My take on Musselman so far...

[Amanjoy]

Personally, I like what I'm seeing from Muss so far.

Not just in the way he handles the team, but also in the way he has the guys doing things they are capable of, and nothing they can't.

I think KT, Ron and Mike are the hardest ones to reach with these concepts, but I saw a lot of that influence last night. The previously mentioned three players can sometimes be seen jacking up uncharacteristic shots and trying to play outside their games. However, last night, they all looked good doing things within their games and doing so in an impressive manner!

Bibby didn't force his outside shot and made sure to calm Kevin down and feed him the rock when he was hot.

KT worked hard on the offensive glass and didn't force things on the offensive end, but took what was given to him!

Ron didn't force shots up, and just did his role of taking what was given to him and playing tough D.

I think the other things Muss has brought are pretty obvious as far as the defense is concerned. I do like the fact that he doesn't seem to fall into the trap that other coaches we had in the past used to fall into.

Last night, Muss went to the bench and got solid production from Corliss, and with Corliss on the floor, the Kings got the KIngs a pretty comfortable lead. Instead of falling into the temptation of putting the starters back in and ruining our rythm, he sticks with Corliss, and the Kings push the lead into double digits. Saunders makes an adjustment and changes things up out of desperation, and the Pistons put it back into single-digits. What does Muss do? He puts Ron back in the game and we keep the lead in tact. What I like about that is that Muss reacts to what happens in the game, and doesn't just stick to his normal rotation.

But, so far, I'm pretty happy with what I'm seeing!

 

[Pqster]

Personally, I like what I'm seeing from Muss so far.

Not just in the way he handles the team, but also in the way he has the guys doing things they are capable of, and nothing they can't.

I think KT, Ron and Mike are the hardest ones to reach with these concepts, but I saw a lot of that influence last night. The previously mentioned three players can sometimes be seen jacking up uncharacteristic shots and trying to play outside their games. However, last night, they all looked good doing things within their games and doing so in an impressive manner!

Bibby didn't force his outside shot and made sure to calm Kevin down and feed him the rock when he was hot.

KT worked hard on the offensive glass and didn't force things on the offensive end, but took what was given to him!

Ron didn't force shots up, and just did his role of taking what was given to him and playing tough D.

I think the other things Muss has brought are pretty obvious as far as the defense is concerned. I do like the fact that he doesn't seem to fall into the trap that other coaches we had in the past used to fall into.

Last night, Muss went to the bench and got solid production from Corliss, and with Corliss on the floor, the Kings got the KIngs a pretty comfortable lead. Instead of falling into the temptation of putting the starters back in and ruining our rythm, he sticks with Corliss, and the Kings push the lead into double digits. Saunders makes an adjustment and changes things up out of desperation, and the Pistons put it back into single-digits. What does Muss do? He puts Ron back in the game and we keep the lead in tact. What I like about that is that Muss reacts to what happens in the game, and doesn't just stick to his normal rotation.

But, so far, I'm pretty happy with what I'm seeing!

Some good points but if you look at the shots KT takes the number is always very low. Doesn't take a lot of shots and definatly does't force a lot. Although he does somtimes force a missed layup up or two!

 

[Entity]

He is not taking that elbow jumper therefore getting him in postion for offensive rebounds and the rewards for him and the team are paying off for that. Also Muss is doing something that i love to see. he is playing the hot hand. Like when Salmons scored 18. Instead of taking him out to get the starter back he left him out there until the hot streak was over. The same happend with Corlis last night.

If KT continues to play his role and not look for his shot he will greatly help this team as he did the last few games. Constantly following his teamates shots looking for the offensive rebound is awesome and sometimes he gets a put back.

 

[Nazman]

My question is why is SAR taking those 15 footers. Forget about it! There's no good reason for SAR to be taking those shots and i am seeing that a few times a night.

As for Musselman count me in on those who are very encouraged by the changes being seen. I think he's got this team working considerably harder than last year. There's just so much more energy out there.

Remember only too well in recent years past seeing a King shot being taken and literally yelling 'where is everybody.' Not a King in sight in the paint. Now what am i seeing? A flurry of second chance points every night.

OK, maybe i got a little carried away w/ contender talk but i wasn't necessarily saying they are the heir apparents, just that they are competing in a way i haven't seen in some time and that i was suspecting they'd get into the playoff hunt if they keep playing like this.

Taking Chicago in Chicago after the Bulls demolished the world champ Miami Heat. Yeah it's early but things are...well...looking up.

 

[Troy]

Things are looking good. I too love the Defense and know the Offense will be soon to follow once we get in better sinc and our shots start falling. We are showing better discipline and are running back to defend and are showing up in #s to get rebounds which is very encouraging considering everyone thought that we would be eaten alive on the glass. We are actually winning the rebounding battles so far. It doesn't matter who you are from PG to C, you go for the rebound or box out and help your teamate get the board. I live what I'm seeing so far! I still want a 4/5 big guy because we are lacking some size, but we have been good playing small ball, but I'm sure this isn't the answer over the long haul, we have done good with the teams we have played until we play the ones with a crew of 7 footers!

 

[Gtronic]

He is not taking that elbow jumper therefore getting him in postion for offensive rebounds and the rewards for him and the team are paying off for that. Also Muss is doing something that i love to see. he is playing the hot hand. Like when Salmons scored 18. Instead of taking him out to get the starter back he left him out there until the hot streak was over. The same happend with Corlis last night.

If KT continues to play his role and not look for his shot he will greatly help this team as he did the last few games. Constantly following his teamates shots looking for the offensive rebound is awesome and sometimes he gets a put back.

I don't miss that elbow jumper at all!!!!

 

[SacKings384]

I'll tell you onee thing... Muss is kinda putting that "You can't play defense with this personell" saying from Rick in limbo...

 

[Bricklayer]

I'll tell you onee thing... Muss is kinda putting that "You can't play defense with this personell" saying from Rick in limbo...

We finsihed last season 8th in the league in defense after Ron arrived. Ron = the x-factor.

 

[GoGoGadget]

I'll tell you onee thing... Muss is kinda putting that "You can't play defense with this personell" saying from Rick in limbo...

I don't recall Adelman ever saying that.

I DO remember him making several comments that the players at his disposal were not great individual defenders and, guess what, those players in question still aren't.

 

[slugking50]

My take:



Muss and his staff need to put the caffiene down and step away!

 

[acisking]

I'll tell you onee thing... Muss is kinda putting that "You can't play defense with this personell" saying from Rick in limbo...

Even if he said that (which is doubtful), the teams that Rick had over his stay in Sacramento certainly never had great individual defenders. When Ron Artest joined the team last year, Sacramento's defense improved tremendously - even with Adelman as the coach. So quite frankly, it has less to do with Adelman or Musselman than it does to do with Ron's influence on the entire team.

 

[KingKong]

Ron has everything to do with our improved defense, but I think Musselman's intensity also has something to do with our renewed effort. It's definately rubbing off on the players. We still couldn't rebound the ball towards the end of last season (unless it was Bonzi or KT cleaning up the boards). Now we're on of the top reboundings teams in the league (I know it only 5 games). There just seems to be more of a concerted effort and I think that has a lot to do with Musselman as well.

 

[Roman]

I'm not impressed or unimpressed with Muss so far.

I don't like what I see out of our offense sets nor what he says. Quite simply, you cannot win in this league on jumpshots. You need easy baskets.

But, the other night we had more post up plays run than I've seen us run in the past two years combined. So, that's a plus.

I love what I'm seeing defensively ... although, I wonder where we are without Ron.

A guy that's impressed me on the defensive end is KMoney. He's a little trouble maker in the lanes and with him and Artest ... it's been a bunch of steals in our favor. If only we could keep our own TOs down.

 

[D-Mass]

Ron is the x-factor, certainly, but even an Adelman supporter like me can see a difference in the coaching aspects of our defense. We're defending the pick and roll INFINITELY better than we ever did in recent years, our rotations are outstanding, more people are crashing the boards than ever, and the intensity is up to levels we haven't seen in awhile. Ron can't single-handedly influence the team in those areas. It's obvious to me that there has been a greater focus on defense in practice...it shows.

Now, the question is: has that increased focus on defense limited our offensive effectiveness, or is it just a matter of our shots not falling? Either way, I think things will come around offensively, but I like the fact that until that happens, our defense will keep us in games.

 

[gunks]

Last night, Muss went to the bench and got solid production from Corliss, and with Corliss on the floor, the Kings got the KIngs a pretty comfortable lead. Instead of falling into the temptation of putting the starters back in and ruining our rythm, he sticks with Corliss, and the Kings push the lead into double digits. Saunders makes an adjustment and changes things up out of desperation, and the Pistons put it back into single-digits. What does Muss do? He puts Ron back in the game and we keep the lead in tact. What I like about that is that Muss reacts to what happens in the game, and doesn't just stick to his normal rotation.

Yeah, that was very Un-Adelman of him...I loved it!

 

[GoGoGadget]

Now, the question is: has that increased focus on defense limited our offensive effectiveness, or is it just a matter of our shots not falling?

The real question is how long the defensive energy will last.

I definitely think that the coaching change has inspired a lot of the defensive push, and a lot of the players to give extra effort, but I don't know how long things will stay all shiny and new. Effort will dip if Musselman can't sustain the level of excitement. If he/they can maintain this newfound defensive intensity, then we've got time to wait for everything else to work itself out. If, however, the defense starts to fade and we still haven't gotten the offense back in gear... yikes.

Having people play above and beyond their normal level is a sign of great motivation and should be looked at as a positive, but shouldn't be relied on too heavily.

 

[D-Mass]

The real question is how long the defensive energy will last.

I definitely think that the coaching change has inspired a lot of the defensive push, and a lot of the players to give extra effort, but I don't know how long things will stay all shiny and new. Effort will dip if Musselman can't sustain the level of excitement. If he/they can maintain this newfound defensive intensity, then we've got time to wait for everything else to work itself out. If, however, the defense starts to fade and we still haven't gotten the offense back in gear... yikes.

Having people play above and beyond their normal level is a sign of great motivation and should be looked at as a positive, but shouldn't be relied on too heavily.

All true...nice post.

 

[SacKings384]

He said it in his last interview after he was fired. Although he did say "then we got Ron and we started to play some defense but it wasn't enough" or something along the lines of that. I'm sure someone has the transcript. It was on the Mike and Grant show.

 

[Entity]

Hey Gadget maybe they aren't playing above and beyond there natual level on defense. Maybe they have always played below their natual level. But honestly Kevin was a pretty good defender anyway and you all know about Ron. Our interior defense never really got killed by the opposing bigs, it was always the guards driving past our guards and small forwards that got to the hole. Now Kevin and Ron are an upgrade on the perimeter from years past. but Mike hasn't changed much and KT hasn't changed. the thing i notice is our switches. They are switching so smoothly like it has be taught to them. Maybe they were never taught in quite the same way but it is a thing of beauty when they switch off and back before the opposing team can take advantage. That is the real difference with our defense not all individual but team. They have the chemistry on defense we had on offense years ago.

 

[Greenspan 101]

What convinced me was during the Detroit game (one of the few games I attend per year--Comcast for the rest), as Billups dribbled down along the left sideline, Musselman tried to keep the defender's head in the game. How? He jumped into a defensive stance and shuffled down along the bench right behind Chauncey to keep the Kings defender focused on holding position! That's the first time I've seen that sort of intensity from any coach.

And I will say that this Kings team in that game did remind me of the Detroit team which beat the Lakers for the trophy in 03-04 season as far as mentality. That's not to state that Sac will win the title, but in that one game, they never looked shaken, they rode player momentum, and they kept the lead down the stretch. Execution wasn't smooth at times, but their mental aspect of the game has improved.

 

[Entity]

yeah i can't say enough about riding the player momentum. With Martin and Corlis we rode those 2 in the second half until the game was over. In seasons past i have seen RA watch Peja hit 2 or 3 three pointers in a row then the other team called a timeout. when they came back from the break Peja is on the bench resting. I saw Garcia come in just last season and score 6 points 3 reb and 2 blocks in 4 or 5 min then all of a sudden RA brought back the starter which was Peja who was 1-7 in the game just because he had rested for 5 or 6 min. That was stupid and RA did that consistanly for the 8 years he was here. So Muss riding the hot hand is a sight for sore eyes. He did it when Salmons got hot in Milwalkee and kevin sat for 7 min. Muss is about the team and not each individual i like that.

 

[GoGoGadget]

Hey Gadget maybe they aren't playing above and beyond there natual level on defense. Maybe they have always played below their natual level.

If you've been consistently playing below your natural level for eight years, guess what becomes the norm?

Our softies aren't the newbies. They're not just learning the ways of the NBA. They're our veteran players. Softies who have been softies for a long time, natural ability be damned. Very doubtful that the coaching change, invigorating as it may be, suddenly snapped them out of long term laziness -- they are clearly playing above their normal level. Hopefully it lasts.

 

[Entity]

Gadget on 3 players on this entire team have been here more than 2 years. So don't go with the 8 year argument. and 1 of those 3 players is Martin and he is doing an exceptional job. We used to have 1 that was Doug now we have 3 Martin, Artest, and KT 3 out of 5 players is a pretty good ratio and having a defensive minded coach doesn't hurt. So its not a fluke and should last.