KINGS vs. Hawks

[KF10]

Salmons has been in a nose dive, career-wise, for the last couple of years. Dude will have one good game and four stinkers the next. Remove him out of the lineup please!

I'm starting to contemplate Outlaw as the starting SF but dude gets trigger happy and attempts difficult shots all the time, so I don't know lol

I kinda want to see Vasquez at SF, McLemore at SG and Isaiah at PG.

At PF, it's tricky. I like Patterson (when he is hitting his shots) but dude is a poor defender. Dude got killed by Paul Millsap yesterday. He fell for Millsap's head fakes/pump fakes all night. JT plays hard and is a solid rebounder but dude is an idiot on both sides of the floor. If I was Malone, I keep Paterson in the starting 5...for now. If Patterson can return back to his 2nd half/last season level, he is easily the undisputed starting PF by far for us.

[Nicky Nix Nook]

I really hope Moute is healthy soon so we can give him a look. It'd be hard to be worse than anything else we have at SF right now.

[KF10]

What happened to Patterson's shot? I don't know what his stats were, but it seemed like he was automatic in preseason.

I think he deserves some more time. To me, he seems like he's played at least a little better than his stats indicate. Like, I thought there was no way he had worse stats than JT, but apparently he does and in almost every category. Do my eyes betray me?

Thompson brings good energy and effort every game but dude is clueless on both sides of the floor. He is a disaster defensively, particularly on hedging PGs. Dude leaves his man and creates a huge gap in the floor. Offensively, he still makes rookie mistakes when he has the ball...offensive fouls...too much aggression on the ball lol. I remember in particular play where JT has the open shot at 15 feet but what does he do? Drives into the paint (which is crowded), gets called an offensive foul via knocking a player down smh.

Patterson is a good shooter and his shot will eventually come but I'm afraid that his defense is lacking and in turn, will hurt the team.

[KF10]

I really hope Moute is healthy soon so we can give him a look. It'd be hard to be worse than anything else we have at SF right now.

I just hope his defense is good as advertised. He is a non-factor offensively, other than, is a ball mover i.e. not a black hole.

[Nicky Nix Nook]

What happened to Patterson's shot? I don't know what his stats were, but it seemed like he was automatic in preseason.

I think he deserves some more time. To me, he seems like he's played at least a little better than his stats indicate. Like, I thought there was no way he had worse stats than JT, but apparently he does and in almost every category. Do my eyes betray me?

Thompson brings good energy and effort every game but dude is clueless on both sides of the floor. He is a disaster defensively, particularly on hedging PGs. Dude leaves his man and creates a huge gap in the floor. Offensively, he still makes rookie mistakes when he has the ball...offensive fouls...too much aggression on the ball lol. I remember in particular play where JT has the open shot at 15 feet but what does he do? Drives into the paint (which is crowded), gets called an offensive foul via knocking a player down smh.

Patterson is a good shooter and his shot will eventually come but I'm afraid that his defense is lacking and in turn, will hurt the team.

He's definitely not as bad as JT on defense, who among other deficiencies, bites on every damn head fake. Patterson isn't spectacular on D, but I still don't think I'd classify him as bad. Milsap made some pretty absurd shots.

Regardless, he needs to start hitting his shots. We really need someone to spread the floor consistently.

[Nicky Nix Nook]

Also, something that I don't think has been talked about.

Demarcus' attitude and body language was piss-poor last night. He's supposed to be the leader of this team, and during timeouts, he's facing away, pouting because he's frustrated. That's not what a good leader does. And it's only the fourth game in! That's disgraceful imo. And I love Demarcus, I have his jersey, and no one wants him to succeed more than me, but he needs to GROW THE F UP. He's got the keys to the franchise, he's got his contract, so there's no more excuses for his actions, young or not.

[blind prophet]

People say hey Cuz, you need to step up, he gets tripled teamed....

No one else on the court can do a dang thing, he starts getting pissed...

He works his butt off and no one else steps up gets pissed....

You know what, if he doesn't get pissed it will be do to us playing well or worse, him not caring any more.

[Nicky Nix Nook]

People say hey Cuz, you need to step up, he gets tripled teamed....

No one else on the court can do a dang thing, he starts getting pissed...

He works his butt off and no one else steps up gets pissed....

You know what, if he doesn't get pissed it will be do to us playing well or worse, him not caring any more.

I don't mind being pissed. Kobe gets pissed, but he leads, he doesn't check out. Cousins checked out last night. There's a shot I'm thinking about, in particular, where the team is huddled up and he's literally turned away with a scowl on his face. That is NOT what a franchise player does. I get it, he'll never be a Duncan type guy (he's one in a million), but leading is more than being the best player on the team, it's about setting an example and willing your team to compete. He didn't do that.

And yes, you are 100% right, other guys HAVE to step up. He can't do it alone, and I understand how frustrating it must be to get no help. But he has to learn how to deal with that frustration in a more productive way. Again, he checked. out. last night.

EDIT: And Kobe isn't perfect either, to be fair. But he is/was so good, he can afford to make some bad leadership calls.

[Wolfay]

You have to love the body language from Cousins there. If that attitude doesn't lead us to glory, I don't know what will!

[KF10]

You have to love the body language from Cousins there. If that attitude doesn't lead us to glory, I don't know what will!

Yeah, I'm glad someone notice that too. Dude looked dejected and separated when there is a timeout or whenever the camera shows the Kings bench.

[SacKingZZZ]

Cousins just simply wasn't into that game from the opening bell. Once it got tough he quit. Now, that's on him but there are another few things on the floor that feed into that and have to be changed to a degree. These last two games are exactly why I don't think putting his "butt down in the post" like so many around think it should be every play is a good idea. Number 1, Cuz can score in the post but he's not a great post player. Number 2, the vast array of the offensive talents he does have are going to be much better used with him facing the basket. He should post up some plays, just like this team should run SOME pick and roll, but this teams offensive scheme is more predictable than last season right now because that's almost all they are doing some games. When you couple that with not using the floor spacers you have on the floor as floor spacers then you are just setting yourself up to fail and fail miserably. Cousins owes his teammates one after that stinker he put out there. There is no excuse to just show up and give up regardless of what was going on around him.

[blind prophet]

You have to love the body language from Cousins there. If that attitude doesn't lead us to glory, I don't know what will!

I'd be kind of mad too

[Wolfay]

That body language doesn't scream anger to me. It's more like a grown man acting like petulant child.

The team's performance reflects my version better than yours I think.