The Bench

[K F Jay]

We need scoring from our bench. I think Salmons would be more comfortable scoring with the second unit. Also Thornton they should be able to carry the offense. I'd like to see Honeycut get more minutes but won't count on it.

Bench
PG - Jimmer/IT
SG - Thornton
SF - Salmons/Honeycut
PF - Hickson
C - Hayes

Starting Lineup
PG - Tyreke
SG - Cisco/Jimmer
SF - Donte/Cisco
PF - JT
C - Cousins

Cisco, Jimmer and Donte can be interchangeable depending on who is playing well or match ups.

 

[Italics]

We need scoring from our bench. I think Salmons would be more comfortable scoring with the second unit. Also Thornton they should be able to carry the offense. I'd like to see Honeycut get more minutes but won't count on it.

Bench
PG - Jimmer/IT
SG - Thornton
SF - Salmons/Honeycut
PF - Hickson
C - Hayes

Starting Lineup
PG - Tyreke
SG - Cisco/Jimmer
SF - Donte/Cisco
PF - JT
C - Cousins

Cisco, Jimmer and Donte can be interchangeable depending on who is playing well or match ups.

Starting lineups don't seem to matter, as right now the team is struggling with consistency. Who "deserves" to be a starter seems to change with every game. Also, Smart's subbing and lineups have been bafflingly stupid at times.

 

[ParniValjak]

The way Salmons has been shooting this season, the VERY last thing you would want him doing to going out there looking to score.

Thornton I can see the concept behind it up it greatly depends on Jimmer. He is just too much up and down to be a dependable starter so it will need to be Thornton for the time being. I do agree with you starting Donte but for whatever reason, Smart sees him as a smallball PF and since Hayes has made his return, Donte's minutes have plummeted.

To me he is a SF who can defend many positions and can also play some spot minutes at PF but we so many options at PF, those spot minutes should only happen when we have injuries to our frontcourt stocks or they are in foul trouble.

 

[kingsnation]

Yeah we tried bringing Salmons off the bench in his last stint with us. If my mind serves me right, he wasn't mature enough back then to handle that. Hopefully, that wouldn't be the case now, but you never know. Personally, I 'd rather see Donte and Cisco getting the consistent minutes at the 3.

 

[William Blake]

I would consider starting with a Evans/Salmons/Donte backcourt. That would give us an edge defensively and MT should fix our bench scoring issues. Unfortunately there won't be many minutes around for Jimmer and/or IT.

 

[Kingster]

I just want IT to get a lot of minutes, especially in the 4th quarter, and please give him the ball. Evan can practice moving without the ball and IT can get it to him (or someone else). Jimmer should get less minutes. The debate over the small forward position is a pick your poison one. Doesn't really matter much to me because they all are not playing well. Smart can pick a name out of a hat for the 3 position.

 

[keflanag]

Yeah we tried bringing Salmons off the bench in his last stint with us. If my mind serves me right, he wasn't mature enough back then to handle that. Hopefully, that wouldn't be the case now, but you never know. Personally, I 'd rather see Donte and Cisco getting the consistent minutes at the 3.

This is the ONLY explanation I have for why Salmons is still in the starting lineup. Maybe the coaching staff knows that putting our highest paid player on the bench and having him mope about it like he did in his last stint is more detrimental than having him start?

 

[CruzDude]

If Kings want consistent scoring at the 2 then Thornton has to be a starter with Jimmer, Salmons and IT on bench for "small" ball. I also think it is time for Honeycutt to begin to see more SF minutes in 5-6 min stints. He could be a great diamond-in-the-rough IF his skills are ready for the NBa game, especially defense. But bench has to get more productive we all agree. Cisco still the most effective off bench at 2 or 3.

 

[KingBen]

Why don't the Kings trade Jimmer? He has a lot of value right now. I know of 5 teams that want him and would trade for him today.

They don't use him as a point guard and that is what he is. He is being ineffective because of how they are using him. There are a few coaches who can't believe how the kings are using Jimmer? They play him at 2 and make him guard larger and bigger guys. They play him off the ball and run no screens for him, nor do they allow him to use his play making ability.

I say they get rid of him and bring in someone other than a point guard. They have a enough. Isaiah is doing well enough they don't need Jimmer too.

 

[Schmoe]

You're an NBA insider, eh? You chat with coaches and team execs? Pretty cool.

 

[CruzDude]

First, the Kings don't use a "Point Guard" in the traditional sense as stated by Coach.
Second, you want to trade the Kings leading 3-pt shooter, a rookie learning the NBA, because... Why?
Third, he is playing next to Evans because Thornton is injured and notable to play. Otherwise he is on bench with IT.
Finally, as Schmoe said, cool you are able to speak directly with NBA coaches and GM's and know such inside info.

Also, I like K F Jay bench thread EXCEPT That Thornton should start. Otherwise good thought. Now if it works........

 

[bluntsnbball]

We need scoring from our bench. I think Salmons would be more comfortable scoring with the second unit. Also Thornton they should be able to carry the offense. I'd like to see Honeycut get more minutes but won't count on it.

Bench
PG - Jimmer/IT
SG - Thornton
SF - Salmons/Honeycut
PF - Hickson
C - Hayes

Starting Lineup
PG - Tyreke
SG - Cisco/Jimmer
SF - Donte/Cisco
PF - JT
C - Cousins

Cisco, Jimmer and Donte can be interchangeable depending on who is playing well or match ups.

You know, i kind of am in agreement with this. Salmons was actually a decent scorer last time he was with the kings, albeit a selfish player, just like he is now, but he was scoring because the rest of the team was garbage. He was the 2nd option behind kmart. Now, he's like 4th or 5th option. Maybe if they put him in there with the second unit, he'll actually start to knock down some of those open 3's and get his offense going again.

It's worth a try in my opinion, how bad could it be? He's already pretty ineffective as it is

 

[SCKingsfan]

You know, i kind of am in agreement with this. Salmons was actually a decent scorer last time he was with the kings, albeit a selfish player, just like he is now, but he was scoring because the rest of the team was garbage. He was the 2nd option behind kmart. Now, he's like 4th or 5th option. Maybe if they put him in there with the second unit, he'll actually start to knock down some of those open 3's and get his offense going again.

It's worth a try in my opinion, how bad could it be? He's already pretty ineffective as it is

I'd be down with trying that, based on your logic. However, while he hasn't been a defensive stopper this year, he's more servicable than most of the bench so we'll lose that on the starting team.

 

[CruzDude]

Then Salmons goes out and is the star in the win over Blazers. Go Figure. Lets see what he does next 5 games, 3 home 2 away, then we can revisit this general agreement.

 

[Arkitect]

Then Salmons goes out and is the star in the win over Blazers. Go Figure. Lets see what he does next 5 games, 3 home 2 away, then we can revisit this general agreement.

Doesn't change the fact that he has been little better than a body out there in every other game. Would be nice if he would play like he did last game in every game, but I would be shocked if he did. He was been walking around with a fork in his back for most of the season.

 

[Glenn]

Doesn't change the fact that he has been little better than a body out there in every other game. Would be nice if he would play like he did last game in every game, but I would be shocked if he did. He was been walking around with a fork in his back for most of the season.

I wouldn't be exactly shocked as the "normal" Salmons has been a scorer. Now he has slowed and is on the downside of his career but we can only hope he himself has turned some corner. He seems to be pretty tough but we'll see. I sure don't wish him bad luck although we may have to find someone else to trash. That's sincerely meant to be a joke. Maybe we will see who Petrie thought he was getting.

 

[Arkitect]

I wouldn't be exactly shocked as the "normal" Salmons has been a scorer. Now he has slowed and is on the downside of his career but we can only hope he himself has turned some corner. He seems to be pretty tough but we'll see. I sure don't wish him bad luck although we may have to find someone else to trash. That's sincerely meant to be a joke. Maybe we will see who Petrie thought he was getting.

I think JJ is next in line if Salmons stops being terrible.

 

[pshn80]

You, the team, has to start Evans and Cousins. Next, they have to start Thornton. Next, they will start Salmons after they've invested so much playing time into getting a good game out of him. That's four. They'd be foolish not to start Thompson whom I agree is the most consistent starter in recent times. Therefore, the bench is.........

Hayes, Hickson, Thomas, and the rest - Jimmer, Garcia, Greene, Outlaw, Honeycutt. Whiteside won't count.

We can sit here and shuffle it all around but I believe the above reflects what the team will do for the time being.

 

[IfAt1st]

We can sit here and shuffle it all around but I believe the above reflects what the team will do for the time being.

I agree.
I think the only question would be: if Chuck gets healthier and more effective, he may well replace JT in the starting lineup, since that's who they thought would be starting for us when they signed him.

 

[K F Jay]

I'm still concerned about our bench scoring. We have 4 of our 5 main scorers in the starting lineup. Lets say Salmons does have more games like he did against Portland. It still doesn't solve our bench scoring. We need him and/or Thornton to be reliable scorers for us off the bench unless Jimmer and/or JJ miraculously become that player right now. Right now not next week, next month or next year.

We won the game but here are some things that concerned me about the game.

- Our scorers minus Cousins played too many minutes because we needed them on the court for scoring when Smart subbed in the bench. With 1 or 2 days rest thats fine but eventually it will catch up to us in the longrun.

- Whichever one of our scorers starts hot that usually means he becomes the go to guy for the rest of the quarter and sometimes half even if he's cooled down which means less shots for our other scorers which is wasted because they all get their breathers at the same time unless Smart leaves 1 or 2 of them in the game playing extended minutes running the risk of wearing them out in the long run. And having tired players on the floor causes more turnovers, sloppy play and possible injury.

- Cousins and Tyreke have the potential to average 20+ points a game but won't happen because too many scorers in the starting lineup. If were asking 12-15 from Salmons and 15-20 from Thornton that takes away scoring opportunities from Cousins and Tyreke when Salmons/Thornton can average those numbers from the bench improving our bench scoring.