[Game] Kings vs Wolves Friday 11/9 7PM PT - The Hammer is mildly excited about tonight's game.

This team just has a wonderful way about it for a young squad, which is;

Feels like when their down 10 their just a run away from tying it, and when it's close their just a run away from breaking it open. Seems pretty straightforward but for many teams it's not that way, very good sign IMO.
1000x this. And it's a positive feedback loop because playing that way is super fun, everyone wants in, and everyone contributes. Having that much energy on the bench is a major strategic advantage that we relied heavily on tonight, and allowed us to literally run them out of the gym, despite their star having a massive game. This was a case of our offense being our best defense: we wore them down.
 
It’s kind of sad the Kings are turning a corner and Jerry Reynolds doesn’t get to call it. It would have been nice for him to go out on a high season instead of the past 10 years of nonsense.
I said earilier in the year how are the Kings going to get names like Bjelica and Yogi and retire Jerry smh they need to do a couple specials where they have a 3 man thing going with Doug/Grant/Jerry
 
I want to show some love for buddy. His shot was not falling but he helped contribute in all the other ways. This certainly shows his growth.

I was listening to James Ham's podcast with one of the assistants and it was quite compelling how differently they coach this team none other coaches might coach other teams. An example of this is that each assistant coach takes two or three players and does in depth film study with them as opposed to a long drawn out whole team video breakdown.

That coach mention the work they did with Buddy and how they completely changed his workout regimen on the court. He used to go in and jack up a thousand shots in the coaches had him dribble with two basketballs and doing all kinds of other drills to improve the rest of his game. This season that work is definitely paying off being a buddy is having a sub All-Star season.

One last thing to point out from that podcast was what they said about fox. Coach said that they would sit his group down for the film study and he would already know every turn over that he had and exactly how he messed up. Coach said he's never had a player with that high level of IQ and that nearly all them proven that he's made from being drafted until now was adding 15 pounds of muscle in the offseason and stepping up into the role that the team wanted for him.

I thought it was quite telling about Fox's likeability and the ability to lead this team when coach said that when Fox had his 30 + Point triple double, his teammates were even happier than him.
 
I want to show some love for buddy. His shot was not falling but he helped contribute in all the other ways. This certainly shows his growth.

I was listening to James Ham's podcast with one of the assistants and it was quite compelling how differently they coach this team none other coaches might coach other teams. An example of this is that each assistant coach takes two or three players and does in depth film study with them as opposed to a long drawn out whole team video breakdown.

That coach mention the work they did with Buddy and how they completely changed his workout regimen on the court. He used to go in and jack up a thousand shots in the coaches had him dribble with two basketballs and doing all kinds of other drills to improve the rest of his game. This season that work is definitely paying off being a buddy is having a sub All-Star season.

One last thing to point out from that podcast was what they said about fox. Coach said that they would sit his group down for the film study and he would already know every turn over that he had and exactly how he messed up. Coach said he's never had a player with that high level of IQ and that nearly all them proven that he's made from being drafted until now was adding 15 pounds of muscle in the offseason and stepping up into the role that the team wanted for him.

I thought it was quite telling about Fox's likeability and the ability to lead this team when coach said that when Fox had his 30 + Point triple double, his teammates were even happier than him.
Fox won me over during Kentucky's SEC championship game. Watch some of the highlights here: http://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/game?gameId=400946306

That was a tough, physical game. And Fox is doing exactly the same things now that he did in that game. There was one play, near the end of the game when it was still close where Fox took the entire half side of the Arkansas defense off the bounce and dunked over like two guys. Dunked. I knew he would have the toughness to thrive in the league then. Dude is a gamer, a leader, and was sending a message to a team that was playing dirty most of the game.

We got a two way beast. A top 3 PG over the next 10 years barring injury. Enjoy it.
 
Authentic Kings fan here. First post ever in any kind of forum. Been following this forum since last year and appreciate all the work of everyone involved in this site.

I wasn’t happy with the way the Cousins trade went down but I have to give Vlade credit where it is due. His biggest reasoning was the culture and we didn’t quite get it. Cousins was a beast but if he didn’t have a monster game we couldn’t win.

Watching games this year we are a TEAM again and man isn’t it nice!
Welcome aboard! It’s a fun time to be a Kings fan!
 
I thought it was quite telling about Fox's likeability and the ability to lead this team when coach said that when Fox had his 30 + Point triple double, his teammates were even happier than him.
Reminds me of the passionate interview Fox gave after his team lost in the tournament. That interview made ME cry. Hell just thinking about it makes me tear up haha. Fox is a loved dude. Not likeable. Loved.
 
What ever we are doing I love the way we gut it out when the game is on the line. We are winning some games we would of lost before, that shows fortitude.

The coach almost let last night slip away but his need to rest some starters can not get in the way of putting a win in the teams column. It’s a learning curve for where we stand as a team.

A lot of good to go around for their play last night and even to the players who struggled for most of the game had big contributions that helped in the win.
 
Fox played great, again. Buddy was not hitting but continued to contribute. They played defense last night.
Bjelica lost it a few times last night trying to dribble past the defense. You could see his desire and he made some plays against his old team.
I like Shumpert a lot.
Willie has really figured out how to be an offensive threat with the uptempo style. Much greater production than expected. He was outrebounded by KAT last night 19 to 5. His interior defense was soft against the Wolves. 2k did a much better job inside and got 9 boards in only 19 minutes.
Buddy was the leading rebounder for the Kings with 10.
This was a great win. The Kings stay with teams and then wear some of them out in the 4th quarter. This is something new. Against the Wolves coach played a lot of guys and it paid big dividends. KAT played 40 minutes, and Butler played 41. That was some good coaching.

Fox was the leading shot blocker and Buddy was the leading rebounder. Does that seem unusual to anyone except me?
KK had a lot to do with that victory.
 

Kingster

Hall of Famer
I want to show some love for buddy. His shot was not falling but he helped contribute in all the other ways. This certainly shows his growth.

I was listening to James Ham's podcast with one of the assistants and it was quite compelling how differently they coach this team none other coaches might coach other teams. An example of this is that each assistant coach takes two or three players and does in depth film study with them as opposed to a long drawn out whole team video breakdown.

That coach mention the work they did with Buddy and how they completely changed his workout regimen on the court. He used to go in and jack up a thousand shots in the coaches had him dribble with two basketballs and doing all kinds of other drills to improve the rest of his game. This season that work is definitely paying off being a buddy is having a sub All-Star season.

One last thing to point out from that podcast was what they said about fox. Coach said that they would sit his group down for the film study and he would already know every turn over that he had and exactly how he messed up. Coach said he's never had a player with that high level of IQ and that nearly all them proven that he's made from being drafted until now was adding 15 pounds of muscle in the offseason and stepping up into the role that the team wanted for him.

I thought it was quite telling about Fox's likeability and the ability to lead this team when coach said that when Fox had his 30 + Point triple double, his teammates were even happier than him.
Buddy had 10 freaking rebounds. He was the leading rebounder on the team! Thank goodness we had his toughness on the boards!
 

Kingster

Hall of Famer
Fox played great, again. Buddy was not hitting but continued to contribute. They played defense last night.
Bjelica lost it a few times last night trying to dribble past the defense. You could see his desire and he made some plays against his old team.
I like Shumpert a lot.
Willie has really figured out how to be an offensive threat with the uptempo style. Much greater production than expected. He was outrebounded by KAT last night 19 to 5. His interior defense was soft against the Wolves. 2k did a much better job inside and got 9 boards in only 19 minutes.
Buddy was the leading rebounder for the Kings with 10.
This was a great win. The Kings stay with teams and then wear some of them out in the 4th quarter. This is something new. Against the Wolves coach played a lot of guys and it paid big dividends. KAT played 40 minutes, and Butler played 41. That was some good coaching.

Fox was the leading shot blocker and Buddy was the leading rebounder. Does that seem unusual to anyone except me?
KK had a lot to do with that victory
.
A hell of a lot. When the game was on the line and Joerger needed to get some defense and rebounding at the center position he put in Kufos, who delivered big time. Great move by Joerger. I'm going to totally go against the sentiment on the board - I didn't like the 5 rebounds of WC$ to the 19 rebounds of KAT at all. WC$ had five rebounds in 29 minutes. In 19 minutes Kosta had nine rebounds. Nice efficient scoring night for WC$, but the tough interior D and rebounding from Kufos was key to this victory.

Another thing that corroborates my view of the WCS and his net effect on this game. He was a zero in plus-minus. Kosta was a +11, tied with Shump in 2nd place in plus-minus, with Fox coming in first at +13. To my mind, those numbers are truly indicative of their respective impacts on the game.
 

bajaden

Hall of Famer
I wouldn't worry about it. They wil have JR guest host at least a couple times this year. Aint been too many home games yet for it to happen, but trust it will. There is no letting JR off the hook now that the team has turned the corner.
I believe Jerry is scheduled to do 10 games with Grant this season..
 
Buddy had 10 freaking rebounds. He was the leading rebounder on the team! Thank goodness we had his toughness on the boards!
He also scored 15 on 6 of 14 shooting, 3 of 7 from three. 3 of 7 FROM THREE! On a bad shooting night. He's always been streaky, the great thing now is that his streaks seem to be shorter, less frequent (1 or 2 quarters vs. 2 or 3 games) and he's contributing in a variety of other ways. I LOVE the way Buddy is playing. Honestly, we all laughed at Vivek opinion that he could be the next Steph Curry, and he will NEVER be that. However, he is defintiely at the next level as far as a lights out shooter who is now expanding his game.
 
A hell of a lot. When the game was on the line and Joerger needed to get some defense and rebounding at the center position he put in Kufos, who delivered big time. Great move by Joerger. I'm going to totally go against the sentiment on the board - I didn't like the 5 rebounds of WC$ to the 19 rebounds of KAT at all. WC$ had five rebounds in 29 minutes. In 19 minutes Kosta had nine rebounds. Nice efficient scoring night for WC$, but the tough interior D and rebounding from Kufos was key to this victory.

Another thing that corroborates my view of the WCS and his net effect on this game. He was a zero in plus-minus. Kosta was a +11, tied with Shump in 2nd place in plus-minus, with Fox coming in first at +13. To my mind, those numbers are truly indicative of their respective impacts on the game.
I thought WCS had a really nice game and we wouldn't have won without him. However, Kufos ended up being a better matchup against KAT. Although you could also argue the relentless running of WCS wore KAT down by the end of the game. I rewatched the timberwolves feed of the third quarter last night. They were all praise for the impact of WCS on the game. I agree the boards need to go up for him, but I think part of the issue with our team in general now is that split second of indecisiveness to get out and run after a missed shot before the board is actually secured.
 

bajaden

Hall of Famer
A hell of a lot. When the game was on the line and Joerger needed to get some defense and rebounding at the center position he put in Kufos, who delivered big time. Great move by Joerger. I'm going to totally go against the sentiment on the board - I didn't like the 5 rebounds of WC$ to the 19 rebounds of KAT at all. WC$ had five rebounds in 29 minutes. In 19 minutes Kosta had nine rebounds. Nice efficient scoring night for WC$, but the tough interior D and rebounding from Kufos was key to this victory.

Another thing that corroborates my view of the WCS and his net effect on this game. He was a zero in plus-minus. Kosta was a +11, tied with Shump in 2nd place in plus-minus, with Fox coming in first at +13. To my mind, those numbers are truly indicative of their respective impacts on the game.
Willie also kept us in the game in the first quarter of that game. He was almost our total offense. Plus, I agree with the post that stated many times Willie was away from the basket guarding KAT. There were also many plays if you go back and rewatch the game where Buddy or another teammate got the rebound because Willie boxed out Towns, who was a freaking beast last night.

Look, Willie is never going to be a rebounding leader in the NBA, especially when he's being used the way he is. Do I think he could still improve in that area? You bet! I think he tends to give up on a rebound because of being out of position, and many times if he had pursued, he might have gotten it, or had a put back. On the whole, I thought Willie played a good game. Not sure what he could have done to contain Towns other than tackle him.

In that regard, the best thing you can do with a player like Towns is deny him the ball. However, the new freedom of movement rules make that very difficult to do. When a player like Towns is trying to establish position, you can't do anything that stops him from getting to that position like you used to. You can't bump him, put your hands on him, and in some cases, if you body makes contact with him they're blowing the whistle. Now of course it works both ways, but when you have a player as talented as Towns, you have a big problem. Same deal with Antetekoumnpo. If they're hitting their shots, it makes them almost unstoppable.
 

bajaden

Hall of Famer
I thought WCS had a really nice game and we wouldn't have won without him. However, Kufos ended up being a better matchup against KAT. Although you could also argue the relentless running of WCS wore KAT down by the end of the game. I rewatched the timberwolves feed of the third quarter last night. They were all praise for the impact of WCS on the game. I agree the boards need to go up for him, but I think part of the issue with our team in general now is that split second of indecisiveness to get out and run after a missed shot before the board is actually secured.
There's another issue in regards to our rebounding. When you play at a very fast pace, running up and down the floor, and getting a shot off just 10 seconds into the shot clock, many times, your not going to have people under the basket to rebound. In general, most teams that play as a fast pace aren't known for being great rebounding teams. It's like anything else in life, There are pluses and minuses to what you do.
 
There's another issue in regards to our rebounding. When you play at a very fast pace, running up and down the floor, and getting a shot off just 10 seconds into the shot clock, many times, your not going to have people under the basket to rebound. In general, most teams that play as a fast pace aren't known for being great rebounding teams. It's like anything else in life, There are pluses and minuses to what you do.
Yep this is why shawn marion averaged so many damn boards for those suns teams, he was a great rebounder all by himself for sure but the style and pace was a match.
 

Kingster

Hall of Famer
Willie also kept us in the game in the first quarter of that game. He was almost our total offense. Plus, I agree with the post that stated many times Willie was away from the basket guarding KAT. There were also many plays if you go back and rewatch the game where Buddy or another teammate got the rebound because Willie boxed out Towns, who was a freaking beast last night.

Look, Willie is never going to be a rebounding leader in the NBA, especially when he's being used the way he is. Do I think he could still improve in that area? You bet! I think he tends to give up on a rebound because of being out of position, and many times if he had pursued, he might have gotten it, or had a put back. On the whole, I thought Willie played a good game. Not sure what he could have done to contain Towns other than tackle him.

In that regard, the best thing you can do with a player like Towns is deny him the ball. However, the new freedom of movement rules make that very difficult to do. When a player like Towns is trying to establish position, you can't do anything that stops him from getting to that position like you used to. You can't bump him, put your hands on him, and in some cases, if you body makes contact with him they're blowing the whistle. Now of course it works both ways, but when you have a player as talented as Towns, you have a big problem. Same deal with Antetekoumnpo. If they're hitting their shots, it makes them almost unstoppable.
It didn't seem to be a problem for Kosta, did it? Kosta gave KAT some defensive problems at the end of the game. He actually posed some resistance to KAT that WCS just did not do.

Safe to say WCS won't be a rebound leader in the NBA. :) Only one time in the first 12 games of the season has he had more rebounds than the opposing center. In this game the opposing center almost quadrupled his output in rebounding. I don't know if this stat is available or not, but it would be very interesting at the end of the season to see on average how many rebounds WCS is out-rebounded by opposing centers. Getting rebounds is a good stat, but it doesn't necessarily tell you how many rebounds you prevent your opponent from getting. The net difference is key.

Did WCS have a positive and efficient offensive impact in scoring in the first half? Yes. I just loved his efficiency. Did he offset *some* of the KAT point production? Yes. Could one say that WCS's activity on the offensive end slowed down KAT some on the offensive end because he was expending energy on defending WCS? Hard to say because I don't know how much energy KAT puts into defense to begin with, but it is possible.

The thing that just bugs me about WCS is that his priority and/or focus or emphasis seems to be much more on point production than anything else. He doesn't get his hands up ready for a rebound, the result of which the ball just bounces off his hands as he brings them up to the ball. He doesn't look to really put a body on KAT when the ball is shot. He just loves offense. And he just hates being physical. It is very interesting to me that the guy who for years now has wanted and believed he could score in the post is now doing so. He absolutely has surprised me with the improvement of that aspect of his game. Too bad he didn't put the same emphasis on interior defense and rebounding.

He's a fast, point producing center who does help you with his switching defense on the periphery. But, and it's a big but for the center position, he's soft. Maybe that's that's all he'll ever be. If that is what he is, then I'd really like to know how the Kings' brain trust views how he fits with their vision of this team going forward. It would be a very interesting conversation.
 
This team is for real.

Last night when the Wolves went 12 (or 14?) unanswered in the 4th and got it within 2 points I was thinking to myself... "The Kings of the last decade would end up losing this game by 10 points". Nope! Not tonight! This team has a ton of heart and chemistry. They do not roll over. We've got a squad now that can beat you in multiple ways. This team is playoff bound for the first time in a very long time and I could not be happier!
 

Kingster

Hall of Famer
He also scored 15 on 6 of 14 shooting, 3 of 7 from three. 3 of 7 FROM THREE! On a bad shooting night. He's always been streaky, the great thing now is that his streaks seem to be shorter, less frequent (1 or 2 quarters vs. 2 or 3 games) and he's contributing in a variety of other ways. I LOVE the way Buddy is playing. Honestly, we all laughed at Vivek opinion that he could be the next Steph Curry, and he will NEVER be that. However, he is defintiely at the next level as far as a lights out shooter who is now expanding his game.
I can say without any equivocation whatsoever: Buddy Hield is a two-way player!