sl1mshad33 wrote:SacTownKings4Life wrote:Pedro Pistolas wrote:Since Kevin came back the Kings haven't won a game. That's glaring to me.
Might I add that immediately prior to Martin's return, the Kings had already lost 8 of their last 10 games? You DO remember that we actually LOST
all of those close games, right?
Close games is the key term. We lost close games to teams like the Lakers, Cavs, and Suns. In the last 5 games (since K-Mart's return), we've lost by 10 or more points in every game except the Charlotte game, including to teams like the 76ers and Wizards. I am not blaming this all on one player. It takes a total team effort (or lack of) to lose these kinds of games, but at least before, when we were losing, we were competitive in those games until the very end, with a chance to actually win. A lot of the losses that the Kings had while K-Mart was out were due to lack of execution in the closing minutes; most of our losses in the last 5 games have been due to a total team collapse early in the game and the team's inability to fight its way back. I would prefer a well-fought, 'competitive loss' then getting blown out, and especially to teams that have no business blowing us out.
Whether it's by 1 point, or 100 points, a loss is a loss. No matter how you try to spin it, immediately prior to Martin's return, we LOST 8 of our last 10 games. Period.
sl1mshad33 wrote:SacTownKings4Life wrote:Might I ALSO add that Martin made his return ON THE ROAD, where the Kings only have 3 wins all year thus far? You act like we had like the league's best record without Martin, and only JUST NOW are we downward spiraling.
Look, for the sake of argument, I am going to categorize 'bad' losses as games being lost by 10 or more points. In the 11 games that Martin has played in, the Kings have lost 7 by 10+ points. In the 31 games that he missed, the Kings lost 6 games by 10+ points (*Note: I excluded the last Cleveland game because the Kings took that one to overtime). There you go: 7 bad losses in 11 games with Martin versus 6 bad losses in 31 games without.
For the sake of argument, I am going to categorize losses as games in which a team fails to possess at least a 1 point lead by the end of the game. In 16 road games played without Martin, the Kings have failed to possess a lead of at least 1 point as the game clock struck 0.00 in 13 of those games. (*Note: I included the last Cleveland game even though the Kings took that one into overtime). There you go: 13 losses in 16 games without Martin versus 6 losses in 6 games WITH Martin. DRASTIC regression, huh?
sl1mshad33 wrote:SacTownKings4Life wrote:IF you wanna blame somebody, blame the whole TEAM for deciding to take a vacation in the middle of the season. Unless you mean to imply that Martin pulled a Gilbert Arenas (gun) on the team and forced them to start missing shots and playing like crap.
Like I said in another post, it takes a total team (lack of) effort to lose games. But in our losses with KMart, we have been even less competitive, which is an especially bad thing. The last thing you want is for young guys to stop giving a crap and to play with indifference. At least when the team was losing close games to teams like the Lakers and Cavs, no one could really accuse them of being apathetic.
So what's better standings-wise? To lose a game that we hung around in for 47 minutes, only to get our hearts ripped out in the final minute, or to lose a game in which nobody competed and the outcome was never in doubt? Do we get special points for achieving "moral victories"? If we accumulate enough of these "special points", can we trade them in for actual WINS later on down the line?
sl1mshad33 wrote:SacTownKings4Life wrote:Bottom line. We had TWO men in double figures tonight. Martin wasn't one of them, but he only took 7 shots anyway. Meaning that there were plenty of shots for other people. Why aren't people stepping up like they were doing before? The presence of one player should not make a legitimate excuse for an ENTIRE TEAM failing to compete. That's just ridiculous.
The team is going to have bad games with or without Martin and this one was one of them, but I have the impression that he, in good measure, kills the team aspect of the game by being a ball dominant player.
Kevin Martin is a ball dominant player? So you mean to tell me that Kevin Martin clears everybody out and goes one-on-one every time he gets the ball? Cause I know a certain
other player who does this quite frequently, yet nobody ever seems to bat an eyelash about that. Perhaps because that player in question puts up nice Sportscenter-esque numbers and just so happens to to have single handedly won us a couple games. Now that's all fine and good, however people seem to have forgotten that that same player has ALSO single handedly LOST us a couple games by dominating the ball and attempting to go one-on-one for the glory, with no success. That includes a couple of those aforementioned "close games".
My point is, you can't single out one person for allegedly being a "ball dominant" player (which he isn't anyway), when he's isn't the ONLY player on the roster who fits that description.
But really, people aren't asking the right questions right now.
People are SO fixated on trading Martin that all they can see and comprehend are faults and negatives. They look and search and PRAY for any excuse to point fingers and make accusations and assumptions. This horrible road trip is JUST THE THING people need to say "AHA! The Kings are losing with Martin, so that means he doesn't fit in and we should trade him RIGHT NOW!" Well guess what? We were STILL losing games without him anyway. A loss is a loss, no matter how close or how far away. WE LOST 8 OUT OF 10 GAMES BEFORE HE EVEN CAME BACK! You cannot argue against this.
And with all this scapgoating, nobody is paying any mind to the REAL matter of WHY we are losing.
Looking at the box scores from the past several games (I didn't get the chance to watch them, with school starting up), it appears as though we aren't ever getting more than 2-3 players in double figure scoring in any given night. We used to average around 4-5. Can somebody tell me where Omri Casspi's, Donte Green's, Jason Thompson's, Spencer Hawes', Beno Udrih's GAME have all gone? ALL AT THE SAME TIME?! They're just not there. *milk carton* "have you seen me?"
Why are the role players suddenly NOT playing with the same heart, hustle, and energy that they had been playing with for the whole year? What happened? You can't just blindly say "Martin happened". He happened to the ENTIRE TEAM at once? That's just ignorant and ludicrous. Players need to be held accountable for their inability to produce at a level that they've shown they are CLEARLY capable of competing at. Not bailed out with "It's all HIS fault" excuses.
Again I say, people act as though the Kings possessed the league's BEST RECORD without Martin in the lineup, and that now that he's back, he has SINGLE HANDEDLY sent us into the league cellar. This is far from the case. In reality, we were barely even in the PLAYOFF race as it was, and were sliding fast. A whopping 15-21 without Kevin Martin, we now sit at 15-27. OMG! What has he DONE to us?!?!?
And, hypothetically, if Francisco Garcia were to make his OWN return to the lineup, and the Kings continued to lose, should he be traded too? Considering that would imply that HE doesn't fit in with our allustrious "winning" culture either. I mean, it's only fair.
If we TRADE Martin, and the guy we recieve does NOT translate into more wins IMMEDIATELY (first 5-6 games tops), should THAT played in turn be traded? And would that render the trade of Kevin Martin as a failure? Or is it considered addition by subtraction? (my gut tells me that the latter will be the most popular sentiment)
