Oh, joy of pure unmitigated joy. Another stupid matinee (and on the road to boot, which means the guys are gonna be on West Coast time.)
After the last Clippers loss, Koz and Doug made a couple of really good points about the Kings attitude at the beginning of a game. Koz remarked and Doug reiterated that our young Kings seem to treat warm-up as some kind of circus event (my term, not theirs) with their attempts at showtime dunks, etc. Doug commented that back in the day, he and the rest of the REAL KINGS (my term, not theirs) actually warmed up, focusing on the game to come. Koz said our team right now just seems to look at warm-ups as playtime. They don't show up (out) on the court in WORK mode.
That, in a nutshell, explains a lot. One of the biggest differences between college ball and the NBA is the intensity. You have to be in full game mode at the tip-off, which means (at least according to Doug - whose opinion in this area I hold in very high regard) you have to get into that mindset when you come out of the tunnel. The layup line isn't the right time to try and impress the crowd with your dunking skills. A dunk in the warmups means less than nothing when your team starts the game by quickly digging themselves into a hole they cannot possibly get out of.
Some of that is immaturity. Some of it is, IMHO, on the coaches. Not just Joerger, but the guys who are out there during warmups. The rest is on the players. They need to really understand why they're there. They could all take a page from Bogdan Bogdanovich.
The Thunder should be at full strength. We're close, with only Mason and Giles currently in the injured list.
As for most of this year, I don't care if the Kings win. I do care, however, with increasing fervor, how they play. They must show the heart, hustle, energy and effort any player in the NBA should be willing to put forth every time they step onto the court.
You know what I'd like to see? The Bighorns play the Kings (just the young ones). I have a feeling our rooks might just get a wake-up call. The Bighorns may be the D-League but they always play with intensity. I wish they could instill it into their big brother team.
It's still a good time to be a Kings fan, even if it is frustrating.
GO KINGS!!!
After the last Clippers loss, Koz and Doug made a couple of really good points about the Kings attitude at the beginning of a game. Koz remarked and Doug reiterated that our young Kings seem to treat warm-up as some kind of circus event (my term, not theirs) with their attempts at showtime dunks, etc. Doug commented that back in the day, he and the rest of the REAL KINGS (my term, not theirs) actually warmed up, focusing on the game to come. Koz said our team right now just seems to look at warm-ups as playtime. They don't show up (out) on the court in WORK mode.
That, in a nutshell, explains a lot. One of the biggest differences between college ball and the NBA is the intensity. You have to be in full game mode at the tip-off, which means (at least according to Doug - whose opinion in this area I hold in very high regard) you have to get into that mindset when you come out of the tunnel. The layup line isn't the right time to try and impress the crowd with your dunking skills. A dunk in the warmups means less than nothing when your team starts the game by quickly digging themselves into a hole they cannot possibly get out of.
Some of that is immaturity. Some of it is, IMHO, on the coaches. Not just Joerger, but the guys who are out there during warmups. The rest is on the players. They need to really understand why they're there. They could all take a page from Bogdan Bogdanovich.
The Thunder should be at full strength. We're close, with only Mason and Giles currently in the injured list.
As for most of this year, I don't care if the Kings win. I do care, however, with increasing fervor, how they play. They must show the heart, hustle, energy and effort any player in the NBA should be willing to put forth every time they step onto the court.
You know what I'd like to see? The Bighorns play the Kings (just the young ones). I have a feeling our rooks might just get a wake-up call. The Bighorns may be the D-League but they always play with intensity. I wish they could instill it into their big brother team.
It's still a good time to be a Kings fan, even if it is frustrating.
GO KINGS!!!