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Strong start for us here in this board!

Concerns:
Demarcus looks similar in a bad way. Very little getting him the ball in scoring position.
No Landry, no Vasquez, no jimmer. I assume injuries or something.

Good stuff

Over all strong start for mclemore. Shooting well and playing with good energy.
Isaiah looks to already be in midseason form
Definitely some improvements already.


Over all, not really too bad for the first preseason game.

The team looks much more composed than last year. And like most of us were hoping, Ben looks much better when surrounded with better players. His defense looks promising as well. I wouldn't be surprised if the Ray + Ben combo turns out to be the best defensive back court pairing by the end of the season.

You mean nobody is up for a little preseason action! hahaha.

Agree about Demarcus. There is literally no spacing. Jason Thompson everytime the ball is in the paint is right there under the basket. How hard is it to spread the floor? C'mon Malone.

Best thing I've seen is that it appears that run and gun is dead! Yay! This is a half court team, now spread the f'n floor coach!

IT making a great case....to be some major scoring punch off the bench. Just not a natural playmaker and actually not much pick and roll for him tonight, which is also good, this is not a pick and roll team! He's looked good being what he is, a scorer So another good on you coach.

Now, bad on you coach, no more pure iso in the post please. Cousins needs options to pass to just as any post option does. He turns into the paint and there are 3 teammates of his own with there defenders waiting for him. How is this not fixed? Even on game one that's just piss poor execution. Simple fix, put Patterson or JT out at the opposite short corner or corner 3. When he turns to face he needs to have at least 2 options to pass to, Thornton and Patterson make great options there if you ask me. I mean c'mon, this can literally be fixed by simply moving bodies around.

Just have to hope that by the end of this that Malone does see the glaringly obvious lineup and style of play staring everyone in the face. I'm all for experimenting but I'm also down with getting down to business, this is the same basic team as last year, watch the film.

Inigo_Montoya wrote:The team looks much more composed than last year. And like most of us were hoping, Ben looks much better when surrounded with better players. His defense looks promising as well. I wouldn't be surprised if the Ray + Ben combo turns out to be the best defensive back court pairing by the end of the season.

Yeah, it's called ditching that silly run and gun garbage. Half court teams look much more composed in the halfcourt, who would have thought.

Really like Rays D. Watching he and Luc Richard Mbah a Moute go right over screens puts everyone else on this team to shame.

Cousins rarely tries to establish deep post position. Dude usually hovers around the perimeter, more specifically, hovers around the elbow areas and wants the ball there. I mean, WTF? Why not fight for a position down low?

Really disappointed tonight about his play.

Quick observations:

McLemore looked real good. Does NOT look like SL-McLemore. Hustled on the both ends. Really good stuff.

I like what I saw from McCallum. A real gritty type of PG. Could hit open shots and plays tough nosed D.

MT23 was MT23. Good for several baskets. Surprisingly decent effort on D.

Thompson was okay. Rebounded well. Looked more clumsy than usual though.

Patterson was solid. Nothing special.

IT was good. Always ready to play.

Luc Richard looked alright.

Hayes was fine. Liked his defense and hit a couple of flip shots close to the basket as usual.

Outlaw was surprisingly serviceable. Hit 2 shots and was active.

Salmons was by far the worst player on the court. 0-5 FG Only player that played 20+ min that did not scored.

Just wait till Vazquez gets some run with the offense. I think he'll make a huge difference. Bens shot is so smooth and pure. Definitely a top rookie of the year candidate. I think by the time the seasons over hell be starting over Thornton

Cousins still taking way too many jumpers but I was impressed with McLemore, didn't force any shots.

I'm so relieved to hear that Cousins' .200 shooting, 5 fouls, and 5 turnovers were 100% the fault of his teammates and the coach.

KF10 wrote:Cousins rarely tries to establish deep post position. Dude usually hovers around the perimeter, more specifically, hovers around the elbow areas and wants the ball there. I mean, WTF? Why not fight for a position down low?

Really disappointed tonight about his play.

Quick observations:

McLemore looked real good. Does NOT look like SL-McLemore. Hustled on the both ends. Really good stuff.

I like what I saw from McCallum. A real gritty type of PG. Could hit open shots and plays tough nosed D.

MT23 was MT23. Good for several baskets. Surprisingly decent effort on D.

Thompson was okay. Rebounded well. Looked more clumsy than usual though.

Patterson was solid. Nothing special.

IT was good. Always ready to play.

Luc Richard looked alright.

Hayes was fine. Liked his defense and hit a couple of flip shots close to the basket as usual.

Outlaw was surprisingly serviceable. Hit 2 shots and was active.

Salmons was by far the worst player on the court. 0-5 FG Only player that played 20+ min that did not scored.

But this game is a perfect example of what's happened with Cousins in the post almost since day 1. He's NOT Shaq, he's a player that is more comfortable in a faceup position and if you look at the majority of his post up opportunities it ends with him facing the basket. Jerry Reynolds thinks it's as simple as him adding a jump hook, it will help to a degree, but there are much bigger issues at play here. For instance, when they went pure iso, just like almost always Cousins is maneuvering his way towards the basket, he's not just purely backing guys down (and if he gets any skinnier he won't be able to at all. ) With that said, he is going to most likely attempt to out maneuver his defender and as such he has to use a greater portion of the floor to do it and as a result more dribbles. Very hard to ask a guy to dribble his way around the basket when you have a pesky guard coming in and threatening Cousins' dribble. Every dribble pretty much comes up to the guards head so he has the entire length of his own body to get a hand on the ball. As I posted above the simple fix is to give Cousins 2-3 passing options on the other side of the floor so when he does make his move and switches from posting up to facing up at that last moment he has wide open shooters waiting to take and make a quick 2 or 3. A few of those drop and then watch the space Cousins has as the game goes on.

Cousins hovers around the middle section of the floor because that's usually the only unoccupied space on the floor. He is a faceup big who likes to drive to the rim, give him space to work for crying out loud. And now it's certainly not a question of personnel anymore no excuses for Cousins to not have room to operate. Re-watch this game and pretty much every time Cousins is posting up, take note of where Jason Thompson is.

And yes, somebody needs to check Salmons for a pulse.

Wolfay wrote:I'm so relieved to hear that Cousins' .200 shooting, 5 fouls, and 5 turnovers were 100% the fault of his teammates and the coach.

Eagerly awaiting your points to the contrary.

Need to see Vasquez out there. Not looking forward to a season with IT running point.

SacKingZZZ wrote:

Wolfay wrote:I'm so relieved to hear that Cousins' .200 shooting, 5 fouls, and 5 turnovers were 100% the fault of his teammates and the coach.

Eagerly awaiting your points to the contrary.

They're both certainly to blame. The spacing was bad and he did receive it in bad spots, but he also didn't make enough of an effort to get to good spots, and the solution to Demarcus' problems is not driving into traffic (having made no effort to direct traffic), and forcing up prayers. That has never been a valid excuse.

Edit: With that said, in both cases, it's the first game of preseason under a new regime. Not realistically a whole lot to take from this.

SacKingsPejaFan wrote:Need to see Vasquez out there. Not looking forward to a season with IT running point.

Reports are now they're bringing him back slowly from his injury. He probably won't play on Friday either, as a precaution.

SacKingZZZ wrote:

Wolfay wrote:I'm so relieved to hear that Cousins' .200 shooting, 5 fouls, and 5 turnovers were 100% the fault of his teammates and the coach.

Eagerly awaiting your points to the contrary.

I really don't feel like it. You're just going to pull more excuses out of your butt. I'm sure you'll somehow find a way to blame Jason Thompson or the coach for Cousins' whining at a ref after a no call and didn't get back on defense while a Warrior scores under the basket. It's beyond frustrating and exhausting trying to have a discussion with someone who would go to such lengths to apologize for someone who has done very little to deserve it.

SacKingZZZ wrote:But this game is a perfect example of what's happened with Cousins in the post almost since day 1. He's NOT Shaq, he's a player that is more comfortable in a faceup position and if you look at the majority of his post up opportunities it ends with him facing the basket. Jerry Reynolds thinks it's as simple as him adding a jump hook, it will help to a degree, but there are much bigger issues at play here. For instance, when they went pure iso, just like almost always Cousins is maneuvering his way towards the basket, he's not just purely backing guys down (and if he gets any skinnier he won't be able to at all. ) With that said, he is going to most likely attempt to out maneuver his defender and as such he has to use a greater portion of the floor to do it and as a result more dribbles. Very hard to ask a guy to dribble his way around the basket when you have a pesky guard coming in and threatening Cousins' dribble. Every dribble pretty much comes up to the guards head so he has the entire length of his own body to get a hand on the ball. As I posted above the simple fix is to give Cousins 2-3 passing options on the other side of the floor so when he does make his move and switches from posting up to facing up at that last moment he has wide open shooters waiting to take and make a quick 2 or 3. A few of those drop and then watch the space Cousins has as the game goes on.

Cousins hovers around the middle section of the floor because that's usually the only unoccupied space on the floor. He is a faceup big who likes to drive to the rim, give him space to work for crying out loud. And now it's certainly not a question of personnel anymore no excuses for Cousins to not have room to operate. Re-watch this game and pretty much every time Cousins is posting up, take note of where Jason Thompson is.

And yes, somebody needs to check Salmons for a pulse.

I'm not asking Cousins to be Shaq but he has a HUGE body that he can bust some guys down low. But he choose not to for whatever reason.

Cousins' post game isn't all that great but how hard is it for a 280 pounds individual get decent post position and drop a couple of baby hooks?

Cousins' main strength on offense is facing up and attacking the basket but that in itself is pretty reckless. I don't like my big man driving into congestion, especially, if he is a "under-the-rim" player.

Cousins' problem is that his jumper isn't all that great. His jumper should be really close to "KG-level" if he wants to continue his "elbow area" play.

SacKingZZZ wrote:Yeah, it's called ditching that silly run and gun garbage. Half court teams look much more composed in the halfcourt, who would have thought.

I couldn't help but have a nasty flashback to Westphal's half-court game plan. That offense was as composed as a corpse. Part of it is team execution. Ideally, being the first preseason game, Malone will be able to figure out what the players respond best to on the court.

Great game....Kings Basketball!

There was one moment in the first 5 minutes when GS turns the ball over and you see IT and Cousins together. IT is telling Cuz what he did wrong on D against the pick and Cousins nods and high fives Thomas.

Moments like this give me hope.

Good effort on defense. Need to clean up the offense, but the Warriors are an upper-tier Western Conference playoff team with some elite defenders in Bogut and Iggy. Demarcus needs to clean up his decision-making on both passes and shots, and we should be fine.

GREAT team defense for pretty much all of first 3 quarters. Fell off a bit towards the end when the warriors put the horses back in against our bench. But overall I am very happy with the defense (especially with it just being game 1). I agree Cousins needs to make some better decisions in regards to his post-up game, but I liked what I saw from him. Hes a face up player, nothing will change that. With regards to fouls n what not, I think Cousins along with most of the team don't take it too seriously in pre-season so I'm hoping for some better results in regards to foul #s for cousins this year. IT looked great as expected.

I'm really excited about our rookies. Ray looked great especially considering most of his time was spent trying to facilitate an offense against Tony Douglas (awesome on ball defender). He handled the ball very well n knocked down some open shots. McLemore looks to be an easy candidate for ROY once he works his way into big minutes. I didn't get a chance to watch him in summer league but I heard he improved in preaseason game 1. Nothing forced, and very quick and smooth pullup/release will make him an EXTREMELY valuable asset in shooting & defense that we have been looking for for awhile now.

Everyone else was hit/miss just solid play overall. Nothing at all for Jimmer I noticed though... any word on that?


PS. I almost started a game thread too. Seeing the board alive & active is always a good feeling. #KingsAllDay