To start with, I think everyone is overthinking this. If you step back, which has been suggested by some, and look how the team got to where it is, at least for this season, I don't think anyone should be shocked by whats happening. Youngest team in the league! Very little training camp and just a couple of preseason games. Out of the eleven players that are playing, five are new to the team. And now, a coaching change.
Now I know that there are some of you that just can't stand, not blaming someone for all of this. There are others that believe none of this should matter, and the team has no excuses. Unfortunately it does matter, and this is the result, at least in the short term. Teams that have been together for a while have a distinct advantage over teams like the Kings.
As far as Jimmer goes, he's doing about what I expected this early in the season. I did think his shot would be dropping a little better, but then I also thought he would be looking for his shot more often. He appears to be atempting to be the distributer on the team. Or maybe he's just trying to fit in. Its hard to be the new kid on the block and say gimme the ball so I can shoot it. I have no doubt that in time he'll figure it out, and the team will figure out how to best use his abilities. I'm not about to say he's having trouble getting his shot, when he's passing up wide open shots.
To single him out for bad shooting though is almost laughable. The whole damm team is shooting badly. He's just one of the many. If you want to feed the the most proficient shooter on the team, then we should get JT around 25 shots a game because he's shooting 58.3% overall. The second best shooter on the team is Evans. Here's a list in order of proficiency.
Thompson: 58.3%
Evans: 45.2%
Cousins: 43.2% (not a good percentage for a big man, but its up recently from being in the 30's)
Thornton: 43%
Hickson: 39% (once again, not good for a big man. Should be close to or over 50%
Greene: 38.9% (not very good, but only a very small slice to judge from)
Fredette: 36% (Terrible for him. This is a guy that shot well in the 50% range in college)
Salmons: 36% (Well below his career average)
Thomas: 30.8% ( I bet a lot of you thought he was shooting better than Jimmer. Nope, just flashier)
Garcia: 28.6%
Outlaw: 25% (This is the guy taking Greene's minutes. Go figure.)
You want to know why were losing? You just can't shoot that badly and win games. Yes, there are reasons why were shooting that badly, and they're way to many to go into right now. But the bottom line in any game is. The team that puts the ball into the basket the most times, Wins!
One final note, and I don't mean it to be an indictment. But if I had it to do over, I might reverse the Hickson trade. He's a very good athlete, with a questionable skill level, questionable hands, an inconsistent jumpshot, and not much of a post game other than dunks. His defensive rotations are just terrible at times, and he's constantly caught guarding someone thats already being guarded. His rebounding is very good at times, and disappears other times.
On the other hand, he's still young, and I have to give him the same leeway I give to the others. Besides, Casspi isn't exactly tearing it up at Cleveland. On second thought, he's shooting 38% overall. Which is not good for a SF in the league, but is better than any SF we have on our team right now.