The Young Fellas are playing

[King Baller]

I love Popcorn Machines Game Flows. You can see the 2nd unit includes 2 rookies and 2 2nd year players. They played extensively in the Nets game including the 4th quarter. The 1st unit includes Bogdan and Willie. So 6 of the 10 players are Young Fellas in the Nets game.

Link to Nets game flow--> http://popcornmachine.net/gf?date=20171220&game=SACBKN

 

[King Baller]

Here is the game flow from Philly. Once again the Young Fellas played a significant role:

Link to 76ers game flow--> http://popcornmachine.net/gf?date=20171219&game=SACPHI

 

[dude12]

It's a lot of young guys getting solid run.

 

[King Baller]

Interesting, Babygiraffe over at STR came to the same conclusion. Below is a quote from his article and a link:

"The rookies and sophomores aren’t being thrown to the wolves to figure things out, and the veterans aren’t being over utilized either. Instead, Coach is using a balanced approach throughout games to give young players time on the court while also staying competitive."

Link--> https://www.sactownroyalty.com/2017/12/21/16807426/sacramento-kings-tanking

 

[dude12]

My thought process is what will these guys look like in 2 years or in their 3rd year in the league.....especially Fox, Skal and Papa. Looking for incremental improvement right now.

 

[jcassio]

I don't dispute that the youngsters are getting a fair share of the minutes. These graphs are good proof of that. And I don't advocate throwing babes into the water to force them to swim (for their lives). My concern is that Joerger is not properly developing Fox because of his reliance on Z-Bo. Yes, Z-Bo has been amazing and without him we wouldn't have won some of those games. But with Z-Bo, most of what Fox does (on offense) is bring the ball up the court and give it to Z-Bo. I'm not saying they should never play together. But I am saying that Fox needs to be put in other lineups - especially those where he can get out and run. He should also have a chance to play against 2nd unit PGs and not always against the other team's star PG. Maybe Joerger feels the same way I do, and will make some changes soon. Maybe this is all part of his grand plan for Fox, to start with baby steps. But another possibility is that Joerger wants to win games because, well, that's his nature. Yes, he also wants to develop the youngsters. But maybe not at the expense of winning games when the games are winnable. I'd like to see a bit more emphasis on developing the youngsters. So we win a few less games this year. The reward for that is a higher draft pick and an improved chance at picking up a star in this year's draft.

 

[upinsmoke]

I don't dispute that the youngsters are getting a fair share of the minutes. These graphs are good proof of that. And I don't advocate throwing babes into the water to force them to swim (for their lives). My concern is that Joerger is not properly developing Fox because of his reliance on Z-Bo. Yes, Z-Bo has been amazing and without him we wouldn't have won some of those games. But with Z-Bo, most of what Fox does (on offense) is bring the ball up the court and give it to Z-Bo. I'm not saying they should never play together. But I am saying that Fox needs to be put in other lineups - especially those where he can get out and run. He should also have a chance to play against 2nd unit PGs and not always against the other team's star PG. Maybe Joerger feels the same way I do, and will make some changes soon. Maybe this is all part of his grand plan for Fox, to start with baby steps. But another possibility is that Joerger wants to win games because, well, that's his nature. Yes, he also wants to develop the youngsters. But maybe not at the expense of winning games when the games are winnable. I'd like to see a bit more emphasis on developing the youngsters. So we win a few less games this year. The reward for that is a higher draft pick and an improved chance at picking up a star in this year's draft.

I agree with the premise of your post about fox and zach not complimenting each other's games. I still feel in terms of Fox's development it's going to come out in the wash because he's simply not ready to run a nba offense right now. I think it would be worth exploring trading Hill & Koufos for future assets and start Mason but I'll tell you that's going to be rocky too because he's still ultimately a rookie. Joeger definitely has his work cut out for him either way and I don't envy him in that sense.

 

[pshn80]

Good presentation of yout argument, jcassio. But not good enough to dissuade me from preferring Joerger’s approach. So far Fox has been given lots of rope and he has under achieved. It turns out that Zbo is the star of the team so far and Fox isn’t. Go with Zbo and bring Fox along on a slower pace. He’s young and not only does he have time, he needs time. Same with Skal. The rooks and sophs that that progress the most get the most minutes. The emphasis is on the players we have and not the nebulous “star” we might or might not get n the next draft. In that draft no. 15 pick is likely to give us a valuable future player.

 

[kingsboi]

some get their minutes consistently, some don't. That's to be expected when you have so much youth all at once. The gripe I have is and I will remain to have is how they are being utilized. But that doesn't mean I want Joerger out. I like Dave, he is a quality coach to have for a struggling franchise so within time, I'd like to hope that he puts his players in positions to succeed and that takes practice, repetition & time.

 

[ParniValjak]

I don't dispute that the youngsters are getting a fair share of the minutes. These graphs are good proof of that. And I don't advocate throwing babes into the water to force them to swim (for their lives). My concern is that Joerger is not properly developing Fox because of his reliance on Z-Bo. Yes, Z-Bo has been amazing and without him we wouldn't have won some of those games. But with Z-Bo, most of what Fox does (on offense) is bring the ball up the court and give it to Z-Bo. I'm not saying they should never play together. But I am saying that Fox needs to be put in other lineups - especially those where he can get out and run. He should also have a chance to play against 2nd unit PGs and not always against the other team's star PG. Maybe Joerger feels the same way I do, and will make some changes soon. Maybe this is all part of his grand plan for Fox, to start with baby steps. But another possibility is that Joerger wants to win games because, well, that's his nature. Yes, he also wants to develop the youngsters. But maybe not at the expense of winning games when the games are winnable. I'd like to see a bit more emphasis on developing the youngsters. So we win a few less games this year. The reward for that is a higher draft pick and an improved chance at picking up a star in this year's draft.

I think we all know what strengths Fox has. We all know he is pretty darn good in the open court where he can use his quickness to push the tempo and get to the basket.

What Fox is not good at is the half court stuff. Wouldn’t you want you coach to develop player’s weaknesses rather than rely on his strengths? Don’t you want Fox to be complete a player as possible in 2-3 years time?

By getting Fox out there and playing to his strengths also means that you are ignoring and not developing on his weaknesses. I am comfortable that Fox is getting some real good minutes even as a rookie who is struggling. He is not getting yanked for mistakes and he is not being left out there to crash and burn Ben McLemore style. He is being developed by playing a style that he needs to develop but he is doing it surrounded by veterans and not inexperienced players like himself where they are getting blown out every game.

While development has been a LOT slower than we would like, I am comfortable that coach Joerger is getting Fox to work on his areas of need against the best of the best every night and not necessarily 2nd stringers that are giving better players a bit of a spell.

As long as his confidence is not shot, it’s a good thing. Skal worries me though. Lack of confidence that crippled him at Kentucky seems to be back this season. He just lacks confidence. He is questioning everything he does out there.

 

[kingdivac]

The team is looking better offensively as players like Hill, Bogdan, and even Hield are looking more consistent as of late. Randolph had several poor games early, but lifted his play up earlier. Joerger has to be looking at full game focus - the Raptor game might've been their best defensive game despite losing. Playoff teams go back to their stars for offense when misses start piling up, but the Kings don't really have that option right now - Hield is closest to it but not there (yet).