[Grades] Grades v. Wolves 11/2/2012

What's the biggest factor behind our offensive struggles?

  • still learning the new offense

    Votes: 1 2.9%
  • Boogie's slow start

    Votes: 4 11.4%
  • lack of shooting

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • poor PG play

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • no roles/too much 1 on 1/too little structure

    Votes: 24 68.6%
  • rotations/lineups

    Votes: 6 17.1%

  • Total voters
    35
  • Poll closed .

Bricklayer

Don't Make Me Use The Bat
Sigh. I'm beginning to sense a problem with our adoption of a 1930s Globetrotter offensive scheme.

So, coming off the first game thought that despite everything, if we just got the same overall effort from everybody else, but then Cuz was back to himself, we'd win this one. Instead everybody else sans IT went backward, and Cousins even further as he's off to a terribly disappointing start. Result = boo.

Tommorow suddenly looms as an important game, because this sort of effort is just not acceptable, and it will be important for the team to prove they don't think so either. Nobody more than the big guy in the middle.

Boxscore

Stats: 21min 5pts (2-5, 0-0, 1-2) 6reb 2ast 2stl 0blk 2TO
Johnson ( D ) -- continues his disappointing start to the season just being loose and out of control on offense. Traveled to start trying to avoid shooting the corner three. Got a second effort layup, but soon got into foul trouble trying to guard the rich man's version of himself in Kirilneko. Got switched onto Pek in the late 2nd and picked up his third foul just wildly swiping at the ball rather than playing him straight. Finally hit an open jumper in the early 3rd and had a few minutes of effective play helping on the glass with Boogie having to be careful. Was overdribbling on the break all night, and may have effectively ended his night when he threw a terribly risky and completely unnecessary behind the back pass to Reke on the break that would have had our coach pulling out his hair if he had any. Important point of the game as we fighting for the lead, its on the road, so not like you are getting the crowd into it, and he threw it too late for Reke to be able to finish the play anyway. Just a silly and sloppy play, and when you already are struggling... Needs to settle down now because this isn't helpful.

Stats: 34min 10pts (4-10, 0-0, 2-2) 7reb 2ast 1stl 2blk 0TO
Thompson ( B- ) -- had some early issues losing track of Derrick Williams, who BTW continues to look like another bust to go with Wes Johnson, but JT settled in and ended up playing a very solid first half as our most effective player. Played well steadying us after we took out the rest of the starters, and some solid post work over variosu defenders helped hold us together during an otherwise miserable stretch int eh 2nd quarter. Probably was a high B grade at the time. Unfortunately that was pretty much it, as he went very quiet after half. Did a solid job helping keep Cuz on the floor swithcing off on Pek etc., but think he only had something like 2pts 2rebs after the break, and this grade tumbled with it. Overall..ok.

Stats: 25min 11pts (5-13, 0-0, 1-1) 4reb 0ast 0stl 0blk 1TO
Cousins ( F ) -- be hard to be much more disappointing than Boogie has been these first two games. Not only is he not playing like he's taken a step forward, he's playing a lot like his rookie season. I.e. Dumb. Started the game on an ominous note, getting called for a foul almost before the game was on on a nothing off the ball call. Briuefly looked like he had it in control as he used his mobility advantge to take Pek outside and drain a long jumper, and then drive by him for a tough pullup. But he was vey soon in early foul trouble agian. Constantly. He compounded it when Smart trusted him enough to put him back early in the 2nd quarter. DeMarcus rewarded the trust by stupidly dribbling right into Steisma's chest, begging for a blocked shot if he was lucky, and getting himself his 3rd foul instead with less than 10 min of first half playing time. Topped that intelligence by picking up up his 4th foul on quite literally the very first play of the 3rd quarter! We left him in, but from that point on he had to pretty much play with his hands in his pockets. No banging, no scrapping, no anything that could draw more whistles. Finally got soemthing to go right as he drained a long jumper to give us our first lead in forever in the mid third to cap our comeback. But as soon as Barea returned, Isaiah immediately lost him and Boogie just as quickly got his 5th foul trying to draw a charge. So we lost him again. Brought him back early in the 4th, and while that seemed like a recipe for no Boogie down the strecth, he actually managed to stay on the floor for the rest of the game. Wasn't terribly effective aside from one strong power +1 at the 7:30 mark, but hey, he was there. Yay. My theory on this F is this -- if DeMarcus Cousins wants to have the sort of season and career he claims to, this has to be the absolute nadir for him. There can't be anything even worse. He shot poorly, could not stay on the floor, did not rebound, and could not afford to play anything more than solid position defense because of all the stupid fouls.

Stats: 30min 6pts (3-14, 0-1, 0-0) 7reb 4ast 1stl 0blk 2TO
Evans ( D ) -- and maybe if Reke had brought his Chicago game with him, we could have threatened in this one again despite Boogie being bad again. But instead BOTH our star guys sucked, and you aren't going to win many of those. Reke looked somehow uncomfortable from the beginning of this one, and I'm not sure why. Was just erratic with the ball, made a poor early decision on the break etc.. His defense and rebounding started picking up just in time for Smart to come with another of his wonderful replace everyone on the floor simultaneously substitution patterns, but the offense never came around. Did not want nor could he hit the jumper this time, and time and again seemed just a little squeezed on his drives and slashes. Kirilenko and Stiesma were problems (oddly we run into yet another team too silly to have realized shotblocking is overrated -- suckers!), but more thann that it seemed liek he was just running out of space and was having to throw up difficult layups and push shots rather than his normal stuff. Result -- a ton of misses at the rim. Had one burst of offensive efficacy in the third when he started getting out on the break and on the move cacthing balls for slashes, but that was it. Was giving pretty good effort on defense, but not great efficacy. Statistically he and Roy played to a near (ugly) draw, but if you watched it Roy somehow seemed able to get a step on Reke and get into the lane, whatever his problems finishing. Reke helped us a bit speeding up our break and on the glass, where through 2 games he's tied with JT for the team lead. And as it was last game his drive and kicks were about the only signs of creativity and shot creation we had (Reke is also leading us in assists by a wide margin). But it was very inconsistent and spotty this time, and time and again he came up short on layups, or Roy turned the corner on him and got into the lane, and Reke went from a brilliant game to a very frustrating one.

Stats: 26min 20pts (7-13, 3-7, 3-4) 2reb 2ast 0stl 0blk 2TO
Thomas ( B- ) -- got off to another poor start to this one. Was getting lit up by Ridnour in the early going, and compounded his inability to get us into any sort of offensive set by just embracing his inner gunner and throwing up selfish 1 on 4 shots. Kicker that benched him for the rest of the half may have been when he blew a wide open fastbreak layup costing us 2 pts. But came out much stronger after half and while we never were able to run anything approaching a coherent offense, under IT or anybody else's guidance, at least IT started scoring himself on a night when nobody else could. Looked much more under control in the early third, and after getting a real lucky bounce on a three in transition as the ball bounced 10 feet in the air before falling through, he got going and added two more threes in the next couple of minutes as we made our best charge of the night and actually took the lead. A nemesis all night for all our PGs was JJ Barea, and when he returend to the game in the late third he immediately lost IT and blew into our middle to put the 5th foul on Boogie, and continued doing pretty much whatever he wanted as all our vaunted PG quickness meant nothing at all on defense and IT was surprisingly unable to stay in front of him. IT airballed an open three on a klck from Reke as our surge fell back apart, but continued to provide as much offense as anyone the rest of the way, and notched his 20th point in the final minute of the game. This really was not a particularly strong effort, in particular from a PG. It never seemed like he could create more than a tepidly decent shot for anybody, the team offense was ragged, and he got blown by on defense. On the other hand on a night when nobody else was able to cut through the muck and put points on the board, IT did, and without that contribution we probably lose by 20 and are looking at pretty girls right now. Note: in the first 2 games all our PGs together have now combined for 5 assists and 7TOs. Those are just disastrous numbers, and you are seeing the results on court.
 
Last edited:
Bench

Stats: 8min 2pts (1-4, 0-0, 0-0) 0reb 1ast 0stl 1blk 0TO
Outlaw ( D ) -- first man off the bench brought in aswhat I can assume was a good physical match for AK despite his lousy preseason. Quickly resumed his reseason pattern of taking and missing lightly contested midrange jumpers. I swear I am a better jumpshooter than this guy at this point. Shot 29% in preseason. 1-4 tonight. Was able to do one thing right, and that was provide a little length/shtoblocking help for the stubby Hayes frontline. Unfortunately looked either confused or lazy at the other aspects of defense, and kept on drifting off people. The mystery of the complete collapse of this guy's game continues. Was never a star, but once was a decent roleplayer. Now he looks the part, but just gets nothing accomplished on court.

Stats: 7min 0pts (0-5, 0-2, 0-0) 0reb 1ast 0stl 0blk 0TO
Brooks ( F ) -- had a wow-bad first half stint that got so stinky that Smart resorted to Jimmer taking the remainder of his minutes for the game. Wasn't even trying to run any offense I could define, and instead was selfishly gunning up junk at every opportunity, charging into packs of Wolves and getting his shots blocked etc. I am not sure at all that this platoon/competition is doing our guys any good at all, as they are pressing in ridiculous fashion. I'll be kind and say maybe his tooth was still hurting him, because whatever else he is, Brooks is a better player than this sort of garbage outing.

Stats: 28min 15pts (6-13, 0-4, 3-3) 0reb 2ast 0stl 0blk 0TO
Thornton ( C ) -- again ineffective off the bench with Brooks in the early going, but this time was hardly his fault as our offense is so messed up at this point that we simply refuse to run plays for our best bench scorer and instead were running isos for Chuck Hayes and Travis Outlaw. Finally scored on a +1 on the break where he got upended and landed on his back. Late in the half the coaching staff finally got him a shot off a called out of bounds play, and for a few brief glorious moments he was off and running alongside Reke, and we woke up and got back into the game. Marcus scored on the break, posted up Ridnour, was potent for about 3-4 minutes. But after returning in the second half was quiet once more, playing decently, notching a couple of assists, but making no impact and unable to hit threes we desperately needed. Kind of describes his season so far. Putting up a decent # of points, but neither efficiently nor with much impact.

Stats: 20min 3pts (1-3, 0-0, 1-2)11reb 2ast 0stl 1blk 1TO
Hayes ( B ) -- a contributor on the night giving us good boardwork and physicality. If our stupid system didn't seem determined to treat him like Cousins and run post isos for him, he may even have really helped. At one point we set up a triangle set on the left side of the court. Only instead of Shaq and Kobe, or even Reke and Cousins, we instead ran it with Outlaw, Hayes, and Brooks, with Hayes ending up dribbling it into the middle and trying to flip up a shot over Greg Steimsma. Good offensive scheme. The Globetrotters must be turning over in their graves. Later got a taste of his own treatement when Stiemsma got a poke steal on him from behind in the high post. Returned late in the half and immediately came up with a good defensive stop, and closed the half with a nice blocked shot on AK at the 20 second mark, and a conversion at the other end for his only hoop of the night after we finally made some quick passes to cut the lead back under double digits. So when he returned in the late third what is the first thing we do with him? Go to him on an iso vs. Stiesma in the post. Come. On. I may not think there's much point in calling for Smart's head so early, but I am going to absolutely demand that those of you going to games smuggle in rotten fruit to pelt him with if that kind of stupidity continues. Hayes missed a pair of FTs at the end of the third, but got to take the 2nd one over due to a Minny lane violation and hit it. Began the 4th with a nice high post pass again to a backutting MT as that at least is becoming one of the most recognizabel and consistent parts of the offensive muddle early in the season. Going with a B here because I feel like many of Hayes' failings this game were due to coaching asking him to do things he should never be asked to do rather than anything he had control over. When we inevitably start running postups for Brooks my reaction will be the same.

Stats: 12min 2pts (0-1, 0-0, 2-2) 4reb 0ast 2stl 0blk 1TO
Robinson ( C ) -- another quiet rookie outing. Had a wild one on one move to draw a foul in the midst of our struggle for his only points. A minute later sloppy rookie error getting a double dribble in the open court for no reason at all. Actually that's not really a rookie error. That's a grade school error, but it sort of summed up our first half. Had a brief little moment of helping when he came up with a couple of good defensive boards at the end of the third to help us close again. Slow start for him. And with Hayes playing well, wondering what will happen to his minutes when/if Boogie wakes up and starts playing the minutes he should be.

Stats: 15min 0pts (0-3, 0-1, 0-0) 1reb 0ast 1stl 0blk 0TO
Garcia ( D ) -- what do you get when you throw a modestly talented roleplayer out into a chaotic siutuation with no apparent system? Some really empty minutes. Rushed his shots in the first half and hit none of them. Had one bright moment near the end of his time with a nice steal on Roy in the mid 4th.

Stats: 15min 6pts (3-5, 0-0, 0-0) 1reb 1ast 0stl 0blk 2TO
Jimmer ( C+ ) -- in in the 2nd quarter because of Brooks' ineffectiveness, and got his minutes in the 4th as well. Was playing more find ways to shoot myself guard rather than point guard. But then again so was everybody else. Was unable to stay in front of Barea and Ridnour, but again, neither was anybody else. Gave us a little boost in the late second with a long jumper and a couple of tough forced drives that dropped. Less effective in the 4th when he missed a wide open three with us down 6that we needed, and just for no reason lost control of the dribble trying to pass on the break, costing us two points and sending the Wolves back the other way for 2 of their own.
 
Last edited:
Last year at this time in the season Cousins and Westphal were fighting. Some rumors were that Cousins was a head case and would be traded. Instead Westphal was fired and the team seamed to improve. Well here we are again, Cousins is struggling, the Kings look terrible and much of it seems to be because of the coach. Luckily Cousins and Smart are buddies, because if we had a rerun of last year the Maloof's might do something foolish. I hope Cousins and Smart are still getting along.
 
So many little issues, and quite a few big issues, but when you look at both games ... We need our best player to play well. Hell, we need him to play, period. The fouls need to stop. Cousins needs to step up. And it's not going to be easy when Roy Hibbert is next.
 
This is just not a well coached team. Team has no idea what to do on offense. Running iso's for Outlaw and Hayes...wtf? Leaving IT out of the game until the 2nd half. Subbing in Garcia when Johnson should be subbed in.

Honestly they should have been blown out by 25 but they got lucky that Minnesota couldn't hit the broad side of a barn from the outside.
 
lets be honest here guys. if any LEGITIMATE NBA coach had control of this roster. Outlaw, Garcia, and Jimmer would not touch the court during a game. but coach Smart has 2 of these guys on the floor for the first 7 minutes of the 4th quarter, on the road, trailing. ridiculous
 
bricklayer, how soon do you think something drastic needs to be done? Its been 6 years man..6 YEARS...the CLIPPERS ARE BETTER THAN US!
 
if they team plays like this again tomorrow i say everyone shows up at the home opener with brown bags on their heads.
 
if they team plays like this again tomorrow i say everyone shows up at the home opener with brown bags on their heads.

yea you guys in Sacramento need to send some kind of message..idk what..but something that would have the owners almost ****ting in their pants and acting with some kind of sense of urgency to fix things ASAP..
 
i think bags is perfect. show them hey look we still pay the money and show up and support our team, but we do not approve of the way this team is being handled from the top down. we have talent and there is NO EXCUSE for this start to the season
 
An idea from Hubie Brown: first thing, you worry, get good shots for your best players.
Few minutes ago Barnes run into Kobe and got unnessessary foul. Paul came up to him with not so pleased expression on his face. Wish somebody came up to Hayes, Outlaw, Johnson and other shot creators and ask "WTH are you doing?".
 
Cousins has got to show that's he not a mental weakling. He goes up against big tough centers and he seems to wither. When things are rolling for him, everything is good and he's an All-Star, but it seems like an insurmountable mountain for him to turn it around when the momentum goes against him. You just have to wonder how long it's going to take for him to finally get it.
 
Cousins has got to show that's he not a mental weakling. He goes up against big tough centers and he seems to wither. When things are rolling for him, everything is good and he's an All-Star, but it seems like an insurmountable mountain for him to turn it around when the momentum goes against him. You just have to wonder how long it's going to take for him to finally get it.

A lot of this goes down to discipline. Cousins has the potential to be very good precisely because of his outside shooting ability as well as his ability to put the ball on the floor. But it needs to be controlled, it needs to be used within the offense. It's time Smart disciplines the team on the offensive end, put in some structure for the guys to grow as a team. Stop deceiving yourself that you're a good offensive team - you're not. You just run and score a lot of points by jacking up shots.
 
If Smart gets all the blame for the offense, then he gets all the credit for our defensive improvement. While it's incredibly stupid to take anything from a two game sample size on either end of the floor, our defensive numbers are way up across the board.

Opponent averages:
92.4 PPG- 14th
.39 FG%- 5th
.15 3pt%- 2nd
.404 eFG%- 4th
.12 TOV%- 21

Again, two game sample size, but this is a team that couldn't stop a 7th grade boys basketball team from scoring 100 last season. This team by far has the most defensive potential of any squad we've had in a long time.

The offense will come once Cousins gets his head out of his ***. He's an absolute liability atm with his inability to stay on the floor and not foul
 
Last edited:
Cuz needs to be more savvy in the post, everyone knows he's drive right (90% of the time) so they're just waiting to take a charge. Why doesn't he swing the ball through a couple of times and get that low dribble position like C-Webb used to when he faced up. Impossible to take a charge that way.
 

I like that Tyreke looks effing pissed at the end. Our best guys need to start getting angry, and translating that to much better play on the court, demanding the coach puts them back in etc.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
If Smart gets all the blame for the offense, then he gets all the credit for our defensive improvement. While it's incredibly stupid to take anything from a two game sample size on either end of the floor, our defensive numbers are way up across the board.

Opponent averages:
92.4 PPG- 14th
.39 FG%- 5th
.15 3pt%- 2nd
.404 eFG%- 4th
.12 TOV%- 21

Again, two game sample size, but this is a team that couldn't stop a 7th grade boys basketball team from scoring 100 last season. This team by far has the most defensive potential of any squad we've had in a long time.

The offense will come once Cousins gets his head out of his ***. He's an absolute liability atm with his inability to stay on the floor and not foul

What is TOV?
 
ill translate IT from that interview.
"we just cant wait so long" - translation "the coach cant wait so long to put us back in the game"
 
I read it as we can't take so long to get into our offense. And he's right, but sadly he's the one who should be initiating it (IT i mean)
 
the scary thing is that Smart sees no issue with his 12 man rotation and sub patterns. get ready to finish last in the west again guys
 
Back
Top