Bricklayer
Don't Make Me Use The Bat
More positive than negative tonight, wish more of you were able to see it.
Evans ( B ) -- early on, looked like more of late last season for Reke. We called the first play for him with a designed backdoor play and he scored. But then just like last year the Cousins/IT/MT trio was just too shot heavy and he was largely frozen out, and forcing the few times he did get it. But things took a sudden encouraging swing in the early 3rd, when we started flat, but Reke started handling the ball on the wings and creating shots for numerous Kings. Only got credited with 4 assists, but it could easily have been double that and his unselfishness helped kick our offense into a higher gear. He was big on the boards after half as well, grabbing 7 in only 24min and we got to take a look at his shooting form on a pair of threes. Much more erect, and he buried one. After half was playing a triple doubel type style.
Thompson ( C ) -- you remember JT form last year? Well then you saw this game from him. Solid energy, sometimes a bit too energetic as he had foul problems again. Somehow repeatedly fed as our offensive goto guy in early third on some questinable feeds from our guards, with predictable results. But finished solidly when all he had to do was catch and convert. Not much on the glass, as everybody else was doing it.
Cousins ( B- ) -- this should tell you maybe what we are in store for -- was sloppy, wild, not particualrly hsi best stuff, and still just overwhelmed everybody to 21pts 9rebs in 26min anyway. Very aggressive attacking outside in. Or sometimes just outside outside as he scarily sat out at the three point line and launched THREE of them in the first half like it was part of his plan. None after half, so maybe somebody said something. Hopefully. Of course was consistently catching the ball 20 feet out, so that can be the result. Certainly was no triangle out there, except perhaps a couple of plays late in the third with he, IT and Reke. Started the third with some ugly forces before really beginning to hammer it insiode, going to the line again and again. Looked to be in shape, and looked like he could run and run. Plenty of mistakes and sloip, but this is preseason. And massive productivity again.
Thornton ( B- ) -- in tht first quarter it looked too much like last year. Gunning, and missing, threes. Making a lot of defensive mistakes. Got his points, but not efficiently, and he and Reke continued to oil and water it. Things took a turn in the third, as the pendulum swung to Reke and away from Marcus, and now it was Marcus's turn to not be involved offensively. But he responded well in other areas and it helped us. Made a couple of good passes, and had a couple of good boards, and closed with a nice steal for a solid across the board stat line.
Thomas ( C+ ) -- had spots and moments throughout, but not consistently drivng things. Part of that could be the hyper-democratic offense we were runnign where he may only have controlled the ball 1/3 or less of the possessions. Made a couple of nifty feeds in the early 3rd, but Dragic was able to score back the other way albeit as often as not because IT left him rather than got beat. Few too many forced shots for self in the late 3rd, but overall good energy that jsut may not have stood out with us getting so much of it from so many sources tonight.
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Bench
Fredette ( B- ) -- legitimately looked better than we have seen him, and that's despite, or perhaps even because he still couldn't shoot, which is supposed to be his calling card. But he immediately started with a nice drive and dropoff to Cousins for a dunk after entering, had a good defensive challenge to finish the quarter, and even showed up on the glass, which is something he was atrocious at as a rookie. We protected his suspect handle somewhat by having various other guards, Reke, Salmons etc. bring it over halfcourt then swing it to him, and he basically ended up contributing in every way EXCEPT shooting. There was a downside though in that his coach approved gunning was disruptive to the other guys when they weren't falling, which they weren't on a 2-8, 1-5 from 3pt land night. Did have several nice little clever drives though, and a little scoring burst in the early 4th as we went on our run. Gotta hit shots to get min in such a crowded situation, but was encouraging to see him do the other things competently.
Robinson ( B+ ) -- a little rookie wildness aside, looked good in his rookie debut. Came in with JJ in the 2nd quarter, and our teamwide defensive aggressiveness immediately picked up several notches. Moved well to open spots on offense, hit a baseline jumper, and showed excellent instincts around the offensive glass. A little too aggressive actually, as when he failed, it was of the wild gunning variety, and that could be a concern if he is ever going to try to earn a spot in our already over-offensed starting lineup.. But he and Johsnon gave us great energy on defense and the glass, and both guys came up with a number of hustle plays. If they can keep that up, that can be a huge shot in the arm for this team that we did not have last year. Still some concerns about what this will look like in a differnt game -- gaurding Scola in the post it was clear for instance that Scola was bigger than he was, and Scola is not a big PF. And Robinson's game was all faceup and operating in the open court and space. How that works against a halfcourt pound you insdie team we will have to see. But tonight he looked good and made a positive impact, and as a bench energy player whether he can guard Pau Gasol in the post is much less of a concern.
Johnson ( A-) -- excellent debut for us. Came in with TRob and immediately made a big impact wiht length, hustle, boardwork, and defense. Looked good offensively before fading a bit, showed the ability to lead the break, and blocked 2 or 3 shots in what could be an immsenely helpful development for our defnsive frontline. 9pts 7rebs 3ast and 3blk in 19min? Just start him Smart.
Hayes ( C+ ) -- offensively impotent again in the first half, fumbling things, turning it over. But was consistently hunting for boards. Did a decent job on Jermaine O'Neal, who isn't much anymore, but is still tall. Hit a bad bad shot going 1 on1 on Jermiane in the post and hitting a fallaway jumper over him. Hey, its preseason. And converted in the 4th when set up. Really did look better than he did last season. Just a limited player, but gave us some boards and bought us time between Cousins stints.
Salmons ( C- ) -- sigh. did not look that bad until he started gunning. Some candid off camera/air comments from the Kings radio crew that apparently they did not know were being recorded in the weird telecast we had, and were not menat to be heard. Basically they are not impressed by Salmons, say game is gone and can't be counted on. Nice to hear somebody noticing. Thing is, that other than tthe shooting, did not look bad. Helped bring the ball up sometimes wiht Jimmer. Active defensively as a reserve SG. Only real positive offensive plays seemed to come on called plays for him out of timeouts, whihc seem kind of wasted. But the rest of his game was solid.
Brooks ( INC ) -- actually dove to create a steal soon after entering, not known for that. Fat lever talked about Smart wanting to play IT and Brooks together for spots during the year. Scary. Hit an open three, and working hard on D, but for a quick guy kept dribbling into traps and trouble. Only got the 6 min in the first half.
Mitchell + Reed ( INC ) -- two young guys trying to make the team barely got in at the end of the game and left no mark.
Evans ( B ) -- early on, looked like more of late last season for Reke. We called the first play for him with a designed backdoor play and he scored. But then just like last year the Cousins/IT/MT trio was just too shot heavy and he was largely frozen out, and forcing the few times he did get it. But things took a sudden encouraging swing in the early 3rd, when we started flat, but Reke started handling the ball on the wings and creating shots for numerous Kings. Only got credited with 4 assists, but it could easily have been double that and his unselfishness helped kick our offense into a higher gear. He was big on the boards after half as well, grabbing 7 in only 24min and we got to take a look at his shooting form on a pair of threes. Much more erect, and he buried one. After half was playing a triple doubel type style.
Thompson ( C ) -- you remember JT form last year? Well then you saw this game from him. Solid energy, sometimes a bit too energetic as he had foul problems again. Somehow repeatedly fed as our offensive goto guy in early third on some questinable feeds from our guards, with predictable results. But finished solidly when all he had to do was catch and convert. Not much on the glass, as everybody else was doing it.
Cousins ( B- ) -- this should tell you maybe what we are in store for -- was sloppy, wild, not particualrly hsi best stuff, and still just overwhelmed everybody to 21pts 9rebs in 26min anyway. Very aggressive attacking outside in. Or sometimes just outside outside as he scarily sat out at the three point line and launched THREE of them in the first half like it was part of his plan. None after half, so maybe somebody said something. Hopefully. Of course was consistently catching the ball 20 feet out, so that can be the result. Certainly was no triangle out there, except perhaps a couple of plays late in the third with he, IT and Reke. Started the third with some ugly forces before really beginning to hammer it insiode, going to the line again and again. Looked to be in shape, and looked like he could run and run. Plenty of mistakes and sloip, but this is preseason. And massive productivity again.
Thornton ( B- ) -- in tht first quarter it looked too much like last year. Gunning, and missing, threes. Making a lot of defensive mistakes. Got his points, but not efficiently, and he and Reke continued to oil and water it. Things took a turn in the third, as the pendulum swung to Reke and away from Marcus, and now it was Marcus's turn to not be involved offensively. But he responded well in other areas and it helped us. Made a couple of good passes, and had a couple of good boards, and closed with a nice steal for a solid across the board stat line.
Thomas ( C+ ) -- had spots and moments throughout, but not consistently drivng things. Part of that could be the hyper-democratic offense we were runnign where he may only have controlled the ball 1/3 or less of the possessions. Made a couple of nifty feeds in the early 3rd, but Dragic was able to score back the other way albeit as often as not because IT left him rather than got beat. Few too many forced shots for self in the late 3rd, but overall good energy that jsut may not have stood out with us getting so much of it from so many sources tonight.
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Bench
Fredette ( B- ) -- legitimately looked better than we have seen him, and that's despite, or perhaps even because he still couldn't shoot, which is supposed to be his calling card. But he immediately started with a nice drive and dropoff to Cousins for a dunk after entering, had a good defensive challenge to finish the quarter, and even showed up on the glass, which is something he was atrocious at as a rookie. We protected his suspect handle somewhat by having various other guards, Reke, Salmons etc. bring it over halfcourt then swing it to him, and he basically ended up contributing in every way EXCEPT shooting. There was a downside though in that his coach approved gunning was disruptive to the other guys when they weren't falling, which they weren't on a 2-8, 1-5 from 3pt land night. Did have several nice little clever drives though, and a little scoring burst in the early 4th as we went on our run. Gotta hit shots to get min in such a crowded situation, but was encouraging to see him do the other things competently.
Robinson ( B+ ) -- a little rookie wildness aside, looked good in his rookie debut. Came in with JJ in the 2nd quarter, and our teamwide defensive aggressiveness immediately picked up several notches. Moved well to open spots on offense, hit a baseline jumper, and showed excellent instincts around the offensive glass. A little too aggressive actually, as when he failed, it was of the wild gunning variety, and that could be a concern if he is ever going to try to earn a spot in our already over-offensed starting lineup.. But he and Johsnon gave us great energy on defense and the glass, and both guys came up with a number of hustle plays. If they can keep that up, that can be a huge shot in the arm for this team that we did not have last year. Still some concerns about what this will look like in a differnt game -- gaurding Scola in the post it was clear for instance that Scola was bigger than he was, and Scola is not a big PF. And Robinson's game was all faceup and operating in the open court and space. How that works against a halfcourt pound you insdie team we will have to see. But tonight he looked good and made a positive impact, and as a bench energy player whether he can guard Pau Gasol in the post is much less of a concern.
Johnson ( A-) -- excellent debut for us. Came in with TRob and immediately made a big impact wiht length, hustle, boardwork, and defense. Looked good offensively before fading a bit, showed the ability to lead the break, and blocked 2 or 3 shots in what could be an immsenely helpful development for our defnsive frontline. 9pts 7rebs 3ast and 3blk in 19min? Just start him Smart.
Hayes ( C+ ) -- offensively impotent again in the first half, fumbling things, turning it over. But was consistently hunting for boards. Did a decent job on Jermaine O'Neal, who isn't much anymore, but is still tall. Hit a bad bad shot going 1 on1 on Jermiane in the post and hitting a fallaway jumper over him. Hey, its preseason. And converted in the 4th when set up. Really did look better than he did last season. Just a limited player, but gave us some boards and bought us time between Cousins stints.
Salmons ( C- ) -- sigh. did not look that bad until he started gunning. Some candid off camera/air comments from the Kings radio crew that apparently they did not know were being recorded in the weird telecast we had, and were not menat to be heard. Basically they are not impressed by Salmons, say game is gone and can't be counted on. Nice to hear somebody noticing. Thing is, that other than tthe shooting, did not look bad. Helped bring the ball up sometimes wiht Jimmer. Active defensively as a reserve SG. Only real positive offensive plays seemed to come on called plays for him out of timeouts, whihc seem kind of wasted. But the rest of his game was solid.
Brooks ( INC ) -- actually dove to create a steal soon after entering, not known for that. Fat lever talked about Smart wanting to play IT and Brooks together for spots during the year. Scary. Hit an open three, and working hard on D, but for a quick guy kept dribbling into traps and trouble. Only got the 6 min in the first half.
Mitchell + Reed ( INC ) -- two young guys trying to make the team barely got in at the end of the game and left no mark.
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