Bricklayer
Don't Make Me Use The Bat
We're going to go with a don't ask, don't tell policy on how I saw this one, but I'll have up some preseason grades here later tonight.
Mason ( INC ) -- in the early going was doing a better job than you might expect for a guy with a career 1 assist a game average of helping with the passing up top -- had 4 assists in the first quarter alone. Had one bright moment on offense, but otherwise couldn't get anything to fall over the Lakers defense. Minutes were limited tonight whether due to concerns about not reinjuring him, or a desire to look at other people. Given that Noc got the bulk of the minutes at the position and Donte got none, it certainly wasn't a desire to give minutes to the kids.
Thompson ( B+ ) -- had an unsatisfactory first half, but righted the ship with energetic inside play after half and likely ended up the player of the game for the Kings. You could say that neither he nor Hawes had any luck guarding Bynum in the early going, but they so rarely had good body contact on him it wasn't always clear who's man it was supposed to be as he torched them for 20 rarely contested first half points. Jason did grab a few d boards, and moved for some easy ones around the hoop courtesy of Kevin and Reke, but he was still struggling to finish if it was not a dunk, and was rather alarmingly hanging around the perimeter for most of the half, even going so far as to start chucking up threes. When I first "arrived in Vegas" to watch the game I was immediately wondering who the tall guard was we had out there. Took me a minute to realize the guy standing out at the three point line was our alleged "power" forward. But before I had to resort to outright name calling, maybe the coaches talked to him at half, because he came out after the break actually playing the way an inside player is supposed to play. Came on strong in his best categories -- hustle on the offensive glass, and moving to the hoop for easy dishes from the guards. Still did not look like he could handle Bynum 1 on 1 the other way, but we tried to help him, and Bynum slowed way down, so it was not a huge issue after the break. Did pad his stats up a bit against the superscrubs once the Lakers pulled the plug with a 20pt lead and started throwing out frightening (for a Laker fan) combos of Mbenga/Powell or Mbenga/Gaffney etc., but that was not nearly as major a factor in his numbers as it was for some of our guys.
Hawes ( B- ) -- Now here was a pretty deceptive set of numbers as Spencer finished with very respectable looking stats despite appearing soft and ineffective for much of the night. Bynum won the battle early, and was able to slash down the lane at will with Spencer rarely even making contact. Spencer did have a couple of nice post moves leading to fouls -- taking contact and drawing fouls in the post of course being one of the things Spencer really needs to improve on this year, but the defensive awareness was lacking as he was constantly late on cuts and slashes. Was getting pushed around physically by MBenga in the second half, and responded by starting to drift further and further out and chuck up threes -- taking more of them (4) than our entire backcourt (Kevin, Reke, Beno and Sergio) combined. Stop me if you have heard this story before. Blew an open dunk to rob Evans of a nice assist (which would have made 10 for Reke), but that, as well as the arrival of a variety of super scrubby lineups by the Lakers, seemed to inspire him, and he poured up the bulk of his numbers in the final 15 minutes. Had 6pts 5rebs as DJ Mbenga, Leon Powell, Adam Morrison, Shannon Brown and Jordan Farmar took the court with a couple of minutes to go in the third. 18 and 9 by the time it was over.
Martin ( INC ) -- not much to start, but did make an unselfish pass to Thompson under the hoop, passing up an open three to do so. Had a little burst in the early second quarter, but was uncharacteristically missing his FTs on the night and had a very short evening. At least was down in a defensive stance against Kobe, although he still got beat several times (has a tendency to happen with Kobe, although he did not have a great game). Most intereting thing about his night might have been what happened when he left the game for good -- with Cisco down we don't really have another backup SG, so the rest of Kevin's minutes pretty much went to Beno and Sergio as we ran a variety of two PG sets that largely solved our ballhandling issues for one night at least.
Evans ( B ) -- looked good early, and was running the halfcourt sets, active on defense, and helped on the glass as well -- the last part not being a fluke as he was back there using that big body to help our rebounding in the paint rather than waiting for the ball to kick to him out on the perimeter. One minor red flag of sorts -- a willing defender but noticed that he had to take a step back when guarding Farmar's quickness and give him room. Scared the heck out of the Kingdom watching, er, in Vegas when he went down on a hustle play in the third, clutching his knee area. Even had to go to the locker room. But came back out to start the 4th, and turns out it was just a cramp. Did not seem to hinder him either as he was immediately effective in helping lead us on a big run in the early 4th that closed the game from 20 back to 7. Got into the lane again and again, and really from all angles and against a variety of different defensive looks. Ended up with a near triple double, and threw in 3 steals as well. So why isn't this an A of some sort? Mostly because of this: Reke has a real knack for penetration, and is a load for opposing PGs -- the Lakers announcers, who I of course could not hear sitting there in Vegas, even suggested that Shannon Brown was bumped up in the rotation over Farmar to match up with Evans because they were worried he would just run over the scrawny Dumbo wannabe. And yet once he gets to the rim...his touch really sucked tonight. Great moves to get in but then he looked like me trying to make a layup. Which kind of fits nicely on our team with Spencer (soft, no touch inside), Jason (not clever, gets balls smushed in his face), and Kevin (too busy looking for the foul to hit the layup). Tonight it was the difference between a nice all around effort with some flags (notably 6-18 shooting), or a dominant near 20-10-10 rookie triple double. Be interested to see how he does in a layup line. So got caught between a B and B+ here, but I truly beleive he's got another gear or two to go here, so leaving him grading room to move up.
The Rest:
Mason ( INC ) -- in the early going was doing a better job than you might expect for a guy with a career 1 assist a game average of helping with the passing up top -- had 4 assists in the first quarter alone. Had one bright moment on offense, but otherwise couldn't get anything to fall over the Lakers defense. Minutes were limited tonight whether due to concerns about not reinjuring him, or a desire to look at other people. Given that Noc got the bulk of the minutes at the position and Donte got none, it certainly wasn't a desire to give minutes to the kids.
Thompson ( B+ ) -- had an unsatisfactory first half, but righted the ship with energetic inside play after half and likely ended up the player of the game for the Kings. You could say that neither he nor Hawes had any luck guarding Bynum in the early going, but they so rarely had good body contact on him it wasn't always clear who's man it was supposed to be as he torched them for 20 rarely contested first half points. Jason did grab a few d boards, and moved for some easy ones around the hoop courtesy of Kevin and Reke, but he was still struggling to finish if it was not a dunk, and was rather alarmingly hanging around the perimeter for most of the half, even going so far as to start chucking up threes. When I first "arrived in Vegas" to watch the game I was immediately wondering who the tall guard was we had out there. Took me a minute to realize the guy standing out at the three point line was our alleged "power" forward. But before I had to resort to outright name calling, maybe the coaches talked to him at half, because he came out after the break actually playing the way an inside player is supposed to play. Came on strong in his best categories -- hustle on the offensive glass, and moving to the hoop for easy dishes from the guards. Still did not look like he could handle Bynum 1 on 1 the other way, but we tried to help him, and Bynum slowed way down, so it was not a huge issue after the break. Did pad his stats up a bit against the superscrubs once the Lakers pulled the plug with a 20pt lead and started throwing out frightening (for a Laker fan) combos of Mbenga/Powell or Mbenga/Gaffney etc., but that was not nearly as major a factor in his numbers as it was for some of our guys.
Hawes ( B- ) -- Now here was a pretty deceptive set of numbers as Spencer finished with very respectable looking stats despite appearing soft and ineffective for much of the night. Bynum won the battle early, and was able to slash down the lane at will with Spencer rarely even making contact. Spencer did have a couple of nice post moves leading to fouls -- taking contact and drawing fouls in the post of course being one of the things Spencer really needs to improve on this year, but the defensive awareness was lacking as he was constantly late on cuts and slashes. Was getting pushed around physically by MBenga in the second half, and responded by starting to drift further and further out and chuck up threes -- taking more of them (4) than our entire backcourt (Kevin, Reke, Beno and Sergio) combined. Stop me if you have heard this story before. Blew an open dunk to rob Evans of a nice assist (which would have made 10 for Reke), but that, as well as the arrival of a variety of super scrubby lineups by the Lakers, seemed to inspire him, and he poured up the bulk of his numbers in the final 15 minutes. Had 6pts 5rebs as DJ Mbenga, Leon Powell, Adam Morrison, Shannon Brown and Jordan Farmar took the court with a couple of minutes to go in the third. 18 and 9 by the time it was over.
Martin ( INC ) -- not much to start, but did make an unselfish pass to Thompson under the hoop, passing up an open three to do so. Had a little burst in the early second quarter, but was uncharacteristically missing his FTs on the night and had a very short evening. At least was down in a defensive stance against Kobe, although he still got beat several times (has a tendency to happen with Kobe, although he did not have a great game). Most intereting thing about his night might have been what happened when he left the game for good -- with Cisco down we don't really have another backup SG, so the rest of Kevin's minutes pretty much went to Beno and Sergio as we ran a variety of two PG sets that largely solved our ballhandling issues for one night at least.
Evans ( B ) -- looked good early, and was running the halfcourt sets, active on defense, and helped on the glass as well -- the last part not being a fluke as he was back there using that big body to help our rebounding in the paint rather than waiting for the ball to kick to him out on the perimeter. One minor red flag of sorts -- a willing defender but noticed that he had to take a step back when guarding Farmar's quickness and give him room. Scared the heck out of the Kingdom watching, er, in Vegas when he went down on a hustle play in the third, clutching his knee area. Even had to go to the locker room. But came back out to start the 4th, and turns out it was just a cramp. Did not seem to hinder him either as he was immediately effective in helping lead us on a big run in the early 4th that closed the game from 20 back to 7. Got into the lane again and again, and really from all angles and against a variety of different defensive looks. Ended up with a near triple double, and threw in 3 steals as well. So why isn't this an A of some sort? Mostly because of this: Reke has a real knack for penetration, and is a load for opposing PGs -- the Lakers announcers, who I of course could not hear sitting there in Vegas, even suggested that Shannon Brown was bumped up in the rotation over Farmar to match up with Evans because they were worried he would just run over the scrawny Dumbo wannabe. And yet once he gets to the rim...his touch really sucked tonight. Great moves to get in but then he looked like me trying to make a layup. Which kind of fits nicely on our team with Spencer (soft, no touch inside), Jason (not clever, gets balls smushed in his face), and Kevin (too busy looking for the foul to hit the layup). Tonight it was the difference between a nice all around effort with some flags (notably 6-18 shooting), or a dominant near 20-10-10 rookie triple double. Be interested to see how he does in a layup line. So got caught between a B and B+ here, but I truly beleive he's got another gear or two to go here, so leaving him grading room to move up.
The Rest:
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