Kings vs Warriors Nov 7, 2015

[KF10]

Other than Rondo, I hate seeing other players handle and trying to create his own shot. Rudy has a very (loose) high dribble, Casspi is hot and cold with his dribble, BMac is erratic, etc. And none of those guys can really create for others effectively either. How hard is to give the ball to the guard after the inbounds or at the beginning of the play? This is an issue of simple fundamentals of the game.

I have a feeling we have a collection of low IQ players because just from yesterday, I've seen one of the worst turnovers committed ever. Low %s success rate of plays, passes that will never get to its destination, etc.

It's tough to really say how hard anything is at the moment because when your only hope to compete is to plunge the game into chaos everything is hard. There is a clear lack of familiarity on the floor. I don't know if it's because they aren't sure what they are supposed to be running or if it's just new players figuring things out and each other in the process. Round robin lineups certainly don't help either and that was an issue before Cuz went down that dates back into preseason.

Low IQ? I don't know, the players on the team they brought in this summer are noted for their offensive abilities and many of which you would probably say feel for the game is a strength. Belinelli, Butler, Rondo, Koufos are all probably considered to be fairly high IQ. This is an unprepared team right now. To me it's no more further evidenced than on the defensive end of the floor. We are talking just plain old bad strategy. Hopefully the confidence and ability boost they get from Cousins returning will help, but the defensive shortcomings they've shown aren't really something he can help with much since it's fairly all encompassing. The defense is an overwhelming concern in my opinion. The Kings are literally the worst defensive team in the league at the moment when you factor in the other teams free throws per game. It would have been great to land Matthews, Beverley, Brewer or someone else more capable defensively, but there is no way they should be this bad.

Gay showed last year under more stable circumstances he can create very well for himself and for his teammates. He's just having to fight for everything he gets because he is the sole focus of the other team defensively. This is where coaching comes in hopefully and some plays are run that get him some easy looks at the basket.

Unprepared? Karl is one of the better coaches in the NBA today and I don't think he would put his team in that position, imo. I don't think coaching is the problem. If it's not, everything points to the players. Players are simply missing shots and aren't playing defense for the full 48 minutes. We see glimpses of great defense but for some reason, it is not sustainable. Why? Is it effort? Lack of concentration? Last year's starting unit was the best defensive unit (or top-3) in the L. Why can't it be the same thing, this year? We lost JT but added more defensive talent in replacement -- WCS & Koufos. Is it the bench that drops the team's overall defense? The starting unit shouldn't be bad at all. I'll give it more time before making any judgement.

I do agree it is chaotic right now because the Kings are terrible without Cousins on the floor. But guess what? The games are still being played with or without him! The team needs to play at a certain (respectable) level without him. And we are not seeing that..or at least at a consistent basis. We are absolutely clueless without Cousins and as a professional basketball team, that shouldn't be happening...at all. If the Clippers can manage when Paul is out with injury, why can't the Kings? In theory, their team should fall apart due to an absence of Paul. But instead, Blake absolutely dominates with Austin frkin Rivers as the starting PG lmao.

Rudy is a mediocre 1st option. We all know that. He is being exposed. The guy has some suspect ball handling and decision making. If your primary scoring option is MIA, it is hard to win games.

[SacKingZZZ]

Other than Rondo, I hate seeing other players handle and trying to create his own shot. Rudy has a very (loose) high dribble, Casspi is hot and cold with his dribble, BMac is erratic, etc. And none of those guys can really create for others effectively either. How hard is to give the ball to the guard after the inbounds or at the beginning of the play? This is an issue of simple fundamentals of the game.

I have a feeling we have a collection of low IQ players because just from yesterday, I've seen one of the worst turnovers committed ever. Low %s success rate of plays, passes that will never get to its destination, etc.

It's tough to really say how hard anything is at the moment because when your only hope to compete is to plunge the game into chaos everything is hard. There is a clear lack of familiarity on the floor. I don't know if it's because they aren't sure what they are supposed to be running or if it's just new players figuring things out and each other in the process. Round robin lineups certainly don't help either and that was an issue before Cuz went down that dates back into preseason.

Low IQ? I don't know, the players on the team they brought in this summer are noted for their offensive abilities and many of which you would probably say feel for the game is a strength. Belinelli, Butler, Rondo, Koufos are all probably considered to be fairly high IQ. This is an unprepared team right now. To me it's no more further evidenced than on the defensive end of the floor. We are talking just plain old bad strategy. Hopefully the confidence and ability boost they get from Cousins returning will help, but the defensive shortcomings they've shown aren't really something he can help with much since it's fairly all encompassing. The defense is an overwhelming concern in my opinion. The Kings are literally the worst defensive team in the league at the moment when you factor in the other teams free throws per game. It would have been great to land Matthews, Beverley, Brewer or someone else more capable defensively, but there is no way they should be this bad.

Gay showed last year under more stable circumstances he can create very well for himself and for his teammates. He's just having to fight for everything he gets because he is the sole focus of the other team defensively. This is where coaching comes in hopefully and some plays are run that get him some easy looks at the basket.

Unprepared? Karl is one of the better coaches in the NBA today and I don't think he would put his team in that position, imo. I don't think coaching is the problem. If it's not, everything points to the players. Players are simply missing shots and aren't playing defense for the full 48 minutes. We see glimpses of great defense but for some reason, it is not sustainable. Why? Is it effort? Lack of concentration? Last year's starting unit was the best defensive unit (or top-3) in the L. Why can't it be the same thing, this year? We lost JT but added more defensive talent in replacement -- WCS & Koufos. Is it the bench that drops the team's overall defense? The starting unit shouldn't be bad at all. I'll give it more time before making any judgement.

I do agree it is chaotic right now because the Kings are terrible without Cousins on the floor. But guess what? The games are still being played with or without him! The team needs to play at a certain (respectable) level without him. And we are not seeing that..or at least at a consistent basis. We are absolutely clueless without Cousins and as a professional basketball team, that shouldn't be happening...at all. If the Clippers can manage when Paul is out with injury, why can't the Kings? In theory, their team should fall apart due to an absence of Paul. But instead, Blake absolutely dominates with Austin frkin Rivers as the starting PG lmao.

Rudy is a mediocre 1st option. We all know that. He is being exposed. The guy has some suspect ball handling and decision making. If your primary scoring option is MIA, it is hard to win games.

I was a little worried about how he ran his preseason for a reason. It sounded like he did mostly game simulation in practice and every report I saw had rotating lineups by the day. Now, you would think if it worked when a player goes down they'd be able to step in and continue on the same path, but they haven't. That strategy may work long term however because it forces you right into the fire, it's just a gamble as to whether or not it will kill your teams chemistry and confidence in the process. Of course there are some excuses considering the amount of changeover, but no question, teams survive and role players step up and into positions when the system is there. When it's not you get chaos.

It's not that they aren't playing defense, they are, it's a lot of the what they are doing that's that problem. Believe me, if sagging into the paint off the short 3 isn't your strategy then you don't do it repeatedly depending on match ups. The best defense I've seen is when the commit to switching and they're don't have a small back court where a PG is going to eventually find himself on a SF or a PF. Obviously that's not a full time thing though because against certain teams they don't do it. That's the one area where I think the should copy the Warriors full on if they are going to play small, and heck, even if they have Willie next to Cuz because he can do it just as well.

Offensively you are seeing players attempt to create a lot of the time when they get the ball rather than just shoot. That is a staple of the dribble drive though so maybe that's the plan. Some of the players can pull it off, but I think taking spot shots, or creating opportunities for them is a wise idea. Enough with everyone being the new John Salmons. My goodness, it was bad enough having one guy pump fake then drive into traffic, but 4 of them? Yeesh. When you have to work hard for every shot you get then when you finally get the easy ones it's clank city. What you do early in the game sets the tone and the Kings haven't gotten to off to great starts this year very many times.

And while it was a small sample size the defense with Cousins wasn't chart topping either. In Cousins' years in Sacramento the ONLY success he's had with the team in tow is when they didn't try to outscore the other team. There should be a middle ground of course but pace should be about the right pace for your team and after seeing Vlade added this summer you have to question how this team should play. With all that said, I don't think the offense is the main issue right now. A few years ago a lot of the Kings defensive woes were offensively related. Right now the turnovers are a little higher than you'd like, but it's the defense that's the issue. Last in the league. Let that settle in here. LAST in the categories that matter. Too much pace, too much back and forth offensively is probably a part of it too and that goes back to the question of what pace should they play at?

Karls a HOF coach, I certainly have faith he can turn it around but time is of the essence.

[KF10]

I was a little worried about how he ran his preseason for a reason. It sounded like he did mostly game simulation in practice and every report I saw had rotating lineups by the day. Now, you would think if it worked when a player goes down they'd be able to step in and continue on the same path, but they haven't. That strategy may work long term however because it forces you right into the fire, it's just a gamble as to whether or not it will kill your teams chemistry and confidence in the process. Of course there are some excuses considering the amount of changeover, but no question, teams survive and role players step up and into positions when the system is there. When it's not you get chaos.

Yeah, they mostly did game simulation in practice. So you would like to think the rotating lineups tactic in practice would help any potential change in the starting 5. Several games into the regular season, Cousins goes down and furthermore, Collison is down too. The team shouldn't be downright clueless without those players. That was my point. I mean, I applaud the effort by the Kings players because they have been competitive in every game without Cousins/Collison so far. But it isn't good enough, unfortunately. Especially in the Western Conference where almost every game are virtually must-win type of games. We simply need to see better production and contribution by our players, period. We have several players missing and this creates opportunities begging to be taken advantage. Can someone step up in absence of the missing players, please?

It's not that they aren't playing defense, they are, it's a lot of the what they are doing that's that problem. Believe me, if sagging into the paint off the short 3 isn't your strategy then you don't do it repeatedly depending on match ups. The best defense I've seen is when the commit to switching and they're don't have a small back court where a PG is going to eventually find himself on a SF or a PF. Obviously that's not a full time thing though because against certain teams they don't do it. That's the one area where I think the should copy the Warriors full on if they are going to play small, and heck, even if they have Willie next to Cuz because he can do it just as well.

Yeah, I do see several players over-helping at almost every possession of the game. It is beyond infuriating. Why give up the easiest 3PT shot in the game? For what? To create congestion and traffic on the strong side? It may sound good in theory but a half-decent team with respectable shooters will simply destroy that tactic to bits. Just a couple of quick passes can throw that defensive scheme to the garbage.

Offensively you are seeing players attempt to create a lot of the time when they get the ball rather than just shoot. That is a staple of the dribble drive though so maybe that's the plan. Some of the players can pull it off, but I think taking spot shots, or creating opportunities for them is a wise idea. Enough with everyone being the new John Salmons. My goodness, it was bad enough having one guy pump fake then drive into traffic, but 4 of them? Yeesh. When you have to work hard for every shot you get then when you finally get the easy ones it's clank city. What you do early in the game sets the tone and the Kings haven't gotten to off to great starts this year very many times.

I've never liked the dribble-drive offense to begin with. I don't think we have the right pieces to do it. If we had more players with (respectable) perimeter shooting, then, I could see it. But we don't. In turn, Karl is making Cousins, who is a dominant interior player, to play away from the basket to space the court. It's a double edge sword at that point. We lose Cousins' post offense to some degree but that is supplied with Cousins' (extended) shooting, though. Can you envision Cousins with a decent 3PT shot? It's hard to say. The guy has pretty good shooting ability (at the top of the key -- 2PT) but can he extend his range where it doesn't hurt the team? Right now, it's up in the air. Anyways, where is the off the ball movement? Setting off-screens? The basic concept of the dribble-drive offense is where you have a penetrating guard (Rondo) that finds gaps in the defense and passes off to a player for a catch-and-shoot situation. Ideally, you want to have at least 2 players that can do those things other than Rondo but again, we don't have the pieces to do it. Rudy & BMac don't have the ability to effectively run Karl's system. So, what can they do? We should expect them to shoot at a solid clip for their catch-and-shoot shots. Unfortunately, BMac is missing shots and Rudy is more of a scorer than a shooter.

And while it was a small sample size the defense with Cousins wasn't chart topping either. In Cousins' years in Sacramento the ONLY success he's had with the team in tow is when they didn't try to outscore the other team. There should be a middle ground of course but pace should be about the right pace for your team and after seeing Vlade added this summer you have to question how this team should play. With all that said, I don't think the offense is the main issue right now. A few years ago a lot of the Kings defensive woes were offensively related. Right now the turnovers are a little higher than you'd like, but it's the defense that's the issue. Last in the league. Let that settle in here. LAST in the categories that matter. Too much pace, too much back and forth offensively is probably a part of it too and that goes back to the question of what pace should they play at?

Yeah, the Kings are tied with #1 in pace, if I can recall correctly. So, obviously that is probably not going to be conducive to winning if that means not able to appropriately balancing the 2 sides of the ball. I don't think it is realistic to slow down the pace to the point it is a snail's pace. That is not how Karl's teams work in the past. I hope they manage to effectively tone down the pace a tad soon. Defensively, they are horrid. So, I agree with you there. Another thing is, what the heck is happening to the FT shooting? The Kings were ~76% FT as a team last year. This year, they are ~66% FT as a team. A 10-point difference. They are losing out free points.

Karls a HOF coach, I certainly have faith he can turn it around but time is of the essence.

Yep.

[SacKingZZZ]

I was a little worried about how he ran his preseason for a reason. It sounded like he did mostly game simulation in practice and every report I saw had rotating lineups by the day. Now, you would think if it worked when a player goes down they'd be able to step in and continue on the same path, but they haven't. That strategy may work long term however because it forces you right into the fire, it's just a gamble as to whether or not it will kill your teams chemistry and confidence in the process. Of course there are some excuses considering the amount of changeover, but no question, teams survive and role players step up and into positions when the system is there. When it's not you get chaos.

Yeah, they mostly did game simulation in practice. So you would like to think the rotating lineups tactic in practice would help any potential change in the starting 5. Several games into the regular season, Cousins goes down and furthermore, Collison is down too. The team shouldn't be downright clueless without those players. That was my point. I mean, I applaud the effort by the Kings players because they have been competitive in every game without Cousins/Collison so far. But it isn't good enough, unfortunately. Especially in the Western Conference where almost every game are virtually must-win type of games. We simply need to see better production and contribution by our players, period. We have several players missing and this creates opportunities begging to be taken advantage. Can someone step up in absence of the missing players, please?

It's not that they aren't playing defense, they are, it's a lot of the what they are doing that's that problem. Believe me, if sagging into the paint off the short 3 isn't your strategy then you don't do it repeatedly depending on match ups. The best defense I've seen is when the commit to switching and they're don't have a small back court where a PG is going to eventually find himself on a SF or a PF. Obviously that's not a full time thing though because against certain teams they don't do it. That's the one area where I think the should copy the Warriors full on if they are going to play small, and heck, even if they have Willie next to Cuz because he can do it just as well.

Yeah, I do see several players over-helping at almost every possession of the game. It is beyond infuriating. Why give up the easiest 3PT shot in the game? For what? To create congestion and traffic on the strong side? It may sound good in theory but a half-decent team with respectable shooters will simply destroy that tactic to bits. Just a couple of quick passes can throw that defensive scheme to the garbage.

Offensively you are seeing players attempt to create a lot of the time when they get the ball rather than just shoot. That is a staple of the dribble drive though so maybe that's the plan. Some of the players can pull it off, but I think taking spot shots, or creating opportunities for them is a wise idea. Enough with everyone being the new John Salmons. My goodness, it was bad enough having one guy pump fake then drive into traffic, but 4 of them? Yeesh. When you have to work hard for every shot you get then when you finally get the easy ones it's clank city. What you do early in the game sets the tone and the Kings haven't gotten to off to great starts this year very many times.

I've never liked the dribble-drive offense to begin with. I don't think we have the right pieces to do it. If we had more players with (respectable) perimeter shooting, then, I could see it. But we don't. In turn, Karl is making Cousins, who is a dominant interior player, to play away from the basket to space the court. It's a double edge sword at that point. We lose Cousins' post offense to some degree but that is supplied with Cousins' (extended) shooting, though. Can you envision Cousins with a decent 3PT shot? It's hard to say. The guy has pretty good shooting ability (at the top of the key -- 2PT) but can he extend his range where it doesn't hurt the team? Right now, it's up in the air. Anyways, where is the off the ball movement? Setting off-screens? The basic concept of the dribble-drive offense is where you have a penetrating guard (Rondo) that finds gaps in the defense and passes off to a player for a catch-and-shoot situation. Ideally, you want to have at least 2 players that can do those things other than Rondo but again, we don't have the pieces to do it. Rudy & BMac don't have the ability to effectively run Karl's system. So, what can they do? We should expect them to shoot at a solid clip for their catch-and-shoot shots. Unfortunately, BMac is missing shots and Rudy is more of a scorer than a shooter.

And while it was a small sample size the defense with Cousins wasn't chart topping either. In Cousins' years in Sacramento the ONLY success he's had with the team in tow is when they didn't try to outscore the other team. There should be a middle ground of course but pace should be about the right pace for your team and after seeing Vlade added this summer you have to question how this team should play. With all that said, I don't think the offense is the main issue right now. A few years ago a lot of the Kings defensive woes were offensively related. Right now the turnovers are a little higher than you'd like, but it's the defense that's the issue. Last in the league. Let that settle in here. LAST in the categories that matter. Too much pace, too much back and forth offensively is probably a part of it too and that goes back to the question of what pace should they play at?

Yeah, the Kings are tied with #1 in pace, if I can recall correctly. So, obviously that is probably not going to be conducive to winning if that means not able to appropriately balancing the 2 sides of the ball. I don't think it is realistic to slow down the pace to the point it is a snail's pace. That is not how Karl's teams work in the past. I hope they manage to effectively tone down the pace a tad soon. Defensively, they are horrid. So, I agree with you there. Another thing is, what the heck is happening to the FT shooting? The Kings were ~76% FT as a team last year. This year, they are ~66% FT as a team. A 10-point difference. They are losing out free points.

Karls a HOF coach, I certainly have faith he can turn it around but time is of the essence.

Yep.

You're right about the free throws, I didn't even realize it was that drastic, but it is. Doug Christie or Jerry Reynolds brought up a good point during one of the games about this team probably being destined to be a little worse because of the pieces they added and I think there is some truth to it, but some of the wrong guys are missing them it would seem. Rondo, Koufos, and Willie are probably going to hurt that percentage by themselves but they are hardly getting to the line between them anyway.