Do I think Paul Westphal shouldn't be fired? Nope, not even a little bit. At some point, you gotta illustrate you can make a difference with the players you are given. But, really, firing Westphal probably won't make a real difference, and history in the NBA has illustrated that to us quite eloquently.

You will hear nonsense comparisons like Scott Brooks in OKC. What you won't hear is that the biggest gripe that OKC had with PJ Carleismo was that he played Kevin Durant at SG. (For, you'll love this, defensive reasons.) If you find this puzzling, well, so did Kevin Durant. Carleismo clearly was trying to do the wrong thing in an untenable situation. Brooks moved Durant to the right position (SF), and benefitted when James Harden and Serge Ibaka became young cheap reliable contributors in the 2009-10 seasons. Even then, Brooks had a 22-47 record.

Paul Westphal wasn't fired because Tyreke Evans and DeMarcus Cousins are unmanageable. Westphal was fired because the Maloofs and Geoff Petrie were in self preservation mode. They are well aware that their franchise is a joke, behaves like a joke, has a toxic culture, and at some point approved all of that. When heads roll, it starts with the head coach. But to give Geoff Petrie no blame for this is an absolute abomination. The only reason Paul Westphal got fired was to save Petrie's job and the Maloofs ability to sell overpriced tickets to a beaten down market.

They are all desperate to show that Paul Westphal is the problem, and perhaps he was a minor problem. But Paul Westphal is not the actual problem. The actual problem is you have 2 unmanageable unquenchable lazy pathetic 20 something year olds who think their high draft selection merits their primmadonna acts. It does not.

Will Keith Smart make a difference? Maybe. Maybe these guys will actually do the effort things they always should be doing. There is no excuse for being repeatedly being beaten in transition. There is no excuse for the way Tyreke Evans or DeMarcus Cousins have acted. None at all. But that's not the story you will hear. Not even close to it. You'll hear that Westphal was asking Tyreke to play defense (what a terrible coach Westphal is), and to play a more heads up game when and where it counted. Guess what? When Keith Smart tells Tyreke things he doesn't like, do you believe Tyreke won't act like a spoiled brat petulant dickhead who doesn't say anything to the media? And do you think DeMarcus Cousins won't act like a spoiled brat petulant dickhead who is a loudmouth blowhard that says very little?

"We the people of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, Insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America."

Who were the people? Well the people, were, to put it bluntly, were white men with land. No really. The ForeFathers were Racist Sexist assholes.

Oh about the game? I told you last night I wasn't going to watch unless it was a close game. I ain't watching bad basketball after the fact. What's in it for me?

Tyreke Evans only played 23 minutes tonight. Want an indication of how this season is going? Between Memphis and Denver, Tyreke Evans has played a total of 49 minutes the last 2 nights. In his career, Tyreke Evans high in minutes was 47 in the "last game at the Ole Gaspump" in April 2011. In one game, he nearly averaged what he played the last 2 nights.

You can't win in the NBA without your star players playing like star players. The problem, first and foremost, is on the players. Even though most will call for Westphal's head for this, the reality is firing Paul Westphal is a minor and at best a minor boost in interest in playing for someone else (presumably Keith Smart).

This is ridiculous. Tyreke Evans has to play well, and hard, every game he is out there. Otherwise, what does going through the motion serve? And, not only that, if Tyreke fancies himself as a star and gives this kind of effort, what kind of message does it send to everyone else?

Whatever happens elsewhere with the roster, it won't happen this year unless Tyreke Evans grabs that reign. Right now, it's looking like Tyreke is either unwilling or incapable of grabbing those reigns. I'm interested to see, other than the Big Twat himself, whom, and why, is interested in those reigns.

The reality with leadership is that it is not always easy, or successful every night. Leadership is hard which is why not everyone can be a leader. At this point, I'd be happy if this team can win 3 games in the month of January. It does not get any easier from here on out.

Until tomorrow where more sarcasm about poor play comes into effect.

Well, let's see. Another game, another chance at running the offense well, and a very high chance that this team will do it poorly. Like I've said in my comment on the last thread about Paul Westphal, this is how I see the situation:

I think Smart is likely to have the job by the end of the week if the team continues to be listless.

Either A), Westphal won’t want the job any longer or B), the Maloofs will overrule Petrie and fire Westphal anyway in the hopes that a small change will produce a different attitude.

My feelings on a coaching change will be that a guy like Cousins may improve in the shortterm, but in the long run the same problems apply. And if the same problems keep cropping up, Keith Smart won’t be any different for Cousins than Westphal is now.

At some point, players need to be accountable regardless of the head coach. I look at it this way: Unless Westphal is doing a ridiculous foundational move by playing a player out of position (like PJ Carleismo with Kevin Durant), it’s very difficult for a head coach to have a real impact in the NBA. It’s still up to the players to execute and give effort. I don’t see this group, right or wrong, doing that right now.

On the other hand, nothing Westphal is doing is telling me that he is a long term hire and that is probably the best reason for letting him go IMO. If Westphal isn’t the answer, perhaps Keith Smart is. Westphal knows that unless he produces a miracle with this team and quickly, he isn’t getting another head coaching job anyway. He’s also probably too old to want to go through with what he is going through anyway. As far as I’m concerned, Westphal at worst is a stopgap coach and at best is the coach who set things in motion so that the team could have paramount improvement. Take that for what’s it worth.

Nobody is convincing me that firing Paul Westphal because DeMarcus Cousins acts like an unmanageable twat is the right thing to do. Firing Westphal because the other guys aren’t buying into his system and it’s clear that the only real move is to make a change? Okay, I’ll buy that. But change for changes sake isn’t really the way to go, and is only a desperation move. The problem is that this team could very well be at the point where a desperation move is the only way to proceed at this juncture.

As far as the Kings and the ORtg/DRtg watch, the ORtg is at 101.5 (20th of 30) and the DRtg is at 109.8 (27th of 30). Pace is 92.1 possessions per game which is good for 14th in the NBA.

The Denver Nuggets have an ORtg of 103.4 (15th of 30) and a DRtg of 96.5 (5th of 30). The Pace is 98.8 (1st of 30).

Other than that, I hope the Kings can play effectively on 2 ends of the court tonight. I would like to see this team improve on the court (although I'm not expecting much honestly) by running an offense and getting back in transition defense so that a team like the Nuggets (that will kill you in transition unlike Memphis) can't get as many easy baskets. Sometimes the game is simple: Get more easy baskets for yourself and lessen the other team's and you increase your chance at winning. Yes, here at ECInc you will get nuggets such as that. (Pun intended.)

Required Reading

Nate Timmons has a game preview of the Kings-Nuggets game at Denver Stiffs.

Just because I love Jeff's writing more than anything, please read his recap of the Nuggets victory over the Bucks at Stiffs.

Kalen at Roundball Mining Company discusses why the Nuggets sent Jordan Hamilton and Julyan Stone to the D-League. You'll find the reasons are similar to why the Kings sent Honeycutt and Whiteside to Reno. I especially recommend reading the comments as there is a lot of good discussion there about the impact it has on the players and team respectively in these kinds of situations. (Officially, I endorse both Honeycutt and Whiteside in Reno for what it's worth.)

Nene is listed as day to day and his availability may not be known until game time (6pm Pacific) tonight.

Practices effect every team; Via Christopher Dempsey of the Denver Post.

Jason Jones has his recap up. Paul Westphal had an interesting quote:

"It's tough when neither one of them (Evans or Thornton) can get it going, but we just had a hard time shooting the ball tonight," Westphal said. "Some nights are going to be like that. I thought we played hard, we didn't play real sharp at times."

But this quote from JJ Hickson is even more revealing:

"I think in the second quarter we did a good job of pressuring them and keeping them out the paint," Hickson said. "I just think in the second half it was tough. They ran the floor a lot harder, they got into their sets quicker and that kind of caught us off guard and you see the end result."

Translation: Gotta play hard every possession if you expect to win consistently in the NBA. And, even then, you won't always win the game. On the other hand, if you don't give it your all every time out, you won't give yourself a chance to win very often. How have I missed you hokey wisdom no matter how true you are.

In case you don't read the Bee Blog for the Kings, Matt Kawahara has some links (including a few I included) around the Web that I haven't linked to.

Final Stathead thoughts of the Day

Regarding Chuck Hayes TS%, before the Memphis game the TS% for Hayes was at 42.2%. After the Memphis game, where Hayes went 3-4 from the field and was 2-2 at the line for 8 points, Hayes TS% now stands at 45.7%. While the TS% was never going to hover around in the low 40's, this type of performance would have Hayes in the mid 60's TS% range for the season if he was able to repeat it consistently.

I thought the reason Hayes was so effective in that way was because all he had to do was go up and make a play by scoring the ball as opposed to dribbling or putting a layup with 3 guys around him. A big part of that was the Guard play that gave him the ball in a scoring position.

Now if the Kings could do that with JJ Hickson and Jason Thompson as often, I'll be thrilled.

Game is at 6pm PST. The game may or may not be received at an outlet that you are capable of receiving from your current location. Even though Mt Mutombo is no longer part of the Denver sporting schematic, Mt Mozgov is and stands, just as Mutombo did, at 5,287 feet. Fortunately everywhere else, Timofey Mozgov is only a 7 footer. Like I said up top, let's hope for a quality outing eh?

Really, if you've seen this team play this season, or last season, or the year prior, or ever really seen a bad team, you saw the game tonight.

Where to start. I'm not even sure where to start. It felt like the Kings were playing hard and with purpose. But when the Grizzlies went on a major run in the 3rd quarter (Grizz outscored the Kings by 17 in the 3rd quarter), it was game over.

Transition defense was awful. Kings got ourebounded by 8. Couldn't make shots consistently (talk about holy missed layups Batman!) and the Grizz were merciless (as they should be) in transition. Really, if you didn't watch the game, you're better off. Trust me. I wish I hadn't, but I'm stuck in this mode of being a Kings fan. Of course with my luck, because I have class tomorrow during the entire Denver game (starts at 6, ends likely around 830 LOL), this will be my basketball fix unless I stay up really late tomorrow to watch the game after I get home from class. (I might depending on the final score.) And by my luck, I mean a fun flowing game that makes all the bad nights worth it.

The bottom line here is that a player on this team needs to take ownership of this teams problems and find a way to get the game going in the right direction. Accountability needs to be had. Leadership needs to be exhibited. While I never thought it would be simple or smooth, to say the least, the difficulties of this season has been a lot more than this fanbase was hoping for. And in more than a few ways the type of plays this team is making is simply unacceptable.

Here's to hoping that Denver provides us a smoother and less bumpier ride than the game against Memphis tonight.

Well, another game another dollar (for the NBA anyway). Who knows how the Cuz drama plays out because there is going to be drama one way or the other with this asshole kid for the rest of days. That's what the Kings signed up for. If you don't like that interpretation, oh well. That's your problem.

There are other things going on, but since the only things that matter are the dramatic renditions of a tall drama queen, I'm not sure anyone cares. I surely don't, well, except for being fairly intrigued to see how the rest of the roster performs tonight regardless of how many minutes Cousins' receives. But hey, Cousin's drama is the only thing that's important because it holds the fate of Sacramento in the balance if Cousins' dramatic loopy ass doesn't get minutes.

Zach Randolph (a one time major problem child with major talent) might not play Tuesday which is good news.

As far as the Kings ORtg & DRtg watch, the ORtg is now 101.9 (18th of 30) and the Def Rtg is 108.3 (26th of 30). The pace of the Kings through 5 games is 91.3 (16th of 30). Memphis is at 94.3 ORtg (29th of 30) and the Def Rtg is 103.9 (16th of 30) . Their pace is at 93.8 (9th of 30).

Required Reading

3 Shades of Blue has a game preview of the game tonight already up.

Straight Outta Vancouver talks a bit about what type of players they would like the Grizzlies to acquire. Jason Thompson is one of them.

Apparently Hamed Haddadi is back with the Grizzlies. (The holdup is a work permit.) Haddadi is the fellow who took a picture with Omri Casspi that caused an uproar because Haddadi is Iranian and Casspi is Israeli.

Final Stathead Thoughts of the day

Last season, the Kings were 26th in the NBA in TOV% with 14.4%. The Kings were also 26th in eFG% at 48%. This season, the Kings are 6th in the NBA at 13.1% in TOV%. In eFG%, the Kings are 25th at 44.5%. (It's still early remember.) Just something to chew on when thinking about who is valuable and who isn't. At the end of the day, it's not the style of play that really matters but whether the ball goes in the basket more often for you than the other guy.

Yes, you've come to read life philosophy in two and half minutes. Game is at 5pm PST if you're unemployed, retired, or don't give a shit about your job. It's on some outlet that may or may not be available in the Sahara desert depending on how many sunspots are flashing at the moment. Peace in the Middle East?

Since I was a bit busy earlier talking about the Big Twat, how about a game recap and some thoughts. I don't think there are some things that should be overlooked. But, this will be short. Here is the boxscore from B-Ref. From Hoopdata.  

I thought about deleting the title, but I think it works better as it illustrates I think a lot of the problems regarding DeMarcus Cousins exist. Boogie to put it kindly is a rather divisive subject that tends to get people worked up one way or the other. Some love him; others do not. I love DeMarcus Cousins' strong points, and don't care for his weak points. But let's be honest here: He's one package where all the pieces exist and work together simultaneously.

Today, you've read a bunch of things about Cousins already. Cowbell Kingdom with player reaction, a CK podcast with Sam Amick, a number of opinion pieces at Sactown Royalty, JA Adande did a piece on Cousins at the Daily Dime on ESPN, Yahoo with Marc Spears and Adrian Wojnarowskiand Sam Amick on NBA.com.

What isn't clear to me why Paul Westphal matters here. One way or the other, he'll get his due. DeMarcus Cousins did something that went above and beyond the level of "oh shit what are we gonna do with this asshole now" type of deal. It was an odd as a statement or discipline as you will ever find dealing with a player. There is no questioning that. There is also no questioning that disciplining Cousins for the little stuff isn't going to go over well. Anything short of "well Cousins is well and wonderful" and fans will react poorly to this. Bad news is not welcome despite the fact that we are all well aware of such a possibility. Whether anyone cares to admit that is another story.

And really, it's not like Westphal called Cousins out for not boxing out or a silly mental mistake that Marcus Thornton made in the Bulls game. (Things that both Cousins and Thornton should know how to do. I think one of the great mistakes coaches make is incessantly harping on those type of mistakes.) We are talking about a player that, to quote Sam Amick from the CK podcast,"someone who can suck the life out of the room."

Today, the next authoritative loss for the Kings will be to the Eric Gordon-less Hornets. (Eric Gordon is the Hornets best player in case you didn't know.) Because that seems to be the only things the Kings are interested in these days.

I'm interested to see how the two former Houston Rockets Chuck Hayes and Carl Landry battle though. Other than that, I'll skip the pleasantries here. I don't feel like it, and I imagine you don't either.

The Kings ORtg meter is at 100.8 (20th) and DRtg meter is 113.1 (29th). Here is the Hornets roster at Basketball-Reference assuming you care to look at it.

The title says it all. It was a pathetic effort. Really, I wasn't happy. The Kings didn't look happy. Paul Westphal can't be happy. And, you know what? Good. This team has a lot of work to do. The good news? Perhaps some of these young players (aka Tyreke and DeMarcus) stop fighting the coaching staff and the world while they are at it.

I'll let DeMarcus Cousins go for now. Tyreke?

Tyreke: You can't keep shying away from the free throw line because you're missing FT's. Whether you want to admit it, you simply have to make your FT's by using good mechanics to be able to do so. It's really that simple. Your passing was fine tonight except in transition, and that needs to improve. Well, at least that's nothing new with you.

I'm going to lay off DeMarcus tonight. It's the same-o same-o with him.

Jimmer struggled. He's a rookie and it's his 4th game. Rome wasn't built in a day and neither will Jimmer's NBA career if it ends up being a quality one. Patience is required.

I liked Chuck Hayes game and the way he played, but he's not capable of making up for poor performances by Tyreke Evans and DeMarcus Cousins. Nobody on this team is.

Jason Thompson had a good performance tonight. Which is something I suppose except for the fact that JT was 3-8 from the FT line.

The FT performances are starting to add up and take it's toll. Good. I'm not sure what will get this young group's attention at this point.

The Kings shot 34.9% from the floor and 63% from the FT line. A bright spot was that the Kings only committed 12 turnover's tonight.

Isaiah Thomas had a nice performance in the sense that he was energetic and effective in a blowout wasteful performance. Thomas was 7-10 from the FT line though.

We received our first look at Tyler Honeycutt and learned nothing other than what we already knew based on his body of work from UCLA. I expect Honeycutt's minutes to be very little for most if not all of the season.

In summation, the way this team is performing, blaming each other and trying to do too much is the main source for these struggles. They simply don't get how to play together yet, and whether time is the answer I don't know. As much as anything, part of the problem is that the pieces aren't perfect fits and that Tyreke Evans and DeMarcus Cousins haven't fully bought into the system that is in place. You can't win if your 2 best players (and exceptionally immature) don't buy in. It's really that simple. Is it Paul Westphal's fault? Is it Evans/Cousins' fault? These are all good questions, and really unless players buy into what the coach is selling (which is the coaches job) it's difficult to understand what change can be made to get this team into the right position.

I expected a rough start and some issue's, but these are chemistry and player specific issue's that don't seem capable of working themselves out anytime soon. It's clear that Tyreke Evans is not ready to lead a team that desperately needs him to for whatever reason. And that's the searing indictment of the first 4 games: Tyreke Evans is not ready to be a franchise player. And since Evans isn't ready to be a franchise player, and it's clear noone else is even close to that status at all, it's a bit of a problem where players expect more from Tyreke. DeMarcus Cousins, again, is his own problem, but I'm going to let that one go here.

This isn't about whether they care or not. This is about whether the players on this team, starting with Tyreke Evans, are willing to do what it takes to win games at the NBA level. So far through 4 games, this group has not shown that willingness. Which, naturally, will lead to pathetic performances such as tonight.

Until tomorrow where another pathetic performance awaits us. I can't wait.

Well it's the Knicks and the Kings at PBP. (Calling it Arco seems strange cuz it ain't going back to that.)

Okay, so that's that. The Knicks are this. The Kings are that.

Oh, and Kings DRTg and ORtg track? The ORtg is 100.7 (for 20th) and 109.1 (24th) for the DRtg.

According to Howard Beck Amare Stoudemire won't suit up tonight. Game starts at 5.

Required Reading

In case you didn't read my monstrosity of an irritating post yesterday, please do. Also Jon Santiago of Cowbell Kingdom (and KFBK) was kind enough to ask me to answer a few questions for the 3 on 3 series that CK occasionally runs. I don't suggest reading this unless you want to find out how big of an idiot I am.

Okay onto the Knicks stuff....

A great set of links from Knickerblogger is available to you on their morning post. Which is handy for 2 reasons: I get to find another quality pieces from elsewhere and all the Knicks reading you can stand is already linked into the post. Yay?

A must read conversation from Jimmer Fredette via Seth Rosenthal's looney imagination of at Posting and Toasting. (By looney imagination, I mean fucking A hilariously brilliant.)

Here is an excellent interview of James Ham (Cowbell Kingdom) and Bryan (A Royal Pain) at Knicks Fanatics.

Okay that's all the linkage I got for today. Maybe tonight is a better result huh?