[GRADES] (Pre-season) Kings v. Trailblazers - Monday, Oct. 9 - 7PM PT

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  • Total voters
    14

Tetsujin

The Game Thread Dude
#1
What did you expect with the veteran half of our team sitting out against the Blazers at essentially full strength?

Some guys rose to the challenge, others didn't. Some guys showed that they deserve more playing time in the season, others were Buddy Hield.

Justin Jackson (B) -- 26 mins, 16 pts, 2 rbs, 1 ast, 0 stl, 1 blk, 3 tov, 4 pf
Now that was more like it. After struggling up to now in the preseason, Jackson had a Summer League-esque performance, the smooth drives, clean catch-and-shoots, general "deserves-to-belong"-ness. At the very least Jackson affirmed his place on the young potential-laden team.

Skal Labissiere (C+) -- 35 min, 13 pts, 7 rbs, 2 ast, 1 stl, 1 blk, 2 tov, 3 pf
On the plus side, Skal looked better than he did last night. He showed flashes on offense and at least seemed to be trying to rebound. Defense continues to be a big problem for Skal, largely because he's still got bird legs and the apparent core strength of a stick bug.

Willie Caulie-Stein (C) -- 27 min, 8 pts, 8 rbs, 3 ast, 0 stl, 0 blk, 2 tov, 4 pf
Once again, Willie has shown a somewhat frustrating desire to expand his offensive game. While the improved outside stroke probably isn't a bad thing, ideally Willie isn't going to be taking too many of those shots anyways. On defense, Willie seems to have made a bit of progress in both the strength department and the overall awareness department. While it didn't show up in the stat sheet, I thought the team looked better on D when he was on the floor (and when Skal wasn't).

Buddy Hield (D-) -- 24 min, 7 pts, 5 rbs, 2 ast, 0 stl, 0 blk, 2 tov, 2 pf
So copy and paste my critique of Buddy from last night and put it here. It's not that Buddy isn't trying, it's that he's doing the wrong kind of trying. Buddy is a good shooter, we all know that, but even good shooters can take bad shots and bad shots will be missed more than made. And considering Buddy's overall game at this point in his life, if he's not taking and making good shots, he's not really a "good player".

Frank Mason III (B) -- 29 min, 13 pt, 5 rbs, 3 ast, 0 stl, 0 blk, 1 tov, 2 pf
In case anyone had forgotten, the Kings have not one but two rookie point guards on the roster and judging off of early performances both seem worth keeping around. As with any short point guard coming into the league, Frank Mason has been compared to IT all summer but watching him play, he reminds me more of Bobby Jackson in his hard-nosed grinding style. While not a fantastic passer, he still sees the floor and makes the right play. If things play out right, he and Fox could be a good point guard tandem for a decade to come.

Georgios Papagiannis (C) -- 20 min, 8 pt, 4 rbs, 0 ast, 0 stl, 1 blk, 5 tov, 5 pf
As much as a 5 turnover, 5 foul game can be considered progress, Papa played an encouraging game. On offense, he had difficulty setting screens on offense of all things on several consecutive possessions and he still is impatient in the paint. On defense though, I thought he played a pretty good game, probably defending Nurkic the best out of all of our big men tonight. Remember that he's still the third youngest guy on the team.

Malachi Richardson (D-) -- 20 min, 5 pt, 3 rbs, 2 ast, 1 stl, 0 blk, 1 tov, 4 pf
See the Buddy Hield critique only replace the blind bravado with hesitance and fear.

Matt Jones (inc. Not going to be on team) --

Marcus Williams (inc. Not going to be on team) --

JaKarr Sampson (B) -- 11 min, 4 pts, 5 rbs, 1 ast, 1 stl, 1 blk, 0 tov, 1 pf
Solid depth wing performance. Really played hard on defense and was active on the boards.

Jack Cooley (inc.) -- Elbowed Nurk in the face
With all our bigs in foul trouble, Joerger had to turn to Cooley in the second. He promptly rewarded us by elbowing Nurkic in the face and picking up a tech for it and then promptly ended up out of the game for the rest of the night.
 
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#6
Please Joerger, no more high post WCS. He failed miserably at it last summer league and he's failing miserably at it again. It's coming down to the point where this guy needs to be neutered. His offense needs to consist of lobs and pick and roll situations and he needs to focus nearly all of his energy on being the defender that we thought we were drafting out of college. This guy has elite length and great athleticism and we can't even get a block a game out of the guy? He should be swatting the ball away multiple times a game.

Frank Mason has been the most impressive rookie to me, outside of Fox. It's a shame these two play the same position. I'm really high on this guy. He's old for a rookie but he's not playing like a rookie. Good court vision, a great shot and not as big a liability on defense as I thought. Can someone just please tell me why he's out rebounding nearly everyone on this team?

Hield is struggling. You can tell he's trying too hard to be the guy. Hopefully he goes back to just playing natural ball because he's not as effective when pressing. Forcing the issue wasn't the cause of all his troubles. Some of his shots that normally go in, just weren't falling again.

Glad to see Justin Jackson gain some confidence. Him and Mason seem to have good chemistry.
 
#7
There's really nothing to say about the Kings' side because we were awful. Jackson had a very nice game. He was missing his shots, but instead of sulking, he started being aggressive and attacked the rim.

On the Blazer's end, I still think Zach Collins will become very good.
 
#9
WCS at the start of every season/preseason goes down the Josh Smith path of trying to do to much he would be a much better player as stated by other Kingsfans if he just focused on catching lobs and protecting the rim. He should not be trying any of that other stuff in a game until he get a couple easy lobs/putbacks/dives to the rim to get him into the flow.

Mason looked like Charlotte Bobcats/Bulls DJ Augustine out there which is a good thing, guy played the best preseason game of any Kings I seen thus far. Jackson looks like a solid 10 year player in the making the length/shooting/floater all look very promising as the mental side of the game develops.

Sampson while he was wild at times did cause havoc he caused like 4 turnovers out there I believe he had two steals/ two charges drawn. He could be useful every now and than for a 5 min burst of making stuff happened at SF/PF.
 
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#12
WCS at the start of every season/preseason goes down the Josh Smith path of trying to do to much he would be a much better player as stated by other Kingsfans if he just focused on catching lobs and protecting the rim. He should not be trying any of that other stuff in a game until he get a couple easy lobs/putbacks/dives to the rim to get him into the flow.

Mason looked like Charlotte Bobcats/Bulls DJ Augustine out there which is a good thing, guy played the best preseason game of any Kings I seen thus far. Jackson looks like a solid 10 year player in the making the length/shooting/floater all look very promising as the mental side of the game develops.

Sampson while he was wild at times did cause havoc he caused like 4 turnovers out there I believe he had two steals/ two charges drawn. He could be useful every now and than for a 5 min burst of making stuff happened at SF/PF.
The Josh Smith to WCS comparison is spot on. WCS seems to be of the mindset that the only way he can be elite is through being a dynamic go to scorer. He is not a go to one on one player, but is just fine and above average if he attacks within the flow during ball movement when it swings his way.

I understand the logic of the high post last year when we had cousins, and tjen afterwards as little time to implement new scheme...but im frankly disappointed in the coach to see a return to this. Hopefully this is just part of a developmental framework the coach is useing and not the actual scheme he believes gives us beat chanve to win. Please please duplicate the spurs offense!
 
#13
The Kings are anemic on offense. They don't move much without the ball, are not a breaking team and so far pass the ball poorly. They are way too content to throw up long range contested shots. They will improve as the season progresses, but do not look like much so far.

Players like Skal, Willie and Papa are way too passive in their play. They need to learn to get mean every time they set foot on the court.

Nurkic made Papa look like he has never played before at times.
 
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#15
Mason = B (leaning toward a B+): As we've all noticed, this guy's got game. Really happy about our rookie PGs and having the vet George Hill around to steady the ship. But if the vet-happy Joerger gives Hill 30+ min a game all season, that won't leave enough minutes for Mason to develop as I believe he is capable of doing. Two years from now, I see Fox and Mason as being the Kings PG tendem.
Hield = D: Good shooters look bad when their shot isn't falling. Then they become good again when their shot does start falling. But the really good ones will find other ways to help the team. That's where Buddy falls flat, and needs to improve.
Jackson = B: I like what I'm seeing from Jackson. He may not be ready to start on openng day, but he'll have the SF position locked down before Christmas. Coaches love guys like him.
Skal = D: I see some things I like from him, but he's a big liability on defense and if his offense isn't clicking, he's only hurting the team's chances. A number of times now I noticed that he should have passed the ball, but instead his lack of confidence in passing the ball leads him to hand the ball off. I hate to say it, but I don't think he's ready to be our starting PF. But since losing games this year is okay, maybe we just need to watch him grow this year as the weak link in the starting unit.
WCS = C-: He's playing with energy at least. But seems out of synch. I'm coming around to the idea that he needs to simplify his game. That doesn't mean he can't be an important part of the offense. It just means that he should put his energy into protecting the rim and rebounding, and let his offense come from what is given.
 
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Kingster

Hall of Famer
#16
WCS looks like a guy who thinks he's made it in the league, he's a legit starter, and he's going to save himself for the regular season. He's not taking preseason seriously and it shows. If he plays great in the regular season, all will be forgotten. If he doesn't, he's going to take a lot of deserved flack.
 
#17
WCS looks like a guy who thinks he's made it in the league, he's a legit starter, and he's going to save himself for the regular season. He's not taking preseason seriously and it shows. If he plays great in the regular season, all will be forgotten. If he doesn't, he's going to take a lot of deserved flack.
I hope you are right. I think Willie looked mostly awful last night. There is NO decisiveness to his reads when he has the ball at the top of the key. I don't interpret that as coasting through preseason, I interpret that as a guy who lacks the skills to put the opponent at a disadvantage. He's just not that good. His post moves pretty much stink and his face up game is awkward. I am not that worried about most of the guys not playing that well, including Buddy and Boggy. Willie is the one guy who stands out who needs to take a step forward and has not. I do think Willie is a guy who is best when he is a consistent lob threat a la Rudy Gobert and having Hill and Fox on the court will help to make him and more consistent lob threat.

Willie looks like a back-up to me, and if we are going to be a surprise team this year, Willie needs to be more than a back-up.
 
#18
All i can say is thank God we have Z-Bo, Hill, Carter, and Temple to prevent this level of unwatchability every night. lol.
You are thanking God for Z-Bo? You may be rescinding your gratitude around Game 5 or 10. Z-Bo is a problem waiting to happen with Joerger love affair for vets. I await to be disproven. If Z-Bo has a high usage over 20 to 25% it's NOT going to be pretty. For him, the team or fans exposed to the carnage. You cannot win in this league if an inefficient 36 year old is featured component of your offense. The majority of low post touches need to go to Skal soon not Z-Bo.

If Joerger is leaning on 36 year old having delusional flashbacks to when Z-Bo was a force we are in trouble I am okay with Z-Bo at 15-20 MPG but if we get into 25-30 MPG with this guy, it is NOT going to be a pretty sight. Z-Bo had TS% last season of 49%. That is woeful. Unless he discovers the fountain of youth or some magic bud in his two pound stash he is not going to be a reliable scoring weapon in more than back-up (spot) minutes.
 
#19
What did you expect with the veteran half of our team sitting out against the Blazers at essentially full strength?

Some guys rose to the challenge, others didn't. Some guys showed that they deserve more playing time in the season, others were Buddy Hield.

Justin Jackson (B) -- 26 mins, 16 pts, 2 rbs, 1 ast, 0 stl, 1 blk, 3 tov, 4 pf
Now that was more like it. After struggling up to now in the preseason, Jackson had a Summer League-esque performance, the smooth drives, clean catch-and-shoots, general "deserves-to-belong"-ness. At the very least Jackson affirmed his place on the young potential-laden team.

Skal Labissiere (C+) -- 35 min, 13 pts, 7 rbs, 2 ast, 1 stl, 1 blk, 2 tov, 3 pf
On the plus side, Skal looked better than he did last night. He showed flashes on offense and at least seemed to be trying to rebound. Defense continues to be a big problem for Skal, largely because he's still got bird legs and the apparent core strength of a stick bug.

Willie Caulie-Stein (C) -- 27 min, 8 pts, 8 rbs, 3 ast, 0 stl, 0 blk, 2 tov, 4 pf
Once again, Willie has shown a somewhat frustrating desire to expand his offensive game. While the improved outside stroke probably isn't a bad thing, ideally Willie isn't going to be taking too many of those shots anyways. On defense, Willie seems to have made a bit of progress in both the strength department and the overall awareness department. While it didn't show up in the stat sheet, I thought the team looked better on D when he was on the floor (and when Skal wasn't).

Buddy Hield (D-) -- 24 min, 7 pts, 5 rbs, 2 ast, 0 stl, 0 blk, 2 tov, 2 pf
So copy and paste my critique of Buddy from last night and put it here. It's not that Buddy isn't trying, it's that he's doing the wrong kind of trying. Buddy is a good shooter, we all know that, but even good shooters can take bad shots and bad shots will be missed more than made. And considering Buddy's overall game at this point in his life, if he's not taking and making good shots, he's not really a "good player".

Frank Mason III (B) -- 29 min, 13 pt, 5 rbs, 3 ast, 0 stl, 0 blk, 1 tov, 2 pf
In case anyone had forgotten, the Kings have not one but two rookie point guards on the roster and judging off of early performances both seem worth keeping around. As with any short point guard coming into the league, Frank Mason has been compared to IT all summer but watching him play, he reminds me more of Bobby Jackson in his hard-nosed grinding style. While not a fantastic passer, he still sees the floor and makes the right play. If things play out right, he and Fox could be a good point guard tandem for a decade to come.

Georgios Papagiannis (C) -- 20 min, 8 pt, 4 rbs, 0 ast, 0 stl, 1 blk, 5 tov, 5 pf
As much as a 5 turnover, 5 foul game can be considered progress, Papa played an encouraging game. On offense, he had difficulty setting screens on offense of all things on several consecutive possessions and he still is impatient in the paint. On defense though, I thought he played a pretty good game, probably defending Nurkic the best out of all of our big men tonight. Remember that he's still the third youngest guy on the team.

Malachi Richardson (D-) -- 20 min, 5 pt, 3 rbs, 2 ast, 1 stl, 0 blk, 1 tov, 4 pf
See the Buddy Hield critique only replace the blind bravado with hesitance and fear.

Matt Jones (inc. Not going to be on team) --

Marcus Williams (inc. Not going to be on team) --

JaKarr Sampson (B) -- 11 min, 4 pts, 5 rbs, 1 ast, 1 stl, 1 blk, 0 tov, 1 pf
Solid depth wing performance. Really played hard on defense and was active on the boards.

Jack Cooley (inc.) -- Elbowed Nurk in the face
With all our bigs in foul trouble, Joerger had to turn to Cooley in the second. He promptly rewarded us by elbowing Nurkic in the face and picking up a tech for it and then promptly ended up out of the game for the rest of the night.
I disagree with almost all of these grades. I think we were watching different games.
 
#20
You are thanking God for Z-Bo? You may be rescinding your gratitude around Game 5 or 10. Z-Bo is a problem waiting to happen with Joerger love affair for vets. I await to be disproven. If Z-Bo has a high usage over 20 to 25% it's NOT going to be pretty. For him, the team or fans exposed to the carnage. You cannot win in this league if an inefficient 36 year old is featured component of your offense. The majority of low post touches need to go to Skal soon not Z-Bo.

If Joerger is leaning on 36 year old having delusional flashbacks to when Z-Bo was a force we are in trouble I am okay with Z-Bo at 15-20 MPG but if we get into 25-30 MPG with this guy, it is NOT going to be a pretty sight. Z-Bo had TS% last season of 49%. That is woeful. Unless he discovers the fountain of youth or some magic bud in his two pound stash he is not going to be a reliable scoring weapon in more than back-up (spot) minutes.
Im speaking more so in the sense that we have a couple players that actually know how to play NBA basketball as opposed to the rest, which don't.
 
#21
I hope you are right. I think Willie looked mostly awful last night. There is NO decisiveness to his reads when he has the ball at the top of the key. I don't interpret that as coasting through preseason, I interpret that as a guy who lacks the skills to put the opponent at a disadvantage. He's just not that good. His post moves pretty much stink and his face up game is awkward. I am not that worried about most of the guys not playing that well, including Buddy and Boggy. Willie is the one guy who stands out who needs to take a step forward and has not. I do think Willie is a guy who is best when he is a consistent lob threat a la Rudy Gobert and having Hill and Fox on the court will help to make him and more consistent lob threat.

Willie looks like a back-up to me, and if we are going to be a surprise team this year, Willie needs to be more than a back-up.
WCS should not be coasting not only has he not earned that right but he’s not good enough to be doing that. Keep it up Ayton and Bemba are available in June.
 
#24
Then why not post the grades you would have given?
Because it's a long season and I need to pace myself and we are halfway through a mostly boring pre-season and I just wrote a 4000 word season preview that maxed out this sites capacity for word count by double. :p
 
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#26
Im speaking more so in the sense that we have a couple players that actually know how to play NBA basketball as opposed to the rest, which don't.
I think the more and sooner the usage rate of the team leans towards De'Aaron, Buddy and Skal the better chance we have to surprise teams. The more the usage rate leans towards Z-Bo and Hill and Carter, the more we are in trouble. Our vets are not stars. They are placeholders.
 
#28
I'm not impressed with Mason's playmaking. Kings did not have anyone on the floor who could run a half decent offense. We did recently sign David Stockton as a camp body though http://www.nba.com/kings/news/kings-sign-hearn-stockton

I'd prefer to have him run the point any day.
I couldn't disagree more. I felt Mason might of been the lone bright spot yesterday. Anytime Mason was off the floor the team lost ground against Portland. He was basically responsible for 9 of Jackson points with three nice assists... I could make an argument that Mason is more of pure point guard than Fox at this point.
 
#29
I couldn't disagree more. I felt Mason might of been the lone bright spot yesterday. Anytime Mason was off the floor the team lost ground against Portland. He was basically responsible for 9 of Jackson points with three nice assists... I could make an argument that Mason is more of pure point guard than Fox at this point.
This is my perception too. I like PGs who can maintain their dribble under duress, who do not automatically pick up their dribble at the first sign of defense closing in. Mason has no problem keeping his dribble under pressure and making a play. There is a term for this called "gravity" which is bringing the defense to you so your teammates are left open. This is what Mason is capable of doing and all stars in the league are capable of doing.