Kings scrimmages televised 7/22 & 7/25
- Thread starter PurpleHaze
- Start date
Tetsujin
The Game Thread Dude
Point guard HG and center Corey Brewer
SLAB
Hall of Famer
Forget basketball 2.0 we’re upgrading to 3.5!!!
chief bromden
Starter
Is that the over/under for how many players will be available to play after all the Kangz injuries happen this week? I'll take the under sir!
Iced Espresso
Starter
It's a win if no one gets hurt right?
CVKingsfan
Bench
I believe I heard Gary Gerould say, during the last broadcast, today's game would be streamed on Kings.com? I am hoping it is without any kind of geographical limitations. I also thought I heard it would be streamed on NBC Sports CA app, within 90 miles of Sacramento. Hopefully, someone else can confirm these options.
Hoovtrain
All-Star
not sure if I can post the link here, but go to kings.com live
Peja
Bench
Awful first half. It feels like everyone needs to take their portion of shots and each possession is solo playing. Buddy had a nice sequence with HG, but can't score for his life. Fox is pushing too much, not looking to facilitate plays for the teammates. PG13 scored everything over Bogdan...
As Doug nicely said tonight - if you don't have guys like Kawhi and PG on the team, you gotta set those screens, move without the ball, share the ball. We don't do any of that.
As Doug nicely said tonight - if you don't have guys like Kawhi and PG on the team, you gotta set those screens, move without the ball, share the ball. We don't do any of that.
SacTownKid
Hall of Famer
Well, Walton has officially pretty much wasted the tune up games and injuries aren't even the tale. I don't know how many more holes he has to dig with the bigs before he puts up or shuts up on his small ball scheme. Disappointing for sure. Fox was crunched by his own teams spacing and just like always it trickles over to the rest of the game. Holmes and Bjelica isn't nearly as exploitable defensively as it is with Giles but still, not likely a winning path unless the other team hands it to you.
SacTownKid
Hall of Famer
You have games where you are off, or tired, etc. but the thing is finding the path of least resistance. We've heard the right things and have seen little of it from a coaching standpoint. I don't care if you miss every shot you take in any game, if they are the right shots you will always give yourself a better chance at succeeding. Fox is supposedly the "head of the snake" yet we see very little being done to make the most of that snake. This is an offense first team with some good defenders on it. The easier things come on offense, the better they'll get defensively. This team is VASTLY better on both ends when small. The Clipps were the one team they seemed to matchup pretty well with as a big unit this season but it wasn't quite as real as it seemed.
SacTownKid
Hall of Famer
Some tough decisions have to be made in terms of the rotation. I'm a little peeved we're seeing DaQuan getting squashed in favor of a traditional unit that is currently posting a -9, -13, -20, -19, and -20 across the board. Does a boulder literally need to fall from the sky and bonk off somebodies head here?
To be fair, could be because we aren't trying to really run Barnes into the ground yet. We've seen a lot of him at the 4 and basically only the Bjelica/Holmes pairing as "traditional" bigs
SacTownKid
Hall of Famer
Yeah, but no one player is the issue. This team was better in the last two games small w/o Barnes even back yet. Need evidence? Look at Giles' rating. He's played all his minutes in a small unit this game vs. most with a big unit in the first two games. Thusfar he's turned his two games of a -19 to a +9 so far. Now imagine Holmes in place of him. And I think Luke isn't recognizing it and is rather thinking his starters just don't have it. He consistently just bench platoons his starters and goes with the bench that just happens to be small. They won't win like that either. They might be better but dude, it's your COMBOS. They are sacrificing talent for the better fit which is the right direction, but wrong way there. They can have both and need both to have ANY shot now or in the future.
Tetsujin
The Game Thread Dude
Bjelica at the 4 just doesn’t work in this scheme.
SacTownKid
Hall of Famer
Not the way he's being used for sure. It's all concepts. What advantage does a team have playing big? Inside right? If they want to run bigs out there they need to run more post up. Here's the issue though and it won't go away, who's the "head of the snake" or whatever again? Oh yeah, a penetrating slashing guard. Yeah, easy decision Fox vs. post up action. Fox wins. And Even though Bjelica is a good shooter teams are going to eat Fox's spacing for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. With Holmes and Giles out there next to Bjelica you don't really get much spacing anyway. Teams will still cover Bjelica and leave the other big wide open. And they are.
SacTownKid
Hall of Famer
Hey Bjelica at the 5 works? Wonder why Luke. Giles at the 5 works. Holmes at the 5 works. Gee, they all look pretty good in a small unit! This would be funny if it weren't so sad.
Tetsujin
The Game Thread Dude
Really the one wrinkle I’d be interested in seeing is if Jabari could squeeze into the 4 slot in these smaller lineups. Athletically I’m not so sure if he’s got enough agility to defend at that slot consistently but he’s got a good enough shot and is talented enough to add a few wrinkles on offense.
Tetsujin
The Game Thread Dude
Yep. Holmes/Bjelica with Giles/Len getting spot minutes depending on need/situation should really be the rotation going forward. As much as I love Harry, he’s just not bringing enough offensively to make up for his defense right now (on the plus side, my fears of a team just throwing huge money at him have greatly diminished)
Jabari is just unplayable defensively. I do think he's pretty talented on offense, but man... he's graded out as one of the worst defenders the last couple years of guys who actually get minutes.
Tetsujin
The Game Thread Dude
Yeah. The dude is every bit the defensive sieve some of our other guys get painted as being. That being said, I’m not so sure this team is all that worried about defensive at the moment.
And if we believe in DJ going forward, you have more than enough on the wings to make it work:
Bogi/Baze/Brewer/Buddy all rotate at the 2/3. DJ at the 3/4. Barnes just becomes your 30+ MPG PF, where he's far more effective and as the guy you invested a 4 year contract in, why not put him in his best spot to succeed?
SacTownKid
Hall of Famer
He could be an asset in a pinch for sure but there's likely too many bodies. I think DaQuan has earned the small ball 3/4 minutes. It's all on the opposing defense and Fox in the end. Teams are clearly going to gear their defense in one of two directions, Fox and Buddy. They squeeze Fox and hound Buddy with doubles and pressure hoping he'll pass/turnover the ball. If Parker is out there and won't allow the D to take the Kings apart it can work. We know Barnes, DaQuan, and even Bogdan/Baze at the 4 work if the unit is small. The one big unit is the key. It's almost ridiculous how drastic it is. The unfortunate thing now is the experience they could have gotten in terms of mere principles mostly been wasted this season and especially the last 3 games.
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