Amnesty John Salmons

[jalfa]

He is just plain abetter player. Better by far on defense, better ball handler, passer, team player. Not as good a scorer but he makes up for that by being helpful as a teammate. Remember, he has not been allowed to play his natural position in this go round with the Kings.

To those of you who think we already have a better backup SG, be my guest, do it your way. May you be happy with the "confident- to-do-it-all-myself" attitude. I don't think he (MT) is very flexible.

even in his best year as a player, John was less productive than Thornton was last year. he is a better defender, yet he still cannot stop anybody. he's a better passer, but both are so bad at it that it hardly makes a difference and he's actually a worse ballhandler. he's a worse rebounder, not by much but he's so putrid at rebounding that it warrants mentioning. the biggest drop between the two is scoring, of course, and it's such a world of difference that it shouldn't be glossed over in a sentence. John Salmons has become a terrible player on offense, his inability to hit three pointers has held back the Kings' offense more than anything but its' coach and his "system". and I fail to see how he's a much better teammate. neither of them has made much noise as a locker room problem and both are inherently selfish. I, too, am on board with trading Thornton and think that Salmons as a backup makes more sense, but to suggest that he's a better player than Thornton is outlandish.

 

[Gilles]

his inability to hit three pointers has held back the Kings' offense more than anything

.371 for Salmons on 3s, .372 for Thornton. Thornton is shooting 3s at much higher rate but most of them are off-the-dribble chucking, not C&S situations that this team needs for spacing.

 

[jalfa]

.371 for Salmons on 3s, .372 for Thornton. Thornton is shooting 3s at much higher rate but most of them are off-the-dribble chucking, not C&S situations that this team needs for spacing.

that's kind of the point. this team has forever needed someone capable of making spot up jumpers and Salmons has failed miserably at that, just like his fellow SFs have. nobody would leave Thornton unguarded at the three-point line and if he actually for once reeled in those off-the-dribble threepointers, I'm willing to bet that his percentage would look excellent.

 

[pshn80]

even in his best year as a player, John was less productive than Thornton was last year. he is a better defender, yet he still cannot stop anybody. he's a better passer, but both are so bad at it that it hardly makes a difference and he's actually a worse ballhandler. he's a worse rebounder, not by much but he's so putrid at rebounding that it warrants mentioning. the biggest drop between the two is scoring, of course, and it's such a world of difference that it shouldn't be glossed over in a sentence. John Salmons has become a terrible player on offense, his inability to hit three pointers has held back the Kings' offense more than anything but its' coach and his "system". and I fail to see how he's a much better teammate. neither of them has made much noise as a locker room problem and both are inherently selfish. I, too, am on board with trading Thornton and think that Salmons as a backup makes more sense, but to suggest that he's a better player than Thornton is outlandish.

You may be right but I'll keep Salmons over Thornton every day of the week.

 

[ESP47]

Salmons is a good all around player about 1/3 of the time. Have you guys forgotten how many 3 point, 1 reb, 2 ast games he gave us as a starter this year? Salmons can shoot 3's, he can handle the ball and he can D up sometimes, but he can also disappear for entire games. I can't even count how many games where we got absolutely nothing out of Salmons. You can't have a non defensive starter putting up zeros across the board every few games. You'll never win on a consistent basis like that.

I'm glad he improved over the year before but he still isn't good enough. If we have a player to develop, then we need to sit Salmons and develop that player. It's not going to be the end of the world or anything if we have to start Salmons again but we aren't going to sniff the playoffs if that's the case. The guy is an old SG who is having to play SF. Can't fault Salmons in any way but it's time to move on.

 

[bajaden]

Salmons is a good all around player about 1/3 of the time. Have you guys forgotten how many 3 point, 1 reb, 2 ast games he gave us as a starter this year? Salmons can shoot 3's, he can handle the ball and he can D up sometimes, but he can also disappear for entire games. I can't even count how many games where we got absolutely nothing out of Salmons. You can't have a non defensive starter putting up zeros across the board every few games. You'll never win on a consistent basis like that.

I'm glad he improved over the year before but he still isn't good enough. If we have a player to develop, then we need to sit Salmons and develop that player. It's not going to be the end of the world or anything if we have to start Salmons again but we aren't going to sniff the playoffs if that's the case. The guy is an old SG who is having to play SF. Can't fault Salmons in any way but it's time to move on.

I had the privilige of grading Salmons for a good part of last season, and there were nights when it was brutal. There were nights, when if you just looked at his results, and not at his minutes played (usually plus 30 a game), you'd swear that the grade would be INC, or DNP, coaches decision. One night, if memory serves, he had 2 pts, 1 rebound, 1 assist in 36 minutes of play. Anyone willing to defend that is just plain out of his mind. You can't be a starter at SF on any team in the NBA and put up stats like that. I like John, but, for whatever reason, he was extremely inconsistent last season. I'd like to say that his poor shooting was a result of good defense by the opposing team, but a vast majority of his misses were wide open three's. John was actually much better shooting the midrange. If he hadn't had a few of those nights where he went 6 for 7 from the three, his percentages would be much lower.