[Game] Kings v. Hawks - Wednesday, Jan. 30 - 7PT/10ET

kingsboi

Hall of Famer
#2
beware of a Dedmon career night. Hawks beat the Clippers on the road the other night, they'll be coming in here with lots of confidence.
 
#5
Either win the game or forget about any playoff hopes. It's that simple. Atlanta just beat the Clipps, so the Kings better play like their lives depended on it.
Hawks beating clips might be a blessing in disguise. Knowing they just beat a team that put a beat down on us, we won't take them lightly.
 
#12
ATL is athletic with John Collins. He's a rebounding machine too. I don't see Bjelica defending him. We need Bagley and Giles to come ready to play and ready to board.

Also, Trae Young is pretty bad on D. Fox needs to take advantage.
 

dude12

Hall of Famer
#13
Fox had the triple double against the ATL earlier in the year......let’s see what the ATL does to slow him.

Secondarily, wonder if they showcase any guys against us....Lin, Prince, etc
 

VF21

Super Moderator Emeritus
SME
#14
I really hope Giles doesn’t remain squeezed...
I truly admire your faith in Giles but I'm just not seeing what you're seeing. I see potential and desire, but I also see rawness and rookie mistakes. He needs to earn his time on the court, just like everyone else and he needs to learn that poor court decisions have consequences. I'm perfectly willing to root for him but I also want to see the best players on the court and right now he's just not in that group IMHO.
 
#16
Trae has been on a hot streak recently. For the entire month of January he's averaging 18.4pts 7.2asts 3.9rebs 1stl on 43.5/32.5/86.7. I was pretty high on him during the draft and it's really good to see him do well after his early struggles. You can definitely tell that the Hawks have told him to focus on getting his teammates involved rather than getting his shots in. His shot selection is still a bit eh, but he's not OU crazy anymore. Biggest thing for him is to put on weight. I think he'll be a good matchup for Fox.

I'm excited to see the Bagley-Collins matchup. Bagley can matchup against his athleticism, but Collins is so skilled. He's at 19.5pts 10rebs 2.3asts on 59.5/40/73 for the season. Bagley is going to have his hands tied, but I think he might come up on top??
 

SLAB

Hall of Famer
#17
I truly admire your faith in Giles but I'm just not seeing what you're seeing. I see potential and desire, but I also see rawness and rookie mistakes. He needs to earn his time on the court, just like everyone else and he needs to learn that poor court decisions have consequences. I'm perfectly willing to root for him but I also want to see the best players on the court and right now he's just not in that group IMHO.
I honestly don’t see what cost him minutes. He’s been nearly the same player, minus thr few flashy passes that amped everyone up. He makes some mistakes. He makes up for others. Hopefully he learns from the mistakes, and based on where he started this season? I think he’s done a fine job learning.

I’m not saying start him. I’m not saying give him 25 minutes. But the 15-19 he was getting nightly seemed perfect. Guess his 10 day trial run is over though.
 
#18
Who's getting run instead of Giles? Bjelica hasn't been playing a lot of minutes. It looks like Bagley has eaten up most of the additional time, which I like.

It also looks like the past 2 games Willie has played 30+ minutes too.

I want to see more of Giles. Whether he's going to be a factor in the future is questionable, but I want to find out. I mean heck, at least give him a few more minutes.

We're trying to win games and I'd wager coach yogurt believes WCS provides the best opportunity to do so.
 
#19
Trae has been on a hot streak recently. For the entire month of January he's averaging 18.4pts 7.2asts 3.9rebs 1stl on 43.5/32.5/86.7. I was pretty high on him during the draft and it's really good to see him do well after his early struggles. You can definitely tell that the Hawks have told him to focus on getting his teammates involved rather than getting his shots in. His shot selection is still a bit eh, but he's not OU crazy anymore. Biggest thing for him is to put on weight. I think he'll be a good matchup for Fox.

I'm excited to see the Bagley-Collins matchup. Bagley can matchup against his athleticism, but Collins is so skilled. He's at 19.5pts 10rebs 2.3asts on 59.5/40/73 for the season. Bagley is going to have his hands tied, but I think he might come up on top??
I wouldn't call 32.5% from 3 and 43.5% FGs a "hot streak" but he has definitely improved. Having Collins as a lob target, like Willie for Fox, has definitely helped Young. I still think the overriding factor is that Fox is so much more physically and athletically dominant, it makes it hard for Young to compete. He has to get hot from deep if he has any chance to outplay Fox. I want to see Fox be consistently aggressive offensively. He can't guard you so go at him every time!
 
#21
I honestly don’t see what cost him minutes. He’s been nearly the same player, minus thr few flashy passes that amped everyone up. He makes some mistakes. He makes up for others. Hopefully he learns from the mistakes, and based on where he started this season? I think he’s done a fine job learning.

I’m not saying start him. I’m not saying give him 25 minutes. But the 15-19 he was getting nightly seemed perfect. Guess his 10 day trial run is over though.
I don't think Giles did anything wrong to lose minutes. I think Yogurt wanted to find more minutes for MB3 and found them at the expense of Giles instead of Willie or Bjelica. I agree with you though. We need Giles on the floor. The guy is good. We need a coach that allows him to play through mistakes and doesn't just throw him in the 4th quarter because Willie has 5 fouls. What has Willie done to earn such deference and faith? Give me a break the guy is not good. Don't be surprised if Collins torches him tonight.
 

VF21

Super Moderator Emeritus
SME
#22
I honestly don’t see what cost him minutes. He’s been nearly the same player, minus thr few flashy passes that amped everyone up. He makes some mistakes. He makes up for others. Hopefully he learns from the mistakes, and based on where he started this season? I think he’s done a fine job learning.

I’m not saying start him. I’m not saying give him 25 minutes. But the 15-19 he was getting nightly seemed perfect. Guess his 10 day trial run is over though.
He makes dumb mistakes at times, and is still way too prone to foul IMHO. I cannot cite a lot of actual situations, but this is my overall impression of him. He wants to be THE GUY, for which I admire him, but he needs to learn how to BE the guy. (If that makes any sense.) He's got the desire and he's got the confidence but he needs to learn some of the finesse. It's a matter of when not if, which is good, but I'm very happy with the approach Joerger is taking with him. Slow and steady wins the race.
 

VF21

Super Moderator Emeritus
SME
#24
It was more a random offhand comment than thread-worthy topic but you're the boss. ;)
It actually seemed pretty thread-worthy, especially as we approach the trade deadline. I saw it as garnering more discussion for a longer period of time than the game thread.
 
#27
I am happy to admit when I am wrong but it may be years before I do so again because I am rarely wrong. ;) The nature of the NBA is that you are projecting based on probabilities not certainties, and the arc of any player is they are either improving, stagnating or regressing. If you are fixed in your opinion you are not receptive to this constant stream of new data. You are misaligned with the nature of the sport! Being mentally shut off this way is not how to improve at anything and it doesn't sound like fun!

Take for example Lonzo Bust. I projected that guy as a joke when others were saying he was a transcendent talent. Now the Lakers are going to have a heck of a time getting Anthony Davis even if they include this fraud. As an aside the Lakers are not getting Anthony Davis. No way! And that is largely because Lonzo is not who he was projected to be. But I will say this about him: He's turned into a pretty good defense player. He can create havoc and play in the league for 10 years as a plus defender. He gets through screens, he plays passing lanes and he has quick hands. If I was fixed in my opinion I would not be privy to see this or admit to it. He still sucks though. :p . When LeBron went down the Lakers proceeded to have the worst offense rating in the NBA with Lonzo. He's not a two way player.

In the case of Young, he's easy to root for. He's the classic underdog. But that is sentimentality. His team fell apart the second half of his college season and his efficiency plummeted. There were reports his teammates didn't even like playing with him due to his tunnel vision. But lo and behold during Summer League and after a rocky start the first 2 months he has started to better balance his scoring and passing and using his court vision and creativity to find guys. Compared to Sexton and Dennis Smith Jr , he is way ahead as a creator. And even though he does not finish well when he goes into the paint, he is unafraid and he goes in there! That's more than you can say for Lonzo Bust! So his ability to draw and dish and attack the paint can maybe compensate for his weaknesses defensively and athletically. That's a lot higher opinion of him than I had pre-draft.
Recently VC challenged Trae to be a better facilitator-

“I want him to average 16 or 17 points and 12 assists,” Carter said. “That’s my challenge to him, is to get double-digit assists. He has the ability. I wouldn’t challenge him if he didn’t have that in him. But he has it. He makes plays for himself, and he makes plays for others. Some people say he’s a score-first point guard, and some people say he’s a facilitator who can score. He has the ability to be on either side of the spectrum.”

https://bleacherreport.com/articles...-curry-comparisons-are-fair-and-why-hes-right
 
#29
Recently VC challenged Trae to be a better facilitator-

“I want him to average 16 or 17 points and 12 assists,” Carter said. “That’s my challenge to him, is to get double-digit assists. He has the ability. I wouldn’t challenge him if he didn’t have that in him. But he has it. He makes plays for himself, and he makes plays for others. Some people say he’s a score-first point guard, and some people say he’s a facilitator who can score. He has the ability to be on either side of the spectrum.”

https://bleacherreport.com/articles...-curry-comparisons-are-fair-and-why-hes-right
VC, great guy, great teammate.
 
#30
Only as a mockery of MBII (at least in my case). It's a way of turning a diss into a term of endearment to remove some of the sting. ;)
MB2 was the originator of the name and diss. How is using the name MB2 originated a mockery of him? To use the name is an honor more than diss. Joerger has done a good job. He's fine. He's smart and competent but not extraordinary. I like Joerger believe it or not. He's not bad. But he's not infallible. Yogurt is the side of his coaching that would start Bjelica over Bagley after my man put up 22/11 in his first career start. How do you not reward that unless you are to stuck in your head instead of your gut (intuition)? Yogurt is the guy who had NO use for Omri but cannot get enough of Goose Egg. Yogurt is the guy who loves himself some Barnes, Afflalo and Z-Bo, guys not deemed worthy of playing by 29 other teams. Joerger has his justifications and rationale for doing what he does. I don't trust him 100%, more like 60-70%, and anyone paying attention should feel similarly.