Final thoughts on Kings team in Vegas Summer League

[CruzDude]

1. Tyreke is everything we hoped and is my candidate for rookie of the year vs. Blake Griffin. He is not used to dribbling as much as he did bringing the ball up most of the time (when JT wasn't running a fast break!!!) and showed need for better open court ball control. Had 4-8 TO's every game but averaged 19.2 pts, 6.2 reb and 4.2 assists over the 5 games.

2. Omri is much better than I thought and should become an outstanding SF. It took him all of 4 games to get his rhythm going. Has great long and mid-range shooting form, really good going to the bucket and is an outstanding rebounder, fighting Brockman for many rebounds the last 2 games. Good movement and good defense staying in front of his man most of the time.

3. Brockman is the diamond in the rough for the Kings this year. Undersized but plays much bigger, a monster rebounder. Was 5th best rebounder in VSL but with fewest minutes of all above him: 21.6 min/gm vs 27/31/32/34.6. Great personality, hustles 100% of the time (as does Omri too). Not much of a shooter beyond 12-15 ft but if he gets 10/10 with put-backs, do you mind?

Adding Sean May, who if he is 100% healthy gives Kings great front line: Hawes, JT, Brockman, May and Greene. Greene played the 2, 3 and 4 in last 2 games. Coaches said he did really good but was hard for me to see it. He was fairly invisible much of the time he played, which is good news and bad news I guess. Let's go with good for now based on coaches input.

Non-Kings item: Don Nelson at Golden State must be a happy camper as 3 of the top 8 scorers in all of the summer league where his guys. Looks like another year of no defense for Kings Bay Area neighbors.

Final item. Every time there was a time out and the team huddle around "Coachie", it was amazing. Dead quiet among all the young players. Everyone listened and paid attention. Never saw that before in any summer league game. He kept it simple and was always the teacher, never raising his voice. The perfect example of a Hall of Fame Coach.

That's all for now KingsFans. Hope to get into a pre-season game on behalf of KingsFans.com to update us all. We'll see.

Have a great summer.

Ciao

 

[NoBonus]

Thanks for all of the information, pictures, and interviews! They have been great!

 

[gunks]

I'm hoping Coachie gets all buddy buddy with Tyreke and helps him with his shot.

If he does for Reke what he did for Martin? Oh lord. Beast.


Diggin the word on Omri and Brockman. This team has needed to get tougher for awhile now (although you can argue we were pretty tough when we had the Bonzi/Ron tandem). I think Brockman is going to give us limited but productive minutes. And I wouldnt be surprised to see Omri jump over Greene on the depth chart around mid season. We gotta clear out a 3!

 

[Merdiesel]

Thanks for all the great coverage this summer!

 

[CruzDude]

I'm hoping Coachie gets all buddy buddy with Tyreke and helps him with his shot.

If he does for Reke what he did for Martin? Oh lord. Beast.


Diggin the word on Omri and Brockman. This team has needed to get tougher for awhile now (although you can argue we were pretty tough when we had the Bonzi/Ron tandem). I think Brockman is going to give us limited but productive minutes. And I wouldnt be surprised to see Omri jump over Greene on the depth chart around mid season. We gotta clear out a 3!

After every game Coachie sits down privately with Tyreke, Omri and Brockman but mostly with Tyreke. Quietly, softly and privately. The kids always are nodding their heads. Now its up to them, Shapiro/Strength coach and the IMG training in Florida to put it all together.

I also saw SAR in numerous occasions, during games and after, having one-on-one sessions with JT, Brockman and Greene. JT has a little bit of a stubborn streak but not as much as Hawes by any stretch. Omri and Brockman were sponges and took it all in.

Westphal stayed out of direct involvement before and during VSL games. He was involved in practices. On several occasions he was yucking it up with the Maloofs and on others with a wide range of other coaches, GM's and such that he has known over the years.

 

[Kingster]

I'm with you on Rookie of the Year. I'll stick to my guns - Evans, not Griffin, is going to be viewed as the most talented player in this draft. Thanks for the report. It's going to be fun watching this team next year.

 

[Circa_1985_Fan]

I think Griffin will probably win ROY, he should get 20/10 on most nights and that should be good enough, he IS a beast! Tyreke should have a strong season averaging around 15/5/5 though...NEXT year though should be a monster year for him once he gets a year under his belt! I'm pretty sure we're closer to having a winning season than most people think. Not this year...but closer.

 

[sono]

I'm with you on Rookie of the Year. I'll stick to my guns - Evans, not Griffin, is going to be viewed as the most talented player in this draft. Thanks for the report. It's going to be fun watching this team next year.

Phlease don't be homie, just because we drafted him doesn't make him ROY. Griffin will be, hands down.

Thanks C.Dude for the report.

 

[VF21]

Phlease don't be homie, just because we drafted him doesn't make him ROY. Griffin will be, hands down.

He isn't saying it just because Evans is wearing a Kings uniform. He's saying it as his pick, which isn't without some support in media.

Blake Griffin will have a huge problem - he's playing for the Clippers. As bad as the Kings are, the whole atmosphere of the Clippers is pretty toxic.

Griffin hasn't earned anything quite yet...maybe we should actually let them play a couple of games first?

 

[fnordius]

Blake Griffin will have a huge problem - he's playing for the Clippers. As bad as the Kings are, the whole atmosphere of the Clippers is pretty toxic.

Hmmm...

If NBA franchises were cars, this would be Griffin's Clippers.

This would be the Hornets when Chris Paul won RoY.

This would be the Supersonics when Durant won RoY.

I'm sure that Griffin will do fine.

 

[KingGiant49erFan]

Hmmm...

If NBA franchises were cars, this would be Griffin's Clippers.

This would be the Hornets when Chris Paul won RoY.

This would be the Supersonics when Durant won RoY.

I'm sure that Griffin will do fine.

Winner!

 

[VF21]

Hmmm...

If NBA franchises were cars, this would be Griffin's Clippers.

This would be the Hornets when Chris Paul won RoY.

This would be the Supersonics when Durant won RoY.

I'm sure that Griffin will do fine.

We'll see.

I'm afraid some people truly underestimate the capacity of Donald Sterling to mess things up...seriously.

 

[Circa_1985_Fan]

We'll see.

I'm afraid some people truly underestimate the capacity of Donald Sterling to mess things up...seriously.

Well...to his credit, he hasn't been as much of a slumlord the past few years like he was in the 80's...he made them play in that stank pit LA Sports Arena, no wonder no one ever went to watch them, ick!

 

[Chupacabra]

I just finished watching a bunch of kings vsl highlights on youtube and I must say Tyreke looks like a BEAST! I never knew he was THAT strong of a finisher around the basket. After driving to the basket Evans was taking hard fouls and STILL finishing. I realize hes only playing against vsl competition. I think this guy is going to be an absolute stud. I really hope the kings hold onto him for 10 years. He almost effortlessly gets to the rim and either finishes or gets fouled. Jon Brockman is going to be Scott Pollard part 2. Casspi seems like a mis between Nocioni and AK47. Im going to go out on a limb and say Tyreke is the favorite to win ROY. Only because Griffins game reminds me so much of Michael Beasleys. Beasley is a great player who had a good year with a promising future, but didnt put fourth a ROY performance last year.

 

[KingsCitizen]

Same here...Tyreke is my favorite to win Rookie of the Year over Griffin. For the simple reason that being a 6'10"/6'9" PF will not really make your life easy banging against the likes of Duncan, Bosh, etc. But being a 6'6" 220lbs PG is already a given advantage against most 6'3"-6'2" PGs.

 

[Kingster]

Phlease don't be homie, just because we drafted him doesn't make him ROY. Griffin will be, hands down.

Thanks C.Dude for the report.

I liked Evans more than Griffin before the draft. Still do.

 

[CruzDude]

Hey folks, this is a thread about Kings in Summer league. Not about Beasley vs. Griffin.

 

[VF21]

Note: I've split out the discussion about Beasley v. Griffin into its own thread in the NBA forum...

 

[6th]

My final thought about the summer league is that I am thankful that KingsFans.com had a media person present for pbp, comments, and interviews. And, most of all, that CruzDude did such a great job. Thanks, Dude.

 

[Superman]

I have to be honest: I'm excited for this season to start. I haven't been excited to see the Kings play in three years, unfortunately. But I am now. I know we're not gonna win a lot of games, but I think we're going to put a team on the floor that plays hard, scores points, and shows promise for the future. There are a few question marks, and we're still a few pieces away from contention, but if our young guys stay healthy and form some cohesion with one another, I think the product will be much better than what we've thrown out there for the last two seasons.

Let's go, KINGS!!!

 

[Chupacabra]

One guy that stood out to me was Marcus Landry. Looks like he knows how to shoot the ball. Wouldnt mind giving him garbage minutes off the bench and seeing if he pans out.