[Game] Kings vs. Clippers, 1/20/21, 7pm PST, 10pm EST

I know tanking is probably in our best long term interest. But losing sssuuuuuuccckkkks
Losing without purpose sucks.

Here's what's so extraordinary. I - and probably most/all of us - feel good about Fox, who clearly has All-Star ability/promise and only just turned 23. Feel good about Tyrese (20). Good about Holmes. Good about HB (recent slump notwithstanding, he's 49/40/82 w/6.3 boards and 3.1 assists). Feeling much better about Bagley (21), who, for all the evident gaps in his game, continues to work hard, seems to have developed a credible 3-ball (37%), and is becoming somewhat less of an offensive black hole. He's even bearing down defensively and shows ability to move his feet. At times, his defense against Kawhi, while not ultimately effective, was nonetheless a bit of a minor revelation to me. In a good way.

(In fact, the only personnel disasters so far, in my view, are Buddy - SO damn limited - and Whiteside & Bjeli, only cuz Luke won't play them. And, even here, "disaster" is a little strong.)

So how can it be that a team with an entire starting lineup of "good signs" guys (substituting TH for Buddy) goes 2-9 over their last 11 - and mostly looks like crap doing it? Because they play relentlessly stupid basketball, especially defensively. With a young team like the Kings, that's ALL on the coach.

Which brings us back to losing without purpose.

Losing because you're investing in the future by suffering the growing pains of developing young players? Okay.

Losing because you're investing in the future by implementing a strong (defensive, say) scheme that requires a learning curve? Cool.

Losing cuz you're straight tanking for a lottery savior? I'm not at all in favor of that strategy, but the logic is clear.

The Walton regime doesn't seem be doing any of those. At least not on purpose.

Fox/Bagley/Haliburton hopefully will stay healthy and be better players next year than they are now. Beyond that, I see little of value in the less-than-the-sum-of-its-parts effort Walton is overseeing.

Shameful s**t.
 
Last edited:
Kings actually held the clippers to 25 and 20 points in the first and 4th quarters. It was the offensive side in the 3rd that put them out scoring only 19.
I'm not saying that it happens every single quarter, 100% of the time. It's just a theme that's been happening in nearly all the blowouts. If the Kings have a bad offensive quarter, they cannot come back from it because the defense almost never stops giving up points.