Thoughts on Kings first 11 games

Random observations of games so far (the LAST 11 games):

- starting 5 consistency is starting to take shape
- much more aggressive this year resulting in leading NBA in FT made and FT%
- last four loses (after Warriors opener debacle) have been by 8, 8, 1 and 6 points, so in every game
- 5 of 7 wins are vs. playoff teams
- five wins on road already THAT IS BIG!
- bench is still looking for itself. Reminds me of a classic expression I once put on a grandsons door:

I AM LOST
I'VE GONE TO LOOK FOR MYSELF
IF I RETURN BEFORE I GET BACK
ASK ME TO WAIT

- BenMac has finally begun to emerge at the 2 by being aggressive
- Collison has begun to emerge as an All Star at the point
- Casspi is the biggest surprise and is THE 6th MAN and leader of the bench, such as it is
- The Evans experiment didn't work
- JT just may be the best choice at the 4 and as backup 5
- Nik will come along in timed
- Rudy is proving worth every penny and his assists are up as well (added 11:54am)
- Cuz is the best big in NBA (not withstanding Marc Gasol)
- am still being very trepidatious as coming 4 games are against the Big Boys: Anthony Davis, Dwight Howard, Tim Duncan and Marc Gasol. Then we will know just what we have in Cuz.

No predictions as that's too scary and Kings need backup center who can score and a reliable backup 3pt shooter.

You summed it up very well for me. Maybe our dilema at PF is beginning to sort itself out and become a plus. Collison has been key to Malone getting more of what he wants and the team needs. Things are going in the right direction.

Also, no question we now have very good coach, not a great coach yet, but one who says he would like to emulate Gregg Popovich.

Pleased so far, but we still have a problem at the back up center spot. JT can't be both. Well he can, but it's walking a thin line. If you go to a three man rotation and one of the two bigs gets into foul trouble, then the team is in trouble if its up against a big front line. In essence, we have a very good back up center, but at the moment, he's our starting PF. Landry is fine at the back up PF spot, and Casspi is fine at the back up SF. In time Stauskas will be a good back up SG, it not a good starting SG. So far, I haven't been happy with Sessions, and I was a big Sessions fan. So maybe I liked him better from afar, than I do up close and personal. It happens! I'd rather see McCallum at that spot.

11 games? Lol we're 8-5

does anyone have an update on the Kings protest? Must be decided by Dec 2nd right?

I believe so, but don't get your hopes up. It is not in the league's interest to be overturning game-deciding officiating calls as it undermines confidence in the system (such as it is.) Even reviewing that last play multiple times, I couldn't say with certainty either that it was tipped or that Lee was not able to catch and shoot within .3 seconds time. The evidence would have to be clear that there was a major screw-up and it is not clear.

In any case, the team has a chance for revenge shortly.

JT can score and play the 5, he just needs time in that role to develop. The reliable backup 3 pt shooter is Staukas, he just needs time in that role to develop

How did Portland acquire Chris Kaman? *sigh

that would have been nice

We all do math.

Kings are getting fouls called for them like no Kings team ever has.
(And that's even with all the bad officiating games they've had).

Previous Kings teams couldn't get ANY calls called for them if they had been doused in gasoline and put on fire by the other team.

It makes a BIG difference - more than can be easily understood by fans.
It's not just the end score of the game that gets affected when the other team gets away with constant hacking/etc, and your team gets called for weak fouls on defense - the entire game gets destabilized to the point where you can't compete on the court.

We need a backup center who can defend. I couldn't care less whether this yet to be acquired backup can score or not. Our bench not being able to guard anything at the rim is a much bigger issue.

BTW, we're 4-3 on the road.

BTW part two: Pretty sure we already know what we have in Cuz before this stretch of 4 games. At least I do. I don't need to see Cuz go up against Gasol or Davis this week to show me what we have in him.

He's actually been pretty god damn good this season


We are 3 games above 500. despite having a top 5 tough schedule, aside from Memphis meltdown (my favourite ice-cream back in the day) and the complete lack of effort in the OKC game can't really complain.

My thoughts are we won more games than I've expected this early considering the schedule. I like the strides I'm seeing with Ben, need that consistency out of him. Darren is playing like a true point but also giving us offense on good efficiency. Bench needs some serious work though.

Our starting 5 has been outstanding. Best defense in the league according to the stats, now if we can fill some holes in the bench we might be in good shape. And honestly if Nik can't start contributing it might be time to let him get some run in Reno and bring in a guy who can at least play some defense for now. Nothing against the kid and i want to see him be great, but if we want to be a relevant team this year that just might have to happen

Should have said "... what we have in Cuz's team." which is what I meant. Sorry bout dat.

We still have room to improve sure but we need our bench guys to find their stride. Other than that I think we can do this.

#playtowin

I replayed that last 0.3 of a second play over and over again, and timed it as best possible, and came to the conclusion that there was no way in hell he got that shot off in the allotted time. Not that what I believe matters. I'll be shocked if they reverse it, but stranger things have happened. realistically, the only way you can shoot the shot that quickly, is to shoot it the moment it touches you hand, and that's not what happened. He actually caught the ball and went up with his hand to shoot it. Its almost impossible to blink your eye in 0.3 seconds. We probably didn't deserve to win that game, but we did in fact, win that game, despite what the record shows.

There has been a change in the idea that with .3 or less one cannot catch and shoot. They lopped off.1 seconds as the rule now is .2 or less. However I totally agree that even if he could catch and shoot, he didn't let go of the ball in .3 seconds. Some here calculated the ball hit Lee's hands and then left his hands in .377 seconds.

I suspect they won't change anything but if the use of replay is to make sure no mistakes are made, why not introduce evidence from anyone? If accuracy is primary, let it be primary. If outside analysis can't be used, spell that out. There is absolutely no reason why bajaden's analysis can't be used. See what I mean?

Through our 1st 13 games I see an adjustment that needs to be made in order to win a few more games than we would without said adjustment; make Ben and Rudy hangout together ALL of the time. These two space cadets have been accounting for about 5 turnovers per game combined. A lot of the time it's when one passes to the other. We pee away quite a few possessions per game due to Ben and Rudy not being on the same page. I feel like I can depend on watching Ben or Rudy throw a laser beam pass at the others foot from 2 feet away multiple times per game.

Our record is 8-5, which means we are winning 61.5% of the time.

If we keep on winning at this rate we will be 50-32 at the end of the regular season.

I predicted this roster is capable of winning 46-50 games, especially now that we have a Collison instead of an IT. The players and coach Malone are doing fine. But I wish somehow they exceed my expectation and get us into the playoffs. That would be awesome.

We don't need a starting PF, we just need a backup C. JT has done very very well as our starting PF. His scoring #s have been low because he doesn't get as many touches as he used to. I'm very happy with where we're at. Our team will surprise a lot of people! I hate being in the West. Too many competitive teams here..

There aren't a ton of PFs that I can think of off the top of my head that would fit for our team. Maybe Amir Johnson? He's a FA this year and is expendable for the Raptors. One of the Morris's? Not too sure lol

JT has got a lot of criticism and I'm not quite sure if it is so justified. In a team starting with offensive stars like DMC and Gay and having BenMc and Collison in the back court, a rebounding derfensive big like JT is just the right choice. There's excessive fire power there already. Only good defense makes it usefull.

Right now I believe this team just needs a better bench in order to be really competitive. Just look at the Blazers last year, they became a much better team once they fixed their bench. If we could somehow find a backup C, able to defend and score some points when DMC is out and a SG who can give us something, we could really be a dangerous team.

I expect PDA to make some moves if we don't collapse and we're still in the playoff race by the end of january.

There bench was shocking last year this year it's decent, aside from Mo Williams there bench was ****ing terrible

Pretty much in agreement with this, but I'd add perhaps our biggest need is a defensive PG. I'm hoping McCallum, by midway or 2/3 way through the season, becomes that person. I see it making a huge difference.

It was far far worse the two years ago. Last year it was brilliant compared to 12-13. And the comparison to the 12-13 Portland bench is one that I have wanted to make myself a few times. They were a team ready, or almost ready (Lillard was a rookie after all) to win, but they were being completely sabotaged by their own bench making them look much worse than they were. I have no interest in being those Blazers Pt. II. We haven't won in 8 years, you finally get a chance you simply do not blow it for virtually anything. We have a young Cuz on the team and he needs minutes? Sure. We don't. So we need to win.

But our bench isn't awful. Landry and Casspi have been decent to very good (depending on the game). Nik will come along, hopefully sooner rather than later. Sessions has been a turd so far, but I am hoping that is a matter of getting used to the teammates and/or McCallum taking over. The glaring, ever-present hole is at the center position where, god-forbid, if Cousins goes down, the Kings are well and truly sunk.

There aren't free agent centers worth signing out there, and there are probably only two to three guys that would be available for any of our spare pieces. (Anyone want an undersized power forward? We offer them in bulk.) The trick is going to be convince some other team to take one of Evans, Landry, or Williams off our hands in exchange for someone who is > 6'10" and can grab a rebound.