Cisco in the Starting Lineup - Yeah, Why Not?

Sacramento Bee sports writer Ailene Voisin suggested that Paul Westphal might change the starting line-up again, and she's thinking it be Francisco Garcia for Omri Casspi. I agree with her, although I said it a couple weeks ago.

Omri Casspi is a talented player, but his defense needs work. He's 6'9", but he's not strong enough to defend power forwards and too slow to defend small forwards. Francisco Garcia has always been a decent defender. You also don't lose much in offense. With him in the starting line-up, there'll be better ballhandling too.

Sure, it's a small line-up, but Omri Casspi's not really using his size to his advantage. Fancisco Garcia and Tyreke Evans are both big enough to defend other small forwards.

I think Tyreke should let Beno or Garcia push the tempo more. Tyreke tends to walk the ball up the court which allows other teams to set up their defense. The Kings, as of now, don't have a good enough post player to play half-court offense. Not until DeMarcus Cousins get more games under his belt.

Make That Fifth in a Row - And a New Title for This Blog

Kings lost another one at home. It's a close one, but we were down for most of the game. I'm surprised that Paul Westphal justified this loss by saying that the Detroit Pistons is a playoff team in the East. I don't know. He may be right, but they have pretty much the same group of guys as they did last year. They didn't make the playoffs last season.

Sure, you can blame the 3-ball. We were 2 for 18. Still, we actually have some post players now. Why aren't we going inside out? Why aren't we going down low to DeMarcus Cousins or Carl Landry more often down low instead of relying on our jump shots.

At least Carl Landry had a decent game again.

DeMarcus Cousins continue to rack up fouls and make careless turnovers. Sure, he's a rookie, but he needs grab the rebound and find his point guard.

At this point, I'm starting to think it's the coach's fault. He has decent players, but I don't feel like he's making the best use of them.

Fourth in a Row After Phoenix Loss

I wasn't expecting a win. For the third game since starting Samuel Dalembert, the offense has been lowered. Defensely, it's definitely better. At least we're not getting abused in the paint anymore. Those are frustrating - when you allow layups and dunks.

I still like Dalembert as a starter. We can start from here. I think the team is still adjusting to him. You still a bunch of unforced turnovers. Frustrating, but I assume that these will be fewer after more games. DeMarcus Cousins has been pretty careless with the ball lately. He'll accidentally kick the ball or tab the ball out of bounds when there's no opposing players around. That's just focus and probably tired legs. And again he fouled out. A couple of them are just unnecessary reach-ins. Plus, he's gotta move his legs.

The Kings did came within two early in the fourth quarter, but then Steve Nash entered the game and put it away. The Kings just didn't have an answer for him.

Better defense, worst offense. I'll take this. Start with better defense, then tinker to improve the offense.

I'm beginning to wonder if the Kings should start DeMarcus Cousins and Samuel Dalembert. This will give the team defense and offense in the paint. Cousins can post up and draw double teams. Dalembert can defend the paint. This line-up might be slow, but it'll be a big line-up.

It's Almost Time for Phoenix Suns

If we can't beat the Minnesota Timberwolves in Sacramento on their second game of a back-to-back, how can we beat the Phoenix Suns on the road? We can't - even without Amare.

So why are am I still watching it? For the small chance that we can. Let's see what Paul Westphal can do. I'm beginning to think it's more of a coaching problem now than it's a personnel problem. If the season continues to be up and down like last season, then it's most definitely a coaching issue.

Paul Westphal needs to stick with a starting line-up. There's a reason why coaches stick with one line-up, and make changes during the game. Constantly telling his players that it depends on the match-ups or their performance from game-to-game will only lead to instability.

The Phoenix Suns and Sacramento Kings currently have the same records. Let's see who goes down tonight. Even though I'm expecting a loss, I hope we'll be moving up.

It's Gonna Be a Really Long Season

It's official, these Kings have a lot to work on. You can't be heading in the right direction when you lose to the Minnesota Timberwolves at home in their second game of a back-to-back. We just have no answer for Michael Beasley. Sure, we were in it until Tyreke Evans fouled out late in the third quarter.

That's three games in row we lost. Los Angeles Lakers. They're the champs. Memphis Grizzlies. They're a decent team. Minnesota Timberwolves? There's no excuse.

On the positive side, having Samuel Dalembert at center does improve our defense a lot. We actually held a team below 100 points for the first time.

Still, it's gonna be a lot like last season. Up and down, mostly down. Oh well. And I thought we improved.

Miami Heat vs. Utah Jazz Game was Crazy!

It's gut-wrenching loss for Miami Heat fans, but haters probably loved it. I only saw the last 5 minutes of the fourth quarter and overtime. At the time, the score was tied (or maybe Utah was down by 1) and Ronnie Price had just committed a fragrant foul on James Jones. After a couple minutes Miami was ahead by 8 with about 30 seconds to go. It looked like they got this one, but then Paul Milsap hit 3 three-pointers and a layup in between foul shots by Miami to send the game into overtime. Crazy game.

Overtime was just as thrilling. Dwyane Wade made a three-pointer to tie the game with 4 or 5 seconds left. Francisco Elson was fouled with 0.4 seconds left and made two free throws to give Utah a two point advantage. Miami missed the final shot and loss the game.

In previous seasons when Carlos Boozer was injured, Paul Milsap was the one taking over his scoring and rebounding load. Now that Boozer is gone, it's time for him to shine. And he did against Miami - 46 points and 9 rebounds.

This is just one of those games for Miami. They didn't get beaten badly. It was a game that got away. Overall, through eight games so far, they still played pretty well. Their glaring weakness is interior defense. Chris Bosh isn't known for that.

I Knew Memphis Was Gonna Be Tough

The Memphis Grizzlies is a solid team. If they were in the East, they would make the playoffs. In the West, it's just too stacked. Maybe this year they can make it. Phoenix looks like they'll drop off the playoff map, so there's an opening.

The Kings started Samuel Dalembert, and the defense looks better. They only allowed 100 points. Before that game, they were allowing about 10 more. Paul Westphal made his adjustment a bit too late. Zach Randolph was destroying Carl Landry. Westphal tried DeMarcus Cousins on him for stretches, but couldn't really slow him down. That is until he put Darnell Jackson on him. He caused Randolph 2-3 consecutive turnovers. Bad turnovers too. Randolph ran into a brick wall. Unfortunately, it was too late in the game to make a difference.

We also had no answer for Rudy Gay. Although I think Jason Thompson did a decent job on him. He forced him into some tough shots. But again, it was too little too late. He had already done his damage against Omri Casspi and Francisco Garcia - mostly on Casspi.

The Grizzlies forced the Kings into a lot of turnovers. There were so many unforced turnovers too - traveling, palming, offensive foul, etc. It was an ugly game.

Oh well. It's time to move forward with the Minnesota Timberwolves. That's team we can beat, and we should on Wednesday. If not, then I'm giving up on the season.

As of Right Now, Kings Would Make Playoffs

Heh. Gotta stay positive. As of right now, Kings are tied with Oklahoma City Thunders for the seventh spot in the Western Conference. I don't think we'll stay there for long, but gotta celebrate it while we still can. Gotta take this one game at a time. If we beat the Memphis Grizzlies tomorrow, we stay up there. Denver, Utah, and Houston won't stay out of the eighth spot for long.

Can Kings Fans Stop Giving Our Female Sports Writer Such a Hard Time

It's getting annoying. Each time she puts out an article, Kings fans would bitch about every aspect of her writing. It's sexist and looks bad on the city. That's is all for today.

Oh, yeah. Samuel Dalembert will start at center for Saturday's game against the Memphis Grizzlies. It's refreshing to hear that DeMarcus Cousins didn't make a big ruckus over it. He even supports it. So far, so good. He's more mature than what the media made him out to be. It's a good move.

The team is also moving Jason thompson to the small forward spot. This, I'm not sure about. He's 6'9". I don't think he's fast enough to defend other smaller small forwards. I've seen this big line-up that Rick Adelman tried in the past with different players, and the results are not pretty. It's too slow. Other teams get many easy fast-break points. Omri Casspi already has a tough time defending other small forwards, a bulkier Thompson will be even slower.

Anyway, let's get back to Memphis this Saturday. It's gonna be a tough game. They won 40 games last season in a very tough conference, so they're a solid team. To our advantage, it is their second game of a back-to-back. Let's hope we take advantage of it. We've been so up-and-down, it's hard to predict what's gonna happen. If we lose another one at home, we'll lose all the momentum we got from those road wins.

Damn Those Lakers

I knew we're not gonna beat them, but we've been more competitive in the past.

As usual, it all comes down to defense. It was horrible, especially the first quarter. There were just too many easy alley-oops through-out the game. I'm thinking since Samuel Dalembert is healthy now. He should be starting instead DeMarcus Cousins. Cousins still has a lot to look in terms of defense. It's not active enough. He also took one too many ill advised, quick shots - a couple from beyond the arc.

Ron Artest was defending Tyreke Evans for most of the game, but Evans still scored 21 points. He twisted his ankle at the end of the first quarter, but came back later.

Kobe took Omri Casspi too school. Omri just gives him too much space to operate. Omri had a terrible game.

Francisco Garcia had a great game. He's also a decent defender. Our defense would be better with him in the starting line-up instead of Omri.

Carl Landry and Darnell Jackson are dependable as always. You can always count for Landry for 18 points and 6 rebounds.

We were following the same script as the previous four games. It's just this time, it's the Los Angeles Lakers. You can't give him a 20 point head start and expect to catch up and win.

This is only one game, but I'm thinking if we want our best defensive group out there, it would have to be with Garcia and Dalembert instead of Omri and Cousins. I think that's our best defense and offensive line-up. It's better for ballhandling too.

Toronto Raptors: It Looked Ugly Early On

Samuel Dalembert. Awesome. On the stat sheet, it didn't show that he blocked any shots. Here's a case of a player's contribution not being shown in the stat sheet. He altered a number of shots and grabbed 14 rebounds in just 22 minutes.

What's going on with Donte Green. He didn't play at all this game. Sure, Paul Westphal favors Omri Casspi, but no playing time?

Darnell Jackson continues to impress with his limited minutes. He's pushes people around in the paint, and scores with putbacks or short jumpers. Great pickup.

Omri's been pretty shooting the three pretty well.

Tyreke is himself. It's strange that he drives to the hoop all the time, but there's nothing the opposing team can do about it.

I knew the Kings would have a tough time defending Andrea Bargnani, a seven-footer who can shoot three's. He's a tough a match for any center. I'm not sure what opposing teams can do about him other than to send a small forward to defend him. Kinda like what some teams do to defend Dirk.

Tonight is the Lakers. For some reason, we always play them well at home. I don't think we can win though. I always remember the game where Kings were up by 5 with 5 seconds to go, and Kobe Bryant won it by making two 3-pointers in a row (and the Kings missing their free throws in between).

Deja Vu, Except with a Different Outcome

I was expecting the Kings to lose to the Cavs. Hey, Cleveland did beat Boston in their season opener. Yeah, they got blown out in Toronto, but that was on the road.

This game was pretty much the exact same game as the New Jersey game - Kings were behind by double digits during the first half, came back in the second half and lead by 8+ points late in the game. And then they couldn't score, and the Cleveland Cavaliers came back. Luckily for the Sacramento Kings, the Cavs didn't have a go to guy who can finish the job like the Nets' Devin Harris, so Kings held on and got the win.

Samuel Dalembert won the game for us. His interior defense set the tone for the crucial third quarter where the Kings held the Cavs to just 15 points and caught up from being down by 14. Dalembert also played well in the first quarter in limited minutes. Whenever he's in the game, you rarely see easy layups.

On offense, Omar Casspi was the hero of the game. He was on fire tonight, making 6 of 7 three-pointers. Sure, he missed two crucial free throws late in the game, but he played exceptionally well before then.

DeMarcus Cousins got a double-double, 14 points and 10 rebounds. He looked like his usual self. Pretty good, but not exceptional. At least, not yet. I would like to see him more active on defense and offense. Sometimes, he's just standing around.

Darnell Jackson played well again in limited action. Francisco Garcia didn't play much tonight.

I also didn't see Donte Green at all. I wonder if it's the just the match up.

A great win overall. Coming back from a three game road trip and winning two is pretty good, even if the wins are against crappy teams.

Next game is a home game against the Bosh-less Toronto Raptors. We should win this one. Should. These Kings are so inconsistent, you never know.

Elsewhere in the NBA

The Orlando Magic got crushed by the Miami Heat. That's what they get for talking smack about Lebron James and the Heat. They caught them at the wrong time too. It was a back-to-back for Orlando, and a season opener for Miami. There's not much to say other than they got their ass whupped. I guess this could be the team to beat in the East. We'll see.

Houston Rockets signing Erick Dampier is a good move. With the Houston Rockets limiting Yao Ming to 24 minutes, they need more help than just Brad Miller. Miller is good for facilitating the offense, but the guy's a liability on defense. Erick Dampier might not be a great defender, but compared to Miller, he's an All-Star.

New Jersey Nets Game

I knew it. I only watched from half-time on. I didn't see Samuel Dalembert play, but looking looking at the box score, he did play a couple minutes and blocked a couple shots. Hopefully, he gets to play more soon. His defense is much needed. Kings defense is still horrible. They allow another team to score over 100.

DeMarcus Cousins didn't get to play much because of foul trouble. We did get a lot of Darnell Jackson. Nice to someone hustle for putbacks.

I was watching a couple minutes before halftime when they were behind by 18 or so points. They came back and lead by 8 points a couple minutes before the game ended. And then it turned into the Devin Harris show. He completely took over the game and helped his team scored 11 straight. A tough game to swallow, but I expected it from these inconsistent Kings. No lead is safe with them. They can't stop anyone.

Tyreke was his usual self. He played ok. I thought he massaged the ball a little too much. Too many times, he just drives into a bunch of New Jersey players.

Oh well. I don't think they can win tomorrow at Cleveland. It's a back-to-back, and Cleveland beat Boston just a couple days ago.

Looking Forward to Having Everyone

Looks like the Kings might be at full strength tonight against the New Jersey Nets in another game of the NBA's worst teams.

Last season, the Kings lost on a road game against New Jersey. Hopefully, they'll do better tonight. They did have a day of rest. Like I said in the last entry, their defense still looks shaky.

Devin Harris will school Beno Udrih, though. He's just too quick.

Last season, the Kings had one of the worst road records, and the Nets had one of the worst home records. Let's which stat prevails tonight.

Samuel Dalembert said he'll play tonight, but it all depends on what the doctors say. I hope he does. The Kings need his shot blocking.

Also back tonight is their star player and reigning Rookie of the Year Tyreke Evans, who was suspended one game for speeding.

Great Win on the Road Against Minnesota

Any time the Kings can get a win, especially on the road, I'm happy. Minnesota is a bottom-of-the-barrel team, but who cares - a win is a win.

Without Samuel Dalembert, the Kings still have trouble defending. They allowed a crappy team like the Timberwolves to score 116. I like DeMarcus Cousins, but until the team learns to defend, they're not gonna be much improved from last season.

It's just one game, but already, this looks like an up-and-down team. They couldn't make any stops at the end. They just got lucky, they outscored their opponent.

Carl Landry is steady. You can always count on him for 18 points and 6 rebounds. This game he got 21 and 11.

I'm glad our schedule early on is against bad teams. It'll give the team time to gel and work out their kinks. From the first game, I didn't see much improvement in terms of defense. I'm looking forward to Dalembert's debut agains the Nets, and that's a big if. He's supposed to be for 4-6 weeks.

Tyreke's Reckless Driving

This thing could have been a lot worst. I don't know why they've decided to show it now instead of three months ago when it happened. Luckily, no one was injured or, worst, killed. Just shows that the guy is still only 20.

Tyreke Evans Cut from US Basketball Team

I'm actually glad to hear it. First, Tyreke Evans didn't have a chance because he got injured and couldn't scrimmage. Now, he gets a chance to rest his injured ankle and prepare for next season. I may be selfish, but I'm not a fan of letting your franchise players participate in the World Championships. Basketball players' careers are relatively short; they only have about 10 good years in them, unless they're Karl Malone. Playing in the World Championships can lead in injuries and just more wear and tear in a player's body. Summer's a chance for them to let their bodies heal. The Sacramento Kings need him to be healthy for the upcoming season.

DeMarcus Cousins

I watched two of the last three Sacramento Kings Summer League games after reading about how well DeMarcus Cousins was doing. I jinxed him. He was terrible in both of those games - Toronto Raptors and Dallas Mavericks. I think after the first three games, other teams got the scouting report on him and geared their defense towards him. He got pushed further away from the paint, and when does get past his defender, the other teams send two more guys towards him. Still, I can see the potential. The guy definitely has talent. He seems to be a decent mid-range and free throw shooter, is a good passer, and is a force in the paint. I can't wait for the preseason to start and see how he's gonna be integrated with the team.

Welcome to My Sacramento Kings Blog

The season's still a couple months away, but I thought I get a head start on my blog dedicated to my home team - The Sacramento Kings.

I really like the moves we made this offseason starting with the trade to get Samuel Dalembert. One of the Kings biggest weakness in the past is interior defense. Spencer Hawes, who was traded for Dalembert, was a skilled big men, but we needed a defensive-minded center who would alter and block shots.

Getting DeMarcus Cousins in the draft is the other reason to look forward to the season. Hopefully, he keeps his head straight. He's a skilled a big man, who can bully his way into the paint.

Tyrese Evans and Demarcus Cousins will the Kings exciting again. I don't know if we'll make the playoffs this upcoming season - probably not since the West is so stacked - but we should improve upon the 25 games we won last season.