<span style="font-size:10pt;line-height:100%">They don't have a proven off-guard, but besides that, they are a good team all around. I think Brad miller is one of te most underrated players in the league, but that's partly due to his injury problems. I do think that Ron Artest will egain his all-star form and Mike Bibby will finally reach the All-Star game. </span>
With KG, Duncan, Dirk, Marion, Brand, Melo, and a returning Amare (lets face it, he will get votes), it's going to be very hard for Artest to get in. Also, if Andrei Kirilenko stays relatively healthy, I don't see how he's not ahead of Artest.And Mike Bibby, I love the guy, but he's not getting in over Steve Nash, Chris Paul, and Tony Parker.But I think the Kings will be battling to make the playoffs. I have (in no order, really) Dallas, San Antonio, Phoenix, Houston, Denver, and the LA Clippers in the playoffs with the Lakers, Hornets, Kings, and Wovles battling out the 7th and 8th spot (with the Lakers and Hornets as my favorites right now). It's not going to be a cake-walk for Sac-Town this year to make the playoffs. No doubt they are a talented team with 3 All-Star caliber players and an up-and-commer in Kevin Martin. With Houston looking healthy (and more talented than last year), Melo proving himself plus Denver getting a solid SG, the big improvements with New Orleans, and the small improvements for Minnesota, it's going to be tough for Sacramento to get there.
Kevin Martin is the most underrated player in the league. They will definately need to be taken seriously. They should be a playoff team, but so should the Grizzlies, the Rockets, the Hornets, the Lakers, etc.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (ProStix#6 @ Oct 18 2006, 10:04 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'><span style="font-size:10pt;line-height:100%">They don't have a proven off-guard, but besides that, they are a good team all around. I think Brad miller is one of te most underrated players in the league, but that's partly due to his injury problems. I do think that Ron Artest will egain his all-star form and Mike Bibby will finally reach the All-Star game. </span></div>Are you kidding? Brad Miller is overrated IMO. Hes soft and doenst play good interior defense. But yes, I would take the kings seriously. They have a good PG who is a good leader/scorer/playmaker, a very good SF who can play defense and score as well, and even though Brad Miller IS overrated, their just arent that many good centers in the league. Also, Kevin Martin is turning in to a good player and Kenny Thomas does alot of dirty work on the offensive and defensive glass. They arent going to scare anyone in the playoffs due to the fact that if they make the playoffs, they will be one of the bottom couple teams., but they might get there.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (ballerman2112 @ Oct 18 2006, 05:29 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>Are you kidding? Brad Miller is overrated IMO. Hes soft and doenst play good interior defense. But yes, I would take the kings seriously. They have a good PG who is a good leader/scorer/playmaker, a very good SF who can play defense and score as well, and even though Brad Miller IS overrated, their just arent that many good centers in the league. Also, Kevin Martin is turning in to a good player and Kenny Thomas does alot of dirty work on the offensive and defensive glass. They arent going to scare anyone in the playoffs due to the fact that if they make the playoffs, they will be one of the bottom couple teams., but they might get there.</div> How many centers actually play good interior defense? Not many. He makes up for his lack of defense in other parts of the game. He's a good center who fits the Kings style of play.
Are you kidding? most of the time, the role of a center is to play interior defense. here's a few: Ben Wallace, Marcus Camby, Joel Pryzbilla, Kendrick Perkins, Theo Ratliff, Yao Ming, Rasho Nesterovic, Desagana Diop, Alonzo Mourning, Dwight Howard, Darko Milicic, Dikembe Mutumbo, Rasheed Wallace, Tyson Chandler, and more.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (ballerman2112 @ Oct 18 2006, 05:44 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>Are you kidding? most of the time, the role of a center is to play interior defense. here's a few: Ben Wallace, Marcus Camby, Joel Pryzbilla, Kendrick Perkins, Theo Ratliff, Yao Ming, Rasho Nesterovic, Desagana Diop, Alonzo Mourning, Dwight Howard, Darko Milicic, Dikembe Mutumbo, Rasheed Wallace, Tyson Chandler, and more.</div> Theo Ratliff is mainly just a shotblocker, his man defense and rebounding are very average if not below average. Rasho Nesterovic is not a good defender or rebounder, Darko Milicic is not a good defender, Tyson Chandler is a inconsistant man defender.... Mehmet Okur, Zydrunas Ilgauskas, Nenad Krstic, Brad Miller and other centers are not good defenders but make up for it with other skills. It's not that big of a deal.
Rasho Nesterovic isnt a good defender? Have you ever even seen him play? He is a good interior man to man defender and a pretty good shot blocker as well. And as for Theo Ratliff, doesn't blocks count for interior defense? I could have sworn that was a big part of interior defense. And his man to man defense is good as well. Do something for me....go look up Darko's BPG on google or something after he was acquired by the Magic. Once you see that he got over 2 BPG, tell me how many MPG did he play? exactly my point. Also, you listed 4 players....So you have 4 guys that dont play good defense that make it up for it on the other end. Wow, impressive list.
Theo Ratliff is a very good defensive player down low. His rotation and shotblocking skills are a huge thing for just about any defense. Darko Milicic did very well defensively down low for the Magic last year in the games he played in for us. He was actually better defensively than Dwight Howard was later in the season after we got him. Good interior defense has alot to do with shot blocking ability, and ability to alter shots. Theo Ratliff and Darko are both good at this, and good interior defenders.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (ballerman2112 @ Oct 18 2006, 06:00 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>Rasho Nesterovic isnt a good defender? Have you ever even seen him play? He is a good interior man to man defender and a pretty good shot blocker as well. And as for Theo Ratliff, doesn't blocks count for interior defense? I could have sworn that was a big part of interior defense. And his man to man defense is good as well. Do something for me....go look up Darko's BPG on google or something after he was acquired by the Magic. Once you see that he got over 2 BPG, tell me how many MPG did he play? exactly my point. Also, you listed 4 players....So you have 4 guys that dont play good defense that make it up for it on the other end. Wow, impressive list.</div> Rasho Nesterovic is not a good defender, he wasn't when I watched him in Minnesota and didn't seem that good in San Antonio either, and he'll get you around a block a game which for a 7'0"er is nothing impressive. I watched Ratliff a lot when he was on the 76ers and he never impressed me with his man defense, great shotblocker and like Wallace has a very quick leap.
:focus: Yes they will be hard to keep out of the playoffs. Bibby is a great leader. Artest simply does it all. They are worse centre's out there than Brad Miller. They have a solid starting 5 but one injury and I dont think they are deep enough to cope.Theo Ratliff was traded by the sixers in 2000-01 because he is only a weak side blocker. They went with an ageing Mutumbo instead. - Are weak side blockers considered good defenders, or merely opportunitists?
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (BrewCityBuck @ Oct 18 2006, 06:25 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>Rasho Nesterovic is not a good defender, he wasn't when I watched him in Minnesota and didn't seem that good in San Antonio either, and he'll get you around a block a game which for a 7'0"er is nothing impressive. I watched Ratliff a lot when he was on the 76ers and he never impressed me with his man defense, great shotblocker and like Wallace has a very quick leap.</div>sure, he averaged 1.1 blocks per game but he played 19 minutes a game as well....And how many times did u seen him play when he was in Minnessota? And also, that was over 4 years ago and he has matured since then on the defensive end. And your arguement about Ratliff makes NO sense what so ever. When a DOWN LOW DEFENDER is a good shot blocker, he is a good man to man/low post defender...
I definitely think that the Kings should be taken seriously this year. They do have key players that can take them to a playoff spot, and a leader in Artest, who if stays consistent, can dominate and help some of the other players become better.Mike Bibby has to be clutch and he has to give it his all this year. He has lost 15 pounds in the off-season, so we'll se how that plays out.I'm looking into the new rookie Quincy Douby as well. I want to see how his shooting's going to be and how he plays in his first year.
They just arent good enough to be contenders, but I think they are a playoff team for sure, Artest will have a careeer season on both ends.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (ballerman2112 @ Oct 18 2006, 07:50 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>sure, he averaged 1.1 blocks per game but he played 19 minutes a game as well....And how many times did u seen him play when he was in Minnessota? And also, that was over 4 years ago and he has matured since then on the defensive end. And your arguement about Ratliff makes NO sense what so ever. When a DOWN LOW DEFENDER is a good shot blocker, he is a good man to man/low post defender...</div> Not true my friend. Sam Dalembert is a great shot blocker but he isn't a good man to man/low post defender, same with Josh Smith. Just because you can block shots doesn't mean your a good post defender...it's a part of post defense no doubt but just because you can block a few more shots than the next guy...no.
That's because samuel daembert is a bone head and Josh Smith is a guard. When a center plays smart and is a good shotblocker, that means that he is a good interior defender. Why are you arguing this? Rasho Nesterovic wouldn't be in the league if it weren't for his defense.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (nba dogmatist @ Oct 18 2006, 10:22 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>That's because samuel daembert is a bone head and Josh Smith is a guard. When a center plays smart and is a good shotblocker, that means that he is a good interior defender. Why are you arguing this? Rasho Nesterovic wouldn't be in the league if it weren't for his defense.</div> I don't see how a guy that blocks 1.5 more shots a night then the next center is a better defender...Clifford Robinson has been one of the most smothering post defenders in the league the last 10 seasons and he doesn't block shots, if he had Marcus Camby's long arms and leaping ability he could. Brenden Haywood was top 10 in blocks last year he doesn't stop anyone in the post. A lot of the block leaders are just more blessed athleticly, just because they can get their hand and swat one more shot doesn't mean they are better than Clifford Robinson who puts you to shame and gets only 1 a game at most.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (BrewCityBuck @ Oct 18 2006, 11:32 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>I don't see how a guy that blocks 1.5 more shots a night then the next center is a better defender...Clifford Robinson has been one of the most smothering post defenders in the league the last 10 seasons and he doesn't block shots, if he had Marcus Camby's long arms and leaping ability he could. Brenden Haywood was top 10 in blocks last year he doesn't stop anyone in the post. A lot of the block leaders are just more blessed athleticly, just because they can get their hand and swat one more shot doesn't mean they are better than Clifford Robinson who puts you to shame and gets only 1 a game at most.</div>That's just not true, Brendan Haywood does stop people in the post, it's his low post scoring that is the problem. Just look at last year in the playoffs, where he played Zydrunas Ilgauskas tough and physical in the first round of the playoffs, and Ilgauskas had a very hard time putting together any kind of consistency against Haywood in that entire series. He had Z shooting much worse, and playing much worse than he had been playing. Haywood is a very good defensive center.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (BrewCityBuck @ Oct 18 2006, 10:32 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>I don't see how a guy that blocks 1.5 more shots a night then the next center is a better defender...Clifford Robinson has been one of the most smothering post defenders in the league the last 10 seasons and he doesn't block shots, if he had Marcus Camby's long arms and leaping ability he could. Brenden Haywood was top 10 in blocks last year he doesn't stop anyone in the post. A lot of the block leaders are just more blessed athleticly, just because they can get their hand and swat one more shot doesn't mean they are better than Clifford Robinson who puts you to shame and gets only 1 a game at most.</div>did anyone ever say that someone had to be a great shotblocker to be a good defender? no. But shotblocking is a MAJOR part of interior defense.and brendan haywood is an excellent defender.
