<div class="quote_poster">Quoting custodianrules2:</div><div class="quote_post">Wow Kevin Martin got promoted to the starting lineup? When did that happen?</div> Bonzi Wells has been injured for weeks and Martin is the starter in his place.
Kenny Thomas and Brad Miller is a pretty formidable starting frontcourt. Despite their record, the Kings have a pretty tough starting 5 here -- moreso when Bonzi gets back. Tonight is Pietrus' chance to prove he belongs in a Warriors uniform instead of Artest. This should be good!
when kings are all healthy (when Abdur-Rahim jaw becomes fully recovered) i believe the starters would look something like this: PG: Bibby SG: Wells SF: Artest PF: Abdur-Rahim C: Miller pretty strong starting 5 if you ask me?
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting trg_tony:</div><div class="quote_post">when kings are all healthy (when Abdur-Rahim jaw becomes fully recovered) i believe the starters would look something like this: PG: Bibby SG: Wells SF: Artest PF: Abdur-Rahim C: Miller pretty strong starting 5 if you ask me?</div> On paper, yes but thats what everyone else was saying at the beginning of this season. It seems like they have some problems with team chemistry, especially when SAR is playing heavy minutes.
yeah but they didnt have artest at the beginning of the season. i think the team is way different with artest . but i still think they (sacramento) arent going to make the playoffs.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Run BJM:</div><div class="quote_post">On paper, yes but thats what everyone else was saying at the beginning of this season. It seems like they have some problems with team chemistry, especially when SAR is playing heavy minutes.</div> That's kind of funny because 'reef is supposed to be the all around 20/10 allstar. I like his post game. Very very strong and he's got an outside game as well. Maybe he's not working out because he doesn't do enough dirty work. I think in this league big players need to be unselfish not just on offense, but hustle off the ball and play the defense. Because if they don't want to do that the other 4 players don't try as hard. I mean the 5 man unit has to make stops together and 'reef is one of these guys that has to do his part to make a team strong. I mean having had Theo Ratliff on his team didn't solve the inside problems Atlanta may have had and everywhere else 'Reef has gone with a decent center, it didn't work out. Sacramento is one of those teams where they have decent defense coming from the center, but the poor defense gets amplified by not having a strong enough defender inside. It's kind of why I get down on Murphy, he's a hole on defense and our perimeter D can't lock dribble penetrators from getting in and Foyle's basically going to try to do what Theo Ratliff does because he's not Ben Wallace in being everywhere at once. PF and C IMO need to both be strong enough defenders to handle whatever is coming at them and they need to be setting good picks and screens. We all saw what Dunleavy did to Devin Harris on a nasty pick, we need our big guys to absolutely floor guys like that and also get nasty on the offensive boards like Mickael Pietrus does. If we get that strong, unselfish big man play the perimeter play becomes better. I thought the Kings could be a kickass team this season, but maybe its growing pains. Teams don't start becoming better until the halfway point if they've been trying something new for the first half season. Kings have lots of weapons, so I wonder if the coaching is being called into question. It's probably not Rick Adelman's fault although I bet fans will be quick to blame anything that doesn't go their way soon (as in game to game). That's why I'd hate to be a coach. Damned if you do, damned if you don't. Run, you're one of my favorite contributors to read comments from. But the "damned if you do damned if you don't" really applies to this team's expectations. It's why I kind of disagree with that anti-Monty sig because we don't know if our rookies are the answer (we've barely seen them while experienced coaches have worked with them closely and directly off the court) and we don't know if leaving in a tired Baron Davis or tired somebody else would improve our chances when the biggest problem with the Warriors is they 1.) hold onto the ball too often, 2.) they play with little energy in the 4th, 3.) they don't make good shot selections, 4.) they don't play defense, or 5.) they don't make good decisions out there. That's damned if you do damned if you don't because we have plenty of guys like that that are rookies and vets, bench or starters, who can go from 0 mph to 60 mph or 60 to 0 just as fast. If there is an important player taken out of crunch time its either because they're trying to do too much and it hurts the team, coach doesn't know what they're going to do next for the team in open court or set plays, or a good player wasn't taken out soon enough and wasn't rested earlier because there wasn't anyone reliable enough to keep the scoring production going throughout the game while they rested. I mean we give up so many stupid fouls or points off tunovers as it is. I mean we saw what happens when Baron gets taken out when he's hot or left in when he's struggling. Then our players in general stop playing with energy in the 4th probably because they are tired and they don't have enough fouls to avoid something dumb. I want the lineup of C: Biedrins/Taft PF: Ike SF: Jrich SG: Pietrus PG: Baron as much as anyone else does, but hey I always think the grass is greener on the other side because rookies are the hope that things could be a lot better than who we have now. There are a lot of things that I notice that are wrong with this franchise. Coaching is only a fraction. It may seem like I over-defend the coaching staff like many have over-defended Dunleavy while I constantly argued that Dunleavy sucked so bad (which I'm still kind of right today, j/k ), but now I understand why some people seemed like zealots defending Dunleavy. Its because we scapegoat the thing we see that's the biggest problem of the moment and other guys responding are just trying to be helpful in bringing the bigger picture to the table. I'm not trying to call anyone out, but it's a hell of a statement when one sports a sig badmouthing somebody and the flipside could have been just as bad with this team had Monty left in some guys or played more rookies. I mean the statement for my sig is that Dunleavy rarely shows emotion or gets fans fired up and I'm just "gently" kidding around in Dunleavy's rare moments of Kenyon Martin-ness mixed with the theme of my fondness for seeing girls run around with their tops off. It's pretty innocent compared to calling for a coach's head. I see quite a few "Fire Monty sigs or avators", but I don't think its right and he's not the main problem for a franchise that IMO is still growing as a team, not just individual home grown players. Anyway, I think we're like the same as a lot of teams with big expectations where a lot of competitors got better. We just envy and pick on the things we don't like, and at the moment, perceive it as the major problem. Maybe it's hypocritcal since I made an avatar for Cohanhater scapegoating Warriors owner Cohan, but hey, it's Cohan!
Reaching back into the old bag of comments: <div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">Tonight is Pietrus' chance to prove he belongs in a Warriors uniform instead of Artest. This should be good!</div> A million bucks says Pietrus is held scoreless in today's game. only good for the 20th
Yeah Oop, remember all-star game was played yesterday? So no game tonight. That means it's time for an uninterrupted 24 tonight.
Glad I didn't take that bet. I almost lost $1 mils. Well, it wouldn't be that bad -- I mean mullin hands those out like they're friggin popcorn.
The Kings have been winning games as of late, thanks to Artest. The team has learned that the team chemistry is best with Thomas and Martin in the starting lineup. With the way the two have been playing since becoming starters the coaching staff has no reason not to start them. That in turn theoretically solves the bench production problems the Kings have had by bringing Reef and Wells off the bench to play against opposing second units. To answer alleyoop's question, Bobby Jackson was traded for Wells. Anyhow, should be a good game. These two teams usually come to play against eachother. I am VERY interested in seeing Artest guard Richardson, J-Rich usually kills the Kings...hopefully not anymore.
<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">Murphy is expected to play tonight after missing the past four games because of a sprained left ankle. However, Davis won't play tonight. ``I have no time line (for a return),'' said Davis, who missed the past two games because of a sprained right ankle. ``I've got to be patient. But everything is moving in the right direction.''</div> And so begins the "Is the problem Baron or Murphy debate."
thx for the doing the thread tony btw Cohanhater, Baron is out, so we'll see how Murphy affects the defensive chemistry out there. I think our D might suffer somewhat but we'll get more offensive boards with Murphy and Pietrus in there.
Foyle is so worthless sometimes. We're playing 4 on 5 sometimes or less. Missing an easy catch and layup is like missing a free throw. Then what's also with his screen setting and his not vacating the lane soon enough? This guy is supposed to be a pro starting center worth 8-9 million a year? Goddamn, Mullin, lay off the sauce before you go into the offseason! Anyway, it's a sad game situation so far. The Warriors are getting open looks, but they're missing at point blank range and missing easy jump shots. When you can't even make layups that's when its time to start going to the bench. Also what happened to our f'n D?
I blame Mullin for this bad season. Didn't do anything to improve this roster and he tied up our roster with bad contracts that just really suck. It's got too many slow, overpaid, soft players that can't even do the point blank stuff. ugh... I'm just reacting to this bad half, though. I'll probably feel better about the team once they start proving they're a pro team.
