Well said. Defence is our main priority if we want to play in the playoffs and we haven't addressed it with the Collison signing.
Sacramento Kings Thread
- Thread starter Crafted
- Start date
- Tagged users None
Big fan of the throwback jerseys though 
Don't mind the Collison signing. Definitely not a pass 1st PG but a low usage one. While he is an obvious downgrade to IT in terms of pure talent, I think he will be a better fit. He is really a nice guard to have off the bench who can start for you, albeit as a low level starter.
I have been saying it all season long but our biggest issue is that our PG was not moving the ball and was looking for his shot which led to lack of ball movement as a whole. Its not a surprise to me that the ball movement was better when IT was out injured and other players got better looks. Collison is not a great initiator but he is not a ball stopper either. I think the ball movement will improve as a result. All he will be asked to do is bring the ball up the court, dump it to Cousins or Rudy and go spot up or cut to the basket. While he is not a shut down defender, he is an improvement on Thomas at that end.
There will have to be a trade somewhere and might well be IT sign and trade for Smith. Keeping IT won't work with Collison as I don't think they can play together.
I have been saying it all season long but our biggest issue is that our PG was not moving the ball and was looking for his shot which led to lack of ball movement as a whole. Its not a surprise to me that the ball movement was better when IT was out injured and other players got better looks. Collison is not a great initiator but he is not a ball stopper either. I think the ball movement will improve as a result. All he will be asked to do is bring the ball up the court, dump it to Cousins or Rudy and go spot up or cut to the basket. While he is not a shut down defender, he is an improvement on Thomas at that end.
There will have to be a trade somewhere and might well be IT sign and trade for Smith. Keeping IT won't work with Collison as I don't think they can play together.
- May 23, 2012
- 15,530
- 14,269
- AFL Club
- Collingwood
- Other Teams
- Tottenham Hotspur, New Orleans Pels
Hopefully a bit of defence in his teachings, anything to stop those shooters who have terrorised our perimeter defenders for too long.
- May 23, 2012
- 15,530
- 14,269
- AFL Club
- Collingwood
- Other Teams
- Tottenham Hotspur, New Orleans Pels
Would now be a bad time to mention that Utah ranked No. 29 in team defense, No. 30 in FG% allowed and No. 28 in 3PT% allowed last season?...
I was thinking of Lawrence Frank.....I think. I've never been good with coaches.
- May 23, 2012
- 15,530
- 14,269
- AFL Club
- Collingwood
- Other Teams
- Tottenham Hotspur, New Orleans Pels
IMO Mike Malone was pretty impressive with your offense last season, considering he was supposedly of a defensive background.
You had only three players on your entire roster who could score, yet you ranked in the top half of the league for a while there.
Ty Corbin was not a good head coach... his track record for D and playing young players left a lot to be desired. Doesn't mean he won't be a good assistant though, as a player he was a good esprit de corps type.
You had only three players on your entire roster who could score, yet you ranked in the top half of the league for a while there.
Ty Corbin was not a good head coach... his track record for D and playing young players left a lot to be desired. Doesn't mean he won't be a good assistant though, as a player he was a good esprit de corps type.
nufan
Norm Smith Medallist
To be fair to Collison. His best season was almost his rookie season when CP3 went down. He thrived in the high pick n roll offense, dribble drives and kick outs. He has really almost turned into a spot up shooter at LA with the occasional drive to the rack
He can be good and I think an adequate starter. If it saves money by letting Thomas go that opens up cap space, I'd be all for it as a Kings fan
He can be good and I think an adequate starter. If it saves money by letting Thomas go that opens up cap space, I'd be all for it as a Kings fan
Crafted
Club Legend
- Jul 5, 2012
- 1,466
- 780
- AFL Club
- Melbourne
- Other Teams
- Sacramento Kings, Arsenal
- Thread starter
- #387
Disclaimer: I would rather have IT over Collison. I believe they are on the same level, but IT is more fun to watch, has more passion and his "sentimental" value in my eyes...
I believe the Collison signing is a good signing. I would go into detail but too tired. I'll just say this though.
Last season he averaged 13.3 points and 6.5 assists as a Starter. In his rookie season, he averaged 18.8 points and 9.1 assists as a Starter. And his defense is phenomenal. Trust me. Watch a Clippers game and try not to be impressed.
I believe the Collison signing is a good signing. I would go into detail but too tired. I'll just say this though.
Last season he averaged 13.3 points and 6.5 assists as a Starter. In his rookie season, he averaged 18.8 points and 9.1 assists as a Starter. And his defense is phenomenal. Trust me. Watch a Clippers game and try not to be impressed.
I'll take your advice on it as I don't know a of a lot about him
I cannot agree with some of the comments that Malone was good offensively last season. I think our offense lacked creativity and ball movement. We were the last ranked team in assists (or was it 29th). Anyway, we needed some offensive creativity in the coaching staff so maybe Corbin can bring that. Only time will tell but really just because someone failed as a head coach does not mean that they cannot be a very good assistant coach!
As for IT vs Collison debate, they is no doubt that Isaiah Thomas is more talented but honestly, I think Collison will be a better fit. He chews up less shots and is a more willing passer and defender.
There have been rumours of unrest in the locker room all season where players were pissed off at IT's selfishness in wanting to put up numbers even at the expense of the team. Cousins and IT did not get along last season. Rudy and JT also had numerous exchanges with IT this last season. It was about the chemistry and fit and not about money. We are willing to pay luxury tax but not for the sake of it.
I still blame the front office for holding on to the asset for too long and in reality losing it for nothing but I cannot blame them for choosing not to keep IT. They have made a lot of boo boos in the last 12 months. We have not improves significantly and we are only some $1.9 million removed from paying luxury tax and considering the money thrown around this offseason, I doubt we re-sign Rudy Gay for less than $15 million per season.
BTW, Stauskas will be a contributor this season. Very smady and heady player. He will fit very nicely with Cousins and Gay. Ben McLemore is losing currency fast. The skill level is just not there. Ben and Williams are just plain basketball dumb!
As for IT vs Collison debate, they is no doubt that Isaiah Thomas is more talented but honestly, I think Collison will be a better fit. He chews up less shots and is a more willing passer and defender.
There have been rumours of unrest in the locker room all season where players were pissed off at IT's selfishness in wanting to put up numbers even at the expense of the team. Cousins and IT did not get along last season. Rudy and JT also had numerous exchanges with IT this last season. It was about the chemistry and fit and not about money. We are willing to pay luxury tax but not for the sake of it.
I still blame the front office for holding on to the asset for too long and in reality losing it for nothing but I cannot blame them for choosing not to keep IT. They have made a lot of boo boos in the last 12 months. We have not improves significantly and we are only some $1.9 million removed from paying luxury tax and considering the money thrown around this offseason, I doubt we re-sign Rudy Gay for less than $15 million per season.
BTW, Stauskas will be a contributor this season. Very smady and heady player. He will fit very nicely with Cousins and Gay. Ben McLemore is losing currency fast. The skill level is just not there. Ben and Williams are just plain basketball dumb!
- May 23, 2012
- 15,530
- 14,269
- AFL Club
- Collingwood
- Other Teams
- Tottenham Hotspur, New Orleans Pels
Two things:
1/ Malone put Cousins in a much better position to succeed. Sounds 'basic', but Boogie was much more efficient last season compared to under Smart.
2/ Perhaps more impressively, Malone understood how to best utilize Rudy - don't underestimate that. Rudy's efficiency post-trade >>>>> Raptor Rudy
Passing - I'd blame the cattle more than the coach. McLemore, Williams, Thornton Thompson etc. are not high IQ players, and you lacked outside shooing. When only three guys on your team are capable of putting the ball in the basket, it automatically stifles ball movement.
As for Corbin.... all I can say is Jazz fans are overjoyed that he is gone, partly because his systems were non-existent.
I agree RE Cousins and even more so Gay. However, the offense was painful to watch at times and taht could easily be to IT hogging the ball for majority of the shot clock!
I simply do not agree thet the rest of the team was incapable of scoring. Most of the guys struggled because they never got genuine looks. It was generally a last second desperation shot off a pass from someone who is passing out of trouble. If there is one thing that Thornton can do in this league, its score. He was absolutley frozen out completely and the majority of the shots he did get were not good shots deisgned to get him a goos look. It was no surprise what so ever that he rediscovered some of that scoring touch in Brooklyn last season.
JT is not the sharpest basketball tool in the shed but he is a very servicable big who is smart enough to play within his limitations and pick his spots. He barely got a touch to pick his spot. He is a pretty respectable mid range shooter and has a respectable post move or two but he never got a chance this past season. He was, like many other underutilized.
Now part of that blame is on Malone whom I rate as a solid coach. Certianly most promising since Adelman for us. The other part of that blame is o PG who is looking for his shot first and worrying about running the team second. Now you could argue that its up to coach to pull his PG's head in but he kept playing IT for a long time and kept overlooking his tendencies. I am hopeful that this season that improves to the point where we resemble a solid offensive unit. Hopefully the addition of Collisons and losing IT is addition by substraction but we will see.
One thing I give Malone a great deal of credit for is his ability to take a bunch of non defensive players and improve them defensively as a team. From January 1 to the end of the season (i.e. In 2014) Kings ranked 12th in the NBA in opposition FG% which is a huge achievement when you think that our best defensive player is probably Jason Thomspon. I have a lot of trust in Malone defensively especially if the front office actually get him a couple of good defensive players he craves, starting with a shot blocker next to Cousins!
If there was even the slightest chance Cousins and Larry Sanders could work together I would be happy to take that risk.
Way too big a risk amd there have been reports that we are not interested. Certainly the right type of player but character red flags and off court issues, coupled with a big contract is too great a risk to take.
I still suspect Josh Smith is an option for us but we might be looking for someone with a shorter deal that makes us a player in free agency next off-season
- May 23, 2012
- 15,530
- 14,269
- AFL Club
- Collingwood
- Other Teams
- Tottenham Hotspur, New Orleans Pels
Pretty fair summary by Zach Lowe on your first year post-Maloof -
http://grantland.com/features/sacramento-kings-rebuilding-strategy/
It's fair to say that there's a lot of differing opinions about the path you're taking.
http://grantland.com/features/sacramento-kings-rebuilding-strategy/
It's fair to say that there's a lot of differing opinions about the path you're taking.
Theseventhhamster
Brownlow Medallist
Can you really put a C next to Cousins? He can't defend PF and you don't want take him further from the basket on offense. You guys need to unearth one of the those rare as hell shooting/defending PFs.
Not a big fan of Zach Lowe but he has done a decent job here (Isaiah Thomas homerism aside). He breaks it down pretty well but the stat that blew my mind was the dribbles per 36 minutes. I knew that Thomas held on to it for too long but * me I didn't think he was that bad!
Not necessarily. Cousins is the most skilled big man in the league. He actually has a PF game and can take opponents of the dribble. You certianly cannot put someone like Asik next to him. It just would not work. However, the type of player that you could put next to him is someone like Sanders, Chandler, Noah, Dalembert (of a few seasons back)...in other words athletic big men who can guard PFs and C and leave the easier match up to Cousins.
A few years back, in Cousins' rookie season, when the team traded Landry for Marcus Thornton, the Kings had the makings of a GREAT front court rotation. They started Cousins and Dalembert and had Jason thompson coming off the bench. The beauty of that rotation was that Dalembert guarded PFs a lot and did a really good job. He came up against the likes of Aldridge, Dirk, Amare (who at the time was 20+ ppg player), Love etc and did a greta job. Dalembert also had enough of a spot up mid range jumper that opponnets could not sag off him completely. That team was on the right track but then in the off season Maloofs decided to sign ******* Chuck Hayes instead of re-signing Dalembert and we never recovered since them.
You can't just get any old C and play him with Cousins but if they are athletic enough to guard PFs, you can but the slow big albatross is not going to work. In a lot of ways, someone like Serge Ibaka is an ideal fit but no way in hell are Thunder entertaining that one. He can guard both PFs and Cs but is primarily a PF that can provide spacing.
Josh Smith could work but that is an undersized PF instead of a big C.
So rumour is we are putting a waiver claim on Omri Casspi! It is likely to come at the expense of Quicy Acy yet that ever elusive shot blocker keeps on escaping us!
I like Acy, hope it's at the expense of JT over him.
Kings sign Eric Moreland to 3 year deal. I like it. Nothing to lose here. He was very good for us in the summer league and its the type of shotblocker that fits next to Cousins. Still needs a lot of development and improvement but he is got the qualities and skills that I like and we are looking for.
Similar threads
- Locked
- Poll
