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At the break here is the standings



4.5 games back from the 8th seed isn't impossible.


Anyone who has watched this team play knows what's holding them back, its the defense. Often times we are left scratching our head as to WTF is going on. Honestly, half of the time I haven't a clue as to what's the plan on D. Well today I came across this breakdown which I found helpful, check it out:

http://www.sactownroyalty.com/2016/2/11/10970578/the-defense-is-broken



So can the Kings fix this? If we are to take this breakdown as fact, then I'd say it's pretty F'ing simple do fix. Dump the whole idea and go back to a basic defensive scheme and start from there. What's your thoughts? Can the Kings fix their defense before play starts back up?

short answer would be NO... a more detailed answer would be Hell Noooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!!

I don't think we can fix the defense, It's not just the players or effort, but the coach.

We may be able to improve however, but until Karl shows me he can get the guys to play with high effort and we start limiting the wide open 3's I'm going to remain skeptical.

The Kings need to go 19-10 for the rest of the season to have a shot at .500 (41-41).

blind prophet wrote:I don't think we can fix the defense, It's not just the players or effort, but the coach.

We may be able to improve however, but until Karl shows me he can get the guys to play with high effort and we start limiting the wide open 3's I'm going to remain skeptical.

So that's the thing, if Karl stops playimg his stupid zone D, those open 3's should go away.

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The only way to fix the defense is to fix the roster. The only chance at noticeable and consistent improvement is to bring in guys who are proven defensively. Arguably, we do not have a guy on our roster who we can say has proven himself to be a high level NBA defender. Certainly, we have guys who have played on good to great defensive teams, but that obviously hasn't proven to be enough.

We don't just need ONE guy to be our stopper. We need multiple guys who can play on that end. Bring in high level NBA defenders and they'll trump Karl's defensive neglect.

City of Trees wrote:

blind prophet wrote:I don't think we can fix the defense, It's not just the players or effort, but the coach.

We may be able to improve however, but until Karl shows me he can get the guys to play with high effort and we start limiting the wide open 3's I'm going to remain skeptical.

So that's the thing, if Karl stops playimg his stupid zone D, those open 3's should go away.

Sent from my Z970 using Tapatalk

That "mock zone/drive to the middle/cluster cluck" whatever the hell it is, well its terrible. I'm not sure if it would work with anyone. But to be fair maybe he could use some gimmicks with a better defensive roster?

I don't believe it though.

How hard would you try defensively if there was little you could do to stop spot up 3's from the corner?

blind prophet wrote:

City of Trees wrote:

blind prophet wrote:I don't think we can fix the defense, It's not just the players or effort, but the coach.

We may be able to improve however, but until Karl shows me he can get the guys to play with high effort and we start limiting the wide open 3's I'm going to remain skeptical.

So that's the thing, if Karl stops playimg his stupid zone D, those open 3's should go away.

Sent from my Z970 using Tapatalk

That "mock zone/drive to the middle/cluster cluck" whatever the hell it is, well its terrible. I'm not sure if it would work with anyone. But to be fair maybe he could use some gimmicks with a better defensive roster?

I don't believe it though.

How hard would you try defensively if there was little you could do to stop spot up 3's from the corner?

Yeah the more I think about it, the less I think the Kings need to make a big trade. Teams are simply exploiting soft spots in the zone...... there is a reason teams don't play zone consistently, every game, every possession... And the same zone scheme at that

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City of Trees wrote:

blind prophet wrote:

City of Trees wrote:So that's the thing, if Karl stops playimg his stupid zone D, those open 3's should go away.

Sent from my Z970 using Tapatalk

That "mock zone/drive to the middle/cluster cluck" whatever the hell it is, well its terrible. I'm not sure if it would work with anyone. But to be fair maybe he could use some gimmicks with a better defensive roster?

I don't believe it though.

How hard would you try defensively if there was little you could do to stop spot up 3's from the corner?

Yeah the more I think about it, the less I think the Kings need to make a big trade. Teams are simply exploiting soft spots in the zone...... there is a reason teams don't play zone consistently, every game, every possession... And the same zone scheme at that

Sent from my Z970 using Tapatalk

We could use 1 defensive SG, even in his monstrosity of a scheme. Is why I was thinking Shumpert because he's a really big guard. But even then, would it matter much?

Ben's cheap too.

So that's my proposal, and it brings forth other problems like injury risk, and an inflated contract.

At this point I don't think there's any one factor you can point to.

The defensive strategy sucks. (As detailed elsewhere)
The lineups suck. (Playing small hurts especially given our strategy)
The players' effort sucks. (Self-explanatory)
The players' communication sucks. (Player is about to be screened - not a single teammate calls it out)
The personnel sucks. (We don't have a single wing player that is known for his defense)

On the bright side, that means we can certainly improve in a number of ways.

That win in Philly was such a huge swing. 11 games under with only 30 games remaining would have been impossible. 9 under with the potential for teams above the Kings to punt the season at the trade deadline gives the slight glimmer of hope.

But as said, without some type of fundamental change defensively (trades would help but not fix) there is little hope. You can't continue to rely on inhuman offensive output from random pieces like they have in almost every win.

bleeds_purple wrote:At this point I don't think there's any one factor you can point to.

The defensive strategy sucks. (As detailed elsewhere)
The lineups suck. (Playing small hurts especially given our strategy)
The players' effort sucks. (Self-explanatory)
The players' communication sucks. (Player is about to be screened - not a single teammate calls it out)
The personnel sucks. (We don't have a single wing player that is known for his defense)

On the bright side, that means we can certainly improve in a number of ways.

For the style of defense Karl should be playing I think a lineup of DC, Gay, Omri, Acy/Willie, and Cuz is his best shot. If he does think it's all about effort and ability then he needs to start playing these guys the bulk of the minutes. If you are going to play a half *** zone off the pick and roll you better have length and athletic ability at every spot where you have to over help or switch.

blind prophet wrote:

City of Trees wrote:

blind prophet wrote:I don't think we can fix the defense, It's not just the players or effort, but the coach.

We may be able to improve however, but until Karl shows me he can get the guys to play with high effort and we start limiting the wide open 3's I'm going to remain skeptical.

So that's the thing, if Karl stops playimg his stupid zone D, those open 3's should go away.

Sent from my Z970 using Tapatalk

That "mock zone/drive to the middle/cluster cluck" whatever the hell it is, well its terrible. I'm not sure if it would work with anyone. But to be fair maybe he could use some gimmicks with a better defensive roster?

I don't believe it though.

How hard would you try defensively if there was little you could do to stop spot up 3's from the corner?

Agreed. There's been a big surge of the "pack line defense" at all levels the past 5-6 years. Because of it we've had terrible close outs and as we all know its led to defensive breakdowns. We over help because we can't guard the ball. Transition threes. Bad pick and roll defense leading to guys turning the corner and it's back to the marry go round. IQ of this team is high...but it doesn't matter how high when you can't guard the basketball and prevent penetration

I believe if we had two or three guys who have a history of being good on ball defenders, this whole team will change.

SacKingZZZ wrote:

bleeds_purple wrote:At this point I don't think there's any one factor you can point to.

The defensive strategy sucks. (As detailed elsewhere)
The lineups suck. (Playing small hurts especially given our strategy)
The players' effort sucks. (Self-explanatory)
The players' communication sucks. (Player is about to be screened - not a single teammate calls it out)
The personnel sucks. (We don't have a single wing player that is known for his defense)

On the bright side, that means we can certainly improve in a number of ways.

For the style of defense Karl should be playing I think a lineup of DC, Gay, Omri, Acy/Willie, and Cuz is his best shot. If he does think it's all about effort and ability then he needs to start playing these guys the bulk of the minutes. If you are going to play a half *** zone off the pick and roll you better have length and athletic ability at every spot where you have to over help or switch.

I posted before about my desire to see Gay at the 2 (something we saw under Malone) but I doubt that ever happens.