Another former King calling out Westy for lack of preperation

rainmaker

rainmaker

Hall of Famer
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2011/writers/sam_amick/06/15/antoine.wright/index.html

"My rift, really, with the organization was that I don't think they prepared the guys enough to win basketball games," Wright said. "We were probably the only team in the NBA that didn't have a scouting report. How do you expect a young team to go out and carry a game plan? Every team I've been on, they give you a scouting report on every guy on the team, a couple paragraphs about each guy before you go out there and play against him.
"Coming on the court before the game was chaos -- no structure whatsoever, and we kind of had a laid-back coach. Westphal was pretty laid back, and with a group of young guys, you've got to have somebody who comes in and disciplines them."
Wright wasn't even close to done yet.
"I'm not going to throw any of their players under the bus, but one of the main players who was a big part of our team, his attitude was really, really bad -- I'm pretty sure you can figure out who that guy is," he said before confirming that he was speaking of then-rookie forward-center DeMarcus Cousins. "Tyreke [Evans] had a pretty good attitude. His work ethic wasn't great, but he's a good young player. I believed in him completely. I just don't think the coaches did enough to prepare us to win games."


Read more: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/20...06/15/antoine.wright/index.html#ixzz1PMzyU3UN​


So here we go with another former player stating the Kings coaching staff is sorely lacking in pregame preperation. Say what you want, but this is becoming a pattern. We see the ultra relaxed culture, the team coming out flat on numerous occasions, and question Westy's disciplinary patterns, and have all season. I've said this team looks far too relaxed, and unprepared on a number of occasions. I've said a few times I think this team, a young team, needs much more structure. These young guys need to be tought preperation, and how important it is before stepping on the court.

I do not feel good about this, and it confirms some of my suspiciouns. I really question whether Westy is the right infuence for such a young team, and we occasionally get a glimpse into what happens behind the scenes, and get players revealing a complete lack of preperation. We DO NOT have a team which is ready for the coaching staff to simply assume these guys will prepare correctly, and put the time in. I'm definitely concerned as I see a pattern here, and a pattern which implies our young guns aren't being held accountable, or prepared correctly.

How many times this year did a player call out his teammates for not knowing the play or defensive rotation? Numerous. Well, that might happen when you have a bunch of 1st, 2nd, and 3rd year player whom you don't provide scouting reports for!

This also is the type of thing that gives me zero confidence our staff is keeping tabs on the young guys offseason workouts. We saw how that turned out last year. Basically wasted a training camp getting guys into shape. You never, ever, hear this type of thing about other organizations.
 
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Who's Wright? :)

A disciplined high level college coach might be better for this team. As much as I agree with rainmaker, there is something happening on this team that gives it the mentality to come from behind and win on the road. I don't now what we owe that success to. Maybe the assistant coaches and maybe it's in the players themselves.

I don't understand the cheap shot at Cuz. Sour crapes. Cuz at least busts his butt and sets an example that way. He's imperfect but he has a desire to succeed that is very, very high. If Wright had been on the team a few more seconds, he might have had some kind things to say about how far Cuz came. How did that occur?

I have no answers but there are some good things happening and I don't understand why.

The biggest problem is an ownership unwilling to spend money on a head coach.



Edt: Sorry I didn't read the article or I would have come down more heavy on the source of this "news."
 
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Glad to hear Tyreke is a nice guy with no work ethic.:(

And he rips Cousins. And Westphal.

Truth hurts.
 
William Blake said:
Our coaching staff is far from perfect but this might be just Wright making up stuff to justify his poor play while in Sac.
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This. When you got fired from your old job and are looking for a new one, you're going to do whatever you can to make yourself look better.
 
nebs said:
Glad to hear Tyreke is a nice guy with no work ethic.:(

And he rips Cousins. And Westphal.

Truth hurts.
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He may very well be (w)right about Cousins and Tyreke. This is not news. Nor is the info about Westphal. This has all been discussed before on this forum and we all have concerns that are similar. The only news I saw was that he is now in China playing basketball. He can't be happy. Gotta take out your frustration on someone and heaven help him if he looks at himself.

I am hoping that after this year with Westphal, who may have served his purpose with his ridiculous line ups in identifying the keepers and the losers on the team, we get a better coach. Westphal is what he is and was out of a job for quite awhile. Cousins was drafted at #5 because of "character" issues. I have always thought Tyreke lacked the will of a killer but even saying he is not a hard worker seems a bit cheap.

I think if Wright spent more time on himself, he might be able to play in the US.
 
all the players have a chance to sit down and talk to petrie about everything from what they as players need to work on, to coaching...

not all of our players are rookies and have only played on this team... others have been around or at least know how most pro coaches conduct the team....

if what hes saying is 100% true then this would have been brought to an end by Geoff Petrie and the owners... no one wants this... nor would it be allowed... Geoff im sure checks in with Paul West and asks him from time to time about game plans and where things may have gone wrong...

West is clearly not the ideal coach for this team in my mind and his line up and handling of the roster was clearly toxic... but i still think this story is exaggerated
 
I'm really not interested in what Wright has to say about Cousins or Reke. Those did sound like cheap shots, although he's not the first person by any means to comment on Reke's lack of a work ethic. I wonder about that myself.

But what I do care about is the lack of preperation, and no scouting reports, along with what seems like a pretty undisciplined culture surrounding a young team. Remember, it was Udoka saying this last year. He's not a disgruntled vet with an attitude problem. There is something lacking with this staff when it comes to preperation, which is inexcusible for such a young team. Current players also complained about it after games this season.
 
Clearly Antione Wright isnt a great dude, but lets just look at the facts.

He mentioned how Westphal is laid back. I'm sure most of us thought that anyway.

He mentioned Cousins bad attitude. Yup, we know that.

He mentioned Tyreke is a cool guy with a so-so work ethic. It makes sense to me.

Then he dropped the biggest bomb. The Scouting report thing, which also makes a lot of sense if you watch the games. We rarely stop opposing players from their "Bread and Butter" moves. I cant remember any one game specifically, but I know we often look like we have no idea what opposing players are good at.

Amick kind of backtracked on his twitter account. He mentioned how Kings like to "keep it simple" because of all the young players. And dont want to get them thinking too much. He also mentioned that he knows the Kings scout and he is very good. Most of there pregame "scouting reports" are presented to the players verbally during shootarounds .. and apparently a few years back a Jazz beat writer found a copy of a Kings scouting report, and the Kings wanted to avoid leaving that paper trail.
 
rainmaker said:
But what I do care about is the lack of preperation, and no scouting reports, along with what seems like a pretty undisciplined culture surrounding a young team. Remember, it was Udoka saying this last year. He's not a disgruntled vet with an attitude problem. There is something lacking with this staff when it comes to preperation, which is inexcusible for such a young team. Current players also complained about it after games this season.
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I'm not arguing. It's what you get when you hire a guy at a cut rate. The ultimate blame is to be placed higher up. Westphal is what he is and there should have been no surprises.

The reason I critiqued his throwing in Reke and Cuz is because it shows Wright's state of mind. It was a ***** session.
 
MassachusettsKingsFan said:
Clearly Antione Wright isnt a great dude, but lets just look at the facts.

He mentioned how Westphal is laid back. I'm sure most of us thought that anyway.

He mentioned Cousins bad attitude. Yup, we know that.

He mentioned Tyreke is a cool guy with a so-so work ethic. It makes sense to me.

Then he dropped the biggest bomb. The Scouting report thing, which also makes a lot of sense if you watch the games. We rarely stop opposing players from their "Bread and Butter" moves. I cant remember any one game specifically, but I know we often look like we have no idea what opposing players are good at.

Amick kind of backtracked on his twitter account. He mentioned how Kings like to "keep it simple" because of all the young players. And dont want to get them thinking too much. He also mentioned that he knows the Kings scout and he is very good. Most of there pregame "scouting reports" are presented to the players verbally during shootarounds .. and apparently a few years back a Jazz beat writer found a copy of a Kings scouting report, and the Kings wanted to avoid leaving that paper trail.
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Bubba Burrage is regarded as one of the best advanced scouts in the game so I found it odd how we didn't have scouting reports. Sort of makes sense now though.
 
"Tyreke" just posted on Facebook.. Another good workout this morning! The grind never stops. Striving to be the best....hard work pays off, getting better each day!!
 
I would like to point out that after a game vs the Thunder this year, Grant ripped both Evans and Cousins for not having good work ethics. (His point was the Thunder were in great shape because they had two young star players that work very hard, and right now we don't have that.)

And when he's gotten upset, Grant has called out Evans a few times for not coming to camp in great shape (not bad like Dante, but he's made this point about Evans several times.)

You can point to Wright's bias but if Grant is saying some of the same things ... granted less and less forcefuly, it should be noted.

And the stuff about Westphal ... that's unreal. No scouting report?
 
I can actually understand not giving out scouting reports to young players before every game, especially at the beginning of the season, and especially with the amount of roster turnover we had. I could see a coach declining to do this in an effort to teach his system, regardless of what the opposition does. What good is a scouting report when your team doesn't know how to defend a basic pick-and-roll? Rather than putting together a gameplan based on what the other team does, the coach wants his players to play to their strengths and work on the basic principles. I'm not saying it's the right way to coach if you're looking to win every game, but it could be a more effective teaching method. It could also make the eventual introduction of game-by-game scouting reports that much more effective, since that information is being given on top of the foundation you've already laid for your team.
 
Evans tweaked an ankle and it lingered all year along with that plantar fasciitis . Up until that point he was saying all the right things about working on his jump shot and trying to improve his game, something that according to his "master plan" appears to be something he has been working towards his entire life. I don't think there is any evidence he has a bad work ethic, perhaps the lingering effects of the injuries had him down?
 
Superman said:
I can actually understand not giving out scouting reports to young players before every game, especially at the beginning of the season, and especially with the amount of roster turnover we had. I could see a coach declining to do this in an effort to teach his system, regardless of what the opposition does. What good is a scouting report when your team doesn't know how to defend a basic pick-and-roll? Rather than putting together a gameplan based on what the other team does, the coach wants his players to play to their strengths and work on the basic principles. I'm not saying it's the right way to coach if you're looking to win every game, but it could be a more effective teaching method. It could also make the eventual introduction of game-by-game scouting reports that much more effective, since that information is being given on top of the foundation you've already laid for your team.
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I think I agree with to the basic extent that you better know your roll and how to play in the system where you can execute to perfection before you then concern yourself with everything your opponent is going to throw at you. At the same time I don't think Westphal has all the answers or that he will be the one that ultimately guides us to the promised land.
 
There are some mitigating factors here which explain Wright's accusations--

He was only on the team from September to November during which time Dally was injured, Cousins had yet to mature into his late season form, Tyreke was still nursing an injury and undisclosed personal problems, Donte was benched for being out of shape, Landry and Thompson were trying to define their roles. It was just a mess all around. Most of those problems got sorted out by the end of the season and Wright wasn't around to see things come together. The bit about the scouting reports seems odd, but if they do prefer to deliver them verbally rather than print them out perhaps Wright's biggest problem is that he wasn't considered important enough to the team to be kept in the loop. That's still kind of odd, but it was also early in the season and most teams are probably still compiling information at that point as other teams are sorting out their rotations too.
 
As noted by some others here, Wright was only here to witness anything through November of last year.

It was obvious Cousins had issues back then, we all knew it... he was only in the league for 2 months at that point. But by the All Star break we saw a big change for the better. He stopped challenging the refs, listened to coaching, and had chemistry with teammates.

Tyreke's play back then was extremely hindered because of foot problems. This was when things weren't fully diagnosed and a recovery plan put in place. I'm sure it effected his training as well.

Lastly the scouting reports... It's ironic Wright just got back from China where he couldn't understand the language let alone a written scouting report. Quoted as: Averaging 21pts 6rebs and leading them to playoffs. They labeled him the "Savior" of the team... hmmm perseverance i guess.
 
D13 said:
Lastly the scouting reports... It's ironic Wright just got back from China where he couldn't understand the language let alone a written scouting report. Quoted as: Averaging 21pts 6rebs and leading them to playoffs. They labeled him the "Savior" of the team... hmmm perseverance i guess.
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This is also the same league where Quincy Douby was MVP, for what its worth
 
pdxKingsFan said:
I think I agree with to the basic extent that you better know your roll and how to play in the system where you can execute to perfection before you then concern yourself with everything your opponent is going to throw at you. At the same time I don't think Westphal has all the answers or that he will be the one that ultimately guides us to the promised land.
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Right. It's not like football where you put together a gameplan for each game, go through film study, scout tendencies based on down and distance, call every play, etc. It's possible for teams to win games on talent without consideration for the specific opponent. The triangle offense isn't based on other teams' tendencies; it's based on the strengths of the players in the system.

Either way, I'm not a big Westphal fan. I like some of the things we did, hate some of the other ones. We didn't have a set rotation until mid-March. Certain players were glued to the bench, then thrust into the starting lineup, then put back on the bench. No in between, no spot minutes, just exiled. I think he has other issues. I thought we should keep him through the season, but was hoping we'd go in a different direction next season. Now, I think it's good to keep him for one more year, considering the possibility that the season gets delayed due to the labor issues, and if so, we'll probably be looking at shortened training camps and less offseason contact between coaches and players (if there's a lockout). So you keep the guy that's been here and has some semblance of rapport with his team, the players know their role, more or less, and we don't rock the boat. Yet. And maybe we take a step forward next year. But if not, Westphal will have had three years to show what he can do, and then we can legitimately jettison him and go hard after a good coach. Hopefully the arena issues will have settled by then also, and we'll know for sure that the team will be in Sacramento.

So yeah, I'm not advocating for Westphal, and I think we can clearly do better. I just think the scouting report issue might not be an issue at all, given the circumstances.
 
Even HS teams have scouting reports.Wright is tryin to say a professional team doesn't....
 
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