[Grades] Grades v. Timberwolves 11/27/2015

[KingsFanGER]

Maybe not the ONLY reason, but as far as i can tell, the defensive struggles are pretty much on him IMO. Time and time again the switches lead to mis matches and perimeter shooters are left wide open. It's clear that regardless of the opponent, he is not preaching defense, and simply wants to outscore the opponent first and foremost. Doug was saying last night, sometimes your shot just isn't going to fall. Offense can be streaky. I believe defense to be more consistent and sustainable than offense, and good defense leads to good offense.

I think in Denver, the FO gave Karl more freedom to create the team he wanted, which was a team that can run and play pace. Here he has been given a team that's not built for that, and he doesn't seem to have any desire to change the way he coaches. It sucks, but i get it. He's an old man, and very set in his ways. It's unfortunate, but it looks to me like he's just washed up. I don't see any fire in him, or any desire to make any adjustments to his philosophies.

Bottom line, i don't think this team is going anywhere unless they start playing some D. You're simply going to have off nights offensively, but good defense leads to offense. Basketball is a game that relies tremendously on momentum, and i think it's just hard to build momentum when you're only playing on one side of the court.

Well outside of the hypothetical approach, that pace leads to more out of control plays and therefore more turnovers, that lead to disadvantages on D, I don't see why playing with a fast pace leads to a bad defense.
Giving that Cuz trails most of the time, KK played for Karl in Denver, Willie is maybe the fastest PF in this league right now, Rudy and Ben are great athletes and Rondo hasn't lost a step, I have problems to understand, why so many posters here claim, that this team is not built for playing fast.
Sometimes I tend to think, that there seem to be a lot of "oldfashioned" basketball fans on this board, that just dislike the current playstyle most teams are favoring.
I literally don't care anymore, how we play on the offensive end.
Actually I think our offense is improving and isn't the problem.

 

[peacelate]

Well outside of the hypothetical approach, that pace leads to more out of control plays and therefore more turnovers, that lead to disadvantages on D, I don't see why playing with a fast pace leads to a bad defense.
Giving that Cuz trails most of the time, KK played for Karl in Denver, Willie is maybe the fastest PF in this league right now, Rudy and Ben are great athletes and Rondo hasn't lost a step, I have problems to understand, why so many posters here claim, that this team is not built for playing fast.
Sometimes I tend to think, that there seem to be a lot of "oldfashioned" basketball fans on this board, that just dislike the current playstyle most teams are favoring.
I literally don't care anymore, how we play on the offensive end.
Actually I think our offense is improving and isn't the problem.

Pace is a problem because it creates mismatches on the floor. Karl likes to play fast so he outs smaller, quicker players on the floor. How many times do we have to see the combo of Collison and Rondo? Playing Gay at PF? We don't have enough individual defenders let alone versatile defenders to play this small ball game.

 

[pshn80]

Yeah small ball aside I don't see how you can point to Karl as reason #1 for losing this. We lost because Rudy Gay scored as much in 27 minutes as Curry did in 1.

I watched on TV and Rudy didn't take very good shots. How much did his defenders have to do with that? Did he have a taller more athletic defender/defenders?

 

[KingsFanGER]

Pace is a problem because it creates mismatches on the floor. Karl likes to play fast so he outs smaller, quicker players on the floor. How many times do we have to see the combo of Collison and Rondo? Playing Gay at PF? We don't have enough individual defenders let alone versatile defenders to play this small ball game.

I don't think that Karl plays the smaller lineups, because he wants to play even faster. Karl plays small, because he is searching for ballhandling, shooting and playmaking.
Casspi for example seems to be a better rebounder than Willie and is a way better offensive player.
So playing Willie is only beneficial, when it comes to defend the rim.
Willie is limited. And that's a problem for Karl. If Willie would be a force on the glass he would eventually see more playing time.
I won't defend the Rondo+Collison duo though. I can't stand that strategy. I get, that Collison is maybe our second best guard, but Rondo needs the ball.

 

[HndsmCelt]

Pace is a problem because it creates mismatches on the floor. Karl likes to play fast so he outs smaller, quicker players on the floor. How many times do we have to see the combo of Collison and Rondo? Playing Gay at PF? We don't have enough individual defenders let alone versatile defenders to play this small ball game.

THIS and I would add observation that when we play small we are giving up our advantage on the boards. When we shoot a high percentage like we did against the Bucks it's negligible, but once the shots stop falling we end up getting beat up on each end of the court.

 

[theclash4u5]

I agree Wiggins is a talented player and the T-Pups played a good game. Rudy had no trouble getting the shots off, he just missed them.

T-Wolves didn't really play a great game. They had 17 turnovers, no fast break points (not sure if that changed in garbage time or not), shot terribly in the 2nd half at the 3PT...we just didn't do anything to win the game when we had the chance, time and time again. No one could create to score.

 

[Dime Dropper]

Ya, TWolves weren't great at all, we just don't defend anyone. That's not to say they're not talented. They are, they have one of the most promising young squads in the league led by Wiggins and KAT. But we should have won this game.

Karl needs to get it into his thick skull that we aren't making the playoffs while giving up 100000+ points per game. Defense matters.

 

[Mr. S£im Citrus]

Giving [sic] that Cuz trails most of the time, KK played for Karl in Denver, Willie is maybe the fastest PF in this league right now, Rudy and Ben are great athletes and Rondo hasn't lost a step, I have problems to understand, why so many posters here claim, that this team is not built for playing fast.

I feel like you answered your own question, with the first eight words of your sentence: if your best player is always bringing up the rear of your offense, you should want to consider recalibrating your offense. Koufos isn't particularly fast, either, and the fact that he played for Karl before really does **** all to divert from that. The one big we have who is fast enough for Karl's system is the one he seems to want to have nothing to do with.

I don't think that Karl plays the smaller lineups, because he wants to play even faster. Karl plays small, because he is searching for ballhandling, shooting and playmaking.

Then he's hustling backwards. When Rondo's on the court, we need less ballhandling and playmaking, because Rondo's going to dominate the ball, anyway. And, if he's not, he's being misused. When Rondo is out there, we need more guys on the floor who are going to rim-run, rim-protect, and can cover both ends of a switch. Collison is the opposite of that.

The biggest problem with Karl's small ball system is the two point guards part. If he insists on going small, then the small that he needs to go with should be Rondo, Belinelli, Casspi, Gay and Cauley-Stein. That would optimize your need for playmaking, without sacrificing too much on the defensive end.

 

[bajaden]

I watched on TV and Rudy didn't take very good shots. How much did his defenders have to do with that? Did he have a taller more athletic defender/defenders?

Rudy was often guarded by Wiggins. Rudy is a very good athlete, but Wiggins is a better athlete with good length, and was known to be a good defender even in college. Rudy's main problem is that the T Wolves obviously prepared their defense with him in mind. He got doubled almost every time he had the ball, and I'm sure that Minny knows that when Rudy gets the ball, he usually keeps the ball, so they wern't worried about him passing to the open man. As a result you had Gay trying to score through double teams for most of the game. For this game at least, he was the living definition of insanity.

 

[Livinthedream]

Pace is a problem because it creates mismatches on the floor. Karl likes to play fast so he outs smaller, quicker players on the floor. How many times do we have to see the combo of Collison and Rondo? Playing Gay at PF? We don't have enough individual defenders let alone versatile defenders to play this small ball game.

Yes. In general, in order for small ball to work, the mismatch you create on offense has to be greater than the mismatch you give up on the defensive end. With our team, it's never going to happen that way. Our offensive players are not versatile enough to beat you consistently when it matters and we are not strong individual defenders that harass and create steals.

We jump on our players for their performance or lack of performance, but the reality is that Karl misusing their talents. Even if we score 110 pts a game, it's not due to talent as much as it is about throwing so many shots at the rim. Some have to go in.

Rondo works because he has constant control of the ball. Casspi works in this system because he has a one track mind and does nothing but attack at full speed. Cousins is just nothing but talent. But for all the rest, you're going to see a lot of inconsistent play depending on if their shot is keeping up with their frenetic pace. If the shot isn't falling they just look out of control.

 

[Siranthony]

The more the team plays fast, the better they will be at it. Try to have some patience. Things will get better.

 

[Mr. S£im Citrus]

The more the team plays fast, the better they will be at it.

I find the veracity of this statement to be highly questionable.

 

[Sac.Kings]

Cousins out tonight supposedly. Great. It means I'm not watching this now certain massacre.

 

[swisshh]

The more the team plays fast, the better they will be at it. Try to have some patience. Things will get better.

I've already seen the team improve at it. Their half court passing is much improved as well.

The issue is that the reward is nothing other than the process itself. The team gets better at playing faster, but the team doesn't get better overall.

 

[Bricklayer]

Cousins out tonight supposedly. Great. It means I'm not watching this now certain massacre.

I predicted this back before Turkey Day. If we didn't play him the first half of the back to back on a winnable home game, no way we play him on the second night on an unwinnable road game. Two extra days of rest and try to finally get his season underway vs. Dallas.

hey, for some good news, if the slaughter goes as planned, I've decided its time to finally reinitiate Pretty Girls

 

[bajaden]

I don't think that Karl plays the smaller lineups, because he wants to play even faster. Karl plays small, because he is searching for ballhandling, shooting and playmaking.
Casspi for example seems to be a better rebounder than Willie and is a way better offensive player.
So playing Willie is only beneficial, when it comes to defend the rim.
Willie is limited. And that's a problem for Karl. If Willie would be a force on the glass he would eventually see more playing time.
I won't defend the Rondo+Collison duo though. I can't stand that strategy. I get, that Collison is maybe our second best guard, but Rondo needs the ball.

I would agree that Willie is limited on the offensive side of the ball, but he's not totally inept. Let me ask you a question. How many times was Willie wide open under the basket last night and either no one saw him, or they did and chose not to pass him the ball. I was curious, so I focused totally on Willie when he was on the floor, and not counting the times he did get the ball and scored, there were seven other times that he was either wide open, or open enough for a good pass to get through. One time in particular in the fourth quarter he grabbed a rebound, passed the ball to Collison and then shot down the floor. It appeared that no one on the T Wolves noticed him standing right under the basket with no one within 15 feet of him. Unfortunately, Collison didn't notice him either.

I realize he's not the first option or even the fourth option, but he is someone I think you have to be aware of if your the PG on the team because of his ability to beat just about anyone down the floor. I agree that Casspi has done a better than expected job with his rebounding. And right now he's a better offensive player. But it doesn't have to be an either/or with Casspi and WCS. They can play together. What would have been wrong with having both Koufos and Willie on the floor together to close out the game. Particularly when the T Wolves were getting too many scores at the basket. Mostly thanks to our lousy perimeter defense and lack of weak side help. Something Willie is very good at. We're losing games because we can't stop the other team. Stop the other team, and you'll get easier baskets at the other end.

 

[Mr. S£im Citrus]

hey, for some good news, if the slaughter goes as planned, I've decided its time to finally reinitiate Pretty Girls

You realize, of course, that now the Kings are going to keep the game close, just to spite you.

 

[macadocious]

You realize, of course, that now the Kings are going to keep the game close, just to spite you.

Just to spite US

 

[Glenn]

You realize, of course, that now the Kings are going to keep the game close, just to spite you.

This game tonight has a 99% chance of being a loss, 75% chance of being a wipe out and a 1% of us winning. I would hate to miss it if it was the 1%. crap happens.

 

[Mr. S£im Citrus]

Just to spite US

Not me. @Bricklayer and I don't exactly have the same taste in women, so the "Pretty Girls" don't usually do much for Mr. Slim.

 

[peacelate]

If the Warriors don't break a record against the Kings, I'll be happy.

We're seeing the best offense the league has seen in a long time against the league's worst defense. This could get very, very ugly.

 

[gunks]

Remember early last season when our identity was a tough, rebounding team, who got to the line and battered opposing teams with Cuz and Rudy post ups?

Pepperidge farms remembers.

 

[jdbraver]

Remember early last season when our identity was a tough, rebounding team, who got to the line and battered opposing teams with Cuz and Rudy post ups?

Pepperidge farms remembers.

When is this coining to stop? Stop living in the past. PS: it was more luck than success. We were so overachieving and it would have crumbled.

 

[KingMilz]

When is this coining to stop? Stop living in the past. PS: it was more luck than success. We were so overachieving and it would have crumbled.

Careful you are talking about the greatest 9-6 coach that's ever lived

 

[gunks]

When is this coining to stop? Stop living in the past. PS: it was more luck than success. We were so overachieving and it would have crumbled.

I'll stop complaining when we start winning. Obviously.


I get that it's annoying though.

 

[dude12]

Remember early last season when our identity was a tough, rebounding team, who got to the line and battered opposing teams with Cuz and Rudy post ups?

Pepperidge farms remembers.

I remember.....seems like in the last 10 years, for a stretch of 15 games or so, the Kings priority was play defense and they executed it and we looked like a team ready to win every game.

 

[peacelate]

Careful you are talking about the greatest 9-6 coach that's ever lived

He was a great coach for this team. 9-6 is better than all the other junk coaches this franchise has had in the past years, including the current coach.

 

[rainmaker]

PS: it was more luck than success. We were so overachieving and it would have crumbled.

Nope.

The luck in this is fans such as yourself, who are lucky Cuz became ill and Malone got fired, can then sit there and falsely attempt to argue what we had a year ago was luck and overachieving.

Those who understood what we were doing knew damn well that style of play was far more sustainable than our current up and down, live by the jumper and don't concern yourself with defense style.

P.S. It's not living in the past when the firing of Malone is what necessitated the current situation. And when the franchise hasn't recovered from it, it's relevant.

 

[Capt. Factorial]

If the Warriors don't break a record against the Kings, I'll be happy.

We're seeing the best offense the league has seen in a long time against the league's worst defense. This could get very, very ugly.

League's #24 defense, to be fair.

 

[Ugolino]

Cousins out tonight supposedly. Great. It means I'm not watching this now certain massacre.

We'll be fine as long as we keep the pace up.