Donte Greene officially gone?

[Telemachus]

I wonder how much (if any) Donte would have improved with better coaching his first couple years? This is the first year in recent memory that the coaching staff gave each player a plan for them to work on throughout the Summer. I know that one of the things that Coach Smart pointed out to Donte was that he shot 52% from 2pt range and23% from 3pt range this season. Despite that, he still took 40% of his shots beyond the arc.

 

[Prince_XY]

I wonder how much (if any) Donte would have improved with better coaching his first couple years? This is the first year in recent memory that the coaching staff gave each player a plan for them to work on throughout the Summer. I know that one of the things that Coach Smart pointed out to Donte was that he shot 52% from 2pt range and23% from 3pt range this season. Despite that, he still took 40% of his shots beyond the arc.

I don't fault him from doing it because it was not as if he was chucking his shots at the 3-point area. IMO, I thought he was too gun-shy last season as if something was holding him from doing anything he wanted to do.

 

[Telemachus]

I don't fault him from doing it because it was not if he was chucking at the 3-point area. IMO, I thought he was too gun-shy last season as if something is holding him from doing anything he wanted to do.

I'm sorry, but when you shoot 23% from the 3pt line, you should look into take shots closer to the basket IMO. Especially when you shoot at a very high rate inside the arc. For comparison, Tyreke took 99 3pt shots last year (11%) while shooting 20% from there. He knows that the 3pt shot isn't his strength. If you aren't good at something, you don't just keep doing it more and hope for the best. You have adjust how you play based on what you do the best.

 

[DesertFox]

Donte will have a long career but will always leave people a little disappointed. He's going to be a great 9th or 10th man who can play both forward spots and smile on the bench.

The Kings could have easily not traded for Salmons nor sign Outlaw, and go into the draft/FA with Honeycutt/Greene and not be any worse. Whatever, not a huge loss, but still another waste of money and that tiny chance Donte figures it out.

 

[ESP47]

Excuses, excuses! I can list dozens of players who developed and became studs even with crappy coaches/organizations. You just have to persevere. Donte played on a lousy team who desperately could have used him if he was a solid player. He would have had to find a way to stick. Look at IT, look at Thornton, look at Twill. They have all flourished and have established themselves in the league now. Donte was never able to do that. Like others have said, he never had the killer instinct or work ethic. He's always been a poor decision maker on the floor and never developed a consistent shot. He was able to do a lot of things average to below average. In order to stick in this league you need to at least excel in ONE category.

Just because he's 6'10 with "guard skills" doesn't mean he's going to blow up on another team. I think he will land somewhere and probably end up with the same type of role and produce the same type of results. Good luck to him though. Always seemed like a pretty good kid.

Fully agree. Donte showed flashes of being a solid post up player. Every once in a while he would post someone up and I'd be like "no, no, no" and all the sudden he'd surprise me with solid footwork and get himself to the basket with a nice finish. Then he'd cap off the rest of the game chucking 3 pointers at a 20% clip.

The dude is tall, can jump out of the building and is fairly strong, yet he rebounds like a SG. He can't pass or drive very well. He can't shoot at all. He can defend at an ok clip and he's a great team guy but that's about it. I wish him luck but he never progressed like he should have and it's not the coaches fault. You can partly blame them but there are other guys that have shown they can play under these crap coaches.

 

[NoBonus]

Donte is the only Kings player I remember that actually saved someone's life... great guy... I hope he is successful wherever he lands... besides LA..

 

[Spike]

Whether it was external or internal, Donte didn't achieve the potential I thought he had here in Sacramento, and I hope that he gets there at his next stop. He's still young, and has the chance to mature as a player under the right leadership. Best of wishes.

 

[gunks]

Good luck being a non contributor on another team Donte! I'll miss your underachieving ways.

 

[Section 101]

Donte is the only Kings player I remember that actually saved someone's life... great guy... I hope he is successful wherever he lands... besides LA..

Mike Peplowski

How could any Kings fan not know.

 

[funkykingston]

I've always liked Donte and I wished he would have gotten more floor time simply because he has shown that he's (1) a capable defender and (2) a guy willing to play his role both of which we need at the SF spot.

That being said, things like showing up for training camp overweight, being an underwhelming rebounder despite his size, not showing any real improvement from year to year just point to a guy who doesn't have a passion for the game. Which is a shame. As others have said, Donte has NBA size and a positive demeanor and that should be enough to let him have a lengthy NBA career barring injury, but I don't think he's ever going to be a difference maker. I actually think his good nature actually gets in the way of him being a better player. He's just too nice and fun loving to have a real competitive fire.

And while I wish him the best, if he couldn't wrest away a starting job last year on an awful Kings team whose SF options were him, a horrible shooting Salmons, Garcia and Outlaw then I don't think the team will be hurt by his departure.

Good luck Donte and thanks for your time as a King.

 

[Capt. Factorial]

Good luck being a non contributor on another team Donte! I'll miss your underachieving ways.

Classy.

 

[Section 101]

People are going to be wishing they had 6'10" wing defender against Durant for the next 10 years. Donte did a very good job against him this past year.

 

[funkykingston]

People are going to be wishing they had 6'10" wing defender against Durant for the next 10 years. Donte did a very good job against him this past year.

It's really too small a sample size to say anything definitive but I thought the matchup statistics for Durant vs Greene for the last two seasons were interesting.

The Kings absolutely need a defender on the wings. And my hope has long been that Donte would be the SF this team needs. Good to great individual defender, good to great team defender, able to knock down open jumpers, willing passer, athletic on the break and finishing in transition and most importantly understanding his role and relishing it.

On paper Greene seems ideal. But it never worked out. And the fact that the team flat out said he wouldn't be resigned rather than waiting to see what offers were out there and weighing the option of retaining him points (to me at least) to the team feeling like Greene was either detrimental to the team or simply a guy who was never going to put things together.

I mean, if there's no market for him and they could bring him back cheap but still didn't want to that's a pretty big indictment of his game, or lack of preparation, competitiveness or whatever.

Again, I wish him luck and I wish it would have worked out here. But clearly the team feels it's better to find someone else to handle the role we all wish Donte would have claimed.

 

[Fear the Putin]

Donte is a nice guy, or even rather an awesome guy, personality wise. Someone you would definitely want to hang out with. But, his attitude towards basketball was rather odd. He had the talent, but made no leaps, or baby steps for that matter towards becoming a beast that he could have become. Sure, he had his moments on the defensive end at times against Kobe, Durant, but like someone said, very small sample size.

At the same time, we have had some imbeciles for coaches, so that did not help one bit towards his development.
I do hope he lands on a veteran team with a coach ala Popovich that can squeeze out the potential in Donte.

 

[origkds]

I know that all of the coaches that have been paraded by us in the last few years have not done, let’s say, as well as we had hoped. However, they all came in with a clean slate and evaluated the talent they had to work with. Not one of these coaches looked at Donte and said whoa; we’ve got something special here, this kid can really help us if he gets more playing time. Great guy, but he’s not a player that’s going to help put this team back on its feet. I really wanted him to succeed here but I agree that it’s time to let Donte go. Hopefully he will make things happen for himself wherever he lands.

 

[NoBonus]

Mike Peplowski

How could any Kings fan not know.

He helped save Bobby, but Donte dove into the water and pulled a drowning lady out of the American River... similar, but not the same.

 

[FaStRmAn]

Sorry but I may be in the Minority. but never thought much of Donte's game. Too slim to play PF and not a good enough shot or quick enough to play SF. He did play good defense at times.

 

[FaStRmAn]

"Buckets" never could deliver them on any kind of consistent basis. For all the "he could have been, he might one day be," Greene isn't even a streaky shooter, he's a terrible NBA shooter.

Reluctantly have to agree. Never developed into a consistent shooter. That is not good for a wing player who's only asset is his jumpshot. Not like he was pulling down 6-8 reb's a game ever.

 

[kingzallday]

Oh how i hope that we have kept you...Salmons or Reke back to SF. *dies*

 

[Sac.Kings]

Good luck to you Donte... I wish you had the desire to work as hard as possible to reach your potential and I wish the Kings had the ability to properly guide you the past few years. Combine the two and you get an inconsistent young player that never truly developed. I wish you well wherever it is you end up !

 

[kingsfan101]

Good luck Donte.

I think that not extending him a qualifying offer is one of the worst moves we could have made this offseason. What exactly are our plans/options for the 3 spot? I seriously hope we don't keep playing Reke there.

We might resign TW. Yes, he played well. But he was a lottery pick released by multiple teams. These are always red flags that can blow up if he gets the security of a long term contract. Else, we are looking at Salmons/Cisco (more 2 than 3), TO and TH. I would pick Donte over any of them.

Plus, you always need depth. Donte was a cheap player with size who showed promise, and played good defense on even seasoned opponents.

 

[Section 101]

Good luck Donte.

I think that not extending him a qualifying offer is one of the worst moves we could have made this offseason. What exactly are our plans/options for the 3 spot? I seriously hope we don't keep playing Reke there.

We might resign TW. Yes, he played well. But he was a lottery pick released by multiple teams. These are always red flags that can blow up if he gets the security of a long term contract. Else, we are looking at Salmons/Cisco (more 2 than 3), TO and TH. I would pick Donte over any of them.

Plus, you always need depth. Donte was a cheap player with size who showed promise, and played good defense on even seasoned opponents.

Once again. Why are people so against playing Evans at SF yet TW is a solution? They are both the same size.

 

[sdballer]

Once again. Why are people so against playing Evans at SF yet TW is a solution? They are both the same size.

It isn't just playing Evans at SF, its how we play him at SF. Having him stand in a corner while being defended by bigger players and then switching around all of the defensive matchups with IT and Thornton to try and cover their issues. Wasting Twill on offense is one thing, our second most dominant offensive player a whole different problem

 

[kingsfan101]

Once again. Why are people so against playing Evans at SF yet TW is a solution? They are both the same size.

I like Reke at 1. I think he is our second best player, and puts him and the team in the best position to succeed. Making him play off the ball is a bad idea in my opinion.

I also don't like him playing the 3, since it puts IT and MT at 1 & 2, leaving us undersized at 1, 2 and 3.

If Reke plays 1, and TW plays 3, we are still slightly undersized at 2 and 3, but get a huge advantage at 1, which minimizes the size loss at other positions.

And as I wrote, there are no guarantees with TW. We are not even sure if he's coming back, and if he is, do his game and behavior stay at a high level, or go back to the point that forced some teams to release him?