GT #50 Sacramento Kings @ Washington Wizards 6pm 02/09/14

[hands11]

Yep, you caught me. This is the first game I've seen all season. Who is that tall white guy? What happened to Okafor? Where's AJ Price? Did Kevin Seraphin ever find his snake? I have so many questions...

Just saying, seems odd to think that Wall's thinking that far ahead based off one very average performance following a string of very strong performances. He did score 32 points and record 10 assists the game before.

But it really hasn't been just this game. He's been settling for jumpers more often. Driving to the basket obviously puts your body in more danger and it is one of Wall's best moves. I could see him limiting his driving for the sake of his health, at least until it is absolutely necessary. His shot wasn't falling in the second half and yet he continued to pass the ball off or settle for jumpers. I know Wall can be more aggressive, both offensively and defensively. If he is conserving his body for the playoffs then I'm totally fine with it. I expect him to turn it on in the playoffs.

Wouldnt be surprised if this is part of it and posted that just yesterday in the Wall thread.

Wizards come out strong again in the first half. The offense has ready been putting up a ton of first half points the last 4 games. But that 3rd quarter was terrible by Wall and Randy did nothing to stem the tide.

When the team needs a spark he just doesn't seem to know what to do. Wall was playing lazy and taking short cuts.. bad passes and quick long balls. Randy should have sat him. Temple while not as talented always plays with energy and thats what the team needed.

Wall was 0-5 in the 3rd with 2 turnover 1 assist 1 rebound and played 10:45 mins from the start of the half. The team had no pace, no organization. He just wasn't doing his job and the game feel apart.

Temple, Beal, Webster, Kevin, Gortat started to turn the tide to start the 4th. Then Wall did better down the stretch when he returned after they had more pace and energy.

Wall, Beal, Webster, Kevin, Nene then
Wall, Beal, Trevor A, Kevin, Nene

Kevin stepped helped with energy and Beal stepped with with 2x 3s that helped a lot.

Just glad this game is behind them and they won. Now onto someone easier like MEM and Houston on the road.

[hands11]

Well the kid is terrible so that's no surprise. Even Bennett is showing something.

You think Bennett is earning those minutes?

It's a little disturbing when guys who were afterthoughts as 2nd round picks or undrafted free agents are getting significantly more burn than Porter. I'm talking Matthew Delladedova, Archie Goodwin, Robbie Hummel & Toure Murry to name a few. And these are all guys playing for teams that are desperately trying to win games.

What can you really determine about a player in 207 total minutes? Nothing is gained by letting Porter rot on the bench.

Very true. Bennett's play to start the year was of a stench that fumed as bad a Maynor yet he still played. Hell, Maynor smelling as bad as himself played.

Again, in a game where the team needed energy in the 3rd eand Trevor A wasn't playing as well as he usually does, why not get the young man a few minutes of court time to help bring some energy and wake the team up with a new face. Even if its just a few minutes.

Granted, Rudy scored even less then TA and DMC was 8 under his season average so it worked out, but when the team needs a spark, Randy sits on his hands.

[jivelikenice]

I'm just glad I'm not a kings fan. I just watched Comcast Sportsnet and they had a few of the Kings post game interviews. DMC said shooters have to do a better job of knocking down shots when him and Rudy are doubled. Thomas said that offensively he got what he wanted -two players who combined for 40 fg attempts and 8 TOs....there are some teams/players that you just know won't have success that matches their talent and this is one of those teams. On one had it makes you appreciate that Ted/Ernie saw a failure in leadership and addressed it, although on the other hand they could have done it for much less....

[stevemcqueen1]

If you only saw the Kings in this game this year, you would think Cousins absolutely hates playing in Sacramento and his days are numbered there. So I wonder how true this is?

His body language was awful. I get the sense that he's trying to be the leader of that team and it just isn't him. Also, that group isn't really a team. It's just a collection of talent. They made moves this year, but they made the wrong moves. And they definitely have a leadership and chemistry problem. It's a problem when your franchise player and leader isn't making his teammates better.

They're the illustration of getting high draft picks and loading up on young talent gone wrong. They've had sooo much young talent walk through their doors and it's been an endless shuffle where they can't even make it out of being bad to being mediocre. A lot of their talent has had their careers stall out. Tyreke Evans and Thomas Robinson are already gone and look like they'll never live up to their potential. McLemore looks far away and Cousins and Thomas are putting up big numbers but playing losing basketball. It's depressing. And should be a cautionary tale for tankers.

[KF10]

As a Kings fan, Cousins looked completely awful today. This was the first time in a long time I've seen him like this. Especially, since the Rudy Gay trade. Since the trade, Cousins has been balling out. It's out of the ordinary to see him like this.

I think it's the combination of him mailing it in for an early vacation (all star break) and was party'd out from last night's party.

I wouldn't stock more into this tbh.

[tontoz]

I'm just glad I'm not a kings fan. I just watched Comcast Sportsnet and they had a few of the Kings post game interviews. DMC said shooters have to do a better job of knocking down shots when him and Rudy are doubled. Thomas said that offensively he got what he wanted -two players who combined for 40 fg attempts and 8 TOs....there are some teams/players that you just know won't have success that matches their talent and this is one of those teams. On one had it makes you appreciate that Ted/Ernie saw a failure in leadership and addressed it, although on the other hand they could have done it for much less....

DMC and Gay were a combined 5-27 and he is complaining about other players shooting?

[Zonkerbl]

Don't know if this is true or not, but I have to admit that I was wondering if the two of them were out partying last night. I mean, they both were terrible tonight. Lazy, disengaged, sloppy ... And Cousins was a total douchebag.

This was about as bad as I've seen Wall all year.

lol it's true bro. I just asked my friend the name of the bar and looked them up on twitter. This was the flier from the party:

Pretty sad. Hey, I was young once. But who is looking after these dudes? Who is advising them?

They have to realize that they are under the microscope.

Making millions, with another multiple million dollar contract possible a few years from now. Sacrifice for your craft. At least get some sleep and lay off the alcohol the night before games .

Are you kidding? John Wall is making sacrifices, playing through a hangover to recruit Cousins for DC!

[AFM]

Well the kid is terrible so that's no surprise. Even Bennett is showing something.

You think Bennett is earning those minutes?

It's a little disturbing when guys who were afterthoughts as 2nd round picks or undrafted free agents are getting significantly more burn than Porter. I'm talking Matthew Delladedova, Archie Goodwin, Robbie Hummel & Toure Murry to name a few. And these are all guys playing for teams that are desperately trying to win games.

What can you really determine about a player in 207 total minutes? Nothing is gained by letting Porter rot on the bench.

Well I saw Bennett hit some pull up jumpers, including a 3 with confidence, when we played CLE. I haven't seen Porter make one single decent play.
The fact that we're discussing the #1 and #3 pick actually hitting jumpers (wow!!!) is just sad.

[montestewart]

I'm just glad I'm not a kings fan. I just watched Comcast Sportsnet and they had a few of the Kings post game interviews. DMC said shooters have to do a better job of knocking down shots when him and Rudy are doubled. Thomas said that offensively he got what he wanted -two players who combined for 40 fg attempts and 8 TOs....there are some teams/players that you just know won't have success that matches their talent and this is one of those teams. On one had it makes you appreciate that Ted/Ernie saw a failure in leadership and addressed it, although on the other hand they could have done it for much less....

DMC and Gay were a combined 5-27 and he is complaining about other players shooting?

He was probably talking about the party the night before.

[montestewart]

Well the kid is terrible so that's no surprise. Even Bennett is showing something.

You think Bennett is earning those minutes?

It's a little disturbing when guys who were afterthoughts as 2nd round picks or undrafted free agents are getting significantly more burn than Porter. I'm talking Matthew Delladedova, Archie Goodwin, Robbie Hummel & Toure Murry to name a few. And these are all guys playing for teams that are desperately trying to win games.

What can you really determine about a player in 207 total minutes? Nothing is gained by letting Porter rot on the bench.

Well I saw Bennett hit some pull up jumpers, including a 3 with confidence, when we played CLE. I haven't seen Porter make one single decent play.
The fact that we're discussing the #1 and #3 pick actually hitting jumpers (wow!!!) is just sad.

Not too different from the way we've been talking about the #6 pick for nearly three years.

[AFM]

You think Bennett is earning those minutes?

It's a little disturbing when guys who were afterthoughts as 2nd round picks or undrafted free agents are getting significantly more burn than Porter. I'm talking Matthew Delladedova, Archie Goodwin, Robbie Hummel & Toure Murry to name a few. And these are all guys playing for teams that are desperately trying to win games.

What can you really determine about a player in 207 total minutes? Nothing is gained by letting Porter rot on the bench.

On the other hand, a team that has plans of making the playoffs wouldn't be playing Otto Porter (he's been very bad, by the way). Hopefully, he gets better over the off season, but you can't blame Wittman for not playing him.

Again 207 minutes tells you nothing about his ability. Especially when there was no training camp or preseason. Out of all rookies, he's freaking 33rd in total minutes played! Wittman is not even giving him a chance. Considering the other options on the bench, the risk of wearing down the current rotation and the fact a lot is riding on that pick, it would seem beneficial to give him consistent minutes, even if limited, in order for him to develop some type of continuity with his teammates and maybe even a bit of confidence.

Maybe he should get more minutes, but Randy sees this kid every day in practice. Maybe he just truly is awful.

[tontoz]

Maybe he should get more minutes, but Randy sees this kid every day in practice. Maybe he just truly is awful.

Or maybe the two starting calibur players in front of Porter are better options for a team trying to win now.

[stevemcqueen1]

On the other hand, a team that has plans of making the playoffs wouldn't be playing Otto Porter (he's been very bad, by the way). Hopefully, he gets better over the off season, but you can't blame Wittman for not playing him.

Again 207 minutes tells you nothing about his ability. Especially when there was no training camp or preseason. Out of all rookies, he's freaking 33rd in total minutes played! Wittman is not even giving him a chance. Considering the other options on the bench, the risk of wearing down the current rotation and the fact a lot is riding on that pick, it would seem beneficial to give him consistent minutes, even if limited, in order for him to develop some type of continuity with his teammates and maybe even a bit of confidence.

Maybe he should get more minutes, but Randy sees this kid every day in practice. Maybe he just truly is awful.

Randy isn't playing Porter because there aren't any minutes for him. Ariza and Webster are better and Randy is playing them instead. Porter can't play SG because he doesn't have a three ball yet and he can't play PF because he doesn't have the strength yet. SF is the only position on the roster where we actually have two good starters.

[AFM]

Again 207 minutes tells you nothing about his ability. Especially when there was no training camp or preseason. Out of all rookies, he's freaking 33rd in total minutes played! Wittman is not even giving him a chance. Considering the other options on the bench, the risk of wearing down the current rotation and the fact a lot is riding on that pick, it would seem beneficial to give him consistent minutes, even if limited, in order for him to develop some type of continuity with his teammates and maybe even a bit of confidence.

Maybe he should get more minutes, but Randy sees this kid every day in practice. Maybe he just truly is awful.

Randy isn't playing Porter because there aren't any minutes for him. Ariza and Webster are better and Randy is playing them instead. Porter can't play SG because he doesn't have a three ball yet and he can't play PF because he doesn't have the strength yet. SF is the only position on the roster where we actually have two good starters.

We were up comfortably for most of this game. Randy couldn't have gone with a Wall/Webster/Porter line up for a few minutes? Why draft Porter then?

[tontoz]

We were up comfortably for most of this game. Randy couldn't have gone with a Wall/Webster/Porter line up for a few minutes? Why draft Porter then?

Because they felt he was the BPA at 3, not to mention they fact that they only had one 3 on the roster and he was a year away from being a UFA.

[Zonkerbl]

I was going to say something and then I realized I didn't really care. Porter's a rookie with two vets in front of him. OMG IS IT THE APOCALYPSE?!?!?!

And you can't say Porter hasn't done anything good. He's made some jumpers. Just not a lot of them.

[mohammed10]

Maybe he should get more minutes, but Randy sees this kid every day in practice. Maybe he just truly is awful.

Randy cannot even remember his name...

[AFM]

We were up comfortably for most of this game. Randy couldn't have gone with a Wall/Webster/Porter line up for a few minutes? Why draft Porter then?

Because they felt he was the BPA at 3, not to mention they fact that they only had one 3 on the roster and he was a year away from being a UFA.

Okay, but he wasn't the BPA.

[Higga]

I'll take the W but that game was ugly. Up 17, you gotta put a terrible team away. That's a perfect "rest the starters" situation, especially with a back to back coming up.

As long as Witless is in charge we'll never be better than ~.500. Terrible coach is terrible.

[MikeTheKid]

We were up comfortably for most of this game. Randy couldn't have gone with a Wall/Webster/Porter line up for a few minutes? Why draft Porter then?

Because they felt he was the BPA at 3, not to mention they fact that they only had one 3 on the roster and he was a year away from being a UFA.

Okay, but he wasn't the BPA.

He was Ted's BPA cause he went to Gtown!!! Should've been Noel. Thank God no one listened to me cause I was Pro-Bennett