[Game] Kings @ Raptors 11/01/12

[Bricklayer]

That trio has been a bit of a mess....But to be fair, a lot of that was probably Westphal.

We need more of a PGish guard to bring out the best in Cousins, not someone who will freeze him out and jack dumb shots. But hey, maybe Smart will instill a bit of brains/conscience in our two star gunners.

edit: swisshh, you beat me to it!

As I have noted in another thread on the topic, before tongihgt Cousins was leading all centers in shots/minute. He has hardly been frozen out. Tongiht was really the first time we have seen that, and thought Jimmer and Salmons were really two major culprits in it. Reke too, but he was at least looking in there, just didn't now how to make the pass and our scheme seems to have him up top directing things and then the other guard or small forward rotating over to operate as post feeder to Cousins.

 

[swisshh]

Cousins shot attempts are inflated by his offensive rebounds. The actual shots he gets from others have been very limited. 5 orb per game and 12.5 shot attempts per game. That's close to 50% of his shots likely being from putbacks. He goes down to getting 7 shots per game if you factor this in. Evans is at 14.5 and Thornton at nearly 16 shots per game.

 

[Bricklayer]

Cousins shot attempts are inflated by his offensive rebounds. The actual looks he gets from others have been very limited.

Its not about getting looks from others. It wasn't with an Ewing or an Hakeem either. Great post players get the ball thrown to them on the block, then the guard clears out and spots up. There is no assist opportunity there, no look created for the big, but the guard has done his job and the big has his post opportunity.

 

[swisshh]

Its not about getting looks from others. It wasn't with an Ewing or an Hakeem either. Great post players get the ball thrown to them on the block, then the guard clears out and spots up. There is no assist opportunity there, no look created for the big, but the guard has done his job and the big has his post opportunity.

You should ask Malone about "not getting it from others." All bigs get fed easy baskets by their guards over the course of a game. It keeps them involved. As great as Hakeem was in the post, he still needed guys like Horry and others to get him the ball in the right spot. It is no coincidence that Cousins had a big game while also getting easy looks from Thomas. Shaq got easy looks from his teammates as well. The Kings struggle at post feeds and Evans completely ignores his pick setter. It's been obviously hard for Cousins to get his looks in games.

 

[rainmaker]

You should ask Malone about "not getting it from others." All bigs get fed easy baskets by their guards over the course of a game. It keeps them involved. As great as Hakeem was in the post, he still needed guys like Horry and others to get him the ball in the right spot. It is no coincidence that Cousins had a big game while also getting easy looks from Thomas. Shaq got easy looks from his teammates as well. The Kings struggle at post feeds and Evans completely ignores his pick setter. It's been obviously hard for Cousins to get his looks in games.

Salmons blatantly ignored Cousins on a number of occasions. Most ended in a perimeter brick.

 

[swisshh]

Salmons blatantly ignored Cousins on a number of occasions. Most ended in a perimeter brick.

It's like if there is any degree of difficulty on the post entry pass, the Kings just bail on it.

 

[Bricklayer]

You should ask Malone about "not getting it from others." All bigs get fed easy baskets by their guards over the course of a game. It keeps them involved. As great as Hakeem was in the post, he still needed guys like Horry and others to get him the ball in the right spot. It is no coincidence that Cousins had a big game while also getting easy looks from Thomas. Shaq got easy looks from his teammates as well. The Kings struggle at post feeds and Evans completely ignores his pick setter. It's been obviously hard for Cousins to get his looks in games.

Contrary to popular myth, Karl Malone was not a great post player. He was a great pick and roll player. And pick and pop player later in his career once the jumper got wet. And floor runner. He could muscle you in the post sometimes, but that wasn't made him one of the league's great scorers. Its a bad comparison. Cousins posts up on the left block, his man in his back, he takes the post entry pass and he is set. Thomas got Cousins a couple of easy ones which is nice, but on those sorts of plays it could just as easily have been JJ Hickson or Jason Thompson. Cousins isn't an easy one player like a Tyson Chandler. He's a star post guy and most of his looks are going to come off his own creativity.

 

[swisshh]

Contrary to popular myth, Karl Malone was not a great post player. He was a great pick and roll player. And pick and pop player later in his career once the jumper got wet. And floor runner. He could muscle you in the post sometimes, but that wasn't made him one of the league's great scorers. Its a bad comparison. Cousins posts up on the left block, his man in his back, he takes the post entry pass and he is set. Thomas got Cousins a couple of easy ones which is nice, but on those sorts of plays it could just as easily have been JJ Hickson or Jason Thompson. Cousins isn't an easy one player like a Tyson Chandler. He's a star post guy and most of his looks are going to come off his own creativity.

You're really missing the whole thing here. The easy baskets are to keep him involved in the offense. They are to get him going or keep him going offensively. Of course he still gets points in the post, but it's about getting him good spots for his post play and getting him easy buckets where he doesn't have to do all the work. Cousins is doing a majoiry of his work on the offensive glass because that's been the only space he has had to do his thing in the offense. That is a problem. You want him involved before the shot goes up.

I'm not even touching dismissing Malone as a post player. You can hang yourself with that. I remember his post play. He got a lot of pick n roll, but that also meant he got post position off of pick n roll.

edit: Also, this is not just a post player discussion. It's really a big man discussion. The reason the discussion exists is because PF/Cs rely on their teammates getting them the ball because the PF/C position is rarely ever the main ball handler. The big man must receive the ball somehow while being within the heart of the other team's defense.