[Grades] Kings v. Timberwolves 2/27/17

Player with the most character tonight <3 <3 <3


  • Total voters
    16

Tetsujin

The Game Thread Dude
#1
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Three games into the bright shining future! Two blowouts! One win against the worst defense in the league!

But at least our guys have more character than the other team, am I right?


Since Bricklayer is a much smarter guy than I am and abandoned ship before it had an opportunity to crash into yet another iceberg, I thought I'd try my hand at grades tonight. Don't expect many guys to be making the honor roll.

Ben Mclemore - (C) 24 min, 14 pts (5/10, 2/3 3p), 4 rbs, 1 ast, 0 stl, 0 blk, 3 tov, 2 pf
One of the few bright sides of the past couple of weeks has been Ben McLemore's sudden development into a consistent NBA basketball player. Was overmatched at small forward against the rapidly developing Andrew Wiggins but it's really hard to fault him for that since (a) Andrew Wiggins is really really good and (b) Ben is as much of a small forward as I am a bikini model. Hit his threes (would actually like to see him take more), fought for most of his playing time and, most important of all, displayed lots and lots of character <3


Willie Cauley-Stein - (C+) 34 min, 14 pt (5/11, 4/8 ft), 6 rbs, 5 ast, 1 stl, 1 blk, 4 tov, 3 pf
Oh Willie Willie Willie. After one 29 pt performance, Willie suddenly got it into his head that he was a number one option on offense, delivering a series of slightly bizarre and off-kilter interviews insinuating that the Boogie trade had finally allowed offensive juggernaut Willie to emerge from his cocoon and take the NBA by storm. While I'm not sure about that, Willie played a much better game than he did against the Hornets. Willie's probably never going to be a consistent double-digit rebound guy but he made an effort at times. Also continues to show above average passing talents and was finding cutters to start the game. He did this to a fault though and wound up with 4 turnovers. Also got absolutely demolished by KAT most of the night as the Timberwolves have apparently not given up on big man basketball.


Kosta Koufos - (B+) 24 min, 14 pt (6/8), 11 rbs, 1 ast, 0 stl, 0 blk, 1 tov, 3 pf
Was our best player tonight, which is more sad than anything else. Kosta had a really solid game and would have really looked good on a contending team somewhere, preferably a team that had given us a pick for his services but that's asking too much of our wonder team. When we tank, we do it half-assed and crappily. Anyways, Kosta looked like the best player on the court in the first quarter then disappeared in the second half when coach decided to throw Willie out there for huge minutes to middling results.


Ty Lawson - (C+) 35 min, 11 pt (5/13, 0/2 3p), 1 rbs, 9 ast, 2 stl, 0 blk, 3 tov, 2 pf
Ty had his best game since the all-star break, which isn't saying much as he still spent most of the night getting torched by Ricky Rubio. Also started at shooting guard as Coach Joerger just said "**** it" and has gone full small ball. Did pass the ball well tonight and was as much of a creator as our cluster**** of a team could allow. Still not really a good game by most measures but player with character so <3.


Darren Collison - (D+) 29 min, 10 pt (5/13), 2 rbs, 2 ast, 0 stl, 0 blk, 0 tov, 1 pf
And here's where things start to get fugly. On paper, Darren's night doesn't look as bad as it actually was. Simply couldn't do much of anything all night. Couldn't create for teammates or himself and missed most of the shots he did take. On the positive side, he was one of the few dudes who didn't turn the ball over so huzzah for that, I guess.

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Anthony Tolliver - (F) 20 min, 0 pt (0/2), 2 rbs, 2 ast, 1 stl, 1 blk, 1 tov, 1 pf
Oh boy. Just not good. At. All. Wasn't aggressive, letting the T'Wolve collection of young bigs dominate him on the glass and on defense all night. On offense, didn't take shots he should have taken and just seemed out of sorts all night. But he's a locker room leader and seems like a good guy with lots of character <3


Tyreke Evans - (C-) 24 min, 13 pt (5/12, 3/3 3p), 5 rbs, 2 ast, 1 stl, 1 blk, 2 tov, 3 pf
Hard to figure out Reke at this point in his career. Knee injuries have taken most of the explosiveness of his first stint in Sacramento, resulting in lots and lots of misses at the rim. Also didn't do much to help set up teammates, often grinding out a good six seconds of the possession before driving to the hoop for a miss. To his credit though, he's become a better perimeter shooter over the years. Didn't do much defensively to help stave off the Minnesota maelstrom and just wasn't all that impactful.


Steph Curry - (F) 26 min, 8 pts (3/8, 1/5 3p), 5 rbs, 0 ast, 1 stl, 0 blk, 4 tov, 1 pf
Just bad, soul-crushingly so. Started out making turds out of diamonds by turning over a couple of gimme possessions that pretty much demolished any and all momentum the team had in the early going. On defense, continues to get beaten by dudes on a continual basis. To his credit, Buddy, er, Steph 3.0, seems to have a real nose for the ball on the defensive glass, which is a good skill for your guards to have when your center is Willie "What's Boxing Out?" Cauley-Stein. Missed a couple more shots in the third quarter when we were making a mini-run to just completely and entirely kill any chance we had of making it a game. Scored in garbage time which probably made Vivek happy. Also, has lots and lots of character <3


Skal Labissiere - (B) 13 min, 4 pts (2/4), 6 rbs, 0 ast, 0 stl, 1 blk, 0 tov, 2 pf
Another promising performance from Skal, who is looking more and more like the steal of the draft. Is a much better rebounder than I remember him being from his time in Reno and college and had another one of those come-from-out-of-nowhere swats. Unfortunately still too skinny to muscle with guys down low and KAT really started rolling with Skal on him in the second. If you listen to Grant, Skal is the second coming. The reality is Skal is probably less than that but he's looking more and more like a key player going forward in Kings 3.0 basketball <3


Langston Galloway - (INC)
Token garbage time appearance.

Georgios Papagiannis - (INC)
See above
 
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#16
So, what we saw tonight was Skal the 5 backing up Willie. Please please please let that be nipped in the bud. Skal the 5 should not happen. Skal the 4 oozes potential and I think is is natural position, but Skal the 5 gets mugged constantly on D.

Please please keep him a 4, Joerger. Theres really no reason not to with WCS, Koufos, and Papa already at the 5, and only Tolliver at the 4.
 
#17
Great job on the Grades Post! But a generous grade for Reke imo. He was stinking up the joint when the game was still up for grabs. I love Joerger but I don't see why we don't just waive Tyreke Evans honestly. We're gonna rebuild lets rebuild.
 

SLAB

Hall of Famer
#18
Something that really makes me uneasy? Buddy is less than a year younger than McBen. Aren't older rookies who stayed in school for their whole 4 years supposed to be polished, or something?

I only have three games of half-hearted scouting on Buddy in my book, but at this point I'd STILL rather keep throwing McBen at the wall and hoping he'd stick. What's Buddy's true upside? (And no, not Vivek's bizarre fantasy. What's his real upside?)
 

SLAB

Hall of Famer
#19
Great job on the Grades Post! But a generous grade for Reke imo. He was stinking up the joint when the game was still up for grabs. I love Joerger but I don't see why we don't just waive Tyreke Evans honestly. We're gonna rebuild lets rebuild.
I would put money on the reason we kept Tyreke is because he will sell an extra ticket or two. People love their nostalgia.
 

Tetsujin

The Game Thread Dude
#20
Something that really makes me uneasy? Buddy is less than a year younger than McBen. Aren't older rookies who stayed in school for their whole 4 years supposed to be polished, or something?

I only have three games of half-hearted scouting on Buddy in my book, but at this point I'd STILL rather keep throwing McBen at the wall and hoping he'd stick. What's Buddy's true upside? (And no, not Vivek's bizarre fantasy. What's his real upside?)
Vivek's bizarre fantasy, you say?

The Pace of Love: Passion and Basketball
by Neelia Nosiov​

Eighteen years old, shy and beautiful, Rivek Vanadive is just a small town girl full of hopes and dreams when a chance encounter with Buddy, a young aspiring basketball player, turns her life upside-down. But when their romance catches the eye of Rivek’s fiancé, the oppressive crime lord Boogie, it will take all Rivek and her uncle Vlade can muster to ensure that she and Buddy can achieve the life they deserve.
 

Tetsujin

The Game Thread Dude
#23
Went to the game.

Borderline unwatchable.

Nuggets game was a fluke/adrenaline.

It will get worse.

Mood in the arena midway through the fourth, after TWoves went on last big run to essentially put it away, was absolutely morose. It was sinking in, what has happened.
Don't worry, if we're lucky we'll be able to draft a new star who we'll probably trade away in a couple of years when we fail to build around him.
 
#24
Have to take our punches now and hope the basketball gods finaly lift up the couch we have been pushed under for so long and say " Oh snap! My bad! Had all but forgotten about you. Here, this should make up for it"

What else can we do right now?
 
#25
Went to the game.

Borderline unwatchable.

Nuggets game was a fluke/adrenaline.

It will get worse.

Mood in the arena midway through the fourth, after TWoves went on last big run to essentially put it away, was absolutely morose. It was sinking in, what has happened.
No sympathy for impatient weak-willed casual Kings fans finally looking around at the bare cupboards and saying. "Hey! We've got nothing here! Why are we so bad? I thought spunky good-natured youths would be better to watch than Nasty Boogie."

These morons who bought into Napear's slander and empowered the FO to nuke the franchise right when they were about to finally make the playoffs paved the way for Boogie to be driven out of town.
 
#27
Pretty tough loss after a nice first quarter. KAT, Bjenlica, Shabazz, Dunn and Jones went on a run to start the second quarter. Then Rubio and Wiggins killed it to close out the first half. Score in second quarter Sota - 40, Kings - 19 and that was the game folks.
 
#29
Was at the game last night and was pretty displeased to see Joerger skip over Skal in the rotation in the 2nd half until late. There was a buzz in the arena over him. The biggest cheer all night came on his dunk. Yeah he was over matched on defense but the kid fought and scrapped out there. How else is he supposed to learn?

Also he has 10x the toughness than WCS ever will. He might be a beanpole but that kid goes out there and fights. Yeah he ended up getting caught for a jump ball before he got that And 1 but the kid took it to KAT out there when he had the chance. Loved seeing that. We need to see more of this kid and less of Tolliver at this point. Tolliver was fine for our mini playoff run but Skal is what we need to develop for the future.