better. But he's putting this team at a disadvantage to start every game. its a no duh kinda moment for Dave who just said a few games ago that "HE HAD SEEN ENOUGH OF THE BIG LINEUP, AND WAS GOING TO GO SMALLER" ... he also said as you pointed out "RUDY AND OR COUSINS NEED TO BE ON THE FLOOR AT ALL TIMES." well thats BS too...

If the coach would just STICK to his OWN WORD... we'd be getting off to better starts and not having such huge drop offs in consistent scoring.
To be fair, he probably actually played Omri for too many minutes in this game.