The beginning - the never-ending question...point guard or two guard?

#91
Yea, instead of worrying about traditional roles, distributing PG and scoring SG, maybe we'll just have to live with this and build around him? If Martin was even an adequate passer and ballhandler this wouldn't be a problem. But then again it's not Martin's fault who we drafted. I don't know, if we've resigned ourselves to running Tyreke out there in the sense that he's not a full time distributing PG, then someone like Beno is... perfect for this. If we had Cisco I know it would help, but still. I just hope Tyreke continues to develop, and maybe he'll never be Magic, as long as he can run the offense and bring the ball up without any help, if he can initiate plays, brake down the defense, then our problems will be solved! yay!!
 

Kingster

Hall of Famer
#92
An A/TO ratio of around 1 isn't record-breaking, there were about 300 players in the NBA last year with something close to that, and some significantly worse. It's only a huge problem if you have a traditional PG doing that -- if Calderon, instead of making 9 assists/gm and 2 TO/gm, made 9 and 9, no team in the NBA would want him.

But the way Westphal's running this team, there is no one person who has to make a ton of assists. This distributes the defensive pressure, since nobody knows where the next assist is going to come from, and makes any one player's A/TO ratio for the night kind of a moot point.

Yes, Evans' A/TO ratio has improved a lot, along with pretty much everyone but maybe Hawes. But the cool thing is, it doesn't matter too much if his ratio never gets up to crack PG level, because of the way the point duties have been distributed. The games in which he gets 7 assists may be rare, but so will be the games in which he gets 4 TO. Ditto for Udrih, JT, and the rest of the crew.

Although I suggested, soon after the draft, that this was the direction Westphal would have to go in (with this roster), I didn't think he could be this successful with it. And for that, I now formally eat some crow. (I'll save some leftovers in case he manages to make it last beyond November.)
It's interesting to me that much of the error (at least so far) seems attributable to the whole concept of "point guard". Behind all these posts about Tyreke and his point guard status is the assumption of the importance of the point guard. If a person is really locked into the importance of the point guard as THE distributor, then it makes sense that his basketball model would be in error in this situation in which there is no point guard in the true sense, but the team is successful nonetheless. Like Reynolds said, it's a lead guard - the guy who brings up the ball and sets up the offense, not the point guard like Stockton or Paul that so many think of. If Westphal continues with his relative success, it throws out the importance of point guard (in the Stockton/Paul sense) altogether for this team. Even then, it's not really news. We had the same thing in the Bibby/Christie era.

Don't feel so bad. I predicted 3 wins during the period in which Martin is out....:eek::D
 
#93
Yea, instead of worrying about traditional roles, distributing PG and scoring SG, maybe we'll just have to live with this and build around him? If Martin was even an adequate passer and ballhandler this wouldn't be a problem. But then again it's not Martin's fault who we drafted. I don't know, if we've resigned ourselves to running Tyreke out there in the sense that he's not a full time distributing PG, then someone like Beno is... perfect for this. If we had Cisco I know it would help, but still. I just hope Tyreke continues to develop, and maybe he'll never be Magic, as long as he can run the offense and bring the ball up without any help, if he can initiate plays, brake down the defense, then our problems will be solved! yay!!
Martin Actually Said He Texted Geoff Petrie To Select Evan ( Just Saying lol)
 
#94
Maybe Evans was a victim of circumstance, rarely playing with teammates of his own caliber so he felt compelled to do it all, hence resulting in more t/o and less assists?
That works WRT the Memphis team, none of his teammates there were NBA quality. But after that he played something like 13 games with SL, preseason, or regular season NBA players, who were dramatically better. Through those games, his ratio didn't improve. It only started improving 5 games ago, after hovering around 1 for 50 games, and reached a new plateau (4.5) in the last 2 games, when the highest scorer he'd ever played with was out, replaced by a PG.

Then there's the question of why other players have suddenly started getting better, too, like JT's re-emergence as a ballhandler, not to mention Beno, Donte, etc. Everyone but Hawes seem to be on their way up. It reminds me a little of how players on The Team would play the best basketball of their careers in Kings uniforms, because of the system that Adelman and Coachie developed for them. The only casualty was Bibby's assists/game, since Christie, Divac and Webber all shared in the ballhandling.

We might have a casualty now, in that it's hard to figure out how to utilize Kevin to the fullest with two other guards in play. I'm sure that the coaching staff and FO will be pondering that a lot over the next couple of months.
 
#95
It's interesting to me that much of the error (at least so far) seems attributable to the whole concept of "point guard". Behind all these posts about Tyreke and his point guard status is the assumption of the importance of the point guard. If a person is really locked into the importance of the point guard as THE distributor, then it makes sense that his basketball model would be in error in this situation in which there is no point guard in the true sense, but the team is successful nonetheless. Like Reynolds said, it's a lead guard - the guy who brings up the ball and sets up the offense, not the point guard like Stockton or Paul that so many think of. If Westphal continues with his relative success, it throws out the importance of point guard (in the Stockton/Paul sense) altogether for this team. Even then, it's not really news. We had the same thing in the Bibby/Christie era.
Exactly.
 

bajaden

Hall of Famer
#96
That works WRT the Memphis team, none of his teammates there were NBA quality. But after that he played something like 13 games with SL, preseason, or regular season NBA players, who were dramatically better. Through those games, his ratio didn't improve. It only started improving 5 games ago, after hovering around 1 for 50 games, and reached a new plateau (4.5) in the last 2 games, when the highest scorer he'd ever played with was out, replaced by a PG.

Then there's the question of why other players have suddenly started getting better, too, like JT's re-emergence as a ballhandler, not to mention Beno, Donte, etc. Everyone but Hawes seem to be on their way up. It reminds me a little of how players on The Team would play the best basketball of their careers in Kings uniforms, because of the system that Adelman and Coachie developed for them. The only casualty was Bibby's assists/game, since Christie, Divac and Webber all shared in the ballhandling.

We might have a casualty now, in that it's hard to figure out how to utilize Kevin to the fullest with two other guards in play. I'm sure that the coaching staff and FO will be pondering that a lot over the next couple of months.
In one sense, if the team plays extremely well without Martin in the lineup, its a good problem to have. Its not like Webb coming back off of a eventual career ending injury. Martins capable of averaging 20 plus points a game and he's still young. And attractive package. Especially for a team that needs scoring and is already a good defensive team. I'm sure LeBron would love to have Martin on his team. Of course the problem is that I don't think we would want whatever Cleveland would be willing to give up.
 
A

AriesMar27

Guest
#97
It's interesting to me that much of the error (at least so far) seems attributable to the whole concept of "point guard". Behind all these posts about Tyreke and his point guard status is the assumption of the importance of the point guard. If a person is really locked into the importance of the point guard as THE distributor, then it makes sense that his basketball model would be in error in this situation in which there is no point guard in the true sense, but the team is successful nonetheless. Like Reynolds said, it's a lead guard - the guy who brings up the ball and sets up the offense, not the point guard like Stockton or Paul that so many think of. If Westphal continues with his relative success, it throws out the importance of point guard (in the Stockton/Paul sense) altogether for this team. Even then, it's not really news. We had the same thing in the Bibby/Christie era.

Don't feel so bad. I predicted 3 wins during the period in which Martin is out....:eek::D
its true that we had the same issue with bibby/christie but for different reasons. more importantly before bibby got here he averaged 8 assists a game for the grizzlies. no one here was questioning his ability to dish the ball, it was how adelman utilized bibby that had so many around here heated. bibby was forced into the scorers role once webber went down and we realized that peja just isnt the player that can lead this team. bibby was never asked to run the offense like he was stockton but we knew that he had the talent to do so.

we all debate the importance of a point guard in the traditional sense until we start losing because we dont have one. which was the case with bibby and now beno... we need a leader on the court not another leading scorer and that is the role that evans has taken with martin out. thats also why the hornets have been so bad to start the season because teams have forced chris paul to be their leading scorer.... it will get a few wins here and there but it isnt the best option for the entire season.

no matter what i consider evans, be it a pg or sg he has played well in martins absence. but no matter what anyone considers evans, be it a pg or sg he has played his best ball alongside a pg... beno...
 
A

AriesMar27

Guest
#98
In one sense, if the team plays extremely well without Martin in the lineup, its a good problem to have. Its not like Webb coming back off of a eventual career ending injury. Martins capable of averaging 20 plus points a game and he's still young. And attractive package. Especially for a team that needs scoring and is already a good defensive team. I'm sure LeBron would love to have Martin on his team. Of course the problem is that I don't think we would want whatever Cleveland would be willing to give up.
what about mo williams and hickson?
 
#99
williams is a scorer, and one that needs a leader to take the pressure off of him. he disappears and is prone to horrendeous shooting slumps. I've been hearing about Hickson for years... even in college... still waiting for him to show something other than "career backup". Mo works well with LeBron because half the time he waits on the wing for LeBron to break down the D and dish it to him. He's quick and can handle though...

Not sure why the argument about Bibby. In our Princeton offense the PG is not the facilitator. It's sort of like saying Fisher is not a good distributor because he plays in the triangle. Bibby was a asked to bring the ball up and run sets while the bigs jumped up top, drew the D and dished. Bibby was a good passer, but our offense definitely did not showcase his talents. And in Atlanta... well that team is just disfunctional. Not sure why he isn't averaging 10+ apg with all those scorers. Maybe because they all want the ball at the same time.
 
no matter what i consider evans, be it a pg or sg he has played well in martins absence. but no matter what anyone considers evans, be it a pg or sg he has played his best ball alongside a pg... beno...
Hardly indicative. With Martin, Evans had his first real game, then in Game #2 he had a great game against the league's best PG. Game #3 was cut short by a sprain, which hampered him in #4 and probably #5. It's hardly a revelation that a rookie might play better in his 6th and 7th game than in his 1st or when hobbled by a sore ankle, regardless of who's next to him.
 
A

AriesMar27

Guest
williams is a scorer, and one that needs a leader to take the pressure off of him. he disappears and is prone to horrendeous shooting slumps. I've been hearing about Hickson for years... even in college... still waiting for him to show something other than "career backup". Mo works well with LeBron because half the time he waits on the wing for LeBron to break down the D and dish it to him. He's quick and can handle though...

Not sure why the argument about Bibby. In our Princeton offense the PG is not the facilitator. It's sort of like saying Fisher is not a good distributor because he plays in the triangle. Bibby was a asked to bring the ball up and run sets while the bigs jumped up top, drew the D and dished. Bibby was a good passer, but our offense definitely did not showcase his talents. And in Atlanta... well that team is just disfunctional. Not sure why he isn't averaging 10+ apg with all those scorers. Maybe because they all want the ball at the same time.
mo williams would be the ideal pg to play next to evans for that very reason. what will evans do most? drive and dish.... as long as the trees are going in williams would be ideal for evans. he can also get his own shot when he is on which is something that beno isnt nearly as good at. hickson would just be filler and another option at pf behind thompson. may wont be here for the long haul, he would be a nice pick up.

but like another poster mentioned, bibby and fisher lack the assists because of the system that they play in not because they cant do it. fisher can play pg, he did it in utah and to a lesser extent with the warriors. bibby was a top 5 pg at one point and made nash look like a clown every time they played each other. neither player got tons of assists but were or are good pgs....
 

Kingster

Hall of Famer
its true that we had the same issue with bibby/christie but for different reasons. more importantly before bibby got here he averaged 8 assists a game for the grizzlies. no one here was questioning his ability to dish the ball, it was how adelman utilized bibby that had so many around here heated. bibby was forced into the scorers role once webber went down and we realized that peja just isnt the player that can lead this team. bibby was never asked to run the offense like he was stockton but we knew that he had the talent to do so.

we all debate the importance of a point guard in the traditional sense until we start losing because we dont have one. which was the case with bibby and now beno... we need a leader on the court not another leading scorer and that is the role that evans has taken with martin out. thats also why the hornets have been so bad to start the season because teams have forced chris paul to be their leading scorer.... it will get a few wins here and there but it isnt the best option for the entire season.

no matter what i consider evans, be it a pg or sg he has played well in martins absence. but no matter what anyone considers evans, be it a pg or sg he has played his best ball alongside a pg... beno...
Let's set aside the whole notion of point guard. Unless you define it, it just mucks up the conversation because nobody really knows what you're talking about. The question is: Has Evans's play of late been caused by playing with Beno and not Martin, or is just coincidence? If it has been caused by Beno, what exactly is Beno doing that that Martin didn't that makes Evans play better?

We know Evans recently had an ankle injury and that he now feels better. Is that the cause? Is it just that he was deferring to Martin because Martin was the vet? Is Evans getting more touches because of the absence of Martin? I really don't know what the answer is at this point, but I'm a tad skeptical that Beno's style of play is the cause of Tyreke's blossoming. At least for now.
 
K

Kingsguy881

Guest
Hardly indicative. With Martin, Evans had his first real game, then in Game #2 he had a great game against the league's best PG. Game #3 was cut short by a sprain, which hampered him in #4 and probably #5. It's hardly a revelation that a rookie might play better in his 6th and 7th game than in his 1st or when hobbled by a sore ankle, regardless of who's next to him.
This kind of logic doesn't apply when you are still hell bent on proving that Evans is not a pg.

The dude is a winner. I don't care if he was head cheerleader as long as the Kings are bieng competitive and playing hard, entertaining ME, we're good. But for some people this is not enough. So this debate continues.

I'll tell you one thing, his coach calls him the pg, I call him the pg. You don't argue with coach, anyone who has ever played a sport knows this.
 
A

AriesMar27

Guest
Let's set aside the whole notion of point guard. Unless you define it, it just mucks up the conversation because nobody really knows what you're talking about. The question is: Has Evans's play of late been caused by playing with Beno and not Martin, or is just coincidence? If it has been caused by Beno, what exactly is Beno doing that that Martin didn't that makes Evans play better?

We know Evans recently had an ankle injury and that he now feels better. Is that the cause? Is it just that he was deferring to Martin because Martin was the vet? Is Evans getting more touches because of the absence of Martin? I really don't know what the answer is at this point, but I'm a tad skeptical that Beno's style of play is the cause of Tyreke's blossoming. At least for now.
okay, i can see where that could be an issue around here...

but the team has played better overall with beno on the court whether its with martin or evans. maybe its just having a pg on the floor with a competent coach makes the team better. either way it goes the other guard plays well with beno... if evans makes a move toward the basket and runs into trouble he can dump it to beno and he can reset the offense which is something that martin cant do because of his lack of passing skills.
 
A

AriesMar27

Guest
This kind of logic doesn't apply when you are still hell bent on proving that Evans is not a pg.

The dude is a winner. I don't care if he was head cheerleader as long as the Kings are bieng competitive and playing hard, entertaining ME, we're good. But for some people this is not enough. So this debate continues.

I'll tell you one thing, his coach calls him the pg, I call him the pg. You don't argue with coach, anyone who has ever played a sport knows this.
then what kind of logic does apply? witchcraft? voodoo? the power of prayer? assists/turnover ratio is a very useful stat no matter what position a player plays because they all have turnovers and assists...

and people think that i am the one who fuels the flames in these threads...:rolleyes:
 
its true that we had the same issue with bibby/christie but for different reasons. more importantly before bibby got here he averaged 8 assists a game for the grizzlies. no one here was questioning his ability to dish the ball, it was how adelman utilized bibby that had so many around here heated. bibby was forced into the scorers role once webber went down and we realized that peja just isnt the player that can lead this team. bibby was never asked to run the offense like he was stockton but we knew that he had the talent to do so.

we all debate the importance of a point guard in the traditional sense until we start losing because we dont have one. which was the case with bibby and now beno...
Okay, I'm going to disagree with some of what you're saying there.

Bibby had been a pass-first PG, but, as you correctly point out, he stopped being one when he came to Sac, because the Princeton style didn't need a real PG. So his assists dropped a lot as soon as he came to Sac.

What went wrong later on wasn't that Bibby's style changed tremendously, it was that having a distributed PG job doesn't work when you get rid of all of the auxiliary ballhandlers (Webber, Divac, Christie). KT, Skinner and Mobley could NOT fill those roles. Nor could Bonzi, "Stone Hands" Moore, iso-Ron, iso-Salmons, benevolent black hole Kevin, or anyone else we've plugged into our roster since. At least not with the various excuses for coaches we've had. Bibby was probably trying to switch back to being a "true PG" again, since the old model was totally broken, but couldn't get many assists because our newer players wanted to dribble for 15 seconds before doing anything else. :rolleyes:

I was opposed to trying something like the Princeton again, just because i didn't think we had a roster it could work with as more than a stopgap measure. I didn't see any trace of Vlade's ballhandling in Hawes, JT hadn't shown his PG skills since HS, we thought that Beno was history, and then there was the issue of what to do with Kevin. With bad coaches and no direction, our ballhandling looked abysmal, and that's NOT what you want in a Princeton sort of team.

Well, JT turned out to still be a very good ballhandler, Kevin got an owie, and Beno is proving that he can be a major asset in the system Westphal's trying. When Garcia's back, so much the better.

If you just hate the Princeton sort of thing, and prefer a more traditional set of roles, I can understand that. A little odd for a Kings fan to feel that way, but still, I get it. I was ready for them to try something different, myself. If we had a good pass-first PG, we'd have a lot more flexibility, rather than be locked into one approach. But, for better or worse, we have Geoff and Coachie in the FO still, and they've handed Westphal a small ball roster which doesn't have the right ingredients for a traditional team. So Westphal's doing his best to work with what he has.

In short, I don't think it's that they're doing what you want, but incorrectly. Maybe they're correctly implementing something you didn't want.
 
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VF21

Super Moderator Emeritus
SME
then what kind of logic does apply? witchcraft? voodoo? the power of prayer? assists/turnover ratio is a very useful stat no matter what position a player plays because they all have turnovers and assists...

and people think that i am the one who fuels the flames in these threads...:rolleyes:
Is it REALLY necessary to resort to sarcasm and snide comments? This is gonna be a long season and at some point we moderators are going to get very tired of the continual sniping amongst a couple of posters. If and when that happens, we're very liable just to start deleting posts that step over the line rather than to continue and try and point out why.

Knock... it... off.
 
Yeah. But he'd had a 1.07 A/TO ratio through 37 college games. Having a 1.0 during SL was just doing what he'd always done.

If a player fouled out of every college game they played in, then fouled out of their SL games too, wouldn't you be worried about that pattern?
To be fair the NBA game is a bit different from the college game.. But I was worried as well with the trend.. I will admit that. So far I have been wrong (thank goodness), but what I think Evans needs is someone with him (does not necessarily need to be a pure PG) that can help with the ball handling - play making duties. Kind of like our version of an Antonio Anderson. Whether it turns out to be Beno or Thompson in the end does not worry me. But it is obvious that Evans has a load lifted off his shoulders with Beno in there snagging some of the PG duties from him. Lets Evans move more without the ball.

In the end though I think Martin will have to go :( if Evans sticks around. I cannot see both of them together since their drive game is so similar in regards to taking the ball inside. It got messed up in NJ when you had Kidd inside the 3pt line, Carter and Jefferson constantly driving to the hoop. I think I had mentioned in another threat a couple months back that having both Evans and Martin both driving to the hole all the time will give away 2/5 of our offense. Makes it much easier on the defense to guard. Especially since Evans was the only real ball handler on the floor. Enter Beno and it throws all the assumptions out the door. Now you have two guys that can dish, one of them that drives with power, and a 6'11 PF that can sit at the elbow and pick and roll. Not to mention Hawes passing ability when he gets his game going.

Anyway it's hard to believe you swap Martin for Beno and you have a better team, but that's what chemistry will do to you.
 
A

AriesMar27

Guest
To be fair the NBA game is a bit different from the college game.. But I was worried as well with the trend.. I will admit that. So far I have been wrong (thank goodness), but what I think Evans needs is someone with him (does not necessarily need to be a pure PG) that can help with the ball handling - play making duties. Kind of like our version of an Antonio Anderson. Whether it turns out to be Beno or Thompson in the end does not worry me. But it is obvious that Evans has a load lifted off his shoulders with Beno in there snagging some of the PG duties from him. Lets Evans move more without the ball.

In the end though I think Martin will have to go :( if Evans sticks around. I cannot see both of them together since their drive game is so similar in regards to taking the ball inside. It got messed up in NJ when you had Kidd inside the 3pt line, Carter and Jefferson constantly driving to the hoop. I think I had mentioned in another threat a couple months back that having both Evans and Martin both driving to the hole all the time will give away 2/5 of our offense. Makes it much easier on the defense to guard. Especially since Evans was the only real ball handler on the floor. Enter Beno and it throws all the assumptions out the door. Now you have two guys that can dish, one of them that drives with power, and a 6'11 PF that can sit at the elbow and pick and roll. Not to mention Hawes passing ability when he gets his game going.

Anyway it's hard to believe you swap Martin for Beno and you have a better team, but that's what chemistry will do to you.
didnt i suggest the exact same thing after we drafted evans? thats why i had that martin for tmac thread... we needed more ball handlers, martin and evans would end up having the same issue that mayo and gay are having. though posters here were just so certain that evans and martin would be at the freethrow line all game. only one player can do that at a time. its takes too many possessions to have both of them at the line for 10 fta per game... though some of this has to do with garcia being out...
 

bajaden

Hall of Famer
then what kind of logic does apply? witchcraft? voodoo? the power of prayer? assists/turnover ratio is a very useful stat no matter what position a player plays because they all have turnovers and assists...

and people think that i am the one who fuels the flames in these threads...:rolleyes:
I'd go with Voodoo. I kinda like the drums and chickens and things..:)
 
didnt i suggest the exact same thing after we drafted evans? thats why i had that martin for tmac thread... we needed more ball handlers, martin and evans would end up having the same issue that mayo and gay are having. though posters here were just so certain that evans and martin would be at the freethrow line all game. only one player can do that at a time. its takes too many possessions to have both of them at the line for 10 fta per game... though some of this has to do with garcia being out...
don't forget iverson and carmelo. iverson may be more talented than billups but both iverson and carmelo were demanding the ball all the time. billups is a better team player and spot shooter which helps carmelo and his team more.
 

bajaden

Hall of Famer
To be fair the NBA game is a bit different from the college game.. But I was worried as well with the trend.. I will admit that. So far I have been wrong (thank goodness), but what I think Evans needs is someone with him (does not necessarily need to be a pure PG) that can help with the ball handling - play making duties. Kind of like our version of an Antonio Anderson. Whether it turns out to be Beno or Thompson in the end does not worry me. But it is obvious that Evans has a load lifted off his shoulders with Beno in there snagging some of the PG duties from him. Lets Evans move more without the ball.

In the end though I think Martin will have to go :( if Evans sticks around. I cannot see both of them together since their drive game is so similar in regards to taking the ball inside. It got messed up in NJ when you had Kidd inside the 3pt line, Carter and Jefferson constantly driving to the hoop. I think I had mentioned in another threat a couple months back that having both Evans and Martin both driving to the hole all the time will give away 2/5 of our offense. Makes it much easier on the defense to guard. Especially since Evans was the only real ball handler on the floor. Enter Beno and it throws all the assumptions out the door. Now you have two guys that can dish, one of them that drives with power, and a 6'11 PF that can sit at the elbow and pick and roll. Not to mention Hawes passing ability when he gets his game going.

Anyway it's hard to believe you swap Martin for Beno and you have a better team, but that's what chemistry will do to you.
I agree with most of your analogy. I do think though that an Evans/Martin backcourt is better than lets say, an Evans/Salmons backcourt. At least Martin can shoot the three. And if Evans impoves his outside shot that would make them that much more compatable. Salmons was a driver and a finisher. You had to twist his arm to get him to take an outside shot.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that the more Evans improves his all around game, the easier it is for him and Martin to co-exist on the floor at the same time. The biggest flaw to me is Martins passing ability, or lack there of. I'm not saying he can't pass the ball. I'm saying he's not a creative passer, and usually gets himself into trouble when he trys. Which could lend itself to less ball movement. And as a result, less team involvement.
 

VF21

Super Moderator Emeritus
SME
Just as a slight OT aside - Do you guys realize how nice it is to be talking postiively about future options for a change? Westphal and this current group of Kings has brought hope back to the fans for the first time in a very long time. I may not agree with everything that's being said but I'm certainly enjoying the attitudes.

GO KINGS!!!

...

You may now return to your reguarly scheduled discussion.

:)
 

Kingster

Hall of Famer
okay, i can see where that could be an issue around here...

but the team has played better overall with beno on the court whether its with martin or evans. maybe its just having a pg on the floor with a competent coach makes the team better. either way it goes the other guard plays well with beno... if evans makes a move toward the basket and runs into trouble he can dump it to beno and he can reset the offense which is something that martin cant do because of his lack of passing skills.
That's a good hypothesis. Having another ball handler is a nice safety valve, especially if the other team double-teams Tyreke. But then I can't recall many times where I've actually seen that situation where Beno bailed Tyreke out. Maybe in the Utah game when Utah really stepped up their D when the entire team couldn't get into the offense (including Beno). Maybe it's happened, but more times than not it seems like Evans hasn't run into much trouble. So then I ask myself: Are the extra points that Martin generates worth as much as the extra ball-handling of Beno? It's hard for me to believe that a mediocre ball-handling guard is worth as much as a very good scoring guard. Not that it couldn't happen. I just don't know at this point. It's going to be interesting to watch as the season progresses. I'd like to see the Tyreke and Garcia in the backcourt. Garcia can also handle the ball pretty well, certainly better than Martin. It would be a nice control experiment.:)
 
A

AriesMar27

Guest
That's a good hypothesis. Having another ball handler is a nice safety valve, especially if the other team double-teams Tyreke. But then I can't recall many times where I've actually seen that situation where Beno bailed Tyreke out. Maybe in the Utah game when Utah really stepped up their D when the entire team couldn't get into the offense (including Beno). Maybe it's happened, but more times than not it seems like Evans hasn't run into much trouble. So then I ask myself: Are the extra points that Martin generates worth as much as the extra ball-handling of Beno? It's hard for me to believe that a mediocre ball-handling guard is worth as much as a very good scoring guard. Not that it couldn't happen. I just don't know at this point. It's going to be interesting to watch as the season progresses. I'd like to see the Tyreke and Garcia in the backcourt. Garcia can also handle the ball pretty well, certainly better than Martin. It would be a nice control experiment.:)
it makes perfect sense when you think about it.... evans drives and dishes probably due to lack of finishing skills. martin drives to score or draw a foul probably because he lacks passing skills... beno can drive and do both because thats his job. beno may not be the best but knowing that he has someone who can cover for him makes evans job that much easier. and makes it that much harder for the defense.

that was part of the reason why i wanted beno to start after the memphis game. evans was driving and missing... and his passing suffered because he was no longer a threat on offense. once the threat of dishing to the open man(hawes in that game) was back in the game everyone played better. not because beno was better but because we didnt have 2 players with tunnel vision(martin and evans)... which was the exact same problem we had in the very next game...

just like bibby and fisher, beno doesnt need to get tons of assists to be an effective pg. the threat of him getting the assist is good enough to keep the defense honest. which was something that i was always afraid of with drafting evans. if his shot isnt going in how effective will he be at running the offense? sergio can get 10 assists without shooting the ball... beno can run an offense without getting tons of assists... can evans do that? not yet but thats why its so important to me that he plays with a pg and not a trigger happy sg.

martin compliments evans' shooting inabilities, the same way that evans covers martins lack of ball handling/passing... neither one helps the other run the offense efficiently... short of thompson or hawes getting 5+ assists.. like hawes did in the grizzlie game and thompson did in the jazz game...
 
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Kingsguy881

Guest
evans drives and dishes probably due to lack of finishing skills.
Have you been watching the games lately? Evans is scoring at the rim all the time, every game he plays he gets better and more comfortable at finishing.

Sometimes I can't read past a certain point in your posts because, what you say that stops me, is so blatantly wrong that I have a smart *** response for it. I don't always want to pick on your posts, but geez dude WATCH the games before posting some things. I'm sure 95% of your posts are wonderful, but I can't get past that 5%. I'm sorry.

But things like "Evans lacks finishing skills" screams of uneducation which could only be that you aren't watching the games to see for yourself. 7 games into his rookie season. I don't get it. Why can't we just watch as he grows instead of making proclamations like 'he lacks finishing skills' as if you have been scouting him for years.
 
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Kingsguy881

Guest
To be fair the NBA game is a bit different from the college game.. But I was worried as well with the trend.. I will admit that. So far I have been wrong (thank goodness), but what I think Evans needs is someone with him (does not necessarily need to be a pure PG) that can help with the ball handling - play making duties. Kind of like our version of an Antonio Anderson. Whether it turns out to be Beno or Thompson in the end does not worry me. But it is obvious that Evans has a load lifted off his shoulders with Beno in there snagging some of the PG duties from him. Lets Evans move more without the ball.

In the end though I think Martin will have to go :( if Evans sticks around. I cannot see both of them together since their drive game is so similar in regards to taking the ball inside. It got messed up in NJ when you had Kidd inside the 3pt line, Carter and Jefferson constantly driving to the hoop. I think I had mentioned in another threat a couple months back that having both Evans and Martin both driving to the hole all the time will give away 2/5 of our offense. Makes it much easier on the defense to guard. Especially since Evans was the only real ball handler on the floor. Enter Beno and it throws all the assumptions out the door. Now you have two guys that can dish, one of them that drives with power, and a 6'11 PF that can sit at the elbow and pick and roll. Not to mention Hawes passing ability when he gets his game going.

Anyway it's hard to believe you swap Martin for Beno and you have a better team, but that's what chemistry will do to you.
I think you are right. I think it is easier for Evans RIGHT NOW to play with someone who he can learn spots on the floor and angles from. I also believe that once Evans has it down him and Martin will be a dynamic backcourt, with Evans being able to break down the D and keep them on their heels while setting Martin up for easy looks, or easy drives. Only time will tell at this point.

I'm just happy to have a product on the court that I want to watch.