You Be the Coach: vs. Wiz 01/16/2012

[Bricklayer]

You know? I totally forgot to start one of these yesterday for this game. Now its trampling on the Game Thread, but still I'll give it a go.

Starters (obvious)
Cousins
Thompson
Salmons
Evans
Thomas

-- I want to see whether Beal can guard Tyreke. I want to see that attacked early and often until he proves he can.

-- now the key new dynamic is John Wall, coming off the bench. He's big and he's fast for a PG. Physically Jimmer can't guard him. Just can't. Doubt Brooks can either, but its a better attempt.

-- Hayes has people to guard in this oen in Okafor and Nene, but they both start. He may not be athletic enough for Serpahin, but at least has the strengh. He's back in my rotation for this oen for that reason.

So Brooks, Hayes...you have to play TRob the way he has been playing. Johnson matches Vesely and Ariza better physcally than does Cisco. And of course MT. Which makes 10 and sucks for Jimmer who played well last game. But John Wall vs. Jimmer Fredette is just a loss in the making for us. If you can work the rotations so Salmons or Evans can have Wall most of the time, you are doing well. Possibly IT, but there is a huge size issue there.

 

[Mr. S£im Citrus]

I don't expect my lineup to be popular, but I'd go with:

G - Evans
G - Salmons
F - Johnson
F - Thompson
C - Cousins

6 - Thornton
7 - Robinson
8 - Hayes
9 - Garcia

Why? Well, as I have mentioned previously, I'm not especially interested in offense, and I feel as though that is the best defensive starting lineup the Kings can put on the floor. This is just a gut feeling, on my part, though, since 82games seems to indicate that this lineup has never actually been utilized. Unfortunately, we don't actually have any size on our bench, so we have to make do with Hayes, but this is as good a matchup for him as we can hope for.

I also prefer a tight rotation, so the guards get the shaft.

 

[Npliam]

I don't expect my lineup to be popular, but I'd go with:

G - Evans
G - Salmons
F - Johnson
F - Thompson
C - Cousins

6 - Thornton
7 - Robinson
8 - Hayes
9 - Garcia

Why? Well, as I have mentioned previously, I'm not especially interested in offense, and I feel as though that is the best defensive starting lineup the Kings can put on the floor. This is just a gut feeling, on my part, though, since 82games seems to indicate that this lineup has never actually been utilized. Unfortunately, we don't actually have any size on our bench, so we have to make do with Hayes, but this is as good a matchup for him as we can hope for.

I also prefer a tight rotation, so the guards get the shaft.

So who would play point guard when Reke went to the bench? Salmons?

 

[Mr. S£im Citrus]

So who would play point guard when Reke went to the bench? Salmons?

More or less. I'm inclined to believe that, when you have the ability to run the offense through a player like Cousins, you don't really need a "pure" PG. I would also try to avoid having Cousins and Evans on the bench at the same time, if I could help it.

 

[twslam07]

You know? I totally forgot to start one of these yesterday for this game. Now its trampling on the Game Thread, but still I'll give it a go.

Starters (obvious)
Cousins
Thompson
Salmons
Evans
Thomas

-- I want to see whether Beal can guard Tyreke. I want to see that attacked early and often until he proves he can.

-- now the key new dynamic is John Wall, coming off the bench. He's big and he's fast for a PG. Physically Jimmer can't guard him. Just can't. Doubt Brooks can either, but its a better attempt.

-- Hayes has people to guard in this oen in Okafor and Nene, but they both start. He may not be athletic enough for Serpahin, but at least has the strengh. He's back in my rotation for this oen for that reason.

So Brooks, Hayes...you have to play TRob the way he has been playing. Johnson matches Vesely and Ariza better physcally than does Cisco. And of course MT. Which makes 10 and sucks for Jimmer who played well last game. But John Wall vs. Jimmer Fredette is just a loss in the making for us. If you can work the rotations so Salmons or Evans can have Wall most of the time, you are doing well. Possibly IT, but there is a huge size issue there.

I would like to see Brooks back in the starting lineup if he is completely healthy. We have proof that the Brooks, Evans, and Salmons trio has been effective. Brooks is happy with being an off-ball player next to Evans and Salmons, and he is good at it. Brooks is a shooting PG and Thomas is a scoring PG. What I mean by this is that Brooks is okay with being off the ball spotting up for a jump-shot, and that Thomas likes having the ball in his hands and looks to get his own shot first and pass second. Let Brooks flourish next to Evans, and let Thomas flourish next to Thornton. Both of those pairings have shown success. Why did we ever go away from them?

Hell, if we're playing completely for the future and don't want to give Brooks any minutes, start Fredette next to Evans and have Fredette do what he does best...spot up. I would be happy to see Thomas get 20-25 MPG and have Brooks and Fredette split the remaining minutes, but have either Brooks or Fredette start. As of now, I would go with Brooks over Fredette simply because of his defense.

Brooks (18 mpg)/Thomas (20 mpg)/Fredette (10 mpg)
Evans (18 mpg)/Thornton (30 mpg)
Salmons (30 mpg)/Evans (18 mpg)
Thompson (15 mpg)/Robinson (25 mpg)/Johnson (8 mpg)
Cousins (35 mpg)/Thompson (13 mpg)

This is the minute spread I want to see. Hopefully we can trade one of our guards so we can free up space for Evans to either play more PG or SG so we don't have to push him out to SF for an extended period of time. Then we can bring Johnson back into the backup SF role and have a bigger and more balanced team.

You mention Johnson matching up Ariza and Vesely better than Garcia which I agree with. However, Vesely doesn't play SF. He is a big man which would mean the likes of Thompson, Robinson, or Johnson (when playing the 4) would guard him. It confuses me why you throw Garcia into that mix. In terms of Ariza, I would have Salmons and Evans guard him. Ariza is not a good outside shooter so all you need to do is stay in front of him which I think they can more than handle. For God's sake, he is shooting 35% from the floor and 26% from 3 this season. I think he is the least of our worries.

Have Thomas come off the bench and match-up against Wall. Thomas does a fairly good job in the post against bigger guards so I am not worried there. Thomas does a good job staying in front of his man. His weakness lies in getting shot over. Thankfully, Wall is not a good shooter, so I think Thomas will be just fine defensively.

I think you're right about Evans. We have to test Beal. He has the height, length, and strength advantage on him. Like that really matters though. With Evans' handles, he can get by just about anyone he wants, but the other advantages should only make it easier to get off a better shot.

Nene will be the biggest question mark. Will he be back to his normal self or is he still affected by his injuries? I would monitor the game closely when it comes to Nene. If Cousins, Thompson, and Robinson are struggling against him, bring in Hayes. Otherwise, keep Hayes on the bench.

 

[Padrino]

I don't expect my lineup to be popular, but I'd go with:

G - Evans
G - Salmons
F - Johnson
F - Thompson
C - Cousins

6 - Thornton
7 - Robinson
8 - Hayes
9 - Garcia

Why? Well, as I have mentioned previously, I'm not especially interested in offense, and I feel as though that is the best defensive starting lineup the Kings can put on the floor. This is just a gut feeling, on my part, though, since 82games seems to indicate that this lineup has never actually been utilized. Unfortunately, we don't actually have any size on our bench, so we have to make do with Hayes, but this is as good a matchup for him as we can hope for.

I also prefer a tight rotation, so the guards get the shaft.

i like the way you think, slim. if you all turn your attention here, you'll see why: http://espn.go.com/nba/team/_/name/sac/sacramento-kings

the kings are currently 29th in points allowed per game, and 25th in rebounds per game. pathetic. the above lineup does work towards correcting these tremendous deficiencies. it's big and strong, for the most part, and it plays some defense, as opposed to none at all. evans/salmons/johnson is also a good sg/sf rebounding core, as the midgets are weeded out of the rotation...

 

[Kingster]

Same lineup as the last game.

I still want to see Tyreke posted up. He should be able to do that against either Beal or J. Crawford. In the last game I saw Tyreke go to the post once, but Cousins who was outside didn't get him the ball.

Cousins should do fine against Okafor inside, but we'll probably see him outside a lot just because.

If Wall is healthy, he's going to give anyone guarding him problems with his speed and quickness. The entire team has to be involved in preventing him from penetration (again, that's if he's 100%). I'd still go with IT over anybody else. He's not going to stop Wall because there's not one pg in the league by himself that can, but he's the best pg we've got. In the Cleveland game he penetrated at will and created open looks for others. I don't thinkTyreke knows how to run a break yet (it's basically just full bore go to the hole) and Salmons is too slow and not a good enough ball handler to run a break.

Cousins, Tyreke, and Thompson should all be able to get interior shots if the coaching staff has the strategy to do so and the players have the patience to execute. Robinson should get a lot of pt. Were those nice post moves an aberration, or is the young guy learning fast?

PS Jason Thompson has got to step it up in the reounding department; he had 4 rebs against the Cavs in 22 minutes. That's putrid. He should double that output.

 

[The_Jamal]

Starters:

PG: Isaiah Thomas
SG: Tyreke Evans
SF: James Johnson
PF: Jason Thompson
C: DeMarcus Cousins

6th: Marcus Thornton
7th: Thomas Robinson
8th: John Salmons
9th: Chuck Hayes/ Jimmer

It's time to go back to our original starting 5 that started the year. This lineup is our best option for balance on both ends of the court with Reke and Johnson being able to hit jumpers now and Cousins on a war path offensively. We had great stretches of defense to start the year with this lineup and I think the offensive troubles that lineup had then would be fixed now. I'm also a huge fan of the size that lineup can bring us.

This is a very important game for us if we want to keep our extremely slim chance at a playoff run alive. Smart cannot experiment with lineups and give away a 10+ point lead which should be possible if we play to our strengths.

- I would get JT and Cousins going early and go right at the Wizards frontline. Neither are particularly good defenders anymore and the Wizards size off the bench is pitiful. Okafor is the only thing they have resembling a defensive paint presence and would give Reke/IT/Thornton a free ride into the paint area.

-

 

[SacTownKid]

Not that it can't work, but if you wonder why Evans sat on the bench last game, it's because he and Salmons in there together just makes life way to hard for Cousins. The teams offense tends to bog way down unless John is hitting his shots and willing to just be a floor spreader. Way too hard for Cousins otherwise. This team is pointless until they find a way to get Thornton,Evans, and Cousins out there and working all at the same time. That's a unit with enough talent to compete on any real level, otherwise good luck.


My lineup:

PG: Evans
SG: Thornton
SF: Garcia
PF: TRob
C: Cousins