Tyreke Evans watch

Mr. S£im Citrus

Doryphore of KingsFans.com
Staff member
After a ghastly February, Evans appears to be back on the upswing, after his second straight start, but the Pelicans got pounded like veal.
 
The Pelicans are injury ravaged, have a Keith Smart level coach but they still have a better record than this Kings team.

Is it the defense? It's gotta be the defense.
 
it is, without question, tyreke's best stretch as a pelican. good for him. hope he can sustain some level of excellence through the end of the season.
 
The Pelicans are injury ravaged, have a Keith Smart level coach but they still have a better record than this Kings team.

Is it the defense? It's gotta be the defense.
weirdly enough, it doesn't seem to be. they're a worse defensive team, only barely, but still, but are significantly better on offence. pretty difficult to really say with those teams, though, what with the injuries for the Pellies and the roster shifting for the Kings.
 
Did I read correctly that Tyreke is shooting 39% frpm 3 as a starter? Where was that in Sacramento?
he shot 34% from three last season, which isn't anything to write home about, but it was a marked improvement on his terrible three-point shooting through his first couple of seasons. it stands to reason that there was always going to be room for further improvement, though his time as a starter in new orleans remains a relatively small sample size with which to measure such improvement. he certainly appears to be gaining confidence in his new role, and is considerably more comfortable out on the court. i want to see tyreke succeed, so i hope he continues to form a deadly tandem with anthony davis, who is swiftly rocketing up the ranks of the nba's elite...
 

Mr. S£im Citrus

Doryphore of KingsFans.com
Staff member
If there is anything that seems clear, it's that Evans is most effective as a high usage player... In the games where Evans plays >= 30 minutes, he is averaging: 19.2ppg (.481/.324), 6.1rpg, 6.8apg, and the Pelicans are 11-9 (with seven of those losses coming in games where Anderson didn't play)*.

Contrariwise, in the games where he played <= 29:59, he is averaging: 10.2ppg (.371/.105), 3.9rpg, 3.5apg, and the Pelicans are 14-23. It doesn't seem as though he can't play off the bench, but it certainly seems as though he can't play when his minutes/role are inconsistent... but then, we knew that already.



EDIT - * FWIW, the Pelicans only played seven games where Anderson was healthy, and Evans got 30+ minutes. In those seven games, they were 5-2.
 
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If there is anything that seems clear, it's that Evans is most effective as a high usage player... In the games where Evans plays >= 30 minutes, he is averaging: 19.2ppg (.481/.324), 6.1rpg, 6.8apg, and the Pelicans are 11-9 (with seven of those losses coming in games where Anderson didn't play)*.

Contrariwise, in the games where he played <= 29:59, he is averaging: 10.2ppg (.371/.105), 3.9rpg, 3.5apg, and the Pelicans are 14-23. It doesn't seem as though he can't play off the bench, but it certainly seems as though he can't play when his minutes/role are inconsistent... but then, we knew that already.



EDIT - * FWIW, the Pelicans only played seven games where Anderson was healthy, and Evans got 30+ minutes. In those seven games, they were 5-2.
This is why I find the whole IT/Reke debate comical. IT's fans, who balked at spending $11/year for Reke, are totally willing to pay $8-10M for a guy that also needs to dominate the ball to contribute less on both ends of the court.
 
What's interesting is when I peruse NO forums, the fans for the most part love Reke's passing and his ability to get into the paint, draw help and hit the open man, whether Davis diving or the open shooter. Many want Reke running the point and are getting quite excited about the chemistry he and Davis have shown.

Basically the exact opposite of what a number around here said for years, that he can't pass, has no vision and is a poor fit with Boogie.

Unfortunately, a number didn't recognize what we had when we had it. IT/Ben is an enormous step down. And as much as I like Rudy and want him to opt in, especially since he's the only legit 2nd option on this roster, 19M vs the 11M Reke makes is questionable business. There's not an 8M difference in production from where I'm sitting.
 
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Glenn

Hall of Famer
IYAM, Cousins, Evans and Gay could have been the core of a title contender, no question. Have Thomas doing his thing off the bench... Get those guys a shot blocker, and watch the rest of the western conference bow down.
I will need heavy duty censoring if I take part in where this conversation could go. Here goes anyway.

Perhaps great athletes can find there way in the NBA when not being sabotaged by there coach and FO. I start with the 20-5-5 fiasco that cost Tyreke a year and the two years of Smart who thought investing his energy in a 5'9" pizza guy was more important than investing that same energy in a 6'6" mega athlete.

Perhaps what seems to be a bad decision can be salvaged but those who have until this moment smugly felt our FO was wise in not keeping a guy who had no jump shot and had many injuries may take some time and think twice.

I will not say all is lost but in my world, to win requires a very decent defensive big man acquired in the draft, the emergence of Ray as a moderately OK starting PG who can play defense (all we need, really), and the wishful thinking that the joyous celebration by our front office in the picking of young Ben was not totally misguided. I have not given up that the team can recover from this decision. I don't know if a back court of Ben and Reke would have worked better than a back court of Ben and IT but I think so. This is especially true if you value the improvement in the percentage of wins more than achieving 20-20-20. I also wonder seriously how a back court of Reke and Ray would have performed if not now but in the future. There are no clear cut answers, I admit, but the negative side of me is winning the war of the half empty/half full battle.

The NO fans have had almost a full year to watch Reke and he hasn't been a glowing beam of success from the beginning but they are getting happier.

I DO think if we had kept Reke, we would NOT have a 1st round pick this year and all this fussing about ping pong balls would be moot. The reluctance to sign Reke at all could have been handled differently if he had been approached properly. For instance, they could have treated him decently before the time to sign came. It needn't have cost us $11 mil but that is speculation. Once upon a time we had two great athletes and we decided it was best to go forward with one.

Great athletes do not grow on trees. I am happy for Tyreke. Maybe he has found a team and a fan base that appreciates him.

The point of $11 mil vs $19 mil is well taken.
 
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