[Game] Kings v. Clippers - Thursday, Jan. 11 - 7 PT

there's just too many on-ball players. this is why I think Fox-Bogdan-Doncic would never work. you can split up ball handling duties, but it means you take it away from another player.
Stop lol. This is one of your worst takes. We haven't really gotten to see Fox-Bogdan work off each other yet for even close to an extended sample. And by far our best LU tonight was Fox-Buddy-Bogdan-WCS-whoever foursome.
 
there's just too many on-ball players. this is why I think Fox-Bogdan-Doncic would never work. you can split up ball handling duties, but it means you take it away from another player.
A guy like Buddy should seemingly be a good fit wedged between Doncic and Fox, so you can mitigate that by starting him and letting Bogdan run the second unit a la Ginobili (though I abhor comparing him to a HOFer like Manu).
 
Zbo has been fun at times this season but he compromises the defense at all times. This team will never win by outscoring people. Team would be better off not playing him. At least our other vets are good defenders.
Indeed, Koufos is sort of the opposite of Randolph - decent defense without offense. Koufos had a good line tonight despite some untimely plays.
 
Why is skal so trash?
Not sure what you were watching but Skal showed improvement tonight and has been showing flashes again recently but I can recall several times I saw him box out and go after possible misses. We need to remember to take the crawl, walk, run approach with Skal and manage expectations early on but if he can get stronger and put it all together then you're looking at a bonafide star. The guy is just extremely skilled for someone who has only been playing the game for a few years at this point. His touch and length +speed alone is going to make him a serviceable big man at the very least because of this so I'll have to disagree, not anything resembling trash (to me).
 
Let the record show if the Clippers were not on a back-to-back and gotten tired in the 4th they would have likely put 130 points on the board after 100 through 3 quarters.

This is after losing De'Andre Jordan and this is after the Kings have a day off and talk cheap talk about committing to defensive stops.

This coach will put spin on this game and talk about valiant effort or "proud of his guys" or some other BS to cover for his incompetency.

Z-Bong had his moments but it is a losing formula to feature him and everyone knows it except for this sleep-deprived dark-circle-eyed smug coach.

Even when you cannot directly fault him on the offensive sets that go awry, Slow-Bo is in the way.

He's blocking driving lanes, he's clogging the middle. And when his teammates stand and watch him try to score they are vulnerable in transition when he clunks one up.

The Kings offense runs better with Boggy having the ball than Hill. And Fox gets the team into their sets much quicker than Hill.

The team made their run in the late second quarter with Fox Buddy Boggy Skal Willie I like this line-up and I bet they have played together NO more than 30 minutes all year.

This line-up is going to make mistakes but it is active, players will move and cut. Its a promising lineup that could give opponents problems with their athleticism and effort.

If we had a better coach and not one who was anti-Buddy and anti-Skal and pro-over-the-hill-vets we would see a lot of this lineup.

Instead we get to watch boring vets plodding their way to another unearned paycheck.

On the last play Koufos looked to Willie to his right as he was taking a step and looking to pass. Willie was wide open and instinctively he thought "DON"T PASS TO THE BIG" and reacted accordingly.

His instincts bit him on the backside. By the time he looked to his left and saw a teammate and had to pass to him the opponent descended into the passing lane to seal the deal.

I expect Griffin to be sharper on Saturday, his teammates rested and route pending by the Clippers.

The Kings best chance is a combination of overconfidence and apathy by the opponent and if our vets (and coach) get bitten by the flu bug.
 
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hrdboild

Hall of Famer
Nothing to be upset about here, that was a really encouraging game. Everybody played well for stretches (yes, even Skal despite the bad second half showing and Temple despite the lack of scoring). If anything this game was a great example of why you can never have too many playmakers. Hill, Temple, Fox, and Bogie were all getting their lob on mostly to the benefit of WCS who was on the receiving end on almost all of them. The shots didn't always fall but the ball was moving and everybody was staying involved. Fox is still shaky with the jumper but a couple of those long ones rattled in and out and he was very active defensively. This is the first game I've watched in awhile and I was pleasantly surprised!

Also, I don't understand the George Hill hate around here at all. Maybe I got lucky and this was his best game of the season but he's also leading the entire league in 3pt% (well, maybe not anymore after going 1 for 6...) and I rarely see him take a bad shot. Z-Bo led the team in shot attempts again but they were all within the flow of the offense. In fact, I think I learned something from watching this game. Defenders will bear down and try to keep you away from the basket if you catch the ball in the post but Zach and Kosta were able to catch the ball in very good position to score by getting an extra step on their defender when the guards were swinging the ball and the defense was rotating. Even better, when they did receive the ball (again credit the guards here for anticipating the play) it was with their momentum already going toward the basket not standing flat-footed with a defender digging in.

Just about everything was working for us offensively, the game was lost on the other end. Lou Williams is tough for anyone to stop coming off of screens (which GS found out last night) but Montrezl Harrell is a 6'8" PF and we just let him bully his way to 25 points on 11-12 shooting. Zach and Kosta aren't fast enough to stay between him and the basket which is understandable. They're vets who aren't part of the long-term plan here anyway but Willie and Skal have got to find a way to get some lower body leverage eventually or we're in big trouble defensively with that frontcourt tandem. As slippery as they are in space on the offensive end, they're equally poor at playing into contact and bodying guys up on defense. Skal in particular should have had about 5 or 6 more boards in this game if he paid better attention to his positioning and developed more of an edge and the same could be said about his defensive efforts in general.

But the good news is there's usable talent here and I do think Joerger is getting the best of what we currently have. Skal and Fox are a couple years away from really getting it I think but both have the physical tools to be successful. Buddy and Bogie are already difference makers with their scoring ability and both of them moved the ball well today too. Willie is going to have nights where his ability to cut to the basket and finish plays is a serious weapon and we can build around that by putting even more playmakers on the floor. I don't think Fox is going to be the kind of ball-dominant lead guard you have to plan your roster around and that's a good thing. He's most effective pushing the pace or catching defenders off balance and cutting to the basket and that allows playmaking duties to be more equally weighted. As for weaknesses... we're badly in need of some muscle in the frontcourt. Hopefully we got some of that when Harry Giles works his way into the rotation next year. It's hard to know what we have in Skal right now. He's going to be a bench guy for awhile and we'll see if he's able to build his game into a bigger role or not. It wouldn't hurt to get a wing who can defend the 2, 3 and 4 positions as well. Fox, Hield, and Bogie are all a little small to be mixing it up against bigger wings and hybrid forwards and there's nobody on the bench who fills that role right now either.

Maybe I should watch a few more games. Sure the team is bad but they're not hopelessly bad, they're just bad enough to lose and that's okay when you're starting over with a roster full of kids all trying to find a new identity together.
 
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Not brought up often, but Garrett Temple has been absolutely putrid this entire year.
This ENTIRE year?
I get your point, but he's had a few outstanding games, including the one where he was our main defender on Lebron.
He has been making more mistakes than I expected this year, and his shooting has been running about 4 percentage points below last year.
I think most of his mistakes are because he is trying to play too fast.
Still, he's our best defender. But I wish Joerger would recognize Temple as a defensive specialist. Other than that role, he shouldn't be getting many of the youngster's minutes.
 
Let the record show if the Clippers were not on a back-to-back and gotten tired in the 4th they would have likely put 130 points on the board after 100 through 3 quarters.

This is after losing De'Andre Jordan and this is after the Kings have a day off and talk cheap talk about committing to defensive stops.

This coach will put spin on this game and talk about valiant effort or "proud of his guys" or some other BS to cover for his incompetency.

Z-Bong had his moments but it is a losing formula to feature him and everyone knows it except for this sleep-deprived dark-circle-eyed smug coach.

Even when you cannot directly fault him on the offensive sets that go awry, Slow-Bo is in the way.

He's blocking driving lanes, he's clogging the middle. And when his teammates stand and watch him try to score they are vulnerable in transition when he clunks one up.

The Kings offense runs better with Boggy having the ball than Hill. And Fox gets the team into their sets much quicker than Hill.

The team made their run in the late second quarter with Fox Buddy Boggy Skal Willie I like this line-up and I bet they have played together NO more than 30 minutes all year.

This line-up is going to make mistakes but it is active, players will move and cut. Its a promising lineup that could give opponents problems with their athleticism and effort.

If we had a better coach and not one who was anti-Buddy and anti-Skal and pro-over-the-hill-vets we would see a lot of this lineup.

Instead we get to watch boring vets plodding their way to another unearned paycheck.

On the last play Koufos looked to Willie to his right as he was taking a step and looking to pass. Willie was wide open and instinctively he thought "DON"T PASS TO THE BIG" and reacted accordingly.

His instincts bit him on the backside. By the time he looked to his left and saw a teammate and had to pass to him the opponent descended into the passing lane to seal the deal.

I expect Griffin to sharper on Saturday, his teammates rested and route pending by the Clippers.

The Kings best chance is a combination of overconfidence and apathy by the opponent and if our vets (and coach) get bitten by the flu bug.
Which makes no sense because you'd think they'd want to get this group more run since these five (and maybe Giles) are the most important players on the team right now and they fit well together. I've wanted to see Fox/Buddy and Bogdan/Skal play together on the court at the same time but that doesn't seem to happen much with either pair.

For whatever the vets were brought in to do, they don't seem to work stylistically with this group of young players above all else or at least in the ways that Joerger is making his lineups. Both vet bigs clog the paint and the less said about the Fox-Hill pairing the better.
 
If George Hill is gonna have the ball in his hands in crunchtime, then George Hill better make his free throws.

I know there's an agenda to this season, but when we're really trying to win games I believe the ball should be in Bogdan's hands in crunchtime. Best decision maker on the team.
 
Zbo has been fun at times this season but he compromises the defense at all times. This team will never win by outscoring people. Team would be better off not playing him. At least our other vets are good defenders.
Disagree about being better off not playing Z-Bo at all. We just need to use him in a way that makes us better. Like as a 6th man (assuming he can hit his shots).
 
Stop lol. This is one of your worst takes. We haven't really gotten to see Fox-Bogdan work off each other yet for even close to an extended sample. And by far our best LU tonight was Fox-Buddy-Bogdan-WCS-whoever foursome.
You don't think the Kings have too many on-ball players? We got Temple playing PG when he shouldn't even be handling the ball. Randolph is a big black hole on offense. Hill can play off-ball, but he's primarily a PG. Fox plays PG and struggles to play off-ball. Bogdan is best when the ball is in his hands where he can get himself open. Buddy is the 2nd best off-ball player behind Temple, but he loves to take his defender off the dribble. WCS is best as an off-ball player, but Joerger insists on playing him as a passer from the high-post.

It's not working right now because the Kings have too many on-ball players.

People complained about Bogdan not getting the ball more. How is he supposed to get the ball when we he's playing on the floor ZBO? Nobody gets the ball when ZBO is playing.
 
You don't think the Kings have too many on-ball players? We got Temple playing PG when he shouldn't even be handling the ball. Randolph is a big black hole on offense. Hill can play off-ball, but he's primarily a PG. Fox plays PG and struggles to play off-ball. Bogdan is best when the ball is in his hands where he can get himself open. Buddy is the 2nd best off-ball player behind Temple, but he loves to take his defender off the dribble. WCS is best as an off-ball player, but Joerger insists on playing him as a passer from the high-post.

It's not working right now because the Kings have too many on-ball players.

People complained about Bogdan not getting the ball more. How is he supposed to get the ball when we he's playing on the floor ZBO? Nobody gets the ball when ZBO is playing.
The player formerly known as ZBO is stinking up the joint but no I don't agree with your first point. The rest of the team doesn't have issues moving the ball it's that way to many plays get called for Randolph who never swings the rock. Vlade please trade zach and never listen to Joerger again as it pertains to roster decisions.
 
This is one of those games that I will be allowed to point to at the end of the season and be all like, "Yeah, this is why we're so darn close"...Now, I understand the Clippers are not the Clippers of old. But, neither are the Kings.

Defensively, this was a horrible game. On both ends. (Let's be honest here...Neither team put up much of a defensive effort)

I mean, Montrezl Harrell. Need I say more? Now, I understand that Montrezl Harrell is not a TERRIBLE basketball player. I mean, you have to be a good basketball player to make it into the NBA. But......Montrezl Freaking Harrell...

Offensively, we were clicking pretty much all night long.

The effort is there, for the most part. Sure, some players take a break every once in a while (a few a little more than just every once in a while). But, you're not a Kings fan if you're gonna deny effort. At least not in my eyes.

Bogdan Bogdanovic. I don't know if I can really say anything else about the kid that hasn't already been said. I can't wait to see what he can bring to the table during a deep playoff run. I really can't. Mike Bibby MIGHT have him some serious competition at the top of my list of "Favorite Kings Player of All Time" when this is all said and done. Just sayin'...

George Hill, at the end of the day, had himself a solid performance. Maybe he needs to get "injured" more often at the beginning of games, so he can come back with force and go into some random mode that Kings fans aren't used to seeing from him. Just maybe...

Kosta....I feel for the guy. He had a solid game; he really did. But his decision making, or lack thereof, late in the game will forever haunt him.

I really feel like this team is 2 - 3 SOLID veteran acquisitions + 2 - 3 SOLID seasons/years of experience away from being a VERY GOOD basketball team. I really do.


Better be ready Kings fans. Cuz this roller coaster is only starting. The ride is only gonna get better. And I can't wait for it to continue. Along with all of you fine Kings fans.
 
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Nothing to be upset about here, that was a really encouraging game.
What are you kidding? The Clips were on a back-to-back and lost DeAndre and put up 100 points against us after three quarters. Pathetic! What was encouraging was play of Bogdan but we knew the guy was really really good, so the encouraging aspect was not specific to this game. Fox seems to be picking up his defensive intensity and anticipation lately. So there's that.

I take exception to your other points but don't have time to address them. Let's just say when an opponent comes in after spending a lot of energy beating the Warriors less than 24 hours ago, loses one of their best players and proceeds to light up the Kings with 100 points through three quarters, I don't see a lot of reason shower the Kings with compliments. It was a sporadic disjointed catch-up performance against a highly vulnerable opponent.
 
What are you kidding? The Clips were on a back-to-back and lost DeAndre and put up 100 points against us after three quarters. Pathetic! What was encouraging was play of Bogdan but we knew the guy was really really good, so the encouraging aspect was not specific to this game. Fox seems to be picking up his defensive intensity and anticipation lately. So there's that.

I take exception to your other points but don't have time to address them. Let's just say when an opponent comes in after spending a lot of energy beating the Warriors less than 24 hours ago, loses one of their best players and proceeds to light up the Kings with 100 points through three quarters, I don't see a lot of reason shower the Kings with compliments. It was a sporadic disjointed catch-up performance against a highly vulnerable opponent.
Terrible defense for sure, but it was encouraging to see the Kings stick with it. There were definitely flashes of what the kings can be with more experience, lineups that make sense, and without Zach Randolph clogging everything up. Let’s just say there’s been much, much worse games this year.
 
Anyone else feeling like the team would be better without Randolph altogether? Doesn’t seem like an appropriate mentor for our young bigs anyway as he’s a completely different breed of player. So what good is he doing our team right now? Anything???? At all??
 
Anyone else feeling like the team would be better without Randolph altogether? Doesn’t seem like an appropriate mentor for our young bigs anyway as he’s a completely different breed of player. So what good is he doing our team right now? Anything???? At all??
We'd prolly have half as many wins w/o him and things would be twice as ugly around here.
Speaking of ugly, if the Clips didn't airball like 6 shots in a row in the 1st I can't imagine how bad this would be. Our 1st quarter woes are back in 2018.

Fox's development is being forced as a starter, but I guess that's a good thing if you want Lins.

Chemistry looked good. We Kangzed the heck out of this one. Also quit yelling at the refs they were mostly right, jeez.
 
You don't think the Kings have too many on-ball players? We got Temple playing PG when he shouldn't even be handling the ball. Randolph is a big black hole on offense. Hill can play off-ball, but he's primarily a PG. Fox plays PG and struggles to play off-ball. Bogdan is best when the ball is in his hands where he can get himself open. Buddy is the 2nd best off-ball player behind Temple, but he loves to take his defender off the dribble. WCS is best as an off-ball player, but Joerger insists on playing him as a passer from the high-post.

It's not working right now because the Kings have too many on-ball players.

People complained about Bogdan not getting the ball more. How is he supposed to get the ball when we he's playing on the floor ZBO? Nobody gets the ball when ZBO is playing.
What are you actually talking about? Our offense played great basketball tonight and that's without even playing our best roster combo together for very long. Mainly, because we had guys on the floor who could pass the ball and create. Fox/Buddy and Bogdan all had really nice plays tonight of setting other guys up. And I'm not talking about ZBO, I've been on the "get rid of ZBO train" for awhile now. I'm talking about playmakers and ball-handlers and how it doesn't hurt their ability to be effective by playing with each other.

Playmaking isn't a finite asset that deteriorates once you add more of them, like rebounding. There's only a certain number of available rebounds during a game; and adding a bunch of dominant rebounders isn't going to create much (if any) more rebounding chances during a game. The dominant championship teams all had multiple ball-dominant playmakers on one team that learned to coexist when on the floor together, then truly take over when apart during different times of the game.

This team would look a lot better if we stopped screwing around with the vets and let the Fox-Buddy-Bogdan-???-WCS foursome get real run together and all 4 guys get a consistent 32+ MPG every night.
 

hrdboild

Hall of Famer
What are you kidding? The Clips were on a back-to-back and lost DeAndre and put up 100 points against us after three quarters. Pathetic! What was encouraging was play of Bogdan but we knew the guy was really really good, so the encouraging aspect was not specific to this game. Fox seems to be picking up his defensive intensity and anticipation lately. So there's that.

I take exception to your other points but don't have time to address them. Let's just say when an opponent comes in after spending a lot of energy beating the Warriors less than 24 hours ago, loses one of their best players and proceeds to light up the Kings with 100 points through three quarters, I don't see a lot of reason shower the Kings with compliments. It was a sporadic disjointed catch-up performance against a highly vulnerable opponent.
It's all about the long game. Sure if this season actually mattered than losing to a hobbled Clippers team on a road back-to-back is a little embarrassing but it so clearly doesn't matter so the process is all I care about, not the end result. Ultimately I think we've got more bench players here than starters but they're good bench players. And I like seeing them play off each other instead of guys taking turns isolating and creating for themselves. For as talented as we were with Isaiah, Rudy, and DeMarcus all clicking at once a few years ago that team was still brutal to watch because it was all isolation plays for 48 minutes. Is the defense worrying? Not really. Fox can defend well enough to start. Buddy and Bogie are good enough to be rotation guys. Skal needs to get a lot better but you can already see him bulking up and gaining confidence. Either he'll get it eventually and we've got a solid multi-dimensional big man who can block shots, rebound, and shoot from outside or he won't and we've got one more spot to fill. Willie is a mixed bag but he's a rotational quality player already. And the rest will all be gonso within 2 years so who cares what their weaknesses are? I really don't understand how anyone is asking for Joerger to be fired at this point. We have a young inexperienced team peppered with some mediocre vets and Coach has got them playing as a team. Sometimes I think people here just have insanely unrealistic expectations.
 
We'd prolly have half as many wins w/o him and things would be twice as ugly around here.
Maybe you’re right. It just seems like it would be better for the development of our team to not rely on him the way we do. Did the kings really look that bad against the nuggets without Randolph? I didn’t think so.