SB Nation User Blog: Aykis16

The Basketball Jones goes Caroling

Aykis16 — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 18:37:53 -0000

The Basketball Jones goes Caroling

Another great music video from the Jones.

Watch History.

Aykis16 — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 11:01:17 -0000

Watch History.

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly Week 8

Aykis16 — Sun, 20 Dec 2009 19:06:09 -0000

Tyreke took care of the Hogwarts staff and ate some Venison this week, but none of the Kings had an answer for Kit Carson and a pack of wolves.

This was an odd week. The record was disappointing (2-2 should have been 3-1) but the highs of this week were just ridiculous, and both wins came down to His Majesty Tyreke Evans doing what he does best: Being a Star.

The Good:

1. Tyreke Evans

Perhaps we need to start calling this guy ShamWow because I say Wow every time I see him play. He did have one of his worst games of the season scoring wise against Minnesota, but he more than made up for it by winning two games against Washington and Milwaukee in the final seconds. The game against Washington might have been even more impressive because he won it with his defense, and then had to ice the game with a pair of free throws and 16,000 + drunk people in the arena with him. Tyreke deserves All-Star consideration this year.

2. Iron Man aka Jason Thompson

See Player of the Week

3. 1st Israeli in the NBA gets Starting Job

Omri finally cracked the Starting 5 this week, and definitely made the most of it, scoring 20+ twice in his 3 games started so far. I don't think you can put him back on the bench. He provides a few things Donté doesn't yet: better rebounding, consistency, and Omri Mean Face. Omri has a really bright future ahead of him, and he'll definitely be in Dallas during All-Star break for the Rookie-Sophomore game, and it'd be nice to see him in the 3-point shootout as well. Also a nice thing to note, Omri's poor free throw shooting seems to be a thing of the past and he hit 20/25 free throws this week.

4. Ime Udoka

Ime finally is feeling better after suffering a few weeks of Desmondmasonitis, and played really well this week. He reminds me of a poor man's Shane Battier, in that he can hit his shots although he doesn't really look for them, and he plays smart defense and rebounds well for his size. Ime has been a very solid pickup for us.

5. Beno Draino

ESPN has Beno ranked as #1 on their Most Improved Player Awards watch list, and I have a hard time disagreeing. He's shooting above 53% from the field (his TS% is now at 61%), is averaging almost 14 points a game with 4 assists, is actually trying on defense (he just doesn't have the lateral quickness to keep up with some guys but his effort shows) and has simply been a rock. His MLE contract is starting to look like a steal.

6. Free Throws

This team finally started hitting their free throws this week, and its led to a couple wins. It was seemingly a mental thing I think. When Kevin and Cisco get back, the teams total percentage will likely improve quite a bit. Its nice to see the team improving in their weaknesses each and every week. At first the problem was turnovers, and they've responded nicely. Then it was free throws. Now its defensive rebounding and winning on the road. I have very high hopes for this team.

7. Hulk Hawes

When Spencer gets angry, he can play really well, and he did so off the bench against Washington and Minnesota, and he had a pretty good game against Milwaukee as well. By far the biggest weakness in Spencer's game is rebounding, and defensive rebounding to be exact. That is a team wide weakness, but when you're a 7 footer you're the one we should look to. Get even madder Spence.

8. A win on the road!

Finally the Kings notched win #2 on the road in Milwaukee, and hopefully win #3 comes next against Chicago. They have had quite a few opportunities to win on the road, and once we start winning there is when I'll start calling us a playoff team.

The Bad:

1. The Show got benched

Donté really hasn't had many great games since he gained the starting role after his New York blow up and the only thing I can ask of him is consistency. He still takes way too many threes (and his percentage, which had been so good early in the year, has fallen all the way to 33.3%). I don't think we'll see as much of Donté now that Omri has gained the starting role, and especially when Kevin gets back. But there is hope. We have seen a big defensive improvement from him this year, and he's still really young.

2. Three Pointers

The Kings were awful from 3 point land this week, shooting 18 of 75 for a 3P% of .240. Sometimes the shots don't fall too much, but I think we have too many guys that shoot three pointers that shouldn't. Donté, Sergio and Tyreke shouldn't be shooting 3 pointers in my opinion. And Noc can hit them, but he tends to go on streaks where he'll keep firing till he hits one and that really hurts the offense. His 3s were huge in the Washington game though.

3. Sergio

Sergio had a bad week, and it seems to have left him out of the rotation for now. He tried too hard in Portland, played pretty well in limited minutes against Washington, and didn't really do much against Minnesota. He had a DNP-CD against Milwaukee, but that was probably more for matchup reasons and how well Beno and Tyreke played. I think he'll see extended time against the Lakers next week though, as they have a huge weakness defending against fast point guards since Derek Fisher is 102 or something.

4. K-9

Another player with a bad week. K-9 is sent in to do two things, rebound and play defense, and even though he saw 15 plus minutes twice, he failed to grab more than 3 rebounds in a game. Still he's been a professional.

5. Bruce Banner Hawes

Against Portland, Spencer had his worst game of the season. He was ineffective almost everywhere, and it definitely cost him his starting position for the next two games. He needs a fire lit under his ass, and I think the Kings are going to do that in next years draft.

6. The Portland game

The Kings had this game, even leading by 11 at halftime. But the execution in the 2nd half, especially defending the pick and roll was horrible. The Kings couldn't execute their offense either, instead focusing on trying to get Tyreke the ball instead of playing the way they had been to get the lead. The Kings still had a chance to win the game within the last few minutes but the execution was terrible. You expect rookie teams to have lapses like this, and its a part of the learning process, but a loss is a loss in my book.

7. Spray and Pray Noc

Noc has a really bad tendency to keep firing when he's obviously not feeling it. It kills the offense, and most of the time its not needed. I think the Kings should start shopping Noc as soon as they can, and if its for expirings, see if one of those expirings is a good rebounding big.

The Ugly:

1. Defensive Rebounding

For the first time this year, the Kings were outrebounded in every single game this week. And although this team excels on the offensive glass, they are pretty horrible on the defensive glass, and as such that leads to a lot of 2nd chance points for the other team. The Kings wouldn't have needed Tyreke Evans to bail them out of the Wizards and Bucks games this week had they rebounded better. I would not be surprised to see the Kings acquire a big man in a trade before the deadline that will add a big rebounding presence.

2. The Minnesota game

This was a bad loss. The Kings need to learn to beat the teams they should beat, and there is no doubt that the Wolves are better than their 5 wins would show (mainly because Kevin Love had been absent for so long), but this is still a team you're better than. You can't allow Corey Brewer to score 20 points on you and expect to win. You can't let the worst offense in the league outrebound you by 10, shoot 54.7% and score 112 points and expect to win. JT and Omri were the only ones to really show up for this game.

Player of the Week:

Jason Thompson

18.8 PPG, 10.3 RPG, 2 BPG, 2 APG, .574 FG%

JT was a monster this week, putting up All-Star like numbers, being one of the few bright spots in the disappointing losses to Minnesota and Portland. His defense still needs work (mostly his footwork), but his blocking has improved and he's made some very timely blocks. His FG% is awesome and he continues to be the best offensive rebounder on the team. If he ever becomes as good a defensive rebounder as he is offensive, he'll be a multiple time All-Star. As it is now, it still looks like he'll see at least one All-Star game in his future.

Co-Highlights of the Week:

Tyreke won two games this week, using both ends of the floor.

Defense:

And Offense:

The rest of the league is on notice.

Comment of the Week:

pookey is like your drunk Uncle on Thanksgiving -
You can respond to his rantings, or wait for him to pass out on your sofa and then shave off his eyebrows.

by section214 on Dec 17, 2009 4:27 PM PST up reply actions 7 recs

And Nostradumbass Predicitions for Next Week:

@ Chicago 12/21 W (Kings want revenge, but they'll need to guard the glass if they want to win this game)

v. Cleveland 12/23 W (Cleveland has a tendency to play to their opponents level, LeBron is quickly reaching a level of douchiness rivaled only by Kobe, and I think the Kings can outwork the Cavs)

v. Lakers 12/26 L (Kings do usually tend to get one surprise win v. the Lakers a year, but they just have way too imposing of a front line for Sacramento, and they'll be able to put Artest or Kobe, both excellent defenders, on Tyreke. This could be a blowout loss when you factor in Bynum, Pau, and Odom as well. Lakers weakness is quick guards so look for Sergio to see extended time.)

Nostradumbass record for the season: 14-12

Concept by Aykis16, Production by LaBradford.

Aykis16 — Sun, 20 Dec 2009 18:49:51 -0000

Concept by Aykis16, Production by LaBradford.

Zach Harper of Cowbell Kingdom breaks down some of the defensive lapses of the Kings during the...

Aykis16 — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 16:49:51 -0000

Zach Harper of Cowbell Kingdom breaks down some of the defensive lapses of the Kings during the Portland game. Definitely worth a watch.

My Big Fat Greek Recap: Kings v. Wiz

Aykis16 — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 07:51:57 -0000

This was probably the most fun I've had at a Kings game, and no, it wasn't because of the dollar beer. The game was exciting, ARCO was bringing the noise, our young guys played awesome, and the finish was epic.

Some randomness before the recap:

I would not be surprised to see a few more dollar beer nights this year. There didn't seem to be any alcohol related problems, other than the drunk guy who sat next to me after halftime and started dancing. It was truly a horrifying sight.
I was sitting in Section 219, and during the first quarter, when K-9 checked in for the first time, I swear by Jon Brockman's elbows, I heard someone in Section 220 yell "Kenny Thomas has a nice ass!". I'm proud of you whoever you are.
ARCO was loud. Like Glory Days loud. It was awesome.
Favorite "ESPN" sign of the evening: Evans iS you're Personal Nightmare. Favorite sign of the night "The person behind me can't see". I kid you not.
At one point the Kings had 5 white guys on the floor, each from a different country. I wonder how many times that has happened before.

Alright, now onto the game.

A bit of a surprise to me when Omri was announced in the starting lineup, and I told my friend "Wow looks like Omri got Donté's starting spot", but then Donté got announced. It dawned on me that Spencer was the odd man out, and at first I was surprised. Then I remembered his performance against Portland and it made sense. I wonder how long this will last. Again, he wasn't really consistent tonight, although I'm glad he didn't get a DNP-CD.

Kings had no answer for Jamison in the first quarter, but luckily, he was really the only Wiz doing any damage. Butler was off most of the night, but especially in the first half. Kings had trouble with the boards in the first half, and despite a far superior FG%, the 2nd chance points were keeping the Wizards in the game. Kings do grab a lot of rebounds, but they also tend to give up a lot as well, especially on the offensive glass. JT is an above average rebounder, but I think we need to add an elite rebounder to this squad before we can think playoffs.

In the 2nd half, Kings came out and played really well on offense, but the defense was somewhat lacking and the Wiz were able to get back in the game. There followed a time period of about 4 minutes where the Kings spaced the floor beautifully and continually found either Omri, Udoka, or Noc at the 3 point line, and mostly in the corner, wide open. That's the most efficient shot in basketball. If just one of those threes had gone in, the game would have pretty much been over, but unfortunately none of them fell. Omri in particular kept missing from the same spot, but I want Omri taking those shots. He can make them, and consistently. He wasn't missing by much either. Butler and Arenas finally started getting hot too, and luckily the Kings were able to withstand it. I don't know if I've ever seen a scoring spread like that before, one team with 2 30+ scorers, and the other with 3 20+ (and JT was close).

Omri definitely made the most out of his first start, and he could have had about 30 points tonight if he had hit some of those wide open threes he was getting in the 4th quarter. I'll have Omri shooting those any day. They weren't missing by much. Best part about Omri for me though was his 8-9 from the stripe, and I loved his general hustle and defense. He was everywhere.

Noc had a really solid offensive game, hitting a few really big shots. The Arena went crazy on his 4 point play in the 4th. Defensively he was outclassed by the crafty Jamison, and he really didn't do that great of a job. Casspi did a much better job on Jamison in the 2nd half.

Donté didn't have a gaudy game, but he played pretty effectively when he was in.

Udoka was simply wonderful for us. He seems to have finally kicked his Desmondmasonitis flu, and he was extremely valuable on both ends of the court. We would not have won this game without Udoka in my opinion. We almost lost it because of him too, with that bonehead inbound pass near the end. All is forgiven since we won though.

Beno finally had an off-shooting night, but he still was pretty effective, moving the offense well, and hitting the boards too. He was actually a bit of a bright spot to me in terms of rebounds, because at least 3 of them he wrested from Wizards players. Sergio didn't play much, but he ran the offense extremely well when he was in.

JT was great. His jumper is very Webberesque and he's becoming automatic from out there. He also had two huge blocks, and even though he had 5 fouls, a couple were sort of absurd. I remember on one sequence where it looked like JT got elbowed in the face by Jamison and JT was called for the foul.

And finally we come to the man of the hour, Tyreke Evans. This guy is a monster. The first quarter he was pretty much unstoppable, whenever he wanted to get to the basket, he did. Here was my 2nd favorite play of the game:

Absolutely insane.

Tyreke fell away a little bit in the 2nd half, having a few of his drives stuffed or stripped, and he began to settle for jumpers, one of which was an airball. He only hit one jumper in the game, and that one was in the 4th quarter where he really shined. He played pretty good defense on Arenas, at times having to switch on Jamison or Butler, and doing pretty well in both cases. The foul at the end of the game was unfortunate, but he definitely made amends for it with my favorite play of the game/year:

That my friends is the work of a superstar. Not a rookie. A superstar. One who we'll hopefully get to see do stuff like this for years to come.

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly Week 7

Aykis16 — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 05:38:18 -0000

Scream all you want Noc. I don't care if you went 5-7 against Minnesota. You still had a horrible week in my opinion.

Overall we had a disappointing week record wise, only going 1-3, and we still haven't managed to win #2 on the road yet, despite coming close in New Orleans. Next week the schedule is a little softer, and the Kings need to take advantage of this before they have to play the likes of the Cavs, Lakers and Nuggets.

The Good:

1. Injury Report

Kevin Martin had his MRI Friday and everything looked to be going well with his wrist. Hopefully we will be seeing him near the beginning of January, which would leave him with about 50 games to play if he can remain healthy. Also, Cisco had his cast removed and has already been putting up shots. To me this is very encouraging news, and it makes me wonder if his timetable for return hasn't been updated from around the All-Star break to sooner. Nothing has been mentioned yet, so we'll see what happens.

2. Assist to Turnovers

After a horrible first month or so of handling the basketball, the Kings are finally showcasing they're ball movement and not making too many mistakes on the court. The Kings had a season high 33 assists (on 50 field goals no less) against Minnesota, and had an absolutely stellar 104:56 assist:turnover ratio this week.

3. Jason Thompson v. Every team not named Miami

Jason had a great week if you don't count the Miami game, averaging 20.7 points, 10 boards, 2.3 assists, on 63.6 % shooting from the field in the last 3 games. He did foul out against New Orleans on some very stupid fouls, but he's shown how effective he can be when he's not fouling. Jason is still 4 or 5 years away from his prime, and he's showing he could possibly be a 20 and 10 guy at some point in his career. He's showing a more developed post-game and better interior defense, and he's hitting his jumpers with consistency. At the rate he's developing, we should consider ourselves lucky for getting him with the 12th pick last year. Hopefully he has longer stretches of consistency, which will probably revolve on how he handles his fouls. Once he figures that out, we should get excited, because that will mean he's learned to play defense with his feet and not his hands.

4. Beno "Mr. Automatic" Udrih

What player has surprised us more this season than Beno has? After serving as the Whipping boy last year, Beno has had a career year so far, averaging career highs in points, field goal percentage, three point percentage, and assist to turnovers, all in less minutes than he saw the last two years in Sacramento. If his production stays like this throughout the year, I think he'd make a strong case for 6th man of the year. He's quickly becoming an integral part of the team.

5. Spencer Hawes' defense

Spence has been taking a lot of flak lately, and his stats have been down from last season, but it seems the coaching staff has been asking him to improve his defense mainly and he's been doing a pretty good job at it. Besides Kenny Thomas (who can't really do anything on offense), he's definitely our best interior defender, and did pretty good jobs on Tim Duncan and Al Jefferson. He's not as much a focal point of the offense, but his field goal percentage is higher than last year. He'll never be a stellar rebounder, but as long as he plays solid defense and efficient offense, I'll be a happy camper. Is he our future at the Center? I can't answer that question yet. But he's still very young (won't turn 22 until end of April) and has a long career ahead of him if he can remain healthy.

6. Geoff Petrie's 2009 draft grade

If you take a look at this list, all 3 Kings rookies are in the top 20 in PER, with Tyreke at #1 with 18.88, Omri at #9 with 15.31, and his Brockness at 18 with 13.11. Its nice to see our rookies all playing superbly, and playing better than players who were taken earlier than them. One wonders what Quincy Douby could have been, had he decided to show up for games.

7. Kings on ESPN and $1 Beer!

The NBA has decided to televise the December 16th game against the Washington Wizards on ESPN, most likely due to Tyreke Evans and the surprising success of the Kings this year. To help fill the Arena, the Maloofs are advertising the night as dollar beer/soda/water night. This is either the best idea ever, or the worst idea ever. I shall be in attendance and I know many of you will be also. Lets hope our guys win one on national TV and perhaps we'll see more games broadcast in the future.

8. STR Night at ARCO!

Sactown Royalty will be holding STR Night at ARCO Arena on December 28th against Johan Petro and the Denver Nuggets. I will be in attendance, and I hope many of you will join me and other StR celebs like section214, pookeyguru, and edm7. Perhaps we'll even be graced with the presence of Sir Thomas Ziller, Esquire. For more information on how to attend and links to purchase tickets see this post. Tickets start and end at $25.50.

9. Fun Stat!

With Omri Casspi scoring a career high 20 points against San Antonio, the Kings have had 9 players score 20 or more points this season. Of the remaining bench players, only Brockman, Thomas, Udoka, May, and Cisco haven't scored 20. Cisco will likely score 20 at least once this season, but the others won't unless I'm greatly mistaken. But the Kings have a legitimate 10 guys that can score 20 points.

10. Thank Heaven for Tyreke Evans

See Player of the Week below.

The Bad:

1. Andres Nocioni

I was not a fan of Andres this week. Too many times he would become a black hole on offense for my liking. Other than the Minnesota game, he shot absolutely terrible from the floor, only making 15 of 40 shots all week (.375) which includes a 5-7 outing against the T-Wolves. He also shot poorly from 3, 5 of 15 (.333) and from the line, 4 of 10. More weeks like this from Noc, and he will be gone sooner rather than later.

2. The Westphal Mandates

Before the season, Westphal said the immediate things he wanted to fix was rebounding and opponent 3P%. I'm going to refer to these as the Westphal mandates. For the year, the Kings have done a great job at rectifying these issues, but this week, the effort on these parts of the game seemed to slip. The Kings were outrebounded twice against New Orleans and San Antonio, only won the rebounding battle against Miami by one, and even though they grabbed 52 rebounds against Minnesota, they allowed 45. And for the week, opponent 3P% was .481, led by the ridiculous 8-9 from downtown by the Spurs. Hopefully the Kings tighten up on the mandates once again.

3. Execution at the end of quarters/halves

The Kings haven't really been playing very well to end quarters, letting teams either cut into leads, take the lead, or extend the lead. This was particularly evident in the Miami game, when most of the damage Miami caused happened during a terrible 4 and a 1/2 minute stretch near the end of the half that put Miami up 15. It's definitely something that needs some work, and I don't think we'll become a playoff team until we learn to do so.

4. Fouls

The Kings had more fouls than anyone they played this week, and as such, give they're opponents a lot more free throws and take our players out of the game quicker. The Kings are currently 6th in the league in fouls per game. Much of this revolves around Jason Thompson, who leads the league in Fouls Per Game with 4.0, and is tied for most total fouls with Dwight Howard with 88.

The Ugly:

1. NBA League Pass

A big fail on League Pass's part, when they broadcast the Cleveland Cavaliers v. Houston Rockets game instead of the Sacramento v. San Antonio game. Even worse was they're customer service reps when nbrans complained. See the fallout here. Working at Raley's, if I had given a customer that type of service, I would have been fired.

2. Free throws

The Kings were absolutely atrocious at the stripe this week in each and every game. The poor shooting even cost them a winnable game against New Orleans. 51-88 or 57.9% is unacceptable for an NBA team. The Kings are currently 27th in the league in FT% at 72%. Needless to say, if you can't hit you're free throws, you're going to lose some games because of it. The Kings have too many good shooters to be missing so many free throws. It seems more mental than anything.

3. Kings Frontline v. Miami

Jason Thompson, Spencer Hawes, and Andres Nocioni had a terrible game against Miami, contributing only 22 points on 8-26 shooting, and only 17 rebounds between the 3 of them. A really concerning stat was that Jason only had one foul. This was definitely the worst game of the season for him, because he didn't have that excuse of foul trouble. Meanwhile, Miami's frontline had Beasley with 20, Richardson with 20, and Haslem with 15. Abused is not the word.

Player of the Week:

Tyreke Evans

23 PPG, .500 FG%, 4.5 RPG, 5.75 APG:2.25 TOPG, 2.5 SPG

Evans has continued on a beastly tear, and has been very consistent in both wins and losses. He more than held his own against the likes of superstars Dwyane Wade, Chris Paul, and Tony Parker, and absolutely dominated fellow rookie Jonny Flynn. I can't believe I'm actually going to quote Peaches, but what he says is applicable. If you don't think this kid is special, you don't know what special is.

Highlight of the Week:

Comment of the Week:

No, you listen Old Man
I’ll fight you. I’ll fight you hard. And when I’m chewing on your ear cartilage, knuckles bloody and nose broken, I’ll be laughing. Because this is fun for me. Now pause for a minute, and think to yourself – what kind of shit is going to come out of your fat mouth now, and how is that going taste with busted lips? It’ll be sweet for me, and not no Splenda-sweet bullshit that’s not fullfiling… I’m going to live on it, it’ll feed me and I’ll want more, because the glucose is going to hit my blood stream with a sugar high of such infamy that it would be a banned substance had the pharmacies put it in a pill. Not just adrenaline, punk, this would be bottled rage, with my teeth grinding into your appendages like chewing gum, I will eat your soul, eviscerate the entire memory of your being from the worlds collective conscious. You’ll be at the Pearly gates, and St. Pete won’t have you on either of his lists… God himself won’t remember you, the Devil won’t even want you. No forgiveness, no punishment – you’ll just disappear. You ready for that old man? Because I am. Now lift your hand, hit that reply button. I dare you. I’m waiting for you.

by iashwash on Dec 11, 2009 9:16 PM PST up reply actions 9 recs

And Nostradumbass Prediction for Next Week:

@ Portland 12/15 (No Oden, Kings really want to win one on the road. It will be a tough one, but as long as we don't make Przybilla look like Shaq in his prime, we should be fine) W

v. Washington 12/16 (A probable sell-out for Arco and ESPN coverage could help rally the Kings, but Washington's talent will mean its a close one) W

@ Minnesota 12/18 (Should be a pretty solid win for the Kings, probably not another 20 point blowout) W

@ Milwaukee 12/19 (Evans will outshine Jennings, but Milwaukee's a pretty good defensive and rebounding team so I think the Kings lose despite a good effort) L

Nostradumbass's Record for the year (13-9)

The View from Section 214 - My Big Fat Greek Edition

Aykis16 — Sun, 13 Dec 2009 07:01:22 -0000

Before the season started, I bought a couple tickets from the famed section214 for the Minnesota Timberwolves game, hoping to see what I thought would be the RoY battle Evans v. Flynn. I left the game secure in the knowledge that Flynn is a nice player, but Reke is an amazing one.

Before I recap the game, some cursory thoughts:

Section, you're seatmate at the end of the row is very knowledgeable and actually knew what he was talking about. Didn't catch his name, but he was good people.
As I sat down in my seat, I experienced a sudden moment where I had this intense hatred of everything Simpsons. I realized then that I must have sat in Mrs. Section 214's seat. This would later be confirmed when my little brother who I took to the game later quipped "Worst. Idea. Ever." after a turnover.
The arena looked pretty empty to me, and the reported attendance was 11,333. If there were 11,000 people in there I'll eat my shoe. The ones that were there seemed to be the most dedicated ones.
Sometime during a 3rd quarter, a man sitting in Section 113 threw a beer on the person behind him and then a fistfight began between the two men, and presumably they're girlfriends for about a minute before security and Slamson (I kid you not) intervened. I don't want to know whats going to happen Wednesday.
Jonny Flynn is a tiny guy, especially when you put him next to Reke.
Minnesota is probably the worst collection of shooters I have seen. When the other team should be most afraid to leave Kevin Love open for a 3, you're team is not good at shooting. Watching the Wolves reminded me of us last year. They've got a few good pieces, and a lot of garbage. But you can see the potential.

Alright, now onto the game itself.

This game was a lot closer than it appeared at the half. Neither team was playing really great, although the Kings had already been passing the ball really well. Tyreke absolutely dominated Flynn in the first half. The Kings went to a Tyreke post-up early and often, and it knocked Flynn out of the game quickly. He just could not handle him. But the same could have been said of Al Jefferson and Kevin Love. For the first quarter and a half at least, the Kings had no answer for either of those two guys. Fortunately for us, that was pretty much the only offense happening for Minny. I also loved it when Westphal had JT bring the ball up the court several trips in a row. He handled it pretty well, and the play that was run about each time he did it was "Give the ball to Tyreke in the post". I loved seeing that. But it wasn't just Tyreke posting, Spencer and JT especially were given orders to simply attack the post. And JT was showing off quite the repertoire tonight, including a few half hooks, with the left hand no less.

The second half was no contest. The Wolves looked tired, and the Kings upped they're defense and stepped on the gas pedal. It didn't start that way though, because the Wolves did come within 2 at one point. It looked like Westphal was going to call a timeout, because he got up, the players were looking at him, but instead he called out a play and the Kings scored. Pretty soon they were up 12 again and Minnesota never got closer than that for the rest of the game. Beno was huge off the bench, and so were Brockman and Sergio. Omri was doing quite a few things well, and he missed some absolutely wide open threes that I'd want him to take again in a heartbeat, but he still makes a few rookie mistakes a game. There was one sequence in the half where both teams turned the ball over back and forth until one of the Wolves went for a layup and JT absolutely destroyed the ball with a monstrous block. That was definitely the loudest Arco was last night. These Kings just don't give up, and if you're a crappy team like Minnesota, you're going to get blown out. Now if only they would HIT THEY'RE GODDAMN FREE THROWS!!!

Individual player thoughts:

Evans - Superstar in the making. Didn't really do much in the second half, but then again didn't really need to. He's turning into a nice little ball hawk and had about 5 almost steals along with his 2 steals. His defense on Flynn and Sessions was superb, and the Wolves didn't really have an answer for him on the other end.
Donté - He was off from the field all night, but he was missing some wide open shots. He played a little out of control at times, and he still hasn't gotten rid of the "extra" Westphal wants him to take out of the game, as evidenced by him trying to do a dunk he probably wouldn't have made had he been wide open, but the defensive effort was there, and so was the hustle and energy.
Noc - Finally a good shooting game from Noc. He had become sort of a black hole on offense as of late and it was nice to see him at least knocking his shots down tonight.
JT - The player of the game without a doubt. Great on the glass, and he worked the inside like nobody's business. He had the highlight of the game with his monster stuff, and he got to show off his handling skills several times Best of all, only 1 foul, and against quality big men too.
Spence - Bad first half, where he was limited because of foul trouble, but he was pretty good in the second half, especially on defense. He learned not to fall for Jefferson's pump fake, and stood his ground in the post for the most part. On offense he was efficient, hitting 4-5.
Beno - Mr. Automatic looked like he was going to hit every shot he took. His little stop and pop elbow jumpers are soul destroyers. Beno also moved the ball very well, ending with 7 assists. He probably could have had more.
Sergio - El Mago passes so beautifully. He performs art on the court. Sometimes he thinks too fast for the other players though and they aren't in sync with them, and that can lead to some sloppy play. He had an off-shooting night, but his form is nice and I expect him to end up as a pretty decent shooter.
Casspi - Definitely looked like a rookie to me this game. Some awesome plays, and some terrible plays, mostly involving decision making. He did have this amazing layup where he spun through traffic and teardropped a layup in that was a thing of beauty. But he definitely shoudn't be handed starter keys until he calms down a bit on the court.
Brockman - Guys a workhorse and ended up getting some of the biggest cheers when he came on and off the court. Really did a nice job on defense too. This guy has a future as a rotation big in this league. Interior scoring needs to improve, but the talent is there.
K-9 - Good defense and passing, although he looked a bit lethargic in this game. There was one rebound the Wolves grabbed that Kenny could have, had he bothered to jump, but he didn't even try to grab it. I was perplexed to say the least.
Sean May - If you had any doubts the game was over, they should been quelled when Sean May came into the game. And to tell you the truth, if Sean May doesn't play another minute of NBA basketball in a Kings jersey, I won't feel too bad. I wonder what the guy would be if he was healthy, and I thought to myself "Antoine Walker". He just does not see a shot he doesn't like. And for the biggest (weight wise) guy on the team to settle for outside jumpers like he does, it just doesn't scream "Play me coach!". He took it inside once and threw the ball off the backboard and he was lucky it went in.

Some T-wolves thought

Al Jefferson is a monster. There are a few players I'd consider trading Kevin Martin for, and Al Jeff is the caliber of player I'd want back. He really needs to work on his defense though.
Kevin Love is a very skilled player and I would not be surprised to see him lead the league in rebounds for years. Perhaps even this year, if he doesn't miss another game.
Jonny Flynn - looked like a rookie, could not handle Evans. Really quick, would excel in a fast pace system.
Ramon Sessions - Solid backup, can't hit free throws either. Can't shoot the ball at all really. Only bench player on the Wolves worth mentioning.
Brewer and Gomes - Meh.

About a dozen NBA scouts, including Sacramento Kings president Geoff Petrie and Los Angeles...

Aykis16 — Sat, 12 Dec 2009 08:59:20 -0000

About a dozen NBA scouts, including Sacramento Kings president Geoff Petrie and Los Angeles Clippers assistant general manager Neil Olshey, scouted the Iowa State-Cal game last Saturday to watch Cyclones forward Craig Brackins. The 6-foot-10, 230-pounder scored 42 against Kansas last season and is on the Wooden Award Watch list. But several of the NBA scouts left disappointed. Brackins scored 21 points, but didn’t show much improvement from last season. "He needs to improve his rebounding and improve his range," one NBA scout said. "He has a nice midrange game and he’s a good passer, but he needs to get more physical."

Marc Spears, Yahoo! Sports

NBA Team Valuations

Aykis16 — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 00:58:07 -0000

NBA Team Valuations

Forbes lists the values and growth of NBA teams over the last year. The Lakers experienced the most growth with 4%, while the Kings and the Grizzlies both decreased in value by 13%. The Kings had an operating income of -2.8 Million dollars last year, one of 12 teams to lose money, but is not near the worst. Atlanta, Dallas, Portland, Indiana, Charlotte, New Jersey, Memphis and Milwaukee all had worse operating incomes.