Honest Question: (As a team)What do the Kings do well?

#1
I have watched every game this season, like every season and I began to ask myself this question. I am trying to determine what the Kings do well consistently or as close to consistently as possible. I want to know from other Kings fans what they see in the team and can point to as something the team can claim proudly as something they do well. Maybe I am asking about their identity in a round about way as well. Maybe I am missing things that you guys do in fact see. They can be as specific or general as you see it. I would love to know if I am alone in this or if this season is indeed just more of the same.

Edit: Although I would encourage you to supply stats if you wish to your argument, this is more meant from an "eye test" sort of view.
 
#2
I have watched every game this season, like every season and I began to ask myself this question. I am trying to determine what the Kings do well consistently or as close to consistently as possible. I want to know from other Kings fans what they see in the team and can point to as something the team can claim proudly as something they do well. Maybe I am asking about their identity in a round about way as well. Maybe I am missing things that you guys do in fact see. They can be as specific or general as you see it. I would love to know if I am alone in this or if this season is indeed just more of the same.

Edit: Although I would encourage you to supply stats if you wish to your argument, this is more meant from an "eye test" sort of view.
Spot opposing teams 10 points?

The Kings have shown a lot of fight and don't quit on games. Most of the time they still end up as losses but occasionally they come all the way back to win. It's not a formula for success by any means but it means that they haven't got a losing mentality where they mentally check out of games.

For a team that has been bad for so long, the idea of a losing culture is a real concern, especially when your star player has never made the playoffs in seven seasons. So it's a positive thing that they hustle and scrap. The big issue is that they flat out don't have enough talent to compete and outside of Cousins every other starter is a good bench player on a winning team.
 
#4
Nothing really, rebounding used to be a strength but it has gone down the drain this year. Defense is no better than last year. 3 point defense is terrible. Transition defense is terrible like always. Outside shooting is worse than last year. Ball movement is better when Gay doesnt play but that also means are talent level is even that more depleted. Half court offense is a little better but no better than legue average to below league average. Just mediocrity across the board due to year after year of draft misses on higher end talent that you will never attract in free agency coupled with stupid FO moves on talent you actually had in house in Evans and ESPECIALLY Isaiah Thomas. All that means we sign role players who should realistically be nice guys to bring off bench and have to start for us or play bigger roles than they should(i.e Temple, Tolliver, Collison, Barnes).
 
#9
Spot opposing teams 10 points?

The Kings have shown a lot of fight and don't quit on games. Most of the time they still end up as losses but occasionally they come all the way back to win. It's not a formula for success by any means but it means that they haven't got a losing mentality where they mentally check out of games.

For a team that has been bad for so long, the idea of a losing culture is a real concern, especially when your star player has never made the playoffs in seven seasons. So it's a positive thing that they hustle and scrap. The big issue is that they flat out don't have enough talent to compete and outside of Cousins every other starter is a good bench player on a winning team.
While I would agree that this year the Kings seem to not really quit at the end of games, I would argue that alot of those games they look disinterested and lack competitiveness at the start of the games which forces the team to go into "never quit" mode at the end of games to even get the score close. I just wish they would bring that same fire at tip off and not an hour later.
 
#10
we leverage technology well (actually thats an understatement - we do it the best)

the recently concluded 2016:

- Created a new standard with the world’s most advanced and connected sports and entertainment venue, Golden 1 Center

- Debuted the NBA’s largest videoboard and the first to feature 4K Ultra HD resolution and clarity

- Developed an unprecedented dual-mode team and venue app, crafted by a industry-leading, in-house technology team

- Tipped off the NBA season with dual virtual reality broadcasts

The Kings are now worth close to a cool billion, whilst many here arent yelling from the rooftops if i was an investor id be living the dream having more or less doubled in value since our sale in 2013 without putting a winning product on the floor. We're about to lock in our best asset long term and the winning actually isnt too far away. Playoffs this year is attainable.

Whilst people may berate our GM and team, our strength it seems is management/ownership's ability to innovate and add value in the business landscape.

And yes front office, back office, ownership and business management all count as one team. We are the sacramento kings
 
#11
we leverage technology well (actually thats an understatement - we do it the best)

the recently concluded 2016:

- Created a new standard with the world’s most advanced and connected sports and entertainment venue, Golden 1 Center

- Debuted the NBA’s largest videoboard and the first to feature 4K Ultra HD resolution and clarity

- Developed an unprecedented dual-mode team and venue app, crafted by a industry-leading, in-house technology team

- Tipped off the NBA season with dual virtual reality broadcasts

The Kings are now worth close to a cool billion, whilst many here arent yelling from the rooftops if i was an investor id be living the dream having more or less doubled in value since our sale in 2013 without putting a winning product on the floor. We're about to lock in our best asset long term and the winning actually isnt too far away. Playoffs this year is attainable.

Whilst people may berate our GM and team, our strength it seems is management/ownership's ability to innovate and add value in the business landscape.

And yes front office, back office, ownership and business management all count as one team. We are the sacramento kings
While I am glad that the Kings organization is making strides in those areas and understand your point and where you are coming from, this discussion was meant for just the product on the floor.
 
#12
we leverage technology well (actually thats an understatement - we do it the best)

the recently concluded 2016:

- Created a new standard with the world’s most advanced and connected sports and entertainment venue, Golden 1 Center

- Debuted the NBA’s largest videoboard and the first to feature 4K Ultra HD resolution and clarity

- Developed an unprecedented dual-mode team and venue app, crafted by a industry-leading, in-house technology team

- Tipped off the NBA season with dual virtual reality broadcasts

The Kings are now worth close to a cool billion, whilst many here arent yelling from the rooftops if i was an investor id be living the dream having more or less doubled in value since our sale in 2013 without putting a winning product on the floor. We're about to lock in our best asset long term and the winning actually isnt too far away. Playoffs this year is attainable.

Whilst people may berate our GM and team, our strength it seems is management/ownership's ability to innovate and add value in the business landscape.

And yes front office, back office, ownership and business management all count as one team. We are the sacramento kings
I've been telling people this for a while - if the Kings basketball operations were as good as their business operations we'd be watching a playoff team. I thought the rebrand and the new logo and uniforms were also handled really well.
 
#13
I'm taking the positive approach. They are good rebounders, sometimes. They are good defenders, sometimes. They are a good passing team, sometimes. They are good shooting team, sometimes. They are an ncnsistent team, always.

To me they are not boring. Too ften they are frustrating - turnovers, too ften victims of the fast break. Sometimes thei their ISO game is good but more often it is not. They get n deep holes which is bad. Often they come back from deficits. Our team is not nothing. The cry is we don't have enough talent. All our guys are talented. The laws of physics don't say they can't win. I think the coaching staff is busting their butts to get us to wn more often. Sorry I can't answer your question.
 
#15
I have watched every game this season, like every season and I began to ask myself this question. I am trying to determine what the Kings do well consistently or as close to consistently as possible. I want to know from other Kings fans what they see in the team and can point to as something the team can claim proudly as something they do well. Maybe I am asking about their identity in a round about way as well. Maybe I am missing things that you guys do in fact see. They can be as specific or general as you see it. I would love to know if I am alone in this or if this season is indeed just more of the same.

Edit: Although I would encourage you to supply stats if you wish to your argument, this is more meant from an "eye test" sort of view.
Very few things...
I could find 3 of them (stats also concur...)
  1. Drawing calls : We had more fouls called on opponents than on us in 25 games, vs 15 games the other way (and we went more to the FT line in 24 vs 16 games)
  2. Points in the paint - We out-did opponents on those in 23 of our 40 games.
  3. Keeping the ball (!): Believe it or not, as fugly as it sometimes was, we had less or as many TOs than our opponents in 24 games, and more TOs than opponents in only 16 games (and schedule was brutal, mind you...)
Comforting? Not sure...
 

Tetsujin

The Game Thread Dude
#18
Very few things...
I could find 3 of them (stats also concur...)
  1. Drawing calls : We had more fouls called on opponents than on us in 25 games, vs 15 games the other way (and we went more to the FT line in 24 vs 16 games)
  2. Points in the paint - We out-did opponents on those in 23 of our 40 games.
  3. Keeping the ball (!): Believe it or not, as fugly as it sometimes was, we had less or as many TOs than our opponents in 24 games, and more TOs than opponents in only 16 games (and schedule was brutal, mind you...)
Comforting? Not sure...
I feel like 1 and 2 are exclusively thanks to us having Boogie on the roster. So I guess that the Kings are good at having an all-star big man on the roster.

The turnover thing is puzzling though.
 

gunks

Hall of Famer
#19
The Kings are good at:
Drafting busts
Having poor ownership
Firing coaches
Giving marginal NBA players big minutes

..... um, something positive. ....

Staying in Sacramento
Getting me way too excited every time they win more than two in a row.


As a loyal fan, I reserve the right to be mad pessimistic until given a reason to feel otherwise.
 
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Bricklayer

Don't Make Me Use The Bat
#20
Really, in the end we fight and compete to the end, and that is almost it.

I suppose its worth mentioning that the manner in which we mount our comebacks very often involves a lot of hustle and defense, but one of the real mysteries of the team is why they don't sustain that for more than our nightly 12-15min comeback run.

In any case, oddly enough, if competing and fighting to the end is all we do well, it might actually be the most important thing to Joerger/the front office right now. Establishing that would be establishing the culture in a way that being good at shooting threes or defending the pick and roll might not be. Nonetheless, I would heartily expect that having established the culture, and increasingly relied on these mature do it right roleplayers like Koufos, Temple, Tolliver...perhaps even surprisingly Lawson, that a sorting out process has been underway, and changes are a-coming to try to get better at something else than just competing.
 
#21
I have noticed two trends:
1) Make opposing teams look like really good three point shooters, even when they are not.
2) Allow so so players to have career games.
OK there is a third one but it could just be my imagination:
3) The Kings are the team for players to return after injuries and play great.

Sorry for the negativity but I need to vent:)
 
#22
If your not winning 50% of your games or more or not developing any young talent what exactly can you be good at aside from accomplishing nothing.
Well, we are doing neither. Id say play the rooks but someone actually posted a couple days ago that its not joegers job to develop our rookies because his job is just to win.
 
#25
Kings are really good at drafting busts with their lottery picks. No one is better.

2012 Thomas Robinson
2013 Ben McLemore
2014 1, 2, 3, Nik Rocks!!!
2015 WCS
2016 Even Coach Joerger don't know who he is
 
#27
Here's what we do well, but first some background:

My biggest criticisms of Boogie last year was he proactively cost us in games by compounding rough games into rougher ones, with forced shots, frustration fouls and mindless turnovers when things weren't going to his way. This was reflected in wide disparity between good and bad games. He's better this year due to superior conditioning and more amenable system and pace. His "off nights" are still giving us a chance to win. And perhaps we would win on his less than superstar nights if we had a better #2 player, and if the remaining supporting cast would, you know, support him:

Boogie in Losses (this year, 23 losses): 54% TS ; 37% USAGE ; 1.25 assist to turnover; 27 PPG 10 RPG 4.4 APG
Boogie in Losses (last year, 36 losses): 50% TS; 37% USAGE; 0.76 assist to turnover; 25.6 PPG 10.8 RPG 3.3 APG

There's NO way, I repeat NO way, you can be a winning team if your best player on off-nights has 37% usage, 50% TS and 0.75 assist to turnover.....NO way! Well one way might to be have the best defense in NBA by wide margin to compensate for poor offensive efficiency from a player who uses up so many possessions. By contrast, you CAN win with 54% TS and 1.25 assist to turnover from your best player on less optimal performance (with NBA average TS% is 54-55%) if you have an above average defense and/or supporting cast that picks up the slack. The Kings have had neither! Regardless this does not minimize the improvement Boogie has made in his passing and scoring efficiency.

So to answer the question what have the Kings done well this year?

They've established their cornerstone player they can build around and feel relatively comfortable shelling out a max contract. I don't think you could definitively reach this conclusion before last year because a high volume inefficient offensive player with sporadic defense, poor leadership and temper control issues is effectively Carmelo Anthony with a sour disposition. Now it can be said Boogie is a high volume scoring machine who is better at picking apart defenses who send doubles and can score effectively without reliance on PG to spoon feed him. His assisted two point baskets are down to 55% to 43% year to year. Other issues related to leadership, temper and defensive intensity still exist, but in the context of a guy who basically cannot be stopped.

Worthy of note is improvement in Boogie's scoring efficiency consists of less set-up help from his PG, an improved FT% (72% to 78% year to year) and improved three point shooting (33% to 37% and 1.2 to 1.8 makes per game). His two point accuracy is effectively same at 47.3% to 47.6% year to year. Making more threes and free throws at higher accuracy is due to superior conditioning. When you are winded and lose your legs, your accuracy from distance and stripe suffers. Improving his health and body fat corresponds to making his freebies and long ball more efficiently instead of fatiguing out.

Proponents and detractors of Boogie mostly overlook this incremental improvement, since he was already good (great) enough or not worth keeping around regardless depending on a fixed perspective. A dynamic perspective with higher degree of objectivity more accurately reflects the dynamic nature of performance. In this case Boogie has made strides forward whereas most of teammates have taken step back (excluding Lawson and Temple).
 
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#28
Not being consistent.
Charles Barkley used to talk about the difference between great, good and average players in the NBA. Great players are good nearly all the time. They rarely have an off night. Good players are good maybe 3 games out of 4. Average players are good maybe 1 or 2 games out of 4. The Kings just have too many average players. It is not their fault. They play hard and compete. They just get beat by players with more talent.
 
#30
Fresh off the press. Forbes has us at 16% growth in terms of valuation over the past year - we are up to $1.08 Billion.

more or less doubled in value since Vivek bought us for $535 mill.

15th most valuable franchise in the League. Chris Granger can expect a nice bonus come the close out to the fiscal year.