Brandon Jennings was fantastic yet again in Detroit's 114-95 win over the visiting Sacramento Kings. The Pistons have won five straight games, the NBA's longest active winning streak.

How about those Pistons!!!  4.5 games off a playoff spot with a 9-23 record.  That, my friends, is the Eastern Conference in a nutshell.  Unfortunately, the viewership of this game may be diminished thanks to the Detroit Lions' crucial playoff game against the Dallas Cowboys.  Not much of a football fan, but I do follow the Lions for Detroit reasons, despite having no ties to the city, and I hope Justin Verlander can score lots of goals and help the team to victory (right?).

Game Vitals

Where:Palace of Auburn Hills, Auburn Hills, Mi

When:6PM EST, Sunday, Jan. 4, 2015

Watch:Fox Sports Detroit

Exceptionally Detailed Analysis

Well, the Pistons have been riding the hot hand, and coupled with some favorable circumstances and matchups, have built a four-game winning streak, tied for the longest active streak in the NBA with Portland and Dallas.  Brandon Jennings provided the swag, finishing with 29 points in the 97-81 win over New York.  While the final scoreline indicates a 16 point margin, not small by any means, the reality is that the Pistons lambasted the hapless Knicks, and at one point were up 33 before a meaningless J.R. Smith run late restored an inkling of respectability, before the MSG crowd booed off the team, who were missing numerous key players such as Carmelo Anthony, Tim Hardaway Jr., Amare Stoudemire and Iman Shumpert.

The Pistons are hot from deep, and this form is unsustainable.  In the PSE, the team has hit 54 threes at a 44-percent clip, thanks to hot shooting from the likes of Jennings, Jodie Meeks and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope.  The three-point barrage can be attributed to more space thanks to a traditional power forward in Monroe, and more perimeter threats, meaning that teams can no longer simply aggressively double a player knowing there is a negative standing on the three point line.  This means more room and more open shots.

Sacramento won their last game 110-107, struggling to put away Minnesota, who have now lost 10 straight.  DeMarcus Cousins had 19 and 7 rebounds while Derrick Williams added 17.  The Kings have struggled recently, since firing head coach Mike Malone, due to an ownership with an inflated opinion of its basketball knowledge, and a GM who is nothing more than a marionette.  Cousins has reverted back to frustrated sulking and the Kings, who had a promising start to the season, are now in danger of falling out of the playoff race in a tough Western Conference.

Players To Watch

Pistons: Greg Monroe

Greg has been amazingly average in the PSE (or Tolliverse, if you follow rookie Spencer Dinwiddie on Twitter).  His shot hasn't fallen and his percentages have suffered, although it hasn't affected the team too much.  If he can establish dominance early against probably the Kings' weakest position, then he can repeat his performance from the first matchup at the Sleep Train Arena.

Kings:Josh Smith DeMarcus Cousins

Boogie didn't play last time these two teams met, and since that time, both teams have deviated separate trajectories.  Whether Cousins can overcome the deficit by himself we don't know, but his presence will surely help.

Last Time We Met

Dec.13, 2014 (PPSE [pre post Smith era]).  The Pistons won 95-90 in Sacramento, with Josh Smith turning in a fantastic 21 point, 13 rebound performance, and Greg Monroe top scored with 24.  Rudy Gay led the Kings with 20 points.

Connections

-Pistons F Caron Butler played with Kings F Reggie Evans for the Clippers in 2011-12

-Pistons C Andre Drummond played with Kings F Rudy Gay and C DeMarcus Cousins on the Team USA, gold-winning FIBA World Cup squad

-Pistons G D.J. Augustin played with Kings C Ryan Hollins for the Bobcats in 2008-09

-Kings G Ray McCallum Jr. was born in Detroit and played collegiately at Detroit-Mercy from 2010-13

-Kings G Nik Stauskas played collegiately at Michigan from 2012-14

-Kings asst. coach Corliss Williamson played 266 games for the Pistons from 2001-04, winning 6th Man of the Year in 2002 and the NBA Championship in 2004

Score Prediction

I see no reason why the swag train has to stop now.

Pistons 104, Kings 90

Lineup Prediction

Pistons:$WAG, Pope, Lebron-Stopper, Moose, Spare Tire Penguin

Kings:Collison, McLemore, Gay, Williams, Cousins

Injured/In Doubt

Pistons:None

Kings:Casspi (knee), Moreland (shoulder), Sessions (back)

Community Question

How fabulous are Anthony Tolliver's long socks, on a scale of 1 to MFMP.

A word about New Orleans end of game situations.

A few days ago, I came across a startling statistic:

Stat of the Day: In final 5 min + OT of close games (pt. difference of 5 or less), Anthony Davis has made 18 of his 20 field goal attempts.

— Oleh Kosel (@Redhopeful) January 2, 2015

Anthony Davis is nearly perfect from the floor in crunch time situations. Meanwhile, the rest of his teammates, who have had plenty of opportunity, are not:

• Tyreke Evans is 7 for 32 (21.9%)
• Ryan Anderson is 3 for 16 (18.8%)
• Jrue Holiday is 5 for 15 (33.3%)
• The rest of the team is 4 for 12 (33.3%)

First Option Bigs

Wins v. Losses

Final Thought

After taking home two Player of the Week honors in December, James Harden is the Western Conference Player of the Month.

Houston Rockets' guard James Harden was named the Western Conference Player of the Month, today by the NBA. Harden averaged 30.6 points, 7.1 assists, 6.0 rebounds and 1.9 steals per game in the month of December. He was named Western Conference Player of the Week twice during the weeks of December 14 and December 28. The Rockets were 9-5 during the month of December.

Harden had eight games with 30 points, three games with at least 40 points, and scored his season-high 44 points against the Trail Blazers on December 22 and the Kings on December 11.

This is the 12th time in Rocket franchise history that a player has taken home Player of the Month honors. It is the first time since Yao Ming in January 2008.

As of the last update on January 1, James Harden was about 180,000 votes behind Kobe Bryant for the Western Conference starting five. Vote for James Harden here.

Sacramento's firing of Mike Malone has to date been one of the more confusing firings in recent memory.  Malone had the Kings playing well over the first part of the year, leading them to a 9-6 record before star center DeMarcus Cousins fell ill with viral meningitis.  Just one game before Cousins was expected back, Malone was fired after a loss to the Detroit Pistons at home that dropped the Kings to 11-13 and just 2-7 in the prior nine games.  The reasoning given for Malone's firing was that he wasn't playing the uptempo style of basketball that the Kings front office wanted to see.

Regardless of whether or not that is true, it was the timing of Malone's firing that was the most perplexing to Kings fans and others around the league.  Without DeMarcus Cousins, the Kings are not a good team, and for Malone to be fired without given the chance to see if he could bounce back once his star was back in the fold was confusing to say the least.

Since Malone's firing, the Kings have committed to interim coach Tyrone Corbin for at least the rest of the season, as general manager Pete D'Alessandro reaffirmed on Carmichael Dave's show on Monday morning.  Under Corbin, the Kings have adopted a much more uptempo style of basketball, but it hasn't translated into any more wins.  In fact, the Kings have gotten much worse in these last ten games, particularly as the focus has shifted from being a half-court, defensive-minded team to one that is more offensive-minded.

Let's take a look at some numbers, courtesy of NBA.com.

(All rankings are based on the time period for which these games were played)

As you can see, the Kings under Malone were not a fast team.  What's interesting is that the Kings slowed down even more under Malone without Cousins than with him despite the fact that the Kings without Cousins weren't a particularly good half-court team.  It seems clear that the front office both noticed this trend and was frustrated with Malone's unwillingness to bring the pace back up.

Now under Corbin, the Kings have completely changed gears, jumping from 17th in Pace under Malone to 2nd in Pace over the last 10 games, just behind the Golden State Warriors.  The result has been a slight increase in offensive rating and efficiency but a steep fall-off on the defensive end of the court.  The only teams that have defended worse than the Kings these last 10 games are the Minnesota Timberwolves and New York Knicks.  Sacramento's also slipped in terms of rebounding, where they previously were among the league leaders.  Part of that is due to the Power Forward shuffling Tyrone Corbin has introduced, playing a lot more small ball with Derrick Williams there instead of relying on guys like Jason Thompson or Reggie Evans.  Turnovers have remained a consistent problem all year for Sacramento, both under Malone and Corbin.

Pace isn't everything when talking about an uptempo offense however.  You also have to look at things like fast break points and points off turnovers.  Here are those numbers, calculated per 100 possessions to negate pace inflation.

Under Corbin, the Kings have been pushing the break a lot more, as they've seen a big jump in both points off turnovers and fast break points.  Interestingly enough, the Kings are still scoring about the same amount of points in the paint under Corbin as they were under Malone.  Because the Kings are trying to score more on the break, 2nd chance points have slipped, as oftentimes the Kings have already shot a basket before every one of their players has gotten down the court.  This is yet another reason for Sacramento's rebounding downturn.

What makes the above stats even more interesting is the fact that the Kings schedule has been so much weaker these past 10 games than at any point during the season.  Under Malone, the Kings faced one of the tougher schedules in the league and came out smelling like roses.   Even with Cousins out, for the Kings to have been just two games under .500 despite facing opponents with a collective .549 winning percentage was still pretty impressive.  The slight improvements Corbin has made to the offense seem to pale in comparison when you consider the combined win percentage of Sacramento's last 10 opponents is just .400.  That also means that Sacramento's already horrid defense is probably even worse than it looks on paper.

It's hard to change a team's identity in the middle of the season, but Corbin is definitely trying.  He's listening to management and trying the uptempo thing.  However in doing so, he's lost the team defensively.  Defense is all about effort and right now the Kings aren't giving much effort on that end.  Corbin has been with the team since Day 1 of this season; there shouldn't have been a change in the defensive principles that Malone was trying to instill.  Perhaps the team is trying to conserve energy on that end of the court because of the tiring nature of the fast-paced offense;  Perhaps they just simply don't care any more.  Whatever the case, the Kings have become one of the worst defensive teams in basketball and something needs to be done to fix that.  Some of that has to do with Sacramento's abysmal bench play. Per NBA.com, Sacramento's starting lineup is still the 2nd most effective lineup in the NBA next to the Warriors lineup with Bogut, with a net rating of 21.5 points per 100 possessions.

A change is needed, now more than ever.  The Kings are in a tailspin and team morale is low.  If the Kings have any hopes of redeeming this season, they have to get their act together quickly.  The front office made the move to fire Malone with the promise that by doing so, they'd be making the Kings better.  So far that hasn't been the case, and now the ball is squarely in their court to rectify the situation.

UPDATE:

Excellent point brought up by Ziller in the comments:

The trick with Pace is that a lot goes into it. Offensive rebounds, for example, create longer possessions, which drops the number of possessions you'll get in a game. Reggie Evans has been a DNP machine under Corbin. He's one of the top offensive rebounders in the league. That goes into the increased possessions per game under Corbin. It also helps to explain why the Kings looked slower on paper under Malone with Cousins (a spectacular defensive rebounder) out of the lineup. Opponents were getting more offensive rebounds, lengthening their own possessions, which affects how frequently the Kings get the ball.

Pace as we talk about it is really possessions per game. Adjusted pace is a bit difficult to calculate but accounts for those factors to get a truer pace figure. I'm betting under that the Kings would be faster under Corbin but not by as much as possessions per game is telling us.

Per Tom's point, the Kings were tied for 1st in Offensive Rebounding Percentage under Malone.  Under Corbin, they're just 14th.

The New York Knicks yesterday made it abundantly clear that they're focused on the future and clearing cap space by sending J.R. Smith and Iman Shumpert to Cleveland for players that they plan to waive and a future 2nd round pick.  They also waived center Samuel Dalembert.  Ken Berger of CBS Sports then wrote that the next player that could be on his way out of New York could be starting Point Guard José Calderon.

New York is set to have plenty of cap space next year with the huge expiring contracts of Amar'e Stoudemire and Andrea Bargnani coming off the books, so they're not exactly clamoring for more space, but moving Calderon would essentially make it so that New York is only really invested significantly in Carmelo Anthony going forward.

As some Kings fans may remember, Jose Calderon was one of the first Free Agent targets of this front office's tenure, as he even visited Sacramento back in July of 2013.  Calderon ended up choosing to go to Dallas for the chance to play with a team that had a better chance of making the playoffs.

At the time the Kings were pursuing Calderon, they were desperate for a pass first Point Guard that could run the offense smoothly.  As of now, the Kings aren't as desperate, given that they have Darren Collison locked in for at least three years.  Behind Collison however, there hasn't been much consistency.  Ray McCallum has showed some promise, but hasn't been able to really own the backup role as of yet, and Ramon Sessions has had the worst year of his career.  Calderon would be an upgrade to either of them, even though he is showing some signs of decline, posting a career-worst FG% of .412 as well as a career-low assist rate.  Calderon also does nothing to help Sacramento's already porous defense, as he was an abysmal defender even in his prime.  One area he would be able to help would be with his shooting, where he's still knocking down 42.5% of his long-range attempts and has a career-rate of 41.2%, which is an exceptional number.

Calderon does have two years and just over $15 million left on his deal though, at the end of which he will be 35 years old.  That's a pricey investment for a backup Point Guard who might not prove to be much of an upgrade over the current options.  It might be worth it if the Knicks were willing to include youth or picks to compensate Sacramento, but the youth the Knicks do have isn't anything special aside from possibly Tim Hardaway, Jr., and the Knicks don't seem to be in a hurry to deal him, especially after making him the starter in the wake of their recent Shumpert-Smith trade.

Sacramento definitely needs to find a way to upgrade their bench and bring in personnel that fit the style of basketball they want to play, but there are probably cheaper and better alternatives to Calderon available.

There's no way Chris Hansen should run an NBA team.

Last week we learned that the entire Atlanta Hawks franchise is up for sale, not just one slice of it claimed by auto-ousted Bruce Levenson. The ability to claim full control certainly draws more wallets to the yard. Among those, reports Grantland's Bill Simmons, are Chris Hansen and Thomas Tull, both very rich fellas from Seattle.

Tull is a new, unencumbered name in NBA franchisee circles. Hansen is not. He led the failed campaign to move the Kings to Seattle in 2013. (In full disclosure, I am a Sacramentan and a Kings fan.) If Seattle really wants a team, it needs to rally around Tull or someone other than Hansen, because he is damaged goods.

Why? Because after the NBA Board of Governors elected to reject the Maloofs' sale of the Kings to Hansen in May 2013 on the basis of the solid plan to keep the team in Sacramento, Hansen financed an effort to derail the Sacramento arena and lied about it until caught.

Having failed to convince the club to accept him, he immediately turned to subterfuge. Maybe you can appreciate his moxie. But I don't see how the NBA can invite him into the gang after he tried to disrupt public financing for another NBA team.

Seattle should have an NBA team. That's never been in dispute. But to get there, the city needs to acknowledge how problematic Hansen has made himself and look for another benefactor. Perhaps that is Tull; perhaps there is someone else. (Unfortunately, Steve Ballmer, the biggest whale Hansen had, is off the table.)

Whether the Hawks should be moved out of Atlanta is a whole 'nother issue. Seattle likes to point to its 41-year history with the SuperSonics as a reason the city should have NBA basketball; the Hawks have been in Atlanta for 46 years. There's also the matter of the publicly financed Philips Arena. The NBA has not shown qualms with leaving such arenas in the past (see: Seattle), but it'd be nice if some attention was paid to that fact.

The Kings are back in action today for the first time since Sunday.  It also marks the beginning of a season-long six game home stand.  Sacramento has yet to find a groove since Michael Malone's firing and they'll face a tough test against the resurgent Thunder team tonight.  Today's action tips off at 7:00 pm on Comcast SportsNet California and on KHTK 1140.

3 THINGS TO LOOK FOR

1.  The Thunder have consistently had Sacramento's number over the years to the point that Sacramento has beaten Oklahoma City just three times in 24 attempts since the team formerly known as the Supersonics first moved to Oklahoma City in 2008.  Ten of those losses have been by double digits and Sacramento has never won by more than five in the few wins that they have had.  This is just a tough, tough team that matches up very well with Sacramento.

2. Oklahoma City recently made a big trade, acquiring Dion Waiters from the Cleveland Cavaliers.  Tonight will be Waiters first game with Oklahoma City, and he's expected to try to become a scoring punch off the bench.  It will be interesting to see how he adapts to the role in Oklahoma City.

3. Sacramento has had plenty of time to prepare for this game and hopefully regain some mojo since coming back from a poor road trip that ended with an embarrassing loss to the Pistons on Sunday.  I'm not expecting Sacramento to win this game, but I would like to see an increase in effort, particularly on the defensive end.

MATCHUP OF THE GAME

Russell Westbrook vs. the world

Kevin Durant is Oklahoma City's best player, but Westbrook might just be their most dangerous.  He's a frenetic ball of energy that can take over a game at a moment's notice.  In the last matchup between these two teams, Oklahoma City withstood several Kings runs solely because of Westbrook.  He's too big, too strong and too quick for most of the Kings to guard.  The best Sacramento can hope for is to contain the paint and force him to settle for long jumpers;  He can hit them but it's far from his most efficient shot.

PREGAME LIMERICK

It's time to get back into a groove,
and our defense needs to improve.
The Thunder are tough,
this game might be rough,
but as long as we have effort, I won't disapprove.

PREDICTION

Kings 109, Thunder 106 as Dion Waiters keeps forgetting he's on the Thunder now and continues to shoot at the wrong basket.

The Reno Bighorns Sim Bhullar is a massive target at 7'5", playing in an extremely fast paced offense, but will he ever be ready for the NBA game?

When watching 7'5" prospect Sim Bhullar on a basketball court, it's hard not to notice everything that the man does. The Reno Bighorns big -- or massive -- man, is an intimidating presence just due to his sheer size at 7'5", 355 pounds. However, when evaluating talent, Bhullar's case is an interesting one. The Sacramento Kings made Bhullar the first player born of Indian descent to sign with an NBA team, but he didn't make the final roster and he was relegated to the Bighorns, Sacramento's affiliate.

His averages this season have been pedestrian -- 6.6 points, 5.3 rebounds, 2.7 blocks -- but it's still interesting to wonder what Bhullar could do in the NBA. Just last night against the Austin Spurs, Bhullar recorded six blocks in 20 minutes of action.  The former New Mexico Aggie also had 11 points on 5-of-6 shooting (as in put-back dunks at the rim). The multiple blocks are becoming normal for Bhullar, who has five games blocking four or more shots. The six blocks were impressive, but I couldn't help but notice that Bhullar was missing in almost every half-court possession for Reno. The Bghorns lead the NBADL in points per game (140.9)  by a wide margin and play at a very fast pace. This obviously doesn't bode well for Bhullar, who at 355 pounds, has a hard time getting back on a team that usually fires up a shot in the first 10 seconds of the shot clock.

However, Bhullar was usually in position by the time the Bighorns were on defense and he was obviously able to contribute on that end with six blocks. The one thing that does credit Bhullar, even if he plays in a high-tempo offense, is the fact that Reno usually substitutes every few minutes, giving Bhullar enough time to catch his breath.

The 7'5" center is no where near ready for the NBA game. But with the Sacramento Kings taking an interest in Bhullar and letting him develop in Reno, it will be interesting to see how his game develops. The biggest thing is tracking his conditioning and seeing if it's possible to get Bhullar to a place where he can be available on both ends of the floor. His shooting percentages are high (68% from floor, 6-of-6 from free-throw line) and it's obvious that he dominates over most opponents on the court. In short stints, Bhullar is a weapon and can be very helpful. He doesn't even need to jump to record most of his blocks, just loft his hands into the air and wait for a 6'2" guard to try to score over him. There are those flashes shown by the Bighorns center that make one wonder what he would be like on the NBA court. What could Bhullar do if he's tossed into an NBA game merely for defensive purposes? It's a question we might have to ponder for a while, but a season or two in the D-League could bode well for Bhullar's career if he keeps working at his craft.

The Kings are freefalling, but could an up-tempo style be what they need against the Thunder?

There's a very good point raised by the preview of this game over at Sactown Royalty:

"1. The Thunder have consistently had Sacramento's number over the years to the point that Sacramento has beaten Oklahoma City just three times in 24 attempts since the team formerly known as the Supersonics first moved to Oklahoma City in 2008. Ten of those losses have been by double digits and Sacramento has never won by more than five in the few wins that they have had. This is just a tough, tough team that matches up very well with Sacramento."

Remember when Perk was saying that "These f-----s are still the Sacramento Kings?" There was definitely bark to back his bite. The Thunder have been ridiculously good while the Kings have been ridiculously bad for nearly the entire existence of the matchup, so there's that. But really, the main reason for OKC's success has been their ridiculous interior defense. DeMarcus Cousins has been a huge factor in the Kings' offense over the past five years, and Boogie just can't seem to find any success against the triumvirate of Ibaka, Perk, and Collison.

Need proof? Look no further than Cousins' career field goal percentage against the Thunder: 39.8% The only teamto hold Boogie to a lower percentage has been Washington, and he has played the Wizards half as much as the Thunder. But that's not all. Cousins' has only averaged 1.5 assists per game against the Thunder in his career, second lowest in the NBA.

When you look at DeMarcus Cousins' skill set, it's not hard to see why he struggles. The fundamentally sound tactics of Collison are perfect for taking away Boogie's excellent footwork. The big body and aggressiveness of Perk are perfect for keeping Boogie away from the basket. Lastly, the athletic help defense of Ibaka is perfect at keeping Boogie from taking easy shots down low.

Rudy Gay, the Kings' current second offensive option, is a similar type of player. He uses his body to his advantage, posting up smaller players on the wing and generally succeeding in isolation situations. The Thunder are a team that thrives on live ball turnovers, so OKC generally likes to trap players and play with a high level of pressure. This is bad for a player like Gay, because the pressure forces him out of his spot and the trap forces him to pass. There's less evidence for Gay's ineptitude against the Thunder overall. But I still would like to cite Gay's career 48.9% true shooting percentage against OKC, second lowest only to Washington.

Anyway, that's all old news. The new news is that Tyrone Corbin is now the Kings' coach, and he's running things differently. The first change Corbin made was to implement a faster offensive pace, which encourages the players to get up the court more and take quicker shots. It's been a complete disaster for the most part, explained well by Tom Ziller in a recent Hook column:

"Just as aggravating, the front office's vision for an up-tempo, ball-sharing style of play isn't any closer to realization under Corbin. The Kings' two best offensive players are Cousins, perhaps the league's best halfcourt big man, and Rudy Gay, a creative but methodical slasher. Darren Collison is fast and Ben McLemore can fly down the wings, but there are no rotation bigs on the roster you'd imagine thriving in an up-tempo system. The team has all of two good passers who aren't point guards (Cousins, Gay). Jason Thompson isn't Boris Diaw, nor is he Draymond Green, no matter how much you wish it so."

The one thing I'd like to point out about that article is the success of Collison and McLemore. In the 9 games since Malone's firing, Darren Collison has averaged 54% from the floor, and 53% from three. Still, despite that promising statistic, Collison is only averaging 1 point more than his season average. Meanwhile, Ben McLemore is handling the ball more, has a marginally better shooting percentage, and is getting more assists. But McLeMore is also getting more turnovers and has not noticeable difference in the rest of his production.

I was hoping to say that the Kings might be able to upset the Thunder because of the pace change, but it's hard to see shots going away from Gay and Cousins. And as long as those two dominate Sacramento's offense, it's going to be really hard for them to find success. Not impossible, but hard. Also, there's this.... (Via a recent Aykis16 article over at Sactown Royalty)

".... the Kings schedule has been so much weaker these past 10 games than at any point during the season. Under Malone, the Kings faced one of the tougher schedules in the league and came out smelling like roses. Even with Cousins out, for the Kings to have been just two games under .500 despite facing opponents with a collective .549 winning percentage was still pretty impressive. The slight improvements Corbin has made to the offense seem to pale in comparison when you consider the combined win percentage of Sacramento's last 10 opponents is just .400. That also means that Sacramento's already horrid defense is probably even worse than it looks on paper."

Yikes! The Thunder are coming off a shellacking from the Golden State Warriors in Oakland, but I don't think that OKC is prone to let the same thing happen twice. They've always answered blowouts with at least a competitive game, and this isn't the second night of a back-to-back. Also, the Thunder will have Dion Waiters available off the bench tonight, per Darnell Mayberry.

Prediction: Oklahoma City Thunder 111, Sacramento Kings 96.

What do you think of tonight's game? Drop a comment and let us know!

Have a question for Rudy Gay? Leave it in this thread and it may get answered tonight after the Kings take on the Oklahoma City Thunder.

Today's Question of the Game is for Kings small forward Rudy Gay.

Gay is currently averaging 20.5 points, 6.3 rebounds, 4.5 assists (the highest of his career) and 1.3 steals in 32 games for the Kings this season. That is an increase in scoring, assists, rebounds and steals per game when compared to his 55 games with the Kings last season. His shooting percentage, however, has dropped from 48 percent last season to 43 percent (his career average if 45 percent) and he has been over-dribbling more than we saw last season.

The Question of the Game thread allows Str readers to pose a question for a particular player during a home game. Based on which question gets the highest number of recs (and the reasonableness of the question), I will track the player down and ask them that question during the postgame. The answer will then be posted right here in the thread.

So what do you want to ask Rudy? Leave your question in this thread and start pressing those rec buttons!

The Heat's latest experiment at center looks very similar to a few of the recent past, but with Heat fans barely containing excitement, let's take a look at Whiteside and what is going on with the Heat's new sensation.

We've seen this before. 

The Miami Heat take a chance on a raw, long, athletic big man who was not a first round pick in an attempt to fill the organization's biggest fetish: Finding the next Alonzo Mourning. 

This isn't about necessarily finding a Hall of Fame-caliber player, but more about finding a solution at the position that most Pat Riley teams, at least in his coaching career, exhibited as an identity.

Miami wants to defend at the highest level at its core and nothing makes Pat Riley and Erik Spoelstra giggle amongst each other like setting their sights on a fundamentally raw, athletic, big player who they imagine defending pick-and-rolls in their system. 

Miami's mental masturbation for this prototype brought us Joel Anthony, Jarvis Varnado and Khem Birch. Anthony actually rode Miami's fetish to a long term contract in 2010, and to be fair, he was a very capable defensive player against pick-and-rolls and a fearless shot blocker. The problem was, he couldn't catch a basketball and was a bit too small to truly take over games on the other side of the floor.

Varnado came and went. Another 6-foot-9 guy with good length and some highlight blocks who simply doesn't have enough game to stick on an NBA team.

This past summer, Heat fans strangely fixated on Birch, who was barely 220 pounds and could not score on a fish, as a possible solution. 

And now we have Hassan Whiteside. The savior. The messiah. The solution. Or not.

But finding out is the only reason to watch Heat games right now besides the individual brilliance of Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh.

WHITESIDE BY THE NUMBERS

Whiteside has a total rebound percentage of 23.2 in his 139 minutes. If he qualified, that mark would be second in the NBA. Second. Only that freak by the name of DeAndre Jordan would rank higher. And though it may not be a telling stat, Whiteside is averaging 13.2 rebounds per 36 minutes as well. In other words, dude is eating glass. 

And holy mother of Naismith, if he qualified, Whiteside would lead the league in blocks by a gigantic margin.

Whiteside has a 10.9 Block percentage, an estimate of field goals blocked while he's on the floor, good enough for over four blocks per 36. Anthony Davis leads the league at 2.8.

Clearly Whiteside's presence is showing up in the superficial numbers. But what's his real impact? 

WHITESIDE BY THE FILM

Hassan has simply played too few minutes to attempt to delve too deep into the numbers. Several advanced measures have emerged recently that attempt to determine a players value in terms of defending at the rim. With some more games under his belt, we will aim to confirm what we are already seeing, which is that Whiteside is flashing fairly good potential as a rim protector. 

Firstly, against the pick-and-roll, Spoelstra is finally showing some flexibility and playing a more traditional style of defense. With Whiteside, he is allowing his newest big to sink on pick-and-rolls, where his length allows him to maintain shot altering distance between a driving guard, while keeping an eye on a rolling big. 

Exhibit A: Pick-And-Roll Defense

In the shot below, we can see Whiteside, almost by himself, blow up a pick-and-roll and absorb Jarrett Jack. Notice the subtle Heat adjustment on this screen. As opposed to rushing, or 'hedging' on the ball handler and scrambling back into position, Spoelstra allows Whiteside to sit back, which is fairly common for some of the premier defensive big men in the game. Heat fans saw Roy Hibbert wreaking havoc like this on the Heat in several playoff series' 

In this next shot, Whiteside capably kills any shot Jack has at hitting the roller, however, Jack has Mario Chalmers on the back of his hip, essentially sealing him, which leaves Chalmers out of position to contest Jack. 

Whiteside isn't too far away though. And because of this, Miami isn't at risk of giving up one of those corner 3-pointers they were so fond of allowing earlier in the season and in this particular system. The Heat's perimeter defenders keep relatively close to the shooters, trusting the new freedom Whiteside has given them, a residual plus of his presence on the court. 



As Jack continues his pursuit of the rim, he stops a little soon. You know why? Because big, bad Hassan Whiteside is there. All 7-foot-6 of that wingspan. All of it. Although Whiteside turned his back to his primary responsibility, his presence alone deters a pass, and Jack decides to try his luck. 



Boo-Yah. Point of verticality. No chill. At All. 



Whiteside's length, and just as importantly, his solid instincts at guarding the play, have given the Heat's defense, one of the worst in the league, a real lift on the interior. Whiteside has had several moments like these in his short stints on the floor, where he has been an effective detonator for the NBA's trademark play, the pick-and-roll. 

Exhibit B: Weakside Help Defense

There are more aspects to defending in the NBA than the screen-and-roll and Whiteside is flashing the ability to be a terrorizing weakside shot blocker. As long as the Heat rotations can fill in behind him, opponents will start hesitating to do what Joey Dorsey tried here.

It starts with a side pick-and-roll and a bounce pass to the elbow. Dorsey catches and decides to be brave. 



As you can see, Whiteside leaves his man in the corner, and that's Norris Cole's rotation to handle. Whiteside makes the right choice and makes protecting the hole his priority. 

Then we have this. Dorsey's shot is erased. 



As a rim protector, Whiteside is displaying pretty good intuition in terms of understanding timing of rotations and having the discipline to not go for every single block. It's these subtle instincts that might make him a plus defender in this league and makes one wonder why he maybe wasn't given a longer leash when the Sacramento Kings drafted him four years ago but cut ties with him two years later. 

The big difference to me between Whiteside and Anthony, Varnado and Birch is size. At 7-foot-1 and 265 pounds, Whiteside maintains solid agility, and he is far more projectable than they ever were. 

And even though Whiteside is showing some soft hands and even a few moves on offense, the reason I'm not even going to analyze that part of his game is because if he is the plus rim protector he is flashing to be right now, the Heat already got tremendous value for their investment and filled a key need. Any extra scoring he provides is gravy, so long as he isn't a liability on that end, which he apparently isn't. 

Now, there is more to defending than weakside help and pick-and-roll's, but you have to figure that given his size, his man-to-man post defense shouldn't cause too many issues. It's having the mobility, at his size and length, to cover and help the way he has in his early Heat minutes that offer the most promise. 

So, is Hassan Whiteside for real? I've been on the record saying no before he played his first game in red. This could very well be the latest in the Heat's failed attempts for size in recent years. 

One thing's for sure. He is off to a better start than any of the others were. I'm staying tuned.

The Kings put on a vintage (?) performance that looked a lot like their hot start in a fun beatdown of a quality team

That was badly needed. The Sacramento Kings, after weeks of giving up absurd amounts of offense to seemingly any team that they face on the court, finally locked down and delivered a defensive performance against a quality, albeit sleepwalking Oklahoma City Thunder team. The Kings led from wire to wire, ending the contest by smashing the Thunder by a score of 104-83.

The Kings were led by a hot-shooting Darren Collison, who put on a masterful two-way performance. Not only did he score 24 points on 9/19 shooting and hit a career high five three pointers, he also helped to slow down Oklahoma City's dynamic Russell Westbrook on defense, who had one of the most horrific nights of his career. DeMarcus Cousins also put in a solid night despite his frightening box score stats; while he did score 23 points on 6/23 shooting with 6 turnovers, his relentless attack of the Oklahoma City interior defense led to foul trouble for the entire Thunder frontline. The Thunder played incredibly physical with Cousins, who did pick up a technical foul, but the new-age Boogie will just keeping coming at you and get to the free throw line. Just a relentless assault leading to 13 free throws on the night. Rudy Gay also had a highly productive night, scoring 28 points on only 19 shots, including 3/3 from three point range. The Kings also received a key contribution from Carl Landry off the bench, whose jumper was on point for the night. Landry scored 10 points on six shots in only 18 minutes.

The story of the night was the defense. Oklahoma City shot 32% from the field and only 30% from three, and not much of it was a fluke. The rotations were sharp all night long, even when the team was forced to rotate three or four times. The paint was shut down by Cousins, who drew three charges (consecutively!) and blocked three shots. Cousins was every bit the rim protector the Kings have been missing ever since he went down with viral meningitis and since he's been slowed in his recovery. Westbrook and Kevin Durant shot a combined 11/39 from the field, having trouble shaking Kings defenders and finishing over Cousins in the paint. The Thunder also had 24 turnovers, which was a combination of good Kings defense and some horrifying Thunder sloppiness, leading to 26 Kings points.

These kinds of games were common back in that mythical November that seems so long ago, but important to note that in addition to the smashmouth defense was an added wrinkle of some opportunistic fast-breaked play and solid three point shooting. The Kings hit ten three pointers on the night and got out on the break against an athletic Thunder team to buoy their 39% shooting overall. Vivek Ranadive and Pete D'Alessandro will probably point to this game as an example of the kind of style they want to play in the future; great defense, a quicker pace, and a free-flowing offense. It was a great win for a Kings team badly needing a shot of anything positive, still holding out hope that this isn't just another season thrown away. The Kings next play against the Nuggets on Friday.

For the opponent's perspective, visit Welcome to Loud City

The Oklahoma City Thunder are trying to put another bad loss in California behind them after being blown out by the Sacramento Kings, 104-83.

The Oklahoma City Thunder could not get out of California soon enough.

Just two nights after getting rocked by a top-tier Golden State Warriors team, the Thunder followed up that game with another poor showing and against a worse team, getting embarrassed by the Sacramento Kings, 104-83.

Scott Brooks summed up what happened to result in this bad outcome in this game in just a few measured words. "We battled defensively. They got hot from the three point line and we just couldn’t make shots," Brooks said. "That’s what happens."

The general theme from the players in their responses to the media was that the team simply was not knocking down good looks that they were getting on the offensive end.

"I think our defense was great," Kevin Durant said before admitting that, "We fouled them a bit too much."

The foul trouble definitely hurt the Thunder in this game, as Durant alluded to, and helped turn what looked like a good defensive performance by Oklahoma City into a blowout loss. Not to mention the atrocious shooting performance for the second game in a row.

Durant also addressed that the team is still trying to get it's rhythm back now that the Thunder are back to full health.

"We've been playing together for a while, but we haven't played [together] a lot this year. We're not making any excuses, we know we have to get back to what we've been doing in the past and just try to get better."

Russell Westbrook echoed KD and Brooks, stating "I think that we did a good job playing defense...we just weren't able to make shots."

Something else to note from this game was the debut of Dion Waiters in an Oklahoma City uniform. Waiters struggled to really show up much in the box score during his 22 minutes (4 points on 1-9 shooting with 1 assist, 2 rebounds plus a block and a steal), but admitted that he was physically and mentally drained from the trade process.

"I was tired, I didn't really have any legs. Every shot was short, but I tried to play hard on the defensive end."

When asked to summarize his emotions after the trade went through, he simply said it was "crazy." Waiters described having to fly 3 and a half hours from Philadelphia (where he was supposed to be starting for Cleveland on Monday night) to Oklahoma City for his physical. After that, he hopped right back on the plane for another 3 and a half hours to play against Sacramento.

Waiters, despite his exhaustion, was excited for the new opportunity.

"[It's a] fresh start. New year. New team. We’re looking to turn this thing around and make a playoff push. Sometimes change is better for everyone. I’m just fortunate to get traded to another great organization...I’m excited and once I get settled in, I’ll be fine."

On a side note, Waiters, who has donned a #3 jersey his whole life, said that he'd be looking into getting Perry Jones III "a nice gift" after the season to facilitate a possible number exchange.

KD was surely ready to move on to the Thunder's next game against the Utah Jazz this Friday, saying, "We gotta get out of California, because we can't make a shot out here."

The defensive-minded, free-throw-shooting Kings made an appearance at Sleep Train Arena Wednesday night.

At the end of December, the Sacramento Kings left for their four-game road trip struggling to regain their defensive mindset and any sense of identity. Failing to get back in transition, ball watching and an overall lack of pride in their defensive tenacity was spattered throughout their play on the floor and in their post-game comments in the locker room ever since the Dec. 14 dismissal of former head coach Michael Malone.

"Kings basketball" was gone and the players made it clear they needed to get it back.

The road trip didn't change much of that as the Kings went 1-4 with the confusion and frustration about the team's lack of direction seeming to boil even more. But for one night on Wednesday, something finally clicked for the Kings, as they were back in front of their home crowd at Sleep Train Arena. They dominated Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook and the rest of the Oklahoma City Thunder from wire to wire in a convincing 104-83 victory. And they did it in a way that was familiar. They used the unconventional style of basketball they were playing in November when they were 9-5 and the talk of the NBA.

They didn't shoot well on Wednesday (they shot under 40 percent for the majority of the game) and didn't necessarily rack up the assists, but that didn't matter because they were playing that old-style of defense (at one point in the first half, the Thunder was shooting 9 percent from the field and the Kings held them to 32 percent overall for the game). When they weren't running on the break, they were playing bully ball with DeMarcus Cousins pounding the rock under the basket with little to no regard for the presence of Serge Ibaka. Cousins and the Kings got the Thunder into serious foul trouble, with Steven Adams, Russell Westbrook, Kendrick Perkins and Nick Collison all picking up three fouls early. The Kings forced the Thunder as a whole into 25 personal fouls for the game and Ibaka had four of those. The Kings had plenty of free throws as a result - 22 attempts in the first half, and they made 19 of them. They finished with 28 attempts (Rudy Gay and DeMarcus Cousins combined for 21 of those attempts.)

The Kings did not play great basketball; they played unusual basketball like they did in November. They did what they are capable of: good defense and getting to the free throw line. And they mixed in a little of the up-tempo style the front office is looking for by getting out and pushing the break after defensive stops to go along with three-point shooting (10-19).

Many of the Kings players agreed that what was on display Wednesday night is what they consider to be "Kings basketball."

"Tonight was one of our better games since earlier in the year … we were playing as a team and defensively, we were playing as a team," Darren Collison said. "Everybody had each other's back and there was no miscommunication, I think we were all on the same page."

DeMarcus Cousins, who had 23 points, 15 rebounds, 4 assists, 3 blocks, 1 steal and shot 11-13 from the free throw line, said the game was an example of the team getting back to their defensive ways that got them off to a hot start earlier this season, but said they also mixed in some of fast-paced style of offense.

"We played the right way tonight. We pushed the tempo, we defended, which is the main thing - we're a defensive team, regardless of what changed, we're still a defensive team," Cousins said. "It shows we do have an ability to do both and we've just got to be consistent with it from this game forward."

The vibe in the locker room on Wednesday was much different than the way things were after the Kings defeated the New York Knicks in overtime in their last home game before the road trip (a game they almost lost after blowing a big lead). Cousins responded with a somber tone to his first question from the media Wednesday with "It was a good win for the team." He quickly broke out in laughter saying he was just joking and that he wanted to try "a little Marshawn" Lynch. Jason Thompson said if Ben McLemore would have missed the 360 layup he tried toward the end of the game that it would have been featured on Shaqtin' A Fool "for sure."

The positive mood would be expected from a team that figured out a way, at least for a moment, to stop the bleeding. This was, after all, Tyrone Corbin's 11^th game as head coach and the first time in that stretch that the Kings held an opponent to under 100 points. The Thunder's score, 83, also was the lowest point total the Kings have held an opponent to all season.

"It's definitely how we played earlier in the year and that's how we need to keep playing," said Jason Thompson. "We know we can score as a team and we've got to be able to get stops and get back to the winning ways that we were earlier in the season."

Corbin credited Tuesday's practice for helping to get the players in the right state of mind to take on the Thunder.

Ben McLemore agreed that the practice helped.

"We had a great practice. It was one of our best practices thus far and we just worked real hard the other day at practice as a team and defense was good, offense was good, we executed our plays and we just tried to carry that into tonight's game," McLemore said.

It's way too early, of course, to say that one game has cured the problems that have plagued the Kings over the last month, but Wednesday was a good start as the team tries to turn the corner on the fallout from the firing of Michael Malone and remember what "Kings basketball" is like.

"This is new for everybody. Not easy for us, it's not easy for Ty [Corbin], not easy for anybody right now, so the best way for all of us to get through is to come together, find some type of positivity and find a way to move forward," Cousins said.

The Kings will get a good shot at finding more positivity over the next week as their next five games are at home.

Alex Len loves the Spurs. Get in on the FanDuel action with promo code SBSUNS.

Exclusive SB Nation FanDuel tournament tonight!

A road trip to San Antonio then Memphis is up next for your Suns. Below are the players to watch out for, names that should definitely be in your fantasy lineup, and names to avoid. Here's the link to join this week's exclusive SB Nation FanDuel tournament. Leave your lineup in the comments and brag about your GM skills with #FanDuelSBN.

Phantasy Phix

Not a bad run for Phoenix. Winners of four in a row, they're halfway through a four game road trip. After wins against Milwaukee and Minnesota however, things get a lot tougher this weekend. Memphis holds the league's fourth best record while San Antonio is presently the seven seed in the West. The Phoenix four game winning streak is the second longest in the conference behind only Golden State (5).

Who loves the Spurs?

Alex Len. Other Suns put up bigger scoring numbers, but Len made the most of his touches. 4 of 6 from the field for 10 points to go with 11 rebounds, tied for his season high. The 31 minutes Len played against San Antonio on October 31st are his most against any opponent this season.

Who hates the Spurs?

Eric Bledsoe. He didn't have his best shooting night the first time Phoenix play the Spurs. His 12 points on 3 of 15 attempts was his worst night shooting the rock when taking more than 11 shots this season.

Who loves the Grizzlies?

Markieff Morris. Kieff's best shooting performance against a Western Conference foe not named the Sacramento Kingscame November 5th against the Grizzlies. Morris shot 8 of 13 from the field for 20 points in the loss.

Who hates the Grizzlies?

Goran Dragic. His 6 points on 3 of 9 shooting was his lowest point total of the season. Though in fairness, it was one of just four games in which The Dragon had attempted 9 or fewer shots. Dragic added 3 assists in 25 minutes.

Who loves the Suns?

Tim Duncan. Efficient as ever, Timmy shot 6 of 11 for 16 points to go with 9 boards. Someone, miraculously, Duncan managed to play 30 minutes with committing a foul. It truly is a basketball miracle.

Mike Conley. Conley had arguably his top game against a Western Conference opponent this season against the Suns. In the win he shot 9 of 14 for 24 points to go with 11 assists in just 29 minutes of work.

Who hates the Suns?

Danny Green. Completely disappeared in his first game against the Suns. 1 of 5 from the field, 1 of 4 from behind the arc, 3 points, 22 minutes.

Quincy Pondexter. Five games this season Pondexter has attempt at least 8 shots from the field. His worst performance came against the Suns. Pondexter shot 2 of 8 for 7 points in 26 minutes.

Last Call

So get on it. Go put together the perfect lineup. Here's the link one more time for you. Be sure to use #FanDuelSBN to show off what you know. Exclusive tournament tonight!

Sacramento's big win over the Oklahoma City Thunder on Wednesday was a relief for all of Sacramento.  Now the Kings look to carry that momentum into tonight's matchup against the Denver Nuggets and start this homestand off with two straight wins. Today's action tips off at 7:00 pm on Comcast SportsNet California and on KHTK 1140.

3 THINGS TO LOOK FOR

1.  Denver sent starting center Timofey Mozgov to Cleveland this week for two future first round picks.  Without Mozgov, and Javale McGee already out with injury, the Nuggets are relying heavily upon rookie Jusuf Nurkic and J.J. Hickson at Center.  Nurkic has shown a lot of promise in his rookie season, averaging 11.8 points, 7.6 rebounds, 3.2 blocks, 1.4 assists and 1.4 steals in just 23 minutes a game over the last five games.  Still, DeMarcus Cousins should be able to feast on this Denver interior, much like he did when they were almost fully healthy back on November 5th.  In that game, Cousins had 30 points on 10-14 shooting in just 22 and a half minutes.  Sacramento will need more of the same tonight.

2. Denver has proven that they aren't as bad of a team as it looked early on in the season when they started out just 2-7.  However, most of the turnaround for them has come at home, where it's notoriously tough for other teams to play due to the high altitude and the fast pace which Denver plays.  They've gone just 5-12 on the road, and Sacramento needs to take advantage of that.

3. Sacramento's recently been running more sets to get Rudy Gay and Darren Collison open three pointers, and they've been knocking them down.  Perhaps my favorite is also the simplest;  Cousins sets up in the high post and does a little dribble hand-off to Rudy or Collison while also screening the defender to give them an open look.  Rudy is now at 38% from three for the year and Darren is at 39.3%, both good numbers.  In fact, over his last 10 games, Darren is shooting a ridiculous 54.8% on threes, and Wednesday's win over the Thunder saw him hit a career-high five.  Keep shooting guys.  This team needs it.

MATCHUP OF THE GAME

Ty Lawson vs. Darren Collison

The Nuggets don't necessarily have a "go-to" player, but Lawson is pretty close.  He's their leading scorer at 16.5 points a game and he's also among the league leaders in assists at 10.1 a game.  One area where Lawson has struggled this year is shooting, as he's down to just 34% from three and 43.3% overall, which is well below his career averages.  Still, the Kings can't afford to let Lawson get going.  It should be a good matchup for Collison, who can match Lawson's quickness and make him work on the other end as well.

PREGAME LIMERICK

Wendesday night's win was fun,
but let's hope it wasn't one and done.
Hickson's in town,
which will make me frown,
until Scott Moak announces we've won.

PREDICTION

Kings 126, Nuggets 108 as Jusuf Nurkic gets a tough dose of reality upon matching up with DeMarcus Cousins.

One of the most horrific quarters of the season turns a 6 point lead into a 19 point deficit and the Kings couldn't recover

Well, safe to say whatever good feelings the Sacramento Kings had after the win against the Thunder is gone. The Denver Nuggets came in and ran roughshod all over the Kings defense all game, lighting up the scoreboard in every quarter. The Kings could not keep up with the Nuggets, especially in the third where the Nuggets exploded to a 19 point lead they never relinquished, ending the game with a deceptive score of 118-108.

DeMarcus Cousins had another monster statline, notching 32 points, 14 rebounds, 4 assists, 4 blocks and 2 steals, but it was a blemished game. Whether it was by the coach's will or the player's, Cousins was hanging out on the perimeter all game long and took several really bad shots from the area. Not only did it keep Cousins in a zone where he is not as effective as opposed to the low post where he was double teamed on the catch and where he could work against a depleted Nuggets interior. Cousins only shot 11/24 from the field and had seven turnovers on the night.

The Kings got nice games offensively from a variety of players. Rudy Gay scored with ease all game long with 22 points on 9/15 shooting, but was largely forgotten in that miserable third quarter. Darren Collison added 15 points and 7 assists, most of that coming in the first half. Nik Stauskas also had one of his best games as a pro with 13 points off the bench on efficient shooting.

But really, it wasn't the offense that was the issue. The Kings' intensity was sorely lacking all game night. The Nuggets were getting to every loose ball, they outrebounded the Kings on the night, and pushed the ball in transition to create easy looks and mismatches. It was comical to watch Nugget big men go over and around the Kings for rebounds and loose balls at times. Even after rebounds were secured, the Nuggets at least three or four times knocked the ball loose from the rebounder and created extra possessions. The defense completely fell apart, both in transition and in the half court; the Nuggets shot 55% from the field, dished 27 assists and scored 58 points in the paint. Ty Lawson and Jusuf Nurkic were both devastating, which is disappointing because they lined up against the Kings' best defenders (Cousins and Collison).

The life is slipping out of the season rapidly. It'll be interesting to see how engaged the team will be given that the playoffs are about as likely as Ramon Sessions making a floater. The effort level and focus was exceedingly poor tonight, and if the Kings want to make progress on the season they will have to play with far more urgency. The Kings next play against the Cavaliers on Sunday.

For the opponent's perspective, visit Denver Stiffs

The Kings front office can tell us they know what they're doing, but it's time to show us.

It's been almost a week since Sacramento Kings GM Pete D'Alessandro appeared on the Carmichael Dave show to answer fan questions and address the state of the team. After the appearance the Kings treated fans to a surprising and convincing win over the Oklahoma City Thunder. For a moment it seemed like maybe things would be OK. Friday's embarrassing display against the Denver Nuggets quickly put those hopes to rest. And I couldn't help but to start thinking of Pete's appearance again.

The thing that bothered me so much about Pete's appearance was that he answered questions with a tone and phrasing that suggested he was insulted that fans would question him. I actually like Pete, and deep down I think he's a good GM even if I haven't liked his every move. But he lost some of my faith when he answered fan questions by exclaiming that he isn't an idiot, thereby implying that the rest of are. He insisted that he's not new to this. He listed his resumé multiple times, as if his experience in multiple facets of the industry makes him immune from being questioned.

I'm tired of being told that the Kings front office knows what they're doing. I'm tired of that being followed by piss-poor basketball. The Kings were the feel-good story of the year, and now I feel like the offseason can't come quickly enough. Arco Arena was barren against the Nuggets. It doesn't matter that the Nuggets aren't a big draw. It's a Friday night game, and if there's an iota of excitement the building should have been 95% full. But it started empty and emptied out more with about seven minutes left in the fourth quarter. And it's not just because the team is bad, it's because we know they can be better.

The Nuggets had no answers for DeMarcus Cousins. When the Kings fed him, he scored points and drew fouls. So why did the Kings abandon that gameplan? Your guess is as good as mine, but it's just the latest perplexing moment of the Tyrone Corbin experience.

And, yeah, Pete said fans should stop going in on Corbin. This ignored the fact that most Kings fans actually blamed management. But now I'm going in on Corbin. He's in an impossible position, and that's not his fault. But it is his fault that he goes away from what works. And then he places the blame on the team for not feeding Cousins down low. If only he was in some sort of position where he was entrusted with the authority to tell the team how to run the offense. That falls on Corbin, and it's fair criticism. But these issues still fall on management, who created this position.

Please, Pete.

Please, Vivek.

Please, Mullin.

Please, Mastrov.

We need someone to show us that they get it. Pete's radio appearance didn't show us that Pete understands the issues Kings fans have right now, no matter how many times he told us that he understands. Don't tell us any more.

Just show us something worth rooting for.

The Kings can't seem to have any consistency recently, following up a big win against the Thunder with an even bigger loss to Denver a couple nights later.  Now the Cavaliers are in town, and even without their best player, they've got more than enough talent to beat the Kings if Sacramento isn't ready.  Which Kings will show up? Today's action tips off at 6:00 pm on Comcast SportsNet California and on KHTK 1140.

3 THINGS TO LOOK FOR

1. The Cavaliers have a lot of offensive weapons.  Kyrie Irving's one of the best scoring guards in the league, Kevin Love can score from anywhere, and J.R. Smith is liable to go for 40 points or 40 field goal attempts (or both) any night if he gets hot.  The Kings defense has been incredibly inconsistent, and if they continue to try to beat teams by trying to outscore them, they're going to continue to find themselves on the wrong side of the ledger at the end of the night.

2. Cleveland's defense has not been good this season, even with LeBron.  They did add Timofey Mozgov to provide some interior defense, but we've seen in the past that DeMarcus Cousins has been able to deal with him effectively in the past.  Behind Mozgov, the Cavs are almost thinner than the Nuggets were, especially with Anderson Varejao out.  The game plan against Cleveland should be the same as against Denver, except this time the Kings need to execute it correctly.  That means no settling for jumpers when you can get to the basket and either score or draw a foul.

3. Ben McLemore hasn't been getting a whole ton of looks in the offense lately.  I don't know why that is.  Against Denver he actually did take several wide open shots that just didn't fall in, but I'd still like the Kings to run some more plays for him aside from spot shots.

MATCHUP OF THE GAME

Kevin Love vs. Jason Thompson

With LeBron James out, Kevin Love becomes a much bigger part of the Cavaliers offense. He's only averaging 17.7 points a game this year, but without LeBron his usage is sure to go up, even though guys like Kyrie Irving and J.R. Smith will take a lot of shots as well.  Love has given the Kings fits before, and Jason Thompson is more suited to defending in the post than the perimeter.  The Kings will have to limit the open opportunities that Love gets, especially from beyond the arc.

PREGAME LIMERICK

Welcome to the West Coast LeBron!
I can't wait to see ... wait hold on.
He's not playing?
In Cleveland he's staying?
Perhaps this game's conclusion isn't foregone.

PREDICTION

Kings 108, Cavaliers 107 after J.R. Smith gets the opportunity to win the game for Cleveland but shockingly decides to pass it to a wide open Kevin Love at the rim.  Love is so shocked that Smith decided to pass he forgets to shoot himself.

The Cavs are hurt and still waiting for reinforcements

The Cleveland Cavaliers, clinging to a record still above .500 at 19-18, won't be at full strength for tonight's matchup with the Sacramento Kings. According to Chris Haynes of the Northeast Ohio Media Group, Shawn Marion will miss another game:

Cleveland Cavaliers' forward Shawn Marion says he plans to sit out tonight's game against the Sacramento Kings to continue nursing a strained left hip flexor.

"If anything, I think maybe I'm out one more game if possible just to be on the safe side," Marion told Northeast Ohio Media Group. "Practice is tomorrow. I'd like to get a practice in first."

Cleveland plays the Phoenix Suns on Tuesday.

The Cavs will also be missing LeBron James, and are still about two weeks away from Iman Shumpert's debut. The three represent the team's best perimeter defenders, and none will be available to coach David Blatt.

The good news is that it appears that James and Marion are inching towards a return. The bad news is that the team will have to finish 31-14 to reach 50 wins. The last calendar month of the season may see the Cavs only face teams with winning records three times. It's not impossible, but games like this against the Kings feel a bit more important.

The Cavs roster makes sense at this point in terms of fit, but it's difficult when you are missing several key defenders, two starters, and the best player in the world. If those are excuses, well, it is what it is.

Don't forget to sign up for an play on FanDuel. Make sure Shawn Marion isn't in your lineup. Sign up here.