[Grades] Grades v. Wolves 1/1/2015

Kings player of the game?

  • Rudy Gay

    Votes: 1 2.6%
  • Derrick Williams

    Votes: 14 35.9%
  • DeMarcus Cousins

    Votes: 2 5.1%
  • Darren Collison

    Votes: 20 51.3%
  • Carl Landry

    Votes: 2 5.1%

  • Total voters
    39
  • Poll closed .

Bricklayer

Don't Make Me Use The Bat
keep-calm-because-we-are-the-champions-21.png


So we magnificently showed the youngest team in the league who was boss and whipped the 5 win Timberwolves by 3 points while magnificently allowing them to score 107 pts on us (hey, less than average in the Corbin epoch) and nearly outscoring them down the stretch. This game also featured Demarcus and Rudy NOT having the worst games of their respective seasons in the same game, and instead featured them merely fouling out in the same game. Luckily we are now starting DWill so Vivek at least can crack a vague smile after the outing.

Nonetheless, here is the only appropriate way to look at this (just like Grant & Jerry I have recently received an email from the Kings front office) : We currently have the BEST record in the entire Western Conference in 2015. Look it up if you don't believe me. You guys are the best. I love your passion. Which is why I know you will repeat this talking point to everyone you know. #NBA3.0 #SacKingsProud #GerbilsUnite #GoldenStateForever.


Boxscore

Stats: 33min 21pts (7-12, 0-0, 7-8) 6reb 5ast 4stl 1blk 8TO
Gay ( C+ ) -- Rudy started out with a great first quarter. He scored ten points on 3-5 shooting, he was getting his hands all over the ball (3 steals) and was doing a very good job moving the ball with two assists and two hockey assists, and he played very good D as well, allowing only 4 points on 5 shots, one of those makes a pretty ridiculous Wiggins turnaround. e did turn the ball over twice on bad passes, but given the production the turnovers were definitely excusable. Unfortunately for Gay, the production tailed off a bit, while the turnovers did not. Gay had one post score and one dunk on a backdoor cut in the second quarter, but then failed to score in the third as he missed a decent amount of the quarter in foul trouble. After yet another turnover (his sixth) in the middle of the fourth, Rudy went on a small tear. He made up for the TO by getting the steal on the same possession, then scored seven straight Kings points with an and-1, a made jumper, and two free throws when he was fouled in the lane. It looked like he was about to take over the game, and with Cousins in foul trouble it was a welcome sight. However, he immediately quashed that optimism, by turning the ball over twice more (once on a bad post entry to Carl, once on a drive) and gave up four points to Wiggins while picking up his fifth and sixth fouls. Rudy's defense was actually quite good tonight. His 5 steals (one for a breakaway dunk) showed his ability to be disruptive, and while Wiggins had 27, only 11 of those points were on Rudy and Wiggins had to hit on some pretty well-contested jumpers and turnarounds to do that. Gay made Wiggins take the shots we wanted him to take - he just happened to hit more than you'd have thought. Rudy also had a pretty efficient night, scoring 21 points on 15 shots. The big problem for Rudy, as it has so often been for the team, was turnovers. Rudy was responsible for 8 turnovers, 6 of those on the pass - and maybe only one of those was actually a decent pass, the rest of them were lazy or careless. Altogether, I think the impact was positive, but let there be no doubt about the fact that Rudy's turnovers were a major problem in this game. --Capt.

Stats: 31min 17pts (6-10, 3-6, 2-2) 5reb 3ast 2stl 1blk 2TO
Williams ( B+ ) -- Williams got the surprise start today for the Kings, just a game after Hollins started in place of JT. That’s three different starting power forwards in three straight games. I have no idea if this was a one-time deal for Williams, or if he is Corbin’s guy here moving forward, but I thought his overall performance was solid. He was quite good in the first quarter, scoring with his outside shot, getting to the line, and running in transition. What impressed me more than anything else was the fact that Williams was doing this in the flow of the offense. It didn’t feel like he was taking shots away from anyone, which could have been a real concern considering the guys he was replacing (Hollins or JT) never shoot. In addition to his scoring, I thought his passing was effective. He hit McLemore for a transition oop, but beyond his three assists I just thought he moved the ball when he wasn’t making an attempt to score. He wasn’t just standing there with it. He received a lot of criticism in the game thread for his defense on Wiggins, and that was justified. He just wasn’t quick enough to hang with him, and couldn’t find the energy to chase him around the court, or even box him out. It was a bad stretch of minutes, but that’s all it was, a stretch. He wasn’t on Wiggins for more than a few minutes, and his defense on everyone else was passable. Thaddeus Young, his primary cover, was basically a non-factor. Williams returned to the game in the fourth quarter and drilled a massive corner three when the Wolves were making a run. It might have been the most important shot of the night. Then, in the final minute, he turned the ball over on a baseline drive and airballed a wide-open wing three that could have really hurt the Kings, but they overcame his miscues. Id like to think that if Cousins and Gay had not fouled out, those plays wouldn’t have happened, but who knows. Williams had his moments, both positive and negative, but he helped the Kings more than he hurt them tonight. I have little doubt about that. It sure was an easy test, though. Whatever he lacks in rebounding ability didn’t really hurt the Kings tonight because the Timberwolves don’t rebound particularly well, and I expected this sort of offensive performance because he always torches his old team. Solid outing. If he is the Kings starting power forward now, future tests won’t be this easy. --Mass

Stats: 27min 19pts (8-14, 0-0, 3-3) 7reb 4ast 1stl 2blk 3TO
Cousins ( C ) -- There are a few players in the league that can guard Demarcus Cousins, and Gorgui Dieng isn't one of them. Cousins had his way on offense, scoring inside on Dieng almost at will. But that is boring, so I'm going to talk about why the best player on the court with the stat line above only gets a C for the night. First, Cousins couldn't stay out of foul trouble. Yes, he had a couple of ticky tack fouls called on him, but they weren't non-fouls. He was playing defense with his hands, grabbing at player's arms, jumping on pump fakes, and getting taken out of the game by Minnesota's front line. That is on him. Second, he was largely ineffective on defense and on the boards. I don't know whether he is still suffering fatigue from the meningitis, but he was much less active at locking down the rebounds against Minny's frontcourt, letting Dieng get offensive boards and easy putbacks. Gone is the defensive focus from the beginning of the season, when Cousins would race back on defense and yell at teammates when they blew assignments. Gone are the crisp rotations on screens and protection against dives from opponents. Cousins had an opportunity here to get his mojo back on both ends of the floor, and settled for the offensive side of things.--Hadlowe

Stats: 38min 14pts (6-9, 1-2, 1-2) 4reb 2ast 0stl 0blk 2TO
McLemore ( C+ ) -- very good defense and 9 pts on 4/5 shooting in first half but only 5 pts in second as just not getting touches) Steals opening tip but has it batted away on way to rim. On Minny fast break Ben races in from behind an pokes ball out of bounds. 3-1/2 min in and Ben has no touches on offense. Kings up 13-4. Oops, gets a touch but turns it into an assist down low to Demarcus for layin. 2nd touch at 7:21 mark of first. Super good ball movement so far 6 min into the first. Cuz rebound, outlet to Collison and handoff to Ben for dunk. Next play fast break by DWill and ally to Ben for his oop!! 23-11. Ben playing excellent defense staying in front of his man. Nik starts 2nd with Ben coming in at 8 min mark, DWill gets reb and long outlet pass to Ben for easy 2. 45-35 at 7:40 of 2nd. Quick pop for 3 rims out. Ben drives but ball poked away by Wiggins. Cross court pass by Cuz to Ben in corner for 3. At 3:30 mark Ben gets 2 fouls in less than 5 seconds and hits bench for rest of quarter. Ben back to guarding Young start of 3rd. Only minor touches 4 min into 3rd quarter. Guards Young so close he shoots air ball. Finally gets another 3 but long but gets reb down to Cuz for dunk + 1. Kings go on 11 pt run prompting Grant to wonder “if the Wolves put in a rule where you’r not allowed to guard anyone”. Ben stays in when Nik comes into small lineup at 4:40 mark of 3rd along with Landry. Lead gets up to 13. Ben steps inside 3 line for nice 2 pointer. Cuz to bench with his 5th foul 10 seconds into 3rd. Ben quiet thru 3rd but good defense then stays in to start of the 4th. Cuz feeds Ben for dunk. Kings have 19 TO’s at 4:35 mark of 4th. Then Rudy fouls out guarding Wiggins and Cuz has 5. Tied at 99. At 2:46 remaining Cuz fouls out. JT in but gets his 5th at 2:06. Ben great defense on Wiggins preventing a shot and Wigs throws it away. Shots 6/9 for game as just not getting touches. Really good defense throughout takes him from C- to C+. --Cruz

Stats: 39min 21pts (8-15, 1-2, 4-4) 4reb 6ast 0stl 0blk 2TO
Collison ( B+ ) -- played an indifferent first half mixing in a few hits, a few bad forces, one nice little unselfish shovel pass to Ben on the break for a dunk, and a couple of bad TOs which led immediately to Minnesota scores. This grade would have been no better than a C at halftime. But when we lost Cuz to foul trouble for almost the entire second half, it was DC who stepped up the largest, scoring in a variety of ways, and setting up his next shot with his last. First he stepped into an angle three, then when they had to close the next time because of it, a scoot to the hoop. Then a pullup. Then another scoot, etc. It never looks as spectacular because he is flat not as talented as our main guys, but his consistent meat and potatoes game combined with some truly horrific Minnesota defense (on his drives in particular where they were practically opening doors for him with a bow) was enough to just keep us moving forward on the scoreboard. After we had lost Gay to fouling out, came up with a tough drive with 3 min to go to push the lead back to 5. At which point we then promptly lost Cuz as well. We only scored 4 more points until the final 3 seconds as we wobbled but held on, and then with 2.8 seconds to go DC got the ball inbounded to him after the lead was cut to 1, got fouled, and hit both to make it a three point game and at least force the Wolves into a game tying three point attempt rather than leave open a 2pt possibility. Not awesome stuff by us or by DC. But stepped up just enough to get it done without Rudy/Cuz. --Brick
 
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Bench

Stats: 24min 8pts (3-3, 0-0, 2-2) 6reb 0ast 0stl 2blk 2TO
Thompson ( B ) -- Jason entered tonight’s game as the first big off of Tyrone Corbin’s bench after sitting out last night with a DNP-CD. I can’t really give a great example of this, but the team didn’t look undersized with him out there. And if memory serves, one of Jason Thompson or DeMarcus Cousins was on the court at all times. I could be missing a few minutes here or there as both players faced some amount of foul trouble. JT was a perfect 3/3 from the field draining two long mid-range jumpers (one coming late in the fourth that the Kings really, really needed) and had a nice finish off a great pass from DMC. He had a few Thompson moments, of course, including some shaky hands when Gay tried to feed him inside, and a few really unnecessary fouls. JT was neither a problem for the Kings, or their savior tonight. Just solid. Who knows what JT’s role with this team will be moving forward, but a lot of us have always imagined Thompson in that ‘third big’ role. Maybe that’s where he’ll stay for a while. Unfortunately the Kings are still without a power forward worthy of starting. --Mass

Stats: 12min 0pts (0-4, 0-2, 0-0) 0reb 1ast 0stl 0blk 1TO
Stauskas ( D- ) -- Nik in with 3:03 left in 1st. his first touch is a quick travel for TO. At 2:00 min mark is guarding the 6-8 Budinger; Kings shooting 78%. 37-29 end of 1st. Nik stays in starting 2nd, close guard on Budinger driving prevents basket. Fast break lead by Nik bounce to McCallum for 2! Nik out then back in at 8 min into second when Ben gets 2 quick fouls in less than 5 sec. JT then replaces Nik. Nik back in at 4:40 mark for small lineup. First possession drives to mid-lane for teardrop that bounces off. Playing with Ben in a small lineup with Landry at the 4 and JT at center. Trys spin move down lane but blocked the trys 3 also ng. Whoops, 8-0 run by Wolves. end of 3rd 84-80 Kings. Nik on bench to start 3rd and doesn’t get back in. Nike gets zero, nada, zilch, nuttin for game. --Cruz

Stats: 27min 8pts (1-4, 0-0, 6-8) 9reb 1ast 0stl 1blk 0TO
Landry ( B- ) -- Landry had a pretty typical Landry game aside from his team-high 9 rebounds. I don’t want to give him too much credit for that rebounding, though. I still felt like the Kings looked shaky on the glass when he was in there. He did most of his damage to the Timberwolves from the free throw line. I hate taking credit away from players, but he played a pretty junky game that still managed to have a positive effect on the Kings tonight. He just kept working and chipping away at the weak Wolves bench. He either scored or went to the free throw line on every one of his offensive rebounds. I gave him a little bit of a grade bump for holding down the fort after Gay and Cousins fouled out. He added two clutch free throws with a minute left in the 4th, but this wasn’t a particularly pretty performance. --Mass

Stats: 10min 2pts (1-3, 0-0, 0-0) 1reb 1ast 0stl 0blk 0TO
McCallum ( C ) -- per usual not a whole lot here aside from some hustle, but it was good hustle. Came in to start the 2nd quarter and made a nice wraparound pass in the lane to Landry for a layin to start things off. It would be his only assist. Also made a good athletic cacth on a ball thrown behind him and controlled his body enough for a layin on the break. It would be his only score. Came back in int he 2nd half and was not effective, but did show some excellent hustle getting back to break up a play after a ball was knocked loose into our backcourt. Tried the hero ball shot to close the 3rd again, and did not hit. Current solution to lack of backup PG woes is just to play Collison major star minutes, and try to survive the 10 he isn't on the floor. As Ray managed to notch a -17 +/- in only 10min of action tonight, don't think the plan really worked this time. --Brick
 
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We won. At this point, I'll take the win along with the sarcasm of all those who simply cannot find a way to enjoy even a couple of minutes. WE WON. THEY LOST.

Does it solve any of our longterm problems? No. Does it mean the front office is forgiven? No again. Does it mean that I was able to enjoy watching a winning effort for a change? Yep and for me that's good enough for tonight.
 
Curious to see how long this Williams starting at the 4 will last....I guess having size out there is a bad thing, shame on me!
I would venture a guess that it was a matchup thing. Williams is approximately the size and shape of Thad Young, who can burn some bigs by taking them off the dribble inside or hitting a jumper. You can't start Williams against an actual power forward or you'll get killed inside. Williams didn't hurt the Kings defense much tonight (lack of weakside protection is still hurting) until he got stuck guarding Wiggins. Tweener vs. tweener, and he's fine, especially if he can find his outside shot more regularly.
 
I would venture a guess that it was a matchup thing. Williams is approximately the size and shape of Thad Young, who can burn some bigs by taking them off the dribble inside or hitting a jumper. You can't start Williams against an actual power forward or you'll get killed inside. Williams didn't hurt the Kings defense much tonight (lack of weakside protection is still hurting) until he got stuck guarding Wiggins. Tweener vs. tweener, and he's fine, especially if he can find his outside shot more regularly.

Agreed, and the match up call makes sense. No use starting Hollins or Thompson and having them chase Young around on defense, because neither has much post game to punish Young on offense.
 
JT not starting the last couple might be Corbin trying out lineups or trying to matchup with opponents.

Or maybe when Boogie was frustrated and saying that the adversity let him know who was really going to fight alongside him the guy he was pointing out for NOT fitting that description was Thompson.

Just a thought.
 
Curious to see how long this Williams starting at the 4 will last....I guess having size out there is a bad thing, shame on me!

Van Gundy is starting Drummond and Monroe. Corbin has to line up JT or Hollins next to Boogie Sunday in The Motor City.
 
It was the best of both worlds. We got the win, and our fan base will still be pissed off come interview time on Monday!

Well, Sunday's game may play into the fan attitude on Monday, but not likely much needle-moving on the "frustration-o-meter" away from "&^#$@%& furious" is likely.
 
Against backup bigs on other teams, who do you bring in for Boogie? Hollins. No. Evans. No. So JT makes the most sense to keep a big on a big who can defend and score, leaving out Hollins/Evans.

I go along with VF21, a WIN is a WIN.
 
Aside from our starting backcourt I have trouble cheering for anyone else on this team. The defensive effort of our other 3 starters in the last 10 or so games has been a complete joke, Cuz is giving out career games to scrubs and not boxing out, Rudy takes 75% of the game off on D and Derrick Williams just can't defend and never has. The only positive thing about Derrick is he's actually the only player that actually passes the ball to Ben (they have since day 1 had a good connection). We can't be defend 2 on 5 which is essentially what it's been lately.

Ben is not getting enough shots and has zero plays run for him which is another sign of just idiotic coaching, I don't understand what does kid needs to do to get more shots, he competes every play,never complains is a model citizen and is shooting the ball at a high % and we just ignore him I mean half his shots were open dunks in transition. Since the season is completely lost why not give Ben more shots instead of watching garbage Rudy Gay isolation's?

Didn't mind JT as a back up since that's eventually unless we trade him is what he will be anyway but I don't see anyone better starting.
 
Aside from the turnovers, Rudy was arguably our best starter other than collison, who had a nice game. I am not sure what to think of Dwill at any time, so I don't count him among the starters.

Now, the turnovers were clearly excessive for Rudy. But he had 4 steals, shot great, even threw in a block with the usual scoring and adequate if unspectacular defense (as pointed out, wiggins did little damage on Rudy). Not sure where the perception Rudy has quit on the team is coming from in the game thread. He certainly hasn't quit any more or less than the rest of the team.

We don't win this game without Rudy.

The team is still free falling. Not much hope can be derived from barely holding off a wolves team that just isn't very good.

I enjoyed the exceedingly rare win though. :)
 
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http://i.imgur.com/vN77zdX.gifv

(No idea how to embed these.)

Safe to say DeMarcus threw in the towel on the post-Malone era.

While I understand the circumstances, I must say I'm disappointed with the way he reverted almost instantly from the new improved DeMarcus we all saw while Malone was here.

Hope that changes, regardless of what coach or situation we have.
 
Aside from the turnovers, Rudy was arguably our best starter other than collison, who had a nice game. I am not sure what to think of Dwill at any time, so I don't count him among the starters.

Now, the turnovers were clearly excessive for Rudy. But he had 4 steals, shot great, even threw in a block with the usual scoring and adequate if unspectacular defense (as pointed out, wiggins did little damage on Rudy). Not sure where the perception Rudy has quit on the team is coming from in the game thread. He certainly hasn't quit any more or less than the rest of the team.

We don't win this game without Rudy.

The team is still free falling. Not much hope can be derived from barely holding off a wolves team that just isn't very good.

I enjoyed the exceedingly rare win though. :)

Rudy no longer appears to be playing team ball. That's the change I noticed. Of course he is always going to be one of our best players because of the talent. But he won't even pass if triple teamed. Yes, he still scores, but that's not the point.
 
Rudy no longer appears to be playing team ball. That's the change I noticed. Of course he is always going to be one of our best players because of the talent. But he won't even pass if triple teamed. Yes, he still scores, but that's not the point.

Wing players that can score in this league are a dime-a-dozen. The question is what else can they do? What else are they willing to do? The Winners with the exception of James Harden usually play defense and hustle. The winners make their teammates better. The non-winners take a bunch of forced shots and turn the ball over a lot (see Kobe and Carmelo).

Rudy doesn't seem to interested in playing defense or hustling. I do sometimes see him try to make plays for his teammates and he actually does make some nice passes on occasion (so I know he has good court vision) but I can't say he tries to look for his teammates with gusto. Like I said last night about Rudy in the game thread, I never get the feeling that he is fully engaged in the flow of the game. You never get the feeling that he's giving you all he has.

I don't get that feeling with Ben or Darren.

Wasn't getting that feeling with DeMarcus until lately but now he's starting to zone out like Rudy. That imgur link posted a couple posts above this one is very telling. Close game with 4 minutes to go and DeMarcus is literally standing there on offense and not even making an effort to get open on the play or go for the loose ball. Besides the coaching situation maybe he is tired of seeing Rudy forced ISO plays too, but one thing is for sure if you just stand there and don't even try to engage yourself in the play......Rudy is not going to pass to you.
 
Rudy no longer appears to be playing team ball. That's the change I noticed. Of course he is always going to be one of our best players because of the talent. But he won't even pass if triple teamed. Yes, he still scores, but that's not the point.
All I'm saying is, please point me to the guy on the team who is playing team ball at the moment.
 
Glad for win though I didn't see a minute of it. Appreciate the Bee write up and all your comments and observations here. Don't like missing games but our annual afternoon to sunset trip to Ststin Island in the Delta to see the Sandhill Cranes was fab as usual, and the Swan, and the Snow Geese and the Lesser Canada and tha Northern Shovellers and the Coots and hawks and Great Blue Heron and all the rest. And as the sun set and darkness fell, the sky became black with flying water foul and the evening air was full of the conversations between them all. Might be as good as good Kings basketball. Thanks.
 
Wing players that can score in this league are a dime-a-dozen. The question is what else can they do? What else are they willing to do? The Winners with the exception of James Harden usually play defense and hustle. The winners make their teammates better. The non-winners take a bunch of forced shots and turn the ball over a lot (see Kobe and Carmelo).

Rudy doesn't seem to interested in playing defense or hustling. I do sometimes see him try to make plays for his teammates and he actually does make some nice passes on occasion (so I know he has good court vision) but I can't say he tries to look for his teammates with gusto. Like I said last night about Rudy in the game thread, I never get the feeling that he is fully engaged in the flow of the game. You never get the feeling that he's giving you all he has.

I don't get that feeling with Ben or Darren.

Wasn't getting that feeling with DeMarcus until lately but now he's starting to zone out like Rudy. That imgur link posted a couple posts above this one is very telling. Close game with 4 minutes to go and DeMarcus is literally standing there on offense and not even making an effort to get open on the play or go for the loose ball. Besides the coaching situation maybe he is tired of seeing Rudy forced ISO plays too, but one thing is for sure if you just stand there and don't even try to engage yourself in the play......Rudy is not going to pass to you.
I think you underestimate how easy basketball is for Rudy Gay. Guys like him, it never looks like they're hustling. He's that talented. I know that bothers people, but it is what it is.

I mean, he's almost doubled his assists over his career averages this season. I don't know what everyone wants out of him. He's consistent, and putting up the best numbers of his career.

Meanwhile, the bench is consistently awful yet everyone wants to focus on the things the starters don't do. The weaknesses of the team are pretty clear and need to be addressed. It's not Rudy, and it's not Cousins. By all means, criticize what is deserving of criticism. But the fact is, Rudy and Boogie were bought in. There was a culture forming. There was chemistry.

The FO killed all of that. And now the team is back searching for an identity. Both Rudy and Boogie were playing unselfish basketball, team basketball, playing the right way. Until a permanent coach is found, and probably even a year or 2 into the new coach's tenure (if the FO suddenly finds patience), that's when we MIGHT get back to where the team was 6 weeks ago. A single move set this team back significantly. There's no leadership to get it back at the moment. I can hope like crazy the players are able to pull it together, but let's face it, that's unlikely to happen. Malone held it together. In my ideal world, Boogie becomes that leader and puts this team on his back. He may not be ready, which would be another horrible miscalculation on the FO's part.
 
I think you underestimate how easy basketball is for Rudy Gay. Guys like him, it never looks like they're hustling. He's that talented. I know that bothers people, but it is what it is.

I mean, he's almost doubled his assists over his career averages this season. I don't know what everyone wants out of him. He's consistent, and putting up the best numbers of his career.

Meanwhile, the bench is consistently awful yet everyone wants to focus on the things the starters don't do. The weaknesses of the team are pretty clear and need to be addressed. It's not Rudy, and it's not Cousins. By all means, criticize what is deserving of criticism. But the fact is, Rudy and Boogie were bought in. There was a culture forming. There was chemistry.

The FO killed all of that. And now the team is back searching for an identity. Both Rudy and Boogie were playing unselfish basketball, team basketball, playing the right way. Until a permanent coach is found, and probably even a year or 2 into the new coach's tenure (if the FO suddenly finds patience), that's when we MIGHT get back to where the team was 6 weeks ago. A single move set this team back significantly. There's no leadership to get it back at the moment. I can hope like crazy the players are able to pull it together, but let's face it, that's unlikely to happen. Malone held it together. In my ideal world, Boogie becomes that leader and puts this team on his back. He may not be ready, which would be another horrible miscalculation on the FO's part.

I do realize how talented he is (offensively) and that scoring comes pretty easy for him. I've mentioned that before that he can score just on sheer ability alone. That is part of the reason why he seems to float through games and look disengaged. I know that's his personality in combination with his skills but sometimes you also need to give the appearance to your teammates that you are trying and that you care as much as they do.

The bigger issue though is Rudy's defense. His defense sucks and his defensive effort really sucks. I don't know how many times I've seen him drift from his man this year late in the 4th quarter and give up an easy layup. He reaches more often than not for guys driving around him instead of moving his feet. Many times this year late in the 4th quarter I've watched him either not run out at a shooter or not even put his hands up to contest a shot. So many of the big 3's that opposing teams have hit against the Kings this year in the 4th quarter have been Rudy's man that he either lost or did not even attempt to contest the shot.

I know offense comes easy for Rudy. Clearly defense doesn't, so how about some effort on that side of the ball? DeMarcus turned himself into a pretty good defender and Rudy is not a stiff athletically so there is no reason he can't play defense. The big question is always not can he but will he?
 
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