[Game] Kings vs. Bulls, 1/6/2021, 7pm PST, 10pm EST

When I listen to Jones I think, “Now that’s a professional sounding broadcast.”

Draper is silly and borderline cheesy. I like the balance. Idk if I could deal with Draper/Doug’s energy for an entire season. Lol
Yeah, but pro sounding is nails on a chalkboard in the dark moments. We've already witnessed it this season, haha.
 

hrdboild

Hall of Famer
These Buddy worries are too early. I'll give Buddy props for bulking up and making a big improvement on defense. His shot will comeback, he still leads the longest active streak of a 3pt made per game. So his presence will continue to open up lanes.
Also, in his defense, he did make a big shot today when we needed it and dished the ball to Hali for the three that iced the game. He's not a black hole out there even if his shot was off today. I wouldn't mind seeing him stick around as part of a three guard rotation. It'd be nice if we could get Fox, Hield, and Haliburton all clicking in the same game at some point. Same goes for our front-court (actually, it looks like we did get that today).

This team seems like they're on the verge of making a big run if they can all play well at the same time long enough to realize how good they are.
 
Also, in his defense, he did make a big shot today when we needed it and dished the ball to Hali for the three that iced the game. He's not a black hole out there even if his shot was off today. I wouldn't mind seeing him stick around as part of a three guard rotation. It'd be nice if we could get Fox, Hield, and Haliburton all clicking in the same game at some point. Same goes for our front-court. This team seems like they're on the verge of making a big run if they can all play well at the same time long enough to realize how good they are.
Getting those three and hopefully Bagley to build chemistry would be a true game changer for this squad. Tyrese with his personality and play can be the driving force.
 
Rese has Twitter buzzing

Joe Cowley @JCowleyHoops
Would you rather have moved forward with a backcourt of Zach and Coby or Coby and Haliburton?

Joe Cowley @JCowleyHoops
Tyrese Haliburton ... he was on the Bulls radar ... just not enough....

Mike McGraw @McGrawDHBulls
Haliburton (17-7-6) sticking it to #Bulls for passing on him in draft and Lockport native Richaun Holmes (24 & 8) showing out for the home TV audience. Not looking good for Bulls in final 10 secs

Michael Gallagher @MikeSGallagher
Tweets from the future: Tyrese Haliburton will start Friday against the Raptors.

Sam Vecenie @Sam_Vecenie
Tyrese Haliburton started the day by dunking on Trump and ended it by calling game on the Bulls. Just an all-around perfect day for an awesome player and a person widely considered by everyone who has come into contact with him as an elite human.

StatMuse @statmuse
Tyrese Haliburton played his best game as a rookie tonight. 17 PTS 7 REB 6 AST 3 STL 3 3PM (including dagger) He’s the first Kings rookie with a 15/5/5/3s game since DeMarcus Cousins in 2011. pic.twitter.com/ALtebVkGYi
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Are you kidding me with this kid? He has FOUR turnovers all year. FOUR. 22 assists and four turnovers.

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Also, in his defense, he did make a big shot today when we needed it and dished the ball to Hali for the three that iced the game. He's not a black hole out there even if his shot was off today. I wouldn't mind seeing him stick around as part of a three guard rotation. It'd be nice if we could get Fox, Hield, and Haliburton all clicking in the same game at some point. Same goes for our front-court. This team seems like they're on the verge of making a big run if they can all play well at the same time long enough to realize how good they are.
I don't trust Walton to fix this, but they need to find Buddy spotted up more. There is far too much movement from him and that's been the issue since Walton came in. Stick him in the corner, run high middle pick and roll, kick it out to him in the high percentage zones. You can see they don't hardly get him any shots in the highest percentage areas.

https://www.statmuse.com/nba/ask/buddy-hield-shot-chart
 

SLAB

Hall of Famer
Tyrese is special.
Hey Walton: Next time you play Cojo more than 8 minutes in a game, you're FIRED! Next time Bagley is having a great game and you won't play him in the 4th even though Holmes is hurting? You're FIRED again! And I don't even like Bagley.
Next time an opposing team scores half their points in the paint and you leave a human brick wall glued to the bench, YOU’RE FIRED.
 
Tyrese is special.
Hey Walton: Next time you play Cojo more than 8 minutes in a game, you're FIRED! Next time Bagley is having a great game and you won't play him in the 4th even though Holmes is hurting? You're FIRED again! And I don't even like Bagley.
Bagley not getting any run the last 8 minutes is beyond dumb. He more than deserved crunch time minutes and this game is basically exactly what we expect him to be as an offensive weapon. But this is where Walton has to find out if Bagley-Holmes can work in crunch time; You can't take Holmes off the court with his defense, but Bagley was our best offensive player through 3 quarters.
 
Bagley not getting any run the last 8 minutes is beyond dumb. He more than deserved crunch time minutes and this game is basically exactly what we expect him to be as an offensive weapon. But this is where Walton has to find out if Bagley-Holmes can work in crunch time; You can't take Holmes off the court with his defense, but Bagley was our best offensive player through 3 quarters.
I think it's a tougher decision than it seems. For most of that 8 minutes we were rolling with the small ball lineup that appears to be our best. As you said, it's been tough to take Holmes out especially tonight and Bagley's previous best game. I think it's just circumstantial right now and Bagley shouldn't take it personally. Also, kudos to him for coming in hot after such a dramatic week.
 
I think it's a tougher decision than it seems. For most of that 8 minutes we were rolling with the small ball lineup that appears to be our best. As you said, it's been tough to take Holmes out especially tonight and Bagley's previous best game. I think it's just circumstantial right now and Bagley shouldn't take it personally. Also, kudos to him for coming in hot after such a dramatic week.
Gotta think about the future though and where Bagley fits in. If the dude can't get crunch time minutes after a career offensive game at the 4, when is he ever going to? Because there's probably 0 chance he's ever as good as Richaun is defensively to overtake him in that role. I really would like to see how it plays out, especially in games where Bagley more than deserves to stay on the floor in crunch time.

Not to say I hate the Barnes at the 4 lineup at all. It's by far our best lineup iteration 90% of the time. But there's just going to be an inherent issue and someone getting squeezed when we know Fox/Hali/Holmes are locked into their crunch time roles. Gotta figure out who that is.
 
Gotta think about the future though and where Bagley fits in. If the dude can't get crunch time minutes after a career offensive game at the 4, when is he ever going to? Because there's probably 0 chance he's ever as good as Richaun is defensively to overtake him in that role. I really would like to see how it plays out, especially in games where Bagley more than deserves to stay on the floor in crunch time.

Not to say I hate the Barnes at the 4 lineup at all. It's by far our best lineup iteration 90% of the time. But there's just going to be an inherent issue and someone getting squeezed when we know Fox/Hali/Holmes are locked into their crunch time roles. Gotta figure out who that is.
You can include Buddy as well. No matter how bad his shooting is, teams cant leave him open and create space for fox/hali.
 
Gotta think about the future though and where Bagley fits in. If the dude can't get crunch time minutes after a career offensive game at the 4, when is he ever going to? Because there's probably 0 chance he's ever as good as Richaun is defensively to overtake him in that role. I really would like to see how it plays out, especially in games where Bagley more than deserves to stay on the floor in crunch time.

Not to say I hate the Barnes at the 4 lineup at all. It's by far our best lineup iteration 90% of the time. But there's just going to be an inherent issue and someone getting squeezed when we know Fox/Hali/Holmes are locked into their crunch time roles. Gotta figure out who that is.
This made me wonder...Is it really out of the question for holmes to be a part our future? He just turned 27 so he’s kinda at or entering his prime. We don’t need to have all our players under 25 right? If he will resign (or can we extend him?) at anywhere from 6-8 mil a year, it will balance out the big contracts of fox, hield and HB with a solid starter on a good contract.
 
He shouldn't have dropped to 12 but also he's not super comfortable creating his own offense and doesn't have a true scorers type of game..
Eh, I think he just prefers to get others involved. He even stated as much in his PC. Talked about being taught early on that a PG’s job is basically that of a ’mom’ — to make everyone happy.

I believe as he gains experience and more clout and respect with his teammates, he’ll learn when to look for his own shot a bit more. To a small degree, he’s kinda doing that already.

While he’s not a 6-9 freak, I do get the Magic Johnson comparisons. His composure, maturity and focus on making his teammates better.

Honestly, the sky is the limit for Tyrese. He could end up becoming a far better player than anybody believes even now.
 

Tetsujin

The Game Thread Dude
BTW, where are all the Otto Porter fan boys? He sure looked awesome tonight.

I never understood the over-the-top, never ending interest in that guy. Decent player, nothing more.
Otto Porter, Andrew Wiggins, and younger Aaron Afflalo, all dudes who Kings fans irrationally fell in love with for some reason. Actually the reason is they were all SFs
 
Saw a fire in Bags that I haven't seen since probably his rookie year. Need more of that. Would be happy to eat crow.

Hali makes the team better. When Fox is back, its time to move Buddy to the bench. BEST PLAYER starts. I thought it would happen in the 2H of the season, but forget Buddy's feelings. The team's culture is more important. You want to build the culture, you play the second cornerstone as much as possible and as soon as possible.

Adding on, Hali's play shows why I've always rated Doug over Buddy (levels better than Buddy; and even Mitch--who was a great on the ball defender). Those hockey assists on offense and defense often go unaccounted for. Plus the fact that everyone else on the floor ticks up when Hali (or Doug or Lonzo) are playing next to them.

The less we see of Cojo, the better.

If Fox plays, the Kings will beat Toronto. I've watched them a ton. Siakam has looked very average this year--just don't play Bjelly against him (otherwise he'll just do his spinning drive for a two foot lay up thing all game long). Their guards are crafty, will make their shots, but Fox and Hali will match and outplay them. They've gotten really poor play out of their center position. Anounby is solid, but is more D than 3.