Nice article about Kings need to improve Defense

King Baller

King Baller

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Paul Flannery has a nice article over on SB Nation about the Kings starting over at square one with a focus on defense. Here is an out take:

"They've been allergic to defense for a while and they haven't defended," Malone said. "A lot of guys don't want to buy into that end of the floor because it's hard work. What they'll realize is if they buy into that end of the floor their jobs will be so much easier on offense. When you get stops, you run. They can score; they've shown they can score. It's defense and offensively sharing the ball. They have to be a little bit more unselfish."

Here is a link to the complete article --> http://www.sbnation.com/nba/2013/7/...-malone-vivek-ranadive-nba-summer-league-2013

Lets face it, we as Kings fans know this team has a long ways to go to play good defense. I will be looking forward to the 2013/2014 season anticipating improved effort on the defensive end.

As far as team make up I would like to see Hayes flipped for a young BIG and Tall center to back up DMC. I want someone who can punish other teams in the paint either with blocked shots or clean hard fouls when needed. I would even go so far to say TWO centers like that could prove to be valuable.

Actual significant improvement in wins/losses would be nice. But a culture change to a team known to play hard nosed defense is a great start.

KB
 
King Baller said:
"A lot of guys don't want to buy into that end of the floor because it's hard work."
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Well, at least he sees what we see. A little more roster turnover might help, but man, does he have his work cut out for him.
 
Spike said:
Well, at least he sees what we see. A little more roster turnover might help, but man, does he have his work cut out for him.
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And he's willing to come right out and say it without hemming or hawing or dancing around with the typical "we have a lot of things to work on" blathering...I'm optimistic about Malone. :)
 
Love the way in the NBA they have to try to bribe players into playing defense by promising them offensive rewards.

I just loved smothering you on defense because I wanted to crush your spirit. Find me a couple of guys with that attitude, and unload some of the I'll play D if it lets me chuck more types.
 
so apparently today's theme is: no d'uh.

I'm not quite sure in what world Carl Landry and Greivis Vasquez can be counted on for anything defense-related, but if Malone thinks he can get something out of them: mazel tov! I hope he doesn't suffer an aneurysm trying to get this roster to play defense. of course I hope even more that this won't *be* the roster he has to try and get to play d.
 
jalfa said:
so apparently today's theme is: no d'uh.

I'm not quite sure in what world Carl Landry and Greivis Vasquez can be counted on for anything defense-related, but if Malone thinks he can get something out of them: mazel tov! I hope he doesn't suffer an aneurysm trying to get this roster to play defense. of course I hope even more that this won't *be* the roster he has to try and get to play d.
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Team defense is contagious. The individual doesn't have to be the best defender as long as they have a team which is willing to support each other. I have a good feeling Malone will get the best out of our players.
 
Gary said:
Team defense is contagious. The individual doesn't have to be the best defender as long as they have a team which is willing to support each other. I have a good feeling Malone will get the best out of our players.
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I don't deny that and Malone is by far the offseason addition I'm most enthusiastic about, but it's real hard to cook a five-star meal if all the ingredients you have are old boots and mud.
 
This is the first thing that I would emphasize with McLemore....defense. It can keep him on the floor and productive and get him into the flow of the game, confidence which in turn feeds the offensive side. It appears after 2 games that McCollam is very much capable of playing hard nosed defense...very physical.
 
dude12 said:
This is the first thing that I would emphasize with McLemore....defense.
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The problem is he might be the only guard on the roster (well McCallum should make it too) who might even be able to play defense. And I'm not even totally sold on that. he looks like he might not have great lateral movement, and he certainly doesn't know how to spread out. he's been non-disruptive even in summer league. And yet he's the hope. A rookie, and rookies always struggle on that end to some degree anyway. In fact really if McLemore and McCallum have been brought in to replace Reke and Douglas, we've gone backward defensively. Having a real coach will help, but you need to give him SOMETHING to work with. He's basically got one good defender on the entire rotational roster right now. Pat Riley in his prime couldn't do much with that. And from McLemore's perspective it puts him in a position he just should not have to be -- right now if we started getting lit up by a guard we would basically have to throw Mac to the Wolves to try to stop it.
 
Bricklayer said:
Love the way in the NBA they have to try to bribe players into playing defense by promising them offensive rewards.

I just loved smothering you on defense because I wanted to crush your spirit. Find me a couple of guys with that attitude, and unload some of the I'll play D if it lets me chuck more types.
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Unfortunately, you just don't see those kinds of players much any more. Look at the college ranks...it's all about the offense.
 
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