Omri frustrated by offence and ball not moving.

[Boogie-havoc]

Don't know if anyone saw it... out of order if you ask me, you just don't go to the press and say stuff like he said about the guards etc.. sorry if it's not allowed to copy the entire post in here, delete it or tell me and i'll remove it if it is.

Statistics don't always tell the story. But the Kings' ranking in assists does give an indication of why the Kings struggle on offense.
Entering Monday night's games, the Kings ranked 27th in assists. One reason is that the Kings are opting to go one-on-one instead of sticking with the offense and moving the ball to find shots.
The frustration with the lack of ball movement becomes more evident with each loss, and players are beginning to show that frustration on the court.
"We don't move the ball," forward Omri Casspi said. "There's guys in the corner – Císco (Francisco García) was hot (Sunday) night, for example, and he didn't even get a shot in the fourth quarter. What do you want him to do? He didn't get the ball.
"The ball didn't move, and the guys that start the offense have got to be talked to and work on it."
Casspi said "it's really hard" to play when the ball stops moving. The Kings have shown the ability to move the ball and score, keeping everyone involved at times during the season. But it's late in games when there are fewer passes and more one-on-one play.
"Sometimes you're playing five or six minutes, and in those minutes you don't feel really involved in the offense – that takes you out of the game," Casspi said. "It's really hard. You work on yourself; you've got to be ready. It's hard."
Coach Paul Westphal said part of the problem is the Kings have to learn to trust the system for 48 minutes each game.
"I don't think it's selfishness as much as it is lack of seasoning," Westphal said. "And it's a messy process to work through it in public. That's why so many great teams make their young guys sit for a while and they learn the system they grow into gradually, and we don't have that luxury."
Casspi struggled to explain why the offense breaks down and becomes stagnant. But he said it's a topic that must be addressed if the Kings are to start improving.
"It's a fact, and we have to figure it out because we're not going to win a lot of games like that," Casspi said. "Basically, we're not winning. Maybe you have to call some other plays and try to shake it up."
Home stretch – Seven of the Kings' next eight games are at home. If they didn't have the league's worst home record (3-11), that might be seen as something positive.
Every team except the Kings has at least five home wins. The Kings have the league's worst record, 5-20.
"We're almost like New Jersey last year," Kings forward Carl Landry said. "They had Brook Lopez, Devin Harris, I mean they got a bunch of talent over there and just couldn't seem to win. It just didn't go their way every night."
The Nets began last season 0-18 and were in position to challenge for the worst record in league history, 9-73 by the 1972-73 Philadelphia 76ers. The Nets finished 12-70 last season.
Westphal believes the Kings are improving and more wins will come, and he remains hopeful the stretch of home games can help them find their way.
"We've got to sense the moment, and when we learn to do that – and it's not huge improvements – it's just little improvements from each guy," Westphal said.
"When we learn to do that, we'll get our share of these wins."


Read more: http://www.sacbee.com/2010/12/21/3272368/kings-notes-stagnant-offense-creates.html#ixzz18lHC1SNJ​

What do you guys think about this? I mean it's obviusly the truth and it's there for all of us to see, but I mean comming and calling his teamates out like Omri did is just bad and something he shouldn't have done.

 

[cuad]

Omri channeling his inner Antoine Wright.

 

[Casspi]

thats what ive been saying for the past week

 

[RookieOfTheDay]

Well he's right. Out of line or not, he's right. Someone had to say it.

 

[Spike]

There's also this:
"I don't think it's selfishness as much as it is lack of seasoning," Westphal said. "And it's a messy process to work through it in public. That's why so many great teams make their young guys sit for a while and they learn the system they grow into gradually, and we don't have that luxury."

Evans-2nd year
Casspi-2nd year
Cousins-1st year
Greene-3rd year
Thompson-3rd year

That's a lot of minutes coming from youth.

 

[funkykingston]

The majority of us knew that the Kings would not be a good team this year. That they were young and growing pains were a fact of life. But this team is in a tailspin and playing far worse than last year despite upgrades to the frontcourt, the addition of a talented rookie and a year of growth for guys like Evans, Greene, Thompson and Casspi.

I don't blame ANY of the players for being frustrated. And Omri is right that this team lacks ball movement and flow to the offense. And while others may disagree, I don't have any issue about him making the comments publicly. He's just saying what every Kings fan watching games already knows.

 

[JJ22L]

/Sigh

Honestly? In the context of how this season has progressed, I don't find Casspi's comments out of line, at all. If we were a .500 or even a .300 team, yea. But at some point the whole "keep it internal" becomes a moot point (at least to me, it does). You could make the whole "snowballing" the issues argument, I guess, but....whatever. There's no use kicking a dead horse, but doing it doesn't make it any deader.

As a fan, these comments somewhat comfort me. At least now I know some of the players see the same things we see. I know I'm not sitting here uncomfortably twiddling my thumbs while the team loses focus on its deficiencies.

 

[JJ22L]

The majority of us knew that the Kings would not be a good team this year. That they were young and growing pains were a fact of life. But this team is in a tailspin and playing far worse than last year despite upgrades to the frontcourt, the addition of a talented rookie and a year of growth for guys like Evans, Greene, Thompson and Casspi.

I don't blame ANY of the players for being frustrated. And Omri is right that this team lacks ball movement and flow to the offense. And while others may disagree, I don't have any issue about him making the comments publicly. He's just saying what every Kings fan watching games already knows.

LOL. I was mid-typing my comment and went away from my desk for a bit and once I submitted it I saw your comment. Great minds.

 

[TTown Kings]

Casspi doesn't move the ball much either. He shoots just about everytime he touches it. Maybe he needs to look in the mirror as well...

 

[King Baller]

Well Casspi's role often times is to wait in the corner for the ball. If he is open he should shoot it. He is shooting .404 from the 3 pt. line so far this season. That is the best 3 pt. percentage on the Kings so far this year.

The Kings are young and inexperienced. To me it looks like the fellas are all TRYING to make it happen. That does not work, you have to let the game come to you. This why when the pressure is on later in the games the Kings shoot so poorly, they are thinking about it too much.

The Kings need to learn poise and that is learned through experience. They are getting the experience.

This is the rebuild we all wanted. Its a rocky road.

KB

 

[Asaf]

Casspi doesn't move the ball much either. He shoots just about everytime he touches it. Maybe he needs to look in the mirror as well...

That's really not true, especially not this season. I suggest you watch him play rather than just go on stigmas that have been put on him.

 

[mr. moustache]

That's really not true, especially not this season. I suggest you watch him play rather than just go on stigmas that have been put on him.

Yeah. Casspi occasionally helps move the ball around the perimeter, Greene/Garcia maybe more so. The elephant in the room is Tyreke. He just doesn't do it.

 

[Mr. Hide]

Sorry Guys, Casspi is damn right. Look how many fastbreaks this team has during each game (and season), Almost nothing! That is because the ball isn't pushed to the players in the sidelines. This is why they can't pass it to trailer players. This is BASIC! my son learned how to make fastbreaks in his since 1st year (when he was 7). I am sure that Kings are the last group in making fastbreaks in NBA. And pls don't call "fastbreak" to offence when 2 players of the kings stand free, near the basket, and Evans insists on running coast to caost with the ball and put it PERSONALLY with his own hands... The same for Beno Udrich.

 

[Spike]

Actually, they're 18th in the league in fast break points. I think we had a discussion a while back about how the team is looking to create more of a half court tempo, and that's why things appear slower though. Points about the lack of offensive continuity within the half court still stand, however, especially if Casspi is talking about running specific plays as opposed to running "the offense".

 

[Asaf]

I wonder if Omri is going to be inactive tonight...

 

[SuperPowerMultiPly]

I wonder if Omri is going to be inactive tonight...

I think someone had to finally say what he said, and he isn't complaining about minutes or something personal like that, he's complaining about the team not playing like a...team, a coach needs to be really dumb to punish a player for something like that.

 

[Capt. Factorial]

Yeah. Casspi occasionally helps move the ball around the perimeter, Greene/Garcia maybe more so. The elephant in the room is Tyreke. He just doesn't do it.

The idea that Tyreke doesn't move the ball while our other players do is such an unbelievable misconception that it needs to be squashed, and right now.

For the season, Tyreke's Usage rate is 26.3%, meaning he shoots or turns the ball over on just over 1/4 of the possessions when he's in the game. Despite that, he gets an assist on 25.2% of his teammates baskets while he's in - this AST%/USG% ratio of 0.96 is pretty PG-ish, and it's a decent relative measure of how often somebody passes rather than shoots. Only Jeter (1.96), Beno (1.32) and Head (1.19) have a higher AST%/USG% ratio on the Kings. And not surprisingly, these are all guys being played as PGs. Greene, Garcia and Casspi? Not so much - Garcia is the highest of the three (0.51) and Greene comes in behind him (0.46). Casspi brings up the rear for our wing players at 0.30, lower than centers Dalembert (0.48) and Cousins (0.35) and PF/C Thompson (0.36). Only black hole Landry (0.18) and offensive-rebound-mop-up-specialist Darnell Jackson (0.16) have lower ratios for the Kings.

This isn't to cast an aspersion on Casspi. I like the guy. He's a great shooter when he's on and he's a hell of a hustle guy, and seems to try hard on defense even if he doesn't really get it done yet. Hopefully that D will come with time. But the suggestion that Evans shoulders more blame in the passing game than Casspi is laughable. The numbers show this.

 

[Asaf]

I think someone had to finally say what he said, and he isn't complaining about minutes or something personal like that, he's complaining about the team not playing like a...team, a coach needs to be really dumb to punish a player for something like that.

Well its a good thing we have a smart coach then. Oh wait...

 

[CruzDude]

SacBee article is right on. Since there is no on floor leader it might be that everyone is waiting on Tyreke for everything and he is NOT a PG. He is a shooting guard and a scorer. Someone or two on the Kings has to step up and take charge. Cisco could do that but he is better off the bench as a 1-2-3 sub depending on matchups. Otherwise, a take charge guy and give some focus and direction to the team on the floor. But no one seems capable. Interesting thing is how much better the Kings are at times when Tyreke is on the bench. I said "at times".

The other part about lack of ball movement and holding the sticky fingered players accountable is Coaching. One view can be that Westphal is not the ideal coach for a big bunch of "kids" needing direction. Maybe IMHO, Elie or Eyen would be much better at instilling some fear and focus and intensity in the "kids" and not be afraid to go with who on the floor is better and not worry about last years Rookie of the Year. Eyen after all, did win one or two D-League championships before coming to the Kings.

Beno is a PG but he is so good at the spot up jumper, better than anyone else on the team I think, that he doesn't look for assists but getting something done. Jeter might just be the better starter with Tyreke and let Tyreke play the Kevin Martin role: 20+ points a night with added benefit that he can rebound and defend better than Kevin ever could. Not gonna be easy or fun for awhile.

In my thread on the Personnel forum, I mentioned that Devin Harris, a PG on the Nets may need to be traded to a 3rd party to give the Nets the flexibility they need in getting Carmelo Anthony. Anybody care to chime in about Harris as a PG???

 

[Mr. Hide]

The idea that Tyreke doesn't move the ball while our other players do is such an unbelievable misconception that it needs to be squashed, and right now.

For the season, Tyreke's Usage rate is 26.3%, meaning he shoots or turns the ball over on just over 1/4 of the possessions when he's in the game. Despite that, he gets an assist on 25.2% of his teammates baskets while he's in - this AST%/USG% ratio of 0.96 is pretty PG-ish, and it's a decent relative measure of how often somebody passes rather than shoots. Only Jeter (1.96), Beno (1.32) and Head (1.19) have a higher AST%/USG% ratio on the Kings. And not surprisingly, these are all guys being played as PGs. Greene, Garcia and Casspi? Not so much - Garcia is the highest of the three (0.51) and Greene comes in behind him (0.46). Casspi brings up the rear for our wing players at 0.30, lower than centers Dalembert (0.48) and Cousins (0.35) and PF/C Thompson (0.36). Only black hole Landry (0.18) and offensive-rebound-mop-up-specialist Darnell Jackson (0.16) have lower ratios for the Kings.

This isn't to cast an aspersion on Casspi. I like the guy. He's a great shooter when he's on and he's a hell of a hustle guy, and seems to try hard on defense even if he doesn't really get it done yet. Hopefully that D will come with time. But the suggestion that Evans shoulders more blame in the passing game than Casspi is laughable. The numbers show this.

Casspi role is to finish fastbreak, not to move the ball. Jetter should be the PG if there's no one else. He has the highest mark of AST%/USG%, much better then beno. Yet in the 4th quarter, only beno and evans are moving the ball. thats why we lose so much...

 

[Bricklayer]

A player saying this does not bother me as its fairly obviously true. Omri saying it on the other hand is fairly ironic given that he might make the most selfish plays per minute on the roster, and has been pulled from each of the past two games for particularly blatant ones. Look in the mirror young man.

And anybody thinking he is targeting this just at Tyreke because of his jealousy issues or whatever hasn't been watching how often he and Beno argue with each other on the court. There was a game earlier inthe season when I actually thoguht Beno was so mad at him he just started refusing to pass to him.

 

[Asaf]

The idea that Tyreke doesn't move the ball while our other players do is such an unbelievable misconception that it needs to be squashed, and right now.

For the season, Tyreke's Usage rate is 26.3%, meaning he shoots or turns the ball over on just over 1/4 of the possessions when he's in the game. Despite that, he gets an assist on 25.2% of his teammates baskets while he's in - this AST%/USG% ratio of 0.96 is pretty PG-ish, and it's a decent relative measure of how often somebody passes rather than shoots. Only Jeter (1.96), Beno (1.32) and Head (1.19) have a higher AST%/USG% ratio on the Kings. And not surprisingly, these are all guys being played as PGs. Greene, Garcia and Casspi? Not so much - Garcia is the highest of the three (0.51) and Greene comes in behind him (0.46). Casspi brings up the rear for our wing players at 0.30, lower than centers Dalembert (0.48) and Cousins (0.35) and PF/C Thompson (0.36). Only black hole Landry (0.18) and offensive-rebound-mop-up-specialist Darnell Jackson (0.16) have lower ratios for the Kings.

This isn't to cast an aspersion on Casspi. I like the guy. He's a great shooter when he's on and he's a hell of a hustle guy, and seems to try hard on defense even if he doesn't really get it done yet. Hopefully that D will come with time. But the suggestion that Evans shoulders more blame in the passing game than Casspi is laughable. The numbers show this.

The numbers don't tell the whole story. If you watch Tyreke closely you will see that he often passes only when he has exhausted all of his own scoring options and there is very little time left on the clock. That forces the guy that he passed to to take a shot, resulting in relative high assist numbers. Omri swings the ball quite a bit, and his passes are not necessarily the last pass before a shot is taken.

 

[Kingstime]

In my thread on the Personnel forum, I mentioned that Devin Harris, a PG on the Nets may need to be traded to a 3rd party to give the Nets the flexibility they need in getting Carmelo Anthony. Anybody care to chime in about Harris as a PG???

I like him alot could be a legit top 10 pg if he wasn't so injury prone, currently he's playing through a shoulder injury last time I checked as of Sundays game they played against ATL. He would be a nice upgrade over Beno as a starting 1, but the front office would really have to force the issue on making Reke improving his off ball IQ a high priority for us bringing in any sort of 'real' PG a real success. As of right now alot of people are right when they say bringing in a straight up facilator who can get the guys in the position on the floor, dish it into DMC or Spot up for 3 is what we should be looking for. Bringing in a PG in the mold of Paul, Rondo, Nash, etc wouldn't fit much into Reke's style right now.

 

[Asaf]

I like him alot could be a legit top 10 pg if he wasn't so injury prone, currently he's playing through a shoulder injury last time I checked as of Sundays game they played against ATL. He would be a nice upgrade over Beno as a starting 1, but the front office would really have to force the issue on making Reke improving his off ball IQ a high priority for us bringing in any sort of 'real' PG a real success. As of right now alot of people are right when they say bringing in a straight up facilator who can get the guys in the position on the floor, dish it into DMC or Spot up for 3 is what we should be looking for. Bringing in a PG in the mold of Paul, Rondo, Nash, etc wouldn't fit much into Reke's style right now.

Not that we can bring in any of those guys, but if we somehow were able to get Nash, Paul or Rondo to come here, you would have to tell Tyreke to suck it up and learn to play with them.

 

[Kingstime]

Not that we can bring in any of those guys, but if we somehow were able to get Nash, Paul or Rondo to come here, you would have to tell Tyreke to suck it up and learn to play with them.

Not open up a can of worms, but Reke can't just suck it up to play with PG's like that. His game is extremely raw and he's been playing the game of basketball like this since he's learned the game. He's not a guy who can spot up for an open 3 to be successful, he needs the ball in his hands to get the most out of his game. Also PG's like that flourish with big men that can master the art of the pick n roll and guards/forwards who can spot up to drain daggers.

If the people running this franchise are serious about Reke being our 'guy' than he has to be given the time to learn to adjust his game to get others involved as well as do his own thing. Bringing in any type of ball dominant, highly skilled, passing PG will be a flat out disaster if Reke is seriously the future of the Sacramento Kings. Now on the other hand if we didn't draft Reke last year and we nabbed Cousins this year, a PG in the Nash, Rondo, Paul mode would make things flat out un fair around here in couple years.

 

[Asaf]

Not open up a can of worms, but Reke can't just suck it up to play with PG's like that. His game is extremely raw and he's been playing the game of basketball like this since he's learned the game. He's not a guy who can spot up for an open 3 to be successful, he needs the ball in his hands to get the most out of his game. Also PG's like that flourish with big men that can master the art of the pick n roll and guards/forwards who can spot up to drain daggers.

If the people running this franchise are serious about Reke being our 'guy' than he has to be given the time to learn to adjust his game to get others involved as well as do his own thing. Bringing in any type of ball dominant, highly skilled, passing PG will be a flat out disaster if Reke is seriously the future of the Sacramento Kings. Now on the other hand if we didn't draft Reke last year and we nabbed Cousins this year, a PG in the Nash, Rondo, Paul mode would make things flat out un fair around here in couple years.

First of all, contrary to popular belief around here, it is not a given that Tyreke will become a superstar, and if he does it will take him several more years to get there. In the process, there are a lot of skills he needs to acquire. One of them is the ability to play off the ball. He has to learn it, just like Kobe and Jordan learned it. Being a star doesn't mean you only do what you're naturally good at. Stars need to be able to do everything a great role player does ON-TOP of their star-skills. A team that wants to succeed can't sacrifice ball-movement and team ball just because their star is great at one-on-one play. You also can't build around a star who doesn't have a defined position. Right now Tyreke is not a PG nor a SG, because he doesn't have the playmaking ability of a PG and he doesn't have the off-the-ball skills of a SG. Assuming his potential can be maximized as a Wade or Kobe type player rather than a Magic type player (and please, no size comparisons. Tyreke will never have the court vision and natural playmaking ability that Magic had), he needs to learn how to be a SG, and learning to play alongside a great PG, while it might be a tough experience at times, can only help him in the long run. When he gains enough experience and skills to play a position, then he can take over the team and perhaps won't need a ball dominant PG to play with, but for now it can only do him good IMO.

 

[Big Cuz 15]

i was at the game against the rockets.. the ball didn't move much. i was watching casspi and he basically camped at the 3pt line waiting for the ball to be thrown to him after the penetrators could not do anything.

 

[Bricklayer]

You also can't build around a star who doesn't have a defined position.

Um, that is rather blatantly false.

The great majority of stars started out as floaters, in particular probably becuase their unique skillsets made them possibilities at multiple spots. Wade played some PG and soem SG. Kobe some SF and soem SG. KG was actually a small forward his firsr 4-5 years before shifting. Washington tried Webb at SF. Brkley was a SF who became a PF etc. Its very common. Iverson of course was a combo point, as was Arenas. And really as has been mentioend before, the PGs who play next to the Jordans, Wades and Kobes fo the world are so irrelevant that those guys are ruinning the offense anyway, regardless of what you call them.

 

[bajaden]

Casspi doesn't move the ball much either. He shoots just about everytime he touches it. Maybe he needs to look in the mirror as well...

Not true. Try watching the games more closely. I get tired of these labels that get put on a player, and 10 years later the same people are saying the same things without noticing that the player has made changes in his game. Truth is, Omri really doesn't take that many shots anymore, and for the most part the one's he does take are open shots. He'll still have his occasional forced shot when nothings there, but he's hardly the only culprit on the team that does that.. Next game, count how may times he touches the ball and how may times he actually shoots the ball out of those touches. Then do the same thing with Beno, or Evans.

 

[MassachusettsKingsFan]

Its a tricky situation because things have gotten so bad. The ball handlers dont pass to the wings because they either take bad shots ( because they never get the ball ) or they dont swing the ball back if they have nothing open. We dont feed the post because they rarely pass out ( unless its Cousins, and he only passes out on cutters .. rarely will just pass it back out of the post ) and this happens because he doesnt get the ball enough.

Then when you add in the fact that when a guard or forward gets the ball, and is open, and shoots it .. it doesnt go in. We are a bad jumpshooting team.

We clearly dont trust each other.

When you have a young team like ours, you see a lot of there offense coming naturally by pushing the ball ( young legs let you do this almost all the time ). We arent pushing the ball up the court enough, and when we are we dont convert that as much as we need too. When Reke gets the ball on the break he doesnt even look to pass the ball up, he's going to the basket and then maybe he will pass, but he never advances the ball. This usually causes a charge/bad pass/layup attempt were we are fouled, and then miss the free throws.

Just too many things wrong with us offensively. I actually think the defense has been fine this season for the most part.