Grades vs the Nuggets?

[Joel]

I hope Brick is okay... it's odd not seeing grades two games in a row. Here's my take on the Nuggets.

Bibby: C-
Offensively he couldn't buy a bucket, defensively he did a decent job on Blake minus a few screens he didn't fight through. Played the passing lanes well as evidenced by the 3 steals.

Martin: A-
Solid offensive output. Sort of the good game you come to expect from him.

Artest: A
Awesome defense on Melo... even if Melo was a little off on his own regard. It appears Ron got in his head early. Offensively did not force the actions and hit a huge shot to keep the output positive. Rebounded quite well eventhough the rest of the team took the night off of the boards.

Miller: B
I think his output was better than his numbers. Couldn't figure out why he got so few minutes. When he was in he made crisp passes, hit open shots, and rebounded about as well as you can expect from Brad Miller.

Thomas: D
Awful.... Why does this guy continue to get minutes. Rebounded the ball at a decent clip, but offensively all his shots seemed to be forces. At least he wasn't a turnover machine, as usual.

Corliss: C
Scored well, but played a sloppy game. Was trying to force the action inside against the much bigger Nugs front line. Mixed results and some tedious ball handling errors.

Reef: C+
Barely noticed he was out there. Had a nice dunk in transition. Nothing overly positive or negative.

Salmons: C+
A solid take to the hoop and good defense. Other than that, not much. Sort of a let down after his last game against the Nugs.

Cisco: C
Good hustle but little results. I liked his energy but it didn't really turn in to anything positive.

Douby: INC
5 minutes of noting but a few missed shots. Didn't do anything to hurt or help.

Scott Brooks: B+
The team looked focused and agressive. His substitutions and timeouts made sense. We beat a team at home that we should beat. Sounds like a good job to me.

 

[SacTownKid]

The only possible explanation could be that they are showcasing Kenny Thomas. It just has to be.

 

[Joel]

One thing that made me laugh was one of the Kings players at halftime saying Kenny would be a good Tight end because he has good hands.

 

[VF21]

I'd give John Salmons a B- at least. He was playing excellent help defense against Melo...

 

[6th]

Yep, Salmons was really keeping Melo from going off. There were times when guarding Melo was relegated solely to Salmons and he did an excellent job. I was glad Salmons did not try to do too much offensively. He knew why he was in there, and he stuck to the game plan. Solid B from me.

Artest.....cannot give the guy less than an A+. He absolutely did it all in there. Best game of the year...AFAIC.

 

[fnordius]

Great game from Artest, good from Miller, decent from everyone else but KT. Good job from the acting coach. They all did what they want to do, and are supposed to do... win.

But it was probably a bad thing for the franchise.

It makes me happy to see the players having a good time, as they obviously were. But, aside from that, I have very mixed feelings about the result, and can only hope that this game shows the Maloofs that we need a new head coach at the end of the season.

This game dropped us into a tie for 9th/10th lottery position.

 

[nbrans]

That was seriously an MVP type of performance from Ron. His defense on Carmelo was incredible -- proof that he still has the ability to be a top notch defender when he wants to be. And on offense he was great as well. Really a brilliant game.

This was one of those games where Ron and Kevin were good enough to beat the entire Nuggets team.

 

[quick dog]

With all the hand-wringing, whining, trade demands, lottery speculation, player scoriation, attempted suicides by over-eating, or whatever has been occuring around here lately, what are we prepared to say if the Kings actually turn around the season, form a solid game-routine, and develop a team, the core of which, is worthy of saving?

thisisthelongestsentencethatIhaveeverwritten

imayrunforoffice

 

[GoGoGadget]

I hope Brick is okay... it's odd not seeing grades two games in a row.

I'm sure he's fine. Probably just out there having one of those... um... life thingies.

Either that, or he's avoiding the public outcry that would result from handing out F's to the whole team for winning.

 

[fnordius]

With all the hand-wringing, whining, trade demands, lottery speculation, player scoriation, attempted suicides by over-eating, or whatever has been occuring around here lately, what are we prepared to say if the Kings actually turn around the season, form a solid game-routine, and develop a team, the core of which, is worthy of saving?

That question probably deserves another thread, but to try to give a brief answer: I think it's become pretty obvious that we need another coach. It's also quite obvious that we need a star-quality big. Without them, this team has given up hope.

We could talk about whether winning 55% for the rest of the season would be terribly harmful or merely futile, but it saves me a lot of writing if we put off that topic until it happens, since it won't.

Our roster isn't beyond redemption. It's not nearly as deep as it was, the players are aging and demoralized, and the parts don't fit like they used to. But even if you took the Kings of old, at their absolute peak, and subtracted Chris Webber, you did not have a championship team. This team knows it is not a championship team, so they are watching the clock and collecting paychecks, while doing their best to ignore a coach who they don't respect. Right now, the best thing they can do is to lose 3/4 of their remaining games, draft that big and get the coach fired. And they're obviously working on it. They aren't deliberately tanking, but their play is naturally going to reflect how they feel.

So I wouldn't get all excited about the prospect of another 1st-round exit. What you saw wasn't the revived hope of a championship, it was a team strongly unified around stating that they, too, have joined the "fire Muss" movement. I expect another solid game from them before things return to normalcy.

 

[whozit]

So I wouldn't get all excited about the prospect of another 1st-round exit. What you saw wasn't the revived hope of a championship, it was a team strongly unified around stating that they, too, have joined the "fire Muss" movement. I expect another solid game from them before things return to normalcy.

All of that from them actually being able to close out a game against a team that played in OT the night before?

For me, the last ten or more games have been enjoyable to watch again, win or lose. They have had trouble holding leads and closing out, but they have seemed to begin to resemble a team again and that is with him leading on the sidelines. However, it's still a flawed team and a work in progress. I may be in a very small minority, but for me I'm not ready to kick him under the bus just yet.

 

[Greenspan 101]

For one of the few games I've been to, KT definitely deserves a D or below. For some reason missing point blank shots looks even worse in person. This had to be Artest's biggest game of the season; definitely A+.

By the way, Brick, you're fired. Joel is the man.

 

[fnordius]

All of that from them actually being able to close out a game against a team that played in OT the night before?

Our record against >.500 teams, since the coaching honeymoon ended in mid-November, was 3 wins and 15 losses, and two of those wins were against teams with key players out injured or suspended. Since December 22, when we beat the Carmelo-less Nuggets, it been 0 and 7.

You could call last night's game a statistical anomaly, but when you add in things like the recent comment from Bibby that he hadn't heard what Muss said in the huddle before a game-deciding final play, the fan observations of less than cordial-looking interactions between players and coach, and fan observations of great morale and team play last night, I think it paints a pretty convincing picture.

In any case, we'll know by the time we hit the long-awaited 50-game mark.

 

[AriesMar27]

i would give bibby a solid B.... he did shoot too much but he didnt shoot us out of the game the way melo did for the nuggets.... not only that but the fact that he passed the ball to ron at the end of the game instead of shooting a hero three solidifies his B status...

the minute that melo st down the nuggets came back hitting jumpers...

martin and artest deserve A's

 

[quick dog]

Joel is a helpful surrogate, filling-in for Brickie in response to some self-inflicted obligatory reason. Brickie is still "the man" until someone can string together 1,000 words of relatively concise, explanatory, text after each and every game.

I have not posted much in quite a while. In fact, I have detached myself emotionally as a psychic defense-mechanism. As a nearly casual observer, I would like to reiterate that the gloomiest prognastications here have been a bit over the top. I think coach Musselman is doing just fine. The Kings are not a championship contender, but the Kings are not really that bad. They will win most of their remaining games, and will continue to play harder than the much vaunted, near-championship, Kings of yore.

I still remember Vlade missing 12-inch lay-ups. I remember Peja "fairying-up" unchallenged lay-ups that would roll harmlessly off the iron. I still remember Chris glued to the high-post position launching and endless series of hapless clangers. Our new Kings may not be as skilled overall, but they are tough, and work very hard.

 

[VF21]

For one of the few games I've been to, KT definitely deserves a D or below. For some reason missing point blank shots looks even worse in person. This had to be Artest's biggest game of the season; definitely A+.

By the way, Brick, you're fired. Joel is the man.

Not gonna happen. Not now, not ever.

 

[Circa_1985_Fan]

Not gonna happen. Not now, not ever.

Where is the Brickster, anyways?? Hopefully he'll be back soon.

 

[6th]

For one of the few games I've been to, KT definitely deserves a D or below. For some reason missing point blank shots looks even worse in person. This had to be Artest's biggest game of the season; definitely A+.

By the way, Brick, you're fired. Joel is the man.

Ha!! Not hardly.

I agree with you about watching KT miss point blank shots in person. That was horrible, and I mentioned already my grade for Ron: A+