Here's A Positive

[rainmaker]

We're 5-4 at home.

A winning record.

Small sample size yes, partly due to the crazy schedule, but I think it's important for two reasons.

One, young teams as they mature, tend to take the step of playing above .500 ball at home before taking that out on the road. Playing .500 ball or above at home would be a new accomplishment for such a young team and an upward trajectory. Taking it on the road would be the next step.

Two, our schedule gets much easier and is filled with homes games, winnable home games if we reproduce what we did tonight. If we can play above .500 at home and steal a few on the road before the break, we can possibly have an interesting second half if that winning % at home carries over when we fatten up on home games.

 

[VF21]

This just reinforces my resolve to get to more games. An energized fan base can really make a difference to our Kings. Arco Thunder isn't just a myth. It's a reality and I hope to hear it a lot the rest of this season.

Thanks for the positive, rainmaker.

 

[The_Jamal]

Have we really only played 9 games at home?

Jesus

 

[swisshh]

An improvement over last year. I think the compacted schedule helps home teams more than usual this year. Get a lot of tired legs coming into town.

 

[Posta Boy X]

It's all up to our guys... The talent and potential is there.. The question is, will they be able to consistently play as a single unit and not every man for himself? If they can be more of a team, not even playoffs are out of reach. It's all about playing as a team. Personally I don't think they can consistently play as a unit yet..but stranger things have happened.

 

[The_Jamal]

We're 5-4 at home.

A winning record.

Small sample size yes, partly due to the crazy schedule, but I think it's important for two reasons.

One, young teams as they mature, tend to take to take the step of playing above .500 ball at home before taking that out on the road. Playing .500 ball or above at home would be a new accomplishment for such a young team and an upward trajectory. Taking it on the road would be the next step.

Two, our schedule gets much easier and is filled with homes games, winnable home games if we reproduce what we did tonight. If we can play above .500 at home and steal a few on the road before the break, we can possibly have an interesting second half if that winning % at home carries over when we fatten up on home games.

I completly agree. With the growth of Cousins/Reke under Smart+ a nice home schedule+ a healthy Thornton/Hayes, I don't think a .500 record the rest of the way is too crazy of a prediction.

 

[Kings Faithful]

Lets make sure our next game isn't a 30 point blowout before we get all hyped up again....

 

[Telemachus]

Have we really only played 9 games at home?

Jesus

The Kings have played more road games than any team in the league. And after they play GS, they get to head back out for another long road trip.

 

[jcwkings]

i think the next week is very important for the morale of the team, we have winnable games against the Warriors, Hornets, a hard but still winnable game against the wolves, and it all culminates on national tv against the Thunder next week. We obviously wont make the playoffs this year, but as long as we're competing hard every night/ have a winning record at home and our young players show development, the season is still salvagable imo.

 

[RookieOfTheDay]

Lets make sure our next game isn't a 30 point blowout before we get all hyped up again....

I think we're pretty safe, next game is the Warriors.

 

[Bricklayer]

now here's the negative:

after the next game vs. the Warriors 8 of our next 10 will be on the road, and 13 of our next 17. Which is going to leave us so ridiculously unbalanced toward road games that we will just have to be by FAR the most unbalanced schedule in the league. Unbalanced in a way determined to beat us down too. We'll finally get the benefit of all this crap come March, and if we have managed to not fire anybody or trade away half the team we wlil have some long home stretches there to make the sterotypical closing rush which comes up short.

 

[MassachusettsKingsFan]

now here's the negative:

after the next game vs. the Warriors 8 of our next 10 will be on the road, and 13 of our next 17. Which is going to leave us so ridiculously unbalanced toward road games that we will just have to be by FAR the most unbalanced schedule in the league. Unbalanced in a way determined to beat us down too. We'll finally get the benefit of all this crap come March, and if we have managed to not fire anybody or trade away half the team we wlil have some long home stretches there to make the sterotypical closing rush which comes up short.

Which could also mean we pick up the option on Keith Smart... which may be good or bad depending on how you look it at.

I think it was pretty clear that our little run at the end of last season saved Westphals job.

 

[Kingster]

We're 5-4 at home.

A winning record.

Small sample size yes, partly due to the crazy schedule, but I think it's important for two reasons.

One, young teams as they mature, tend to take the step of playing above .500 ball at home before taking that out on the road. Playing .500 ball or above at home would be a new accomplishment for such a young team and an upward trajectory. Taking it on the road would be the next step.

Two, our schedule gets much easier and is filled with homes games, winnable home games if we reproduce what we did tonight. If we can play above .500 at home and steal a few on the road before the break, we can possibly have an interesting second half if that winning % at home carries over when we fatten up on home games.

I'm very hopefull that when the schedule gets easier going forward it is going to help Smart in getting some positive reinforcement (through wins) to his guys. So they can see what he is teaching actually works; then they work even harder because they see that it works. Then the thing can start to snowball on the upside rather than the downside.

 

[Kingster]

Which could also mean we pick up the option on Keith Smart... which may be good or bad depending on how you look it at.

I think it was pretty clear that our little run at the end of last season saved Westphals job.

Leaving aside substitution patterns, in which there is never ever agreement upon on this board, it looks to me that Smart is on the right track. The drills that he is doing with Tyreke, the incremental change in Cousins' attitude, the emphasis on fast break basketball, getting players in shape, teaching the players during games and not just in practice, and finally, letting the media in on his teaching behind the scenes (thus cementing the importance of his teachings in his player's minds), all are signs of coach who is a good teacher. And that is precisely what this young team needs.

 

[Section 101]

now here's the negative:

after the next game vs. the Warriors 8 of our next 10 will be on the road, and 13 of our next 17. Which is going to leave us so ridiculously unbalanced toward road games that we will just have to be by FAR the most unbalanced schedule in the league. Unbalanced in a way determined to beat us down too. We'll finally get the benefit of all this crap come March, and if we have managed to not fire anybody or trade away half the team we wlil have some long home stretches there to make the sterotypical closing rush which comes up short.

Actually, the Bulls have played 15 road games to our 13. Their next 5 games are on the road and 8 of their next 14.

 

[macadocious]

The Kings have played more road games than any team in the league. And after they play GS, they get to head back out for another long road trip.

It's probably been really good to play all these road games early. If there were gonna be losses anyways, good to get them out of the way. Once this team gets more practice time and home games, they can eek up that win %.

 

[RookieOfTheDay]

It's probably been really good to play all these road games early. If there were gonna be losses anyways, good to get them out of the way. Once this team gets more practice time and home games, they can eek up that win %.

I kind of see it the opposite way. All these road games in a condensed schedule would have been tough even for a good team but for a team like the Kings it pretty much ensured they be in a big hole early. if they'd had an easier start, maybe they could have been more competitive and been ready for the tougher schedule in the second half. on the other hand, maybe it wouldn't have mattered because last year they started off with a cake schedule and still fell in a hole early.

 

[Section 101]

I kind of see it the opposite way. All these road games in a condensed schedule would have been tough even for a good team but for a team like the Kings it pretty much ensured they be in a big hole early. if they'd had an easier start, maybe they could have been more competitive and been ready for the tougher schedule in the second half. on the other hand, maybe it wouldn't have mattered because last year they started off with a cake schedule and still fell in a hole early.

In the West only 3 teams have winning road records, Thunder, Nuggets and Wolves. In the East 5 teams have winning records and 2 are even.

 

[VF21]

I'm very hopefull that when the schedule gets easier going forward it is going to help Smart in getting some positive reinforcement (through wins) to his guys. So they can see what he is teaching actually works; then they work even harder because they see that it works. Then the thing can start to snowball on the upside rather than the downside.

The home wins, if and when they come, will also energize more fans into attending games. And that, in turn, will restore the symbiotic relationship our teams have had with the fans.

 

[IfAt1st]

Actually, the Bulls have played 15 road games to our 13. Their next 5 games are on the road and 8 of their next 14.

Good detective work.

Whether the schedule is bad or good is dependent on these questions, "When will it be more important to have an energized fanbase? At the beginning-to-mid part of the season, or the mid-to-late part of the season?
Will too many fans lose interest in the season after losing so much in the 1st half? "

 

[Glenn]

Good detective work.

Whether the schedule is bad or good is dependent on these questions, "When will it be more important to have an energized fanbase? At the beginning-to-mid part of the season, or the mid-to-late part of the season?
Will too many fans lose interest in the season after losing so much in the 1st half? "

Speaking as one fan, I am very interested in a team that is winning and actually seems to be playing for something of consequence like the playoffs. I am tired of losing records and survived 10 years worth of season tickets in their early years where they were worse than they are now. I gave up.

If the team has a good record, I would be more inclined to go to a game and I would NOT take the schedule into account. The fact that we have a horrific first half of the season means we will have a poor record and it means I would be less likely to go to a game. We have almost instantly been removed from consideration for the playoffs.

 

[RookieOfTheDay]

I didn't realize they had a winning home record. If they can keep that up, it is a positive.

 

[RookieOfTheDay]

Good detective work.

Whether the schedule is bad or good is dependent on these questions, "When will it be more important to have an energized fanbase? At the beginning-to-mid part of the season, or the mid-to-late part of the season?
Will too many fans lose interest in the season after losing so much in the 1st half? "

My belief is that once fans feel playoffs are out of the question, they lose interest for the rest of that season. It's always better from a fan interest standpoint to start strong than to finish strong.

 

[Kingster]

The home wins, if and when they come, will also energize more fans into attending games. And that, in turn, will restore the symbiotic relationship our teams have had with the fans.

Good point.

 

[Kingster]

So Golden State, NO, and Minni are up next. That's definitely doable for the Kings. Those are all winnable games. Personally, I think Portland is better than all three. Granted two of the three are away games, but it's still possible the Kings could get a 4 game win streak. We will see.

 

[ArcoKings]

i think the next week is very important for the morale of the team, we have winnable games against the Warriors, Hornets, a hard but still winnable game against the wolves, and it all culminates on national tv against the Thunder next week. We obviously wont make the playoffs this year, but as long as we're competing hard every night/ have a winning record at home and our young players show development, the season is still salvagable imo.

Yep. That's the 2nd game on TNT. Last night Charles Barkley was taking jabs at the city of Sacramento. Expect more of the same next week. Anyways, Go Kings!!

 

[IfAt1st]

Speaking as one fan, I am very interested in a team that is winning and actually seems to be playing for something of consequence like the playoffs. I am tired of losing records and survived 10 years worth of season tickets in their early years where they were worse than they are now. I gave up.

If the team has a good record, I would be more inclined to go to a game and I would NOT take the schedule into account. The fact that we have a horrific first half of the season means we will have a poor record and it means I would be less likely to go to a game. We have almost instantly been removed from consideration for the playoffs.

I agree, on all points.

The schedule being brutal early basically guaranteed that the Kings fanbase was not going to be energized behind the team en masse this year.

We'll see if that ends up having any repercussions later on.....

 

[Kingster]

Yep. That's the 2nd game on TNT. Last night Charles Barkley was taking jabs at the city of Sacramento. Expect more of the same next week. Anyways, Go Kings!!

Barkley is a Westphal fan, so that probably has something to do with it. It sure would be nice to have some momentum going into that game; otherwise it could be ugly.

 

[RookieOfTheDay]

The BIG positive that almost everyone seems to have lost sight of in the bickering is that we still have a team to bicker about! A little less than a year ago we were all depressed facing the seeming certainty that the Kings were gone. Now we still have the Kings and it's looking like we'll be able to keep them for good. THAT'S a positive to me. I'd much rather have a bad team to complain about than no team at all.