Let's Make the Playoffs! & The State of the Opposition
- Thread starter Bricklayer
- Start date
I like our chances against Utah. Gobert is key to their whole system and he is not used to going against an offensive force like Cousins. He usually just has to worry about being the anchor. If Cuz can go at Gobert, maybe get him into foul trouble Utah doesn't have the firepower to keep up with us/their defense won't be able to contain all our weapons. Also they don't have a goodPG that can torch our perimeter defense like most teams are able to. Must win tonight though, gotta beat NOP.
So Jason Thompson is starting for the Warriors tonight, because they want to rest Draymond Green.
They are officially coasting now, likely to expend less effort beating the crappier teams coming up on the schedule.
Why couldn't they have chosen to step off the gas BEFORE the Kings lost 4 to them in the earliest regular-season 4-game series of all the NBA this year? (total guess)
They are officially coasting now, likely to expend less effort beating the crappier teams coming up on the schedule.
Why couldn't they have chosen to step off the gas BEFORE the Kings lost 4 to them in the earliest regular-season 4-game series of all the NBA this year? (total guess)
What an ugly loss...we're just not a playoff team as is. Some observations
1. Coach Karl need to start WCS. He's the one guy who completes our roster and turn this team into better defensive team. Don't know why Karl refuses to play him significant minutes. Look what happened when he played WCS and cousins together in the fourth, Kings made a comeback .
2. Another move need to be made for shooting guard. Ben Mclemore is not going to cut it, I'm sorry.
1. Coach Karl need to start WCS. He's the one guy who completes our roster and turn this team into better defensive team. Don't know why Karl refuses to play him significant minutes. Look what happened when he played WCS and cousins together in the fourth, Kings made a comeback .
2. Another move need to be made for shooting guard. Ben Mclemore is not going to cut it, I'm sorry.
The only bright spot of the game was in the 4th when WCS stuffed three straight possessions. That was awesome. Other than that, it was one of the worst games I've seen at Arco, ever. Hard to come out of that game with any respect or affection for any of the starting lineup.
Rudy? gotta ship that loser out and if it bums out RR & Cuz, too bad.
F for everybody except WCS & Seth.
Rudy? gotta ship that loser out and if it bums out RR & Cuz, too bad.
F for everybody except WCS & Seth.
Two Point guard back court? Has not worked out Collison is streaky shooter and terrible defender, Seth is good defender doesn't get the ball enough to prove he is a shooter
Fast pace game - ends up Boogie last one to get to perimeter , he is always tired, should be dominating down low
Switching defense - Probably the Worst 3 pt allowed perimeter defense in NBA, small guards on the switch end up with big guys?
Out of Natural positions? - Rudy at 4, Belli, Ben at the 3, Collison Seth at the 2 Im sorry we have enough depth to play 4 bigs at 4,5 with 2 SF, 2 SG, 3 PGs
I consider all of these issues go to One Person - Coach Karl !!!!
Fast pace game - ends up Boogie last one to get to perimeter , he is always tired, should be dominating down low
Switching defense - Probably the Worst 3 pt allowed perimeter defense in NBA, small guards on the switch end up with big guys?
Out of Natural positions? - Rudy at 4, Belli, Ben at the 3, Collison Seth at the 2 Im sorry we have enough depth to play 4 bigs at 4,5 with 2 SF, 2 SG, 3 PGs
I consider all of these issues go to One Person - Coach Karl !!!!
the playoffs will remain elusive until this franchise places a premium on defense. it's honestly just that simple. if the kings were simply average on the defensive end, they'd be competing for no less than the fifth seed, but they're a bottom-three defense for the umpteenth time in the last decade. george karl can rant and rave about his team's poor defensive effort, but his rotations and his schemes suggest both an abject stubbornness and an inability to adapt to a roster that doesn't suit his proclivities. this team should be playing in much more conservative defensive schemes, particularly until wille-cauley stein develops further, and especially if karl refuses to give him extended minutes...
mostly, though, i want to see some organizational synergy on the subject of defense. i want vivek ranadive to announce that he won't accept such poor play on that side of the ball. i want to hear from vlade divac that changes will be made in pursuit of committing to defensive excellence. and i want the kings' next head coaching hire to reflect such a commitment. the effort that a team puts into their level of play is often a reflection of leadership, and i don't ever see this team getting up for george karl. i commend karl for his past success, and for his determination to return to a game he loves after battling a cancer that has robbed him of his trademark bullishness, but unfortunately, i don't think he's got it in him to be a great teacher or motivator anymore, and he's never been the kind of defensive luminary that this team needs to turn around a decade of futility on that side of the ball...
in short, karl wasn't a good fit when the kings hired him (before hiring divac to be their gm, a mistake they've now made twice since vivek ranadive bought the team), and not enough has changed to suggest that karl's fit with this roster will improve substantially between now and the moment that demarcus cousins demands a trade. nor does it make sense to allow karl to re-shape the team in his image with his likely retirement not more than a few years away. as quite a few of us were saying last season, hiring karl was a knee-jerk decision with too much combustible potential, and it's put the kings between a rock and a hard place. fire him now? fire him in the offseason? whichever it is, they'd better have a plan this time around, rather than a foolish placation to a fanbase weary of losing...
mostly, though, i want to see some organizational synergy on the subject of defense. i want vivek ranadive to announce that he won't accept such poor play on that side of the ball. i want to hear from vlade divac that changes will be made in pursuit of committing to defensive excellence. and i want the kings' next head coaching hire to reflect such a commitment. the effort that a team puts into their level of play is often a reflection of leadership, and i don't ever see this team getting up for george karl. i commend karl for his past success, and for his determination to return to a game he loves after battling a cancer that has robbed him of his trademark bullishness, but unfortunately, i don't think he's got it in him to be a great teacher or motivator anymore, and he's never been the kind of defensive luminary that this team needs to turn around a decade of futility on that side of the ball...
in short, karl wasn't a good fit when the kings hired him (before hiring divac to be their gm, a mistake they've now made twice since vivek ranadive bought the team), and not enough has changed to suggest that karl's fit with this roster will improve substantially between now and the moment that demarcus cousins demands a trade. nor does it make sense to allow karl to re-shape the team in his image with his likely retirement not more than a few years away. as quite a few of us were saying last season, hiring karl was a knee-jerk decision with too much combustible potential, and it's put the kings between a rock and a hard place. fire him now? fire him in the offseason? whichever it is, they'd better have a plan this time around, rather than a foolish placation to a fanbase weary of losing...
What I don't get is - we have tangible proof that most of our core players ARE capable of at least adequate if not stellar defense, especially our front court. They've done it in (mostly fruitless) spurts at times this season, they've done it at the start of last season. What gives with the sporadic effort? The only logical explanation I can come up is that defense is not being practiced/rewarded whatsoever, thus the only time they kick it into gear is when they get thoroughly embarrassed and someone (usually Cuz or WCS) suddenly strings a couple of quality defensive possessions to light the fire.
Problem is, our rotations being what they are - chances are pretty good whoever actually plays decent defense, in spite of our "defensive" schemes, has a good chance of ending up on the bench for the rest of the game. So you tell me, why would anyone feel motivated to bust their ass on that end? All the lip service to defensive intensity from Karl at the end of the game has got to be even more grating to the players than it is to us observers. If we can see how detached from reality he is - can you imagine how the players feel (especially when he throws them under the bus in the same breath)?
People can point to turnovers or low FG% as our problems all day long, but the fact of the matter is - defense always keeps you in games and gives you a chance at the end, regardless of your offense. The opposite, however, is far from being true. At this point I'm past hoping that Karl understands that, unfortunately.
Problem is, our rotations being what they are - chances are pretty good whoever actually plays decent defense, in spite of our "defensive" schemes, has a good chance of ending up on the bench for the rest of the game. So you tell me, why would anyone feel motivated to bust their ass on that end? All the lip service to defensive intensity from Karl at the end of the game has got to be even more grating to the players than it is to us observers. If we can see how detached from reality he is - can you imagine how the players feel (especially when he throws them under the bus in the same breath)?
People can point to turnovers or low FG% as our problems all day long, but the fact of the matter is - defense always keeps you in games and gives you a chance at the end, regardless of your offense. The opposite, however, is far from being true. At this point I'm past hoping that Karl understands that, unfortunately.
Tough to call it: Jazz probably have the easiest schedule of the three, but it's all on the road. We've got a brutal back-to-back coming up, with a trap game against the gd lakers, followed by a Hawks team that has mind control over us. If we can get a big win in that first one, it might just give us the confidence to win that second one.
He might only rate one head on the Tony Delk scale given that his previous high was 42 and he's had a number of 30+ point games.
http://triangleoffense.com/features/the-tony-delk-scale-rating-the-most-random-50-point-games/
But I'm still going to say that a guy averaging less than 20 ppg for the season more than doubling that average to drop 50+ is an eye opener, especially against a quality defensive team. No disrespect to Kemba.
http://triangleoffense.com/features/the-tony-delk-scale-rating-the-most-random-50-point-games/
But I'm still going to say that a guy averaging less than 20 ppg for the season more than doubling that average to drop 50+ is an eye opener, especially against a quality defensive team. No disrespect to Kemba.
The whole point of the Tony Delk Memorial (and I ought to know, because I coined the term) is that Delk was a career reserve and journeyman. Walker is a career starter. And no, I'm sorry, but a guy with a career scoring average of 16+, who'd come into the day with 19 career games of 30+ is not even remotely similar to a guy with a career scoring average of 9, who'd had zero 30-point games in his career, before suddenly erupting for 53, and never had one afterwards, either.
So yeah, Delk had one game in 545 where he scored 30 or more, and it was the night he went for 53; his previous career high had been 26, and the best he ever did after that was 27. Walker's now had twenty 30+ point games in 324. If anything, Walker's night more closely resembles Jimmy Butler's 53-point explosion from last week, but I'm betting that you wouldn't ever compare him to Tony Delk...
So yeah, Delk had one game in 545 where he scored 30 or more, and it was the night he went for 53; his previous career high had been 26, and the best he ever did after that was 27. Walker's now had twenty 30+ point games in 324. If anything, Walker's night more closely resembles Jimmy Butler's 53-point explosion from last week, but I'm betting that you wouldn't ever compare him to Tony Delk...
Last edited:
I would think safe to say.
I'm not going to go back and manually search where every team in the league stood after 40 games/on Jan 18 (or later during the strike year), but this is the best record we've had at this time in 8 years, and during the previous 8 years the 8th seed in the West has won:
45
49
45
45 win pace (strike)
46
50
48
50 (the last season where we were ahead of our current pace)
meanwhile the current Jazz are only on pace for 36 wins. So its a safe bet all of the above teams were ahead of this current pace.
I'm not going to go back and manually search where every team in the league stood after 40 games/on Jan 18 (or later during the strike year), but this is the best record we've had at this time in 8 years, and during the previous 8 years the 8th seed in the West has won:
45
49
45
45 win pace (strike)
46
50
48
50 (the last season where we were ahead of our current pace)
meanwhile the current Jazz are only on pace for 36 wins. So its a safe bet all of the above teams were ahead of this current pace.