[Game] Preseason Game 4: Kings vs. Warriors, 12/17/2020, 6:00pm PST, 9:00pm EST
- Thread starter Tetsujin
- Start date
Rsmsey and Woodard are development projects for the G League right now. Neither one looks like they're ready for minutes. Frank is solid but he's redundant with Bjelica. Whiteside and Bagley should get the majority of the frontcourt minutes. I'm not giving up on Holmes yet but Metu has looked very good defensively in pre-season. I'd like to see him crack the rotation. I hope Kyle Guy takes CoJo's minutes. The only real question mark for me is who gets the backup minutes at SF. I guess Robinson but I'm not thrilled about any of our backup wings so far.
I'll tell you what, we may not have quite enough juice to get that 8 seed this year which would put us in awkward late lottery land yet again but if we keep playing defense like we did today I'll watch every game I can and enjoy the ride regardless of results. Those guys were getting after it on the perimeter and that made me proud to be a Kings fan. Also, Haliburton looks really good on both ends. That was a great pickup for Monte's first draft.
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We shall see. Monte has to be really careful, if things head south quickly he has to be ahead of the revolt. That pain was already well seeded prior to his arrival and crescendoed last year in the bubble. Giving a lame duck coach who was already losing his locker room a chance against all odds is what it is, but once that daylight to make the change is gone, that possible infusion of energy via change will be too.
I missed the second Portland game and the first half of Game 3 but I didn't see Woodard contribute much when I was watching. He's got an easy path to a rotation spot if he wants it but I don't think it would be a bad idea to get him some more game experience in the G League the first half of the season at least. Plus he can build some on the court chemistry with Ramsey that way. I'm still high on him but sporadic minutes off the bench and occasional garbage time probably isn't the best for his development.
Well, I'm talking this year. Unless this team is winning at a playoff clip then you capitalize on your investments even if only to flip them later. Putting a number 2 pick already having to fight the uphill battle of you didn't pick Luka in a position to fail is the type of thing that sets your franchise back in a big way. If you can't throw out a better alternative with better results then you pick the smart path.
So yeah having him try to defend inside and getting eaten up by teams that can play large is better than letting him chase on the perimeter where at least if he is healthy he has his athletic skills to compensate? It's not like we don't have a handful of beefy guys who are harder to push around that can be "the center".
When playing three guards if we've got Barnes at the 4 then yeah, hopefully Bags can defend at the 5 spot, but if we're doing that, we're hopefully playing offense at the level that forces the other team to adjust to our lineup.
When playing three guards if we've got Barnes at the 4 then yeah, hopefully Bags can defend at the 5 spot, but if we're doing that, we're hopefully playing offense at the level that forces the other team to adjust to our lineup.
Woodard played good defense on the interior at PF. He challenged a ton on the inside on help and he altered shots. Honestly, I'm not sure what they expect out of Woodard but I'm not sure how much the G-league would help him. He doesn't need to develop physically. His ball handling is a little iffy but again, not really something that will probably improve in the G-league. I see him as a 3/4 combo role player at his ceiling anyway. Ramsey can get a lot out of the G-league however since ideally he's a combo guard so running offense will help him.
With Vivek, the GM only gets one chance to make a coaching change, if the GM even gets to hire his own coach at all. Monte needs to keep his powder dry until the person he really wants is available. If Monte makes a mid-season move he’ll end up with Gentry as the interim and could very easily be put in a situation where he is forced to extend Gentry. It’s very possible that is not his desired outcome. I would certainly caution against any mid-season change if Monte is not 100% certain he would be OK with Gentry in the long-term.
This is the same argument we've heard. He HAS played center and who really ate him up even without the body he has now? And the scale slides both ways. They have to guard him on the other end. Look, Bam just started his way to a finals appearance and he far from ate up Marvin. Bagley's an offense talent first and foremost, he wasn't drafted to be the next Bill Russell and right now in these lineups he isn't getting any space to perform. That's the issue they need to be concerned about right now.