[Game] Kings vs. Spurs, 12/19/2021 3pm Pacific 6pm Eastern

[Livinthedream]

The rift was actually started by BW demanding Bagley get more minutes, start, etc while Joerger was trying to win and make the playoffs. BW began leaking to the media and Joerger fired back.

It is my personal belief that when the rift went public it was clear both were going to lose their jobs, and Joerger threw his hands up and tanked the team including that final game in Portland that he pulled all starters from at the half and cost us the 40 win moral victory achievement.

I'd say that BW's leaks and this whole thing are what doomed Bagley in Sac even before the injuries. Sent the message to the camp that they were more important than the coach.

I think Joerger had a bigger platform to get his side and opinions out there. Not sure BW was as important as some make him out to be. I couldn't even tell you what he looks or sounds like.

 

[Kingster]

Even if Christie was able to get Fox to be an average defender, the Kings would still need Fox to slow his pace down. A decent amount of the team's defensive issues is missed shots leads to easy transition buckets the other way.

Joeger adopted the 1,000x miles per hour style, because Fox couldn't play any other way. Long term, that has hurt his development and the Kings. And I don't think he slows his style down until he loses a step. To his credit, he's made more of a concerted effort to share the ball on offense and to be more active on defense (usually help side; going for picks near the baseline). On offense, he's passed a bit more to his left hand on drives (it's always to his dominant side; defenses collapses harder off his weak side, because they know he won't pass it to that side) and he's tried to play the pick and roll game some. But those Hali drives and then passes back to the perimeter or across the court to the weak side are just not there for Fox right now (vision and wiring) and may never be there.

Actually, I think the opposite. I think you might be thinking of the old Fox handling the ball a lot and dribbling up the floor. The mystery to me is why with Fox at the two-guard (or combo guard if you wish) the Kings can't get him as a wing flying up the floor and Halliburton or others finding him with the outlet pass. I think I might have seen just one pass like that this entire season. It makes no sense to me why we haven't seen Fox as the "receiver" of the outlet passes more often this year. Common sense tells you that he penetrates into "enemy territory" much faster without the ball than come back and meet the ball and start dribbling up the floor. So I want to see how Christie uses Fox on offense, not just defense. I've already seen Christie use Buddy cut back door rather than just dribble dribble dribble. Now let's see how he uses Fox.

 

[pdxKingsFan]

I think Joerger had a bigger platform to get his side and opinions out there. Not sure BW was as important as some make him out to be. I couldn't even tell you what he looks or sounds like.

I couldn't either but I can tell you with relative certainty Joerger wasn't the one leaking "Joerger isn't playing Bagley enough" stories.

 

[kb02]

Actually, I think the opposite. I think you might be thinking of the old Fox handling the ball a lot and dribbling up the floor. The mystery to me is why with Fox at the two-guard (or combo guard if you wish) the Kings can't get him as a wing flying up the floor and Halliburton or others finding him with the outlet pass. I think I might have seen just one pass like that this entire season. It makes no sense to me why we haven't seen Fox as the "receiver" of the outlet passes more often this year. Common sense tells you that he penetrates into "enemy territory" much faster without the ball than come back and meet the ball and start dribbling up the floor. So I want to see how Christie uses Fox on offense, not just defense. I've already seen Christie use Buddy cut back door rather than just dribble dribble dribble. Now let's see how he uses Fox.

Hali is devastating when he probes the middle with a big rolling with him. As Hali probes, the 2 guard will post on the perimeter, slide to an opening on the perimeter, and then bomb away when Hali delivers the ball to him if his shot and the roll option is not there. That works with Buddy as the two guard. With Fox as the two guard, he's likely going to receive the ball and then drive into the interior where Hali, the Kings big, and the collapsing defenders already are. Until Fox improves his perimeter shooting, I just see that as a very ill fit.

 

[gunks]

I mean, we’ve been having the “once he gets a shot” conversation about Fox since he came into the league…. But the fact that he’s such a potent scorer without one makes trading him scarier than trading somebody like Bagley. Once those 3 pointers start dropping for Fox he’s a 27+ ppg scorer easily.

All the other criticisms are valid though. I’d love to see him play under DC to see if he’ll actually try on defense. It’s a shame we’re probably stuck with Gentry the rest of the year.

 

[ShastaKingsFan]

Which shouldn't have caused a rift or anything. Joerger was the coach. Vlade was the GM. Stay in your lane. If Vlade asked your opinion, give it and move on. If Joerger wanted the GM job, he should have applied.

Williams kept causing a stir for him to play Bagley more, when Joerger was doing his job and had not seen enough to deserve the playing time

 

[kb02]

Hali is devastating when he probes the middle with a big rolling with him. As Hali probes, the 2 guard will post on the perimeter, slide to an opening on the perimeter, and then bomb away when Hali delivers the ball to him if his shot and the roll option is not there. That works with Buddy as the two guard. With Fox as the two guard, he's likely going to receive the ball and then drive into the interior where Hali, the Kings big, and the collapsing defenders already are. Until Fox improves his perimeter shooting, I just see that as a very ill fit.

On the other hand, when Fox has the ball, Hali can play the Buddy role. But also add the dimension of attacking off the dribble.

Fox though, for whatever reason, tends to just attack alone with the defense spread out. Yes, he can do it, but why there isn't a consistent roll man with him, who knows? The thing he hasn't done well, while attacking 1 vs 4, is finding teammates.

 

[pdxKingsFan]

Williams kept causing a stir for him to play Bagley more, when Joerger was doing his job and had not seen enough to deserve the playing time

Kings were playing very well and Bagley was fitting in nicely in his role but it was evident that Luka was miles above everyone in the draft class (duh, he was a 4 year pro at that point) and so that turd nugget trying to save himself couldn't keep his damned mouth shut.

I may be guilty of some degree of wishful thinking/villain finding here but that team really looked good for 2/3rds of the year until we made the trades. And post Walton we've seen flashes of elements of that core clicking it's a crying shame that we threw 2 years of it away and likely enough damage was done we'll never know.