John Salmons

[jay dubb]

Well now we see how great of a defender John is and why he is a very important piece of the Kings, b/c without him we have sucked on the defensive end of the floor. We gave up 111 points to the GRIZZLIES ( I still cant believe that), 117 to the Warriors, and 108 to the Spurs. I hope John is back Wed against the Jazz or it well be a very very long night.

 

[SacTownKid]

While John is clearly a vital cog to this team. Our woes go beyond John Salmons. This team just needs to find that fire and more importantly, they need to find some confidence.

 

[Viking]

i think our defensive issues are way bigger than john salmons.

we have ron artest on our team and we suck.

this could be due to the fact that he is often the tallest player on the court.

 

[nbrans]

I think having Salmons out has a roundabout effect on our defense, since Garcia can't be fully depended upon for a solid 25 minutes at backup SF (because you never know which Garcia you're going to get), and this in turn puts pressure on the front line, because you don't get those 10 minutes a game with Ron at power forward. Instead we've seen more Corliss at center, and that tells you all you need to know. Salmons might also have been more attentive than Garcia and wouldn't have let Barry bomb open threes the whole second quarter. But he is by no means THE reason the defense hasn't been good.

But mostly I think having him out has really hampered the offense -- he's the only guy on the team who has a calming effect on the offense, and the Kings have really missed the 25 minutes when he's in the game. When he brings the ball up the floor good things seem to happen offensively because he's good at spreading the ball, getting it down low, and occasionally looking for his own shot.

 

[Bricklayer]

But mostly I think having him out has really hampered the offense

Sounds good in theory -- Salmons has been a fill in the cracks guy in the first couple of weeks -- but not so much in performance. With him out we've had 3 of our best offensive games. I don't think that really means there's a correlation -- after all, who is replacing him? But there's certainly not much actual evidence his missing has hurt us on that end.

 

[Troy]

Sounds good in theory -- Salmons has been a fill in the cracks guy in the first couple of weeks -- but not so much in performance. With him out we've had 3 of our best offensive games. I don't think that really means there's a correlation -- after all, who is replacing him? But there's certainly not much actual evidence his missing has hurt us on that end.

He does have a calming effect, or at least that's how he plays especially when comparing him to Cisco that is very young and nervous. Salmons does play good D and when playing with Cisco and both Rons we have a small Defensive lineup on the floor. Did I say we have a small lineup then, you cannot overstate that can you?

 

[nbrans]

Sounds good in theory -- Salmons has been a fill in the cracks guy in the first couple of weeks -- but not so much in performance. With him out we've had 3 of our best offensive games. I don't think that really means there's a correlation -- after all, who is replacing him? But there's certainly not much actual evidence his missing has hurt us on that end.

True enough, although against the Warriors the Kings managed to shoot only 43%, so that wasn't exactly one of the best offensive games (although shooting 34-38 from the free throw line helped). And against the Spurs it was all one-on-one offense, which worked in the first half and not in the second - tough to measure that ugliness in the stats. So I guess it's just conjecture on my part and a general sense that the offense "looked" better when Salmons was playing 25 minutes. But I'm not going to go out on a limb and suggest his absence is the reason for the Kings' losses.

 

[Smills91]

I just think we've played more competive teams or a team that played very well that night, the Kings won't be what they can be until Brad gets healthy. He is a vital cog to this team more than anything, nakes us bigger and deeper in the front line.

 

[BawLa]

He's been average on offense but I think we need the other things he brings to the table. He gets assists, rebounds, and steals and gives us good energy.

We've had our best offensive games without him because we've had to. Without him -- who I would consider one of our best bench players -- we have had to run and gun so to speak. He helps with our half-court offense and also gives us great energy on defense which means we don't have to be as good offensively. I'm not going to sit here and say that he is the reason we lost to SA or GS but he is a key part to our team's successes.

 

[Gtronic]

any word on when he's coming back?

 

[6th]

any word on when he's coming back?

He practiced today (or maybe it was just a shoot-around). At any rate, Grand and Mike said that he may be back on Wed.

 

[Entity]

He's been average on offense but I think we need the other things he brings to the table. He gets assists, rebounds, and steals and gives us good energy.

We've had our best offensive games without him because we've had to. Without him -- who I would consider one of our best bench players -- we have had to run and gun so to speak. He helps with our half-court offense and also gives us great energy on defense which means we don't have to be as good offensively. I'm not going to sit here and say that he is the reason we lost to SA or GS but he is a key part to our team's successes.

he also gets some blocked shots.

 

[Kingzrool]

I dunno. Salmons does have pretty good hustle when he is on the floor and I like it. He seems a good fit for the Kings to me. If we had a few more off the bench like him, I would be more comfortable.

 

[BawLa]

I dunno. Salmons does have pretty good hustle when he is on the floor and I like it. He seems a good fit for the Kings to me. If we had a few more off the bench like him, I would be more comfortable.

Thats the problem. We have too many guards. We need some big guys already instead of this powder-puff backing up powder-puff.

 

[Bricklayer]

IN any case, you know its casting about looking for easy answers when you say "oh no! we were without John bleeping Salmons! AAAARRRGGHHHH!!!!"


We had played the single weakest schedule in the entire league to open things up. The schedule got tougher, we got banged up, back to Eartrh we came. John's absence had some small part in that just in that he was one of only two reserves we had that Muss trusted (the other being SAR who now starts). But it is/was hardly an "oops, no John = we're doomed" type scenario.

 

[VF21]

We had played the single weakest schedule in the entire league to open things up. The schedule got tougher, we got banged up, back to Eartrh we came.

Whoa, deja vu all over again. Where (or more accurately, WHEN) have I heard that before?

 

[RaY Z]

the 2003-2004 season

and probably in many other cases too...

 

[BawLa]

Boy did we need Johnny tonight. He filled in beautifully in Ron's absence.

 

[KiNgSbOi101]

Shoot Less 3's And I'll Be Happy With His Performance