Kings @ Hornets 1/21/13 10 AM

[Tetsujin]

I'm going to be completely honest with you. I did not realize that the game started this early until five minutes ago. Seeing as it's almost 5 in the morning, I may have been a bit overzealous in my celebration of the Niner victory, and I've seen something like 3 total minutes of the Hornets in action, this thread is going to be chaotically brief because I really really need the sleep.

So then. Let's get on with it.

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So with the announcement of the starters for the coming all-star game this past Thursday came the talk amongst the NBA's chattering classes about, of course, those who deserve to be on the roster. Somewhere along the line, I actually looked at the statlines of the bigmen up for consideration (or already starting) and realized that (1) frontcourt play just ain't all that utilized anymore and (2) that Demarcus's numbers are not altogether too dissimilar to some of the names garnering attention for those highly vaunted All-Star spots.

Demarcus Cousins for the season: 17.8 ppg, 10.4 rpg, 2.9 apg, 1.5 spg, .6 bpg, 31.8 mpg)

Players in all-star consideration/already on the Western conference all-star roster:
Blake Griffin (17.8 ppg, 8.4 rpg, 3.3 apg, 1.4 spg, .6 bpg, 32 mpg)
Dwight Howard (17.7 ppg, 12.7 rpg, 1.8 apg, 1 spg, 2.6 bpg, 36.1 mpg)
David Lee (19.8 ppg, 10.8 rpg, 3.7 apg, .9 spg, .2 bpg, 37.5 mpg)
Tim Duncan (17.3 ppg, 9.6 rpg, 2.7 apg, .8 spg, 2.8 bpg, 30.1 mpg)
Lamarcus Aldridge (20.6 ppg, 8.8 rpg, 2.5 apg, .9 spg, 1.3 bpg, 38 mpg)
Zach Randolph (16.3 ppg, 11.8 rpg, 1.4 apg, .8 spg, .5 bpg, 35.2 mpg)
Al Jefferson (17.3 ppg, 9.8 rpg, 2.1 apg, .9 spg, 1.1 bpg, 32.9 mpg)
Marc Gasol (13.5 ppg, 7.5 rpg, 3.6 apg, 1 spg, 1.8 bpg, 34.4 mpg)

Just for fun, the same from the East:
Kevin Garnett (14.6 ppg, 7 rpg, 2.1 apg, 1 spg, .8 bpg, 29.8 mpg)
Tyson Chandler (12.4 ppg, 11 rpg, .9 apg, .7 spg, 1.1 bpg, 32.8 mpg)
Brook Lopez (18.6 ppg, 7.3 rpg, .8 apg, .6 spg, 2.1 bpg, 29.3 mpg)
Carlos Boozer (16.2 ppg, 10.1 rpg, 2.2 apg, .8 spg, .4 bpg, 31.5 mpg)
Al Horford (15.3 ppg, 9.8 rpg, 3.3 apg, .8 spg, .9 bpg, 36.8 mpg)
Greg Monroe (15.4 ppg, 9.2 rpg, 3.2 apg, 1.3 spg, .6 bpg, 32.5 mpg)

Demarcus in the 13 games since he returned from fulfilling all of our fantasies and verbally abusing Coach Smart: 20.1 ppg, 12.2 rpg, 4.2 apg, 1.7 spg, .6 bpg, 34.5 mpg.

In other words, the best numbers out of pretty much anyone on that list (blocks excluded).

Our record in those 13 games? 7-6. Correlate that to a 82 game season and you’d get a record of 44-38. While by no means a great record, it certainly would be better than the record we’re headed for now and potentially got enough to sneak into the playoffs.

Get where I’m going here?

Demarcus is good. Like really good. And we not only need to be playing him big boy minutes but need to give him the ball. And a lot.

Additionally, and here’s where y’all are probably gonna either agree with me or call me the stupidest dude to ever even look at the internet, Demarcus should be considered when push comes to shove for a slot on the all-star team.

Special Bonus statlines, All-Star Kings bigmen stats from when they were all-stars:
Chris Webber 1999-2000 (24.5 ppg, 10.5 rpg, 4.6 apg, 1.6 spg, 1.7 bpg, 38.4 mpg)
Chris Webber 2000-2001 (27.1 ppg, 11.1 rpg, 4.2 apg, 1.3 spg, 1.7 bpg, 40.5 mpg)
Vlade Divac 2000-2001 (12 ppg, 8.3 rpg, 2.9 apg, 1.1 spg, 1.1 bpg, 29.9 mpg)
Chris Webber 2001-2002 (24.5 ppg, 10.1 rpg, 4.8 apg, 1.7 spg, 1.4 bpg, 38.4 mpg)
Chris Webber 2002-2003 (23 ppg, 10.5 rpg, 5.4 apg, 1.6 spg, 1.3 bpg, 39.1 mpg)
Brad Miller 2003-2004 (14.1 ppg, 10,3 rpg, 4.3 apg, .9 spg, .1.2 bpg, 36.4 mpg)

UNDER CONSTRUCKYTION

[UK_King]

Wow this is a 6pm start here. Good news!

[William Blake]

almost too early

[TyFreak Evans]

I hope this game can provide some sort of a damper to the recent rumblings that have been going on around town. With that being said, the Hornets are a very young and talented team. A team that can provide a major headache for the Sacramento Kings. I predict a win, but it ain't gonna be easy.

[annihilator_33]

Is it me or does it look like Grant shaved his eyebrows

[kingsnation]

Win or lose - there's our goal today... BALL MOVEMENT.

[flipray]

Careless passes and Reke looks like he's going to have a tough time with Gordon

[kingsnation]

Careless passes and Reke looks like he's going to have a tough time with Gordon

It took the Kings offense 5 minutes just to have Reke get a touch.

[Peter_Gibbons]

Win or lose - there's our goal today... BALL MOVEMENT.

Ball movement is the key. When you look at the lakers, for all the talent they have on paper, they are just a couple games ahead of us in the standings because they don't move the ball. They have the biggest ball stopper in the league in kobe.

One of the reasons the teammates were getting frustrated with DMC was because he was always trying to do too much on offense and stopping the ball movement. The blow up with Smart some how some way actually helped him in some weird way. He came back willing to pass and the whole team is playing better because of it.

[HereWeVivek]

This is embarassing.

[flipray]

Damn almost feels like the Memphis Game again.

[HereWeVivek]

Ya this is another example of how nobody is very good besides DeMarcus.

[William Blake]

Robinson wide open from point blank range, Johnson thinks it's a good idea to take a contested mid range jumper.

[1234kings]

I wish we had rajon rondo, or some sort of a decent point guard to create plays and passes for everyone else.

[1234kings]

Robinson wide open from point blank range, Johnson thinks it's a good idea to take a contested mid range jumper.

yeah i was like wtfffff

[1234kings]

I'd like to see evans with more than 30+ mins

[Hadlowe]

Kind of glad I'm at work today and can't watch this.

[flipray]

I wanna see Jimmer come in with Reke, but I doubt that would happen

[HereWeVivek]

Lol bench lineup here we go. This guy never learns lol. Hes like the fly trying over and over to fly through the mirror

[1234kings]

does this team not know how to set SCREENS?????