Sacramento Kings: Random Notes — Overreactions Edition

Isaiah Thomas’ two great performances are highlights of Sacramento’s season so far. Photo Credit: Neon Tommy (Flickr.com)

The Miami Heat have no chances of repeating; Derrick Rose sucks now; the Phoenix Suns are winning the West; the Philadelphia 76ers are winning the championship; the Spurs are on pace to win 50 games (wait, that always happens); Nick Young just lost his job to Zah-Vee-Ay Henry  and Zah-Vee-Ay is still on an NBA roster (well an almost NBA roster … and that one is true, too). Six days in, the only two words I can come up with to describe the NBA are weird and unpredictable. The reality of the situation is six months from now all of the unthinkable scenarios that have played out so far will be a faint memory and we will have a much firmer grasp on the NBA as it exists this year. For now, though, let’s allow our imaginations and irrational words count to reach the insurmountable. But since it is close to impossible to analyze anything in depth so far — at least with a clean conscience and without the phrase “keep in mind these are extremely small sample sizes” — I decided some random notes would help pass the time until we get more games under our belt.

• We’re doing this … the John Salmons, Travis Outlaw, Luc Mbah a Moute experience is happening. MbAM did not see the court until game three against the Golden State Warriors, but all three players have logged small forward minutes and all three have been rather unspectacular in their roles. Salmons has actually been a decent player so far — and in the preseason and last season for that matter — capable of providing positives for the Sacramento Kings. His shooting has been below par though and the lack of floor spacing he is providing could prove to be an issue down the line. Travis Outlaw (obligatory theme music) has been much more of train wreck whose only saving grace is a few weirdly timely quarter ending plays and a barrage of scores in garbage time players like Outlaw put up to prove to people that are not watching that they can score the basketball. It really is not that these guys are doing anything that deplorable; there is just no reason the majority of their minutes — save a few role playing moments for Salmons — should not be going to Ben McLemore. Speaking of McLemore…

• Mindless commentators, Ben McLemore cannot shoot and will never be a “star”. He has not been able to hit shots on this level consistently; not in the summer league; not in the preseason; and not through his first three NBA games. If you are 4-for-14 on 3-point attempts, but the four you made were aesthetically pleasing when going in the basket, you are still a 28.6 percent 3-point shooter. Also of the 10 or so times McLemore has attacked the rim via the dribble, all but one or two of those journeys towards the rim have been train wrecks. Despite all of that and despite all of the signs pointing to McLemore’s inability to become a star level offensive talent, I have loved what I have seen from McLemore so far. I give him the nod over the current small forward Bermuda Triangle for a couple of reasons. 1) He has been clearly better defensively than the troupe since preseason game two, most notably in his ability to execute the schemes Mike Malone is implementing to guard pick and rolls — a designation he shares only with (oddly enough) Marcus Thornton on the wing. And 2) Even though he has been horrible shooting the basketball, he is not any worse than the other three players — and teams will make the mistake of defending him as a respectable shooting threat for a while. I am going to start sounding like broken record here, but this guy already “gets it” on defense and actually already possesses a veteran-like ability to move without the basketball. If his shooting stroke ever gets to the place we are expecting it to be at, he has the potential to be a hyper-athletic Klay Thompson — who is quite clearly one of the five best shooting guards in basketball (think about it … Klay is up there and it is not even that close).

• Greivis Vasquez has a very nice floater.

• Sports VU statistics are now on NBA.com!!! And as of Sunday night they are not unkind to DeMarcus Cousins. More on this is coming Thursday — and on Boogie’s early, early season performance in general. Just want to get another game under the belt after that weird schedule loss to the Warriors before I start speaking on the big man. Spoilers: I think I am going to have good things to say.

• You only have to be from Los Angeles to have the refs on your side. In general the referees are blowing the whistle too much to start off the season. In game two and three for the Clippers — against Golden State and Sacramento — those extra calls seemed to skew the game the Clippers way to varying extents. The Warriors seemed to get the worse of the officiating, even prompting Boogie to tweet “flop, flop, flop ….and flop” while watching the game (the tweet has been removed from Cousins’ Twitter, but it did happen). Chris Paul and Blake Griffin are two of the leagues worst flopping offenders and so far this season, the refs have rewarded them for their flopping prowess. It hurt Golden State Thursday and hurt the Kings the next night when the Clippers overcame a valiant effort from Sacramento. Speaking of …

• Two Words: Isaiah Thomas. I have always known this guy is a capable offensive player and known he has the ability to go toe-to-toe with any player on any given night — and known he has a penchant for matching up with Chris Paul-Stephen Curry types. But what he did in the first two games of the season — playing off the Sacramento’s dynamic crowd as if he was in Steph Curry playoff mode and simply putting on a show against Chris Paul and the Clippers — was awe-inspiring and a real joy to watch. The loss to the Clippers was tough for the Kings, but it was not short of great moments. Like this one:

• And to finish off with some more YouTube brilliance, here is the play that sealed win number one:

[slider_pro id=”26″]