After listening to KHTK 1140 and reading many of the posts here I thought some of you may be interested (and may even need to read) what a Non-Kings fan makes of your team. As a Phoenix Suns fan I've seen more than my fair share of ownership and management/coaching problems with the Suns.
First let me say this I live in the foothills of Sacramento and as mentioned I am a Phoenix Suns fan but in am also just a longtime fan of the NBA in general. I have never considered myself an actual Kings fan but I do go to a game every once while and obviously because I live here watch a lot of the games on TV. During the Vlade/Webber era I could not help but root for them as I think any fan of pure basketball and unselfish play had to appreciate that team. Even now I root for the Kings to do well because even though they are not "my team", they are the local team and Sacramento is just such a great and unique market for a pro sports franchise. It's better for Sacramento and better for NBA when the Kings are good. It's a shame now that they are playing so poorly for several years in a row now and that cannot be helping the efforts to keep them here.
Now onto the actual subject of this thread. In the last couple weeks and especially after the last couple of games, the general consensus of this board is that Keith Smart needs to be fired. I even remember seeing these threads last season that he needed to be fired not too long after he took over for Westphal.
"He needs to be fired" was also the general consensus of the fans (and this board) in regards to Paul Westphal. "He needs to be fired" was also the general consensus of the fans with Kenny Natt who took over for Reggie Theus who was fired (and most of the fans thought he should be). Remember Reggie Theus is the guy that took over for Eric Musselman who the fans also hated and constantly posted about on this board that he needed to be fired.
Is anybody seeing a pattern here??? Since 2007 the Kings have had 5 different coaches and for the most part the team has played terrible, With each new coach and terrible season, the consensus among the fans (especially on this board) is that whoever the current coach is, they need to be fired.
I'm sorry but when you have 5 different coaches in less than 6 seasons and the team sucks all of those seasons, the real problem isn't the coach. That's just illogical to assume it's always the coach and I if some of you took a step back and saw that you literally blame each new coach every single season, you'd realize maybe it really isn't the coach after all. He's only a small part of the equation when it comes to organizational failure.
The problem is the players themselves, at the end of the day it always comes down to the players. The talent level on this team isn't as good as many seem to think it is and it's just a poorly constructed team.
So while the players are not getting the job done, their performance (or lack thereof) ultimately falls on the GM and especially in the case of the Kings..... the owners who have assembled this roster. Reason I mention the owners, as just as like what happened in Phoenix, often times the GM is at the mercy of what the owners want to spend or more specifically what they don't want to spend. I watched the Suns owner Robert Sarver take a perennial contender and turn them into the mediocre (at best) team they are now all because he wanted to save a few bucks and turn a profit off the team. Sarver used to sell draft picks like Rajon Rondo to other teams for cash. The Maloofs aren't really into selling draft picks but we all know they are the meddling type and make some of Petrie's decisions for him.
Is Keith Smart a good coach? No not really from what I've seen and some of his moves and lineups have me scratching my head too. This can be said for any coach though, even the best coaches like Phil Jackson have weird little quirks, annoyances, and biases that anger a portion of their fan-base. After watching the NBA for many years it's clear that no head coach is perfect. Keith Smart definitely has some quirks and annoyances but ultimately it falls on the individual performances of his players (especially his best players). Curiously Keith Smart seemed to be perceived as a much better coach when he was with the Warriors.
Now about those players....
Tyreke Evans is highly overrated by the average Kings fan and when you have a team where Tyreke Evans is the first or second best player......by default you are a bad team. He's just another volume scoring combo guard that puts up big numbers on terrible teams.
Unfortunately I think many fans and even some experts feel that Tyreke Evans is some sort of foundation type player or budding star but the reality is players with his skill-set are a dime-a-dozen and they don't help you win because they don't make anybody on their team better. I remember when Ben Gordon was supposedly a rising star and was being held down as the "sixth man" on the Bulls. Long story short, Ben Gordon went to Detroit to get more numbers and more money and Detroit has sucked ever since.
Tyreke is great at getting to the basket (for himself) but as we all know now, he can't shoot and more importantly he does nothing to make his teammates better. Tyreke for the most part only passes to teammates as a last resort because he can't get his own shot off. If anybody knows anything from watching the Vlade/Webber era of the Kings it's that good teams tend to want to pass the ball to each other and actually enjoy getting easy baskets for the teammates. Bad teams have a "me first" mentality and that tone is usually set by some sort of scoring combo guard like Tyreke. When your best player feels burdened having the pass the ball to another player that's a recipe for failure. The only time it even remotely works is when that best player just has a ridiculously high skill and shooting level like Kobe or Durant......and even Kobe had to learn that without making his teammates better he could not win a title.
Bottom line is that as long as Tyreke is the first or second best player on the Kings they are going to be a bad team. End of story, guys like Tyreke exist to put up good numbers on bad teams. Same can be said for Al Jefferson on Utah that we saw last night.
DeMarcus Cousins is a very talented but as we know he's also a headcase and very immature. Watching some of the games this year he actually seems to have regressed and it appears the selfish "me first" forced shooting mentality is starting to get to him too. When you play with guys like Tyreke, Salmons, and Marcus though I guess that kind of mentality starts to rub off. I thought DeMarcus was going to be the kind of guy that you could run an offense through and make other guys (his guards) better but sadly he seems to now just rush and force most of his touches on the offensive end. Case in point his .427 FG% which is pathetic for a PF. The question is can he be fixed and even if you can get his game back on track can you ever get his head straight too?
I actually think some of the Kings role-players are talented and could really thrive in the right situations but when your best two players are Tyreke Evans and a suddenly regressing DeMarcus Cousins it really doesn't matter about any of the role-players. The tone is set with those two guys.
Everybody wanted to blame Keith Smart last night but is it's Keith Smart's fault that DeMarcus forced two or three possessions in a row? Is it Keith Smart's fault that Tyreke Evans took two terrible shots in the closing minutes and did not even attempt to find teammates on those possessions.
Is it Keith Smart's fault that Tyreke Evans completely blew his assignment and let Gordon Hayward get a wide open jumper to win the game? Jason Thompson saw the play developing and was screaming at Tyreke to get out on Hayward before the screen was set, and yet Tyreke fell asleep and did not see the obvious play coming. If Keith Smart is such a terrible coach, how come Jason Thompson knew what was going on and how to stop it (and not even the guy he was guarding) but Tyreke didn't? Sorry but that comes down to the individual player. Great players and team leaders don't have massive blunders like this and so badly blow a defensive assignment to end a game.
After I write all of this above (and yes I know it's way too much), the problem with the Kings isn't the coach , it's the players. The same players that some of you don't seem to realize just are not good enough to be the primary pieces on a good team. They can fire Keith Smart and move on to a 6th coach in 6 years but short of 3 or 4 more wins what does that accomplish? The team will still suck and the same players that are causing all of the losing (and same management that chose those players) will still be in place.
Moral of the story is that if this team is ever going to get back on the right track, Tyreke Evans has to go and it would not hurt if Petrie either went with him or the Maloofs allowed him to actually do his job again.
First let me say this I live in the foothills of Sacramento and as mentioned I am a Phoenix Suns fan but in am also just a longtime fan of the NBA in general. I have never considered myself an actual Kings fan but I do go to a game every once while and obviously because I live here watch a lot of the games on TV. During the Vlade/Webber era I could not help but root for them as I think any fan of pure basketball and unselfish play had to appreciate that team. Even now I root for the Kings to do well because even though they are not "my team", they are the local team and Sacramento is just such a great and unique market for a pro sports franchise. It's better for Sacramento and better for NBA when the Kings are good. It's a shame now that they are playing so poorly for several years in a row now and that cannot be helping the efforts to keep them here.
Now onto the actual subject of this thread. In the last couple weeks and especially after the last couple of games, the general consensus of this board is that Keith Smart needs to be fired. I even remember seeing these threads last season that he needed to be fired not too long after he took over for Westphal.
"He needs to be fired" was also the general consensus of the fans (and this board) in regards to Paul Westphal. "He needs to be fired" was also the general consensus of the fans with Kenny Natt who took over for Reggie Theus who was fired (and most of the fans thought he should be). Remember Reggie Theus is the guy that took over for Eric Musselman who the fans also hated and constantly posted about on this board that he needed to be fired.
Is anybody seeing a pattern here??? Since 2007 the Kings have had 5 different coaches and for the most part the team has played terrible, With each new coach and terrible season, the consensus among the fans (especially on this board) is that whoever the current coach is, they need to be fired.
I'm sorry but when you have 5 different coaches in less than 6 seasons and the team sucks all of those seasons, the real problem isn't the coach. That's just illogical to assume it's always the coach and I if some of you took a step back and saw that you literally blame each new coach every single season, you'd realize maybe it really isn't the coach after all. He's only a small part of the equation when it comes to organizational failure.
The problem is the players themselves, at the end of the day it always comes down to the players. The talent level on this team isn't as good as many seem to think it is and it's just a poorly constructed team.
So while the players are not getting the job done, their performance (or lack thereof) ultimately falls on the GM and especially in the case of the Kings..... the owners who have assembled this roster. Reason I mention the owners, as just as like what happened in Phoenix, often times the GM is at the mercy of what the owners want to spend or more specifically what they don't want to spend. I watched the Suns owner Robert Sarver take a perennial contender and turn them into the mediocre (at best) team they are now all because he wanted to save a few bucks and turn a profit off the team. Sarver used to sell draft picks like Rajon Rondo to other teams for cash. The Maloofs aren't really into selling draft picks but we all know they are the meddling type and make some of Petrie's decisions for him.
Is Keith Smart a good coach? No not really from what I've seen and some of his moves and lineups have me scratching my head too. This can be said for any coach though, even the best coaches like Phil Jackson have weird little quirks, annoyances, and biases that anger a portion of their fan-base. After watching the NBA for many years it's clear that no head coach is perfect. Keith Smart definitely has some quirks and annoyances but ultimately it falls on the individual performances of his players (especially his best players). Curiously Keith Smart seemed to be perceived as a much better coach when he was with the Warriors.
Now about those players....
Tyreke Evans is highly overrated by the average Kings fan and when you have a team where Tyreke Evans is the first or second best player......by default you are a bad team. He's just another volume scoring combo guard that puts up big numbers on terrible teams.
Unfortunately I think many fans and even some experts feel that Tyreke Evans is some sort of foundation type player or budding star but the reality is players with his skill-set are a dime-a-dozen and they don't help you win because they don't make anybody on their team better. I remember when Ben Gordon was supposedly a rising star and was being held down as the "sixth man" on the Bulls. Long story short, Ben Gordon went to Detroit to get more numbers and more money and Detroit has sucked ever since.
Tyreke is great at getting to the basket (for himself) but as we all know now, he can't shoot and more importantly he does nothing to make his teammates better. Tyreke for the most part only passes to teammates as a last resort because he can't get his own shot off. If anybody knows anything from watching the Vlade/Webber era of the Kings it's that good teams tend to want to pass the ball to each other and actually enjoy getting easy baskets for the teammates. Bad teams have a "me first" mentality and that tone is usually set by some sort of scoring combo guard like Tyreke. When your best player feels burdened having the pass the ball to another player that's a recipe for failure. The only time it even remotely works is when that best player just has a ridiculously high skill and shooting level like Kobe or Durant......and even Kobe had to learn that without making his teammates better he could not win a title.
Bottom line is that as long as Tyreke is the first or second best player on the Kings they are going to be a bad team. End of story, guys like Tyreke exist to put up good numbers on bad teams. Same can be said for Al Jefferson on Utah that we saw last night.
DeMarcus Cousins is a very talented but as we know he's also a headcase and very immature. Watching some of the games this year he actually seems to have regressed and it appears the selfish "me first" forced shooting mentality is starting to get to him too. When you play with guys like Tyreke, Salmons, and Marcus though I guess that kind of mentality starts to rub off. I thought DeMarcus was going to be the kind of guy that you could run an offense through and make other guys (his guards) better but sadly he seems to now just rush and force most of his touches on the offensive end. Case in point his .427 FG% which is pathetic for a PF. The question is can he be fixed and even if you can get his game back on track can you ever get his head straight too?
I actually think some of the Kings role-players are talented and could really thrive in the right situations but when your best two players are Tyreke Evans and a suddenly regressing DeMarcus Cousins it really doesn't matter about any of the role-players. The tone is set with those two guys.
Everybody wanted to blame Keith Smart last night but is it's Keith Smart's fault that DeMarcus forced two or three possessions in a row? Is it Keith Smart's fault that Tyreke Evans took two terrible shots in the closing minutes and did not even attempt to find teammates on those possessions.
Is it Keith Smart's fault that Tyreke Evans completely blew his assignment and let Gordon Hayward get a wide open jumper to win the game? Jason Thompson saw the play developing and was screaming at Tyreke to get out on Hayward before the screen was set, and yet Tyreke fell asleep and did not see the obvious play coming. If Keith Smart is such a terrible coach, how come Jason Thompson knew what was going on and how to stop it (and not even the guy he was guarding) but Tyreke didn't? Sorry but that comes down to the individual player. Great players and team leaders don't have massive blunders like this and so badly blow a defensive assignment to end a game.
After I write all of this above (and yes I know it's way too much), the problem with the Kings isn't the coach , it's the players. The same players that some of you don't seem to realize just are not good enough to be the primary pieces on a good team. They can fire Keith Smart and move on to a 6th coach in 6 years but short of 3 or 4 more wins what does that accomplish? The team will still suck and the same players that are causing all of the losing (and same management that chose those players) will still be in place.
Moral of the story is that if this team is ever going to get back on the right track, Tyreke Evans has to go and it would not hurt if Petrie either went with him or the Maloofs allowed him to actually do his job again.
