[Game] Kings @ Hawks - 12/18/13 - 4 p.m. PST

[upinsmoke]

Okay so lets discuss what we have to this point in the season roster wise.

PG:IT can play no matter how you slice it bench/starter whatever, trouble is he's all we got we have absoulutly no other options right now but I have
feeling rookie will get his chance to play back up sooner than later.

SG: Maclemore's learning how to play at this level and we are counting on the playing time to pay dividends down the road. MT what happened to you man aggghhh seriously.

SF: Rudy and Williams in general are playing good I think we can all agree on that and should be enough talent there to say that SF is not a position of immediate attention.

PF: We'll things get a lot less fun here. JT flat out does not cut it and as Landry moves closer to getting back or traded one would think PDA will look to make a upgrade here via trade or draft. I like Embiid here with Acy as the reserve.

C: Cousins

So in my eyes the biggest priorities should be getting another guard to spell or if talented enough start over IT and should be a Good defender (Avery Bradley comes to mind) and A shot blocker to anchor the defense.

 

[bajaden]

It makes you wonder what a guy like Jeff Hornacek would do with this team.

Do you watch water boil?

 

[bajaden]

It's sad, really. IT is a great player, but he puts up hollow stats and just can't stop opposing players. He's the perfect Bobby Jackson off the bench. With B-Mac in the starting lineup, the Kings desperately need someone like a Toney Douglas to play some kind of D. Honestly if we had a Doug Christie type player, he would be perfect with IT2.0 right now.

If IT puts up hollow stats, and can't stop opposing players, then he's not a great player. A good player maybe, but not great. Tony Douglas is a top defender, but unfortunately, he's not a top PG. That's why PG's like Paul and Irving etc. get paid the big bucks. When you have a player that plays both ends of the floor, then perhaps you have a great player.

 

[Kingstime]

It makes you wonder what a guy like Jeff Hornacek would do with this team.

The same thing Malone is doing. Hornacek has a group of guys that play D and pg who is the exact opposite of IT...Bledsoe is defense first for the full 48.

There are 2 guys in that lockerroom who get alot of credit...Malone and Cousins. I have faith PDA will right this roster somehow

 

[Kingster]

Quite possibly the most annoying sentiment frequently shared on this board. No one is laying all of the blame on IT but as the pg that frequently fails to get teammates involved and is the initial breakdown on defense on the majority of plays, he is deserving of a huge part of it.

IT fans always want to point to his effeciency stats and how he is a legit #2 but never want him to get any criticism when he impacts a loss.

They call it team defense for a reason. IT "blew by" Teague all night. Does that make Teague a bad defender? Hardly. He's probably a top 5 defensive pg in the entire league. IT blows by CP3 all day long. Does that make CP3 a bad defender? IT blew by Douglas when they played against each other. I guess Douglas sucks on D. The logic has to go both ways. But on this board it doesn't. It's also interesting how IT is the focal point when Korver was huge in this game and Malone was talking about him after the game. I missed the memo that IT was supposed to guard Korver. Look, there's plenty of blame to go around. When you don't have one quality defender in your entire lineup you're going to have issues, especially with such a new lineup and a rookie who is trying to figure it out. But to blame the defensive failings on one individual is ridiculous.

 

[mac]

They call it team defense for a reason. IT "blew by" Teague all night. Does that make Teague a bad defender? Hardly. He's probably a top 5 defensive pg in the entire league. IT blows by CP3 all day long. Does that make CP3 a bad defender? IT blew by Douglas when they played against each other. I guess Douglas sucks on D. The logic has to go both ways. But on this board it doesn't. It's also interesting how IT is the focal point when Korver was huge in this game and Malone was talking about him after the game. I missed the memo that IT was supposed to guard Korver. Look, there's plenty of blame to go around. When you don't have one quality defender in your entire lineup you're going to have issues, especially with such a new lineup and a rookie who is trying to figure it out. But to blame the defensive failings on one individual is ridiculous.

Here's the thing though - every team has a gameplan. Against any quality NBA team you're not going to be able to take away every single weapon, so you plan to force them into scoring in a way that you are willing to accept. For the Hawks and the Bobcats, that plan involved swarming Cousins, because they'd much rather let IT take outside shots (even though he's shooting a high%). I have not seen a single team double IT or really try to pressure him. For the record, I don't even agree that IT blows by the guys you mentioned, but that's not important here. What makes CP3 or any other PG a good defender other than their individual ability to pressure the ball is precisely that they recover and make the right rotations. IT doesn't do that! Cousins gets called out for poor defense, so does McLemore, so I don't see why any time IT is singled out people suddenly bring up team defense and whatnot.

As for Kyle Korver/Horford scoring the points ... Goes back to team D again doesn't it? You want players to rotate to cover for IT when he gets beat, but then you want to blame them for leaving their man open for shots. Like Slim or someone else said, it's cause and effect. In the Mavs game Derrick Williams had a career night, and it wasn't so much because he was being defended poorly but because Calderon couldn't guard IT, which led to easy kickouts to our open shooters. Calderon is known for his defensive deficiencies.