Kings @ Bulls

[boogie-reke]

I said it before, i'll say it again.

We will never be as good as we need to - and same goes for DeMarcus himself - until he can polish up his post-game and be able to work down there with efficiency.

Right now he's either bullying his way into the rim recklessly, giving up for a wierd contested stepback/spin jumper - or doing his famous spin towards the baseline.

His post-game is torture to watch, considering his fantastic footwork and creativity.

The change will arrive when DeMarcus understands he has a below average post-game and works on it - the problem is I honestly don't know if he'll ever acknowledge it.

[boogie-reke]

Also, LOVED Reke's D.

Problem is, he has a reputation of a man who cried wolf - so I honestly expect him to go to his darker days where he suddenly doesn't try, seeing as this is a season opener and all.

I hope he proves me wrong - but when it comes to Reke I expect the dissapointment.

[kevin44]

Not a big fan James Johnson. Why is he starting? Evans played well, but this team does not have a starting point guard. I guess Jimmer isn't part of the plan. He could have played when Nate Robinson was on the floor. Lets hope they can cut down the turn overs.

[RIPskaterdude]

Is Salmons injured?

No, he's just gone for "personal reasons".

[Silver Man]

Yeah, Boozer completely owned anyone not named Hayes in the low block tonight. But I don't understand why they didn't attack Boozer on the defensive end. When Smart noticed that JT can take advantage over the undersized-Boozer, it was pretty much too late (plus they went away from this strategy ultimately -_-).

Cousins had his moments where he dominated but also moments of disaster too. Late in the game, where we feed Cousins to the post against Noah on consecutive trips, he was completely neutralized every time. Missed shots & TOs. If your opponent is an elite level defender, particularly around the rim, why does he still want to find his offense there? He should have established his perimeter game and stuck with it until the game was over.

Evans was excellent overall. He was easily our best player throughout the night. Played tenacious D and held Deng (3-13 something along those lines), and tracked down Hamilton well. Hit a couple of perimeter shots and showed his usual finishing around the rim. Had the bonehead 5 sec inbound violation.

Johnson was reckless tonight. Too much time on the ball and little results. Good defensive effort though.

Isaiah was hounded by Hinrich all night long and did very little.

Thornton got hot in the second half of the game. I felt like if Thornton had his normal nights of "18-20 ppg", we would have won. Defensively, he got burned. Multiple of times.

JT was invisible for the most part except in the 3rd quarter where he, surprisingly, ignited the Kings to keep the game in striking distance until the end.

Robinson played too fast for his own good but good work rate overall.

Brooks was okay for the most part. Defensively he played an admirable game. Fouled out.

Rotations was meh. I did NOT like how Smart did his usual "sub out entire starting lineup, insert bench" subs. The moment he inserted the bench subs, they lost the lead quickly. And they had to chase the game since.

Overall, I'm encouraged to see a lot of the players buying into the "defensive" mind set that Smart has been selling. They had moments in the game where they looked like a whole different team. If they can limit the TOs and fix small kinks here and there, this going to be a very very interesting season. Dark horse for POs material imo.

How does what you said add up to a "meh" rotation. To me that seems like the word, terrible, or horrible would fit in better. I do agree with all else you said though.

Not a big fan James Johnson. Why is he starting? Evans played well, but this team does not have a starting point guard. I guess Jimmer isn't part of the plan. He could have played when Nate Robinson was on the floor. Lets hope they can cut down the turn overs.

If I remember correctly(could be wrong), offensively Robinson dominated Brooks, therefore I couldn't imagine what would happen if Jimmer tried to guard him, but I do agree Jimmer should have gotten some minutes.

[KF10]

How does what you said add up to a "meh" rotation. To me that seems like the word, terrible, or horrible would fit in better. I do agree with all else you said though.

Meh means I'm on the fence on his substitutions.

I do agree that the "sub out whole starting 5 for bench" was horrible.

INITIALLY, I was fine when he pulled Tyreke and rested him for a while on his first sub. From what I seen, Tyreke was expanding so much energy on BOTH defense & offense, he would be exhausted and useless if we kept him in more longer.

Smart played Tyreke for 29 straight minutes (last 5 min of 2nd quarter + entire 2nd half). This is unacceptable.

I would have like if Smart sat Reke down somewhere in the mid/later parts 3rd quarter and the early parts of the 4th quarter. Players should have at least 2 stints of rest. Evans had one.

There were some good subs + ideas with Smart that night:

- He kept Brooks in the final 14 minutes of the game instead of Isaiah. Isaiah had no business on the court if he couldn't do anything with Hinrich on him.

- Keeping Cousins on the bench more longer than intended (3rd/4th quarter stint). Cousins was visibly upset on the calls of the refs and affected his game. Smart took him out and told him to relax. Which was plus-plus for me because it kept Cousins out of the game and it was during this time where the Kings had a couple of runs and close the lead of the Bulls.

- Kept James Johnson out in the final 18 minutes of the game. Lets be honest here, he had several boneheaded plays that lead the Bulls to their lead. 4 TOs & 1-8 FG yeaaaah...

- Keeping Hayes in most of the 4th quarter was good. He did a lot of things that contributed to the Kings' plays in that quarter. Defended well too.

- Trusting in MT23 after his bad 1st half. Smart did the 'smart' thing by keeping him in most parts of the 2nd half. He had his best moments of the game there.

[ADoaN17]

Is Salmons injured?

No, he's just gone for "personal reasons".

Salmons wife just had a kid. He is suppose to come back today.

[LovingCousins]

I said it before, i'll say it again.

We will never be as good as we need to - and same goes for DeMarcus himself - until he can polish up his post-game and be able to work down there with efficiency.

Right now he's either bullying his way into the rim recklessly, giving up for a wierd contested stepback/spin jumper - or doing his famous spin towards the baseline.

His post-game is torture to watch, considering his fantastic footwork and creativity.

The change will arrive when DeMarcus understands he has a below average post-game and works on it - the problem is I honestly don't know if he'll ever acknowledge it.

I know Hakeem is not a miracle worker but I think him and Cousins should spend a week together. It helped lebron and it helped dwight. Cousins needs to take that next step.