[Game] Kings @ Grizzlies - 1/30/16 - 5 PT, 8 ET

Solid points, but the primary issue of his usage when he is having an off-night is that who else is going to absorb the shots when nobody aside from Gay seems to be able to create their own? And lord knows we don't have an offensive gameplan in the halfcourt, which means the ball is in DMC's hands even if he dumps it off to create for others. His usage is justified until the team can develop an offense and get players who can create.

His usage rate is justified to the extent the team is getting the best quality shot each possession. It should not matter who shoots it only best and easiest shot is obtained. Often that is going to be Boogie but on nights when quality defenders are loading up against him he has to be more willing to go away from resistance and trust his teammates and the play sets.

To his credit he has been doing better job of this in 2016 than 2015 and coincided with wins and all-star bid.
 
Usage is a boondoggle.

1) First of course, we aren't able to wean ourselves from the Cousins teat because we are completely dysfunctional without him. If prime Hakeem got dropped onto the 76ers tomorrow and he wasn't setting all time usage rate records by the end of the week, it would be a sign the coach was either incompetent or that they were still tanking. And things have only been getting more extreme for us of late as suddenly part of what has brought down our run is Rudy sitting out game after game with injuries, Omri losing his spark, Collison slumping into a 6pt a night scorer, and Belinelli completely falling off the map. There ARE no other options than Boogie, and that was highly evident in the Charlotte loss, in the Portland loss, games where we absolutely needed people to step up, and nobody did. Half the team is slumping.

2) of course if Boogie's usage was a major problem then when Boogie was NOT on the floor we should do better than we do. Instead the only minutes we ever win are precisely those when he is on the floor, and dominating the ball and shots.

3) usage is deceptive unmoored from minutes. In every game there are a certain number of shots taken overall, and then those are broken down by player. Boogie takes more shots per minute of play than virtually anybody else, but as mentioned we win those minutes, and because he plays fewer minutes than the 40min/night big men of the past, he actually isn't taking many more shots out of the offense than they did. His percentage of shots/touches per game is high, but hardly shocking compared to great offensive bigs of years past:

For the following FTA will be multiplied x .44 to represent possessions used (the standard for TS% etc. to take into account +1 finishes):

Total FG/FT attempts taken out of the offense per star center:
2014-15 Cousins 16.8/3.7 = 20.5
2015-16 Cousins 18.1/4.1 = 22.3
2016-17 Cousins 20.6/4.5 = 25.1
1989-90 Hakeem 19.6/2.9 = 22.5
1992-93 Hakeem 19.5/3.1 = 22.6
1993-94 Hakeem 21.2/3.0 = 24.2 MVP, Champion
1994-95 Hakeem 21.5/3.3 = 24.8 Champion
1995-96 Hakeem 20.8/3.3 = 24.1
1989-90 PEwing 20.4/3.5 = 23.9
1990-91 PEwing 20.3/3.4 = 23.7
1993-94 Admiral 20.7/5.1 = 25.8
1994-95 SO'Neal 20.2/4.8 = 25.0
1996-97 SO'Neal 19.4/4.1 = 23.5
1999-00 SO'Neal 21.1/4.6 = 25.7 MVP, Champion
2000-01 SO'Neal 19.2/5.8 = 25.0 Champion


Bottomline: Cousins is neither taking any more shots out of our offense per game, nor comprising a larger percentage of our offense per game than previous great offensive centers. The worst you can say with usage is he is taking an unusually large percentage of shots while he's on the floor. But given that we WIN those minutes of his on the floor at a MUCH higher percentage of the time than when he's not there, it becomes a pale speculative argument, in particular given the utter lack of offensive support again. Of late its been Rajon Rondo, Ben McLemore, Omri Casspi, and Willie Cauley Stein. Last game our big punch of the bench was slumping Marco Belinelli, Kosta Koufos, 6pts from Darren Collison, and James Anderson.
 
Solid points, but the primary issue of his usage when he is having an off-night is that who else is going to absorb the shots when nobody aside from Gay seems to be able to create their own? And lord knows we don't have an offensive gameplan in the halfcourt, which means the ball is in DMC's hands even if he dumps it off to create for others. His usage is justified until the team can develop an offense and get players who can create.

You know I sort of disagree with this analogy. I agree that we struggle to score when Cuz is on the bench, but there are many times when the entire starting unit is effective without Cuz takiing a lot of shots. His mere presence alone draws a lot of attention, which opens up shots for others. I'm not a fan of him pounding the paint time after time and no one else touching the ball. On the nights when his shots are dropping, we usually win, but on the nights their not, the whole team shoots under 40% and your not going to win many games shooting that low a percentage.

So I agree we need him on the floor in order to win, but we don't need him to take that many shots per game. Cuz is a big rugged guy, but sooner or later he's going to start wearing down. No one, other than superman, can take the kind of beating he takes night in and night out, and stay healthy. On another note, I think one way to get Belinelli out of his slump would be to put him in the starting lineup. Being on the floor with both Cuz and Gay will make it easier to get him open shots. I don't think it matters much to McLemore, efficiency wise, whether he's in the starting lineup or coming off the bench. It would help Belinelli defensively as well having our two best post defenders on the floor with him. If not, then get rid of him...
 
Via Kings twitter:

"Marco Belinelli (Gastroenteritis) has been ruled out for tonight's game."

Sooooooooo, does that mean Curry might actually play some meaningful minutes? And if so, what happens in the future if Curry goes out there and kills it? Just asking!
 
Sooooooooo, does that mean Curry might actually play some meaningful minutes? And if so, what happens in the future if Curry goes out there and kills it? Just asking!

If Curry kills it, Ben gets less minute and Belli and Curry split the extra time. I mean, Belli gets rewarded no matter what he does. Might as well reward him for gastroenteritis.
 
Usage is a boondoggle.

1) First of course, we aren't able to wean ourselves from the Cousins teat because we are completely dysfunctional without him. If prime Hakeem got dropped onto the 76ers tomorrow and he wasn't setting all time usage rate records by the end of the week, it would be a sign the coach was either incompetent or that they were still tanking. And things have only been getting more extreme for us of late as suddenly part of what has brought down our run is Rudy sitting out game after game with injuries, Omri losing his spark, Collison slumping into a 6pt a night scorer, and Belinelli completely falling off the map. There ARE no other options than Boogie, and that was highly evident in the Charlotte loss, in the Portland loss, games where we absolutely needed people to step up, and nobody did. Half the team is slumping.

2) of course if Boogie's usage was a major problem then when Boogie was NOT on the floor we should do better than we do. Instead the only minutes we ever win are precisely those when he is on the floor, and dominating the ball and shots.

3) usage is deceptive unmoored from minutes. In every game there are a certain number of shots taken overall, and then those are broken down by player. Boogie takes more shots per minute of play than virtually anybody else, but as mentioned we win those minutes, and because he plays fewer minutes than the 40min/night big men of the past, he actually isn't taking many more shots out of the offense than they did. His percentage of shots/touches per game is high, but hardly shocking compared to great offensive bigs of years past:

For the following FTA will be multiplied x .44 to represent possessions used (the standard for TS% etc. to take into account +1 finishes):

Total FG/FT attempts taken out of the offense per star center:
2014-15 Cousins 16.8/3.7 = 20.5
2015-16 Cousins 18.1/4.1 = 22.3
2016-17 Cousins 20.6/4.5 = 25.1
1989-90 Hakeem 19.6/2.9 = 22.5
1992-93 Hakeem 19.5/3.1 = 22.6
1993-94 Hakeem 21.2/3.0 = 24.2 MVP, Champion
1994-95 Hakeem 21.5/3.3 = 24.8 Champion
1995-96 Hakeem 20.8/3.3 = 24.1
1989-90 PEwing 20.4/3.5 = 23.9
1990-91 PEwing 20.3/3.4 = 23.7
1993-94 Admiral 20.7/5.1 = 25.8
1994-95 SO'Neal 20.2/4.8 = 25.0
1996-97 SO'Neal 19.4/4.1 = 23.5
1999-00 SO'Neal 21.1/4.6 = 25.7 MVP, Champion
2000-01 SO'Neal 19.2/5.8 = 25.0 Champion


Bottomline: Cousins is neither taking any more shots out of our offense per game, nor comprising a larger percentage of our offense per game than previous great offensive centers. The worst you can say with usage is he is taking an unusually large percentage of shots while he's on the floor. But given that we WIN those minutes of his on the floor at a MUCH higher percentage of the time than when he's not there, it becomes a pale speculative argument, in particular given the utter lack of offensive support again. Of late its been Rajon Rondo, Ben McLemore, Omri Casspi, and Willie Cauley Stein. Last game our big punch of the bench was slumping Marco Belinelli, Kosta Koufos, 6pts from Darren Collison, and James Anderson.


The flaw in this opinion is because Boogie contributes less to losing and underachievement and struggle than others he doesn't contribute at all.

In other words if he contributes to us being more competitive than teammates than he is immune from responsibility for losses. This is obviously untrue. He contributed more than any player in Portland to our shoddy play on 4-21 FGs and lazy defense and his lack of intensity in New Orleans defensively set the tone for us to roll over like dogs.

Moreover his high FGAs, his 51% and 52% TS in 2015, chronic turnover and foul trouble and intangible variables that include lack of leadership and dubious conditioning have played prominent role in record and indirectly in performance of teammates.

Just because we are more competitive with him on the floor does not mean he has played to expectations nor that he has helped improve the quality of play of those around him. On the contrary his high usage directly correlates to outcomes of game for better or worse. No one is obligating him to take low percentage shots when weak side pass or shovel pass is available.

It has only been his extraordinary stretch that got him into the all-star game and pumped life into our fledgling season.

Forced shots and high turnover rate do not justify usage to historic highs. They are justification to pass the ball more and act as decoy more when opponent team defense is designed to shut you down.

You saw as well as anyone what Omri could do when Boogie went to the sidelines vs Warriors. Do you think the same thing would have occurred if Boogie was on the floor? I don't! And this is unfortunate because you would like your best player to bring the best in his teammates.

The struggles of players you mention are not independent of Boogie's usage, they are dependent. Again I am not blaming Boogie for Marco sucking and Koufos bricking but synergy has been sporadic at best, and synergy or lack thereof, starts with highest usage players.

There are more points I could make but I need to go get a six pack and ice cream. Dinner of champions. :)
 
You know I sort of disagree with this analogy. I agree that we struggle to score when Cuz is on the bench, but there are many times when the entire starting unit is effective without Cuz takiing a lot of shots. His mere presence alone draws a lot of attention, which opens up shots for others. I'm not a fan of him pounding the paint time after time and no one else touching the ball. On the nights when his shots are dropping, we usually win, but on the nights their not, the whole team shoots under 40% and your not going to win many games shooting that low a percentage.

So I agree we need him on the floor in order to win, but we don't need him to take that many shots per game. Cuz is a big rugged guy, but sooner or later he's going to start wearing down. No one, other than superman, can take the kind of beating he takes night in and night out, and stay healthy. On another note, I think one way to get Belinelli out of his slump would be to put him in the starting lineup. Being on the floor with both Cuz and Gay will make it easier to get him open shots. I don't think it matters much to McLemore, efficiency wise, whether he's in the starting lineup or coming off the bench. It would help Belinelli defensively as well having our two best post defenders on the floor with him. If not, then get rid of him...

Your point about Cuz's Impact even if he takes less shots sounds right to me. If he takes less shots and helps set up others for more and better shots I think general team performance improves in several significant ways. I agree with your observations about the effect of starting Bellinelli. If fewer Cuz shots results n more positive involvement of others it will improve our shooting results across the board and thereby make for more happy campers on the team.
 
It's not technically a must win from a standing point of view, but it feels like a must win from a momentum and morale point of view. A win here would be huge for this team. Stop the little three game slide with a win against a playoff team on the road.
 
I don't think we're going to beat Memphis tonight. The person who worries me most is actually Tony Allen. He's going to frustrate our shooters.

With that said, we at least catch a break in regards to outside shooting. Memphis isn't exactly a powerhouse in that department.

Nah, Tony Allen won't do crap. I'm starting him on one of my fantasy leagues, which is almost always the kiss of death. ;)
 
Here's my dream for this game...

When Cousins passes out of the double team to an open shooter, instead of a half-assed pump fake and dribbling into traffic, they just shoot it.

here's mine.

Kings players play like professional athletes
 
just one possession in, and i can already see a difference in terms of energy. im encouraged about this one tonight for some reason

Karl is making a mistake with the matchups though. WCS should be on Randolph and Cuz on Gasol
 
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Looks like I've got an early answer to my question. :confused:
 
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