Kings vs Phoenix

[ADoaN17]

Grant Nappear said the starters tonight will probably be the starters for the rest of the preseason and to open the season.

[blind prophet]

Got some cheap seats for this one.

[ADoaN17]

Got some cheap seats for this one.

Me too. There were lower bowl seats for less that $20.

[blind prophet]

Got some cheap seats for this one.

Me too. There were lower bowl seats for less that $20.

A season ticket holder was given them by Vivek and company for free, so we are the lucky recipients, if they are gonna be at less capacity during these times why not.

Good marketing.

For that price though, if I can get them that cheap then maybe we will go again for a preseason game.

[ADoaN17]

Vasquez looked great tonight.

[Cruel_Ruin]

Cousins toyed with both Gortat and Len today. Fun to watch.

[KF10]

Cousins has shut me up in these last couple of games. This is exactly what I've wanted to see. A Cousins that is playing to his strengths and intelligently too! Wow!

[Wolfay]

Cousins has shut me up in these last couple of games. This is exactly what I've wanted to see. A Cousins that is playing to his strengths and intelligently too! Wow!

Me too. His defense has been inconsistent though, and I would like to see him him put up these kinds of numbers against better competition, but for now I'm happily eating crow.

[SacKingZZZ]

If you're looking for reasons why Cuz is finally looking like Cuz, look around him. It's the play calls, it's what's going on around him, he's really not playing any differently at all. Better spacing, actual playsets, etc. make all the difference in the world. So happy this team is finally playing half court basketball! Now the key is during the season when defenses adjust they need to rely on his passing. If he can't get you 30 points in a game because defenses are crashing in, then let him get you 10 assists instead.

Really liking Vasquez too. He's comfortable not having to handle the ball the entire time and is just fine setting up the offense. That's the most unselfish type of PG there is.

[bibby1023]

No love for what Jimmer did last night? I thought he played really well at the shooting guard spot with both Thomas and Vazquez next to him. His stroke was on, he caused some havoc on defense with a couple of nice strips in the lane, and set up his teammates and made the right reads on offense (in particular his drive to the basket and kick out to Patterson for a wide open corner three was real sweet). You can't doubt this kids basketball iq, I just hope he's winning over Malone this preseason and he'll get some opportunities when the season starts.

As for cousins, I think I only saw him shoot one jumper last night (I was at the game as well). Everything else was either spin movies off of back downs, drives to the basket, or put backs. He had a couple of welcome to the nba moments towards rookie Alex Len and made gortat look like a fool on a couple occasions as well. He shot pretty poorly from the free throw line for his standards but man did he look great. I'm calling for Cousins for all star game this year with some actual structure in the offense.

[Snuppe]

I loved Jimmer as well last night. When he gets to start he is playing a lot differently. I acutally liked the Vaz/Jimmer backcourt but yeah.. I'm not much of a Thornton anyways.

Loves when Cousins gets down low and is playing in the post! If he keeps the same stats he will be an All-star and a candidate for MIP imo.

[KF10]

Yeah, Jimmer had an excellent game yesterday. If he keeps this up, he should get important minutes in the regular season imo.

[pillwenney]

We definitely have flexibility in the backcourt. That's part of the benefit of having a big pure PG like Vasquez, which is why guys like that can be so valuable. He can play with literally every backcourt player on our team and many in the league (will be even more true if he continues to steadily improve his outside shot). I'm also of the belief that Vasquez can be a noticeably better defender at SG. His problem guarding PGs pretty much boils down to quickness, so I think he should be passable guarding SGs.

I've always liked Thornton, but McLemore alone seems to probably guarantee his days are somewhat numbered here. I don't think you really want them playing together much (don't think McLemore has SF size, and of course either at PG would be laughable), and Ben is showing that he should be able to play starter's minutes pretty soon.

I like Marcus, and I'll most primarily miss his clutchness when he's gone, but I think he's gone by the deadline. I think we'll start him at the beginning of the season, pump up his value as much as we can, and then move him. If we can get him back to being that 19PPG scorer, then his contract really looks pretty nice, and a couple teams will surely want him.

That would leave our guard rotation as some combination of Vasquez/Isaiah/McLemore/Jimmer, unless one of them is also moved.

[pillwenney]

One idea from before is still going after Deng. I think we could swing Jimmer for a 1st from Orlando (they are owed a 2014 1st from either New York or Denver--either way, likely early 20's), which we'd send to Chicago with Thornton.

Vasquez\Thomas\McCallum
McLemore\Salmons
Deng\Mbah a Moute
Thompson\Patterson\*Landry
Cousins\Hayes

The big to go IMO would have to be Thompson or Hayes. I'd learn towards JT simply because his contract is longer, and I feel like we could still use Hayes' veteran leadership and superior D more than JT's offense.

Not sure who would want JT right now though. Maybe his value will go up this year.

[KF10]

If you're looking for reasons why Cuz is finally looking like Cuz, look around him. It's the play calls, it's what's going on around him, he's really not playing any differently at all. Better spacing, actual playsets, etc. make all the difference in the world. So happy this team is finally playing half court basketball! Now the key is during the season when defenses adjust they need to rely on his passing. If he can't get you 30 points in a game because defenses are crashing in, then let him get you 10 assists instead.

Really liking Vasquez too. He's comfortable not having to handle the ball the entire time and is just fine setting up the offense. That's the most unselfish type of PG there is.

He wasn't playing differently at all?

Dude attempted like 1 jumper yesterday. Everything else were face up and attack or post up and destroy. In comparison in the first pre-season game, dude thought he was a jumpshooter! lol

Less jumpers version of Cousins = BEAUTIFUL
Jumpshot (& missing) version of COUSINS = BARF

[SacKingZZZ]

If you're looking for reasons why Cuz is finally looking like Cuz, look around him. It's the play calls, it's what's going on around him, he's really not playing any differently at all. Better spacing, actual playsets, etc. make all the difference in the world. So happy this team is finally playing half court basketball! Now the key is during the season when defenses adjust they need to rely on his passing. If he can't get you 30 points in a game because defenses are crashing in, then let him get you 10 assists instead.

Really liking Vasquez too. He's comfortable not having to handle the ball the entire time and is just fine setting up the offense. That's the most unselfish type of PG there is.

He wasn't playing differently at all?

Dude attempted like 1 jumper yesterday. Everything else were face up and attack or post up and destroy. In comparison in the first pre-season game, dude thought he was a jumpshooter! lol

Less jumpers version of Cousins = BEAUTIFUL
Jumpshot (& missing) version of COUSINS = BARF

Once again the play calls have a lot to do with it. If you go back to the first game there were a ton of simple iso's with bad spacing for him, and the jumpers he took were usually tied to the fact that he had no lane. He took more jumpers in the game before this and he dominated there too, they were good shots especially since he had a few easy ones before hand. He's now in a real triple threat position most times when he has the ball. Also guys are starting to cut for him at the right times. Much better play calling going on right now, I'm starting to really like having a real coach who knows how to get something out of the talent he has available to him.