[Game] Kings vs. Wizards, 12/23/2022 7pm Pacific 10pm Eastern

[TheMobb]

This team is more talented than that group imo. They were all energy and speed and every other day they would gas out and look different. Rebounding wise they were far worse I believe.
No stats in front of me but Willie was the best rebounder…but the flaws are definitely apparent with this group.

Agreed on the bench being the big one.

Monk having massive scoring nights masked it during the win streak but his poor December has made it clear that the bench is just flat out weak. They don’t have any frontcourt reserves that would be regulars on most other good teams. Can’t even separate themselves on this group.

For example…last night, Richaun, Trey, Queta, KZ or Metu probably don’t enter the game for the 11 win Wizards because they have better guys. Maybe Trey. Brown is desperately trying to make one of them happen and it’s just not happening,

The backup guards haven’t been much to boast about either outside of Monk’s November. TD is 1 for every 5, if that. Davion has an impact on every game but while he’s still off night defensively on most nights, he’s unfortunately off night offensively on most nights too.

I love what the Kings can potentially build around Domas and Fox. I think it’s a fine foundation for a potentially great team that in time will make offense look as effortless as the Adelman Kings did and have the room to be a mid level defensive team which is all a great offense would need…but currently the dearth of quality size and athleticism in the paint and wings will constantly trip this team up.

in all fairness to Davion, he’s being played in 3 minute spurts it seems. It’s extremely hard to find a rhythm offensively being played like that. I know Brown is trying to stagger Fox and Sabonis so one is always on the floor, but for all of what Davion brings defensively I think he can be effective playing next to Fox as well. I’d wanna see Davion get a bump in PT even if it meant guys like Huerter, Murray and Barnes all play a few mins less.

 

[SacTownKid]

Maybe you'd know this better than me, but who outside of the Bucks and Warriors? Really run "Drop" super effectively? It's such an insanely good defensive concept if you have the right horses for it, but the Bucks have an elite rim protector in Brook and then the literal best weakside rim protection of all time in Giannis flying all over the court. Warriors were very similar with Dray in drop and his ability to recover with KD/Iggy covering on the weakside when they were in their prime. They did a lot of it too last year with Looney and Dray in the "Free Safety" role.

Honestly, I think drop is used to save energy and teams know they can make it up on the other end. The C's do it OK when they have Williams out there. Horford is obviously a switch magician.

Personally, I've brought it up before, I think part of this is teams have figured out Browns scheme the same way they figured out Hibberts drop with the Pacers back in the day that literally saw him as almost unplayable after be a supposed next gen defensive great. The Warriors and Kings have got their **** kicked in depending on matchups this year. The Kings with Sabonis are a different team. A more steady team that can't afford to get down in a hole. Their pace is inflated by efficiency and they don't seem to have the extra gear of previous teams. The good thing is they've also seemingly been able to hold onto leads because of the same thing. They have to figure out these mismatches earlier and obviously Brown left his bench out there to figure it out and it started a slide down too far to come back.

 

[SacTownKid]

Do we need to try Lyles at the backup 5 again. Before his illness he was playing really well and he was 6-6 against the wiz

That could actually be an interesting call. Queta wasn't the issue in this game, or the others. It's another example of a coach giving players like Metu 9 miles of rope and the others like 2 feet. Lyles at the 5 has be used as a mismatch on offense just like Metu even if Lyles does appear to be a better defender. Oddly enough Brown did have Lyles play up and even switch on defense. But he was the only one and at PF. Personally I wouldn't mind seeing them go really small and maybe put Murray/Barnes/KZ out there in the frontcourt. Brown really needs to let up on the spacing D if he thinks backup center is his biggest weakness (it's really not, it's all scheme) since that requires a legit C with size to run it.

 

[SacTownKid]

Waiting on the Domas news. If it’s not good just wait until after Christmas please to deliver

Not to derail the thread, but there is a dude, a former King begging for a gig that can run that offense. Just sayin'.

 

[nunob8]

That could actually be an interesting call. Queta wasn't the issue in this game, or the others. It's another example of a coach giving players like Metu 9 miles of rope and the others like 2 feet. Lyles at the 5 has be used as a mismatch on offense just like Metu even if Lyles does appear to be a better defender. Oddly enough Brown did have Lyles play up and even switch on defense. But he was the only one and at PF. Personally I wouldn't mind seeing them go really small and maybe put Murray/Barnes/KZ out there in the frontcourt. Brown really needs to let up on the spacing D if he thinks backup center is his biggest weakness (it's really not, it's all scheme) since that requires a legit C with size to run it.

I have no idea why Queta was taken off the game, everyone was playing terrible defense, before the game, coach was saying Queta solidified his role as the backup, we played him for 4 mins and was never seen again for questionable reasons, don't get it...

 

[iowamcnabb]

I thought this bit from the Athletic offered some good perspective:

“The Warriors had empty stretches last regular season when an eventual championship seemed far-fetched. They were 1-7 during a particularly bad March period and were a tick below mediocre in the season’s last 28 games: 12-16 record, 22nd in offense, 11th in defense, appearing nothing like a contender. Two months later, they steamrolled to a Game 6 win in Boston to secure the title.”

 

[ShastaKingsFan]

I have no idea why Queta was taken off the game, everyone was playing terrible defense, before the game, coach was saying Queta solidified his role as the backup, we played him for 4 mins and was never seen again for questionable reasons, don't get it...

That's my biggest complaint with Brown so far. He doesn't allow players enough time to gain any rhythm and flow. If he has decided to go another direction, that's understandable,...but at least give the guy enough time to get it going. And if he does get some positives happening, don't completely pull his playing time after a couple mistakes