digging a thread from the grave

[Big Cuz 15]

its funny to reflect on how we looked at reke before the draft last year. i was looking for a video of brandon jennings trashing in a interview but couldn't find it. i ended up w/ this thread..

http://www.kingsfans.com/forums/sho...G-s-in-Minny&highlight=rubio+brandon+jennings

 

[Gary]

I was not on the Reke bandwagon.. I get to watch all the Memphis games and didn't see where he would fit with the current roster we had. Well that and Martin was my favorite King which meant the ball would be out of his hands. I didn't see Reke as a PG I wanted (playstyle wise).

BUT his OVERALL talent level just blew me away last year and rather than fitting pieces together we are better off fitting pieces around Reke.

 

[Tetsujin]

Lets assume for a moment that Rubio is either not available or, his buy out presents a problem. To me, the choice then becomes between Flynn and Evans. Can we set aside for a moment, who is a point guard and who isn't. There seems to be a mindset that its a point guard or nothing. I understand. We need a point guard. But if a potential Dwayne Wade was sitting there, would you pass on him just to get the next best point guard.

The judging critiera for Evans seems to be whether he has point guard skills or not. Well lets assume for a moment that he doesn't. Does that automaticly exclude him from being picked. What if, he's the next Michael Jordan. Or the next Kobe. Or the next LeBron. Yeah, I know, I'm going for the extreme here. But its possible he could be special. Of the three I mentioned, only LeBron was thought of as and absolute when he was picked. Everyone knew that Jordan was going to be a good player. But I don't remember anyone at the time predicting the future he had. Kobe was a raw kid with a huge upside. In many ways similar to Evans. Except that Evans doesn't speak French. At least I don't think he does. And I might add, that Kobe didn't really do much his first couple of years in the league.

It's scary how correct Baja was on Reke.

Bricklayer on the other hand:

Unfortunately neither guy's upside is either. Saying Evans could be the next Jordan or Flynn the next CP3 is like saying that Douby is the next Iverson. Not quite that bad, but just off the charts unlikely to say the least. Probably upside wise you're talking do you want an 18pt 5ast one on one guy as your PG or a 14pt 7ast Jameer Nelson level leader guy as your PG. Either one of them emerging as a HOF level talent is...not likely.

Reke surpassed those stats on the first year.

 

[Big Cuz 15]

i was on the rubio bandwagon. it's funny when looking back, most of the analysts had him in a SG category

 

[Uncia03]

The line which I thought was really funny from that thread was this one:

Evans is kinda giving me those star player on a bad team vibes.

Maybe he'll get rookie of the year and we use him to trade up and grab Wall next draft, haha.

I remember truly hoping that John Wall would find some way to get into that draft and that we'd come out of the lottery with the 1st pick and get him. Then, when we ended up with the 4th pick I hoped that Wall would wait a year, and perhaps we'd have a chance then.

But it's amazing how much can change in a year.

Tyreke just came out and dominated other guards last year, while showing that he can excel at the PG spot. I think that if Petrie had somehow gone and traded Tyreke for the rights to John Wall you'd have a lot of unhappy Kings fans.

The fact that in just two drafts we've picked up what should be a physically imposing and dominant PG and Center, along with an extremely long, athletic shot-blocker who will try his hand at the PF spot is just incredible, and I don't know if things could have worked out any better.

When the Kings are just killing other teams and picking up win after win, there will be a lot of analysts who will be surprised, but for anyone who is really paying attention, it should come as no surprise when we start dominating other teams with our physical play and tenacious defense.

I can't wait for Summer League.

 

[Bricklayer]

It's scary how correct Baja was on Reke.

Bricklayer on the other hand:


Reke surpassed those stats on the first year.

hey there, don't be cherrypicking my quotes. elsewhere in that thread I also called him the dominant one on one player in this draft.

And don't be giving bajaden TOO much credit there. Elsewhere in that same post he goes on to list his favorites, and has Rubio still above Evans. Plus bajaden smells bad.

The guy who really wins that thread retroactively in Kingster, who was jocking Evans up a storm, and wanted him even over Griffith.

There was also this bit of prescience combined with "doh, I wish I hadn't said that"ness from gunks:

Evans is kinda giving me those star player on a bad team vibes.

Maybe he'll get rookie of the year and we use him to trade up and grab Wall next draft, haha.

 

[Gary]

i was on the rubio bandwagon. it's funny when looking back, most of the analysts had him in a SG category

Well yah lol because he was kind of a SG. Started the year at Memphis at SG but they weren't winning much because basically the ball was out of their best players hands most of the time. Personally I still think he's more of a combo guard than anything but with his talent I don't think it matters much where he plays, because he's the guy we want with the ball.

 

[sono]

Hands down kf4l & Kingster were spot on! You two should fill applications for Kings' scouts .

Evans is one of those guys I think the Kings would regret not drafting later on down the road. Tyreke has one of the highest ceilings in this draft. I know we got Martin but I believe Evans has more of a all around game. He can break down the defense with his killer crossovers and finish near the rim or find open teammates, something Martin has yet to show.

Evans is a very good complement for this team. He can handle the ball very well and he can pass the ball; he's just not a Chris Paul creator. The strongest point of Evans's game is getting to the basket and finishing. The weakest is outside shooting. He would be playing on the court with four other outside shooting players, all of whom will spread the court and give him mega-room to drive to the hole. That's a dream for him. He doesn't have to be constrained by a center and pf who would clog the middle and make it much harder to drive to the basket. And when he proves that he's a big threat to going to the hole, teams have to back off their man, making it much easier for him to make passes. Moreover, on defense he's a perfect complement because Martin and he could just switch on screens, as they are both pretty much the same size. That means Martin won't be rubbed off on screens like he always is.

 

[gunks]

Hey now, I nailed it...

He was the star player, and we were a bad team

That being said, I'm glad we didnt trade him for Wall. There were a few "stat padding" games late season (some of the near triple doubles) during the ROY race, but Reke has shown that he can put the team on his back in more games than one. My vibes have changed from "star player on a bad team" to "star player".

 

[bajaden]

hey there, don't be cherrypicking my quotes. elsewhere in that thread I also called him the dominant one on one player in this draft.

And don't be giving bajaden TOO much credit there. Elsewhere in that same post he goes on to list his favorites, and has Rubio still above Evans. Plus bajaden smells bad.

The guy who really wins that thread retroactively in Kingster, who was jocking Evans up a storm, and wanted him even over Griffith.

There was also this bit of prescience combined with "doh, I wish I hadn't said that"ness from gunks:

Ha ha! I smell bad huh? Now I know who that peeping Tom is. Anyway, I give Kingster credit for being one of the first to get out front with the Tyreke campaign. He does get one right once in a while. I did say in a later post that I thought there were only two players in the draft that would be stars in the league, and that the Kings needed a star right now. Those two players were Griffin and Evans. Which is why at that point I went away from perceived need and went with Evans as my first pick, since Griffin would have been gone.

I think where people make mistakes in the draft, and I'm not talking about you, is when they get locked into this person is this, and another person is that. They become too ridgid in their thinking about postitions and what the prototype for that position is. Don't get me wrong. Its nice if a player has an established postion. It makes it easier to scout him. But when they don't, its more difficult, and people tend to look for what the player can't do, instead of what the player can do. There were things that Tyreke could do, and at a level that no one else in the draft could come close to. And thats the stuff that stars are made of.

 

[Widowmaker2k]

I won't lie, I wanted Rubio, but was okay with us taking Evans (think I even said that somewhere). I think it's funny, with all this hype/talk our new front court is getting, people aren't talking as much about Tyreke, despite the fact that he just had one of the best rookie seasons since Tim Duncan. There really is no ceiling for him, in terms of production. Last year, despite having a very flawed game, and a fairly one-dimensional offensive attack, nobody could stop him. Everybody knew exactly what he was going to do, and he just got away with it anyway. Seems to me that's the stuff stars are made of. This link, for example. In that one sequence, every single player the Rockets had on the court tried to defend him, and he beat every single one.

 

[Jechtsphere]

I wanted Rubio but excepted that we would take Evans days before the draft and warmed up to Evans by draft day so I wasn't one of those like

 

[Chupacabra]

I wasnt a member of this board yet but I was thoroughly dreading the possibility of the Kings drafting Rubio. I was literally hoping for ANYONE else. I had VERY limited knowledge of Evans and when he was selected I couldnt help but be really happy lol.

 

[Entity]

I wanted Evans and I wanted Cousins. I actually wanted Ron Artest. Funny how I always get what I want.

 

[MassachusettsKingsFan]

I know I loved Curry last year. I think I mentioned him in every one of my draft posts. I wasnt too far off =]

 

[bajaden]

I know I loved Curry last year. I think I mentioned him in every one of my draft posts. I wasnt too far off =]

You were right about Curry. There was no doubt that he could shoot the ball. The question was whether he could play the Pt in the NBA, and could he create his own shot. I think he answered those questions. The guy I couldn't get excited about was Teague. I just didn't see what some others saw. Apparently there was a reason I couldn't see it.

 

[mcsluggo]

i admit to NEVER having a good feel for college kids... and i ALSO admit to having flashes of a persistent nightmare of a thousand douby's when the Kings chose another combo guard in Evans.

i am not too proud to be wrong