Kings Need to Toughen Up

Kingster

Hall of Famer
#31
I would advocate for this. But there's also a saying about not rattling a bear's cage and letting sleeping dogs lie. I mean maybe it is better to keep Griffin disinterested when if push comes to shove, you know you are more likely to the pushee than the pusher. :)

Between Willie and Skal, neither have delivered a hard foul that I can recall. Its not in their DNA.

I am not sure if that is something you can teach or instruct. It is kind of something you have to bring with you to the court as much as you would your jock strap.

You know who I also perceive as a softie with Charmen-level properties yet hope to be proven wrong?

{{{cue Jeopardy music}}

"Who is Justin Jackson?"

"Correct!"

Between Justin Jackson Skal and Willie it is the Charmen Musketeers!

At least Fox, Mason, Malachi, Papa G and Boggy have some toughness about them.

Perhaps when Skal adds the 20-30 pounds he needs to, I think he could start throwing his weight around and being more assertive with the aggressive play and swipe downs.

Aggressiveness tends to coincide with physicality and physicality coincides with physique and mindset. With Willie and Jackson, because of the age difference and millennial milquetoast mindset, I think their relative finesse game is probably more or less who they are going to be. There's hope yet for the 20 year old Skal. He has a little more beast mode about him than the other two musketeers with more youth on his side.
But I really wonder if the Kings' players are adopting exactly what you suggest. It really seems like they come out of the gate hoping that if they don't play tough, the other team won't either. That's not the right mindset for winning basketball, imo. I would rather them go down "swinging" literally and figuratively if they have to go down.

As for the players you mentioned, I really don't blame them as much as the vets. When was the last time you saw Hill or Randolph clobber the ball? The guy that really should step up is WCS because he's in his 3rd year. He's totally a softie, despite the fact that he's added muscle to his frame. It's time for him to use it!
 
Last edited:

kingsboi

Hall of Famer
#32
But I really wonder if the Kings' players are adopting exactly what you suggest. It really seems like they come out of the gate hoping that if they don't play tough, the other won't either. That's not the right mindset for winning basket, imo. I would rather them go down "swinging" literally and figuratively if they have to go down.

As for the players you mentioned, I really don't blame them as much as the vets. When was the last time you saw Hill or Randolph clobber the ball? The guy that really should step up is WCS because he's in his 3rd year. He's totally a softie, despite the fact that he's added muscle to his frame. It's time for him to use it!
When your big man is a softie, you are going to be in trouble plain and simple because he won't rebound for you consistently and he won't hack someone and make them earn it because the defense up front got beat.
 
#33
Take a charge, make a hard foul, block a shot, get in someone's face. Set some hard picks.
Take a ferocious rebound away from the other team.
All of these things raise the level of play. They are contagious.
When was the last time the Kings made a really hard foul? Probably last year.
 

Kingster

Hall of Famer
#34
I did see a player swing at the ball in this last Clipps game - it was a Clipps player who in the last minute of the game chased down Skal to swing at the ball when Skal put up the shot.
 

kingsboi

Hall of Famer
#35
Take a charge, make a hard foul, block a shot, get in someone's face. Set some hard picks.
Take a ferocious rebound away from the other team.
All of these things raise the level of play. They are contagious.
When was the last time the Kings made a really hard foul? Probably last year.
I remember Carter committing a few hard fouls this season but other than that, the last player to do so might of been Papa.
 
#36
This subject has a lot to do with the Kings' record.
I would say that the Kings' guards are ahead of schedule. It is the other 3 positions that have most of the troubles. Sometimes we match up okay at the 3 by playing 3 guards.
That leaves the 4 and the 5.
 
#37
http://www.sacbee.com/sports/nba/sacramento-kings/kings-blog/article194830284.html#2

Go to that link and then click the short video on Fox to the right. I like what he says at the end of the video. He said the coach has been telling the guys they need to get to the line so they need to cut out the floaters, toughen up and run into contact and if they don't get the whistle, then make the shot anyway.

I've harped on Joerger all year but that's two atta boys in two days from me.
 
#39
Boogie used to draw charges all the time, one of the leagues best at it. It takes some cajones to stand there squared up and just wear it against some of these big hard charging guys. How many of the current Kings try to do that on a consistent basis?
Willie took one last game and I was thinking wow, haven't seen anyone on the team take a charge in a while.

In fact, I feel like I haven't seen many charges taken period. Doesn't even seem like our players are getting whistled for charging very often.
 
#40
Boogie used to draw charges all the time, one of the leagues best at it. It takes some cajones to stand there squared up and just wear it against some of these big hard charging guys. How many of the current Kings try to do that on a consistent basis?
And I used to cringe on every charge thinking "How much wear and tear are all the charges putting on the Big Mans body?" and "How much is his career shortened with each charge?"

There is a trade off for all this toughness. Fox and Mason were both injured driving in the paint and then bouncing off NBA Bigs. The trick is learning how to get fouled and not absorb all that punishment. Probably watching hours of video and making a mental catalog of what each Ref wants to see and then going out in the games and doing it is a beginning.
 

dude12

Hall of Famer
#41
Willie took one last game and I was thinking wow, haven't seen anyone on the team take a charge in a while.

In fact, I feel like I haven't seen many charges taken period. Doesn't even seem like our players are getting whistled for charging very often.
On that play where WCS took the charge, he was kind of turning sideways at the last second......wasn't quite comfortable doing that but he did it....kind of made me realize that we don't take these very often. IIRC, Temple takes charges on a fairly consistent basis though.
 
#42
And I used to cringe on every charge thinking "How much wear and tear are all the charges putting on the Big Mans body?" and "How much is his career shortened with each charge?"

There is a trade off for all this toughness. Fox and Mason were both injured driving in the paint and then bouncing off NBA Bigs. The trick is learning how to get fouled and not absorb all that punishment. Probably watching hours of video and making a mental catalog of what each Ref wants to see and then going out in the games and doing it is a beginning.
As someone who was good at drawing charges I can tell you that it is much harder physically on the offensive player than the defensive player. One lands on his butt while the other lands on his knees.
 
#43
How about KK getting smacked by Anthony? He just shook it off and got up, thank God. I thought it was a cheap shot.
Basketball is a contact sport. Football and hockey are collision sports. That is the folklore.
Actually basketball involves some collisions. A few are accidental but most are on purpose.

Basketball is mental warfare. You can sometimes win by taking the other team's confidence and intimidating them in several different ways.
The Kings intimidate no one, but they are intimidated sometimes.
 
#44
How about KK getting smacked by Anthony? He just shook it off and got up, thank God. I thought it was a cheap shot.
Basketball is a contact sport. Football and hockey are collision sports. That is the folklore.
Actually basketball involves some collisions. A few are accidental but most are on purpose.

Basketball is mental warfare. You can sometimes win by taking the other team's confidence and intimidating them in several different ways.
The Kings intimidate no one, but they are intimidated sometimes.
I was pretty pissed off when I saw that. Surprised no one got in his face. That whole team is full of poopoos.
 
#46
What does it take to get the Kings fired up? Anthony's cheap shot in the OKC game would have changed the nature of the game for most NBA teams. It would have gotten "chippy" real fast. I think I really hate that term.
Someone during that game should have sent Anthony a message, within the rules of course.

After all of these years I still get very emotional about physical play. I played a lot for 40 years. In a gym rat game somebody gets physical you have to respond. They bend the rules you send a message by doing the same thing. Most people will clean up their act if you mention it and do not let them get away with stuff. There are only a couple of things that would make me up come up swinging. One would be getting submarined on purpose.
 
Last edited: