Bricklayer
Don't Make Me Use The Bat
Alright, Theme = Top 10 Best Rookies In Sacramento Franchise History
Boxscore
Nocioni ( D ) -- limited and ineffective minutes as a starter this timeout -- played only 14 minutes, and yet managed a +/- of -21. Started off getting stripped on a drive, missing a little jumper, but at least drew a charge on Dirk. Bricked a three on the kick from Beno. Missed a shot so bad it went in off the glass. Came out in the third forcing shots and getting torched by Dirk, who would score 22pts...in the quarter. Did use an up fake to free up for a jumper, but was gone soon therafter and never returned.
1) Tyreke (#4 '09)
37.5min 20.2pts (.458 .257 .747) 5.3reb 5.8ast 1.5stl 0.4blk 3.0TO
All the great ones get by with one name (fortunately he was not named Bartholomew or Herbert). When you see the rest of this list you will realize 1) how we have managed to suck so consistently, and 2) just how special Reke is.
Landry ( A- ) -- big scoring game and all game long he and Tyreke were the duo scoring back at the Mavs, but when you give up 126 you better have a scoring trio at least. Well, I guess saying it was all game long is not entirely accurate -- Carl actually got off to the invisible start in the early going and ws replaced by Donte. Was back as soon as Dirk left, and ramped up the ativity against Dampier and Najera, scoring inside and out. Got the foul line repeatedly as well as Najera is still a true, er, "finesse" player all these years later. Was nowhere on the defensive glass again, but he and Jason repeatedly hurt the Mavs following shots with offensive boards. Added a bad pass turnover trying to feed Reke in the post. Started the second half draining the long jumper. Then drove and fouled hard getting knocked out of the air. Came back with a strong drive +1 through heavy traffic (missed the +1). But obviously could do nothing with Dirk defensively when he was on him (and we seemed to be playing games to avoid that). Started the 4th with a little jumper, but missed the technical FT on a Kidd technical for kicking the ball out of bounds. Had a mixed bag down in the post, attacking, but not always able to get them to go as Najera bounced him around. Got a layup on the break to make it 16 again at the 4:00 mark, but that was kind of the last score where you could say the game was remotely within any kind of reach. 30pt nights are right up there on Carl's high end, and he did it very efficiently too at 10-16 field and 10-12 from the stripe. But going to stick with the "-" here as the boardwork once again wasn't there and his man still outscored him by 9.
2) Lionel Simmons (#7 '90)
37.7min 18.0pts (.422 .273 .736) 8.8reb 4.0ast 1.4stl 1.1blk 2.9TO
The second best rookie we have ever had, and L-Train was never even an All Star. Finished 2nd in the ROY race that year as I recall, to Derrick Coleman (let's hope nothing ridiculous happens with the voting to make Reke share that fate). But the difference was that Coleman was FAR more talented. Lionel put up the numbers, you loved his ability to fill up the boxscore ala Reke. He even came with an ugly jumper with bad form ala Reke (and so was forced to go inside again and again and led the league in getting his groundbound post shots blocked). But he just never had the great talent and was topped out from the moment he entered the league at 22/23 -- his numbers would look the same until his knees started to go three years later. And never a good athlete in the first place, once he lost even a little bit he went from do it all (except shoot) roleplayng SF to end of the bencher and retired before he was 30.
Thompson ( C ) -- as a big man mostly banged around with big ole Dampier out there and generally held his own, but not much more. Took some turns getting worked by Dirk, and in general got little accomplished defensively, neither able to anchor the middle (we were hurt worse outside though) or cleaning up the defnsive glass (almost all his boards were offensive). Made what impact he did on the game largely through a series of those handy for the stats misses, quickly followq the miss, and finish the second one things he specilizalizes in -- was quicker off his feet on that first jump than any of the Mavs bigs. Loses points for all the non-big stuff as he racked up 5 TOs in a variety of unfortunate ways. Had a pass go through his hands for a trunover, traveled trying to fake the jumper. Stripped on the dumb fullcourt drive. Threw two poor soft passes up top in the second half that were picked off by the mavs for easy breaway layups. Did finally get rewarded for his clutziness as he tripped over his own feet and somehow got a foul called on Dirk for it -- see refs can be incompetent both ways. Finished with 12 and 7, but it was a turnover pron and invisible 12 and 7 anchoring a defense that gave up 126 points and getting the details wrong.
3) Jason Williams (#7 '98)
36.1min 12.8pts (.374 .310 .752) 3.1reb 6.0ast 1.9stl 0.0blk 2.9TO
Once upon a time we had our own wildly inefficient quick little guard on a pretty good young team thing going, and no, JWill didn't win rookie of the year for it. Others coming up will have similar or better stats if you take into account the terrible shooting percentages, but impact wise and promise wise this was the #3 guy. Just a special passing talent and with so much flair that you overlooked the flaws, at least until we started to get serious. We missed Pierce and Dirk to get him, which obviously qualifies as oops, but even thoguh he wasn't there to see it through to the end he was a key kid in helping establish the culture of those Kings teams a decade ago.
Udrih ( C+ ) -- another mostly quiet game for Beno as I think he is both not playing that well, and also getting lost in the backwash as Reke has stepped forward into a more dominant role. Something to consider for next year as Beno has worked well with the 20-5-5 kid taking some of the load off of him, but will there still be a need/room for him back there next to a 23-6-6 Reke or a 25-7-7 Reke next season? Got off to the pretty good start to this one with a spin drive and finish, and then a hard quick drive playing off the attention to Reke. Did a great job stopping and stripping JKidd on one break early as well, and was quick to the ball on the offensive glass and hit a little jumper on the follow. Scattered in some nice passes in the second, but was mixed at best on offense, and was geting torched by Barea on defense again (seem to remmeber him having problems wit the little twit before). As the game was blown open in the third got out of control, forcing a drive into the defense and getting blocked, then missing the wild drive spinning both ways. Added a strip of the ball up top from Butler and nice assist to Reke on the ensuing break and wasn't heard from again.
4) Brian Grant (#8 '94)
28.6min 13.2pts (.511 .250 .636) 7.5reb 1.2ast 0.6stl 1.5blk 2.0TO
The last supposedly foundational rookie before JWill was Brian Grant, who was more a solid tough complement to Mitch Richmond than a star in his own right. It would not end up mattering anyway, as he never got any better, hurt his knee, and was only too eager to abandon the team as soon as his contract came up after his third year.
Boxscore
Nocioni ( D ) -- limited and ineffective minutes as a starter this timeout -- played only 14 minutes, and yet managed a +/- of -21. Started off getting stripped on a drive, missing a little jumper, but at least drew a charge on Dirk. Bricked a three on the kick from Beno. Missed a shot so bad it went in off the glass. Came out in the third forcing shots and getting torched by Dirk, who would score 22pts...in the quarter. Did use an up fake to free up for a jumper, but was gone soon therafter and never returned.
1) Tyreke (#4 '09)
37.5min 20.2pts (.458 .257 .747) 5.3reb 5.8ast 1.5stl 0.4blk 3.0TO
All the great ones get by with one name (fortunately he was not named Bartholomew or Herbert). When you see the rest of this list you will realize 1) how we have managed to suck so consistently, and 2) just how special Reke is.
Landry ( A- ) -- big scoring game and all game long he and Tyreke were the duo scoring back at the Mavs, but when you give up 126 you better have a scoring trio at least. Well, I guess saying it was all game long is not entirely accurate -- Carl actually got off to the invisible start in the early going and ws replaced by Donte. Was back as soon as Dirk left, and ramped up the ativity against Dampier and Najera, scoring inside and out. Got the foul line repeatedly as well as Najera is still a true, er, "finesse" player all these years later. Was nowhere on the defensive glass again, but he and Jason repeatedly hurt the Mavs following shots with offensive boards. Added a bad pass turnover trying to feed Reke in the post. Started the second half draining the long jumper. Then drove and fouled hard getting knocked out of the air. Came back with a strong drive +1 through heavy traffic (missed the +1). But obviously could do nothing with Dirk defensively when he was on him (and we seemed to be playing games to avoid that). Started the 4th with a little jumper, but missed the technical FT on a Kidd technical for kicking the ball out of bounds. Had a mixed bag down in the post, attacking, but not always able to get them to go as Najera bounced him around. Got a layup on the break to make it 16 again at the 4:00 mark, but that was kind of the last score where you could say the game was remotely within any kind of reach. 30pt nights are right up there on Carl's high end, and he did it very efficiently too at 10-16 field and 10-12 from the stripe. But going to stick with the "-" here as the boardwork once again wasn't there and his man still outscored him by 9.
2) Lionel Simmons (#7 '90)
37.7min 18.0pts (.422 .273 .736) 8.8reb 4.0ast 1.4stl 1.1blk 2.9TO
The second best rookie we have ever had, and L-Train was never even an All Star. Finished 2nd in the ROY race that year as I recall, to Derrick Coleman (let's hope nothing ridiculous happens with the voting to make Reke share that fate). But the difference was that Coleman was FAR more talented. Lionel put up the numbers, you loved his ability to fill up the boxscore ala Reke. He even came with an ugly jumper with bad form ala Reke (and so was forced to go inside again and again and led the league in getting his groundbound post shots blocked). But he just never had the great talent and was topped out from the moment he entered the league at 22/23 -- his numbers would look the same until his knees started to go three years later. And never a good athlete in the first place, once he lost even a little bit he went from do it all (except shoot) roleplayng SF to end of the bencher and retired before he was 30.
Thompson ( C ) -- as a big man mostly banged around with big ole Dampier out there and generally held his own, but not much more. Took some turns getting worked by Dirk, and in general got little accomplished defensively, neither able to anchor the middle (we were hurt worse outside though) or cleaning up the defnsive glass (almost all his boards were offensive). Made what impact he did on the game largely through a series of those handy for the stats misses, quickly followq the miss, and finish the second one things he specilizalizes in -- was quicker off his feet on that first jump than any of the Mavs bigs. Loses points for all the non-big stuff as he racked up 5 TOs in a variety of unfortunate ways. Had a pass go through his hands for a trunover, traveled trying to fake the jumper. Stripped on the dumb fullcourt drive. Threw two poor soft passes up top in the second half that were picked off by the mavs for easy breaway layups. Did finally get rewarded for his clutziness as he tripped over his own feet and somehow got a foul called on Dirk for it -- see refs can be incompetent both ways. Finished with 12 and 7, but it was a turnover pron and invisible 12 and 7 anchoring a defense that gave up 126 points and getting the details wrong.
3) Jason Williams (#7 '98)
36.1min 12.8pts (.374 .310 .752) 3.1reb 6.0ast 1.9stl 0.0blk 2.9TO
Once upon a time we had our own wildly inefficient quick little guard on a pretty good young team thing going, and no, JWill didn't win rookie of the year for it. Others coming up will have similar or better stats if you take into account the terrible shooting percentages, but impact wise and promise wise this was the #3 guy. Just a special passing talent and with so much flair that you overlooked the flaws, at least until we started to get serious. We missed Pierce and Dirk to get him, which obviously qualifies as oops, but even thoguh he wasn't there to see it through to the end he was a key kid in helping establish the culture of those Kings teams a decade ago.
Udrih ( C+ ) -- another mostly quiet game for Beno as I think he is both not playing that well, and also getting lost in the backwash as Reke has stepped forward into a more dominant role. Something to consider for next year as Beno has worked well with the 20-5-5 kid taking some of the load off of him, but will there still be a need/room for him back there next to a 23-6-6 Reke or a 25-7-7 Reke next season? Got off to the pretty good start to this one with a spin drive and finish, and then a hard quick drive playing off the attention to Reke. Did a great job stopping and stripping JKidd on one break early as well, and was quick to the ball on the offensive glass and hit a little jumper on the follow. Scattered in some nice passes in the second, but was mixed at best on offense, and was geting torched by Barea on defense again (seem to remmeber him having problems wit the little twit before). As the game was blown open in the third got out of control, forcing a drive into the defense and getting blocked, then missing the wild drive spinning both ways. Added a strip of the ball up top from Butler and nice assist to Reke on the ensuing break and wasn't heard from again.
4) Brian Grant (#8 '94)
28.6min 13.2pts (.511 .250 .636) 7.5reb 1.2ast 0.6stl 1.5blk 2.0TO
The last supposedly foundational rookie before JWill was Brian Grant, who was more a solid tough complement to Mitch Richmond than a star in his own right. It would not end up mattering anyway, as he never got any better, hurt his knee, and was only too eager to abandon the team as soon as his contract came up after his third year.
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j/k
