First half defense is their weak link. Most teams are heavily relying on veterans, so it would seem, that their game-plan would be quite obvious 24 hours before the start of the game. Somehow Kings need 24 minutes of actual game to figure staff out...
OK, OK experiment time is over!
- Thread starter CruzDude
- Start date
That's better than not figuring it out until after the game.
The Kings are a work in progress but at least they appear to be working in the right direction.
Kingster
Hall of Famer
Much ado about nothing. It's just making marginal changes to mediocrity, resulting in mediocrity. We've had these same discussions over the last 10 years. Seems to never fail that the early season poor record leads to a burst of discussions on lineups. When the lineup changes result in little difference, the discussion inevitably moves to the inadequacy of the coach.
bajaden
Hall of Famer
I always thought it was a lump of coal to diamond. What do I know. Well, I do know a pile of poo when I see it. I'm not in love with the poo metaphor.
gil renard
Bench
Can't turn a pile of poo into a pebble...that's the Kings situation. Flush it down the toilet and start looking for some pebbles.
F
Fora Dragi
Guest
Not totally it's still poo
The mindset of this team is changing. They do not give up. The fourth quarter against the Clippers was great to see. Coach J is putting his stamp on this team, but it takes some time.
The harsh reality is that the Kings are really a team of journeymen players with one All-Star. They can compete in the NBA but have a hard time winning, especially against teams with winning records. The talent level in the League is remarkably high, and even the weaker teams have some great young players. Coaching and winning may have more correlation in basketball than any other sport. That is just an opinion, but teaching and promoting confidence are not that easy to do. At the highest level like the NBA, every game is a chess match.
The harsh reality is that the Kings are really a team of journeymen players with one All-Star. They can compete in the NBA but have a hard time winning, especially against teams with winning records. The talent level in the League is remarkably high, and even the weaker teams have some great young players. Coaching and winning may have more correlation in basketball than any other sport. That is just an opinion, but teaching and promoting confidence are not that easy to do. At the highest level like the NBA, every game is a chess match.
twslam07
All-Star
If Joerger is truly wanting to move away from bigs in the starting lineup next to Cousins (AKA no Koufos, WCS, or Tolliver), I think there's only four possible starting lineups.
Some might be worried with Temple starting out at PG, but a Temple/Afflalo/Gay/Barnes/Cousins lineup has had an ORTG of 155.3 & DRTG of 94.7 this season. That's a net rating of 60.6! It would be interesting with our perimeter players being able to switch on defense easily considering they all have the size & length to guard many positions. With Temple being an excellent defender, Barnes being a good defender, & Gay and Afflalo being good defenders when motivated, our perimeter defense could be pretty solid to start the game if they all buy in to what Joerger is preaching. Then you have Collison come in as the sixth man and tear up opposing team's 2nd units & carry the offensive burden.
- Temple / Afflalo / Gay / Barnes / Cousins
- Collison / Temple / Gay / Barnes / Cousins
- Temple / Afflalo / Gay / Casspi / Cousins
- Collison / Temple / Gay / Casspi / Cousins
Some might be worried with Temple starting out at PG, but a Temple/Afflalo/Gay/Barnes/Cousins lineup has had an ORTG of 155.3 & DRTG of 94.7 this season. That's a net rating of 60.6! It would be interesting with our perimeter players being able to switch on defense easily considering they all have the size & length to guard many positions. With Temple being an excellent defender, Barnes being a good defender, & Gay and Afflalo being good defenders when motivated, our perimeter defense could be pretty solid to start the game if they all buy in to what Joerger is preaching. Then you have Collison come in as the sixth man and tear up opposing team's 2nd units & carry the offensive burden.
ockingsfan
Starter
At this point, the current starting line up is OBVIOUSLY not working.
KK should not be starting next to DMC, period!
Coach Joeger needs to wake up and see what everyone else sees, otherwise this ship will be sunk by Christmas!!!
We need Temple in the starting line up!!!!
I can give WCS a shot at Power Forward, as he is the only full size option we have there, but he needs to plant his bottom in the paint and protect the rim and rebound!!!
SO, WHERE DO WE SIGN THE PETITION TO CHANGE THE STARTING LINEUP???
gunks
Hall of Famer
I think Joerger goes with KK because he has more confidence in that eventually working out than in going small with any of our other players.
I also think that's has a lot less to do with Joerger's coaching acumen than it has to do with our awful roster.
WCS is turrible. One can only wonder what our record would look like if Porzingis dropped into Vlade's hands.
Speaking of Vlade...
I love his vision for the team. After years of "flexible pieces" and PDA's gross incompetence, it's nice to have a GM with coherent vision and guts. But he NEEDS to get some ace talent evaluators on board.
Small market teams all improve or stay stagnant through the draft. They either draft and groom their own stars (we got Cuz at least) or draft and groom valuable young players that can be flipped for stars....
....As long as we keep drafting bust after bust, this team will always be garbage.
Anyways, what thread is this again?
I also think that's has a lot less to do with Joerger's coaching acumen than it has to do with our awful roster.
WCS is turrible. One can only wonder what our record would look like if Porzingis dropped into Vlade's hands.
Speaking of Vlade...
I love his vision for the team. After years of "flexible pieces" and PDA's gross incompetence, it's nice to have a GM with coherent vision and guts. But he NEEDS to get some ace talent evaluators on board.
Small market teams all improve or stay stagnant through the draft. They either draft and groom their own stars (we got Cuz at least) or draft and groom valuable young players that can be flipped for stars....
....As long as we keep drafting bust after bust, this team will always be garbage.
Anyways, what thread is this again?
SacTownKid
Hall of Famer
Well if Joerger thinks a two C lineup in a league where teams can obliterate you in pick and roll and with the 3 is going to eventually work then I'll have some of whatever he's smoking. Plus with the way the other team just sags off players it forces Cousins to be a 3 point shooter and guards to get stopped half way to the rim by a row of defenders. I hate seeing Cuz have to bail the team out with 3 point shooting time and time again.
The roster isn't perfect but it's already been somewhat proven that there are units available that are much more successful than others. We saw two straight wins and then he went right back to the bottle.
The roster isn't perfect but it's already been somewhat proven that there are units available that are much more successful than others. We saw two straight wins and then he went right back to the bottle.
King Baller
All-Star
As much as Joerger wants to have a set starting lineup I think with the current roster he needs to vary the starting lineup. With bigger teams he should start WCS alongside Boogie. With smaller teams he should start Casspi or Tolliver at PF. I would go with Tolliver to start and use Casspi and Barnes as super subs playing a lot of minutes. Koufos could be subbed in for the rare teams that play two real Bigs.
ockingsfan
Starter
WCS is capable of rebounding, he averaged 5.3 rebounds/game in 21 minutes per game last year, that's about 10 rebounds per 40 min.
There is no reason why WCS can't average 8-10 rebounds per game with the right mindset. I think he has to get his confidence back and he can be a valuable contributor.
I'm all for giving WCS a shot at the starting line up, he seems to play better when he starts and next to Boogie and Collison.
I think WCS could grow into the starting PF, with some playing time. I think WCS can be a 8.0 pts/8.0 reb /2 blocks per game player in the league, similar to a young Samuel Dalembert.
There is no reason why WCS can't average 8-10 rebounds per game with the right mindset. I think he has to get his confidence back and he can be a valuable contributor.
I'm all for giving WCS a shot at the starting line up, he seems to play better when he starts and next to Boogie and Collison.
I think WCS could grow into the starting PF, with some playing time. I think WCS can be a 8.0 pts/8.0 reb /2 blocks per game player in the league, similar to a young Samuel Dalembert.
