Sactown Royalty: FanPosts

All Is Not Lost

2009-11-06T23:58:02Z

Although my prediction of us shocking the world and making the playoffs just got a whole lot dimmer, well damn right dark, all is not lost. True we lost one of the top 5 scorers in the league, top 10 sixth-man, and maybe for a few games Nocioni (nothing comes to mind) but we'll be o.k. Some of you may think Im crazy after this, but I believe our savior is already here, and no its not Evans. It's none other than Donte Greene (take a few deep breaths and here me out). If im wrong at least you'll have something fun to joke about while we're losing. I've been a fan ever since the big 40 point summer league game he had as a rookie. Some may say summer league doesn't mean anything, but 40 points is 40 points. The point Im trying to make is that he will probably get to see some time on the floor, hopefully a lot of time, as I've never seen him play more than 10 minutes. Don't turn him into Ike Diogu Pt.2. If Nocioni ends up missing a few games we will be down to 2 wing-men, so he could at least get 20-plus minutes. I say its time to let him play his game. We need defense, which he has been working on, but he can score which i think we'll be needing more of. We all compare him to Rashard Lewis and it would be great if he turned out that way, but the only way to find out is to let him play.

Rotation:

Pg: Tyreke, Sergio

Sg: Beno, Udoka

Sf: Casspi, Greene

Pf: Thompson, K9, Brockman

C: Hawes, Thompson, May

On another note, I read that the bulls were thinking about getting rid of Tyrus Thomas. Do we have a shot at getting him. We could probably get a back-up 5 also.

Kings: Tyrus Thomas, Jerome James/Aaron Gray

Bulls: Nocioni, ?

What to expect from Ime Udoka (psst, it's defense)

2009-11-06T03:25:28Z

I'm not what you'd call a huge Kings fan, but I've often come to this site from the myriad of links I find that Blazersedge has to the copious amounts of excellent coverage here. Seeing as how the Kings just signed one of my favorite players and fellow Portlander Ime Udoka, I thought I could maybe give some insight into their new and underrated acquisition. Also, to voice my bitterness that he did not become a Blazer again, evidently not by the coaches or general managers choice. Thanks Paul "now second richest owner in the NBA to that one guy who bought the Nets" Allen. You have made my dream of getting a Udoka Blazers jersey UN-POSSIBLE!

According to adjusted plus minus (found here) Udoka has been quite valuable over the last two seasons to the Spurs, even with modest minutes. He wasn't just carried by Duncan and the other top spurs players, performing well in many weaker units, the Bowen-Gooden-Mason-Thomas-Udoka five for example.

PER, a statistic favoring offense, doesn't look very kindly on Udoka, but his defensive rating and defensive win shares relative to his minutes are quite good. (stats from here) A new defensive metric, found here, rates Udoka very highly, giving him a 98, which puts him in the somewhere around or in the company of the 14th and 15th ranked defenders in the league, with the caveat that he played considerably less minutes. For quick reference here is the top 15 defenders list.
Rank    Team    Player                    Rating    Std Error    95% Confidence Interval
1           BOS    Kevin Garnett                90   2.4    (84.9, 94.2)
2           ORL    Dwight Howard           90                     1.7    (86.2, 92.9)
3           CLE    LeBron James            92                     1.9    (88.3, 95.6)
4           LAC    Marcus Camby             92                     2.2    (88.2, 96.7)
5           CHA    Gerald Wallace           93                 2.0    (89.1, 96.8)
6           NOH    Chris Paul                    95                    1.8    (91.5, 98.7)
7           POR    Joel Przybilla                95      2.2    (90.5, 99.3)
8           BOS    Rajon Rondo                96                    2.0    (92.0, 99.8)
9           CLE    Anderson Varejao        96                    2.1    (92.1, 100.3)
10         UTA    Andrei Kirilenko            96                    2.4    (91.7, 101.3)
11         HOU    Luis Scola                    97                    2.0    (93.0, 100.7)
12         LAL    Lamar Odom                 97                    2.0    (93.5, 101.4)
13   SAS    Tim Duncan                  97                    2.0    (93.7, 101.3)
14         DEN    Chris Andersen           98                    2.6    (92.6, 102.7)
15         LAL    Trevor Ariza                    98                    2.2    (93.9, 102.6)

His 3pt% took quite a dive last season, but one should expect at least a mild bounce back in that department. The Pro Basketball Prospectus Guide projects Udoka to shoot 3's at a respectable .368% clip with a resurgence in overall fg%.

I haven't approached Udoka with every advanced metric or stat, I haven't seen him play very often in the last couple of years and obviously I've got the fan bias, but I think what I have shown would support the idea that Udoka would be a fine addition as a role player on a contending team, which, uh... the Kings, um, aren't. Oops, that was awkward. But for what was available, the Kings got a nice player on the cheap who will work hard and contribute. So don't feel too bad and enjoy this story of Udoka that has made the internet rounds, in which he takes "people out like in Mortal Kombat" It has been in various places but originally conveyed here, by former teammate Gabe Muoneke.

THE IME UDOKA STORY

It’s a trip when you get to know people. Ime was so quiet and I figured he was just some guy who could play with a Nigerian father. Well, folks in S.A., don’t be fooled. That dude in an Afr-I-CAN! I mean damn! The only thing non-African about him is his accent. We went to Nigeria, man… When they brought out the food I figured uh oh… He aint eatin’ th… What the?! Ime was tearing that Fu-fu (thank Jay-Z for everyone knowing what that is now) to shreads. I asked him about his adornment of the vittles. He said that’s all he ate growing up. Imagine my surprise when I saw he must have grown up doing the African ju-jitsu too.

When the National Team went to Algeria for the African Championships in Algiers, every team was on edge because the Top 3 squads got the invite to the World Championships. So after we lost to Angola in the semis and had to play Algeria for the third spot, they knew, we knew, everyone knew they had no shot. First quarter… Tactics. African ball, man. Trust me: as corrupt as can be. Despite all the cheating from the three-man (North African) refereeing crew they just couldn’t beat us. So the coach sent in their best player, who was injured but came in with a purpose. I think his name was Ali Bidane or something. We had the ball out of bounce under. He guarded me. As the ref handed us the ball, he turned, looked at me as if there was not a game going on. And pop! Not an elbow, not even a signature yours truly gutter. He decked me right in the jaw. I couldn’t believe it. And come on. I freely admit when I throw cheap shots. I wouldn’t hide it if I started to. I mean, I’m in the middle of basically middle eastern country playing the local team. I know better (read on to see my contradiction). He nailed me, we turned it over, and yes, my Rodman 101 class did well. I looked up court, saw both refs back and calmly asked him in by most polite French, "Pardon me sir, I object to you striking me." Next thing you know… Both teams on the court going at it. Wow.

Imagine my surprise! (My cheeks hurt). That wasn’t the real brawl. After we won was the real issue. After the game, they were waiting for us to come out of the locker room. And seriously, I didn’t start it. Kingsley Ogwudire was in front of our team in an all-out tirade in his best Arabic. The next thing you know, there were three Algerian players on him. Everyone was engaged in combat save me, if you can believe it. And lo and ehold… Ime! He was taking people out like in Mortal Kombat. Finish him! Incredible. I was so out of it as I had five guys I was fighting (oh yeah, the crowd jumped in as the fight spilled over to the court of the championship game of Senegal and Angola).

In the middle of the whole thing I heard Ime, literally in mid-swing of another opponent say,"Watch back, Gabe" and he calmly, I mean calmly, smeared a guy who, as I turned to see his warning, jumped from the stands with a chair to probably kill me or knock me out to where the crowd would have. I mean, Ime caught the guy in mid air with a fist and calmly continued his dispacthing of oncoming people. He and other guys (yes, me too) were whoopin’ so many people the crowd backed up. True to the letter! But Ime had the most notches by far. As we retreated to the locker room to kind chants of, "You cudly blackies! We highly doubt your ability to leave this gym with lives intact" in French, (it might have been a bad translation) all I could do was marvel at Ime. This guy, I thought, was a quiet American guy was standing there – all his stuff gone (gym bag, wallet, shoes, jersey) – with a stick in his hand we tore off the walls of the locker room in the middle of North Africa quite literally with our lives on the line… laughing. All the while I was texting my wife that I loved her and might have a hard time seeing her again while she was watching the whole incident on BBC News. And Ime… laughing. He is and always will be my 9ja broda. Ime… Wetin happen bros? Abi na notin. Notin dey happen. To this day I don’t know how we got out of there. But that night we ate like kings at the Nigerian Embassy. And Ime was with us… Killing his Fu-fu.

Tell me how I could have seen a thing like that if I had made the NBA out of college! You just can’t make this stuff up.

Shalom.

Martin MRI?

2009-11-05T17:37:02Z

Kevin Martin will have an MRI on his wrist Thursday, a night after scoring 29 points and grabbing 11 rebounds in a loss to Atlanta.

He was questionable for Wednesday's game due to a left wrist bruise, but was able to play through it. Here's to hoping the MRI doesn't bring any bad news along with it. Nov. 5 - 10:09 am et

This is from rotoworld.....is anyone else worried about Martin getting an MRI? I mean, he did a hell of a job last night (29pts,2ast,11rebs,1stl) with this injury and still shot very well with it (11-22FGA, 2-5 3pointers, 5-6 FTA). I'm hoping he can play through it like a star would (Kobe and his pinkie?) since it is his offhand and develop leadership that this team needs.....

LTTGs view Kings vs Hawks

2009-11-05T07:13:56Z

Well, it wasn’t a good effort in the 4th quarter. Most of the team seemed to have their heads down even though the game was still close until very late. It felt a little too much like last year to me. No one seemed to want the ball (or know what to do with it) at the end except Kevin Martin – who was mostly being doubled – and the rest of the team stood on their hands too much waiting for him to make a play. The derth of energy and confidence at times was upsetting. Even Casspi seemed to suffer from it. I think some it sprung from the lack of clearly executed plays, which was also strange as they seemed to be on the road to straightening that out against Memphis. It was a definite backslide team trust wise. That truth is that clean execution was missing most of the game, it was very clunky – the hawks just waited until the end to exploit it.

A theme through out the game was the constant lay-up drills the Hawks ran on just about everyone. I believe they scored 66 points in the paint. (cough cough) I’m all for JT and Hawes staying out of foul trouble – but maybe use a few hard ones at judicious times especially when you have a few available late. Noce and Brockman seemed to have no trouble with that and I was frankly surprised when the Brockness was quickly pulled after a nice hard foul which seemed to discourage (I believe it was) Josh Smith. I’m not removing the blame from the guards as many of those point paints came from Atlanta guards but our guys generally were (except for some fast breaks) right with them. It then becomes the big men’s responsibility to lay in a little pain.

The hawks do look like a team that has been playing together for a few years now and know how to execute very efficiently. They did the same thing to Portland last night - So there’s that. It did seem like the Kings were the more tired team at the end which was puzzling.

You saw it, in the end we just didn't get loose balls or make plays that were there for the making and taking.

A few specifics:

Kevin Martin (bad wrist) had an excellent game as you know, 11 rebounds from your 2, that’s admirable but you wonder what the total rebound numbers would have been without that. Kevin played very well, Beno played well and JT played pretty well.

I thought JTs final numbers were a little deceiving as at least half of his (8) offensive rebounds were off several of his own point blank misses. I’d have liked to see him dunk it a time or three rather than those soft lay-ups. He hit his FTs which was great to see.

Tyreke certainly had some good moments, but he also looked like a rookie-not-quite-sure-what-to-do on many possessions. They blocked his lay-ups four times and he waaay over dribbled on several possessions ala JSalmons mixed with some chucking late. He’s still finding his way, I hope its not That way.

Noce started strong then disappeared. That may be unfair; he stopped making any plays though, those rebounds he was getting early turned into off the fingertips to Hawks.

Hawes was pretty busy with Horford all night and they mostly cancelled each other out. A bit of a victory for Hawes I suppose though Horford came out ahead slightly. I’m not sure why he didn’t drag Horford out and hit a few jumpers – but perhaps Horford did to Hawes what Hawes did to him. Spence has got to take a few of those shots out there though, miss or make. Its his advantage and he’s got to try to exploit it.

As Tokyo just pointed out - I also thought the substitution patterns were pretty strange. Casspi makes a play and is pulled etc...

Jamal Crawford did whatever he wanted out there and we had no answer for him. Like last night against the Blazers he was the difference in the game. That final weapon a good team needs.

Sweet New Kings Pics!

2009-11-05T03:24:45Z

I just got back from the latest Kings photo shoot. The Players are looking as good as ever.

For example, our buddies from Washington posed for the following heartwarming shot:

More photos after the jump.

Our foreign small forward, Garcasspi, wasn't available at the photo shoot (due to injury), but here's a pic provided by team photographers:

Our sexy, unshaven Benoc also smiled for the cameras:

The young, freakishly athletic Evanson will bring nightmares to all:

Quinté Grouby still needs to prove whether he was worth the two late first round picks:

Unfortunately, Grant Napear seems to break every camera capable of taking high-res pictures.

Perimeter defense - The lost art

2009-11-04T14:21:41Z

I've been thinking about this topic for some time and feel the necessity to open this up for discussion. Today's NBA has EVOLVED dramatically from just a short decade ago. Today's NBA is downright dominated by ultra-quick point guards that can get to the rim at will. Think about it. Tony Parker, Chris Paul, Derrick Rose, DJ Augustin, Raymond Felton, Russell Westbrook, Brandon Jennings, Jonny Flynn, Rajon Rondo, Devin Harris, Aaron Brooks, Louis Williams, Mo Williams, Ty Lawson, TJ Ford, Mike Conley, Jameer Nelson, Gilbert Arenas are all PG's having a varying amount of success in the league today. I attribute this DIRECTLY to the no-hand check rule. PG play has burst onto the scene as one, if not the #1, attack from offense.

I then turned around and thought about how to defend against this HUGE in flux of quick PG play. And then I realized something. TYREKE EVANS. Geoff Petrie is AHEAD of the curve here folks. Taking a look at NBA PG's that can keep these guys in FRONT of them is minimal. Perimeter defense is at a premium. I see Chauncey Billups, Rajon Rondo and Russell Westbrook as the PG's today that are renowned lock-down defenders. The rest of these guys, don't offer much. If we're to be a good defensive team, it begins at the PG position. What better way to do this, than to stick a guy with a near 7 foot wing span that can potentially keep up with these guys. Even if he gets burnt occassional his heigth + wingspan often times can help him recover and still make a play on the ball.

This same holds true on the wing positions. Getting 'lockdown' defense from the perimeter is becoming more and more of a premium. If you look in the scoring standings it's DOMINATED by wing players and Point Guards. Adding Tyreke Evans to the fold is a way to help combat the lack of perimeter defense in the league to help benefit our team.

Things I learned from watching the Hawks beat the Blazers

2009-11-04T09:22:01Z

I just got back from my first live NBA game in years. I got to watch the Hawks take down the young Portland Trail Blazers. Knowing the Kings would play the Hawks Wednesday night, I wanted to see what the Kings were up against.

1) Al Horford is a BEAST. This is the biggest one. I have no idea how he does it, but the guy's athleticism and quickness is out of this world for a guy who is 6'10" and 245 lbs. There were times that he moved better than Brandon Roy on the court. He's not incredibly strong, but he played like he could be a 2 guard.

2) Al Horford is a BEAST part 2. I haven't looked at the full box score so I don't actually know what his +/- was, but I saw a huge difference when he was on the court and when he was off the court. Specifically, when he was off the court, Lamarcus Aldridge was doing his own beasting--providing a spark for the Blazers on both sides of the court. However, when Horford was on the court, Aldridge absolutely disappeared. I would not look for Jason Thompson to have his breakout game of the season against Atlanta because I would bet Horford will be guarding him all game.

3) Mike Bibby continues to lose his quickness. This is sad and yet not unexpected considering his age. Bibby was never The Flash, but Bibby is really starting to age. I would think having Tyreke guard Bibby would be a bit of a waste of 'Reke's ability to be honest. Bibby is still very cerebral and the best floor general on the Hawks, but he's certainly not the PG who dropped 6 straight 20-point games against the Lakers in the 2002 playoffs.

4) The Hawks offense looked best when it was running the floor. When the Hawks played a half-court offense, they were slow and ineffective. With Horford's quickness moving down the court, the Hawks were able to get their size down the court before the Blazers and take advantage of Horford almost every time.

All this said, I think the Hawks are a beatable team. The damage down low is going to have to come when Horford is not in the game, but I think we have a team that can hang with Atlanta. I will be interested to see how Hawes and JT play this game.

AnotherStupidRecap: The View from the Cheap Seats

2009-11-03T20:03:36Z

Seats in Sec. 222 Row N: $10 each

2 beers at the game, one for each half: $15

Being reunited with my old friend, Arco Magic: Priceless

One home game into the season, I've now attended as many games as I did all of last year (I couldn't miss Vlade's retirement). I figured I should take advantage of this rare opportunity to share some of my in-the-arena observations and present my first ever game recap. I'm sure you already all know the main storylines, who sucked and who was Hawesome, so I'll try to stay away from the obvious stuff and add a little color to what you were able to see in the broadcast/boxscore/legitimate recaps.

General Observations:

That was the strangest looking sellout I've ever seen. In the second half, we moved back a couple of rows so we had a bit more room to eat. The entire row was empty. We stayed there the rest of the game because my ability to jump around and gesture wildly without fear of disturbing anyone was clearly inspiring my team to victory. Maybe hundreds of people bought tickets but decided not to brave the rough fall weather (clear, calm, and pleasant). In any case, the ol' house was a-rockin' at all the right times and it was a lot of fun.

The biggest cheers of the night, outside of the 4th quarter and OT, were showered upon Mr. Bobby Jackson, who was introduced to the crowd twice. As I'm sure they showed in the TV broadcast, there were many special guests in attendance last night in addition to Bobby: Mayor Johnson (as part of the "Sellout 09 Committee") was also greeted with a hearty cheer, as was Floyd Mayweather (who passed on an opportunity to commit felicide when Slamson taunted him with oversized boxing gloves). There was also a small group of Oakland Raiders there, though I'm not sure exactly which ones as the chorus of boos began before the announcer could finish saying "Oakland Raiders" and their names were drowned-out. It was like each of them called a touch-foul on Jason Thompson. I believe at least one of them was a reciever, and I wondered why he wasn't afraid of catching a cold in a crowd like that, until I remembered that he is a reciever on the Oakland Raiders.

I was surprised when I couldn't find Donté during warmups, and wondered if they'd decided just to send him to Reno. It wasn't until the second half that I finally spotted him in street clothes. I assumed that he was inactive due to bench sores, until after the game when I learned he was bumped for K9. They should send Donte to Reno until, say, February-ish.

Player Observations:

Tyreke Evans: 'Reke had a great game, though he looks much more Slovenian in person. Seriously though, I'm not sure if his ankle was bothering him or what, but he just didn't seem very aggressive out there and seemed a bit out-of-sync with his teammates. Even on such an off-night though, you can see how much he disrupts the other team's defense. There were at least a few times when he would start his drive and draw two or three defenders and kick-it-out to an open man for what should've been a fairly easy mid-range jumper. I remember at least twice for sure when Sean May missed wide-open jumpers that were setup by a Tyreke drive. I know you can pretty much say about any PG that they would have a lot more assists if their teammates made their shots, but a lot of other Point Guards can't drive it like Tyreke. It's been said many times here before, but I'd really like to reinforce my belief that Tyreke will be at his best when he's surrounded by shooters. That means Spence instead of Sean May and Omri or Noce instead of Mason. At this point, don't even bother trying to convince me of Mason's value to this team, because you're just wasting keystrokes.

Spencer Friggin' Hawes: FYI, I was the guy who was chanting "STAR-TING CEN-TER!" every time Spence made a shot or grabbed a rebound from the moment he entered the game. The dreamer in me believes that he heard me and it motivated him to put out the effort that he did. In reality, I was sitting pretty high-up and I’m not very loud; plus I could see in Spence’s body language the entire time that he didn’t need any extra motivation for this game. As soon as he came in, you could see that he was bringing a whole different energy with him. He was active, he was aggressive, and he was a swift kick-in-the-caboose to a team that up to that point was playing like it was a scrimmage with no scoreboard. I’m curious to know if the TV broadcast showed the moment in OT when we started pouring-it-on and the Grizz called a timeout (I think Martin or Noce had just hit a three), and Spencer pointed to the floor and shouted, I’m assuming, "THIS IS OUR HOUSE!". It was pretty badass. I <3 Spence.

Kevin Friggin’ Martin: There’s not much I can add to the legend of Kevin Martin. When he’s hitting his shots like he was last night, the man is unguardable. Absolutely unguardable. Like Kobe Bryant, Lebron James, Michael Jordan unguardable. Throughout the 2nd half and OT he would have the ball in his hands in a particular situation and the whole arena knew he would be taking a shot, including every Memphis player on the floor, and it didn’t matter one bit. He would decide where he wanted to shoot from, get there, and make the shot. It was crazy to watch, and Kevin probably had more fun on a basketball court last night than he has in a long time.

Omri Casspi: This dude loves to play the game. Every shot he made was like a shot of adrenaline for him. The first shot he made was a three that was relatively inconsequential at that point, but he pumped his fist like he’d just tied-it-up in the 4th, though not in an obnoxious way. Other people have compared his intensity to that of Cisco Garcia. Seeing him in person, a different Kings player sprang-to-mind: Jon Barry. Take what you will from that, I don’t think I could do a very good job of explaining the difference between the attitudes of those players. I’m not even sure I fully understand why I got that impression, just something about having intensity and confidence but not really having what I would consider "swagger" (or more precisely, having a "quiet swagger", but plenty of it). In any case, this guy should be a whole lot of fun to watch for as long as we are blessed to have him on our team and I’m really really excited to have Omri when we’re good again. When that happens, this man will be responsible for a lot of memorable moments.

Shock Thompson: Bummer that my favorite player had such a rough game when I was in the house. My two cents on his foul trouble: he’s too aggressive on defense. When his man has the ball, he refuses to give him even an inch to work with, seemingly thinking that if he can stay right up on the guy then he won’t be able to get off a decent shot or pass. I think if JT realizes that he’s not a Guard and neither are the guys that he’s usually defending, he’ll be able to better utilize the space between himself and his man to disrupt their offense without committing fouls. But I’m certainly no expert.

Mancakes Brockman: Obviously his Brockness didn’t see much time this game, but he did have a pretty sick reverse dunk during warmups and a sweet little layup during the game that did enough to convince me that he’s just waiting for the right time to put his awesome offensive skills on full display. Whenever he decides to unleash his arsenal, his 20-20s will be as routine as a late-night Bisquick run.

Beno Draino: As you all know, Beno had an awesome game offensively. He was clutch, he was pretty much getting his shot whenever he wanted, and he was making most of them. But Beno cannot guard Allen Iverson. I imagine it’s the same story with any of the quicker guards in the league. It certainly wasn’t for lack of effort. I could see that Beno was really trying to keep up; he just could not do it. I honestly don’t think it’s something he can learn, it’s just a serious limitation that he’ll always have. If he can continue to put up that kind of production on the offensive end, however, his defensive ineptness won’t matter.

K9: I never thought I’d say this, but Kenny Thomas really helped us win this game. It didn’t really show in the box score, but he was in at some really critical times and was effective. He just looks really comfortable out on the floor (playing with no pressure, I guess), and he plays really smart. He knows how to defend without fouling (take notes, JT), and he seemed to act as a calming presence that allowed our more talented players to do their thing. I’m not sure that he should get regular rotation minutes (those should usually go to Brockman, in my opinion), but there will certainly be other times throughout the season when K9 is the right man for the job, and I feel pretty certain that this won’t be the last time he contributes to a winning effort this season. Wow, that felt really weird to type.

So there you have it. I hope my insights added something to your impressions of the game. If you really didn’t care for my recap, you can breathe a sigh of relief as its quite possible that this was the only game I attend all season, unless Brockman realizes how badly he needs my undying devotion and decides to leave tickets for me. I hope so, because this game was a whole lot of fun.

Sacramento vs. Memphis aka the StR whipping boys game

2009-11-03T07:31:59Z

As part of 30Qs, Mr. Tom Ziller asked StR who we thought was going to be the Kings’ whipping boy this upcoming season (sorry for not linking it). If I’m not mistaken, Beno Udrih won the distinguished poll and was the center of many jokes. Well StR, I talked to Mr. Udrih after the game tonight and he told me to pass along this message “Joke’s on you!!!”

Ok, maybe I didn’t talk to Beno and I don’t really think joke’s on us, but I do believe that tonight’s game was a bit of a coming out party for the whipping boys of StR: Beno Udrih and Spencer Hawes.

I’ll write about them first to get that out of the way. The only reason we won this game is because of Beno Udrih, Spencer Hawes, and Kevin Martin. At least that’s how I saw it tonight. Beno came in and did what Reke couldn’t do, run the team and, truly, make the players around him better. Even if it was just for one game, Beno deserved to be on the floor as much as he did. He was clutch and hit shots that kept us in the game, including the game tying layup that sent it to OT. By the way, who made the tough pass so that Beno could make that shot?

Iloveeveryone, this is the game that makes me wish you were still here, maybe I’ll go find you at sacbee.com/kings.....mmmmmmmm...... not.

Ladies and gentlemen, members of the “Hawes is not a true 5” committee, let me introduce to you Mr. Spencer Hawes. If this was PW’s plan all along, I think he did great. Spencer showed the whole arsenal. Post moves, outside shots, rebounds, assists, running the offense off the high post, even blocks. I can’t wait to hear someone complain about Spence. I haven’t read the game thread yet so we’ll see what people came up with. Remember this game because this is the one when Spencer earned his starting spot. “Coach, you know more about basketball that I would probably learn in my whole life but the Sean May experiment ends... let me think about it... about..... NOW.”

Enough with the whipping boys, more game notes:

It was awesome to see Arco almost full (sell out maybe, but not everyone showed up). The crowd got a bit restless during an awful first quarter but it got more into the game as the Kings kept it close and was on fire at the end of the 4th and the whole overtime period. It was great to have that atmosphere in Arco again. On a personal note I really want to ask you all (those who are in the area) to go to Arco and support this team. I know most of you do, but it is really important that we do out part in helping this franchise stay in Sac and, really, help the team become successful. These young guys are hustling, diving, and playing as hard as they can, and after an unforgettable last season (for the wrong reasons) it’s time we step up. Anyways, about the game...

Horrible start but as the players settled and the ball started to move, the team got better. It was obviously a bad night for our main rookie. Reke seemed very nervous and you could tell got down on himself after miss shot, or every turnover. He wasn;t horrible, but he just wasn’t effective. The team was clearly late to get into the offense when he was bringing the ball up and he did seem to pound the rock a bit too much. I trust the coaching staff to work on this and I definitely trust in Reke bouncing back and having much better games. It’s so unfortunate that whenever Martin’s hot, Reke is not. I can’t wait for those guys to get it going in the same game.

Kevin was money. 48 points? Make it look easy Speed!! Every time I see this guy live I come out more and more impressed. It makes me hate those who ask for him to be traded or that say that all he does is score even more. Kevin may have his flaws but he’s one of the best at what he does: scoring and the team just needs to find him the perfect complements. I think GP is doing just that. Quick note: don’t like Kevin Martin? You’re a dumbass. Yes, YOU!!

Omri is making me a believer. Great energy off the bench, hit the open shot, and gave the Kings a lift. I still think he shouldn’t start. He’s doing great at his role right now and there’s still bumps on the road to come, so let’e go easy on the guy and keep cheering for him as the main wing off the becnh. I think with Spencer;s game and hopefully his return to the starting lineup, we have a better balance with Mason out there with Reke, Speed, JT, and Hawes. Beno, Casspi, Noc, and May can come off the bench and be effective depending on the lineups and combination. PW is still trying different things but I think he;s slowly recognizing what works in ceratin situations. It’s going to take time but I like that he is ready to play whoever is giving him the best chance of winning. He’s not shy about trying different things and I commend him for going with what’s working which brings to another player that allows me to go back to my whipping boy theme.

Ladies and gentlemen, Kenny MotherNatting Thomas. K-9 where have you been, boy?? LOL. Now, I’m not going to praise him or say he was key part of the win, but he helped a lot. He got a couple boards in the 1st when no one seem to be able to get one, and played some tough D on Randolph, letting JT rest with foulr trouble. I support seeing Kenny whenever needed.... not too often though.

Noc had an interesting night. Wasn't too effective throughout the game and afer he got subed in the 4th got so fristrated he threw a towel onto the floor and sat by himself at the end of the bench while the rest of the team listened to the coaches. I was really dissapointed at thta until he came back in OT and helped us put the game away. You can tell the guy wants to win so bad, but he also has to realize tha he is part of the problem. Noce, is you play your role, you'll help this team.

May was meh, Brckman had a nice ovation when he came in was also bleh. Sergio got no minutes, Mason did close to nothing, and Donte was in street clothes. Not much to say on that front.

What can I say? It was the perfect night for the whipping boys and they all came through and help this team get its first win. I can deny it, I felt good. It felt so good sending it to OT and just executing at the end. We all needed a win and these guys delivered. Maybeit was ugly and against another bad team, but as far as I know we are now on the winning column and that’s all that matters. You may want to thank those guys you make fun of, criticize, and talk shit about, everyday. Tonight the deserve it.

Sorry for typos, or some grammar mistakes but I just wanted to post something for ya'll and don't ave muh time to review the text as I gotta get some sleep, long work day tomorrow. Hope you all enojyed the win as much as I did. How about them young Kings, huh?

Another Trade Scenario (NYK-SAC)

2009-11-02T05:48:43Z

Looks like the Knicks are getting rather desperate in their attempts to unload either Eddy Curry's contract or Jared Jeffry's contract. So I chose to look into ways we can benefit from this situation by offering up K9's (Woof) expiring which they so covet for next year's free agent bonanza. I have come up with the following trade which I personally would do immediately but I would like to get all of your input.

The Knicks trade Eddy Curry (1 year left on fat contract) and Wilson Chandler.

The Kings trade K9's expiring, Sergio's expiring, and Donte Green.

The reason one would do this trade is obviously completely centered around our individual evaluations of Wilson Chandler. I view him as a certified NBA starter at SF with a lot of promise and potential. He is only 22 years old, showed consistent defensive prowess, moments of offensive explosion (albeit in D'Antoni's system), and is an outstanding athlete.

On the flipside, we give up our 1-year rental on Sergio who would likely do well in a backup role with D'Antoni, we surrender our large K9 expiring to receive an even larger contract which expires in 2011, and lastly we give up our loved/hated Donte Greene. I'm as enamored with Donte's personality and potential (keyword) as any of you, but it's clear that he will struggle to be a mid-to-high tier starting SF in the NBA - which happens to be what I consider Wilson Chandler, except Chandler's strength is defense and that is the clincher for me.

D'Antoni can likely gather some value from Donte and maybe even shape him into a productive player in that system. Worst case scenario: this blows up in our face, and Donte consistently contributes while Chandler doesn't live up to expectations. What that leaves us with would be no Donte, and one more year to wait for an even larger amount of money to work with in the offseason. I admit I haven't looked into player resigning and etc to see whether we need money more in 2010 than 2011, but I view this as a rather low-risk, medium-reward trade.

In the end, it all comes down to your expectations of Donte's future in the league compared to Chandler, and whether the Maloof's can stomach a bloated payroll for one more year. Thanks for reading this (I know most of you are completely sick of bogus trade talk), and I look forward to your feedback.

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly Week 1

2009-11-02T03:35:34Z

This is something I would like to start doing every week, depending on the response I get, a segment I'm going to call the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly (there's a bad category and an even worse category. This is the Kings we're talking about). It's basically just going to be a weekly recap with some thoughts on next week from Nostradumbass.

Week 1:

I know a lot of us had hoped that we would take at least one of the games on the opening trip, but to be honest I don't think any of us should be surprised at our 0-3 start. We played three very good teams, one being a championship contender, another featuring the best point guard in the league, and one with some of the league's most promising young talent.

So let's take a look at this road trip

The Good

1. Tyreke Evans played against 3 of the best point guards in the league.

I don't think this can be understated. This was not a nice and easy way for Reke to start the season. By my count, he's already played the 4 best point guards in the league (Deron Williams and Steve Nash in Pre-season). It's a lesson for him. I think I would rather have him learn from playing against these guys early, than by starting out by playing weaker opponents.

2. We outrebounded the Hornets and Spurs.

That's not a bad statistic at all.

3. We only lost to the Hornets by 5 with Kevin Martin shooting NINE of TWENTY NINE and ZERO Free throws.

When are we ever going to be able to say that again? 9-29 for K-Mart is among his worst shooting performances ever. And 0 free throws? Makes me want to read Tim Donaghy's book a little.

4. Omri Casspi is ready to be an impact player this year.

If that's not good news I don't know what is. He might not be ready to be a starter, but he'll probably be our best scorer off the bench this year with Cisco out.

5. Jason Thompson is solid in several areas.

Through 3 games, he's averaging 8.7 points, 9.3 boards, 4.0 assists and 1.5 blocks. I expect the points to be around 11 or 12 this season (he doesn't look for his shot at all), the boards might go above ten, but the assists are a really nice number to see. Also, 1 turnover in all three games. Not bad at all. I think JT is actually suffering a little bit from not having Spencer start with him, mainly because the chemistry between the two is really good. I think both of them would see a boost in productivity with Spencer starting.

6. Jon Brockman is exactly what we expected

Rebounds and hustle. Now if only he could make his free throws.

7. Kevin Martin handling the ball well

It feels strange to me that my biggest complaint with Kevin is his shooting. But he's also been good at handling the ball, something we got on him for last year. Only 4 turnovers through 3 games. Lets hope that keeps up (and his shooting doesn't)

8. Desmond Mason's defense

You really can't complain too much about how Mason has been playing. His defense has been good, and he dominated David West the other night.

9. Section 214 and Exhibit G

Really great stuff both recapping and previewing the games in Ziller's absence. Bravo.

The Bad

1. Kevin Martin's shot

The only reason this isn't going into the Ugly is because he got back on track against the Spurs. Over the last two years, the most Kevin has shot in a game is 24 times, 3 times. He scored 45, 37, and 29 in those games. It's likely that the New Orleans game will go down as the worst shooting performance in Kevin's career.

2. Spencer Hawes in General

Besides his 22 and 10 performance against San Antonio (which came mostly in garbage time), Spencer has not played well off the bench. His passing and turnovers have been especially lacking. I still think he should start, mainly because of the chemistry between him and JT. I think Westphal has been punishing him a little for his offseason antics, and as long as he repeats performances like the San Antonio game, he'll be back in the Starting lineup soon.

3. The Sean May Starter experiment

I'm just not digging it. May just hasn't really been effective. He's also not grabbing that many boards. His FG% is very good though. I just think that he would work better as our first big off the bench.

4. Tyreke Evan's off the ball defense

Tyreke plays on-ball defense very well. People have a tough time getting past him. But his enemy is the pick and roll. He just does not react to screens well, and it leads to a lot of easy hoops for the other team. Hopefully Westphal noticed this (as I'm sure he has) and that will be the focus for him this week.

5. No Clear Backup Point Guard

I don't think Sergio or Beno have won the backup point guard role yet. Both have been pretty bad. My vote goes to Beno simply because we've really been lacking shooting as of late.

6. Kings' offense

Our offense has been pretty bad. Our shooting is definitely not up to par, and I don't know why this is. Perhaps its because the coaching staff has been so focused on defense and rebounding this offseason that the offense has suffered, but I won't start to worry unless our shooting is again horrible next week.

7. Aykis16's absence from Game Threads.

DAMN YOU RALEY'S! Unfortunately this trend will continue until the Atlanta game where Aykis16 makes his 2009-10 StR game thread debut.

The Ugly

1. The 1st quarter of the OKC game

To put it simply, the Thunder came out and dominated us in that first quarter. Not a good start for the season.

2. The Kings defense

Right now as Ziller pointed, we're the worst defense in the league. It's sort of surprising to me after having seen us improve a bit in preseason, but this is why preseason doesn't count. This better improve or we're in some serious trouble.

3. The huge overreaction on StR after the OKC game.

Unless we get blown out by 30 or more against a team we should beat (For the record, we were the worst team last year, there are no teams we should be able to confidently say we should beat) I don't think any of us should take one game so seriously.

4. Francisco Garcia's Injury

We are going to miss Cisco's scoring off the bench A LOT.

And now Nostradumbass's predictions for next week:

v. Memphis 11/2/09 W

v. Atlanta 11/4/09 W

@ Utah 11/7/09 L

The morning after: post game discussion of Spurs v Kings 31 October 2009

2009-11-01T16:05:39Z

Here a San Antonio Spur delivers a message to Jon Brockman - "special delivery from Chris Paul"

via www.virginmedia.com

Stating the obvious -Teams like San Antonio excel at exposing mistakes. The classic counterpuncher. The real oldies on this site may have seen Surgar Ray Robinson (Sugar Ray Leonard was similiar but way too much flash), that is the Spurs style. WIth a team lacking the fundamentals and mechanics of an offense and a defense, the contest got ugly quickly.

Where to start? Tony Parker filleted the Kings as he does most all teams. I look at Tyreke Evans and see a lot ot similarities on the offensive end. The best plays of Tyreke last night were when Duncan went out and Tyreke went inside to drive and dish. Not as elegantly as Parker, but effective nonetheless.
I agree with the general sentiment that Spencer got his numbers in garbage time - which started at the second half.
I wil be shocked if Theo Ratliff sees any playing time or stays on that team after February (I don't know his contract). He is just plain awful and the anti-thesis of the typical Spurs player. He gambles on defense trying to block every shot, he is slow to rebound and is no threat on the offensive end. A kind of Theo-beet if you will...

Otherwise it was the usual suspects: KMart was the reason the score was close,JT showed a ton of effort, as did Noce, most everyone else looked young and inexperienced.

Oh, and the play of the game: not Manu and the bat, it was Tyreke's ankle roll. Your starting PG for the sold out home opener and the next XX games: Beno Udrih. This will be an interesting test of Paul Westphal's patience.

TZ we miss you.

Grading the Road Trip

2009-11-01T15:07:10Z

Well, we waitied all summer for this, here at the NBA Masochist Forum. No wins, three losses, but some items worth noting and getting excited about. Note that I'm giving out these grades based on my (hopefully) reasonable expectations, not comparing players to each other.

Tyreke Evans: B

A couple of bad decisions here and there, and a tough opener, but certainly well within what you'd expect from a rookie point guard asked to do everything. His defense on CP3 was special, he wants to involve his teammates, and we have every reason to be excited about him going forward.

Kevin Martin: C+

Some will probably feel I'm being generous here, but Kevin is doing some things I really like. His New Orleans game was abysmal, and certainly 34% shooting isn't getting it done. What I did like, is better defense, more competitiveness and more steals than turnovers. The last stat I think says a lot to help mitigate Kevin's bad shooting. I guess, if the thing I'm worried about with Kevin is shooting...I'm pretty hopeful.

Desmond Mason: B

In our one really good stretch during the NO game, he was absolutely shutting down David West. He's keeping the starting spot warm for Casspi and/or Donté to step up and claim, as long as he does it professionally, and plays hard, its tough to complain. I like him on the team, even if I'm hoping he plays 5 minutes a night by the end of the year.

Jason Thompson: A

Leading the team in rebounding isn't a surprise; leading the team in assists is Shocking. Add in, only 11 fouls, over 1 blocked shot a game and only 1 turnover in three games, and you have to be excited about Mr. Thompson. Let's throw in some more: he played respectable post defense against legit threats without fouling, he made great decisions with the ball (12 assists/ 1 turnover), showed an actual post up game (definite work in progress) and as always, the effort and hustle were there. He had a tough time finishing shots, and still doesn't seem to have a left hand, but the road trip put some of JT's development on display.

Sean May: D

Displayed a nice shot but played way too soft most of the time. Had some stretches of good defense, but if you're going to be the short big guy that can't jump, you need to box-out more and play harder. I hope for better.

Spencer Hawes: D+

The plus is because the 3rd game seemed to be going in the right direction. The first two were horrendous, with Spencer seemingly completely lost on offense. More energy, more competitiveness, Spencer showed some growth on defense, but needs to relax and get some confidence on offense. Hopefully the SA game was the start of something.

Andres Nocioni: C

Phenomenal in the NO game, way too much Noc Jordan in the SA game when it was getting away and Nocioni was trying to "take over". Play hard Noc, help our guys get better, Petrie will get you out of here as soon as he's able.

Omri Casspi: A

Nice three games Omri. Welcome to the NBA, I think we're going to be excited you're on the team for a while.

Beno Udrih: D

At some points in the NO game, I thought Beno and Nocioni were really getting it, but most of the time, Beno was doing his patented dribble a hole through the floor while he points at guys that aren't doing what he wants and they stare back at him with the "Who is this asshole and why does he make more money than me?" stare. Also, we saw plenty of this last year, but his defense was an embarrassment. This team has plenty of room on it for a scoring point guard coming off the bench, hopefully Beno will get it soon.

Jon Brockman: A

37 minutes, 14 rebounds and hustle. Brockman has tons to work on, but there's nothing to complain about at this point.

Sergio Rodriguez: Inc.

Didn't see enough to have an opinion.

Donté Green: Inc, but..

Obviously Donté didn't play enough to get a grade, but I will say, in the few minutes he played, he seemed to be making a concerted effort to give the coaching staff what they were looking for. Keep it up, PW will give him a chance, if he keeps working at developing an NBA game.

Coaching Staff: B+

I don't have a lot to complain about. Coaches, please put some time in with our guys defending the pick and roll. Our bigs don't step up hard enough to slow down the guard, or get back quickly enough to defend the big guy. We've got to do better defending the pick and roll at the top of the key. Rotations, minutes, timeouts, etc, I thought the coaches did a good job.

Three Players

2009-10-31T19:38:44Z

Three players:

Player One is listed at 7-1, and 245 lbs. In one year of college play, he averaged 15 pts and 6.5 rebounds in 15 minutes in the PAC 10. In two years of NBA play, he averaged 13.5 pts and 9 rebounds per 36 minutes.

Player Two is listed at 6-11 250 lbs. In four years of college play, he averaged 16.5 and 9.5 in 32 minutes in the MAAC. In his first year of NBA play, he averaged 14 and 9.5 per 36 minutes.

Player Three is listed at 6-9 266 lbs. In three years of college play, he averaged 16 and 10 in 28 minutes in the ACC. In three years of NBA play he has averaged 16 and 9.5 per 36 minutes.

Player 1 has played a total of 150 NBA games. He is 21 years old. He shoots 46% from the field.

Player 2 has played a total of 84 NBA games. He is 23 years old. He shoots 49% from the field.

Player 3 has played a total of 84 NBA games. He is 25 years old. He shoots 46% from the field.

I think you know who these players are and where this is going, but more after the jump.

In case you didn’t figure it out, players one and two are Spencer Hawes and Jason Thompson. Shock and Hawes. Our future. They are the 1-2 punch Petrie drafted out of nowhere. They are going to become Webber and Divac reborn. All we need to complete our 4-5 picture is a decent back up at each spot.

But then out of nowhere, we signed an overweight, injured, joke of a washed up player. The only reason we could possibly have signed him is because the Maloofs are cheap and May doesn’t cost much. It definitely couldn’t be because the coach thought he had a chance of real playing time—unless the studs got injured or had foul trouble.

Except, the starting center is not playing much like a center. He is not driving to the hoop. At 245 lbs, he gets man-handled by the big power centers like Bynum and Odom. He skipped Vegas. The power forward looked lost in the first couple of Vegas games, but then he came on strong. So strong, in fact, that he actually looked better at center than the center did. He is more muscular and although two inches shorter is at least five pounds heavier.

And, oh yeah, the overweight joke of a player. He dropped the weight. He looked good. He played well. In fact, he somehow managed to earn a spot in the starting line-up. He is currently shooting 60% from the field and 75% from the FT line. But he still sucks, right? He’s still a joke. Isn’t he?

Here’s where it gets a little confusing. JT is our starting four. We all know that. Noc was going to play some four, along with maybe Donte if things worked out. What we needed was a backup center. So when we drafted May, we assumed he was just an undersized center. Except, he is not playing center.

Looks at those weights and heights again. Yes, Hawes may gain some more weight. He’s young. But he is the lightest of the three players. He’s tall, but that has not translated into a ton of rebounds or points in the paint. The guy who plays most like a center on the defensive end is JT. Realizing that JT may well be our best center at this point, you have to ask yourself who is the better PF, May or Hawes? Or put another way, do you get more out of a Shock/Hawes 4/5 or a May/Shock 4/5? When you study the numbers, it is virtually a tossup. Hawes gives you height. May gives you bulk. And not in a bad way. This is 260+ pounds of pretty solid muscle. He is much harder to move in the paint, and his outside jumper is every bit as sweet as Hawes.

What is my point? Am I saying that Shock and Sandwich should be our 4 and 5 of the future instead of shock and Hawes? Am I suggesting Hawes should always come off the bench? Not at all. The season is young and so are the players. What I am suggesting is that we are far from rock solid at the 4 and 5 positions. We don’t know if Hawes can turn into a top ten center. We don’t know if JT can become an all-star. We don’t know if May will even be here next year. What I am suggesting is that all three of these players have not played enough NBA games to know what they can become. All three have weaknesses in their games. None of the three are a true smash-you-in-the-face, clog-up-the-lane kind of center. In short, any of the three could be starting for us three years from now, or none could.

My best guess right now is that JT has the best shot of securing a long term starting position. As for the other two, the clock is still ticking. But to suggest that May is somehow the weak link, or that PW is an idiot for starting him is completely unjustified by anything other than our own preconceived notions. Remember that those career NBA stats for May include a rookie year, an injured year, and an overweight year. He has never had a complete 80 game season to prove what he can do when he is healthy.

We can keep right on making May jokes—in fact it is almost a requirement that we do. But very quiety and methodically, May is setting out to prove that he is no joke.

Poll

How do you feel about Sean May so far this year?

Kevin Can't Let Go

2009-10-31T10:05:59Z

This seemingly innocuous game turned into one of the most seminal for the Kings Franchise in quite some time, as the new pecking order was being established. In the fourth quarter we saw an epic power struggle... but it wasn't between the Kings and the Hornets. It was between the two most talented players on the Kings, Evans and Martin.... But before we get to the fourth, and the battle between Kevin and Evans, first there was a good competitive three quarters from the Kings... Running offense produces points early for the Kings. Guys hit shoots (practically all jumpers though), and N.O was off their game offensively. The Kings were able to build up an early lead. Martin deferred to Evans for the first part of the game, as it is obvious to all that Evans is playing with a huge amount of confidence (he nails his first two jump shoots). We see Evan in the post often, and it seems like N.O can't handle it. Evans gets into foul trouble, but the Kings mange without him (Beno plays well), and the game is tied at the half. Evan's dominates the third. He drives, gets the ball in the post, the rest of the players clearly deferring to him, and Evans is playing with the confidence of a truly dominate player. Evans goes to the bench, the Kings struggle a bit. Their 7? point dwindles to 3 going into the fourth. Evans comes out aggressive in the fourth, playing with complete confidence--he is putting the ball on the ground, facing up, and getting pass his man at will, but he picks up a foul, and is forced to the bench. Evans reenters the game in the 6th minute with the game tied. Over the next two minutes or so, Evans dominates the ball making a number of sloppy plays (bad shoots and passes) and producing only a couple points on a ball out call from the refs. Martin goes several possessions without touching the ball. N.O flounders as well, the Kings are down 2 with a little over three minutes left when Evans hits a pull up three and then a pull up two, giving the Kings a one point lead with a little over two minutes left. Kings get a stop, call timeout, and go iso Martin. He hits a runner/layup. Kings up by 3. Now, Evans has been playing like an absolute stud most of the game. His offensive play has clearly been the force behind the King's success during the game, and Martin has been struggling (he went 9-29), but he hit the last shot, giving the Kings a three point lead late in the fourth. It is here where the power struggle begins... Martin decides to try to be the man even though Evans has gotten the Kings to this point. Martin ego gets the best of him again. He waves off Evans (who has just made two epic shoots to give the Kings the lead), pounds the ball into the ground for the entire shoot clock, and he manically tries to get his own shoot again. The shot is bad, real bad, classic Kevin Martin ugliness--resulting in a shoot clock violation. Paul drives on the next possession, gets fouled, three point play, tied game. Kings take a timeout. Thompson misses the inside they drew up for him in the time out. Paul misses a layup on the other end, but Okafor dunks it back. Hornets up 2. Evans takes a quick three. Martin rebounds the miss. Then he takes another bad, forced shoot. Brockman rebounds, gets fouled. Makes one, misses the second. Kings rebound the miss. Down one. Timeout... Coach Paul draws up a play... Who does he pick to shoot? Martin or Evans? Evans drives, gets stripped, game over. Kings are 0 and 2. This drama is sure to continue in San Antonio tomorrow. Lets see who can wrestle control of this team, Martin or Evans?

Donte Greene Should start

2009-10-31T03:12:34Z

i know right now Mason is our Sf, and i really am pissed off about this, the dude shoots airballs, but his defense, and hustle is really whats so great about him.

Omri caspi is really good, he hustles, and shoots really well, but right now he shouldnt have the Sf role,

Donte Greene should start at Sf, he has height that will mismatch other Sf, he has a capable 3 point shot sometimes, but his type of game will develop to around the rim. and his explosive and hes defense has been getting better

so who do you thinks the kings should start at Sf?

Omri

Donte

Mason

Mike Bibby autographed jersey

2009-10-30T20:15:56Z

This is my very first fanpost athough i have been a member of the Sactown Royalty community for a little more than a year. I know this is not worthy of a fanpost here at STR! especially since we have Ziller, and section214, and Aykis16, Exhibit G, and all the other great editors that we have, but can anyone help me validate if this is really Mike's signature? I plan on purchasing this jersey from a co worker, but he has no proof that Mike actually signed it he says he got it as a gift. So if i can get any insight it would be greatly appreciated!. Oh i almost forgot welcome back Ziller.

Pual's Problems...

2009-10-29T21:24:28Z

Teams come out too comfortable, ready to score. They are not at all afraid of losing so they shot with the utmost comfortable.

You couple that with the fact that the Kings once again start a game with no offensive direction (problem for multiple seasons!), and it is a receipt for disaster. The Kings were down big time by the end of the 1st quarter.

There is a problem when JT posts: he is the best weak side rebounder in the league--he needs to constantly crash the weak-side boards. And they also get in trouble when Martin too early in shot clock. He cannot create his own shot (he has yet accept this), and he eats up valuable time probing the defense with out affect.

Evans can't pass or shoot!!! PROBLEM!!! His entry passes and set up passes are very sloppy, and he is not a great creator of facilitator by any stretch of the imagination (Martin is also a weak passer--problem!). Evans will only excel in certain offensive styles: one where he can push the ball to the hoop at every opportunity (think Phoenix and NY); or an offensive that will post up him constantly (think Mark Jackson and the Pacers). They Kings made no considered effort to get him the ball in the post.

Hawes is too important not to start! He is too talented to be treated like any old player in their offensive system. We need to see what he has. He forces shots because he does not get the ball nearly enough. It is a shame the we never will know how good he could be if the entire team would try to get Spencer good shots, or if they ran things through him like they did with Miller (Hawes gets about 4-5 such opp.per game--needs to be much more). Also we need to see if Hawes and JT can play together. This is the biggest problem with the Kings going forward. They are both true power forwards. One has to go for a true center. Which one?

THE KINGS SHOULD DEVELOP INSIDE OUTSIDE GAME WITH EVANS AND HAWES--EVANS POSTING HAWES PASSING!!!! GET IT TOGETHER PAUL!!!!!!!!!!

Kings Player Rankings

2009-10-29T20:27:22Z

It's early, and the sample size is admittedly small, but here's my take, subject to ongoing analysis (playing time per game in parentheses):

1. Martin 40 (really no other true 2 guard on the team without Cisco)
2. Thompson 34 (love the way he runs the court and picks up cheap garbage hustle buckets)
3. Casspi 30 (as pointed out, should start at SF)
4. Evans 30 (only a rookie, will get better, needs to learn to depend high post screens)
5. Hawes 28 (not a big fan, but he's all we got, so play him)
6. Nocioni 22 (tweener who is too slow for SF and too small for PF, but a gritty vet nonetheless)
7. Mason 18 (defense should earn him minutes behind both Casspi and Martin)
8. Udrih 10 (showcase him for a trade at midseason to someone stupid)
9. May 8 (hopefully he will get better)
10. Brockman 8 (he earned more minutes last night)
11. Rodriguez 8 (serviceable backup PG at best)
12. Greene 4 (Casspi's play makes him expendable)
13. Thomas (see No. 10)

On Paul Westphal: A Starting Five, A Losing Team.

2009-10-29T19:34:34Z

I know that Paul Westphal just got done coaching his first game as the mind of our Sacramento Kings, but it seems that all of our problems over the past three years have been the result of coaching dynamics which have the unique ability to highlight our already mediocre team. That said, we knew that Westphal was going to bring in Desmond Mason early on this summer. What we didn't know was how P-Dubs would go about alienating his pseudo-veterans, and young players alike. Ultimately it's all part of the rotation, and for whatever reason P-Dubs thinks that he can make two horrible line ups competitive out of one mediocre line up which still struggles to be competitive.

While Westphal was sitting in his mansion lounging about for the last three years, we here at STR have been paying close attention to our team, our new additions, our departures, our youth, and the development of the players we hope to watch rise to league wide names. Of our young team last year we got to witness the development of Spencer Hawes. SHawes grew steadily over the course of last year and once he got the starting job in the post-Miller lineup he developed faster and became a better presence on the court. By no means is this to say that he's an all star caliber player currently, but development and playing time are all part of that motion. What it means is that Hawes is currently our BEST center, and what does it do for a team to explicitly not start your best player at a certain position? What is it that Lil' Wayne can see about SHawes, that is invisible to P-Dubs? Potential?

We are a team full of potential this year, undoubtedly. Perhaps that is all that we have to cling to in 2009-10. There is no one on this team that would start in Boston, LA, Orlando, ahead of their already existing players. We are a team that needs to embrace our potential as a unit and that means putting the best five players on the floor ALL AT ONCE. Currently, and I don't care about history here, our best five players are Evans, Martin, Casspi, Thompson, Hawes. This unit has to be your starting five if you want to have a chance. There is absolutely nothing that will be accomplished by moving a 21 year old to the bench after he has earned the starting role the previous season. There is nothing that is gained by giving a horrible veteran the starting position because he and the coach were friends 35 years ago. There is nothing to be gained by chunneling all of your starting line up's offense through the hands of Kevin Martin, when you have capable wing players who can help stretch and run the floor in Nocioni and Casspi sitting on the bench. You need these stretch players to open up your bigs, and you need bigs that can score. Nobody in this league is giving Mason and May any respect this season. Which means that opposing defenses can virtually run triple coverage on Martin, double Tyreke, and help out on Thompson, unless there's another scoring threat on the floor.

It will be easy for every team in the league to beat last nights starting five. It will be easy for every team in the league to beat our back-up five, WITH THEIR BACK UPS. It is easy to take youth and make it question its ability, skill level, team chemistry, coaching, leadership, talent, and potential. And it is easy to start Sean May and Desmond Mason, while the potential--invisible to Westphal--continues to go unfulfilled. It is easy to devastate a season and lose a team by breaking them apart. It is hard to make the decision that youth will progress faster and farther than experience. And it will still be hard to win games with the Evans, Martin, Casspi, JT, Hawes starting five. But at least we will have a competitive start.