Fire PDA!

[Fear the Putin]

The team from last year sucked. But it doesn't take an analytics master to tell you that the REASON the team from last year sucked was because of defense and rebounding. We scored lots of points. We scored lots more points than Grievez's Hornets. We scored 1ppg less than Landry's Warriors. But we simply could not stop anyone, and we could not close off possessions. As a longtime observer of the team with a better feel for it than our new front office I think, I'll even go into details why: we got no guard rebounding at all outside of Reke, JT had his worst boarding year, and John Salmons was the worst rebounding SF in the game. Meanwhile on defense we were disorganized, our PGs were tiny, our SF was undersized, there was no shotblocking up front, and our center was easily distracted and would take 1 out of 3 plays off.

Ok, so, point being, we lost by being terrible at all the things that serious teams are not terrible at. And so how does the front office address our terribleness? By ignoring defense and rebounding, in fact shipping it out. You can overhaul all you want, but if you don't even understand the problem or you're overhauling just to say you overhauled, you aren't going to get anywhere. In fact you can easily go backwards. Its a lazy and arrogant way to go about things.

We may have scored a lot of points, but for the most part it was inefficient scoring. You would see s slither of team ball every now and then that would look beautiful, but mostly it was one or two guys having a hot hand and going superman. You may say, well what difference does it make? We put the ball in the basket and that's the point isn't it? Well sure, but as we saw time and time again last season, when we started to get close to the end of the game and the intensity tightened up, defenses started to collapse and pressure, suddenly our supermen were making boneheaded me first plays. Whether that be tyreke driving into a wall, Thornton heat checking us out of the game, cousins trying to draw fouls that weren't going to be called at that point in time, or a plethora of other players who either through a lack of chemistry, bad coaching, individual bad habits, or all of the aforementioned didn't know how to play as a team.

That is why there was a complete overhaul of the coaching, front office and as we're seeing, the team as well. They're trying to get pieces that fit, rather than a picasso of talent. There is still plenty of time in this offseason for them to instill their vision. Yes, you need talented defenders to have a good defensive team, but moreso you need trust. So, if you continue to have dysfunction on the offensive side of the ball, you will continue to be pee poor on defense. Look at the warriors. Curry and Thompson are **** defenders, but they bought into the team mold of trust, effort and having a collective imitative to defend. And suddenly, they weren't awful on defense last season...

 

[KingsFanGER]

Ok, so, point being, we lost by being terrible at all the things that serious teams are not terrible at. And so how does the front office address our terribleness? By ignoring defense and rebounding, in fact shipping it out. You can overhaul all you want, but if you don't even understand the problem or you're overhauling just to say you overhauled, you aren't going to get anywhere. In fact you can easily go backwards. Its a lazy and arrogant way to go about things.

Are you sure that we sucked, cause of the individual defense or was it, cause of the team defense? Maybe we can still improve by teaching our players, how to work as a unit on the defensive end?
Maybe we are not able to become an elite defensive team, but maybe we can be solid. I hope so...

 

[bajaden]

I've got to admit. I'm shocked by all these reactions. Way too much anger. Someone actually started a thread calling for Ranadive to fire PDA. Are you kidding me. There's Disney land, and there's reality. Does anyone here, and I mean anyone, actually think thats going to happen? I seriously doubt that anyone with the slightest bit of intelligence thinks thats PDA is going to be fired. Well, if thats true, then what exactly is the point of this thread? It serves no logical purpose, other than to have another place where a bunch of ticked off people can spew more anger and vitriol.

Just what did any of you think was going to happen? Can't you see that new management has a different vision than yours. Apparently they sat down with Tyreke and told him straight forward that they wanted him back, but that they thought his worth was in the 8 to 9 million a year range. Thats the value they placed on him. Now I know thats a different value than most of you came up with, but to be honest, when it was brought up weeks, or even months ago, I thought based on his accomplishments the last four years, that around 9 million a year was fair. When he was offered 11 or 12 mil a year, I like most of you thought, just give it to him and get it over with. But my decision was based more on emotion than it was logic. If not, why then did I think 9 mil was enough before. Emotion can make you desparate. It can make you bid higher than you initially wanted.

When you go on E-Bay, and you place a bid, you usually do your research, and then decide how high a bid to make where you can still consider it a good deal. You don't want to overbid. Well, I think thats what Ranadive, Malone, and PDA did. They did their research on Tyreke and came up with an acceptable price for them. And they refused to go over that price. You might think that they're wrong, and perhaps history will prove you correct. But its their money, and their team, and they have the right to make these decisions. Ultimately, the future will decide if it was the right one or not. I'm not saying that folks on this fourm don't have the right to expess their disappointment, but it would be nice if it was less caustic in nature.

I used to own my own business. When an employee worked for me for a couple of years, and he or she wanted a raise, I gave him or her a raise based on what they had accomplished, and not on what I thought they might accomplish. You see, one is based on proven facts, and the other is hypothetical. You can take a gamble on the hypothetical with a new employee at a low price, but after an employee has worked for you for a few years, thats no longer hypothetical. Now your basing everything on what his or her true value is to you. I believe thats exactly what PDA did with Tyreke. He wanted him back, but not at that price. As far as I'm concerned, its over, and I'm moving on. Because everything else is just wasted energy. Besides, I see normally civil posters turning on one another. Is it truely worth that? Until I start reporting from summer league in Las Vegas, I'll be lurking around the prospects fourm.. But I'm done with this discussion. Sorry for the interuption!

 

[sergmatt]

Cool. We'll see. I'll be laughing when Tyreke comes back and rips Vasquez a new one and watch him struggle to defend other PG like he did last year. I swear some of you only watch Kings basketball and have no IDEA about anything else in the NBA. YES VASQUEZ AVERAGED 9 ASSISTS A GAME. You know the Hornets averaged the same amount as us as a team. OFFENSE WASN'T THE PROBLEM!! It was defense. BUT BUT BUT TYREKE CAN'T SHOOT. Sissy basketball.

And if the Kings win the game who cares what Tyreke does to Vasquez. They probably won't be guarding each other anyways. The Kings were also last place in the league with Tyreke playing defense, so how influential is he on a team's defense again?

 

[Bricklayer]

Again you have to figure (and certainly hope) that they are not done yet. Another move has to be coming. If not maybe PDA really doesn't know what he is doing but nobody can make that determination until a team he puts together actually plays some games. The wins/losses will ultimately tell the story.

One more thing you used the terms "lazy" and "arrogant". It's only lazy if he's not done yet and if what he has done so far doesn't work. As for being "arrogant", that's ironic considering you are always the guy on a message board claiming to know more than all of the recent coaches and GM's this team has had. Isn't that kind of arrogant?

You assume that I would be insulted to be called arrogant?

 

[Darth Divac]

Until I start reporting from summer league in Las Vegas, I'll be lurking around the prospects fourm.. But I'm done with this discussion.

I think I'm going to join you.

 

[Bricklayer]

Again you have to figure (and certainly hope) that they are not done yet. Another move has to be coming. If not maybe PDA really doesn't know what he is doing but nobody can make that determination until a team he puts together actually plays some games. The wins/losses will ultimately tell the story.

One more thing you used the terms "lazy" and "arrogant". It's only lazy if he's not done yet and if what he has done so far doesn't work. As for being "arrogant", that's ironic considering you are always the guy on a message board claiming to know more than all of the recent coaches and GM's this team has had. Isn't that kind of arrogant?

You assume that I would be insulted to be called arrogant?

 

[bajaden]

You assume that I would be insulted to be called arrogant?

As the great general George Patton once said, when compared to general Montgomery. Patton said, "Were both arrogant a$$es! The difference is, I know it". I paraphrase of course.

 

[hrdboild]

Agreed!

Ranadive has been intimately involved with every organizational move thus far. You think he wasn't consulted in Tyreke not being matched and Landry being signed? You think that he didn't ask PDA what his strategy was with Tyreke and Cousins during his interviews? Fire Ranadive!!! You're ruining our....er...your team!

Spoiler

I know only an idiot would think you're serious... but seeing as somebody already thought you were serious, I guess I need to say that I'm not. -.-

I didn't think he was serious, but he said it not anyone else. That's up to him to take back. How anyone could translate "I don't like Pete's decision to let Tyreke go" into "we need to get rid of Vivek" is plain ridiculous to me, but the mind works in mysterious ways they say.

 

[sergmatt]

You assume that I would be insulted to be called arrogant?

LOL true and I'll admit that a guy who knows he is arrogant is much more tolerable than a guy who doesn't and claims to be humble.

That's why Kobe doesn't bother me and I respect him. He's arrogant and smug but he knows does not try to hide it.

Dwight Howard on the other hand is an even bigger egomaniac than Kobe, yet Dwight tries to put on a fake over-the-top "aw shucks I'm humble" act. I've seen better acting from Gary Busey in Point Break.

 

[ockingsfan]

I think people need to calm down. The off season hasn't officially started until July 10th and people are jumping off cliffs. Lets give the new front office some time make some moves.

I have to believe that there other trades PDA is working on to clear the redundant roster.

Give him the rest of the off season to make some moves. I'm sure he signed Landry with the intent of moving one or two of JT, PPat or Hayes to get either a small forward or a defensive player.

It's too early to tell. I am just as upset that they traded Tyreke, but they obviously felt he wasn't worth the bloated contract.

If he can trade some of these contract for a decent small forward and a defensive big, we will be okay.

 

[jpsls]

How is bringing Carl Landry in supposed to change the culture when he was just here two years ago? He already had playoff experience when he came here the first time yet we remained terrible then, did he change the culture? Actually he didn't rebound well for his position, didn't play defense, and was a complete black hole on offense. So in a way you could say the he helped to create the culture that Pete is now hoping to change. I wonder if he even realizes that we already had Carl Landry here as part of this endless rebuild. A lot of the people who commented about this signing earlier in the day didn't seem to realize it.

But that wasn't even what I was referring to. Yesterday, pre-Landry signing, a lot of trouble was made to point out that it was necessary to get rid of Tyreke because we were a 28 win team and he wasn't helping us to win. Actually, this is pretty much the only argument that has been made as to why we shouldn't have re-signed Tyreke. Bad fit, couldn't get along with the rest of the team, big changes were needed. Some of us thought that just maybe adding a new coach and a guard who can actually shoot the ball reliably and trading away the rest of our inefficient combo-guard dominated backline would make a difference in some way and we were told that was completely illogical, coaches don't matter, and Tyreke just is what he is. Fast forward 24 hours and .. um, Carl Landry happened. Uh oh guys, what do you have to say now about your 'coaching is irrelevant and everyone associated with a bad team is cursed with the taint of loserdom' argument? Of course, now everything we said to defend our point of view is being thrown back in our face to once again explain how wrong we are. I don't even have a huge problem with bringing Landry back. Maybe Mike Malone is going to use him better than Westphal and Smart did. After all, that is what I said yesterday about Tyreke isn't it? You want to re-sign Tyreke and then mess around with bringing back Landry for a veteran presence that the coach is familiar with? Fine. At least you're being consistent. But a difference of $4 million per year for a 29 year old undersized PF who peaked as a sixth man over a 23 year old who has one of the best rookie seasons of all time on his resume? Taken together, that doesn't make a lot of sense to me. It just seems more and more like we're moving backwards.

Landry comes in under different circumstances under a new ownership group who's main goal isn't to field a team just shy above the salary cap floor. He's familiar with working with Malone and can show other players how to play in a real system. He also plays fearless down low and converts at a high percentage.

A backcourt of Tyreke and MLM wouldn't have worked unless they signed a ball handling small forward like Iguodala -- but many people would have jumped off a bridge saying he wasn't worth the money. I would have been fine if they signed Tyreke and put him next to a guard with passing ability similar to the Beno days, but they felt they needed to go in a different direction because Tyreke's game and Cousins' don't exactly compliment one another.

 

[andjel]

Lets wait little bit more. Peter Brand deserves some patience.
Moneyball might be more useful than Globtroters.

 

[bajaden]

Cool. We'll see. I'll be laughing when Tyreke comes back and rips Vasquez a new one and watch him struggle to defend other PG like he did last year. I swear some of you only watch Kings basketball and have no IDEA about anything else in the NBA. YES VASQUEZ AVERAGED 9 ASSISTS A GAME. You know the Hornets averaged the same amount as us as a team. OFFENSE WASN'T THE PROBLEM!! It was defense. BUT BUT BUT TYREKE CAN'T SHOOT. Sissy basketball.

From reading your post, one can assume that your not a Kings fan, but your a Tyreke fan. I say that because you seem happy about the prospect of Tyreke, and therefore New Orleans kicking our butt. Me, I'm a team guy. I always wish every player the best when he leaves, but after that, the moment he sets foot on the floor against us, he's now the enemy. Not on a personal level, but on a team level. I never put any player above the team, and I will never root for any player to do well against my team. No one, and I mean no one is irreplacable, and that includes Tyreke. I'm sorry he's gone. But, he's not the first player on the Kings I liked that left, and I'm sure he won't be the last.

Maybe you should check your own loyalities. Its one thing to be upset about losing a player you liked, its quite another to actually root against your own team, and to laught about it..

 

[rainmaker]

From reading your post, one can assume that your not a Kings fan, but your a Tyreke fan. I say that because you seem happy about the prospect of Tyreke, and therefore New Orleans kicking our butt. Me, I'm a team guy. I always wish every player the best when he leaves, but after that, the moment he sets foot on the floor against us, he's now the enemy. Not on a personal level, but on a team level. I never put any player above the team, and I will never root for any player to do well against my team. No one, and I mean no one is irreplacable, and that includes Tyreke. I'm sorry he's gone. But, he's not the first player on the Kings I liked that left, and I'm sure he won't be the last.

Maybe you should check your own loyalities. Its one thing to be upset about losing a player you liked, its quite another to actually root against your own team, and to laught about it..

How did you get that from what he said? Seems you took his Reke vs Vasquez in future matchups comment and ran with it and decided he must not be a Kings fan.

I too will laugh and think it's quite pathetic if our backcourt can't stop Reke in the future either, since we apparently let him go to get better, which PDA says we now are. And better means Vasquez/MLM can check Reke and Reke level players and he won't run rampant over our now worse defensive backcourt.

There's a lot of questioning people's loyalty around here to the Kings and that **** needs to stop. A lot of baseless judgement's on who's a good fan or isn't the last couple of days. Too many with this holier than thou, I will define what is and isn't a good fan mentality.

 

[VF21]

How did you get that from what he said? Seems you took his Reke vs Vasquez in future matchups comment and ran with it and decided he must not be a Kings fan.

I too will laugh and think it's quite pathetic if our backcourt can't stop Reke in the future either.

There's a lot of questioning people's loyalty around here to the Kings and that **** needs to stop. A lot of baseless judgement's on who's a good fan or isn't the last couple of days. Too many with this holier than thou, I will define what is a good fan or isn't mentality.

He said he thought that Agent23 was a player fan more than a team fan.

Is it really necessary to try and find offense in every comment? Some people are really trying to maintain a civil discourse. Your comments do nothing in that regard, IMHO. When you start tossing around "holier than thou" stuff, you're just adding fuel to the fire.

But whatever. You seem to have no problem making some pretty harsh comments yourself, so I find it somewhat odd that you would be one of the ones now talking about what needs to stop. What really needs to stop is the attitude of some that their opinion about the Kings is the only right one and that anyone who disagrees with them is either blind, stupid, uninformed, misled, or just delusional. And almost everyone has been guilty of it at one point in time or another.

I don't think losing Evans will cause irreparable harm to the Kings. I don't think the front office made a mistake in obviously choosing Cousins for the future over Evans. We can discuss it all we like, in all tones of voice, but only time will tell.

 

[Cecil]

There's a lot of questioning people's loyalty around here to the Kings and that **** needs to stop. A lot of baseless judgement's on who's a good fan or isn't the last couple of days. Too many with this holier than thou, I will define what is and isn't a good fan mentality.

People in Sac fought hard to keep this team. I'm happy that many of the nasty comments towards the moves have come from posters (from what I noticed) that are from out of town. It's fine to question moves, but things I read were irrational (in my opinion) because the front office's plans are not what some of the posters' plans were. I figure that many of these people would still root for this team if they moved. Not me.

People who are our voice out in the community (Carmichael Dave, Grant, etc..) seem to always get bashed on this site since I started reading it again. Speaking for myself, I wish people would take it easy, see how this all works out, and give it a few years. The management has said from the beginning that they have a plan and it will take a few years for it to work out. Since they kept the team here, I'm more than patient to see what happens. It can't be worse than it was for the last 5 years or so.... I guess I'm at the point of 'Dude, this guy just saved our team by overpaying for it and is getting us a new arena. Lay off the venomous comments, this team and this arena are bigger than Tyreke Evans or Carl Landry.'

I can go to Kings games for the next 30 years, so I'll let them do what they think is right for this team. They deserved the right. I don't need TyrekeFan32 from Omaha, Nebraska bashing the front office over and over again.

 

[swisshh]

wait wait wait

Grant may be a voice out in the community, but he was not a voice for the fans fighting to keep the team. Let's be clear on that. Nothing wrong with the fans taking a pee on that huckleberry.

 

[Cecil]

wait wait wait

Grant may be a voice out in the community, but he was not a voice for the fans fighting to keep the team. Let's be clear on that. Nothing wrong with the fans taking a pee on that huckleberry.

I listen to the show often. Grant had a lot to do with getting the word out for grass root Kings movements. You may not like him, as many don't, but he got the word out and helped keep the Kings here.

 

[OptimusRhyme]

Once again, I just want to own up to the mistake of making this thread.. It wasn't the logical sober me, that created this.. it was the "JeigerMonster" in me, I swear... lol. So again im sorry for starting part of what seems too be an all out internet war on Kingsfans.com.


As for how I truly feel about PDA. I obviously don't want him fired yet, thats just stupidity. Im going to trust Viveks judgement on Pete and I just hope he has some smart trade ideas that can fix our rosters glaring holes (Defensive Big, SF that can score on his own ).

I do wanna say though, that i am confused we were willing to pay a (24 MPG bench PF that dosent defend well) 6.5 Million x4. But we werent willing to pay our homegrown fan favourite potential star guard 11 mil x4? That too me blows my mind.

Another thing, I think we should of used that capspace on the Shotblocking Lopez instead of Landry. At least Lopez fits nicely beside Cousins and fills a HUGE need. Having Lopez would still open up that option to trade JT or PPat. (Im assuming thats what they got Landry for)

anyways thats my apology and two cents on what I think about the situation. I dont think im ever going to drink again... Go Kings!

 

[swisshh]

I listen to the show often. Grant had a lot to do with getting the word out for grass root Kings movements. You may not like him, as many don't, but he got the word out and helped keep the Kings here.

He got the Maloofs word out. When people challenged the lies the Maloofs were spread through him, he shot them down. He was a voice for the Maloofs. The Maloofs were trying to move the team and he backed them. When he changed tune, it was too late, and not a product of anything but fear for his future employment.

He tried to have it both ways, but you can't. The best thing he could have done was not be a voicebox for the people the community was fighting against, but he was exactly that and there will be no rewriting of history in his case.

 

[rainmaker]

He said he thought that Agent23 was a player fan more than a team fan.

So you don't have a problem with people's loyalty being questioned, a reoccurring theme, yet have a problem with the reaction?

And I fully agree my comments don't help in keeping things civil, but I responded to someone who did little to keep things civil himself. Exactly what do you expect when fans loyalty repeatedly gets questioned? It's not even arguing basketball or the topics at hand.

 

[Dr. Spaceman]

From reading your post, one can assume that your not a Kings fan, but your a Tyreke fan. I say that because you seem happy about the prospect of Tyreke, and therefore New Orleans kicking our butt. Me, I'm a team guy. I always wish every player the best when he leaves, but after that, the moment he sets foot on the floor against us, he's now the enemy. Not on a personal level, but on a team level. I never put any player above the team, and I will never root for any player to do well against my team. No one, and I mean no one is irreplacable, and that includes Tyreke. I'm sorry he's gone. But, he's not the first player on the Kings I liked that left, and I'm sure he won't be the last.

Maybe you should check your own loyalities. Its one thing to be upset about losing a player you liked, its quite another to actually root against your own team, and to laught about it..

I think he's just echoing the observation that there is clearly some dissonance between what this new regime has publicly declared as the priority (defense) and the actions they've taken since making those declarations. The two player acquisitions we've made have clearly pulled our team back in terms of defensive ability. Not to say that Malone can't install a system that promotes success in the area, but the personnel decisions have not complemented such efforts.

First, he trades a player with strong defensive ability in Reke for a player with poor athleticism and defensive ability in Vasquez. Along with passing on Robin Lopez and Jeff Withey (both defensive roleplayers at positions where we needed them) and courting Jose Calderon, I don't think it's unfair at all to question the logic or execution of the plan they publicly declared. So far, PDA has been all talk (and he sure loves to talk), as we have no historical basis from which to gauge whether he can execute or not. We have only his moves so far to judge, and they're not encouraging.

As soon as he begins making moves that dispel some of this incongruity between what he's saying and what he's actually doing, you'll see people step a little further away from the ledge. As of now, he's only creating more questions than answers. That's the reaction you're seeing from the fans right now.

Don't think this is basis to question one's loyalty to the team. In fact, we should all be more loyal to the logo itself and less to the men behind it. Players and executives come and go all the time, and we can't assume that every one of them is good at their jobs. We're all rooting for what we think is best for the team - just that some question that PDA is doing what's best. Hope that's reasonable.

 

[Cecil]

He got the Maloofs word out. When people challenged the lies the Maloofs were spread through him, he shot them down. He was a voice for the Maloofs. The Maloofs were trying to move the team and he backed them. When he changed tune, it was too late, and not a product of anything but fear for his future employment.

He tried to have it both ways, but you can't. The best thing he could have done was not be a voicebox for the people the community was fighting against, but he was exactly that and there will be no rewriting of history in his case.

I don't remember that, but it doesn't mean it didn't happen. I do remember that Grant didn't bash the Maloofs on his radio shows. However, all of the shows got the same muzzle. I believe it came from the management at KHTK. Don Geronimo couldn't even goof on the Maloofs and he does a comedy show. From what I remember Grant stated that the Maloofs were bad owners the past few years, but they were deep down good people. Bad businessmen, but good hearts. I don't listen every day, but I try to catch it on the way home from work.

 

[VF21]

Please do not read any hidden message into this... George Takei posted it on Facebook and it made me laugh. I hope it will you, too.

I can only imagine the plethora of "funny voices" we'd have heard around here from all sides the past couple of days.

 

[The_Jamal]

So you don't have a problem with people's loyalty being questioned, a reoccurring theme, yet have a problem with the reaction?

And I fully agree my comments don't help in keeping things civil, but I responded to someone who did little to keep things civil himself. Exactly what do you expect when fans loyalty repeatedly gets questioned? It's not even arguing basketball or the topics at hand.

You're not seeing both sides. Yo've made up your mind about PDA and you're going to let the world about it. You don't see why that would frustrate other people? 7 days into PDA's career and he's already been called every name in the book. It's infuriating, coming off everything we've gone through as fans and our previous ownership, that some are already throwing PDA under the boss.

There are people who are willing to let this play out and see what PDA does with the rest of the off-season. I don't think I've seen a single poster say "Alrighty. rebuild done! Let's go compete for a championship!" We're waiting to see what subsequent moves happen to follow these two up.

 

[Mike0476]

I listen to the show often. Grant had a lot to do with getting the word out for grass root Kings movements. You may not like him, as many don't, but he got the word out and helped keep the Kings here.

I have listened to Grant a lot along with others I know and he has never to my knowledge said the words "Crown Downtown" on the air or Twitter.

It is like we never existed to him despite him seeing us at city hall with so many of us wearing our shirts as we stood in line for hours.

 

[Cecil]

I have listened to Grant a lot along with others I know and he has never to my knowledge said the words "Crown Downtown" on the air or Twitter.

It is like we never existed to him despite him seeing us at city hall with so many of us wearing our shirts as we stood in line for hours.

You are right about that. I would still say that he did his part on air, but that's my opinion.

 

[hrdboild]

Landry comes in under different circumstances under a new ownership group who's main goal isn't to field a team just shy above the salary cap floor. He's familiar with working with Malone and can show other players how to play in a real system. He also plays fearless down low and converts at a high percentage.

A backcourt of Tyreke and MLM wouldn't have worked unless they signed a ball handling small forward like Iguodala -- but many people would have jumped off a bridge saying he wasn't worth the money. I would have been fine if they signed Tyreke and put him next to a guard with passing ability similar to the Beno days, but they felt they needed to go in a different direction because Tyreke's game and Cousins' don't exactly compliment one another.

You don't know this, you think it. Igoudala is not a better ballhandler than Evans. He is not the only player in the league who could have played with those two. Not to mention, McLemore hasn't played a single game yet. Remember when Petrie shipped Beno out of town to make room for Jimmer before he'd played a single game? I don't think I have to tell you how poorly that's worked out. This whole argument actually has less to do with what happened in the last two weeks with Pete in charge I think and more to do with what happened over the last 4 years. We've finally cleared out the braintrust that led us nowhere and we get a new crew in and I for one had hoped that this would result in a change in philosphy and what I've seen so far smells suspiciously like more of the same. And the whole "Tyreke is a bad fit for this team" crowd have always been here, dropping in every now and then to snipe when he misses a pass on the fast break or turns it over on a last second play. So they've got their time in the sun and they're coming to enjoy it. It turned nasty pretty quickly because it's been boiling under the surface for a long time. We're going to see a similar situation if Cousins is moved next season. The chorus of "headcase" hisses will drown out everything else.

Here's what we do know -- Tyreke Evans failed to become in the last 3 years the player most of us expected him to become after his rookie season. And that's not just us, that's the entire league. He was invited to play with the Olympic team after his rookie year. A similar list just came out this year and he wasn't on it. And the entire process from the Jimmer and Salmons trade to Tyreke and Thornton sharing a backcourt to Tyreke at SF to Aaron Brooks and Isaiah Thomas at point and Tyreke at SG has been like watching a long slow motion train wreck. But it's been 3 years since then, not 10. And Tyreke spent most of one of them injured, then wasn't allowed to communicate with the team for the whole summer because of the lockout and then most of the other season and a half learning to play a position he's never played before in his life. I don't think that constitutes giving him a fair shot. And I think it's more likely than not that a different coach and a different group of teammates would change things for the better. Would it though? I guess we'll see what happens next year.

 

[pshn80]

wait wait wait

Grant may be a voice out in the community, but he was not a voice for the fans fighting to keep the team. Let's be clear on that. Nothing wrong with the fans taking a pee on that huckleberry.

Come on, get a life.