KING DEMAR

iowamcnabb

iowamcnabb

All-Star
#421
#421
Will Z had interesting things to say about DDR that may or may have not been posted on here. He said that Fox and DDR both had over 400 field goals that were unassisted. Sabonis had 200 some, Monk had a bit over 100 and no one else on the team had triple digits. That’s pretty huge if you ask me. He also said that DDR had more assists to Vuc than any player on his team last year which could bode well for Sabonis in the pick and roll.
 
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The_Jamal

Hall of Famer
#422
#422
iowamcnabb said:
Will Z had two interesting things to say about DDR that may or may have not been posted on here. I’m paraphrasing as I’m too tired to find the exact quote but he says that 95 percent of DDR’s assists last year were to Vuc. That could be good for Sabonis. He also said that Fox and DDR both had over 400 field goals that were unassisted. Sabonis had 200 some, Monk had a bit over 100 and no one else on the team had triple digits. That’s pretty huge if you ask me.
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Wait what? That can't be true, DDR averaged like 5 APG?

So 400 of his 421 assists went to Vuc? That seems very impossible.
 
KingsFanSince85

KingsFanSince85

All-Star
#439
#439
The_Jamal said:
Nobody watches us, so they just make lazy narrative after lazy narrative.
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Which is precisely why I don’t understand the reasons a KINGS fan would pay any attention to these mainstream media people and podcasters.

Even the beloved TNT crew is useless, because they don’t pay attention either. Half the time Shaq, Barkley and Kenny don’t even know who is on the team. That’s how dedicated and serious about the job they are.

Not all the local media podcasters are good, but they are at least much more in the know and connected than the national media.
 
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The_Jamal

Hall of Famer
#440
#440
KingsFanSince85 said:
Which is precisely why I don’t understand the reasons a KINGS fan would pay any attention to these mainstream media people and podcasters.

Even the beloved TNT crew is useless, because they don’t pay attention either. Half the time Shaq, Barkley and Kenny don’t even know who is on the team. That’s how dedicated and serious about the job they are.

Not all the local media podcasters are good, but they are at least much more in the know and connected than the national media.
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Yeah, I do think HB got far more of a bashing around here than he deserved, but it was clear as day he had a pretty significant athletic decline last season and was especially cooked on the defensive end. He just doesn't have the lateral movement to hang with starting wings anymore. You could see that in 1 Kings game.

I actually think the role he'll play for SAS is perfect. Mentor type role in a 22-25ish MPG setting.
 
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ESP47

All-Star
#441
#441
The_Jamal said:
Yeah, I do think HB got far more of a bashing around here than he deserved, but it was clear as day he had a pretty significant athletic decline last season and was especially cooked on the defensive end. He just doesn't have the lateral movement to hang with starting wings anymore. You could see that in 1 Kings game.

I actually think the role he'll play for SAS is perfect. Mentor type role in a 22-25ish MPG setting.
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Yeah he didn't look good on defense at all but I fear that whoever will be taking over some of his assignments will be even worse since we don't have many wings.

His shooting will be sorely missed. He was as consistent as it gets.
 
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The_Jamal

Hall of Famer
#442
#442
ESP47 said:
Yeah he didn't look good on defense at all but I fear that whoever will be taking over some of his assignments will be even worse since we don't have many wings.

His shooting will be sorely missed. He was as consistent as it gets.
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I am very interested how we're going to restructure some of the responsibilities with our current core. Part of our surge 2 years ago was basically Fox/Domas paint dominance and them kicking out to 3 elite 3pt shooting threats in Huerter/HB/Keegan at our basic core. That got warped last season with Monk and Keegan taking a leap forward with higher USG, leaving very little on the bone for HB and Huerter to maintain the role they had 2 years ago.

That's where Keon's emergence is actually perfect. He's not a guy that needs 10+ shots to be valuable on the floor. He just needs to hit 37-40% of his 4-5 3PA/game to stay on the floor with how good his defense is. And we need a guy like that when you're adding a USG monster like DDR to the mix.

But I think Keegan is going to have really pick up the shooting slack with Huerter taking a lesser minutes role and HB gone. Like 8-10 3PA/game type of launching from him. He needs to keep aggressive from the jump and I hope our guys get on him if he ever gets passive this season.

Speaking of Huerter, I really really like the idea of him off the bench in a bigger USG role with Monk. One of our team weaknesses last year was any sort of offensive creation that didn't come from Monk; enter Huerter who is very capable of filling that. And you get him away from having to defend starting guards all the time and we should be able to get him the shots he needs to be valuable. Wouldn't surprise me to see a pretty big jump in his USG next year.

I also think we're going to need to see the off-ball specialist that Monk was with the Lakers a lot more this season. With DDR in the mix, we aren't going to need his on-ball creation nearly as much, but him returning to that elite C&S 3pt shooter would be a massive help in balancing the offense. I think adding Huerter to the 2nd unit too could help take some of that tremendous pressure he had to just create EVERYTHING for the second unit.
 
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ESP47

All-Star
#443
#443
The_Jamal said:
I am very interested how we're going to restructure some of the responsibilities with our current core. Part of our surge 2 years ago was basically Fox/Domas paint dominance and them kicking out to 3 elite 3pt shooting threats in Huerter/HB/Keegan at our basic core. That got warped last season with Monk and Keegan taking a leap forward with higher USG, leaving very little on the bone for HB and Huerter to maintain the role they had 2 years ago.

That's where Keon's emergence is actually perfect. He's not a guy that needs 10+ shots to be valuable on the floor. He just needs to hit 37-40% of his 4-5 3PA/game to stay on the floor with how good his defense is. And we need a guy like that when you're adding a USG monster like DDR to the mix.

But I think Keegan is going to have really pick up the shooting slack with Huerter taking a lesser minutes role and HB gone. Like 8-10 3PA/game type of launching from him. He needs to keep aggressive from the jump and I hope our guys get on him if he ever gets passive this season.

Speaking of Huerter, I really really like the idea of him off the bench in a bigger USG role with Monk. One of our team weaknesses last year was any sort of offensive creation that didn't come from Monk; enter Huerter who is very capable of filling that. And you get him away from having to defend starting guards all the time and we should be able to get him the shots he needs to be valuable. Wouldn't surprise me to see a pretty big jump in his USG next year.

I also think we're going to need to see the off-ball specialist that Monk was with the Lakers a lot more this season. With DDR in the mix, we aren't going to need his on-ball creation nearly as much, but him returning to that elite C&S 3pt shooter would be a massive help in balancing the offense. I think adding Huerter to the 2nd unit too could help take some of that tremendous pressure he had to just create EVERYTHING for the second unit.
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Agreed. I also like Huerter off the bench a lot better and think he could thrive in that role. I don't think it'll be Monk, Huerter and the bench mob very often. I'm guessing Fox, Sabonis or DDR will be playing with them the vast majority of the time, depending on how Brown staggers the lineup.

I'm curious to see if Keegan has added strength to his game. There was a noticeable strength difference between him and Barnes and while Barnes lost most of his lateral quickness, he still had enough strength to compete with the bigger wings. Keegan was obviously tasked with smaller wings and guards and did a great job despite not having the best lateral quickness himself. His role this year is going to have to be different with DDR in the lineup. He should get a lot more open shots and hopefully he can get back to his rookie shooting numbers + the added layers to his game that we saw last year.

Rome doesn't need to be built in a day but it would be nice to see him be able to dial his role in as a solid 4 this year. I'd be shocked if he wasn't tasked with adding strength and focusing on locking down 4s more than 2s.
 
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The_Jamal

Hall of Famer
#444
#444
ESP47 said:
Agreed. I also like Huerter off the bench a lot better and think he could thrive in that role. I don't think it'll be Monk, Huerter and the bench mob very often. I'm guessing Fox, Sabonis or DDR will be playing with them the vast majority of the time, depending on how Brown staggers the lineup.

I'm curious to see if Keegan has added strength to his game. There was a noticeable strength difference between him and Barnes and while Barnes lost most of his lateral quickness, he still had enough strength to compete with the bigger wings. Keegan was obviously tasked with smaller wings and guards and did a great job despite not having the best lateral quickness himself. His role this year is going to have to be different with DDR in the lineup. He should get a lot more open shots and hopefully he can get back to his rookie shooting numbers + the added layers to his game that we saw last year.

Rome doesn't need to be built in a day but it would be nice to see him be able to dial his role in as a solid 4 this year. I'd be shocked if he wasn't tasked with adding strength and focusing on locking down 4s more than 2s.
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yeah, I do also like we probably won't have to stagger Fox/Domas nearly as much this season as we did last year. Like, even if you just inserted DDR into our top 4 off the bench:

Monk
Huerter
DDR
Lyles
Len

That's an awesome unit that very much should work and give you a chance to keep Fox and Domas together on the floor for longer. Or hey, maybe not have to play Domas the 2nd most minutes in the entire NBA next season?
 
Kingster

Kingster

Hall of Famer
#445
#445
The only strength Keegan needs to add to his game is on the offensive end. I don't agree at all with him being weaker on the defensive end than Barnes. What????? Who was the guy that had a chance in hell against Doncic? It was Keegan. Doncic, who I think everyone can agree is a physically strong player, struggled against Keegan's *strength." Certainly not against Barnes.

Keegan needs to use his strength to become a bully on offense. He needs to take 15-20 shots a game at a high percentage. In sum, he needs to be an All Star. Otherwise, this team and their fans need to be comfortable living in the middle of the West as a nice, solid team, but not seriously in contention for a championship.
 
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ESP47

All-Star
#446
#446
Kingster said:
The only strength Keegan needs to add to his game is on the offensive end. I don't agree at all with him being weaker on the defensive end than Barnes. What????? Who was the guy that had a chance in hell against Doncic? It was Keegan. Doncic, who I think everyone can agree is a physically strong player, struggled against Keegan's *strength." Certainly not against Barnes.

Keegan needs to use his strength to become a bully on offense. He needs to take 15-20 shots a game at a high percentage. In sum, he needs to be an All Star. Otherwise, this team and their fans need to be comfortable living in the middle of the West as a nice, solid team, but not seriously in contention for a championship.
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We can agree to disagree but I saw him struggle quite a bit against stronger wings. Yeah he had a really good defensive game against Doncic. Fox did in the past as well.
 
Kingster

Kingster

Hall of Famer
#448
#448
ESP47 said:
We can agree to disagree but I saw him struggle quite a bit against stronger wings. Yeah he had a really good defensive game against Doncic. Fox did in the past as well.
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The only forward that I saw Keegan struggle against on defense last year was Brandon Ingram, and that was because of Ingram's length, not his strength. It may also have been because Ingram just had one of those games where everything he threw up went in. Other than that Keegan struggled against very quick guards, but I don't know a forward in the league that doesn't struggle against the likes of Ant or Booker, for example.
 
J

joemama

Starter
#450
#450
gunks said:
Keegan isn't some lockdown 1-4 defender (yet), but let's not act like HB could defend anybody. That guy was BBQ chicken every game.
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This.

Random basketball fans refer to Barnes as "slow," and I think that's fair.

Keegs defense improved dramatically in year two and while he did let many get past him it's absurd to even compare the two let alone think Barnes was a better defender.
 
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