[Game] Kings vs. Cavaliers, 27 DEC 2017, 22:00 ET/19:00 PT

The best compliment you can receive as opponent of the Cavs is for LeBron to switch onto you to try to slow you down. Lebron switched onto Boggy after he calmly swished right of center 3 over Love. Boggy was not fazed and kept playing his game. When Boogy has the ball in the half court running the show anything seems possible. When Hill is running the show nothing seems possible. I am being hyperbolic but you get my drift. ;)

The 45 point lay down in Atlanta was the precursor something different and better. That adversity lit the path forward, namely moving Willie to the bench and inserting Frank into the rotation, and the team went from woeful to semi-competitiveness. The level of play has hardly been playoff caliber but relative to where they were it was significant progress.

This two game stretch of Clippers-Cavs has the same tone to it as the Hawks-Blazers, that is, from ineptitude to total turnaround and cohesiveness. The important thing IMHO is to heed the lesson in the game then ride the lesson to newfound success! What can we take from last night? To me it is obvious. Boggy needs to spend more time at PG. Boggy needs to run the show.

What I like about Boggy as a PG is that he can shoot off the dribble from deep. I like that he does not pick up his dribble under duress until he is ready to make the pass. These are PG attributes that a bust like Lonzo Bust does not exhibit and a star like Donovan Mitchell does. Boggy sees the angles and he uses his size and length to create the space. When he gets the defender to the side or behind him, he merges into the lane he wants to be in and stays there. Like a mack truck owning the road. :)

His speed is not great and he makes misreads too, but this is to be expected. The questions I had about him before coming over were first and foremost about adapting to the speed of the game. He is doing that. Boggy showed early on he had the strength to hold his own against the bigger wings like Paul George and Crowder. Now he is showing he can make plays against quickness too. When you possess requisite (1) speed (2) strength and (3) skill and this holds true for ANY player of ANY position, then you can become a star .

The question is will this coach heed the lesson or revert to conventional game plan. I don't see any reason to play Koufos. We did NOT miss him one second last night and my guess is this would hold true on most nights. Koufos is a net negative to neutral player. He doesn't have the shooting touch. Boggy has been propping up this guy to the degree of success he has had. His erratic flip shot would be okay if he was more of a defensive presence or spaced the floor but he doesn't do that. Playing Koufos is akin to spinning your wheels in mud. You are not going to go under and drown but you are not going anywhere.

If Boggy can establish success as PG it more justifies dumping George Hill and his bloated contract. That decision is looking more and more like a colossal mistake when Darren wanted to stick around for half the price. Mason is struggling now but he will break out of it. De'Aaron will come back and play great and be refreshed after possibly hitting the wall. Then we have Boggy as a possible revelation at PG with Temple being capable of playing spot minutes at PG too. We don't need Hill.

Vlade should be doing everything he can to find new homes for Koufos and Hill then we can experience more nights like last night. And whatever Vince Carter is drinking, spread that miracle juice around. ;)
 
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That was a fun, fun, game. Even taking into account the "stinker" Tuesday night, Kings have made a lot of progress as a team since the start of the season. This game shows the potential of the team, to play this well against the Cavs, even though they probably had an off night, shows a lot. Several young guys had good to really good nights, but none played over their heads, I don't think any of them even played to their full potential, but still the team play was great. Still a lot of room left for growth and development.
 
Blob,
First off the difference in the game against the Cavs and the night before is the coach. You can be sure he read them the riot act.
The Kings are definitely competitive. I would like to hear the Cavaliers and Lue talk about last night's game. Cleveland got beat.
Bogdan is very strong and can play against a lot of different positions. He is not the fastest guy, but plays under control. He made a few bad passes last night, but the lanes against Cleveland close quickly.
Kuofus is a valuable piece on the team because he is a big strong player that shows up every night and plays defense and can rebound. His offense is limited, but he still contributes. Willie in contrast, plays like an all-star (last night) and then disappears for a few games. I still think Skal needs a few years in Europe or another league in order to be ready for the NBA.
The Kings are having great success with small ball. Last night in their greatest game they had Willie at the 5, Vince at the 4, and 3 guards. They do not rely on their big men that much.
 
Great game. Didn’t go and didn’t warch it until about 9:30 when I checked the score for the first time since the first quarter. We won! So I turned on the TV recording and watched the whole game. A real show by Bogdan and VC. An even game where our defense and offense we more steady throughout than I can remember. Joerger picked his horses well. Now the SUNS are up next and pose a real challenge for us. Hope for a good game.
 
Willie seems to play better when Bogie has the ball in his hands. The core of Bogie, Willie and Buddy seems to be our most productive core young guys.
Yup, these 3 guys are definitely starting to shine as the ZBO miracle run starts to come to close and more offensive responsibility is put in their hands. I think all 3 develop into above-average starters and all 3 have great complimentary skill-sets to a franchise player. If we can get Fox going, find a way to grab an Ayton/Porter/Bagley, I think we got ourselves a pretty damn nice future core.

Bogdan and Buddy both need more offensive responsibility and I'd like to see both guys get more run together. Their floor spacing and ability to create really opens things up offensively and like you said, Bogdan actually looks to get WCS involved on the PnR, something we should be doing hell of a lot more of.

I'm all for Bogdan running the offense though. Thought he was by far our best passer earlier in the year and it's pretty obvious he's getting more and more comfortable adjusting to the NBA game.
 
Blob,
First off the difference in the game against the Cavs and the night before is the coach. You can be sure he read them the riot act.
The Kings are definitely competitive. I would like to hear the Cavaliers and Lue talk about last night's game. Cleveland got beat.
Bogdan is very strong and can play against a lot of different positions. He is not the fastest guy, but plays under control. He made a few bad passes last night, but the lanes against Cleveland close quickly.
Kuofus is a valuable piece on the team because he is a big strong player that shows up every night and plays defense and can rebound. His offense is limited, but he still contributes. Willie in contrast, plays like an all-star (last night) and then disappears for a few games. I still think Skal needs a few years in Europe or another league in order to be ready for the NBA.
The Kings are having great success with small ball. Last night in their greatest game they had Willie at the 5, Vince at the 4, and 3 guards. They do not rely on their big men that much.
Koufos is not a valuable piece. He's an expendable piece and placeholder until his minutes are taken by a true impact player (Giles?). What Koufos does well is more than offset than by what he does not. If he was a true difference maker, he would alter more shots, block more shots, rebound outside his area more often, and finish more plays off easy passes and wide open looks.

If he had shooting touch to go with what he does well it would make him a valuable piece. But he never developed touch. He does not have coordination or soft hands or calm under pressure. He squirts the ball. He does not shoot the ball. If he had a touch, he would command minutes instead of sharing them with another relative disappointment in Willie. A lot of what Koufos gets credited for is simply being on the receiving end of easy set-ups. This is not skill per se it is being the beneficiary any run-of-the-mill player could assume like say JaKarr Sampson.

If Koufos is a valuable piece it will be reflected between now and trade deadline. Why should we keep him? No reason! If he is a valuable we should get something decent like a 2nd round pick or young player with a possible upside. I won't be holding my breath.
 
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VF21

Super Moderator Emeritus
SME
Koufos is not a valuable piece. He's an expendable piece and placeholder until his minutes are taken by a true impact player (Giles?). What Koufos does well is more than offset than by what he does not. If he was a true difference maker, he would alter more shots, block more shots, rebound outside his area more often, and finish more plays off easy passes and wide open looks.

If he had shooting touch to go with what he does well it would make him a valuable piece. But he never developed touch. He does not have coordination or soft hands or calm under pressure. He squirts the ball. He does not shoot the ball. If he had a touch, he would command minutes instead of sharing them with another relative disappointment in Willie. A lot of what Koufos gets credited for is simply being on the receiving end of easy set-ups. This is not skill per se it is being the beneficiary any run-of-the-mill player could assume like say JaKarr Sampson.

If Koufos is a valuable piece it will be reflected between now and trade deadline. Why should we keep him? No reason! If he is a valuable we should get something decent like a 2nd round pick or young player with a possible upside. I won't be holding my breath.
Not every player has to be a true difference maker to be valuable. Why should we keep him? Because until we have something definitively better we can use him to help instill a strong work ethic in our young Kings. He works hard. He may not be perfect in your eyes but he gives his all and he never complains. We could do a lot worse (and have!).
 
When you need interior defense and rebounding and Z-bo is resting who are you going to turn to? Skal? Papa? Willie?
Koufus plays to his potential most of the time. Willie is very erratic.
The Kings' greatest success to date has been with only one big man on the floor.
 
Not every player has to be a true difference maker to be valuable. Why should we keep him? Because until we have something definitively better we can use him to help instill a strong work ethic in our young Kings. He works hard. He may not be perfect in your eyes but he gives his all and he never complains. We could do a lot worse (and have!).
This is a self-contradictory statement.

You refute your argument in making the statement, unless you want to redefine universally accepted definitions of words.

If you say someone is valuable that value would be capable of being empirically quantified or qualified, do you agree?

Value would be the "true difference making" or what is offered as result of said players collective positives and negatives.

So effectively what you are saying is "A player does not have to be valuable to be valuable", hence a self-contradiction.
 
Koufos is not a valuable piece. He's an expendable piece and placeholder until his minutes are taken by a true impact player (Giles?). What Koufos does well is more than offset than by what he does not. If he was a true difference maker, he would alter more shots, block more shots, rebound outside his area more often, and finish more plays off easy passes and wide open looks.

If he had shooting touch to go with what he does well it would make him a valuable piece. But he never developed touch. He does not have coordination or soft hands or calm under pressure. He squirts the ball. He does not shoot the ball. If he had a touch, he would command minutes instead of sharing them with another relative disappointment in Willie. A lot of what Koufos gets credited for is simply being on the receiving end of easy set-ups. This is not skill per se it is being the beneficiary any run-of-the-mill player could assume like say JaKarr Sampson.

If Koufos is a valuable piece it will be reflected between now and trade deadline. Why should we keep him? No reason! If he is a valuable we should get something decent like a 2nd round pick or young player with a possible upside. I won't be holding my breath.
He also has a PO after this year, and I'd bet my house he takes it. We should see what we get for him. The guy has been on a playoff team every year of his career before he got here. If anyone thinks this place is his first option because he's a professional and Kings media like to says the words character and mentorship a lot, then I need to start selling bridges. The only way I can see him opting in is if he can't get anything elsewhere.
 

VF21

Super Moderator Emeritus
SME
This is a self-contradictory statement.

You refute your argument in making the statement, unless you want to redefine universally accepted definitions of words.

If you say someone is valuable that value would be capable of being empirically quantified or qualified, do you agree?

Value would be the "true difference making" or what is offered as result of said players collective positives and negatives.

So effectively what you are saying is "A player does not have to be valuable to be valuable", hence a self-contradiction.
You're the one who defined the term "true difference maker" not I. It is your definition with which I disagree. Have a nice night.