[Game] Kings v. Rockets - Monday, Dec. 23 - 7PT/10ET

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Fox, Holmes and Cojo are good pieces. Ariza helps. JJ has potential. Bjelica is a nice piece. The problem is Bagley and Buddy with no Bogdanovic. Also, when the Kings run and push the tempo good things happen. They dont do it as much and it shows in their performance. Also, this strict 8 man rotation is fine when you're an established team but not so sure going 9, or 10 deep wouldn't be more useful and also more conducive to pushing the pace. The most concerning thing is 2 of our 3 main players aren't where they need to be. Holmes vs Bagley, Holmes makes the team better also. Assuming Buddy comes out of his slump, which should happen, Bagley remains this team's biggest question mark. He just doesnt seem to "get it."
 
My buddy was sitting under the basket by the kings bench and said the same thing. Bagley was sulking and was angry he was on the bench. I hope he realizes WHY he was on the bench.

I just watched the 4th quarter and can't say I saw any noticeable sulking. Initially he was clapping and even got to his feet and cheered his teammates on with around 7 minutes left. After that, he was pretty quiet but I didn't see any pouting from a distance.

He is really tough to get a read on personality wise. He seems fairly reserved and keeps to himself. He can be fairly expressive with his hands and face but you just never really know how to read his vibe.
 
You can't play handsy defense like that all game though. He'll get sent to the bench early 9 times out of 10. Knowing when to dial it up is the key. That's what good teams do. I alluded to it earlier, this is an offensive team that should be able to crank up the defense when needed. Not a stopper, clock control half court team that can pour it on when needed.
not talking about playing handsy defense. I’m talking about moving his darn feet and staying in front of the offensive player, stopping dribble penetration.

if this team is going to be good, Fox has to make a commitment to playing sound fundamental defense at near the level of CoJo. That allows Hield or Bogi to take the second best guard and makes the whole team better.

this team with Fox, Buddy and Bagley playing their normal defense is a crappy team which has lost 4 out of 5.
 
Buddy really needs to be benched. Not because of his shooting but because of his defense. Just awful to watch him brain fart and let these guys backdoor cut him all game on top of not being able to stay in front of them even when he is paying attention. Throw in him shooting 20% seemingly every game and you might as well just spot the other team 10 points before the game even begins. The one thing about Joerger that I miss is the fact that he had no problem putting Buddy in the dog house for playing like this. It's one thing to miss some shots but it's another to just let the other team score on you effortlessly.

Bagley can sulk all he wants but a non defensive big man that can barely put up as many points as field goals attempted half the time has no business being out on the court. He's only been efficient in 2 of his 8 games. We have enough inefficient players to go around.

Barnes is reverting back to his Dallas days, sans shooting as much. What the heck happened to this guy? Went from a stretch where he was our best player to just being crap on both sides of the ball. If you can't hit the broad side of the barn then at least get dialed in defensively.

Not sure why Walton put Ariza on Harden at the end of the game after Fox embarrassed him. Harden has scored on Ariza easily any time he's gone up against him this year. As soon as we closed within 5 or so, Ariza is now guarding Harden on back to back possessions and boom, we give up 5 points, just like that. Made no sense because they didn't even make us switch.

This is my gripe about getting Justin James some playing time. I get not putting a rookie in to guard one of the best offensive players ever at the end of the game when he hasn't played a minute. But there have been numerous games this year when we could have used his defense at the end of the game and it would make a hell of a lot more sense to give him some spot minutes here and there that way when you need him at the end of game, he's ready to step in and try to make some stops.
 
The next 2 games are must-win for the Kings. We play at home against teams that have less talent, so we need to take care of that. If we can't, then we need to make some changes asap. Otherwise, we won't be in the playoff picture this year too.
 
After last night against Houston, it should be obvious that DA Fox is back.
I choose to take something positive from this game, and make a bold statement. The Kings forged their identity last night with their defense in the 4th quarter. The unit on the floor making the impressive run was Fox, Joseph, Barnes, Bejelica and Holmes. Ariza was part of it. Besides Holmes play this year and some shooting exhibitions by some Kings' players their ability to win has mostly been based on defense. It is worth noting that Bagley, Hield and Bogdan were on the bench when this happened.
 
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The next 2 games are must-win for the Kings. We play at home against teams that have less talent, so we need to take care of that. If we can't, then we need to make some changes asap. Otherwise, we won't be in the playoff picture this year too.
How many more seasons can the kings do this? Im already seeing an increase in posts here and at other sites of kings fans who aren't mad anymore. They are just tired. This franchise is on the brink of turning off enough fans to see a noticeable drop in attendance. IMO it starts with vivek. If there is a way for the other owners to force him out it needs to happen soon.
 
Buddy and Bags are soft as a pillow and lack hoops IQ. Buddy’s softness is transparent, but It’s a bit harder to see with Bags. He fades from contact, doesn’t power through players, allows 6’3 guards to bump him n cause him to lose balance. We get mesmerized by his hyper athleticism, the second jump over other players, but until he bulks up and develops more physicality, he’ll be stuck in mud. I know he’s missed most of this year, but he hasn’t taken the type of jump that Fox did last year. Need to prioritize the weight room over rapping n doing Adidas brand building.

Buddy’s lack of IQ was most evident last night when he had the ball, a wing on the left n Bags near the hoop calling for a ally oop. Instead of passing ahead, dude dribbles into a double team n gets picked by harden. Dummy Hield. I have no faith that he’ll be more than what he is, a soft two guard, who’s best role is as a 6th man. When Bogs returns, I hope Walton starts Bogs.
 

gunks

Hall of Famer
Fox, Holmes and Cojo are good pieces. Ariza helps. JJ has potential. Bjelica is a nice piece. The problem is Bagley and Buddy with no Bogdanovic. Also, when the Kings run and push the tempo good things happen. They dont do it as much and it shows in their performance. Also, this strict 8 man rotation is fine when you're an established team but not so sure going 9, or 10 deep wouldn't be more useful and also more conducive to pushing the pace. The most concerning thing is 2 of our 3 main players aren't where they need to be. Holmes vs Bagley, Holmes makes the team better also. Assuming Buddy comes out of his slump, which should happen, Bagley remains this team's biggest question mark. He just doesnt seem to "get it."
Barnes is so invisible lately that you forgot about him in your post!
 
Buddy and Bags are soft as a pillow and lack hoops IQ. Buddy’s softness is transparent, but It’s a bit harder to see with Bags. He fades from contact, doesn’t power through players, allows 6’3 guards to bump him n cause him to lose balance. We get mesmerized by his hyper athleticism, the second jump over other players, but until he bulks up and develops more physicality, he’ll be stuck in mud. I know he’s missed most of this year, but he hasn’t taken the type of jump that Fox did last year. Need to prioritize the weight room over rapping n doing Adidas brand building.

Buddy’s lack of IQ was most evident last night when he had the ball, a wing on the left n Bags near the hoop calling for a ally oop. Instead of passing ahead, dude dribbles into a double team n gets picked by harden. Dummy Hield. I have no faith that he’ll be more than what he is, a soft two guard, who’s best role is as a 6th man. When Bogs returns, I hope Walton starts Bogs.
The way Hield has played this year it’s pretty crazy he hasn’t already been moved to the bench. I understand what he can do when he catches fire and also the need to try and justify his new price tag. But this version of Hield is not an NBA player. His poor defense and low basketball IQ are costing us games.
 
After last night against Houston, it should be obvious that DA Fox is back.
I choose to take something positive from this game, and make a bold statement. The Kings forged their identity last night with their defense in the 4th quarter. The unit on the floor making the impressive run was Fox, Joseph, Barnes, Bejelica and Holmes. Ariza was part of it. Besides Holmes play this year and some shooting exhibitions by some Kings' players their ability to win has mostly been based on defense. It is worth noting that Bagley, Hield and Bogdan were on the bench when this happened.
Umm are you meant Barnes? Bogdan was injured
 

gunks

Hall of Famer
Barnes is a finesse player that does everything well. He is far from invisible.
Depends on the game. He has been awesome for us, and he's also been a zero out there.

Inconsistency.... now there's our team identity!

Buddy and Bogs certainly come to mind...
 
How many more seasons can the kings do this? Im already seeing an increase in posts here and at other sites of kings fans who aren't mad anymore. They are just tired. This franchise is on the brink of turning off enough fans to see a noticeable drop in attendance. IMO it starts with vivek. If there is a way for the other owners to force him out it needs to happen soon.
Basketball reference shows Sacramento Kings home attendance as 29th in the league.....and its a 1 pro-sport city right now.
 
How many more seasons can the kings do this? Im already seeing an increase in posts here and at other sites of kings fans who aren't mad anymore. They are just tired. This franchise is on the brink of turning off enough fans to see a noticeable drop in attendance. IMO it starts with vivek. If there is a way for the other owners to force him out it needs to happen soon.
Ticket sales are hurting. Empty boxes at games now. I keep getting emails about upgrading to club seats. The club seats were on 2-3 year contracts when the arena opened. Well, it's year 4 now and club seats are available.

Oh I just figured out Phil Horn isn't with the team anymore. He started a plant based burger thing and left the team in july. His seats were 2 rows behind me. Wondered why I didnt see him this year.
 
Ticket sales are hurting. Empty boxes at games now. I keep getting emails about upgrading to club seats. The club seats were on 2-3 year contracts when the arena opened. Well, it's year 4 now and club seats are available.

Oh I just figured out Phil Horn isn't with the team anymore. He started a plant based burger thing and left the team in july. His seats were 2 rows behind me. Wondered why I didnt see him this year.
Whether the kings are good or bad never helped me make my decision on if I was going to attend a game or not. Then again I only went to a handful of games each season and I’m not a ticket holder. Yes most people don’t want to see a losing team but that kept ticket prices low for me and I usually went to games against mediocre teams, where we stood a chance, and watched us win most of the time. Honestly, what made me go to less games was how the team handled the protests. Would suck to plan out a whole night and find out you can’t even get in the building until it’s too late.
 
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