Kings vs. Lakers Preseason Game 5
- Thread starter HereWeBoogie
- Start date
I'm pretty convinced that rotation/depth chart should be
IT/Brooks/Jimmer
MT/Evans
JJ/Evans/Garcia/Salmons/Outlaw
T Rob/JT
DMC/Hayes
with a combination of DMC, Isaiah, MT, Evans, JJ, Brooks, JT, TRob, Hayes finishing games on most night. IT and Tyreke shouldn't start together because they both need the ball. Tyreke kills floor spacing with the starting unit, better for him to come in against bench players and just run rampant on them. For Tyreke defenders, I like Tyreke, but his continued struggles shooting the basketball makes him painfully predictable in a half court offense. No one questions his prowess in the open floor. Of course the other option would be to start Brooks/Evans which i would support as well with JJ starting. I say he tries Brooks,Evans, JJ, TRob, Cuz in the next game and make a decision from there.
IT/Brooks/Jimmer
MT/Evans
JJ/Evans/Garcia/Salmons/Outlaw
T Rob/JT
DMC/Hayes
with a combination of DMC, Isaiah, MT, Evans, JJ, Brooks, JT, TRob, Hayes finishing games on most night. IT and Tyreke shouldn't start together because they both need the ball. Tyreke kills floor spacing with the starting unit, better for him to come in against bench players and just run rampant on them. For Tyreke defenders, I like Tyreke, but his continued struggles shooting the basketball makes him painfully predictable in a half court offense. No one questions his prowess in the open floor. Of course the other option would be to start Brooks/Evans which i would support as well with JJ starting. I say he tries Brooks,Evans, JJ, TRob, Cuz in the next game and make a decision from there.
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This is the part I don't get in the Thornton vs Evans starting discussion and I like MT a lot. There is this constant pressure for Evans to show us something when frankly MT is far more one dimensional. His shooting (when its on) does add a lot to the team's spacing but beyond that he rarely passes, doesn't defend well and is just a gunner. Yet if Evans doesn't become a well rounded all-star, he shouldn't be starting?
The thing is, we haven't really played a great game to this point. Look at our shooting, it's been pretty poor overall. If we can improve our offensive execution/shooting, it will help our defense even more. Our half court defense has been pretty solid, we just get caught with our pants down from bad offensive execution. I see no reason why we can't be competing for that 8th seed. Will we get it? who knows, but if we are out of the race early, it will be a severe dissapointment.
i think thornton passes the ball plenty for a guy who has the firepower that he has. he has 5-6 assist games now and then. he is also a very good rebounder for his size. it seems that he is just very under rated in every aspect of the game, even by Kings fans. and the fact is, if Tyreke cant be more effective and spread the floor, MT just fits the lineup better. no matter who is the more "one dimensional" player
Anyone calling MT one dimensional is obviously blind. The guy is a WORLD CLASS scorer of the basketball. He can shoot the 3, mid range, he is extremely quick off the dribble, incredibly strong for his size(is able to finish strong at the rim), is deadly in the open floor, has shown flashes this pre season of making good smart passes. Good rebounder for his position defensively and offensively, plays the passing lanes very well, isn't a terrible man defender(obviously Kobe will score on most any SG in the league). He has an array of off the dribble shots nearly mastered including pull up jumpers, flips to the basket.
I didn't say he was one dimensional, only more one dimensional than the guy everyone seems ready to give up on because he hasn't developed enough. Frankly I think you are overating the other parts of MT's game and Evans is better at each of those elements besides the outside shooting. Again, I like MT and am glad he's on the team, I just think its odd how many fans are ready to write off Evans for not adjusting his natural strengths to better fit the team but totally willing to overlook any real development outside of scoring from MT
The Lakers didn't rely on the zone, but teams will this season if they have JJ and Tyreke out there as the players meant to space the floor. The Lakers went to a zone half way through the first and the Kings got in a hole.
Tyreke should have the ball. If he's not what they want in a ball handler then move him, but even in this game Tyreke showed he can make freaking plays for himself and his teammate if they just give him the space to do so. Just like with Cousins, need shooting for that, not ball handlers.
Tyreke should have the ball. If he's not what they want in a ball handler then move him, but even in this game Tyreke showed he can make freaking plays for himself and his teammate if they just give him the space to do so. Just like with Cousins, need shooting for that, not ball handlers.
If Thompson isn't being discussed as being taking out of the starting lineup when things get real then they need to do some more talking. He's a good player, but still doesn't provide much of the A list material needs on this team. He's more talented than your average role player but he makes mistakes and has various deficiencies on defense that you can't have from your role players. I like how he looks off the bench. Robinson seems to be finding himself more and more as well.
MT is hands down a better SCORER, theres a difference between shooting and scoring, MT is much more diverse in the ways he gets his points. On the other hand you know that 90% of Tyrekes points will be off of drives to the rim. MT is scarier to gaurd for opposing teams because he could hit the 3, drive with his quick first step and pull up from the mid range, keep driving and flip it up at the rim, or just go strong and finish at the rim. On the other hand when Tyreke is in the triple threat position, the defense will concede the jumpshot and know that he will try and go all the way to the rim and either shoot or pass. Tyreke doesn't have those 6-10 ft flip shots/half hooks that along with an outside shot would do so much for his game.
As I've been saying myself all along, that is why he looks like the fit this team needs though because this team needs SHOOTING. If they are going to take the ball out of Tyrekes hands and have PG by committee again then the same result we've seen will continue on and on. There is a saying about doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result.
And this Reke is a great defender and MT is useless idea is getting old. It's not true. Neither have shown anything to garner close to a stopper label but neither are that bad either. Reke is obviously able to defend more position but I didn't see the Kings shutting down anybody tonight. Oh, other than when Hayes got the chance to finally put a body on some of the Lakers bigs for a stretch that is.
Well, I couldn't watch the game because I don't get NBA TV, but just looking at the box-score...how did we win this game?! We were out-rebounded, our FG% was almost 10% less, our only starter with a positive +/- scored zero points...I mean, I guess it goes to show how important bench play, taking care of the ball, and making your free throws are. Looking at the stats, it would appear this was a team victory (no individual stepped up to carry us). Good for Keith Smart then!
Kings just hung in there. James Johnson and Chuck Hayes both had some defensive impact tonight. Thornton did what Thornton does. Cousins came through in the clutch. Oh and a lot of that had to do with one thing: spacing. Had Brooks, Thornton, and Cisco out there to finish the game. Opened up a driving lane for Cuz and an offensive rebounding opportunity that came up big. I can only imagine what this team could look like if this happened:
1. Let Reke be Reke.
2. Give Reke and Cuz spacing around them and another threat next to them (Thornton!)
3. Let Chuck Hayes actually get a chance to stop the bigs jamming it down the Kings throats at will.
4. Continue to let JJ loose on defense
Also, I just watched the highlights on NBA.com. NBA.com shows 6 highlights of the game. Here are the highlight summaries (written by the NBA.com staff, keep in mind the Kings won the game):
1. Dwight Howard scores 19 and grabs 12 rebounds but the Kings beat the Lakers in Los Angeles.
2. Kobe Bryant beats the first half buzzer with an impressive jumper.
3. Kobe Bryant throws a wonderful pass to Dwight Howard, who finishes with a monster slam.
4. Dwight Howard takes the pass, gets fouled and drains the shot.
5. Steve Nash drives to the basket and drains a tough shot off the glass.
6. Pau Gasol throws a nice pass to Dwight Howard, who finishes with an easy slam.
Remind me again, which team is it that hasn't won a single game in all of preseason? Why no T-Rob put-back dunk?
1. Dwight Howard scores 19 and grabs 12 rebounds but the Kings beat the Lakers in Los Angeles.
2. Kobe Bryant beats the first half buzzer with an impressive jumper.
3. Kobe Bryant throws a wonderful pass to Dwight Howard, who finishes with a monster slam.
4. Dwight Howard takes the pass, gets fouled and drains the shot.
5. Steve Nash drives to the basket and drains a tough shot off the glass.
6. Pau Gasol throws a nice pass to Dwight Howard, who finishes with an easy slam.
Remind me again, which team is it that hasn't won a single game in all of preseason? Why no T-Rob put-back dunk?
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