Tyreke Evans: Not A Point Guard?

[r3ali5t]

I came across this while on the Sacramento Kings Truehoop Blog, which is basically a basketball network under ESPN. The blogger of this piece is actually from Jerusalem, Israel and a basketball sport fan. My guess is he probably started following the Kings after we drafted Omri, nonetheless, I thought it was a good read..

http://jerusalemsports.blogspot.com/2010/02/tyreke-evans-position-is-just-awesome.html

 

[Sac.1989]

good read that, valid points made in comparison to other pgs in the legaue

 

[Kingsguy881]

GREAT read, it hammers home a point that a lot of us have been trying to make to those few who want to harp on Tyreke Evans and their own personal definitions of what position he plays.

 

[chasen4r1]

That was a very good read. Among other points in this article, I really liked the last paragraph.

And it can work out. Because Tyreke Evans can make it work out. Because Tyreke Evans isn’t the type of player who needs to be nourished in the right system, that is built around his strengths, and maximizes his talents. Tyreke Evans is the kind of player that, just by stepping on the court, is poised to destroy you. Point guard, shooting guard, combo guard, lead guard, royal guard - doesn't matter. Destroyed.

 

[sactownfan]

no hes not a PG but he plays PG... and he will continue playing PG... unless we get the #1 pick... so chances are Evans is our starting PG

 

[hrdboild]

Excellent summary there. I particularly like how he mentions "Jameer Nelson, Tony Parker, Aaron Brooks, Rodney Stuckey and Jarrett Jack" as examples of scoring points who don't get the same criticism. Evans is a better PG already than all of those guys (some people would argue with me about Tony Parker but I'm sticking to what I see). If Evans were 6'2" we wouldn't even be having this discussion. If you're only big enough to play PG than you are a PG even if you're more of a scorer than a passer. If you're big enough to play the SG position than you're stuck with the dreaded combo guard label. That's all this is about. Plus there's reason to believe Tyreke might be better at the PG position. This:

Excluding the occasional streak of insanity, he has virtually no outside shot, and despite that, he is unguardable. Even more so when he plays the point, because most point guards just aren’t physical enough to guard him without crashing to the floor on the verge of tears. Why squander that matchup advantage for no reason?

 

[Gary]

I LOL'd at the article.. He sees the floor well? Don't think so..

Yes he IS playing PG but he would be much better in a Dwane Wade type of role than a Chris Paul type of roll end of story.

 

[Gary]

Excellent summary there. I particularly like how he mentions "Jameer Nelson, Tony Parker, Aaron Brooks, Rodney Stuckey and Jarrett Jack" as examples of scoring points who don't get the same criticism. Evans is a better PG already than all of those guys (some people would argue with me about Tony Parker but I'm sticking to what I see). If Evans were 6'2" we wouldn't even be having this discussion. If you're only big enough to play PG than you are a PG even if you're more of a scorer than a passer. If you're big enough to play the SG position than you're stuck with the dreaded combo guard label. That's all this is about. Plus there's reason to believe Tyreke might be better at the PG position. This:

I don't even have to argue with that..

So if we had no true PG on the floor and if Thompson brought the ball up then he would be considered the PG for that play? That's that this idiot that wrote the blog is insinuating. He's trying to be cut and dry when things aren't so cut and dry... It makes no sense. Evans is a combo guard which stands for PG/SG. Why is that so hard to understand for some?

 

[AriesMar27]

that guy is hella chatty... interesting article though, kinda funny....

 

[Asaf]

Excellent summary there. I particularly like how he mentions "Jameer Nelson, Tony Parker, Aaron Brooks, Rodney Stuckey and Jarrett Jack" as examples of scoring points who don't get the same criticism. Evans is a better PG already than all of those guys (some people would argue with me about Tony Parker but I'm sticking to what I see). If Evans were 6'2" we wouldn't even be having this discussion. If you're only big enough to play PG than you are a PG even if you're more of a scorer than a passer. If you're big enough to play the SG position than you're stuck with the dreaded combo guard label. That's all this is about. Plus there's reason to believe Tyreke might be better at the PG position. This:

I don't follow all of these point guards, but I can tell you that Rodney Stuckey get a LOT of criticism for not being a true point guard, and Joe Dumars gets a lot of criticism for trading Chauncey and leaving the Pistons with Stuckey as their starting PG. Even Will Bynum is a better PG (and IMO a better player, when he's not injured) than Stuckey, and Bynum is not a pass-first PG by any means (although he does rack up a lot of assists, mainly because he's pretty much the only guy who knows how to pass the ball on that team).

 

[RaY Z]

Makes you wonder how all those bull**** clowns at BSPN have jobs.

 

[xyrin]

if Thompson brought the ball up then he would be considered the PG for that play?

Well, yes. That is called a point forward, actually.

I really do believe Tyreke has the potential to be a "real point guard". He has some great passes, and he is getting better at seeing the floor. He misses a few open teammates, but which rookie doesn't?

 

[DesertFox]

I don't even have to argue with that..

So if we had no true PG on the floor and if Thompson brought the ball up then he would be considered the PG for that play? That's that this idiot that wrote the blog is insinuating. He's trying to be cut and dry when things aren't so cut and dry... It makes no sense. Evans is a combo guard which stands for PG/SG. Why is that so hard to understand for some?

You seem to be the one who has a hard time understanding what he wrote.

 

[pshn80]

No matter what label you put on Evans, PG or SG, I think he showing that he will be very successful as the Kings PG. An unusuallly talented basketball player. Also, no matter what you call him, I think he is better placed for his and the teams success at PG.

 

[Gary]

You seem to be the one who has a hard time understanding what he wrote.

Nope.. The guy is being VERY general about something that's complicated.

Technically he's right, when you put someone at PG he's the teams PG, but actually calling a player PG is different.. Evans is a combo guard.. Just like the guy that called Parker a "scoring" PG. Same difference, but he's not even comparing the two.

 

[ElRey]

Why do we have to talk about this topic every two weeks or so????? It doesn't get old for you guys?


Like it or not. Tyreke plays point guard for us. period. The Rubio/True PG fans will always be hating on Tyreke and they're never going to change their minds. Even if Rubio eventually comes over to the NBA, and Tyreke completely dominates him, they still not going to change their minds. Tyreke can average a triple double like Oscar Robertson and it still wouldn't matter to them.


btw just thinking to myself. Is Magic Johnson a "pure PG"? The guy is huge at 6'9" and have pretty much played all 5 positions for the Lakers. Combo guard? or Combo Player more accurate?

 

[Gary]

I don't hate on Evans.. He's a hell of a player, but the Kings will continue to lose as long as they think Evans will play PG effectively without another ball handler on the court to take some of the duties away from him.

I have always thought this would be a good idea, but bring in Antonio Anderson to play SG along side Evans at PG and this is a win-win situation. Anderson proved to be the best passer on the Memphis team, and just clicked with Evans if you saw them together at Memphis. More so than Anderson did with Rose imo. Plus they are great friends, and Anderson is in the D-League so we could get him pretty cheap. He's a 4 year college player so he has a lot of experience playing organized ball.

So bring in Anderson to play SG along side of Evans, and problem solved. They fit together REAL well and Anderson can ball.

 

[DesertFox]

I don't hate on Evans.. He's a hell of a player, but the Kings will continue to lose as long as they think Evans will play PG effectively without another ball handler on the court to take some of the duties away from him.

I have always thought this would be a good idea, but bring in Antonio Anderson to play SG along side Evans at PG and this is a win-win situation. Anderson proved to be the best passer on the Memphis team, and just clicked with Evans if you saw them together at Memphis. More so than Anderson did with Rose imo. Plus they are great friends, and Anderson is in the D-League so we could get him pretty cheap. He's a 4 year college player so he has a lot of experience playing organized ball.

So bring in Anderson to play SG along side of Evans, and problem solved. They fit together REAL well and Anderson can ball .

First of all, suggesting Antonio Anderson as a solution to anything is a joke. That pair wolud be the worst shooting backcourt in the league.

Tyreke's ability depends on him handling the ball. If he's not the primary ballhandler, he's not being used effectively.

You might be able to make an argument that he needs a player next to him that can pass/shoot/defend, and handle the ball if necessary.
If that player were a bigger guard it would be nice too, so Tyreke can still get the mismatches on opposing PG's.

So until they bring that player in , I'm willing to see if this Martin/Evans thing will work.

 

[DocHolliday]

no hes not a PG but he plays PG... and he will continue playing PG... unless we get the #1 pick... so chances are Evans is our starting PG

Co-signed.

Look folks. I am REEEAAAALLLLLYYYYY tired of hearing that Tyreke Evans isn't a *true* PG. Ok we get it. It's not a secret. He's a combo guard, so was Mike Bibby. Remember him??

Except that Tyreke doesn't have a huge deficiency Mike did, he can defend, and he's more athletic than Bibby ever was. Yeah Tyreke's jumper isn't as good as Mike's, but I believe he will get there.

He IS a combo guard, but his assist numbers are good, and he brings a lot to the team. No matter how much you want it to happen Tyreke is NOT going to the 2 unless something huge changes, or as needed by the line up, because of injury. If we somehow get DW from Utah, or CP3 from NO, yeah they may consider putting Tyreke at the 2. Neither of those peopel are coming though, and we are not getting John Wall, in fact we might not even draft him even if we HAD the number 1 pick, because the Kings have OTHER needs to fill.

. Tyreke himself says he's not a true PG. We get it, he gets it, the Kings organization gets it. Now let's move on. Kthxbye.

 

[AriesMar27]

no hes not a PG but he plays PG... and he will continue playing PG... unless we get the #1 pick... so chances are Evans is our starting PG

yeah...

 

[AriesMar27]

Co-signed.

Look folks. I am REEEAAAALLLLLYYYYY tired of hearing that Tyreke Evans isn't a *true* PG. Ok we get it. It's not secret. He's a combo guard, so was Mike Bibby. Remember him??

Except that Tyreke doesn't have a huge deficiency Mike did, he can defend, and he's more athletic than Bibby ever was. Yeah Tyreke's jumper isn't as good as Mike's, but I believe he will get there.

He IS a combo guard, but his assist numbers are good, and he brings a lot to the team. No matter how much you want it to happen Tyreke is NOT going to the 2 unless something huge changes, or as needed by the line up, because of injury. If we somehow get DW from Utah, or CP3 from NO, yeah they may consider putting Tyreke at the 2. Neither of those peopel are coming though, and we are not getting John Wall, in fact we might not even draft him even if we HAD the number 1 pick, because the Kings have OTHER needs to fill.

. Tyreke himself says he's not a true PG. We get it, he gets it, the Kings organization gets it. Now let's move on. Kthxbye.

whoa... bibby was a pure pg before he got here... he averaged 8 assists per game before he was traded to kings...

 

[DocHolliday]

whoa... bibby was a pure pg before he got here... he averaged 8 assists per game before he was traded to kings...

And Tyreke is averaging 5 in his ROOKIE season. He had 8 or 9 in the Toronto game.

And I didn't follow Bibby before he came to Sacramento, but a player doesn't suddenly change who they are as a player. I would venture to guess that Bibby became more of a scoring combo PG when he came here, because he had developed his shot by that time.

 

[kennadog]

And Tyreke is averaging 5 in his ROOKIE season. He had 8 or 9 in the Toronto game.

And I didn't follow Bibby before he came to Sacramento, but a player doesn't suddenly change who they are as a player. I would venture to guess that Bibby became more of a scoring combo PG when he came here, because he had developed his shot by that time.

To be fair, Bibby didn't need to get as many assists when he came to Sacramento, because he had great passing big men, who racked up assists. Christie was no slouch in the assists department either. The Kings had lots of assists, but they were spread around back then.

 

[Kingsguy881]

whoa... bibby was a pure pg before he got here... he averaged 8 assists per game before he was traded to kings...

Bibby was not a pure pg. You obviously didn't follow Bibby. I'm a huge fan, followed him since Arizona. Him and Jason Terry were both scoring guards that could handle the rock and pass. But Bibby was/is a scoring guard, always has been. He can handle the rock and make good passes, but all he did in Vancouver was run the 2 man game with SAR and either score or drop it off to SAR or Mike Dickerson.

 

[AriesMar27]

And Tyreke is averaging 5 in his ROOKIE season. He had 8 or 9 in the Toronto game.

And I didn't follow Bibby before he came to Sacramento, but a player doesn't suddenly change who they are as a player. I would venture to guess that Bibby became more of a scoring combo PG when he came here, because he had developed his shot by that time.

well bibby actually only averaged 13/6.5 his rookie season and 8 for the next 2 seasons, only to drop to 5apg his first season with us, my bad. but he became a scorer for us out of necessity... we traded webber and peja, who was going to do all of the scoring? that fell into bibbys hands by default, he was our best player. as time progresses evans will score more and more points per game, i really dont see his assists going up much further and the more he develops his jumper the less he will be forced to pass the ball. if the clock is winding down and he gets caught by a double team he will be able to just shoot it instead of passing it to the open man.

evans has incredible patience and poise for a player so young, but the fact that he doesnt have that passers mentainality makes me think that he really doesnt want to pass the ball. he knows that he can get the 2 points or three... the natural progression of his game leans more towards scorer than distributor. thats not a bad thing, he has better chance of turning into a kobe/wade type of player than he does resembling anything that looks like a pg other than the position labeled next to his name on a boxscore. if evans had the jumper right now he could play just like kobe does now... evans knows how to use his size to his advantage, which is something martin never learned.

 

[AriesMar27]

Bibby was not a pure pg. You obviously didn't follow Bibby. I'm a huge fan, followed him since Arizona. Him and Jason Terry were both scoring guards that could handle the rock and pass. But Bibby was/is a scoring guard, always has been. He can handle the rock and make good passes, but all he did in Vancouver was run the 2 man game with SAR and either score or drop it off to SAR or Mike Dickerson.

i did follow bibby before he got here and he was, his team sucked... but he was before he got here... how is 14/8 a scoring pg? granted in college he and terry were running circles around people but once he got to the grizzlies he played like a pg and played well...

 

[Kingsguy881]

well bibby actually only averaged 13/6.5 his rookie season and 8 for the next 2 seasons, only to drop to 5apg his first season with us, my bad. but he became a scorer for us out of necessity... we traded webber and peja, who was going to do all of the scoring? that fell into bibbys hands by default, he was our best player. as time progresses evans will score more and more points per game, i really dont see his assists going up much further and the more he develops his jumper the less he will be forced to pass the ball. if the clock is winding down and he gets caught by a double team he will be able to just shoot it instead of passing it to the open man.

evans has incredible patience and poise for a player so young, but the fact that he doesnt have that passers mentainality makes me think that he really doesnt want to pass the ball. he knows that he can get the 2 points or three... the natural progression of his game leans more towards scorer than distributor. thats not a bad thing, he has better chance of turning into a kobe/wade type of player than he does resembling anything that looks like a pg other than the position labeled next to his name on a boxscore. if evans had the jumper right now he could play just like kobe does now... evans knows how to use his size to his advantage, which is something martin never learned.

WHAT????? Lol, how retarded. Watch that first step mac, it's a lu-lu!

 

[Kingsguy881]

i did follow bibby before he got here and he was, his team sucked... but he was before he got here... how is 14/8 a scoring pg? granted in college he and terry were running circles around people but once he got to the grizzlies he played like a pg and played well...

14-8 is a stat, it means nothing. DID YOU WATCH HIM PLAY? I did. I watched him win one with AZ and the following year when they should have won it again, and then to Vancouver. I wanted the Kings to draft him but 'couver got him. Oh well.

I don't care what his stats say, he was the third option on that 'couver team so he ended up getting a lot of assists passing to Dickerson (who was on fire at that point in his career) and SAR (who was also on fire at that point in his career). But his main inclination was to score, to hit open jumpers and run the 2 man game with SAR. And obviously if you are going to toss out stats instead of explaining, like I just did, how his game was at the time, well, you didn't watch him. Its obvious enough.

 

[Rookie]

I have to agree with Gary and AM27, he isn't a "Pure" PG. The type that Rubio could turn out to be.

Instead we got a "Star" PG. You can call him combo or whatever but he's still a star playing the PG position and shining bright with each month.

 

[Kingsguy881]

I have to agree with Gary and AM27, he isn't a "Pure" PG. The type that Rubio could turn out to be.

Instead we got a "Star" PG. You can call him combo or whatever but he's still a star playing the PG position and shining bright with each month.

And who cares? He's a star, a soon-to-be superstar that no other pg can stop. WHO ? CARES ?