[Grades] Grades v. Lakers 4/26/12

[rainmaker]

Smart was commenting on being asked to grade himself. About Reke, said, I took the chance of moving Reke down to SF to let his game grow there, to eventually move him back, down the line to eventually becoming a 1 again, because I want him to see the game.

Found some of his answers to be awkward.

 

[Glenn]

Smart was commenting on being asked to grade himself. About Reke, said, I took the chance of moving Reke down to SF to let his game grow there, to eventually move him back, down the line to eventually becoming a 1 again, because I want him to see the game.

Found some of his answers to be awkward.

Awkward? Evasive? He's like the glib politician who will take a question and use that to start a canned speech. The comments on Tyreke were interesting because Tyreke's agent came into town and asked what the plans were for Tyreke and if I remember correctly, addressed the SF position specifically. Tellem is a powerful agent and I'm sure it was made clear that his client was unhappy. If I could make out an answer from what Smart said, he took the idiocy of placing Tyreke at the 3 and made it sound like he did it as a growing experience so Tyreke would be a better PG. Does anyone believe that?

If he was my coach, I would tune out very quickly.

 

[swisshh]

Funny. Tyreke's agent wasn't complaining when he was being played out of position at PG.

 

[mac]

Funny. Tyreke's agent wasn't complaining when he was being played out of position at PG.

Funny, the team wasn't losing as much and he wasn't having games where he wasn't getting the ball at all. That may have something to do with it. And the fact that we're now heading into the offseason and there have been reports that the Kings will entertain trade offers for him.

 

[mac]

Smart was commenting on being asked to grade himself. About Reke, said, I took the chance of moving Reke down to SF to let his game grow there, to eventually move him back, down the line to eventually becoming a 1 again, because I want him to see the game.

Found some of his answers to be awkward.

"Travis Outlaw finding a nice little niche at SF" - quite possibly the scariest thing Smart has said, for it has really profound implications.

 

[Gilles]

No chance JVG would ever work for the Maloofs. For starters, he would have to be paid like a veteran coach and not like he was a coach you found at the Dollar Store...

There's only one solution - hire him as a player-coach. JVG will receive $4 million as a player and $1 million as a coach. That would be the greatest use of MLE by the Kings ever.

 

[mac]

This would actually be more consistent with what he said when he first started coaching the team (Tyreke is not a SF, he's getting better as a PG, etc.) than what we saw through the course of the season. And if that was the plan all along, I'm still mad at him for stringing us along like this, but I can see the logic behind it:

If you take a guy who's always handled the ball and you make him play out on the wing and you instead give the ball to a rookie PG and tell him to freeze Reke out, maybe he'll get a better sense for what his teammates feel like out there waiting for him to pass the ball. Maybe when you give him the ball again he'll be in his teammates' heads a little more and instinctively know where they're going to have to be on each play and how hard they have to work to get open because he's done it himself.

That's some Zenmaster level coaching right there. I don't know Keith Smart well enough to say whether he's capable of this or not, but it would partially explain why his option for next year was picked up so quickly wouldn't it? Maybe he told Geoff that he'll make Tyreke a better PG but he needs two years and a whole lot of trust to do it. It takes major balls to even attempt to teach a highly regarded player by intentionally alienating him, especially when you have very little track record with the organization. Don't know that I believe it, but it's a good excuse for his dismal coaching record this season anyway.

As much as I dislike the move, if that was the reason behind it then I can see what he was trying to do. If that was the case however, I think that Smart, being the great communicator that he is, should have made it clear to Evans why he was doing it. And maybe Evans' personality was perfect for him to do such a thing in order to induce some kind of growth. Only time will tell.

If I could ask Smart one/two things it would be - "Are you going to define concrete roles for the guys next season, and will you establish some sort of offensive hierarchy so that guys know what they should be working on during the offseason?"

 

[Bricklayer]

"Travis Outlaw finding a nice little niche at SF" - quite possibly the scariest thing Smart has said, for it has really profound implications.

Well at least he is recognizing that he is a SF not a PF. That's something.

We ran into a whole series of teams shutting it down at the end of the season (everybody except us, the team that would have benefitted from it in the draft), but maybe just maybe Smart could notice how much more smothly we operated with a coinventional IT/Reke/Outlaw/Thompson/Cousins lineup out there wiht 2 main guns, one third gun/distributor, and 2 roleplayers, with everybody playing their natural positons or at leat positons their size let's them play. What a concept.

 

[Bricklayer]

As much as I dislike the move, if that was the reason behind it then I can see what he was trying to do. If that was the case however, I think that Smart, being the great communicator that he is, should have made it clear to Evans why he was doing it. And maybe Evans' personality was perfect for him to do such a thing in order to induce some kind of growth. Only time will tell.

Smart, being the great communicator that he is, changed hsi story on what he was doing half a dozen times in two months, communicating whatever he thought it was political t say at the moment.

 

[UK_King]

All coaches (most) are guarded in that way. Any that come out in full honesty mode either end up on sport center top 10 blow ups, or standing in line at the job centre.

As long as Smart is learning from his mistakes, realising what players can and can't do, well thats all you can hope for right now considering he will be the coach at the start of next season.

 

[Bricklayer]

All coaches (most) are guarded in that way. Any that come out in full honesty mode either end up on sport center top 10 blow ups, or standing in line at the job centre.

As long as Smart is learning from his mistakes, realising what players can and can't do, well thats all you can hope for right now considering he will be the coach at the start of next season.

there is a major difference between being guarded and not answering a question, and in being gregarious and answering it repeatedly, just changing the answer everytime to suit the prevailing mood.

 

[UK_King]

Probably, but i don't pay too much attention to these interviews. It's nice to get a feeling of what the players are thinking and their reaction to games but heavy analysis of what are generally just PR exercises won't tell you to much.

what happens on the court is where the answers will be revealed, and we'll see at the start of next season if Smart is Smart, or he's not.

I'm still on the fence with him, i like his promotion of getting the guys to bond, taking the reigns off Cuz, allowing him to mature. But then he's also given us players out of positon, long stretches of odd line ups and everyones favourite small ball.

 

[jalfa]

firstly: thanks for the dedication, brick! this season has, once more, been real damn hard on everybody. these threads help coping a lot.

secondly: hopefully the Kings will be rewarded for not waving the towel. you know, karma wise. otherwise...welp, typical stuff, I guess.

 

[Section 101]

Smart, being the great communicator that he is, changed hsi story on what he was doing half a dozen times in two months, communicating whatever he thought it was political t say at the moment.

Do you really think he is not talking with Petrie? Just maybe he was trying things trying to learn the players better and see how they react in different positions. It's not like we were going anywhere this season. He didn't have an offseason to watch film of the players. He was thrown in after the disaster of Westfail.

Funny how the small ball coach everyone talks about had his center and PF playing real well.

 

[Capt. Factorial]

Let's see what we do in the offseason. I'm not sure our biggest problem is coach Smart. Right now is our unbalanced roster, too many useless guys. We need to fix a lot of things in this roster, and I hope to see a nice offseason this time.

In my perfect world, this means bye bye Donte, Cisco, Salmons and Chuck (Outlaw too, but I think it will be very hard to trade him).

Donte is the only one of those guys who will be "easy" to get rid of, because we don't have to give him a QO. But I don't think there are a lot of teams out there who want to deal for bad contracts. Outlaw, given his last few games where he finally seemed to put it back together and his more reasonable deal might be tradeable, but not for anything of tangible value. Besides, unless we can find a starter at the 3 either in free agency (doubt we'll spend for Batum) or the trade market we've still got to fill that hole next year, and something tells me that even an MKG or Barnes (if we were to draft those guys) need some seasoning. But Salmons/Garcia/Hayes? We can't just magically make these guys go away, and our broke owners who want to move the team so they don't go bankrupt aren't likely to amnesty anyone. It's Movable Pieces II.

 

[jthompson1]

Thanks Brick, for all of your grades and everything you do all year.

 

[Kingster]

Most important thing of the night, other than getting fewer ping pong balls, was Reynolds saying that trades will be made. You could almost hear him saying, "COUNT ON IT!". So Cousins isn't going to be traded. Thompson they really want to resign (pretty obvious from the comments during the game), IT isn't going to be traded. That leaves Tyreke and Thornton. And I guess it leaves Salmons also, though trading a guy the year after you just traded for him isn't something that Petrie typically does. Nobody would give anything of value for any other player on this roster. At least one guy is going to be packing his bags...

 

[kingsnation]

Smart was commenting on being asked to grade himself. About Reke, said, I took the chance of moving Reke down to SF to let his game grow there, to eventually move him back, down the line to eventually becoming a 1 again, because I want him to see the game.

Found some of his answers to be awkward.

After watching it a second time, I still have no idea what Smart is getting at with that comment.

 

[kingsnation]

Most important thing of the night, other than getting fewer ping pong balls, was Reynolds saying that trades will be made. You could almost hear him saying, "COUNT ON IT!". So Cousins isn't going to be traded. Thompson they really want to resign (pretty obvious from the comments during the game), IT isn't going to be traded. That leaves Tyreke and Thornton. And I guess it leaves Salmons also, though trading a guy the year after you just traded for him isn't something that Petrie typically does. Nobody would give anything of value for any other player on this roster. At least one guy is going to be packing his bags...

Off the top of my head, I think we traded Noc just a year after acquiring him. And while we didn't trade him, we were quick to just let JJ Hickson walk. So, hopefully **hopefully** we might be trading Salmons and/or Outlaw.

 

[pshn80]

Well, regardless of what Smart said in the media, I always felt like Tyreke at SF was a short term move because Thomas was playing so well and Salmons was playing so bad.

So it doesn't surprise me that Smart wants to move Evans back to a guard spot next season. I want to move him there too. Hopefully AK47 is still on our radar.

One more note on Smart .. I really like a lot about him. That's not to say that there aren't things I dislike about him though. His rotations suck, and I mean suck, but now that we know he'll be around next season we can only hope in was a roster balance problem and not a Keith Smart problem. He gave each player a copy of this book after the game tonight, which I thought was a cool gesture.

https://twitter.com/#!/BlakeEllington/status/195744268210552832/photo/1

A postscript, Smart was asked how he evaluated his own coaching this year. He answered pointing to what he regards as his strong suit coming in - his effectiveness in communicating with his players and staff, his ability to help people gel as a team and get along. Also, he mentioned that he is still learning and improving on his in-game management, rotations, etc. I think he knows what he doing and where he needs to improve, and now he knows the players better. Keep fingers crossed.

 

[gunks]

Er...what? Got a video link to that?

Quite possibly translated er..I screwed up, Reke's agent just left a meeting with Geoff, I want to sound like I can work with this guy, please don't fire me.

Thats probably a good translation!

Well, sweet...The Reke at SF experiment that was doomed to failure from the start failed, and now we can go back to watching Reke beat little dudes up as a guard!

 

[pshn80]

They aren't moving Tyreke back to PG. They'll move him to SG if anything. Cousins would choke out Smart if he let Reke run the offense again.

Doesn't really matter what is said now, because it all depends on having a more balanced roster next year so you don't have a gaping hole at SF to fill.

This is certainly the common view on here. But ........ we haven't tried Tyreke at the 2 except in the last three games, so I would like to try the starting lineup of these last three games to start next season, including Outlaw. He has not been tried at starting SF until these last three games. At his point, that is my preference. If something better happens, great - but I'll be here anyway.

 

[pshn80]

"Travis Outlaw finding a nice little niche at SF" - quite possibly the scariest thing Smart has said, for it has really profound implications.

Implications with which I am intrigued. As I said elsewhere, I would give it, the lineup of the last three games, a good try next year. Right now I don't believe we have a better starting lineup - Outlaw for Thornton, I'll buy it.

 

[Glenn]

After watching it a second time, I still have no idea what Smart is getting at with that comment.

He has a problem with communication doesn't he? Give me awkward old Adelman any day.

 

[Glenn]

Thats probably a good translation!

Well, sweet...The Reke at SF experiment that was doomed to failure from the start failed, and now we can go back to watching Reke beat little dudes up as a guard!

Now we have two positions (again) where our guy can beat the crap out of the other team. And there is no loss of speed because Cuz never was never much of a part of the fast break accept the crucial roll of rebounder and Tyreke is faster than most the way it is. We'll call it Citrus Ball.

 

[Kingster]

After watching it a second time, I still have no idea what Smart is getting at with that comment.

Here's Smart being honest regarding Tyreke:

He sucks as a point guard; doesn't have the creativity, decision making, shooting ability or versatility for the position. We've got a guy half his size that can dance circles around him. He can't even run a fast break for cyring out loud. He can't put the pea in the ocean beyond three feet, so he's got defenders cheating on Cousins, and no, I don't want defenders cheating on our best player and the guy who got the last guy fired. He's not a great fit at the 2 because again, he can't put the pea in the ocean, and he's not all that great on defense either because he's constantly getting rubbed off screens and puts out the energy when he wants to, which isn't often enough. Thornton is a pain in the A$$ about being moved to the bench and we've got no 3 worth a damn. So there, that's why I put Tyreke at the 3. Any questions?

 

[sdballer]

Here's Smart being honest regarding Tyreke:

He sucks as a point guard; doesn't have the creativity, decision making, shooting ability or versatility for the position. We've got a guy half his size that can dance circles around him. He can't even run a fast break for cyring out loud. He can't put the pea in the ocean beyond three feet, so he's got defenders cheating on Cousins, and no, I don't want defenders cheating on our best player and the guy who got the last guy fired. He's not a great fit at the 2 because again, he can't put the pea in the ocean, and he's not all that great on defense either because he's constantly getting rubbed off screens and puts out the energy when he wants to, which isn't often enough. Thornton is a pain in the A$$ about being moved to the bench and we've got no 3 worth a damn. So there, that's why I put Tyreke at the 3. Any questions?

Oh good. Back to the tyreke sucks and IT is amazing and led the team to such great heights argument. I was afraid we wouldn't get there in this thread.

 

[pshn80]

there is a major difference between vbeing guarded and nit answering a question, and in being gregarious and answwering it repeatedly, just changing the answer everytime to suit the prevailing mood.

May be true but a little harsh.

 

[The_Jamal]

Im more than prepared to give Smart another season to see what he can do. He brought energy and enthusiasm to this team that we haven't seen from the Kings for a long time. His rotations were not good most of the time, but I think (or choose to believe) that a lot of his rotations were affected by inexperience/unbalanced roster.

 

[pshn80]

Most important thing of the night, other than getting fewer ping pong balls, was Reynolds saying that trades will be made. You could almost hear him saying, "COUNT ON IT!". So Cousins isn't going to be traded. Thompson they really want to resign (pretty obvious from the comments during the game), IT isn't going to be traded. That leaves Tyreke and Thornton. And I guess it leaves Salmons also, though trading a guy the year after you just traded for him isn't something that Petrie typically does. Nobody would give anything of value for any other player on this roster. At least one guy is going to be packing his bags...

The other way around. We keep what we have until we have reason to get someone else, and when we do we may have moved somebody. After we get what we want dealing with rest will follow, do not worry.