Reke vs Boogie - Control of the Team is Brewing

Tetsujin

The Game Thread Dude
#61
And he was ok with watching Rory Sparrow, Jim Les, Dick Motta and countless flotsom... and Tyreke and Westphal sent him over the edge? I'm speechless here.
He's longing for the day of Mitch, and O.P. when one guy didn't really dominate the ball and the big men weren't crazy.... Oh wait
 

Tetsujin

The Game Thread Dude
#62
To your last question, when he is a seasoned veteran, oh about 4 years into his career, and still doing the same thing. Right now he is learning, and part of that learning is learning to trust his teammates and realize that he might not always be the best option to score, and also learning when to pass and when to score and when to defer and when to take charge and when to do all the things that veterans know to do but young players struggle with.

I remember in Kobe's second season in the playoffs, he airballed a contested three pointer . I also remember thinking to myself at the time 'Man, that kid has no conscience, once he figures out his decision making he is gonna be a handful'. I remember thinking that same thing last year when Reke single handedly brought the Kings back against San Antonio but couldn't close the deal because he wouldn't pass the ball. Patience is a virtue.
It was more than one. He tried to go MJ on the Jazz in the 4th quarter and wound up looking silly.
 

rainmaker

Hall of Famer
#65
I don't know who that kid is jacking up those terrible shots, but he's a ballhog, he's missing open teammates, forcing poor shots, should be attacking instead of settling, and won't amount to much in this league. How old is he? 19? 20? Doesn't matter, too late for him to develop. :confused:

Sound familiar...
 
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Bricklayer

Don't Make Me Use The Bat
#67
Brick -
yours was a pretty amazing post, full f detailed approaches that suggests you are writing from seasoned, personal experience.
Quite eloquent.

One thing, though -

Why can't Kings fans have a problem with a player (let's say Tyreke's incessant ball-hoggery and TERRIBLE decisions that have cost the Kings multiple games this year) without them being "filled with hate" or "trying to bring down Tyreke" or "wishing he does bad"?

Basically, Brick -
When is it OK in your eyes, for a fanbase to say to their star player (who's been given more rope than anyone in memory): "Hey! Stop making stupid decisions at the end of games! Pass the ball on the break if a guy is open and ahead of you!"
Tell you what, outside of the far too reasonable suggestion that everybody chill until said star player at least reaches an age old enough to have graduated from college, why doesn't said fanbase earn some of its criticism by balancing the complaints with acknwledgement of everything the kid DOES bring? Because if you were jsut to blow through for a touch of this board's banter you could quickly get the impression that we have one fo the worst players in the league playing for this team, rather than one of the league's brightest young stars wiht some things he needs to work on. Saying a guy is screwing up game ending plays while ignoring the fact his 20pts 7rebs and 5ast is the only reason there even IS a game ending play is myopic to say the least.
 
#68
He is actually. He is one of the bigger Tyreke haters on this board. I like Section 101. but he does have his problem with Tyreke and yes, he is being 101% genuine. I don't agree with the guy, but I repsect his opinion and it is none too pretty when you ask him what he thinks of Tyreke.
I know you won't believe me, but I don't hate Evans. He was #2 on my list. My issues are with how the coaching staff, front office, annoucers and fans put him on a pedistal. He was given the keys way too soon. He's not a superstar ala Lebron coming into the league. He needed to held accountable for his mistakes and pulled like everyone else. I don't like the rules are different for Evans than the rest of the team. He's not a superstar now, in fact, he's an average player. Does he have the physical tools to be a great player? YES. Does he have the brain cells to get there? That's looking to be the downfall more than anything. One thing that applies to just about everything in life. If allowed to continue to make mistakes, especially the same ones, they are not going to stop in the future. The mistakes will continue to happen until a coach steps in and puts a stop to it. Hench the main reason why Westfail needs to go. Someone needs to step in and put Evans in the right place.

Oh and Cousins is actually the polar opposite of Evans. He's actually too smart for his own good at this point in his career with the physical limitations holding him back.
 
#69
I sense that this team is at a significant crossroads. There is a very real possibility Evans will get no better than he is, and become the next Larry Hughes, Cousins could become a team cancer and be moved, and the team will remain in the lottery for years to come, and the team might even move in the next two years. I hope that doesn't happen, but I sense this team is at the precipice and they need to turn things around soon.
 

Bricklayer

Don't Make Me Use The Bat
#70
I sense that this team is at a significant crossroads. There is a very real possibility Evans will get no better than he is, and become the next Larry Hughes, Cousins could become a team cancer and be moved, and the team will remain in the lottery for years to come, and the team might even move in the next two years. I hope that doesn't happen, but I sense this team is at the precipice and they need to turn things around soon.
You do realize that Evans has recovered from his early season issues and returned to last year's level of play, and that Cousins has gotten better every month of the season right? And that this team has been playing the league's elite toe to toe for a month now? There is a crossroads here, but not the one you seem to be so gloomily obsessing about.
 
#71
I don't know who that kid is jacking up those terrible shots, but he's a ballhog, he's missing open teammates, forcing poor shots, should be attacking instead of settling, and won't amount to much in this league. How old is he? 19? 20? Doesn't matter, too late for him to develop. :confused:

Sound familiar...
Kobe made improvements to his game from year to year, not to mention his jumper was better from day one than Evans' is this year. The mark of that calibre of player is the improvement over time. Learning from mistakes, improving upon weak areas of his game, and adding weapons to his game are signs of that kind of potential superstar. With Evans, his jumpshot is lacking and there's no sign of significant improvement from last season. He didn't run a lot of pick and rolls at memphis, and his lack of mastery of this simple NBA staple is also limiting his effectiveness on the court. He's not showing me that he's improved his decision making and shot selection from his rookie season.

The fact is that you can't just compare Evans to Kobe or Wade and say he's going to get there when he's not showing any of the signs of quick progression and improvement that those players did show.
 
#72
You do realize that Evans has recovered from his early season issues and returned to last year's level of play,
And there's a possibility, as I said, that he's not going to get better and he will remain this type of player for some time.

and that Cousins has gotten better every month of the season right?
Play on the court isn't the same as mental maturation. Nobody doubted the talent of Sheed, Marbury, Sprewell, etc.

And that this team has been playing the league's elite toe to toe for a month now?
Worst team in the conference still.

There is a crossroads here, but not the one you seem to be so gloomily obsessing about.
Didn't know if you actually understood my point. I'm talking big-picture. Many fans think Evans is another Wade, and DMC is the next bigman star and that sac will be a playoff team in a couple years in a new building. That's a best-case scenario. I'm saying there's a real possibility of things going downhill for this team because all the signs are there. They could go one way or the other. It's up to them to make it the better outcome. You can't just assume things will end up OK.
 

Tetsujin

The Game Thread Dude
#73
And there's a possibility, as I said, that he's not going to get better and he will remain this type of player for some time.



Play on the court isn't the same as mental maturation. Nobody doubted the talent of Sheed, Marbury, Sprewell, etc.



Worst team in the conference still.



Didn't know if you actually understood my point. I'm talking big-picture. Many fans think Evans is another Wade, and DMC is the next bigman star and that sac will be a playoff team in a couple years in a new building. That's a best-case scenario. I'm saying there's a real possibility of things going downhill for this team because all the signs are there. They could go one way or the other. It's up to them to make it the better outcome. You can't just assume things will end up OK.
Dear lord, are you even a Kings fan? It has been years since I've even heard you say anything positive about anything remotely Kings related.
 

Bricklayer

Don't Make Me Use The Bat
#74
And there's a possibility, as I said, that he's not going to get better and he will remain this type of player for some time.



Play on the court isn't the same as mental maturation. Nobody doubted the talent of Sheed, Marbury, Sprewell, etc.



Worst team in the conference still.



Didn't know if you actually understood my point. I'm talking big-picture. Many fans think Evans is another Wade, and DMC is the next bigman star and that sac will be a playoff team in a couple years in a new building. That's a best-case scenario. I'm saying there's a real possibility of things going downhill for this team because all the signs are there. They could go one way or the other. It's up to them to make it the better outcome. You can't just assume things will end up OK.
Actually almost none of the signs are there. You seem very confused. The signs are pointing in the opposite direction. If Evans never gets an ounce better, and remains "only" 20-5-5, "only" a Joe Johnson/Brandon Roy type player, if Cousins never gets any better, which is a joke given his bball I.Q. and constant improvement, but if you want him to stay a volatile 17 and 9 20 yr old kid for his entire career, be my guest. If you take that sort of vaguely ridiculous worst case scenario, and then go out and use our caproom to buy two high quality vets, which we have the money to do so, maybe retain Daly as well, well in a two week span your team at a crossroads would have just knocked off about 5 of the top 7 or 8 teams in the league. With some ridiculous historically unprecedented complete stagnation of 20yr old talents, we would STILL be a dangerous team.

If you happen to know anybody on depression medication you need to steal a couple of pills and pop them and then take another lok at what is going on around here. The brink this team is on is not the brink of disaster.
 
#75
Dear lord, are you even a Kings fan? It has been years since I've even heard you say anything positive about anything remotely Kings related.
Yes, it's just that I'm one of the few people here who isn't drinking the purple kool-aid when it comes to the team. Everything on this fan forum has a positive spin on it because fans want their teams to do well and want to look at the positive aspects of things. I look at both the good and the bad, and don't always take the 'everything's alright' angle just because I support the team.
 
K

Kingsguy881

Guest
#76
I know you won't believe me, but I don't hate Evans. He was #2 on my list. My issues are with how the coaching staff, front office, annoucers and fans put him on a pedistal. He was given the keys way too soon. He's not a superstar ala Lebron coming into the league. He needed to held accountable for his mistakes and pulled like everyone else. I don't like the rules are different for Evans than the rest of the team. He's not a superstar now, in fact, he's an average player. Does he have the physical tools to be a great player? YES. Does he have the brain cells to get there? That's looking to be the downfall more than anything. One thing that applies to just about everything in life. If allowed to continue to make mistakes, especially the same ones, they are not going to stop in the future. The mistakes will continue to happen until a coach steps in and puts a stop to it. Hench the main reason why Westfail needs to go. Someone needs to step in and put Evans in the right place.

Oh and Cousins is actually the polar opposite of Evans. He's actually too smart for his own good at this point in his career with the physical limitations holding him back.
I wouldn't call anyone who comes in and avg's 20-5-5 as a 19-20 year old rook an average player. Even with his early season woes, right now he is playing MUCH better than average. Ryan Anderson is an average player.
 
#77
Actually almost none of the signs are there. You seem very confused.
LMAO what team are you watching? That's like Portland fans saying Oden isn't injury prone.

The signs are pointing in the opposite direction.
No, there's just the possibility of what the fans want to happen, just as there's the real possibility of things going against what the fans want.

If Evans never gets an ounce better, and remains "only" 20-5-5, "only" a Joe Johnson/Brandon Roy type player, if Cousins never gets any better, which is a joke given his bball I.Q. and constant improvement, but if you want him to stay a volatile 17 and 9 20 yr old kid for his entire career, be my guest. If you take that sort of vaguely ridiculous worst case scenario, and then go out and use our caproom to buy two high quality vets, which we have the money to do so, maybe retain Daly as well, well in a two week span your team at a crossroads would have just knocked off about 5 of the top 7 or 8 teams in the league. With some ridiculous historically unprecedented complete stagnation of 20yr old talents, we would STILL be a dangerous team.
Words coming from a truly biased fan.

If you happen to know anybody on depression medication you need to steal a couple of pills and pop them and then take another lok at what is going on around here. The brink this team is on is not the brink of disaster.
Sorry to break the news, but I've seen too much of the NBA to take your viewpoint. Yes, some players rebound from early maturity issues. And some never do, and it ends up costing them their careers to the detriment of the team. If you honestly think that there are no red flags with DMC, and think there's no real possibility he could create waves for this team, then there's nothing more to say other than you are on the right website.

He can mature and make something of himself and max out his talent and become a star, or not. But to say there's absolutely nothing wrong here to correct and there's no sign of a potentially negative outcome is just putting your head in purple sand.

As far as Evans, he's got to make actual changes before you say he will make said changes. You can't just annoint a guy to be at a certain level when he's not there yet. He can be, or he may not. There's no way you can just assume something will happen just because you want it to happen.
 
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#78
I know you won't believe me, but I don't hate Evans. He was #2 on my list. My issues are with how the coaching staff, front office, annoucers and fans put him on a pedistal. He was given the keys way too soon. He's not a superstar ala Lebron coming into the league. He needed to held accountable for his mistakes and pulled like everyone else. I don't like the rules are different for Evans than the rest of the team. He's not a superstar now, in fact, he's an average player. Does he have the physical tools to be a great player? YES. Does he have the brain cells to get there? That's looking to be the downfall more than anything. One thing that applies to just about everything in life. If allowed to continue to make mistakes, especially the same ones, they are not going to stop in the future. The mistakes will continue to happen until a coach steps in and puts a stop to it. Hench the main reason why Westfail needs to go. Someone needs to step in and put Evans in the right place.

Oh and Cousins is actually the polar opposite of Evans. He's actually too smart for his own good at this point in his career with the physical limitations holding him back.
If Evans is an average player I would hate to see what a below average player is for you or what a star player is.

A player that gives you 20-5-5 every night is well above average. Only in your twisted world is that average!
 
K

Kingsguy881

Guest
#79
Kobe made improvements to his game from year to year, not to mention his jumper was better from day one than Evans' is this year. The mark of that calibre of player is the improvement over time. Learning from mistakes, improving upon weak areas of his game, and adding weapons to his game are signs of that kind of potential superstar. With Evans, his jumpshot is lacking and there's no sign of significant improvement from last season. He didn't run a lot of pick and rolls at memphis, and his lack of mastery of this simple NBA staple is also limiting his effectiveness on the court. He's not showing me that he's improved his decision making and shot selection from his rookie season.

The fact is that you can't just compare Evans to Kobe or Wade and say he's going to get there when he's not showing any of the signs of quick progression and improvement that those players did show.
Of course Kobe made improvements. What did he average his rookie year, like 6 pts?
 
#80
I wouldn't call anyone who comes in and avg's 20-5-5 as a 19-20 year old rook an average player. Even with his early season woes, right now he is playing MUCH better than average. Ryan Anderson is an average player.
And this totally falls under everything I said. He got the 20-5-5 at the expense of the team and learning to play right. Many players could get the 20-5-5 if that was their focus. It was totally forced.
 
#81
Of course Kobe made improvements. What did he average his rookie year, like 6 pts?
My point is at this point in Evans' second season, there's no relevance to Kobe or Wade comparisons. Evans was a better rookie than Kobe, no doubt. But he hasn't shown the kind of improvement that Kobe did in his first 3 seasons. Evans has started off strong and just seemed to coast at around the same level so far whereas Kobe struggled early, but improved and became a premiere perimeter player by his 4th season. I'm not seeing that kind of aspect of Evans in his game. I'm not seeing a steady improvement, learning from mistakes, adding things to his game and improving his play. He's the same kind of player he is today that he was early on in his rookie year.
 
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rainmaker

Hall of Famer
#82
Kobe made improvements to his game from year to year, not to mention his jumper was better from day one than Evans' is this year. The mark of that calibre of player is the improvement over time. Learning from mistakes, improving upon weak areas of his game, and adding weapons to his game are signs of that kind of potential superstar. With Evans, his jumpshot is lacking and there's no sign of significant improvement from last season. He didn't run a lot of pick and rolls at memphis, and his lack of mastery of this simple NBA staple is also limiting his effectiveness on the court. He's not showing me that he's improved his decision making and shot selection from his rookie season.

.
Kobe's 3pt % by year

1st .375
2nd .341
3rd .276
4th .319
5th .305
6th .250

So don't tell me Kobe has some great jumpshot that kept improving from year to year. That's blatantly false, and you know it. You also somehow missed the point, which was at that point in time Kobe was receiving a lot of the same criticism Tyreke gets at this point. Sitting here, acting like a 21 yr old won't improve, is beyond dumb, and the history of player development throughout the league shows exactly that.

The same thing happened with Rose/Westbrook last year, and in the past happened with Kobe, MJ, Nash, DWill, Nowitzki, Stockton, Arenas, and I can go on. All the fans who hammered these guys their first few years, and didn't think they would develop and add to their games in the future, look pretty stupid right now.

I know you don't see any improvement in his game, but it's clear for those who understand the finer details of the game. His 3pt% is up 4% as was already pointed out. His steals and blocks are up considerably. At times he has shown improved vision, and set up countless open looks for teammates. If you're only looking for assists to prove that, you won't see it, because we're one of the worst outside shooting teams in the league. He's improved his movement off the ball over the past 4-5 weeks. His jumper has improved, when on balance, and in a catch and shoot situation. We don't win last night without Tyreke hitting 3 perimeter jumpers in the 4th. One of a catch and shoot 3 from the wing. Another he ran his man off a screen, and hit on on balance 20 footer. The other he squared up, took a couple dribbles to his right, and hit another 20 footer.

I feel you, like many, just compare Tyreke now, to the way Kobe, Rose and Wade play now, and unless he plays at their curent level, claim he's not improving.
 
#83
Yes, it's just that I'm one of the few people here who isn't drinking the purple kool-aid when it comes to the team. Everything on this fan forum has a positive spin on it because fans want their teams to do well and want to look at the positive aspects of things. I look at both the good and the bad, and don't always take the 'everything's alright' angle just because I support the team.




would you like a glass? it's on the house
 

Bricklayer

Don't Make Me Use The Bat
#84
Many players could get the 20-5-5 if that was their focus. It was totally forced.
Uh no.

An either side. One of the amusing distortions of Reke's record as a rookie is that somehow he bootstrapped himself up to 20-5-5 type nubmers, when he fact he averaged those numbers from pretty much the moment he took over the team, including the first couple of months when we were playing like a dangerous team.

And as for everybody being able to do it, yeah right. Because Tyreke was obviously the first high lottery pick ever to join a bad team.
 
K

Kingsguy881

Guest
#85
And this totally falls under everything I said. He got the 20-5-5 at the expense of the team and learning to play right. Many players could get the 20-5-5 if that was their focus. It was totally forced.
BULL****. Pardon my language but that is bull****. Mitch Richmond never IN HIS CAREER avg'd 20-5-5 and he was the MAIN guy doing EVERYTHING for those old Kings squads. Not one of the teams Mitch played on even made it to .500 so that is horse manure.
 
#86
Uh no.

An either side. One of the amusing distortions of Reke's record as a rookie is that somehow he bootstrapped himself up to 20-5-5 type nubmers, when he fact he averaged those numbers from pretty much the moment he took over the team, including the first couple of months when we were playing like a dangerous team.

And as for everybody being able to do it, yeah right. Because Tyreke was obviously the first high lottery pick ever to join a bad team.
How many are given the keys and allowed to do what they want? None.
 

Glenn

Hall of Famer
#90
Yes, it's just that I'm one of the few people here who isn't drinking the purple kool-aid when it comes to the team. Everything on this fan forum has a positive spin on it because fans want their teams to do well and want to look at the positive aspects of things. I look at both the good and the bad, and don't always take the 'everything's alright' angle just because I support the team.
My suspicion is not that you don't drink the purple kool aid but whether there is the possibility you do not understand basketball. Historically the tone of this forum has been very negative as to the direction the Kings have been going. The mood has changed a great deal since the drafting of Tyreka and Cousins and the huge amount of money the team can spend on free agents.

Times are changing and it's in a positive direction. To react to positiveness with negativeness is just, well, kinda weird.