[Game] Kings v. Pelicans - Saturday, Jan. 4 - 7PT/10ET

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I'm not talking about coaching at all. I'm talking about the fanbase deciding which player they're going to pick on, and watching it snowball.
The fan-base isn’t arbitrarily picking on anybody. They are justifiably holding players accountable who are making over $20 million a year and aren’t living up to reasonable expectations of being consistently sound contributors.
 
Our team as constructed is at best a .500 team.

Fox has plateaued unfortunately. Year 3 is when you want to see your future building blocks really blossom. He’s the same player we saw last year, which is simply not good enough to become a top team. His shooting has hindered him and I’m not sure he’ll ever develop a consistent shot. And he doesn’t have the alpha mentality that Westbrook has to offset his weakness.

Buddy is being asked to do things I don’t think he’s capable of. He should be a 3pt specialist and that’s it.

We were supposed to have one of the best guard tandems surrounded with a very solid supporting cast. I think we need to do some soul searching. If we’re going to count on Fox and Buddy to consistently win games, it won’t happen. We’ll see what the front office does, but status quo means they’re banking on Fox, Bagley and Buddy to develop into an elite unit. I don’t see it but I hope they prove me wrong.
While the sample size isn't that big nor microscopic either the advanced stats show that the Sacramento Kings as a small ball team are likely very much beyond a .500 team. Might be worth it for Walton to find out for sure.
 
You are totally confusing cause and effect. Buddy Hield is an embarrassment to BBIQ. It's not a coincidence that Doug Christie points out his mistakes a zillion times a game.
My favorite
Grant: "How many turnovers does Buddy have?"
Christie: "About 3 too many."

Classic!
Buddy had 7 made field goals which is the exact same number as his turnovers.
Buddy sux. Period.
 
Yeah, it doesn't have to be this game after game. I'd be interested to see the +/- stats of that Fox, Buddy, Barnes, Ariza, and Holmes unit. Right now they are the only semblance of stability we've seen in forever. Walton has got to cut the random lineup switches and no shooting ability lineups and go with what works.

Right now Vlade might need to look at adding another combo F so they can play small for longer stretches. They need a 3rd choice to go with Barnes and Ariza.
well luckily we have that data and they were a zero

The best plus minus of the night: Ariza, Joseph, Barnes, Hield, Giles. Plus 12

The worst plus minus of the night: Beli, Barnes, Holmes, Hield, Fox. Minus 12
 

rainmaker

Hall of Famer
Buddy is this team's leader and that's a real problem given how much of a low IQ player he is. He appears to be the leader by default because Fox doesn't want to own it.

I'm generally dismayed at how many opportunities to attack 1v1 and put pressure on the opposition Fox passes up. He in no way acts like this is his team. He doesn't have a #1 option mentality.

Buddy does but he isn't a #1 option.
 

SLAB

Hall of Famer
well luckily we have that data and they were a zero

The best plus minus of the night: Ariza, Joseph, Barnes, Hield, Giles. Plus 12

The worst plus minus of the night: Beli, Barnes, Holmes, Hield, Fox. Minus 12
I think +/- is generally a stupid stat, but I’ll gladly take it when it reps my guy. :p

Also; I’m guessing Buddy didn’t have both + and - 12 tonight... I’m gonna venture a guess he belongs on the minus end.
 
I think +/- is generally a stupid stat, but I’ll gladly take it when it reps my guy. :p

Also; I’m guessing Buddy didn’t have both + and - 12 tonight... I’m gonna venture a guess he belongs on the minus end.
Hield was a plus 4. Fox was the worst at a minus 21 while CoJo was a plus 10
 
Buddy is this team's leader and that's a real problem given how much of a low IQ player he is. He appears to be the leader by default because Fox doesn't want to own it.

I'm generally dismayed at how many opportunities to attack 1v1 and put pressure on the opposition Fox passes up. He in no way acts like this is his team. He doesn't have a #1 option mentality.

Buddy does but he isn't a #1 option.
The team overall has a dumb habit of passing a wide open shot close to the basket for a 3. It’s a great idea when you’re the Warriors of previous years and have some of the best 3pt shooters ever. Not such a good idea when it’s going to Cojo, Ariza and Barnes.
 
I think +/- is generally a stupid stat, but I’ll gladly take it when it reps my guy. :p

Also; I’m guessing Buddy didn’t have both + and - 12 tonight... I’m gonna venture a guess he belongs on the minus end.
im not commenting on its veracity. Just providing the data requested.
 
well luckily we have that data and they were a zero

The best plus minus of the night: Ariza, Joseph, Barnes, Hield, Giles. Plus 12

The worst plus minus of the night: Beli, Barnes, Holmes, Hield, Fox. Minus 12
I only saw the 4th quarter and Fox did not look good in that quarter. That sag off 3 fairly late that Ball hit on him was pretty bad. Kings had a 4 point lead, and the Pelicans started on a 10-0 run in the first minute and a half of the quarter.
 
Yes, but. The whole team has been terrible, all year. Fox has a couple of awful turnovers tonight. Ariza had a stupid pass to contribute to the three-TO's to open the 4th and has done very little positive tonight. But Buddy gets ALL the hate. Does he deserve some, yes. But every other player is getting a pass so the crowd can bag on Buddy.

One question coming into this year to me was: Who is this year's scapegoat? (Because there's always somebody, and WCS is gone.) Well, I've got my answer.
You are essentially trying to marginalize many people within the Kings’ fan-base who rightfully have growing concerns about the mediocrity of Hield’s performance this season. Those same people would be Buddy’s biggest supporters IF he played consistently well enough to deserve praise. In reality, he has earned every bit of criticism he is getting. The fans who are rightfully upset at Hield’s overall sub-par play are not to the ones to blame for pointing out his deficiencies - it’s Buddy’s own fault. Plain and simple.
 
You are essentially trying to marginalize many people within the Kings’ fan-base who rightfully have growing concerns about the mediocrity of Hield’s performance this season. Those same people would be Buddy’s biggest supporters IF he played consistently well enough to deserve praise. In reality, he has earned every bit of criticism he is getting. The fans who are rightfully upset at Hield’s overall sub-par play are not to the ones to blame for pointing out his deficiencies - it’s Buddy’s own fault. Plain and simple.
Buddy is definitely having a bad year, but I think a big part of it is not his fault. We have designed a system asking him to do more than he’s capable of. A $95 mil contract will do that.

Watching tonight’s game, it was so clear that Buddy’s role should be what Reddick’s role has been his entire career. 3pt specialist, make smart decisions, find open teammates but limited dribbling and shot creation.
 
Buddy is definitely having a bad year, but I think a big part of it is not his fault. We have designed a system asking him to do more than he’s capable of. A $95 mil contract will do that.

Watching tonight’s game, it was so clear that Buddy’s role should be what Reddick’s role has been his entire career. 3pt specialist, make smart decisions, find open teammates but limited dribbling and shot creation.
WHO created WHAT “system”? Please clarify.
 
WHO created WHAT “system”? Please clarify.
Well I’m sure it’s a system Walton has created with heavy influence from Vlade.

It’s a system where we have Buddy dribbling the ball up and Buddy doing a lot of the pick and rolls (this is where we see a lot of steals, bad passes, contested 3s, etc).

If you watched tonight’s game, all you have to do is contrast what he’s being called to do vs. what Reddick is. And I believe that’s part of the design as we’re paying him a boatload of money and need him to show his worth.
 
Well I’m sure it’s a system Walton has created with heavy influence from Vlade.

It’s a system where we have Buddy dribbling the ball up and Buddy doing a lot of the pick and rolls (this is where we see a lot of steals, bad passes, contested 3s, etc).

If you watched tonight’s game, all you have to do is contrast what he’s being called to do vs. what Reddick is. And I believe that’s part of the design as we’re paying him a boatload of money and need him to show his worth.
Thank you for the interpretation. I generally agree with your characterization. Unfortunately, the “system” itself and the overwhelming majority of the players in it are fatally flawed. Unless significant changes are made, this current group is going nowhere fast.
 
Buddy is definitely having a bad year, but I think a big part of it is not his fault. We have designed a system asking him to do more than he’s capable of. A $95 mil contract will do that.

Watching tonight’s game, it was so clear that Buddy’s role should be what Reddick’s role has been his entire career. 3pt specialist, make smart decisions, find open teammates but limited dribbling and shot creation.
Great. Reddick never made real NBA money until the Sixers gave him one year deals to preserve cap space. Buddy, on the other hand....Reddick also plays defense. Positionally. Anyway, he’s aware of the general location of the man he is supposed to be guarding and whether or not that man is cutting for a back door lob.
 
Yes, but. The whole team has been terrible, all year. Fox has a couple of awful turnovers tonight. Ariza had a stupid pass to contribute to the three-TO's to open the 4th and has done very little positive tonight. But Buddy gets ALL the hate. Does he deserve some, yes. But every other player is getting a pass so the crowd can bag on Buddy.

One question coming into this year to me was: Who is this year's scapegoat? (Because there's always somebody, and WCS is gone.) Well, I've got my answer.
I answered this early in the season :)
 
You are totally confusing cause and effect. Buddy Hield is an embarrassment to BBIQ. It's not a coincidence that Doug Christie points out his mistakes a zillion times a game. Do the correlation. He was out there tonight laughing after his turnovers. At this point, I don't even blame Buddy Hield. Buddy Hield is just Buddy Hield and he's not going to change. (I'm at the point where I have to do the serenity prayer before viewing him in a Kings uniform). What's got to change is for Walton and Divac to make a change. Buddy Hield doesn't have it in him to be anything other than a shooter - sixth man, jack-it-up-shootist who you expect nothing more from. Recognize it. Accept it. And make changes accordingly, Kings' management.
Within about 4 minutes you said "And of course their 2G is scoring, just like last game", implying that Buddy Hield's defense was once again weak allowing the opposing SG to be scoring. Of those 7 early Redick points, 2 - I did not see what happened because it was off an inbounds play and the camera was showing the inbounder. 3 was scored in transition when Buddy Hield was matched up across the court, he ends up in the play running to close cross court on Redick's corner 3 because NO swung the ball around. The last 3 was a Redick pullup in transition over Buddy Hield who was right there - a great shot and nothing to do with the defense. As for the rest of the game, how was Hield's defense? Did he allow straight line drives? Did he allow back door cuts? But of course, no mention from his critics.

He makes a nice extra pass to CoJo for 3. Any mention from critics? No - he's a ball stopper and ball movement dies with him apparently. He got 12 rebounds this game. Any mention? No - he doesn't do anything else to try and help the team win. He just wants to score and if he's not doing that he's not trying to help the team apparently.

Where's the criticism of Fox's free throws? How about his TOs?

Maybe you and other critics need to accept that you've already decided what Hield is.
 

Capt. Factorial

trifolium contra tempestatem subrigere certum est
Staff member
His propensity for foolish and inopportune errors SIGNIFICANTLY undermine his value as a scorer. There is simply no debating that fact. You seem to be defensive about Buddy for some reason.
For some reason? Yes, there is a reason, and I feel my previous posts have made it clear, but I'll explain it again. I am defending Buddy for the same reason that I defended WCS last year and for the same reason that I have defended several other players in the past (on this board and others) and for the same reason that I am certain I will defend yet other players in the future: I have witnessed, time and again on internet boards, the phenomenon of one player - not a blameless player, mind you - being unfairly singled out for levels of scorn that wildly overemphasize the magnitude of the things that player does poorly and wildly undervalue the things that player does well, and then watched that unfair reputation spread like wildfire through the board's fanbase until that player became the single, reviled scapegoat for everything wrong with the team. Unfortunately, this scapegoating phenomenon, though it is lazy, and it is tribalistic, and it is mean-spirited, appears to be a fundamental aspect of human nature. It happens over and over and over again, and it is easy once one sees it to find it in many if not most areas of human interaction and not just in the sporting internet. I, being ever optimistic, for whatever reason try my hardest to get my fellow man to reject the lazy, tribalistic and mean-spirited scapegoating and to be more patient and more circumspect. It doesn't seem to work very often. But still I try.
 
You are essentially trying to marginalize many people within the Kings’ fan-base who rightfully have growing concerns about the mediocrity of Hield’s performance this season. Those same people would be Buddy’s biggest supporters IF he played consistently well enough to deserve praise. In reality, he has earned every bit of criticism he is getting. The fans who are rightfully upset at Hield’s overall sub-par play are not to the ones to blame for pointing out his deficiencies - it’s Buddy’s own fault. Plain and simple.
Marginalize the fan base? What?

Yeah no those people would not be Buddy's biggest supporters. How do I know? Because they literally don't say a single good thing about Buddy. You go to a thread where Buddy scores 30 points and it's all Dummy Hield, low IQ talk. It's very easy to tell when people are being fair critics and genuine fans (in the sense they are rooting for a player's success) and when they're just scapegoating. And look, I've been on that side of the fence for certain players, but I admit to being biased and not some biggest supporter-in waiting.

And for all the talk about money? Yeah, Buddy Hield is not getting superstar money guys. Maybe you're still living in 10 years ago or maybe we've just been so crappy for so long with no good players that you've forgotten what it's like to actually have to pay players. We're not even through half a season and apparently he's not going to live up to the contract?
 

Capt. Factorial

trifolium contra tempestatem subrigere certum est
Staff member
You are essentially trying to marginalize many people within the Kings’ fan-base who rightfully have growing concerns about the mediocrity of Hield’s performance this season.
Of course, I'm not trying to marginalize anybody at all. I'm trying to lead people towards the better parts of their natures and away from the worse. Take or leave my suggestions as you will.
 
Who said Fox is better than Ball?

Yeah he is despite being outplayed by him

It's amazing how often this year Bjelica is not in clutch situations cause man he delivers in them, shame Luke rarely uses the most clutch player on the team in those situations thankfully he did tonight but for nothing in the end. Props to Barnes/Holmes as well but we didn't have "generational" Fox tonight sadly.
 
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Barnes may be emerging as a leader. God knows someone needs to fill the vacuum.
Bonehead Buddy needs a vacation.
Holmes and Giles are working hard inside, but it seems like the Kings interior defense still needs help.
 
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