[Game] Kings at Mavs, 1/14

[SacTownKid]

They've been doing ok up to this one. They just have no experience and nothing more than a rudimentary system put in on the run. A great defensive team squeezes and they don't know what to do. People overreact to single games. This was bad, but the only lingering damage will be if it erodes the players' belief in Smart's system. Look at it this way -- Memphis, who made a deep run in the playoffs last year, got beat 104-64 in Chicago last week. It can happen to any team that's struggling. Just can't let it build.

What is his system though? I'm seeing basically the same sets being run. The only difference I'm seeing is that he's not yanking guys in at every second and jerking guys around.

 

[RookieOfTheDay]

They've been doing ok up to this one. They just have no experience and nothing more than a rudimentary system put in on the run. A great defensive team squeezes and they don't know what to do. People overreact to single games. This was bad, but the only lingering damage will be if it erodes the players' belief in Smart's system. Look at it this way -- Memphis, who made a deep run in the playoffs last year, got beat 104-64 in Chicago last week. It can happen to any team that's struggling. Just can't let it build.

You see things differently than I do.

They’re now 2/4 under Smart, (pretty much the same win% they were under Westphal). Two of the four losses were blowout losses (one of them historically bad, apparently) and the Houston loss was a borderline blowout.

Neither win was particularly impressive, either.

The Memphis example proves nothing, really. Sure, teams get blown out sometimes, it happens. We all know that. But the Kings are getting blown out at an alarming (possible record setting) rate. 13 games into the season and already 6 or 7 blowout losses. You just can’t put that type of ineptitude on the coach.

I actually feel sorry for whoever coaches this team they will make ANY coach look bad.

A lot of it isn’t their fault, the team is just poorly constructed, for which you have to blame ownership/management.

 

[PurpleHaze]

It all really stinks with this franchise, this city, all around the joint at this point. The clock goes tick, tick, tick, towards the March 1st Armageddon with looming clouds of doom starting to surpass whatever optimism there ever was in trying to get a new arena. The Kings as a team, are not a team, but a set of unorganized brick chucking pieces that no coach could hope to correct on the fly. Mostly bad players, mostly bad coaching, mostly bad management, and mostly bad local politicians. I use "mostly" only holding out the slim hope that someone, or something, will somehow reverse this downward spiral into oblivion.

 

[cstorm]

You see things differently than I do.

They’re now 2/4 under Smart, (pretty much the same win% they were under Westphal). Two of the four losses were blowout losses (one of them historically bad, apparently) and the Houston loss was a borderline blowout.

Neither win was particularly impressive, either.

The Memphis example proves nothing, really. Sure, teams get blown out sometimes, it happens. We all know that. But the Kings are getting blown out at an alarming (possible record setting) rate. 13 games into the season and already 6 or 7 blowout losses. You just can’t put that type of ineptitude on the coach.

I actually feel sorry for whoever coaches this team they will make ANY coach look bad.

A lot of it isn’t their fault, the team is just poorly constructed, for which you have to blame ownership/management.

At some point in any sport or business, this must become the responsibility of management/ownership. I believe we have reached that point.

 

[RookieOfTheDay]

Doom. It all really stinks with this franchise, this city, all around the joint at this point. The clock goes tick, tick, tick, towards the March 1st Armageddon with looming clouds of doom starting to surpass whatever optimism there ever was in trying to get a new arena. The Kings as a team, are not a team, but a set of unorganized brick chucking pieces that no coach could hope to correct on the fly. Mostly bad players, mostly bad coaching, mostly bad management, and mostly bad local politicians. I use "mostly" only holding out the slim hope that someone, or something, will somehow reverse this downward spiral into oblivion.

I'm actually not worried about losing the Kings to Anaheim, at least not this year. The owners are broke, the team is in shambles, the Lakers still would fight an Anaheim move, The Clippers are on the rise, etc. If an arena isn't built, the team will eventually move, but if it comes to that, my prediction is that it will be under new owners and to a city other than Anaheim.

Basically the Maloofs are failures as owners and I don’t think anyone, including the NBA thinks that moving their sideshow to Anaheim will solve anything. Anaheim would laugh this team out of town. It’s a case of trying to change cars when the real problem is the ***tty driver, never going to solve anything that way.

 

[PurpleHaze]

I'm actually not worried about losing the Kings to Anaheim, at least not this year. The owners are broke, the team is in shambles, the Lakers still would fight an Anaheim move, The Clippers are on the rise, etc. If an arena isn't built, the team will eventually move, but if it comes to that, my prediction is that it will be under new owners and to a city other than Anaheim.

Basically the Maloofs are failures as owners and I don’t think anyone, including the NBA thinks that moving their sideshow to Anaheim will solve anything. Anaheim would laugh this team out of town. It’s a case of trying to change cars when the real problem is the ***tty driver, never going to solve anything that way.

This has nothing to do with Anaheim per se. The Kings were given a year reprieve by NBA to get deal done for a new arena. The NBA will force the team to move out of Sacramento by declaring their existing arena unsuitable and unsafe for NBA basketball - as NCAA has already done. They will then move the Kings to a place with suitable NBA arena like Kansas City for example - even if that move is only temporary for couple years.

 

[RookieOfTheDay]

This has nothing to do with Anaheim per se. The Kings were given a year reprieve by NBA to get deal done for a new arena. The NBA will force the team to move out of Sacramento by declaring their existing arena unsuitable and unsafe for NBA basketball - as NCAA has already done. They will then move the Kings to a place with suitable NBA arena like Kansas City for example - even if that move is only temporary for couple years.

The deadline was never as hard as people are making it. It was never "have an arena plan finalized by March 1st or else the team goes". It was more like "present a viable funding plan for an arena by March 1st or they'll support a move". The difference admittedly isn't night and day, but it's there.

I’m not going to panic because there’s nothing I’ve seen that suggests they won’t present viable funding by March 1st and I think that as long as they can demonstrate that they’re at least “close” to having viable funding, it buys another year. Pulling the plug on a city that’s actively in the midst of trying to build an arena isn’t exactly good PR, and Stern knows this.

As for declaring Acro “unsafe” or whatever, I’d like to see how they would establish a case that it’s unsafe when apparently fire marshals, building inspectors, etc. disagree.

None of that really matters though, as we all know if an arena doesn’t come together, the Kings will move whether it’s this year, next year, the year after, or in five years.

 

[Prince_XY]

At some point in any sport or business, this must become the responsibility of management/ownership. I believe we have reached that point.

We have a very lazy and ineffective GM in Petrie. The very poor product on the floor is the clear testament. He manages the franchise and gives advice to the owners. Evidently, he has been failing in his job. If I were the Maloofs I will hire a new GM to re-organize and get the organization straight.

 

[RookieOfTheDay]

We have a very lazy and ineffective GM in Petrie. The very poor product on the floor is the clear testament. He manages the franchise and gives advice to the owners. Evidently, he has been failing in his job. If I were the Maloofs I will hire a new GM to re-organize and get the organization straight.

The problem is that Petrie has alluded to having a restricted budget to work with for the last few years. It's hard to blame him fully if the Maloofs have him on a shoestring budget.

 

[gunks]

1. We thought it was the COACH
2. We don't have any players that want to play defense (Salmons and Hickson)
3. Ball Hogs
4. Can't make a shot
5. Playoffs, you want to talk playoffs, playoffs!

It was the coach.



But also all the other things you listed.

 

[Bricklayer]

What is his system though? I'm seeing basically the same sets being run. The only difference I'm seeing is that he's not yanking guys in at every second and jerking guys around.

I am not sure how you can say that, given that I am not sure I SAW a set run during the early Westphal games. I was scratching my head after every game trying to figure out what we were tryign to do so I'd even know if we were doign it wrong or not.

Smart has put in definite sets. Lot of them with Evans way up top as an outlet man, guys cutting either across the top of the cicle beneath him, or along the baseline to circle out and setup to feed the post. Then some two man game with the post guy. Our first pick and rolls in years etc. But its just a colection of sets, and then some drawn up plays out of timeouts etc. at this point. It doesn't flow so much as everybody just follows their dotted line on the diagram. And there really is no fix for that but time. Ever see how bad some of the very best basketball players in the world have looked at the Olympics/WCs for us every few years? Similar issue. Doesn't matter how good you are, until an offense is second nature you are always going to be slow and mechanical running it.

 

[Bricklayer]

You see things differently than I do.

They’re now 2/4 under Smart, (pretty much the same win% they were under Westphal). Two of the four losses were blowout losses (one of them historically bad, apparently) and the Houston loss was a borderline blowout.

Neither win was particularly impressive, either.

The Memphis example proves nothing, really. Sure, teams get blown out sometimes, it happens. We all know that. But the Kings are getting blown out at an alarming (possible record setting) rate. 13 games into the season and already 6 or 7 blowout losses. You just can’t put that type of ineptitude on the coach.

I actually feel sorry for whoever coaches this team they will make ANY coach look bad.

A lot of it isn’t their fault, the team is just poorly constructed, for which you have to blame ownership/management.

New coach. No Thornton. And effectively no Cousins in Houston. Right now we need all three of those guys healthy and productive, then we can compete. Rest of the team has shown no ability to step up and fill in for them at all.

The earlier blowouts almost don't count. I say that because the team was in chaos and pretty much quit on Westphal. You can always see that syndrome when it hapens in whatever sport. Leads to ugly results until a change is made.

 

[SacTownKid]

Until this team can rack up more than 14 assists on a good night they'll have a legit chance to have one of the lowest win totals in the history of basketball.

 

[RookieOfTheDay]

Until this team can rack up more than 14 assists on a good night they'll have a legit chance to have one of the lowest win totals in the history of basketball.

I don't know about that. Even in a shortened season and with their ball hogging ways I think they can win 12-15 on talent alone. The sad part is, that may very well be the ceiling for this team as currently constructed.

 

[IfAt1st]

I'm curious if anyone else has noticed that other teams tend to foul a King's player whenever they get a good assist?
That, combined with the Kings missing the shot a LOT when they get a great pass, and I'm not overly concerned with the superficial # of assists the team is tallying.

The lack of movement and telegraphed sets that make it easy for 35 year old teams to easily guard them IS a concern, that isn't going away anytime soon.

 

[RookieOfTheDay]

I’m posting this here because it looks like the mods in their ongoing quest to snuff out any negative opinion have closed the “disgusted with team” thread before I could reply and darn it, I didn’t spend time typing this for nothing!

Many KFs are frustrated if not out right disgusted right now. We've watched this team spiral downward since the Chris Webber injury in 2003, until eventually bottoming out in 2008.

Here we are four years after hitting what we thought was rock bottom faced with the ugly truth that they're STILL at the bottom. Yes they've added talent but the overall team is no better than they were three or four years ago.

Year after year we watch as they try and solve it with coaching, shuffle in some middling vets and role players, and generally tread water by making a series of yawn inducing lateral moves.

Each new season we grimace as we watch the team try and sell tickets and create interest by absurdly hyping the latest rookie.

The one constant in it all, bad, no, make that BAD basketball. They don't just lose, they get blown out regularly. Even the rare wins aren't pretty and can usually be chalked up to catching a bad team on a bad night.

The team is as bad as any team I've ever seen and I just don't know how much longer I can force myself to keep putting up with it.

I'm trying to stay positive but it's hard. I honestly don't think I've had this little hope for the team since, well, ever.

Whenever I hear the "be patient, they're young" line, I want to slap somebody. I bet the team themselves are tired of hearing that sorry excuse.

Unfortunately, I missed the Kings rise to prominence. I didn't become a fan until 2002, when they were already at the top. I missed those great years from 97 to 2001. I really only got to enjoy them as an elite team that one year in 2002/2003 and have been waiting every since for them to get back to that level, or at least back to being respectable.

I don't know how the old time fans from the 80s and 90s did it, hanging in there for so long with such bad teams. I admire the dedication.

I'm not sure I have what it takes to be a fan of a terrible team, at least not long term. I'm getting to the point where I'm not watching games out of enjoyment or excitement but out of habit and sense of loyalty. What's the point? I find myself watching other teams that I have no interest in just so I can see what professional basketball is supposed to be like.

 

[The_Jamal]

What is his system though? I'm seeing basically the same sets being run. The only difference I'm seeing is that he's not yanking guys in at every second and jerking guys around.

How can you possibly think Smart's had enough to implement his own system?

 

[Section 101]

How can you possibly think Smart's had enough to implement his own system?

Yep, he's had 1 practice day that was after 4 games in 5 nights. It wasn't a real practice more a walk thru stuff. Right now the shoot arounds and games are the practices. The most unfortunate part that Westfail left was a team thats been on the low end of conditioning the past 2 years.