Power Rankings, Week of 2/23

[Spike]

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So, we outlasted a weak Boston team and got thumped by the Clippers. Random schmoes continue to have career games against us, but hey, that means we aren't being beaten by the other team's stars, right?

On to the rankings!

Sports Illustrated
#24 (-1)
The playoffs are out of reach after Tyrone Corbin’s 7-21 stint as interim head coach, but George Karl gets a jumpstart on a 2015-16 playoff bid by coming in early. Sacramento’s new coach will use the rest of the season as an extended evaluation period for who will be with the team going forward.

USA Today
#25 (NC)
George Karl had a nice debut victory but has an impossible schedule coming up.

NBA.com
#24 (NC)
Pace: 97.5 (8) OffRtg: 101.4 (20) DefRtg: 106.1 (27) NetRtg: -4.7 (25)
George Karl has indeed picked up the pace in Sacramento, with the Kings averaging about 106 possessions in his first two games. DeMarcus Cousins is still getting his touches (his usage rate is up) and his turnovers (14 in the two games). The Kings got thumped by the Clippers on Saturday and now face three more West playoff teams at home.
This week: vs. MEM, vs. SAS, vs. POR

CBSSports
#25 (+1)
The Kings won their first game of the George Karl era, but it looked like it was exhausting for them. The next two weeks will be interesting to see if Karl can really make that much of a difference.

Yahoo!
#24 (+1)
New Kings coach George Karl, the 2013 NBA Coach of the Year with the Nuggets, is scheduled to return to Denver on April 12.

ESPN
#25 (-2)
With a playoff drought dating to 2006, George Karl is officially Sacramento's eighth coach in the last nine seasons. You can already see his impact on the Kings' offense and pace -- as well as Boogie Cousins' outlook -- but lifting them out of the bottom five in defensive efficiency is a huge priority.

Hollinger Daily Rankings:
#25
Rating: 94.773

Nadia G. Recipe of the Week:
Red Hot Chili

Mean Ranking: 24.57
At least our rankings are now a little consistent, no? Hopefully we can move into the teens by the end of the year.

 

[MissingThoseAdelmanDays]

2 Games Under George Karl.
Limited practice time.
Time to get acquainted and acclimated to his coaching style.
I expect coach to right this ship by the end of the week. I look at the two games we've had under Karl so far. I saw an inspired and spirited effort versus the Celtics, albeit missing a few key players, but it was a game we should have won and we did. The turnovers were disappointed but not surprising coming out of the break. Against the Clippers, this team was exhausted. Although the only players who had a valid reason were DeMarcus and Andre Miller, the team wasn't going to win in Los Angeles against a Clippers team playing good basketball on the 2nd night of a back to back. Now we have Memphis on Wednesday, and it's a home game. These extra couple of days off will be much needed as the team gets in some more practice time. I see the Kings coming out on Wednesday eager and prepared, rejuvenated by the newly implemented offense/defensive scheme. Not to mention, DMC is a competitor, he loves to go up against the best, it brings something more out of him. With that said, he told Bill Simmons that he considers the Grizzlies the hardest team to play against, so we'll take that for what it's worth. A win against a very good Memphis team will right this ship and we will see nothing but consistently solid basketball from here on out, similar to what we saw early in the season.

 

[hrdboild]

We play Memphis, San Antonio, and Portland and then we embark on an 8 game road trip. This is probably our toughest stretch this season. At least Malone had a full month of training camp to prepare for November. Karl is a good coach but he's not a miracle worker. And if he is planning to hold practice on off-days, I'd expect to see a tired team the rest of the season.

 

[Prince_XY]

I am predicting improvement in terms of win/loss would be very minimal even with the steadying presence of Miller for the bench. Players know they are not making the playoffs, they won't play inspired games every game, very much the same way they felt before coach Malone was fired and that continued with Ty Corbin. The mentality will be they are playing for nothing anymore. There is not much incentive to win or make the playoffs, so why play your hardest? Or maybe we will play good games (out of pride) from time to time against those teams the players hate.

And I think coach Karl knows this too. It will be challenging to get the players to play to their fullest effort. So. I'd say I will expect the losses to continue and coach Karl will use the rest of the season to teach, instill his system, and to evaluate the players. We will see the real gains brought about by the hiring of coach Karl at the start of next season.

 

[Tetsujin]

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ESPN
#25 (-2)
With a playoff drought dating to 2006, George Karl is officially Sacramento's eighth coach in the last nine seasons. You can already see his impact on the Kings' offense and pace -- as well as Boogie Cousins' outlook -- but lifting them out of the bottom five in defensive efficiency is a huge priority.

It's been a whopping two games, one of them a blowout in which our main guys stopped playing halfway through the third quarter. It's a bit too soon to be saying this, don't you think?