[Game] Rockets @ Kings - Friday, 11/6/15 - 7:30 PT, 10:30 ET
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Very disappointed in Karl's fascination with going small against a team that is missing tons of depth at PF & C tonight. Start both Cauley-Stein & Koufos. Houston's bench bigs were Hayes and Harrell today. If Cauley-Stein and/or Koufos get into foul trouble, Moreland would have been able to hold his own against those two without a doubt. Can we please prioritize defense? We recently had a coach that did that and we had the most success we've ever seen in 10 years. 6 games into the season and we still haven't held one team below 100 points. It's just pathetic.
I still think my strategy of tasking Cauley-Stein to guard Harden would have left us with the best chance to win. From what I remember, Cauley-Stein switched onto Harden twice that game. Both plays ended up in a missed shot for Houston. Not only would it have given us a good chance at slowing down Harden (with Cauley-Stein's perimeter defense, athleticism, & length and Koufos back there to clean up mistakes at the rim), but it would have given us a mismatch on offense (Harden/Thornton on Gay or Harden/Thornton on Cauley-Stein). Instead we let the Houston Rockets get away with putting Ariza on Gay without any consequences (Thornton on Belinelli and Harden on Anderson).
We let Harden off the hook by giving him the easy task of guarding Anderson today. Force him to follow Belinelli around the floor and fight through screens, force him to have to guard a talented scorer in Gay, or force him to bang down low and try to box out Cauley-Stein on a regular basis. Don't just let a talented scorer like Harden conserve his energy by defending a spot up shooter.
Karl needs to come to his senses quickly.
I still think my strategy of tasking Cauley-Stein to guard Harden would have left us with the best chance to win. From what I remember, Cauley-Stein switched onto Harden twice that game. Both plays ended up in a missed shot for Houston. Not only would it have given us a good chance at slowing down Harden (with Cauley-Stein's perimeter defense, athleticism, & length and Koufos back there to clean up mistakes at the rim), but it would have given us a mismatch on offense (Harden/Thornton on Gay or Harden/Thornton on Cauley-Stein). Instead we let the Houston Rockets get away with putting Ariza on Gay without any consequences (Thornton on Belinelli and Harden on Anderson).
We let Harden off the hook by giving him the easy task of guarding Anderson today. Force him to follow Belinelli around the floor and fight through screens, force him to have to guard a talented scorer in Gay, or force him to bang down low and try to box out Cauley-Stein on a regular basis. Don't just let a talented scorer like Harden conserve his energy by defending a spot up shooter.
Karl needs to come to his senses quickly.
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Omri Casspi played one of his better games. He shot 80% from the field and FT-line and 66.7% from 3-point land. That went with 4 RB's, 1 ast and 2 stl's. More than the stats, I was impressed by his heart (not the first time). When he is on the court, the ball moves (exactly what DMC needs to shine). WCS and BenMc are clearly better when they play with Omri. If Karl stays with the Kings, I could see a starting lineup of DMC, WCS, Casspi, BenMc and Collison some two years down the road. I do believe that BenMc has the talent, but you need a lot of patience to bring it up. WCS will absolutely be a star, no doubt about it. So, let Collison, WCS, Casspi and BenMc play in the second unit for a couple of years and increase their minutes gradually by incorporating DMC with them for more minutes together. The team has a lot of talent. However, it is about finding the right proportion of talent and spirit.
I know you guys don't like Karl going small, but the only reason why we came back yesterday was because...he went small.
It was Rondo/Collison/Ben/Casspi/WCS
Towards the end, it was
Collison/Seth/Ben/Casspi/WCS
We basically almost won with small ball.
Why the heck are we going to put something like WCS on Ariza and make him guard out in the perimeter when we need him in the paint?
If Karl had gone with our bigs, everyone would be complaining about him not "sticking" with our bench and the guys who got us there.
It was Rondo/Collison/Ben/Casspi/WCS
Towards the end, it was
Collison/Seth/Ben/Casspi/WCS
We basically almost won with small ball.
Why the heck are we going to put something like WCS on Ariza and make him guard out in the perimeter when we need him in the paint?
If Karl had gone with our bigs, everyone would be complaining about him not "sticking" with our bench and the guys who got us there.
Our defense is so bad. Rotations are so slow. Im getting really irrited with Rudy, on offense and on defense. All iso on offense, lazy *** defense. Ben is awful, just a dumb player.
We need to play smarter on defense. Plain and simple. Whether that's possible with this roster idk. There's no awareness
We need to play smarter on defense. Plain and simple. Whether that's possible with this roster idk. There's no awareness
Fixed it for you. Fill in the blanks before and after with almost anything - and you've got the essence of Kings fans when things go a little rough right here.
I think the collective whining is over the top. We got a brutal schedule and are going to probably start 1-7 (although we could surprise the Spurs).
Why the F is that such a big deal??? 6 games under .500 with 74 to play. I mean, come on this is not the end of the world - and if I hadn't given up gambling I'd be willing to bet that the Kings will reel off a 6 game or better winning streak at some point.
Ain't nobody need to get fired or traded!
I think the collective whining is over the top. We got a brutal schedule and are going to probably start 1-7 (although we could surprise the Spurs).
Why the F is that such a big deal??? 6 games under .500 with 74 to play. I mean, come on this is not the end of the world - and if I hadn't given up gambling I'd be willing to bet that the Kings will reel off a 6 game or better winning streak at some point.
Ain't nobody need to get fired or traded!
I'm not trying to excuse our poor defense at times, but I do think the fact that were playing faster, means were going to take more shots, and thus, the other team is going to get more shots, and thus, the final scores will tend to be higher. There is a perspective one has to keep in the overall picture. The main problem is that at the end of the day, the other teams score is higher than ours. That said, there are times when our defense is invisible, and other times when it looks great. So the capability is there.
I think Karl has to put the right combination on the floor, and I assume he's trying to figure that out. Losing Cousins didn't help, since he's going to be the single biggest part of whatever combination Karl decides on. Right now, instead of trying to fine tune his rotations, he's trying to compensate for the loss of Cousins, who changes the entire style of play when he's on the floor. Right now, Willie is at his best when he's the guy that plugs the hole in the dike, and not the guy that's trying to hold up the dyke. We need Cuz back!
I think Karl has to put the right combination on the floor, and I assume he's trying to figure that out. Losing Cousins didn't help, since he's going to be the single biggest part of whatever combination Karl decides on. Right now, instead of trying to fine tune his rotations, he's trying to compensate for the loss of Cousins, who changes the entire style of play when he's on the floor. Right now, Willie is at his best when he's the guy that plugs the hole in the dike, and not the guy that's trying to hold up the dyke. We need Cuz back!
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Curry was lights out in summer league. I saw him play three times this past summer, and mostly I was impressed with his confidence. He handles well, and when his shot wasn't falling in summer league, he still found ways to score the ball. He's a smart player and is good at finding weaknesses in the other teams defense. I think it should be mentioned that he was one of the best D-League players last year as well. He's more than earned his way to the NBA, and at some point you have to stop saying he has to prove himself, and put him into the rotation and see if he can. Just focus on him when he's playing, and you'll see that he know what he's doing out there. He's not a true PG, but he's not without PG skills. Play him 30 minutes and he'll accidentally stumble on 5 or 6 assists a game.
So, you don't dispute what I said, you just try and muddy the waters with things that have nothing to do with my statement. Were playing faster, therefore the scores tend to be higher as a result. That is a fact! I didn't say it was an excuse for poor defense. If I did, then that would be a cop out. I'm sure that in the end, all the stats will bear out the fact that the other team is scoring more points than we are, and therefore were losing games. So, if we could just find a way to keep the other team from scoring as many points as they are, we might win some of those games. Just a simplified way of saying it without all the stats.
Look, I have nothing against all the metrics. I love looking them up and do it all the time when evaluating players. But every conversation doesn't have to come down to listing those stats to make a simple point. Frankly, I'm a little upset with how the team is playing right now, and I'm not interested in verifying statistically what my eyes are telling me. If I'm falling off a cliff, I don't need to bring out my air speed indicator to verify that I'm actually falling off a cliff.
Look, I have nothing against all the metrics. I love looking them up and do it all the time when evaluating players. But every conversation doesn't have to come down to listing those stats to make a simple point. Frankly, I'm a little upset with how the team is playing right now, and I'm not interested in verifying statistically what my eyes are telling me. If I'm falling off a cliff, I don't need to bring out my air speed indicator to verify that I'm actually falling off a cliff.
I am not "muddying the waters" at all, at least, I wouldn't say so. I would say that I am taking @rainmaker's argument to its logical conclusion. He didn't accurately articulate that, while points allowed indicates that the defense has been poor, that it's not the sole indicator. But, I understood that that's what he meant. From my point of view, your mention of the pace was your attempt to obfuscate (or "muddy the waters", so to speak) the fact that the team deserves more criticism for its porous defense by your essentially saying, "Well, you can't read too much into the points allowed, because the pace is really fast." And, I'm saying, uh... sure you can.
His point was that the defense is bad. Your post read to me like you were saying, "But you can't say that just based on points allowed." That's the sort of pedantry that I'd expect me to be trying to pass off. But, I consider you to be better than me, and I guess I hold you to a higher quality standard.
His point was that the defense is bad. Your post read to me like you were saying, "But you can't say that just based on points allowed." That's the sort of pedantry that I'd expect me to be trying to pass off. But, I consider you to be better than me, and I guess I hold you to a higher quality standard.
The dude is ready to "enter the zone" at any given moment in a game. Get him shots, run plays for him, let him make good decisions with the ball in his hands, etc. etc.
Remember, his brother is "not a true PG" either. Doesn't really matter if you're a good ball handler, passer, and decision maker.....and lights out shooter.
Who was the one player who knocked the ball away from James Harden last night? Seth did. Didn't shy away. Got right into him and and raked the ball out of Harden's dribble
Remember, his brother is "not a true PG" either. Doesn't really matter if you're a good ball handler, passer, and decision maker.....and lights out shooter.
Who was the one player who knocked the ball away from James Harden last night? Seth did. Didn't shy away. Got right into him and and raked the ball out of Harden's dribble
This is what's alarming defensively:
30th in OPP FG% at 50.1%
27th in OPP PPG at 112.7
29th in OPP FTA at 29.7 per game
30th in OPP eFG% 55.5
26th in OPP FBPs at 16.8
27th in DRtg at 107.9
30th in OPP FG% within 5 ft at 70%
30th in OPP FG% within 15-19 ft at 55%
Last year when under Malone we had a top FT rate in the league, we've dropped to 15th this year while also dropping to 29th in OPP FT rate
Then there's this, which I consider a factor:
3rd in Pace at 104.92
Pace in and of itself doesn't cause poor defense. You can focus on defense first like GS does, like Mia did a few years ago, like we did under Adelman, then look to break. Or, you can make pace more a priority than defense. The above, along with what I'm witnessing strongly suggests we've made pace the priority over defense, the lineups and going small further point to that and in general, we seem unprepared on that side of the ball. Good defense comes from it being a priority, game planning, the film room and it largely being the focus before the ball tips. A problem with pace being the priority is you're focused on rushing up the court and taking the first good look, which leads to poor defensive organization as players are all over the place and constantly recovering from different spots on the floor.
30th in OPP FG% at 50.1%
27th in OPP PPG at 112.7
29th in OPP FTA at 29.7 per game
30th in OPP eFG% 55.5
26th in OPP FBPs at 16.8
27th in DRtg at 107.9
30th in OPP FG% within 5 ft at 70%
30th in OPP FG% within 15-19 ft at 55%
Last year when under Malone we had a top FT rate in the league, we've dropped to 15th this year while also dropping to 29th in OPP FT rate
Then there's this, which I consider a factor:
3rd in Pace at 104.92
Pace in and of itself doesn't cause poor defense. You can focus on defense first like GS does, like Mia did a few years ago, like we did under Adelman, then look to break. Or, you can make pace more a priority than defense. The above, along with what I'm witnessing strongly suggests we've made pace the priority over defense, the lineups and going small further point to that and in general, we seem unprepared on that side of the ball. Good defense comes from it being a priority, game planning, the film room and it largely being the focus before the ball tips. A problem with pace being the priority is you're focused on rushing up the court and taking the first good look, which leads to poor defensive organization as players are all over the place and constantly recovering from different spots on the floor.
