Preseason Grades v. Warriors 12/17/11

[JB_kings]

You have to consider that the staff worked most of the practice time using Cousins and Hayes running the set offense with their passing. You just can't insert JJ, JT and Whiteside into those roles and not miss a beat. If you saw the Fan Fest scrimmage, you could see that they were going to have problems unless they played uptempo. I thought in the game Tyreke sort of got off the new offense script and fell back into what he felt comfortable with. Read the post game comments from both Reke and Westphal and it's pretty clear. My 2 cents is that Westphal is going to push his new schemes and the players will have to adjust their comfort zones.

 

[rainmaker]

Yeah Jimmer struggled on defense, but he should also improve. He improved from the first half to the second.

What I am more concerned about though, as I mentioned in the game thread, is not Jimmer getting beat, but our bigs not expecting Jimmer to get beat. They acted more surprised that he got beat than Jimmer himself, by being so late on the help/rotation, that you can't even classify it as help/rotation.

I did not see an improved on court awareness from JT. Looking at the second half, you'd have guessed it was Jimmer entering his 4th year, and JT his first, instead of the other way around. And then Whiteside was another second or two behind JT.

Yes its one game, yes its early, but I am pretty nervous about our frontline. I wanted Jimmer on this team, and am happy he's here, but I thought he'd have a Daly or someone similar behind him. That's a larger concern for me. Not Jimmers defense, but the fact that our bigs didn't anticipate anyone getting by him, and that our FO/owners don't think putting a guy such as Daly behind Jimmer is really that important.

 

[RookieOfTheDay]

Yeah Jimmer struggled on defense, but he should also improve. He improved from the first half to the second.

What I am more concerned about though, as I mentioned in the game thread, is not Jimmer getting beat, but our bigs not expecting Jimmer to get beat. They acted more surprised that he got beat than Jimmer himself, by being so late on the help/rotation, that you can't even classify it as help/rotation.

I did not see an improved on court awareness from JT. Looking at the second half, you'd have guessed it was Jimmer entering his 4th year, and JT his first, instead of the other way around. And then Whiteside was another second or two behind JT.

Yes its one game, yes its early, but I am pretty nervous about our frontline. I wanted Jimmer on this team, and am happy he's here, but I thought he'd have a Daly or someone similar behind him. That's a larger concern for me. Not Jimmers defense, but the fact that our bigs didn't anticipate anyone getting by him, and that our FO/owners don't think putting a guy such as Daly behind Jimmer is really that important.

That's perhaps the most disappointing thing. It may finally be time to stop making excuses for JT and Donte and just accept that they aren't as good as we all wanted them to be.

 

[Tyndel]

JT works better from the high post. He is less pressured when he needs to catch the ball he is an fairly good passer from there both down low and back out and that is his spot for jump shooting. That is also were they should be trying to fit Whiteside in so that he is less pressured to catch in traffic and once he has it he can either shoot his 14 footer off the glass or use his strength speed to 1.5 step and dunk.

I only got to see 1/2 of the game but our offensive sets looked just like last year sans cousins. people trying to come off screens and around gs players and running into another gs player and so on. It is predictable. Its kinda sad that the first year coach already had better sets implemented. That said cousins will clean alot of that up for as long as he can be on the floor and as long as we get him the ball.

In the First half Reke looked back to me faster stronger finishing at the rim and had a couple good passes out of the drive. I think Rekes main problem is that he decides to shoot or pass before he starts his drive and then forces it one way or the other. Offensive sets and chemistry will put him in a better position to succeed.

WP is my biggest concern at this point for this season. We have enough talent maybe all the pieces are Not perfect fits but he has no excuse after this one.

 

[RookieOfTheDay]

You have to consider that the staff worked most of the practice time using Cousins and Hayes running the set offense with their passing. You just can't insert JJ, JT and Whiteside into those roles and not miss a beat. If you saw the Fan Fest scrimmage, you could see that they were going to have problems unless they played uptempo. I thought in the game Tyreke sort of got off the new offense script and fell back into what he felt comfortable with. Read the post game comments from both Reke and Westphal and it's pretty clear. My 2 cents is that Westphal is going to push his new schemes and the players will have to adjust their comfort zones.

Exactly. i'm surprised so many people are overreacting to how bad the team looked given the enormous difference between having a Cousins/Hayes front-court and a JT/Whiteside or JT/Hickson front-court. It's like replacing the 2000 HP engine in a stock car with 200 HP engine and then being surprised when it turns a 20 second 1/4 mile. Once I heard Cousins, Hayes, AND Salmons were out, I pretty much expected an ugly game.

 

[Bricklayer]

Yes its one game, yes its early, but I am pretty nervous about our frontline. I wanted Jimmer on this team, and am happy he's here, but I thought he'd have a Daly or someone similar behind him. That's a larger concern for me. Not Jimmers defense, but the fact that our bigs didn't anticipate anyone getting by him, and that our FO/owners don't think putting a guy such as Daly behind Jimmer is really that important.

This is a critical point, especially after seeing it in action, hearing all the three guard stuff etc. You could see the potency fo the three guard offensively, but man, that is absolutely when you HAVE to have a shotblocker back there. You HAVE to stop people. Just have to. You have two choices, you either put a bunch of strong individual defenders on the court who can all stop their own men. Or you put out a team with some weak defenders, but then put a shotblocker back behind them to cover for it. Well, we are worst case as currently constructed. We have the shaky defenders, but we have no shotblocking to cover them.

I can see us running a lot of three guard for the offense, and after seeing Jimmer you can seen how having those two great shooters next to Reke really changes the feel and makes for some tough choices for the defense. But they can't stop anybody. Reke played a good defensive game and helped out on several occasions, but it was not remotely enough to cover. And that sort of open scrambling guys slashing through the lane stuff is precisely the time when CHuck Hayes becoems ineffective. He is a strong half court man defender. But when guards comes screeching off the perimeter to the hoop he has no real chance but to try to hop in front of them trying to draw a charge and pray. And our franchise center is young, not a natrual shotblocker, and heavily foul prone. If we want to run the three guard, ok, fine. I see the offensive attraction. I do. But if you're going to do that we NEED Daly back, or some equivalent potent shotblocker/rebounder to cover our asses on the other end. Otherwise we're going to get run up on the scoreboard.

Hopefully with Salmons and Reke, if we see the same defensive effort from Reke through the season, having two good perimeter defenders amongst the three on the court will mute the problems somewhat. But then that means heavy minutes for Salmons which I doubt will result in the same potent feel as the Reke/Jimmer/Thornton crew, and we will be just asking for it everytime we get Jimmer and Thronton (who puts in some effort but just gets beat) out ther together. The solution to letting us do what we want in the backcourt lies in the frontcourt.

 

[Kings4life23]

Comparing Tyreke to Jimmer is crazy. Its no contest Tyreke has the potential to be a great player. A great players is defined by being equally good on defense as they are on offense. This is what makes them great they can shut down there opposition while simultaneously contributing to the offensive end. Jimmer is what he is a shooter a come of the bench type player thats mission is to score and try not to give up to many points on the other end. This is why I preferred Brandon Knight draft day he shoots at an above average rate and plays defense on top of being very smart and younger as well. An to be honest drafting Jimmer was more of a PR move than a educated basketball decision to begin with. There is no doubt in my mind if we already had a new arena built draft day Knight would be in a Kings jersey right now. Im always optimistic about any player the kings draft mainly because I so badly want the kings to be back to relevance again, but you cant be blinded by every new shinny toy you get either.

 

[RookieOfTheDay]

Comparing Tyreke to Jimmer is crazy. Its no contest Tyreke has the potential to be a great player. A great players is defined by being equally good on defense as they are on offense. This is what makes them great they can shut down there opposition while simultaneously contributing to the offensive end. Jimmer is what he is a shooter a come of the bench type player thats mission is to score and try not to give up to many points on the other end. This is why I preferred Brandon Knight draft day he shoots at an above average rate and plays defense on top of being very smart and younger as well. An to be honest drafting Jimmer was more of a PR move than a educated basketball decision to begin with. There is no doubt in my mind if we already had a new arena built draft day Knight would be in a Kings jersey right now. Im always optimistic about any player the kings draft mainly because I so badly want the kings to be back to relevance again, but you cant be blinded by every new shinny toy you get either.

Brandon Knight being younger isn't really a positive in this case. I think part of why they drafted Jimmer is that he had four years of college. They didn't want another raw, very young rookie on the team. Watching how poised Jimmer looked last night, you could really tell that the extra time in college made a difference.

 

[Bricklayer]

Brandon Knight being younger isn't really a positive in this case. I think part of why they drafted Jimmer is that he had four years of college. They didn't want another raw, very young rookie on the team. Watching how poised Jimmer looked last night, you could really tell that the extra time in college made a difference.

Just as an aside, while not disagreeing with your statement, I saw Knight's first preseason game and he impressed precisely wiht his saavy. I don't think he'll ever be a star, he's not in the same league with his fellow Calipari guards Rose, Reke and Wall, but he was making a lot of saavy plays out there on both ends of the court. Now Irving, he looked raw.

 

[ParniValjak]

Whihc is kind of embarrassing since both Hickson and Thompson are rotation level bigs who have started long stretches of games in the NBA and would at thevery least be 3rd bigs for almost every team in the league. And yet they sucked. Hard.

And they are both supposed to be strong rebounders yet both got blown away by the GS bigs!

 

[OptimusRhyme]

Maybe somebody else can comment on how the offense ran since I didn't see most of the game. I'm just pointing out the pitfalls of trying to compare two players based on their +/- numbers, or how the game turns.

Yah i gotcha, I havent even looked at the +/-, i was just commenting on what i saw on the court. i always thought that stat in basketball was very flawed.

 

[SacTownKid]

Our pathetic frontcourt play was so pronounced here it was hard not to look at it. Our guards, including little Thomas, combined to score 72 points on 22-44 shooting (Thronton was the only one who shot under 50%) and add 16 assists. They were not the problem.

Whihc is kind of embarrassing since both Hickson and Thompson are rotation level bigs who have started long stretches of games in the NBA and would at thevery least be 3rd bigs for almost every team in the league. And yet they sucked. Hard.

Frontcourt play was terrible, but you could tell it was 99% confusion. For one week of practice with a team that's almost brand new, not bad really. They fought back. However, there was some serious hogging going on with Thomas with some good results some bad. But, in a situation like this you have to expect players are going to revert back to what they know. Practice and time are crucial for a team like this.

 

[mac]

So I think we can all agree that we shouldn't take away too much from this game. It is a weird and slightly embarrassing feeling though, that our front court got destroyed by the Warriors'. I mean ... these were the guys who had 'midgets' playing as their bigs when we had Cousins and Dalembert.

 

[Prince_XY]

Somebody needs to tell Petrie not to forget about Dalembert. He is still unsigned and we still have the money to make it happen. Maybe one fan can hold a big placard next game saying "what are you waiting for Petrie....get Dalembert signed now!"

Clearly, this Kings team needs Dalembert.

 

[Italics]

Comparing Tyreke to Jimmer is crazy. Its no contest Tyreke has the potential to be a great player. A great players is defined by being equally good on defense as they are on offense. This is what makes them great they can shut down there opposition while simultaneously contributing to the offensive end. Jimmer is what he is a shooter a come of the bench type player thats mission is to score and try not to give up to many points on the other end. This is why I preferred Brandon Knight draft day he shoots at an above average rate and plays defense on top of being very smart and younger as well. An to be honest drafting Jimmer was more of a PR move than a educated basketball decision to begin with. There is no doubt in my mind if we already had a new arena built draft day Knight would be in a Kings jersey right now. Im always optimistic about any player the kings draft mainly because I so badly want the kings to be back to relevance again, but you cant be blinded by every new shinny toy you get either.

Hasn't the "Jimmer is only a shooter" delusion been put to rest yet? Seriously?

Okay... I can understand you not having known much about Jimmer a year ago... but the guy is on your team now, so you really ought to sound more informed. I know he's white. I know he's from a school that has relied a lot on outside shooting in recent years. But that doesn't mean that you can just assume that he is nothing beyond a set shooter. He's not JJ Reddick. He's Jimmer. Please, don't make a statement about a player based off of blanket assumptions.

Is shooting Jimmer's greatest strength? Of course. But on top of shooting he is a good ball handler, can take it to the hole, and is great at drawing the attention of the defense in order to set up his teammates for easy scores.

Seriously... the "just a shooter" thing may have been understandable back when all that people knew about Jimmer came from the ESPN highlights of him draining 30-foot jumpers. But there is really no longer any excuse to be as ignorant as you (and still some others) are on this subject. He was the MVP for a reason. He won the ESPY best male collegiate athlete of the year (in any sport!) for more reasons than just being "another shooter." Please educate yourself.

 

[cuad]

I cataloged most of the defensive breakdowns from the first quarter. Probably won't be an interesting read unless you have game tape, in which case you can just read the bolded to see who's at fault. The more times you see a name, the worse they are at team defense--THE DEFENSE THAT REALLY MATTERS.

Defensive breakdowns

Q1 11:49 - Jimmer goes under a Biedrins screen. He should go over and Jason Thompson should sag, off Biedrins, into to the paint to stop Curry from cutting. Curry sees that Jimmer runs under the screen, so he runs to the three point line and gets an open shot.
Fault: Jimmer

Q1 11:21 - Jimmer ices a sideline pick and roll (perfect). JJ Hickson sags to block Curry's drive, so Curry is forced to give it to a popping David Lee, who now has an open long two. THIS IS WHAT YOU WANT HIM TO SHOOT, but JJ Hickson falls for a pump fake. David Lee drives. Jimmer steps in to block, leaving Curry open. David Lee passes to Curry who has a wide open shot. David Lee long two or Stephen Curry open three?
Fault: JJ Hickson

Q1 10:02 - Tyreke gets beat on a down screen. Jimmer calls for a switch. Jimmer steps up to guard Curry until Tyreke recovers. However Tyreke thinks the switch is permanent and doesn't switch back to Curry when Jimmer switches back to Wright, giving Curry an open shot.
Fault: Jimmer or Tyreke.

Q1 9:33 - Jimmer gives up the middle of the floor to Monta Ellis who blows right by him for a layup in transition.
Fault: Jimmer

Q1 8:30 - Tyreke Evans doesn't block Curry's use of a down screen, letting Curry get the ball in the middle of the floor. Jason Thompson is forced to step over to stop Curry, leaving Biedrins wide open for a layup. Thompson needs to call out that screen. If he did, then Tyreke needs to be aware.
FAULT: Tyreke or Jason Thompson.

Q1 6:37 - Marcus Thornton and Donte Greene play a top-of-the-circle pick and roll as terrible as you could play one, forcing Jimmer to step into the paint to cut off a rolling Udoh. Jimmer is too far away to recover to a now wide open Dorell Wright.
FAULT: Marcus Thornton or Donte Greene.

Q1 6:03 - Tyreke Evans gambles on a pass thrown by Stephen Curry, who then begins a cut. Tyreke is unable to chase Curry because he is in the air. J.J. Hickson is forced to step down to slow down Curry, leaving David Lee open at the top of the key. David Lee then gets the ball and JJ Hickson is never in position to properly defend him.
FAULT: Tyreke Evans.

Q1 5:30 - Some baseline screening going on involving Jimmer and Marcus Thornton. Jimmer CORRECTLY calls for a switch. Marcus Thornton has no idea what he's doing and doesn't switch, allowing Curry to get open. Donte Greene leaves Udoh to guard Curry. Jimmer picks up Udoh. For some reason, Donte leaves Curry and blocks Jimmer from switching. Curry gets an open shot.
FAULT: Marcus Thornton.

Q1 4:50 - Marcus Thornton goes under a sideline pick and roll set for Curry, allowing Curry to get to the middle of the floor. Luckily Curry does nothing.
FAULT: Marcus Thornton

Q1 3:36 - Jimmer gets beat, but shows excellent defensive positioning, preventing Klay Thompson from getting either an open shot on the wing or a lay up at the rim. Fredette calls for a switch with Marcus Thornton, who isn't paying attention and switches late. Luckily the Warriors don't take advantage, but Donte Greene is called for defensive 3 seconds. No one's at fault here. I'm just trying to make Marcus Thornton look bad.

Q1 3:28 - Francisco Garcia starts out playing D correctly, shading Klay Thompson away from the middle and to his left hand, but inexplicably changes his positioning, which allows Klay Thompson to go down the middle of the floor and to his right. Donte Greene leaves his man to help, leaving him out of rebounding position and JJ Hickson does not box out, allowing the Warriors to get an easy offensive rebound.
FAULT: Francisco Garcia

Q1 2:55 - Marcus Thornton gets beat on a simple down screen.
FAULT: Marcus Thornton

Q1 1:30 - Marcus Thornton fails to ice yet another sideline pick and roll, allowing Klay Thompson to drive right down the middle of the floor for an and-1. Donte needs to yell ICE ICE ICE.
FAULT: Marcus Thornton or Donte Greene

Q1 1:10 - Yet another Kings player (Donte Greene) lets another player get to the middle of the floor. In transition, Donte allows McGuire to get to the middle of the floor instead of forcing him to the sideline, where Francisco is waiting to cut off any drive. McGuire makes an easy pass to Ekpe Udoh for a dunk.
FAULT: Donte Greene

Q1 0:37 - Marcus Thornton plays the sideline pick and roll correctly and NOTHING HAPPENS. WOW! Donte Greene falls for a ball fake and ends up giving up the middle of the floor yet again.
FAULT: Donte Greene.

Totals:
Marcus Thornton...............5
Jimmer Fredette...............3
Donte Greene..................4
Tyreke Evans...................3
JJ Hickson.......................1
Jason Thompson..............1
Francisco Garcia...............1

 

[OptimusRhyme]

Somebody needs to tell Petrie not to forget about Dalembert. He is still unsigned and we still have the money to make it happen. Maybe one fan can hold a big placard next game saying "what are you waiting for Petrie....get Dalembert signed now!"

Clearly, this Kings team needs Dalembert.

Lets start an "Occupy, save Dalembert we are the 99% movement" outsidde of Petries home. We can all just camp out, play bongos, get drunk, sing Kumbaya, Breakdance and what not! It should work. Petries going to want us gone eventually!

 

[swisshh]

I'm a little annoyed yet not surprised that Westphal said he thought Jimmer did well on defense. Granted, he showed some signs and did better than my crazy low expectations, but that's not cause to commend him for getting abused so badly.

 

[cuad]

I'm a little annoyed yet not surprised that Westphal said he thought Jimmer did well on defense. Granted, he showed some signs and did better than my crazy low expectations, but that's not cause to commend him for getting abused so badly.

Jimmer did do well (in the first quarter). He showed defensive smarts. He knew when to switch or do this or that, knew where to be on the floor, and he tried to talk with his team mates. Read my first quarter summary.

 

[swisshh]

Jimmer did do well (in the first quarter). He showed defensive smarts. He knew when to switch or do this or that, knew where to be on the floor, and he tried to talk with his team mates. Read my first quarter summary.

I found his off the ball awareness to be pretty bad. His on ball defense was better than expected. I know its been mentioned that the Kings for some reason have their corner guy cover down in the pain so that may be coaching, but it's not good that Jimmer was switched to guarding the SF just to not worry about being beat off the dribble.

 

[Italics]

Jimmer did do well (in the first quarter). He showed defensive smarts. He knew when to switch or do this or that, knew where to be on the floor, and he tried to talk with his team mates. Read my first quarter summary.

Yup... see my above post on page 4.

Jimmer is white, and so people who assume that he is "just a shooter" or "can't play defense" are going to see what they expect to see.

Facts:
- Jimmer, at the NBA combine, scored third out of all players in agility scores
- Jimmer finished third place for all-time assists in MWC history while breaking virtually every scoring record while he was at it
- Jimmer rebounds the ball well for a small guy, he particularly began excelling at it toward the end of his last season at BYU, and it appears to have carried over
- Jimmer can take it to the hoop. He doesn't just spot up and shoot. He creates his shot. He pops and shoots. He takes (multiple) defenders to the hole. If any of you actually watched him play in college, you know how good he is at driving to the hoop and drawing fouls

I really hate to play the "race card" on this one, but let's all just be honest with ourselves here...

I still don't think Kings fans realize (or appreciate) exactly what they got this draft.

 

[cuad]

Jimmer continued playing GOOD defense in the second quarter.

Defensive breakdowns in the second quarter.

Q2 11:34 - Tyreke Evans tries to play some baseline movement by going over the top and gets burned. Realizing this, Hassan Whiteside runs out to the three point line to contest Klay Thompson. He and Tyreke both run out, leaving no one to grab the rebound. The Warriors get an offensive rebound and a dunk.
FAULT: Tyreke Evans or Isaiah Thomas. They need to switch on the baseline. They need to talk.

Q2 10:45 - Tyreke Evans gambles for a steal and gets burned, giving up a wide open three.
FAULT: Tyreke Evans

Q2 9:37 - Tyreke Evans doesn't know whether to force Klay Thompson to the sideline or to force him to his left. (Always protect the middle. Force him to the sideline, Tyreke.) He ends up giving up the middle of the floor, again, to Klay Thompson. Francisco Garcia steps in and draws a charge.
FAULT: Tyreke Evans

Q2 9:09 - ANOTHER SIDELINE PICK AND ROLL DESTROYS THE KINGS. Greene needs to yell "ICE ICE ICE." If he did, which I doubt, then Garcia needs to step up and force McGuire to the sideline. Jeremy Tyler gets an open lay up.
FAULT: Donte Greene or Francisco Garcia

Q2 7:42 - ANOTHER SIDELINE PICK AND ROLL GOES UN-ICED. Hassan needs to yell "ICE ICE ICE." If he did, which I doubt, then Jimmer needs to step up and force Curry to the sideline. David Lee gets an open lay up.
FAULT: Jimmer Fredette or Hassan Whiteside.

Q2 7:25 - Jimmer makes Curry miss an open lay up.

Q2 6:51 - Jason Thompson doesn't box out and gives up an offensive rebound.
FAULT: Jason Thompson

Q2 5:29 - Hassan is probably playing Biedrins too close while Monta Ellis is cutting. Monta gets the ball in front of the rim and Hassan is too far away to defend.
FAULT: Hassan Whiteside.

Q2 5:05 - Tyreke Evans falls for a pump fake from Dorell Wright who is five feet beyond the three point line. If Dorell Wright could pass, David Lee would have had an open lay up.
FAULT: Tyreke Evans.

Q2 4:26 - Hassan Whiteside forgets to pick up Andris Biedrins in transition, who gets an easy lay up.
FAULT: Hassan Whiteside

Q2 3:46 - Someone might point to this play as an example of Jimmer playing bad defense. However, Jimmer forces Monta to the sideline and stays in front of him the whole time. Monta just makes a tough shot.

Q2 3:00 - Jimmer plays more good defense on Dorell Wright. Wright misses.

Q2 2:46 - Marcus Thornton and JJ Hickson don't ice a sideline pick and roll again. JJ Hickson needs to yell out "ICE ICE ICE." If he did, which I doubt, then Marcus Thornton needs to step up and force the player to the sideline. They try to hedge it. All that accomplishes is a foul on JJ Hickson. Westphal benches JJ Hickson for it, which I find odd.
FAULT: Marcus Thornton or JJ Hickson

Q2 1:52 - Donte Greene doesn't get back in transition (his responsibility given is position on the previous offensive play.) He gives up an open lay up.
FAULT: Donte Greene

Q2 1:26 - Tyreke Evans gambles and gets burned again in transition. This forces Jason Thompson to leave his assignment, which then forces Jimmer to leave his assignment, who gets an open three. People will blame Jimmer, but who is really at fault?
FAULT: Tyreke Evans.

Q2 0:44 - SIDELINE PICK AND ROLL AGAIN! Marcus Thornton and Jason Thompson do not ice, giving Monta an easy path to the lane. Jimmer is forced to leave his man to give help, resulting in an open three. People will blame Jimmer for this, but who is really at fault?
FAULT: Marcus Thornton or Jason Thompson.

Q2 0:14 - People will point to this play as Jimmer getting beat, but watch closely. He forces Stephen Curry away from the middle and to his left. Curry spins to the middle, where Jason Thompson is no where to be found. You can blame this play just as easily on Jason Thompson's poor help defense.
FAULT: Jimmer Fredette or Jason Thompson.

quarter totals
Tyreke Evans..........5
Hassan Whiteside....3
Jason Thompson.....3
Jimmer Fredette......2
Donte Greene.........2
Marcus Thornton.....2
Isaiah Thomas........1
Francisco Garcia......1
JJ Hickson..............1

 

[swisshh]

Thornton and Reke gambled a lot. They were playing like they still had Dalembert back there.

 

[OptimusRhyme]

Cuad- is there a legal place online that you are re-watching the game? i'd like to see it again.

 

[cuad]

Cuad- is there a legal place online that you are re-watching the game? i'd like to see it again.

It's just off the TV, not online. Here's the video that inspired me to look out for this stuff. Every concept he explains from 0:34 to 3:00 are EASY things that the Kings don't do. That's why I get so mad in the game threads.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dP5ui2CxM6A&t=00m34s

By the way, I'm not endorsing this guy at all. He's super biased. This is probably his only watchable video.

 

[kennadog]

Forgot to mention earlier how nice it is to read Brick's grade threads again. Thanks.

 

[cuad]

Yesterday I claimed that the Kings' comeback in the 3rd quarter was because Evans was out of the game. I was wrong, of course. The team defense was vastly better in the 3rd. Tyreke was a part of it too. It wasn't perfect. Tyreke still gambled and got burned once, and players X and Y had their feet misaligned here and there, but the Warriors couldn't make anything happen from those mistakes. The Warriors were just 2/10 5:27 minutes into the quarter.

Q3 10:43 - The Kings play perfect defense here. Absolutely perfect.

Q3 8:48 - Marcus Thornton ices a sideline pick and roll! The Warriors get absolutely NOTHING. THIS IS NOT A COINCIDENCE. Defensive three seconds ruins the play though.

Q3 7:12 - Tyreke Evans tries to ice the sideline pick and roll, but he isn't high enough. Curry gets around him and Tyreke frustration fouls him.

Q3 6:33 - Jimmer lets his guard down during an inbounds play. He doesn't get in good defensive position before the play starts, so he ends up getting burned and commits a stupid frustration foul, allowing an and-1.
FAULT: Jimmer Fredette

Q3 5:58 - Jimmer doesn't box out his assignment, who picks up an offensive rebound. JJ Hickson commits an unrelated (and dumb) foul on the play.
FAULT: Jimmer and Hickson

Q3 5:27 - For whatever reason, Jason Thompson is late to help. Ellis gets a lay up.
FAULT: Jason Thompson

Q3 4:02 - Marcus Thornton inexplicably looks away from Klay Thompson and gets beat on a down screen, giving Klay an open shot.
FAULT: Marcus Thornton

Q3 1:05 - Marcus Thornton forgets to ice the sideline pick and roll while he wipes his face with his jersey, but the team recovers. Isaiah Thomas loses his assignment, though, ruining the effort.
FAULT: Isaiah Thomas.

Q3 0:56 - Jason Thompson gets fouled (no call) trying to get a defensive rebound. He gets frustrated which causes him to bite on a pump fake, which gives up a layup.
FAULT: Jason Thompson

Jimmer Fredette.........2
Jason Thompson........2
JJ Hickson.................1
Marcus Thornton........1
Isaiah Thomas...........1

 

[IfAt1st]

These kinds of play breakdowns are just fantastic to read.

Thanks for the efforts, cuad - keep them up whenever you want - it shows what (many times) is missed in the game thread and the grade thread. :thumbsup:

 

[OptimusRhyme]

It's just off the TV, not online. Here's the video that inspired me to look out for this stuff. Every concept he explains from 0:34 to 3:00 are EASY things that the Kings don't do. That's why I get so mad in the game threads.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dP5ui2CxM6A&t=00m34s

By the way, I'm not endorsing this guy at all. He's super biased. This is probably his only watchable video.

really interesting video, the Hickson part was really not inspiring at all lol... If we could d up half as good as the bulls i'd be happy. thanks for the game breakdown too.

 

[Bricklayer]

Jimmer continued playing GOOD defense in the second quarter.

I was a very good defender in my youth. Really in every sport. Defense was always very natural to me. Could always read people, know where the ball or play was going. Won awards for it in every organized sport I ever played. Was very strong and loved contact, had very good lateral quickness for a guy my size, and quick hands -- a family trait actually (you should have seen my brother's, they were ridiculous). I knew what I was doing. Knew how to cut people off, how to use leverage, how to feel for and fight through screens. I was the captain of the defense and always talking.

Now if I stepped foot on an NBA court and ANYONE started accusing me of playing good defense because I knew what I was supposed to do out there they would be insane. I would be a TERRIBLE defender at the NBA level. I actually had a chance to run a few games at Penn against Matt Maloney and Jerome Allen, who both played in the league. You know what happens when a 6'4" guy can drop a lightning crossover on you and then elevate 2 feet straight in the air for a picture perfect jumpshot? Its not pretty. There's no defensive strategy for that other than just punching him in the nuts as he starts to go up.

Point being that Jimmer Fredette is unfortunately closer to me than he is to Michael Jordan physically. He could make every single right decision on every single trip down the floor on defense and still get beaten like a drum against the wrong matchups. Shade a guy right, and still be beaten by quickness, by size, by strength. We don't talk about guys in the league being good defenders who can't actually stop anybody. Ooh, that Wayman Tisdale sure does know how to position himself, what a defender!

This whole discussion of course being premature by several months.