Kings Preseason Takeaways, Opinions and Observations

A little nervous about the Clipper game. They've been together a while and we're still figuring things out. Opening 1-1 to start the season
is what im expecting but i hope to be wrong
 
NewArena said:
A little nervous about the Clipper game. They've been together a while and we're still figuring things out. Opening 1-1 to start the season
is what im expecting but i hope to be wrong
Click to expand...

The Clips have a lot of new faces as well. Also, last I heard is that Lance Stephenson is their new starting SF....so that could either be a good thing for us or a bad thing lol. The Clips as a team have not had much time to gel with each other, so all in all I think we should be alright.

Oh yeah, and we have DeMarcus Cousins on our team! That fact alone sways the tide of victory over to our side :)
 
Pffft, the Clips are over reliant on DJ.... Which will play right into Karl's hands when Cousins draws him out to the perimeter by shooting hella 3s!
 
Kosta better start practicing his 3 ball then.

For realsies though.....

I think it's gonna be a tough game. Clippers are looking to contend for a championship, we're hoping to squeak into the post season.

If we limit turnovers, play solid D, and get Cuz into the post, we have a chance to win it.

I'm just looking forward to WCS locking up Blake "Red Headed Stepchild" Griffin!
 
gunks said:
Pffft, the Clips are over reliant on DJ.... Which will play right into Karl's hands when Cousins draws him out to the perimeter by shooting hella 3s!
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Lance has had a bigger drop than when Ramon Sessions came to us last year, that guy went from being one of the better two way/all round players in the L 2 years ago to absolute trash last year and in this years preseason.
 
DeMarcus away from the basket is actually the only thing that gives me a little twinge of unease about this season. Aside from the obvious that it plays away from our main strength and the one player who sets us apart, I also worry that it may be the one thing that can cause a rift in the chemistry as the season goes on. DeMarcus may be into it now, he has so many skills for a man of his size and I believe he thinks it will both help the team and expand his versatility...... however, if the balance between keeping him where no one can stop him (in the post) and putting him in spots that he is not as effective get too far out of wack, I think that we will not only see the effect in games lost, but also in his frustration.
I know George Karl is a Hall of Fame coach, so I would HOPE that he can recognize the talent, see the advantages to be gained from going to strengths that can't be matched by other teams, but I worry. Karl has more ego than I care to see in a coach. I prefer the Adelman style. His power/ego came from bringing players together and making them a team, figuring out their strengths and playing to them. George thinks his power comes from control, from HIS system. The players mattered to Rick, the wins came because of that. The wins matter to George, but I don't think, in the end, that either the players nor the Franchise do.
 
I wonder if they've had Cuz practice any corner 3's yet? If they want him to shoot 3's it's a bit closer.

The shot looked good. He needs to take more set 3's if he's going to shoot them.
 
rainmaker said:
Good to see this is what he's working on today.

https://twitter.com/SacramentoKings/status/658742910322475008
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Does Ben have a practice shot and a game shot? He always looks so much more rushed with his stroke in games versus these practice videos. If he wants to have a quick release with good elevation, shouldn't he practice it? Shooting casually isn't a good way to practice his quick 3pt shot. Granted he could just be warming up here and I could be making something out of nothing, but I find it odd if this is the case.

It's like if you were getting ground balls hit to you in baseball practice and instead of treating it like a game when you need to turn it around quickly to get the out, you take your dandy time and casually throw the ball over to first base. That's not a good way to prepare for the real thing.

It's been said before, and it will be said again... Practice like you play.
 
Kingsgurl said:
DeMarcus away from the basket is actually the only thing that gives me a little twinge of unease about this season. Aside from the obvious that it plays away from our main strength and the one player who sets us apart, I also worry that it may be the one thing that can cause a rift in the chemistry as the season goes on. DeMarcus may be into it now, he has so many skills for a man of his size and I believe he thinks it will both help the team and expand his versatility...... however, if the balance between keeping him where no one can stop him (in the post) and putting him in spots that he is not as effective get too far out of wack, I think that we will not only see the effect in games lost, but also in his frustration.
I know George Karl is a Hall of Fame coach, so I would HOPE that he can recognize the talent, see the advantages to be gained from going to strengths that can't be matched by other teams, but I worry. Karl has more ego than I care to see in a coach. I prefer the Adelman style. His power/ego came from bringing players together and making them a team, figuring out their strengths and playing to them. George thinks his power comes from control, from HIS system. The players mattered to Rick, the wins came because of that. The wins matter to George, but I don't think, in the end, that either the players nor the Franchise do.
Click to expand...

I think when you say that win's matter to Karl, your dead right. But you say it like it's a bad thing. In the words of Vince Lombardi, "Winning isn't everything, it's the only thing". Winning is the bottom line. No one cares how good a team gets along if they're losing. Now you can argue that if you have good team chemistry, you'll have a winning team. Frankly, for the most part, I believe that. I don't think you can have one without the other. If you go back and look at Karl's history, he's had the ability to get his teams to over achieve. I don't think you can get a team to over achieve without getting them to buy into what your selling. Which means he was able to maintain the respect of the players.

Now that doesn't mean he didn't ruffle a few feathers along the way. There's always going to be a few bumps in the road. If someone think's that Adelman didn't get into it with a player now and then, they're crazy. If anyone thinks that Adelman didn't care about winning, they're even crazier. The reason that Gerald Wallace couldn't get on the floor under Adelman, was because Adelman thought he had a better chance of winning with a veteran player. That same fate may befall McLemore. There are a lot of big ego's out there, and anytime you have that many ego's, your going to have occasional conflict. If the coaches ego doesn't at least match that of his best players, he won't be coaching in the NBA very long. The nature of the job as a coach is that you know more than they do. That's why your the coach.

Having said that, not everyone can live up to the job description. Adelman certainly has, and so far in his career, Karl has. So for now, I'm not going to lose any sleep over it. As far as how Cousins has been used in preseason, I doubt we'll see that continue once the season begins. To be honest, it appeared to me that Cuz was coasting at times, and experimenting other times. Preseason is meaningless unless your a freeagent trying to make the team. So I wouldn't put too much stock in what's happened so far.
 
twslam07 said:
Does Ben have a practice shot and a game shot? He always looks so much more rushed with his stroke in games versus these practice videos. If he wants to have a quick release with good elevation, shouldn't he practice it? Shooting casually isn't a good way to practice his quick 3pt shot. Granted he could just be warming up here and I could be making something out of nothing, but I find it odd if this is the case.

It's like if you were getting ground balls hit to you in baseball practice and instead of treating it like a game when you need to turn it around quickly to get the out, you take your dandy time and casually throw the ball over to first base. That's not a good way to prepare for the real thing.

It's been said before, and it will be said again... Practice like you play.
Click to expand...

Ben's problem is that he's thinking too much. When you play any game, anything you do should be instinctive. You just react to the situation. If you have to analyze before acting, your not going to be effective. How you react to any situation comes from practice, and experience in real game situations. Anyone, including Willie Cauley-Stein can hit shots in practice. It's entirely different when an opposing player is running at you and you only have a second to get your shot off. That's not an excuse for Ben, it's just reality. At some point in every players career, something just clicks. Hasn't happened for Ben yet. He's also been hindered by his lack of elite ball handling. You can have all the speed in the world, but it's worthless if you can't take the ball with you.
 
bajaden said:
I think when you say that win's matter to Karl, your dead right. But you say it like it's a bad thing. In the words of Vince Lombardi, "Winning isn't everything, it's the only thing". Winning is the bottom line. No one cares how good a team gets along if they're losing. Now you can argue that if you have good team chemistry, you'll have a winning team. Frankly, for the most part, I believe that. I don't think you can have one without the other. If you go back and look at Karl's history, he's had the ability to get his teams to over achieve. I don't think you can get a team to over achieve without getting them to buy into what your selling. Which means he was able to maintain the respect of the players.

Now that doesn't mean he didn't ruffle a few feathers along the way. There's always going to be a few bumps in the road. If someone think's that Adelman didn't get into it with a player now and then, they're crazy. If anyone thinks that Adelman didn't care about winning, they're even crazier. The reason that Gerald Wallace couldn't get on the floor under Adelman, was because Adelman thought he had a better chance of winning with a veteran player. That same fate may befall McLemore. There are a lot of big ego's out there, and anytime you have that many ego's, your going to have occasional conflict. If the coaches ego doesn't at least match that of his best players, he won't be coaching in the NBA very long. The nature of the job as a coach is that you know more than they do. That's why your the coach.

Having said that, not everyone can live up to the job description. Adelman certainly has, and so far in his career, Karl has. So for now, I'm not going to lose any sleep over it. As far as how Cousins has been used in preseason, I doubt we'll see that continue once the season begins. To be honest, it appeared to me that Cuz was coasting at times, and experimenting other times. Preseason is meaningless unless your a freeagent trying to make the team. So I wouldn't put too much stock in what's happened so far.
Click to expand...


Well thought out, and gets to the why I am only slightly uneasy thus far. Adelman certainly did get into it with a player or two, but that was not my point. I do not mind big ego's pushing each other. Greatness can be achieved through that, perhaps needs a bit of that. I just hope George Karl's ego can see that this really is DeMarcus's team. We will go as far as he takes us, and he needs a coach with whom he has buy in. Otherwise, despite Karl's resume and the lovely pieces Vlade has assembled, we are talking blow up, and maybe another 20 years before we find a talent such as that again. My qualm with Karl is only that he may not see the Franchise need before his own.
 
Kingsgurl said:
My qualm with Karl is only that he may not see the Franchise need before his own.
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I tend to think that Karl's need may have been in the forefront when he first arrived. But after the fiasco of "trade DMC", and the arrival of Vlade, I strongly suspect George Karl, who is not a stupid man, is well on his way to seeing that the only way for him to succeed IS for the franchise to succeed. And, further, the only way the franchise will succeed is if DMC succeeds.

I honestly have doubts remaining in several areas, but Karl's vision of what it will take for this team to succeed isn't among them. I'm honestly more worried about how much rope they'll give Ben McLemore, for example. But that's a discussion for another thread. :p
 
VF21 said:
I tend to think that Karl's need may have been in the forefront when he first arrived. But after the fiasco of "trade DMC", and the arrival of Vlade, I strongly suspect George Karl, who is not a stupid man, is well on his way to seeing that the only way for him to succeed IS for the franchise to succeed. And, further, the only way the franchise will succeed is if DMC succeeds.

I honestly have doubts remaining in several areas, but Karl's vision of what it will take for this team to succeed isn't among them. I'm honestly more worried about how much rope they'll give Ben McLemore, for example. But that's a discussion for another thread. :p
Click to expand...


I hella hope you are right, and I also think Ben's rope is hella short.
 
Kingsgurl said:
Well thought out, and gets to the why I am only slightly uneasy thus far. Adelman certainly did get into it with a player or two, but that was not my point. I do not mind big ego's pushing each other. Greatness can be achieved through that, perhaps needs a bit of that. I just hope George Karl's ego can see that this really is DeMarcus's team. We will go as far as he takes us, and he needs a coach with whom he has buy in. Otherwise, despite Karl's resume and the lovely pieces Vlade has assembled, we are talking blow up, and maybe another 20 years before we find a talent such as that again. My qualm with Karl is only that he may not see the Franchise need before his own.
Click to expand...

I can appreciate your concern, and I'd be lying if I said the thought hadn't crossed my mind. My hope is that the team goals and Karl's goals are one and the same, and that Karl can be the guiding hand that brings out the best in Cuz. The best may not be bigger numbers, but the ability to make his teammates better. A player like Tim Duncan should be his model.
 
these are my predictions.

season wins: 45+, 8 seed and playoffs
Vlade - exec of the year, national media to eat humble pie
Karl - discussed as coach of the year
 
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