[Game] Kings at Atlanta, Friday November 8th, 4:30 PT/7:30 ET

[Kingster]

On last 5 games, Kings have an offensive rating of 116.4, number 1 in the NBA.
And they don't do it by outrunning opponents like crazy : Kings are 3rd in SLOWEST pace in the NBA.

Maybe, juste maybe, Divac & Walton know some things about basketball.

I think the running will come. It will be a very large cherry on top.

 

[steelevt]

On last 5 games, Kings have an offensive rating of 116.4, number 1 in the NBA.
And they don't do it by outrunning opponents like crazy : Kings are 3rd in SLOWEST pace in the NBA.

Maybe, juste maybe, Divac & Walton know some things about basketball.

You mean we shouldn’t judge the team on the first 5 games of the season after a shortened training camp and preseason with a lot of new players?

 

[TaxMan]

And I like that Walton stands firm. He's not interesting in placating his players for the sake of the team. My sense is if Buddy continues with his "improvisation" he's going to improvise himself from playing in the 4th quarter altogether. What happens if we see more of these mindless Buddy moments and Walton continues to take him out?

Yes. It’s already been two games where he’s pulled buddy when the brain farts take over (last night and I believe a home game last week). He’s not wasting time making his point which I like. At the end of the day, if he’s consistent I will respect that and I would assume this is the standard for every player on the team. If after the 10th time getting pulled buddy gets an attitude about it then we have a different problem from Walton.

After the disastrous start to the season, my expectations for the year have been completely reset. If we are going to take the long view with Walton, then need for him to firmly establish this year what it means to play “kings basketball”. It’s frustrating to feel like we are partly starting over again, but we generally only now see small market teams succeed with an established coach and system that transcend the players that cycle though over the years (spurs, Jazz, blazers, etc ) That is obviously Vlade’s vision, and would have been nice if Joeger was the guy, but at a minimum I’d love to come out of this year feeing Walton has put his stamp on the organization.

 

[TaxMan]

On last 5 games, Kings have an offensive rating of 116.4, number 1 in the NBA.
And they don't do it by outrunning opponents like crazy : Kings are 3rd in SLOWEST pace in the NBA.

Maybe, juste maybe, Divac & Walton know some things about basketball.

Bad opponents aside, that is an encouraging stat!!

 

[mac]

I guess I know who's going to be this season's scapegoat player.

 

[iowamcnabb]

Buddy imo just has the worst hands of any SG probably in NBA history most his mistakes come from a lack of touch passing/handling the ball.

 

[steelevt]

I guess I know who's going to be this season's scapegoat player.

Who? So many here complainAbout so many players. I still dunno. First Dedmon, Ariza, Walton, Bogi and Cojo. Now that they’re doing better people complaining about buddy. Even when we are winning we find something to complain about. I bet some here would complain if we had the dream team (at their peak) playing for Sacramento

 

[mac]

Who? So many here complainAbout so many players. I still dunno. First Dedmon, Ariza, Walton, Bogi and Cojo. Now that they’re doing better people complaining about buddy. Even when we are winning we find something to complain about. I bet some here would complain if we had the dream team (at their peak) playing for Sacramento

Well I tend to think of true scapegoats as more important players ... I mean Ben sucked but I wouldn't consider him a scapegoat because we pretty much expected him to suck, so I wouldn't say he unfairly received much blame. My bet is on Buddy this season based on early observation.

 

[NewArena]

I'm liking what Walton is doing on both ends. They are starting to figure things out and we have already seen more adjustment from Walton in just a few weeks than we did in the previous 3 years. The next step for him is to really use Barnes to bridge the gap when the offense fall apart. A simple post up and he'll get to the line or make a play. Then with Bagley comes back, that's two potential run stoppers on offense.

Yes! Like those quick post ups we used to do with Bonzi and Artest

I wish Adelman could come back as an assistant one day

 

[VF21]

I'm a big Fox fan, but I really don't think he's close to playing at his peak performance level. IMO, both his defense and offense could be considerably better from where they are currently. It's nice to have a good bench to buffer his rough patches during the season.

I agree with a qualifier:

I cannot believe how much punishment Fox takes every night that is seemingly ignored by the officials. The kid is getting the crap knocked out of him on a nightly basis. Even though he's young, that has to take a toll...

 

[Dongoodboy]

I agree with a qualifier:

I cannot believe how much punishment Fox takes every night that is seemingly ignored by the officials. The kid is getting the crap knocked out of him on a nightly basis. Even though he's young, that has to take a toll...

He is averaging 7 FTs a game, and to be honest sometimes it is Fox being buttheaded running into defenders or getting out muscled. He should and he has the IQ to play smarter. Also I don't know why Walton isn't running much PnR with Fox, it is often him facing the defender 1v1

 

[VF21]

He is averaging 7 FTs a game, and to be honest sometimes it is Fox being buttheaded running into defenders or getting out muscled. He should and he has the IQ to play smarter. Also I don't know why Walton isn't running much PnR with Fox, it is often him facing the defender 1v1

Regardless of how/why, he's still getting pummeled. Did you watch the game last night? There were multiple instances when he was totally mugged without so much as a glance by the officials. When even the G-Man mentions it (which I understand he did), there's room for speculation.

 

[Dongoodboy]

Regardless of how/why, he's still getting pummeled. Did you watch the game last night? There were multiple instances when he was totally mugged without so much as a glance by the officials. When even the G-Man mentions it (which I understand he did), there's room for speculation.

No player will get all the whistles, Fox just need to deal with it

 

[VF21]

No player will get all the whistles, Fox just need to deal with it

Dude, you're arguing something totally different than my initial exchange with Kingster. I'm out.

 

[Kingster]

I agree with a qualifier:

I cannot believe how much punishment Fox takes every night that is seemingly ignored by the officials. The kid is getting the crap knocked out of him on a nightly basis. Even though he's young, that has to take a toll...

He does. You rightly bring up this as a serious issue. To my mind, there are several things that will reduce the punishment. First, it will help his long term health if he continues to get better on his outside shooting and starts taking and making those shots. (I haven't checked the stats, but it seems to me he was taking more 3s last year, and making a decent number). I don't want him to have to be the "Fox in the box" on so many possessions, especially when opposing teams are cramming so many big guys into that "box." Second, some player(s) on this team is going to have to step up in the "enforcer" department. Not only do opposing teams have to know they aren't going to get away with cheap shots on Fox, the refs are going to have to know that if they don't start calling more fouls on Fox hits they could have a major problem on the floor. The refs always like to get the game under control when there is any kind of scrum by calling fouls, but without any King enforcer around there seems to be no potential of a scrum happening. Lastly, I think the Kings' pace is going to increase as time goes on, which means we'll see more of Fox in open court situations and less potential of him being crammed into the "box" surrounded by big bodies.

 

[jcassio]

Does it do no good to embarrass the league for the lack of calling obvious fouls on Fox? Because it would be relatively easy to put together a video with 100 non called fouls (on Fox), with most showing the ref just watching the foul and swallowing their frickin whistle!

 

[VF21]

Does it do no good to embarrass the league for the lack of calling obvious fouls on Fox? Because it would be relatively easy to put together a video with 100 non called fouls (on Fox), with most showing the ref just watching the foul and swallowing their frickin whistle!

I'd love to see something like that. One of the good things about social media is it would go viral very quickly, especially if we happened to know someone in the media.

 

[New Era]

The thing about Fox is he creates/initiates a lot of contact. The league has placed an emphasis on not putting whistles on plays where the defenders are retreating, vertical, etc. I'm not saying they don't ever miss calls against him, but I think it's easy to just see contact and him hitting the floor and think they missed a call.

 

[VF21]

The thing about Fox is he creates/initiates a lot of contact. The league has placed an emphasis on not putting whistles on plays where the defenders are retreating, vertical, etc. I'm not saying they don't ever miss calls against him, but I think it's easy to just see contact and him hitting the floor and think they missed a call.

I've watched a lot of basketball over the years, as have a lot of the people on here. I think it's more than us just thinking the refs missed a call...

 

[New Era]

I've watched a lot of basketball over the years, as have a lot of the people on here. I think it's more than us just thinking the refs missed a call...

So what is it then? A conspiracy? The refs get graded on EVERY decision they make (not just the whistles they have, but also the non-calls). I doubt they want to get rated down intentionally.

 

[VF21]

So what is it then? A conspiracy? The refs get graded on EVERY decision they make (not just the whistles they have, but also the non-calls). I doubt they want to get rated down intentionally.

That is the textbook example of a strawman argument.

I didn't mention conspiracy; I don't think anyone else has mentioned conspiracy. What I did say was Fox seems to be pummeled a lot on the court and often doesn't get the whistle. I know other players have the same problem but, since I'm a Kings fan, I don't notice it as much. I have read other boards, however, and seen various comments.

This all stems from my comment in reply to Kingster: whether he gets the calls or not, Fox is getting a lot of punishment out there on a nightly basis and at some point it has to impact his performance.

 

[jellyfish]

So what is it then? A conspiracy? The refs get graded on EVERY decision they make (not just the whistles they have, but also the non-calls). I doubt they want to get rated down intentionally.

We heard this crap the entire DMC era it gets really old really quick. How the refs are against us and this was despite at the time Cousins drawing more fouls per minute (or something like that) than anyone else. Is there match fixing and bias by refs in sport? Sure but we are not 3-6 cause Fox is not getting to the line enough.

 

[VF21]

We heard this crap the entire DMC era it gets really old really quick. How the refs are against us and this was despite at the time Cousins drawing more fouls per minute (or something like that) than anyone else. Is there match fixing and bias by refs in sport? Sure but we are not 3-6 cause Fox is not getting to the line enough.

1. He isn't saying there's a conspiracy He's saying the exact opposite.

2. At this point, the game thread has completely jumped the shark. I think we can put it to bed now.