Grades v. Mavs 02/13/2013

[Bricklayer]

You know, as the game proceeded back out to blowout in the 4th quarter again, I came to a realization.

Of all of the crap coaches we have had since our crap owners fired a HOF coach because he wouldn't blow bubbles up their pathetic asses, Keith Smart pisses me off more than any of them. And the reason is because more than at any other point since Adelman was fired, we have enough talent, and HE has enough talent, that this should not be happening. Kenny Natt was pathetic, but so was his team. He couldn't mess anything up because there was nothing to mess up. He couldn't succeed because he was just dumb. Keith Smart is just a ****up. I'm not even sure I can say I really hate him, as with his job clearly over now his swarmy little attmpts to B.S. the situation look more and more sad rather than arrogant. I think somewhere somehow he actually means well. I actually think he's an intelligent man. But he's a complete ****up anyway. And nightly he goes to often absurd lengths to mess things up. Its just so frustrating and so inexcusable. The pieces are here to be better. The coach himself has no stupidity excuse for why he's not. But he is an absolutely terrible decionmaker and strategist. And so he should not be in that position on that sideline, but we're stuck with him and the reuslts of his work in the most significant season in Kings history while the talent rots on the vine.

Here are some highlights to look forward to in the grades:
--How John Salmosn is awful, and still gets the majority of our plays drawn up for him out of timeouts
--How IT gets caught on every single pick set by every single Mav, releasing Collison into our lane on every single play and completely breaking our defense, and then caps things by feeling the freedom to gun crap jumpers off hsi dribble to help us fall apart
--How Aaron Brooks plays well last game...and suddenly is completely absent this time
--How this was almost surely done so that tonight Jimmer could play. And how Jimmer was comically awful.
--How similarly #5 pick Thomas Robinson was completely benched so that we could play James Johnson...or maybe Travis Outlaw
--How the coach, having learned from past mistakes, does not put in a lineup with all 5 reserves together. Instead he keeps out 1 starter to steady them. Except the starter is not Reke, its not Cousins. Its John Salmons, and for one stretch the bench crew consisted of Salmons, Hayes, Outlaw, and Jimmer, all of whom combined to shoot 0-10 in the first half, and James Johnson, who played streetball all night.
--How DeMarcus Cousins, who along with Evans were dominant forces for us, goes out with 1min30sec to go in the third...and is never brought back as the Mavs pull away and the game is finsihed
--How Evans on the other hand plays brilliantly for 3/4 then is never rested deep into the garbage minutes until his legs go on the second night of a back to back and he ends up stumbling around
--How somehow a simple coaching maneuver of do not, for ANY reason, leave Vince Carter seems to have never been communicated as time after time after time our guys do it again and again. Really what broke the game for us. We, while we had Reke and Cousins both going, were playing well enough to mount the comeback and make it a close one. And then Vince Carter hits 5 threes on us while we are picking our noses and pushes bakc every thrust singlehandedly.

Oh yes. There will be Girls. Appropriate for Valentine's Day. Happy Wuvvy Dovey Day everybody.

Full Grading Consortium for tonight:
Bricklayer
Capt. Factorial
bajaden

Boxscore

Stats: 27min 6pts (1-5, 1-1, 3-4) 4reb 3ast 2stl 0blk 0TO
Salmons ( D ) -- so many of my notes about John's game tonight revolve around Smart's use of him more than John himself, but I suppose I should be thankful that he was the only starter not to take more shots than Demarcus. Hit one solitary assisted three in the mid first quarter, and apparently thanks to that we were repeatedly treated to Smart calling out of timeout plays nto for Reke (8-12, 23pts) not for Cousins (5-9, 17pts) but for John Salmons (1-5, 6pts). When we needed a starter to steady our never steady bench in the early 2nd, do we turn to Reke (8-12, 23pts) or Cuz (5-9 17pts)? No, we turn to John Salmons (1-5, 6pts). When the Mav lead was being extended back out in the late 3rd who responds with the entirely appropriate and very helpful heavily contested 1 on 1 jumper off his dribble? Well...on that one Salmons and IT took turns, and if I were coaching this team I'd keep a nice week old trout in a cooler next to the bench and just slap guys silly everytime I saw them do that. Okay, now, all of that said, tow positive notes: 1) at least he was not directly involved in the Vince Carter defensive debacle. I think that was all on Reke, Cisco, and maybe Johnson on one of them, with a little help form IT getting beaten by his man and guys helping off. And 2) when we made our best run of the night in the third, John was part of it with a brief 2-3 minute stretch of good play, including a nice drive and dish to JT for a dunk. ad then a strong defensive rebound. One of the beauties of being as anemic as John is on a nightly basis is that a little spurt like that is all it takes to get you a little grade. --Brick

Bella Heathcote

Stats: 36min 17pts (6-11, 0-0, 5-6) 9reb 2ast 0stl 1blk 2TO
Thompson ( B- ) -- Thompson continued his streak of high-scoring games (avg. 17.6 pts over the past five games) with a 17-point outing tonight. JT did most of his damage with good positioning, getting three dunks and a layup just by being in the right place to receive the pass. Again he was doing most of his work in the paint, only taking one jumper tonight (and if that one grazed the rim, I missed it). The upside to the is that he also got to the line 6 times, making a quite-acceptable 5. JT's highlight play of the night was pulling down a contested rebound and then heaving a 70-foot pass to a streaking Tyreke for the layup. But JT's rebounding was an on-again, off-again affair tonight. In his first 23 minutes on the floor he grabbed 8, which you cannot complain about at all. But the fourth quarter was a different story. I was all set to rip JT for playing the entire fourth quarter of garbage time without getting a single rebound, but he ruined it by grabbing an offensive board (and getting the putback) with 45 seconds left in the "game". Thompson's biggest problem tonight was on the defensive end. It wasn't so much his man defense - he allowed a couple of jumpers, but that's to be expected when you're guarding Dirk and Marion for long stretches. The problem was rather on his help and team defense. Basically every time he was needed for help he didn't do an effective job (allowing 12 points on 7 help attempts), and seemingly every time he left his man something bad happened. Even the good results were shaky - take the time he went out to help on the pick-and-roll and the man he left, Brandan Wright, missed a wide open layup. It's hard for me to say how much of this is JT helping at the wrong time and how much is his teammates not picking up his back, but for now it looks to me like he's best served staying on his man. --Capt.

Devon Aoki

Stats: 29min 17pts (5-9, 0-1, 7-9) 13reb 2ast 0stl 0blk 5TO
Cousins ( B ) -- got off to an active offensive start, moving fast and slashing, and came up with a great offensive board flying in from outside and tipping the ball around with those great hands before corraling it. Was doing yeoman's work on the boards, but in the mid 2nd made back to back awful passes meant for Cisco that had no chance at all and resulted in turovers. As it has been for a month now, those sorts of turnovers would continue all night for him. Not selfish ones. Not even stupid ones per se. But attempts to make what would be a good pass if either a) you actully threw it on target; or b) you actually noticed that there was an opposing player standing directly in between yourself and the player you are trying to hit with the beautiful bounce pass for a layup. But that was the only major demerit tonight for DeMarcus, other than the stanrd note that he is nto a shotblocker, and has cured many of his foul problems precisely by not even trying anymore and jut backing off as guys attack the rim. Note to new management/coaching: the old regime were blithering idiots. Get us an Ibaka because that's what this beast needs as a running mate. Tweaked his ankle late in the half and fell down in the middle of a post move, but seemed to recover and show few ill effects aftwerward, and now will have 5 days to get right physically. Showed some classic power center stuff in the third, just flat overpowering rookie Bernard James in welcome-to-the-NBA-kid fashion, using an absolutely classic post mover with the baseline spiin and layup, showing the great hands on an ugly scramble play, finally scooping the ball up and finsihing for a 3pt play. Did add another jsut awful pass for a turnover, but when he was removed with 1:30 to go in the 3rd, I hoped/assumed that it was jsut a coach finally resting soembody at an appropriate time. In fact my scribbled note at the moment says precisely "out at 1:30, good sub, when back?". Because you just knew that there was healthy chance Smart would screw that up, as always. Its like watching a stubborn child learn lessons the hard way that you have long known. And he's not a very bright child and learns slowly, and some fool has given him a guaranteed contract worth millions so he doesn't have to listen to you or anybody. He just faceplants again and again until he finally gets the message. So tonight any competent coach trying to win this takes DeMarcus out at the 1:30 mark...then as the game begins to get out of control he hustles him back at about the 9min mark of the 4th to try to stop it and win the game. Keith Smart on the other hand has DeMarcus on pace for about a 25pt 15reb night...and sits him so long int he 4th that the game is lost by midquarter and so he judt sits him the entire rest fo the game and you have a center who's put up 17pts 13rebs in 29min not even playing a minute in the 4th. Not on DeMarcus though. Turnover aside, this was a good game for him.

Kate Upton -- using Kate again is approaching cliche of course, but this is clearly her moment as "it" girl, and these are pretty girls themes, and so if I wanted to use her every time we had one I think it would work.

[Bricklayer]

Stats: 37min 23pts (8-12, 0-2, 7-7) 2reb 1ast 3stl 0blk 5TO
Evans ( B- ) -- Tyreke started the night and the first half right where he left off the night before. And to be honest, he was one of the best players on the floor tonight for the Kings. He played great defense at times, and had trouble staying in front of his man other times. But the effort was there, if maybe the body wasn't willing. He started the game by driving the lane and laying it in. And without going into details, he went 5 for 5 to start the game. One a great spin move, splitting two defenders and scoring. He went to the bench with 1:40 left in the 1st quarter. He returned at 7:21 of the 2nd quarter, but the remaining time was mostly uneventful. In the second half he was still effective scoring the ball, but it was marred by turnovers, a couple of which were unforced. In one instance he stole the ball, got posession, tried a behind the back dribble and lost the ball. Later he tried postiing up his man, fell down, and turned it over. Throw in getting his shot blocked, a desease everyone on the Kings caught, plus trying to dribble between his legs and losing the ball, the second half was a disastor. Despite all that, Tyreke was one of the bright spots on a night plagued by one on one play, missed shots, lack of passing, and turning the ball over. It was extremely hard to watch at times. --Baja

Victoria Justice

Stats: 29min 12pts (4-12, 1-4, 3-3) 1reb 4ast 0stl 0blk 2TO
Thomas ( D+ ) -- the defining trait of this game, and then one that just kept on dragging this grade down and down, was not the mediocre statline, in fact it does not show up on individual stats at all. The defining trait for this game was that IT, until perhaps the very late 3rd quarter, could not stay in front of Collison at ALL. The Mavs were setting high picks for Collison, and I swear that IT can trapped behind every single one of them like they'd slapped up the Berlin Wall. And so again, and again, and again Collison came around the corner into our paint completely free, and it just ruined us. That overwhelming trait tonight has to be kept in mind as the backdrop for everything else. And the everything else wasn't great itself. Threw a terrible entry pass for an early turnover as we just were off target with our passing up and down the roster. Of course was not able to stay in front of Collison at all, but at least was hustling back on the break and urging teammates to do the same. Of course at 5'9" hustling back to stop a break is rarely effective, but at least he was notably getting back when others were not. Was removed early for Jimmer, maybe because of the defense I don't know, and returned early as well with Jimmer stinking the place up. IT decided to show Jimmer how it was done, making his first act upon returning forcing a 5'9" drive into the teeth of heavy traffic and getting it swatted out of there. Finally hit his first shot of the game in the late half with a corner three from JT. Got blocked on another drive in the early third as we were starting to see too much Isaiah again, and continued to be picked and scraped so easily on defense that guys were constantly having to try to help. Wasn't Collison beating him with 1 on 1 moves. Just Dirk walked up, set a pick, Isaiah doesn't even put his shoulder into it, just sort of pulls back and Collison is running through the lane again. He added a good drive to our run as we got back into it, but accelerated our re-demise by suddenly deciding what we needed to save us was IT repeatedly pulling up for 1 on 1 bricked jumpers off his dribble. That shot is probably the lowest percentage shot in basketball, and yet we have multiple specialists with it on this roster. Left again, and despite Jimmer being awful, I wasn't sorry for it. --Brick

Emma Stone -- and throws smart and saasy/sarcastic into the mix as well, which kinda isn't fair.


Bench

Stats: 19min 2pts (1-7, 0-1, 1-2) 0reb 0ast 1stl 0blk 0TO
Fredette ( F ) -- I like Jimmer, but tonight was horrible. 19 minutes of totaly unproductive basketball. The only kind thing I can say, is that his supporting cast didn't help much. I counted 4 times that Jimmer was on the perimeter, with no defender within shouting distance of him, waving his arms for the ball, only to be totally ignored. However, the one time he did receive the ball, he decided to pass up a wide open three, and drive into a crowd and get his shot blocked. He liked it so much, he decided to repeat the performance a few more times. To make matters worse, he even screwed up the one thing he really excells at. Freethrow shooting! Going 1 of 2 from the line. Bottom line is, 3 pts, 0 rebounds, 0 assists, and 1 steal in 19 minutes is something called a nightmare when your dreaming. I think Jimmer can use the time off. --Baja

Moira Kelly -- from back in the day

Stats: 25min 16pts (6-11, 0-0, 4-5) 6reb 4ast 0stl 0blk 4TO
Johnson ( B- ) -- this is a tough grade. A tough tough grade. Because you have to understand, that Johnson has one of his most productive games of the season. And he also had one of his worst team games of the season. He was the only bench player who was not awful, one of only 4 guys to show up tonight. And yet maybe he contributed to the rest of the guy's awfulness just by playing a ridiculously ball intensive game. It was like having a 6'9" A.I. coming off the bench. Was in for the first time in the late first quarter after not playing at all in recent games. There was some thought there vs. Dirk I suppose. Or maybe Smart figured with Marcus's gunning missing from the bench lineup we needed a replacement. He did not look comfortable and was forcing, and then you realized the madness behind his madness, as the rest of the bench was just embarrassingly inept and so Johsnon just took the ball away from them, and every single time down the floor it was JJ vs. the Mavs. And it kinda worked. By the time he left the first time the score in his minutes was James Johsnon 10, rest of our bench 1. It was erratic though, shots and passes coming willy nilly, and really on both ends as he kept leaving guys and making mistakes that the defensive roleplayer we thought we were getting probably would not. But he dropped in a pretty spin drive on the baseline, attacked the rim, and the Mavs really don't have anybody to conistently clog that lane anymore and so he was effective. Began to turn it over as he refused to shoot the jumper and forced drives into the teeth of the defense instead, but when he returned in the second half the first thing he did was quickly catch and shoot a jumper with no hesitation. Hard to know what to do here -- he looked talented, versatile...and out of control and impossible to mesh with superior players. As the only guy doing anything off the bench it kind of worked, but you were aware at all times that he was just completely freelanciing with no rhythm or struture, and that it in no way fit into any sort of team structure. So...I kind of just mushed in a grade in between the two extremes. He was one of our better players on the floor tonight...but his game may have been toxic to the others. Not the sort of thing you can build on or utilize in any organized way. --Brick

Yvonne Strahovski


Stats: 24min 6pts (2-6, 2-4, 0-0) 2reb 2ast 1stl 1blk 0TO
Garcia ( D ) -- Another stellar night for Cisco. 24 minutes in his stealth mode. He became particularly invisible when Vince Carter came into the game. I certainly didn't see him anywhere near Carter as he hit shot after shot. By the way, our team defense stinks to high heaven. When you have 4, count them again, 4 Kings surounding one opposing player, I think its likely that someone on the other team is going to be open. That actually happened in the game. I wonder who drew that defense up. But that aside, it was another, not bad, but just nothing night for Cisco. Yes he scored 6 whole pt's, had a couple of boards and assists, etc. But the most impact he had, was forgetting to guard Carter. And thats a sad statement. By the way, he wasn't the only one to forget Carter. --Baja

Meagan Good

[Bricklayer]

Stats: 5min 0pts (0-0, 0-0, 0-0) 2reb 0ast 0stl 0blk 0TO
Hayes ( INC ) -- Chuck played 5 minutes, so he doesn't get a grade. During that time he did grab 2 rebounds and break up a pass for a team steal while not allowing any points on defense outside of fouling Beaubois - like Chuck could possibly have stayed in front of him on the switch. While it was a decent outing individually, the third-string lineup was not an effective one in general. --Capt.

I don't actually know who this is. Was just sent it by a female member of the board. So putting him up and calling him "Guy".

Stats: 6min 0pts (0-4, 0-2, 0-0) 3reb 0ast 0stl 0blk 0TO
Outlaw ( INC ) -- Played only 6 minutes, missed all four of his shots (including a deep three very early in the shot clock) and played some questionable defense, flying by Vince Carter after overcommitting in the lane on one play and completely failing to help on a Crowder drive (while not even guarding anybody down low in the paint) on another play. Three rebounds were about the only bright spot here, but he was spared the indignity of a letter grade by not playing enough minutes.--Capt.

guys, if you've been very very foolish and waited until Thursday afternoon to get something for your sweetie, race on out to the store and look for one of these calendars. How could it miss?

Stats: 5min 0pts (0-3, 0-0, 0-0) 2reb 0ast 0stl 0blk 0TO
Honeycutt ( INC ) -- like Outlaw hsio only positive contibution was a couple of strong rebounds. Unlike OUtlaw, who had his own problems, Tyler seemed to decide that the route to more PT was to play it like JJ and just race up the court and gun up selfish shots at breakneck speed. Only if they go in young man. --Brick

Hrithik Roshan

[HereWeVivek]

this is a real quote from coach Smart in the pressor

"Defense is really simple, its just rebounding and contesting shots in the paint"

so i guess this explains why the team is TERRIBLE defending 3pt shooters. Keith Smart tells them they dont need to!

[Mr. S£im Citrus]

[HereWeVivek]

i voted for Coach Calapari, not sure if he has any aspiration to coach in the NBA, but he has coached a few players on this very team, so maybe?

[mac]

I think he'd do a better job if he actually did read that book.

[LWP777]

This is hilarious!

[Warhawk]

I think he'd do a better job if he actually did read that book.

It would be even better if the book was facing the right direction. Just sayin'.

[Capt. Factorial]

It would be even better if the book was facing the right direction. Just sayin'.

Actually, that might explain a few things.

[bajaden]

i voted for Coach Calapari, not sure if he has any aspiration to coach in the NBA, but he has coached a few players on this very team, so maybe?

No way in hell coach Cal is leaving his plush job at Kentucky. He's loved by all there, and he's making huge bucks. Not to mention, he has one of the best recruiting classes in history coming in next season.

[bajaden]

Don't know about the rest of you, but this was a hard game to watch, and unfortunately, because duty called, I had to watch. There was a point where I wanted to pull out my rifle and shoot JJ in the leg just to get him off the floor. He did make one nice pass under the basket to JT, but other than that, he thought he was Michael Jordan. I have no idea what Smart was thinking, or if he even was thinking, but that lineup he put on the floor was terrible. Did he give the night off to T. Robb and Hayes so they could catch an early plane? Or did the two of them, along with Brooks threaten him with bodily harm for some reason. Or perhaps, he just puts all the names up on the wall, blindfolds himself, and then throws darts to see who will play. This was painful to watch!

[mac]

Don't know about the rest of you, but this was a hard game to watch, and unfortunately, because duty called, I had to watch. There was a point where I wanted to pull out my rifle and shoot JJ in the leg just to get him off the floor. He did make one nice pass under the basket to JT, but other than that, he thought he was Michael Jordan. I have no idea what Smart was thinking, or if he even was thinking, but that lineup he put on the floor was terrible. Did he give the night off to T. Robb and Hayes so they could catch an early plane? Or did the two of them, along with Brooks threaten him with bodily harm for some reason. Or perhaps, he just puts all the names up on the wall, blindfolds himself, and then throws darts to see who will play. This was painful to watch!

I would agree with you there if not for the fact that MT is allowed to get 20-30 minutes of pure chucking time every single game.

[Flopi]

An obviously very poor coaching game.
For me, the most painfull thing is watching Smart changing his lineups and rotations every single game. What's the point ? I mean, can someone tell me what was the last successfull team coached that way ?

I vote McMillan but I dream of Ettore Messina although I'm pretty sure it won't happen.
I know that, being a european coach who never coached in the NBA, he would face a lot of sceptiscism but, believe me, he's a hell of a coach.
I think (and I hope) that in the future years, international coaches will prove they can belong to the NBA, the same way international players have proven they can be brilliant in this league.

[kennadog]

Want a few hot guys? I could provide some pictures.

[Mass]

An obviously very poor coaching game.
For me, the most painfull thing is watching Smart changing his lineups and rotations every single game. What's the point ? I mean, can someone tell me what was the last successfull team coached that way ?

I vote McMillan but I dream of Ettore Messina although I'm pretty sure it won't happen.
I know that, being a european coach who never coached in the NBA, he would face a lot of sceptiscism but, believe me, he's a hell of a coach.
I think (and I hope) that in the future years, international coaches will prove they can belong to the NBA, the same way international players have proven they can be brilliant in this league.

I agree, Messina in maybe the best European coach. But he is an European coach... I know him pretty well, and I'm sure he could never be an NBA coach. He takes every game like it's the last one of his life. He wants his players to be aggressive, focused, intense, every single second they are in the game. I've seen a lot of his practices and believe me, he is more like a college coach than an NBA coach.
In the NBA you can't pretend 110% form your players every single game, and he just can't accept that. He is perfect for the European game, he loves that kind of basketball, and that's why he came back after just one year as a Lakers assistant. Then, he also makes very big money in Moscow right now. The only way I can see him coaching in the NBA is if he believes he's achieved everything in Europe and wants to prove himself over there. But it's a long shot IMHO.

[jalfa]

An obviously very poor coaching game.
For me, the most painfull thing is watching Smart changing his lineups and rotations every single game. What's the point ? I mean, can someone tell me what was the last successfull team coached that way ?

I vote McMillan but I dream of Ettore Messina although I'm pretty sure it won't happen.
I know that, being a european coach who never coached in the NBA, he would face a lot of sceptiscism but, believe me, he's a hell of a coach.
I think (and I hope) that in the future years, international coaches will prove they can belong to the NBA, the same way international players have proven they can be brilliant in this league.

he was on the Lakers' staff last year. or was a consultant at least.

also, it really should be McMillan, considering his track record with young talent and motivational prowess. he'd have been ideal roughly 3-4 years back, but he'd still help a ton.

[Bricklayer]

Want a few hot guys? I could provide some pictures.

As I have been saying for years to the ladies, talk is cheap -- bring them on if you want to see them up.

[Flopi]

he was on the Lakers' staff last year. or was a consultant at least.

Yes he was a consultant for the Lakers last season.
Mike Brown said that Messina was "truly one of the great basketball minds in the history of the sport"

Messina said that it was a great experience and that if he was younger he would probably have stayed in the NBA in order to get a chance in a full time head coach job.
Instead he took a job as CSKA Moscow head coach and he is competing for a 5th Euroleague title this year.

[Gilles]

No way in hell coach Cal is leaving his plush job at Kentucky. He's loved by all there, and he's making huge bucks. Not to mention, he has one of the best recruiting classes in history coming in next season.

I think you meant "No way he leaves, before he's found guilty once again of violating recruiting rules"