Another game, a decent effort, and mostly ridiculous mistakes made by a team that is still not even close to playing winning basketball on a consistent basis.

Here is the Box Score.

Where to start......... 

• Jason Thompson had a strong game. JT was 6-9 floor (but 0-3 line--grr!--and JT is now 37% from the FT line on the season) for a game 66.7 TS%. JT also grabbed 4 rebounds (too little), but mainly what I wish to talk about was JT's activity level. JT is the one player on this Kings team who understands how to move without the ball. It would be nice if a few of his teammates were taking notes.
• John Salmons had a decent shooting night until he shot himself right out of that. This doesn't really matter as the Salmons missed shots didn't cost the Kings the game necessarily, but it is frustrating. Salmons missed 3 more 3's tonight lowering his 3pt% from 19.5% to 18.1%. It can't get worse right? On the flip side, Salmons does play defense with a reasonable amount of effort and plays with effort. That is something. (I reiterate: Salmons is not really the problem or solution to this team ill's.)
• Francisco Garcia had a successful shooting night raising his season TS% from 39.4% to 46.5% with his 4-6 shooting (2-4 from 3 2-3 line). That's.....pretty good actually.
• Cousins had some bouts of immaturity again tonight, but he did raise his season FG% from 41.9% to 42.8%.
• Donte Greene is getting too many minutes from Keith Smart right now. Whatever Greene is showing Smart is not something I happen to be seeing. The problem I think Smart has is that Greene is simply the best of a lousy set of options at the disposal of a head coach for playing time. The sad reality of Donte's minutes is it exposes the hole that Chuck Hayes has left.
•  If I never see Donte dribble drive to create a shot for another teammate again, I'll be very happy.
• JJ Hickson is making a lot of fans question Geoff Petrie's decision making, and it's fairly understandable. Hickson has shown very little flashes of what made a few fans (and Petrie certainly) so willing to take a risk on Hickson. The good news is that the Kings aren't desperately needing a young player every season to add to the roster as the team is so ridiculously young already. Since the Kings (barring a complete turnaround and/or miracle and/or both) almost certainly won't lose the draft pick to the Cavs until 2013 at the very earliest, this isn't that big of a deal.
• I kept wondering where Isaiah Thomas was tonight. Hopefully it was a matchup issue and not Keith Smart losing confidence in LSG.
• Tyreke Evans had a statistically fairly good game sans his poor shooting, but nothing to write home about IMO. His decision making is still suspect in many instances and Tyreke simply needs to balance the need to score vs the need to create for others. He still looks lost doing so. If Tyreke wants to play with the ball in his hands, he needs to recognize that he has to create for others without interrupting the flow of his own shots. It's not a simple thing to do, but Tyreke has to do it if he wants to be successful in the NBA. It's really what it comes down to at the end of the day.
• Both teams DRB% were virtually even (65.1% for Sacramento; 65.9% for Minnesota) but Sacramento had an edge early. That edged dissipated in large part due to the fact that the effort on the boards got worse as the game went on. Tyreke Evans, to pick on him, had 7 boards at the half and ended the game with 8 boards. He is better than that even if 8 boards is an excellent number for a G.
• The point is that Minnesota picked it up and as per usual the Kings crumbled when another team turned up the heat. When that team is 4-8, and whether it's on the home or road shouldn't make a difference, it illustrates how much further this team has to go.
• Sacramento's FT shooting was a bugaboo again. 60% will never be acceptable from the FT line when you are in the NBA. (Or in College, High School or even Junior High probably.)

Interesting stuff today to say the least. Fans (or at least more than a few) will be getting their first extended look at Ricky Rubio, which means we will get to hear the inevitable "we shoulda taken Ricky instead" comments.

The reality is that the Kings are not the Wolves or vice-versa. And just before you think it's good to be the Wolves these days, fans are happy that the Wolves are 4-8 and playing competitive basketball.

The Wolves are 9th in DRtg at 100.7 points and 21st in ORtg at 101.4 points.

The Kings are 29th in ORtg at 96.2 points and 28th in DRtg at 108.5 points. (This is terrible basketball I can believe in!)

This recap will be simple and very short. Here is the Box Score. I don't want to pontificate on things I have discussed frequently lately. Frankly, this team isn't worth writing a recap for, but, whatever, you gotta do things you don't want to do.

When you don't move the ball, when you don't provide resistance on the defensive end, and when you are lazy you get blown out. It's that simple.

Do I need to call out players? I don't think I need to. I don't think any one player is totally to blame, and I don't think Keith Smart is to blame. These kind of games do happen, but this team is struggling in part because they are insisting on playing isolation jack it up basketball. This simply doesn't win at the NBA level and until these guys get it it won't make a difference who is the coach.

Until next time then.

Another game, another potential victory for greatness, blowouts or terrible transition defense. (Or all 3.)

Irk and Allas; otherwise known as Dirk and Dallas. Well except for the fact that Dallas is 7th in DRtg at 99.6 Pts (per 100 possessions) and 18th in ORtg at 101.5 Pts. They play at a fairly fast pace at 92.6 Possessions for 12th in the NBA.

The Kings are currently 99.0 (24th of 30) in ORtg, 108.8 (28th of 30) in DRtg and 94.0 (4th of 30) in terms of Pace.

What's the key to beating Dallas? Well they rebound well, force turnover's, and are barely in the bottom 3rd in defensive eFG%.

First, the Kings must continue to not commit a ridiculous sum of turnover's. Second, running the offense in the halfcourt to get as many quality shots will be mandatory. Getting easy baskets in transition will help that effort. It's really not that difficult. Get quality shots and be patient with the offense, get back in transition, expend energy on defense, and get the rebound. Go back the other way and do it all again. Rinse, wash, repeat.

There are times where a team plays a bit better than you, and where they hit all the rights shots at the right time. That's not the only problem the Kings had in this game (it was mainly hitting open shots), but that was what kept the Kings ultimately from making any kind of push in the 2nd half.

Some thoughts about tonight's game.

• Tyreke Evans played pretty good for the most part. The most impressive parts of the game were the transition passes made to Francisco Garcia and Isaiah Thomas. Tyreke was 12-22 for the game, 4-4 line and 1-3 from 3. Tyreke's TS% for the season is now 52.9% (and very nearly 53% even) and that was his mark for his rookie season.
• As far as other stuff, he did quick shoot the ball too much for my taste at times. This was especially true when the Rockets were hitting 3's in the 4th quarter.
• So that's something. And there is progress. But if this doesn't keep up? I don't even know what to say on that one.
• DeMarcus Cousins struggled again tonight. He had difficulty getting quality shots against Dalembert in the halfcourt and that's not a new problem. When Cousins struggles, he tends to force shots on the inside a lot and repeatedly.
• Not surprisingly, the one offensive possession where Cousins didn't look completely terrible was shooting a Jump Shot (and that was off balance quite a bit). Cousins will have to learn where, when, and how he can play inside/outside in this league. Because right now, it's obvious he doesn't understand he can't go inside on everyone.
•  You can bet that Cousins ORtg for the year will dip under 100, and will likely go back over with a strong efficient offensive outing tomorrow in Dallas. The worst part for me was that Cousins only played 18 minutes, and picked up 3 fouls in a 2 minute span (I think it was that short) in the 3rd quarter taking Cousins out of the game effectively.
• Donte Greene had an effective stint tonight. Whatever Greene is doing, he should keep doing it. Right now he's playing consistent enough to merit minutes at the backup 4 and the backup 3. Greene even raised his season TS% from 46.9% to 50.7% (it's early--these type of swings are pretty common).
• The most important play for Donte came right at the end of the 3rd quarter where he saves the ball from gonig out of bounds to Isaiah Thomas (LSG!!!!)
•  Here is the video of the end of the 3rd quarter. 2 things, one is that end of the quarter shot by Tyreke literally must have missed the buzzer by just a hair because it really was that close. Two, is when you watch the video don't listen to it with the sound on because all your hear my heavy mouth breathing. (I don't suggest it.)
•  If you click on the link, hopefully you saw what I saw: The ball barely leaving Tyreke's fingertips. I'm not sure why it wasn't allowed, but I'm fairly sure (I need better evidence) that layup should have counted. But such is life.
• The real point is that the Kings actually made a play to end the 3rd quarter, Thomas and Evans ran out to get a shot and very nearly did. That's something to build on.
• Where the problem came in was not getting that bucked seemed to deflate this team, and they started taking worse shots. Or, they didn't take worse shots and simply missed the open shots they did take. Either way, that can't happen. As every coach in the world says, can't get too high or too low. You can't have a memory. Always play the next play. Tonight the Kings got another lesson in a season littered with those lessons end to end.
• Isaiah Thomas should really start at this point. There are 3 reasons: One is that Thomas is a sparkplug the Kings need to start the game, Two is that Thomas and Evans seem to play well off each other, Three is that there seems to be a relationship between Thomas and Cousins, and Four it would allow Jimmer to come in off the bench to be the primary scorer. Something has to give, and whatever it is the Jimmer/Tyreke backcourt isn't working as well as we all would hope.
• Additionally, Thomas had another effective outing shooting the ball and raised his season TS% to 53.2%.

******

• The biggest negative (and why the margin of victory for the Rockets was so big) was the rebounding as the Kings got pounded 55-36 on the glass. Some of that was a struggling Cousins, but some of that was just poor positioning and the Rockets out-hustling the Kings at times. The Kings had a 61% DRB% (30 Defensive Boards out of 49 Rocket missed shots). Meanwhile, the Rockets grabbed 37 rebounds out of 45 Kings missed shots. That works out to a whopping 82.2% DRB%.
•  2 other things that I think are really important for the game that shows me that this team is listening to Keith Smart. One is that the Kings didn't turn the ball over as much as it may have seemed (11 total---The Rockets only had 12---and Tyreke Evans had 4 of them) and the Second is that the Kings went 15-16 from the FT line. That's a low number for this team, and part of that was the Rockets simply are a smart team in terms of how they foul players.
• If you were a fan of Keith Smart, and were hoping for leadership that wasn't from Paul Westphal, I think you might have it. The biggest test for Smart comes tomorrow against Dallas, and see how this team performs.
• The good news is that Dallas played tonight (beating Milwaukee handily) but nobody for the Mavericks played more than 25 minutes (Jason Terry). Again, if the Kings come out (especially Cousins) with a strong game from the outset (I'm hoping Thomas starts and, in part, to help relieve some of the pressure off Jimmer) I think they can be competitive against Dallas. Beating them? Well, that's a different story. That takes a level of capability the Kings haven't shown unless they are hitting their shots. When anybody gets hot, or simply makes a lot of shots for whatever reason, you will win some games.
• Even though the loss was by 14, I think that was pretty much an illusion in some ways. The Kings were in the game for the most part if they hit the shot at the right time or Lowry doesn't hit one of his late shot clock 3's. Kyle Lowry is an All-Star caliber player so that's something that will happen from time to time. Sometimes it's best to tip your cap and move on. That's what this game really was.
• Just a few days ago in Philly, the Kings got smoked in a good opponents building in part because they couldn't even do the little things. Sure, the Kings struggled in running their offense and getting quality shots during this game too. But this team also gave themselves a shot to win in the 4th quarter too. That's something that this group hadn't done on the road up until now.

Baby Steps. Until tomorrow then.

Another game, another day, another potential explosion or ridiculous amounts of confusion.

Houston features the pretty nice trio of Kyle Lowry, Luis Scola and the almighty Kevin Martin. The Rockets, strangely enough, are 3-7 right now.

Houston's ORtg is 102.3 (15th of 30), DRtg is 107.4 (26th of 30) and Pace is 91.1 (17th of 30).

Sacramento's ORtg is 99.1 (24th of 30) and DRtg is 108.5 (27th of 30).

The formula, right or wrong, is to make shots and keep the other guys from doing so. Right now the Kings are at 43.6 eFG% (28th in NBA) for shots taken and 51.4 eFG% (28th in NBA) on shots given up. Shocking development eh?

That is the question isn't it? After last night's performance against Toronto, it's a fair question to ask. Yet, while I don't disagree with the premise that Tom Ziller mentioned today, it's not to say that isn't a reasonable surmise. After all, patience is typically a good thing with young and/or drastically altered rosters.

On the other hand, there are other considerations if you are Keith Smart. Namely, how do you maximize the value of the talent with the players on hand and the talents of those specific players? Ah, that is the trickiness of said situation.  

According to Basketball-Value, and obviously there is severely limited data on this front, there are a number of positive lineups that include Jimmer Fredette/Marcus Thornton and/or Isaiah Thomas.

First off, I'm not apologizing for my cynical asshole A) post last night or B) tweets about Tyreke Evans. I meant them; still do. A win against a mediocre (at best) flawed team with more holes than the Kings when they are playing their 3rd game in as many nights, home or not, is not impressive to me. No justification or anything else is going to make it impressive. This is not to confuse an impressive win with a launching pad for this team to turn a corner.

While I didn't see virtually all of the 4th quarter, I'm not dying to see it. A win is a win and with this team it's not that hard to know what happened. Reasons to be excited? Perhaps.

Well, here we are again. Another possibility for a shitty effort that still could possibly lead to a win because Toronto isn't nearly the opponent Philly is (and will remain).

The bottom line is I expect the Raptors and Kings to make runs, play little defense, and in the end if the Raptors execute they might win the game because it's at home. I'll be shocked if this is a competent game of NBA basketball from the Kings end. You can make this a double if it's Tyreke Evans leading the charge.

On the other hand, this is a great game for Jimmer Fredette and John Salmons to get on track. Let's hope they do as both have not been their real selves that we should and can expect on a consistent basis. Salmons has been unfairly blamed for things beyond his control (he actually plays hard consistently) and Fredette is struggling with things all rookies struggle with on a team with no star players or real leadership emanating from the star wannabes. This lack of star power night in night out is making players like Salmons and Fredette glaring weaknesses more obvious. Thrown in the crappalicious swirl of a dysfunctional lockout and franchise and there you are with the Jimmer.

Stars make the game easier for their teammates; Tyreke Evans and DeMarcus Cousins routinely expose their teammates flaws.

Toronto's ORtg is 98.6 (25th of 30) and DRtg is 104.0 (19th of 30). Toronto's typical pace is 88.7 (26th of 30). Sacramento's ORtg is 98.8 (23rd of 30) and DRtg is 109.9 (29th of 30). Typical pace comes in at 94.0 (4th of 30).

3 of those 4 happen routinely. Confidence comes & quality opponents are aplenty in the NBA. Literally almost every rotation player, if not all, was the best player on their high school and/or college team.

The NBA is not High School or College which is a lesson that Tyreke Evans and DeMarcus Cousins apparently did not receive. Or a lesson neither are willing to accept. While it's true both did some good things tonight, they are too lazy and pathetic on a consistent basis to say "Oh yeah you did a couple things right tonight." Fuck that. As long as Tyreke and DeMarcus think they can do whatever they want and just throw the balls out there any old time they feel like it these results will continue as you've seen. Butt whoopings?