The Kings are very deficient of talent, especially when Cousins is suspended and Thornton is focusing on family. (Prayers go out to M.T.'s mom.) But even when they are shorthanded, the coach is still seeming to raise that hurdle by playing the team's worst players. I like the guy, and I've actually enjoyed pretty much every story about him throughout his career. But Travis Outlaw is not the answer. He's just not. He's played in 10 percent of the available minutes this season. The Kings have been pretty bad the other 90 percent of the time, with a -4.8 efficiency differential. (That means teams score 4.8 points more per 100 possessions in that time.) But with Outlaw on the court, the differential careens down to -15.8. Now Trout's not that bad. He's not the difference between a bad team and a historically bad team. But Smart plays him at power forward, where he can't effectively defend, rebound or run the offense. So it makes the job harder for your center (often a power forward playing up a weight class) and your guards on both ends.

Playing Outlaw worked on Saturday. Let's please consider that a lunar eclipse moment and not ever assume that it's going to be a good idea to start him in a game, no matter who is out.

A few other notes:

* The starters combined to shoot 16-46 (35 percent). The bench shot 16-40 (40 percent). Not really a good night for the offense.

* Tyreke Evans played well (17 points, 7 rebounds), but he was gassed the moment he stepped on the court. That resulted in some sloppy turnovers, not his best defensive effort and a few too many jumpers.

* The Jimmer-Isaiah pairing was +6 in 7-1/2 minutes. Brooks-Isaiah was -2 in 3-1/2 minutes. Brooks-Jimmer was -8 in about 4 minutes, all in the fourth quarter. Unfortunately, after a few gnarly, out-of-control possessions in the second, Isaiah got left out of the rotation in the second half. It's too bad because he looked pretty good earlier in the second.

* DeMarcus: please stop giving them any reason to boot you. This team is crummy with you. It's an unwatchable disaster without you.

Check out Brew Hoop for thoughts from the other side.