Has Westphal lost this team?

[bajaden]

Only reading the quote here it could also easily been a shot at himself, or just a direct comment without meaning to impugn anybody not mentioned.

I suspose you could take it that way, and I'm not a mindreader. But in watching the interview, thats not how is appeared to me.

 

[Glenn]

Only reading the quote here it could also easily been a shot at himself, or just a direct comment without meaning to impugn anybody not mentioned.

Donte had a perfect opportunity to complete the statement and say that he was partially responsinble and didn't. A thought was running though my mind that here was finally a man that would step and own his own problems. As it was it wan't the worst statement in the world. I think he is in the process of losing a career that could have been great. He has all the talent in the world and the determinaion of a mentally challenged slug. That certainly is the appearance he is giving. Casspi on the other hand seems to bust his butt all the time. He has far less physical gifts and seems discouraged since Cisco returned. In any case it shows a weakness on this team that needs to be addressed and probably will. It is no secret what two positions need an influx of talent.

I was watching free agent Boozer and drooling because he was an active, communicating leader on a great team and would be a fool to leave - unless money talks of course.

 

[bajaden]

I don't have a problem with how Westphal played and is playing Greene. I do have a problem with the team not winning more games. Could Westphal have done anything different to result in the Kings winning more? I don't know. I don't know if Westphal is a significant part of the problem or if he is part of the problem at all. For my part, the team management should focus on the players it fields. This year our talented new duo of Evans and Cousins have been a huge contributors to our current record, one way or another. Hopefully, it will be worth it in the future.

With all due respect, and I do respect you. I simply don't agree with you on your total allegiance to everything Kings. Are the players the one's that play the game, and the one's that have to take immediate responsibility? Sure! But its up to the coaching staff, led by Westphal to prepare them properly. Barring a miracle, the team will have a worse record than last year. There is little continuity or consistency on the team. When you watch a team like the Bulls, a team that looks like a well oiled machine, it would be easy to say that well! They simply have more talent than we do. And at the moment they do. But they play like a team. They run plays and move the ball. More than that, they play terrific defense. And that team is significaltly better than last season. Why? A new head coach thats tough minded and knows how to prepare his team.

I've played on teams that had coaches that were clueless. And some of them still won. Not because of the coach, but because of our talent, and our team desire as individuals to win. But those were experienced teams. That won't work with the Kings. They need direction, discpline, and leadership. There are players that you can give a free pass to, or carte blanche if you will. But you can't give it to young inexperienced players. They don't have the NBA self discpline. Thank god that Thornton, who seems to have been given carte blanche to do whatever he wants on the floor, has that self discpline.

Take the time to watch other teams play. Some with equal, or even less talent than the Kings, and notice how they play like a team. Not the Timberwolves, choke! Coaching does matter! And it has nothing to do with whether I like Westphal as a person. He appears to be a great guy. I was pulling for him right from the beginning. But this is the second year of chaos that we've had, and I just can't deal with it any longer. Yes, I know we've had injuries. But so have other teams. Like the Bulls who have had to opperate for large parts of the season without Noah and Boozer. But they never missed a beat. Like Houston, who lost Ming and have been playing players with only two or three years of experience, and despite that, are threatening to make the playoffs. Good coaches get the best from their players. Period! Thats why their good coaches.

I remember being at a game against the heat back in the Vlade, Webber era. We were playing the Heat, and Riley was the coach. The Heat were down by two or three points with 20 or so seconds to go. He called a timeout, and held up a sign for his players to read before drawing up a play. It was reported later that he written on his chalkboard. " For men only ". Needless to say they came out of the timeout and tied the game. We did eventually win the game on two freethrows from J. Will. But I think you see my point. Good coaches inspire their players. They all have their own way of doing it, but they get the job done.

I guess it all comes down to what you aspire to as a fan. I'm not happy, and I guess maybe you are, if your willing to go along with things without making any changes. In some ways, I guess that makes it easier for you to watch this team perform, because perhaps, what their giving you as a team is all your looking for. But I certainly hope not. And if not, then changes need to be made. Not only with the coaching staff, but with the teams roster as well. As far as I know, there's only one coach on the team thats known for his teaching ability, and thats coachie. There may be some others that are good teachers, but I certainly don't know of any of them having that reputation. Its a shame the Kings didn't give Scott Brooks a shot at the job when he was available. But thats water under the bridge.

 

[Tyndel]

If we look back to the beginning of the year and look at the decisions WP made we can't help but see that he spent 30-40 games making large wide changes trying to find that perfect combination of players to win and then he started playing the same players that we expected the first week of the season and we got better. I have felt since preseason it doesn't look like WP is putting our young future pieces in a situation to get better and win. Winning breeds confidence and losing rarely makes young direction-less kids better.

We all figured that we would have certain guys play a majority of minutes and the one year contracts that were tacked on at the end of camp were their to fill roster slots and get to league min but we didn't see the wisdom the coach did and it cost us the easy part of a schedule and that cost our kids confidence and an opportunity to grow.

Back when people were talking about this and saying its no big deal I disagreed Yes it is a big deal. You are teaching them wrong and they are building on a poor foundation but more importantly we needed to get close to .500 this year, playoffs or not because that would have put more people in the seats and had more pull with both sides on an arena. I feel WP no matter what turns out in the future has pushed this team back more then a season and he lost me when he was starting guys in the preseason that were obviously getting cut and then still trying to figure the rotations after the season was a 1/3 over already.

 

[Kingster]

Pretty straight forward question. Youth and inexperience have not been an excuse, but a reality for most of the year, which I'm fine with. That's what happens when you commit to a rebuild.

But these last few games, aside from last night, it appears the players simply aren't giving the same effort. You can't control shooting %'s, some night you'll shoot better then others. But we're simply not getting the same effort we were getting up until a few weeks ago. Do you guys also think Westy has lost the team, and the guys figure they'll just ride it out the last 1/8th of the season, because they figure he won't be back. I really have no other explanation for the all around lack of effort. The entire team seems flat, going back almost 2 weeks now. I don't mind losses. It's how we lose. The effort and intensity simply isn't there anymore.

We'll know when Tyreke gets back.

 

[pshn80]

Unfortunately, I think management thought that the best crowd pleaser would be playing Tyreke and Cousins as much and as soon as possible. This, with winning some games along the way. It didn't work. Evans and Cousins were played and depended upon when they should not have been. In Evans' case it was his health, and in Cousins case he just wasn't and still isn't ready for it. I guess a disciplined coach would see this and tell his bosses he has to start and give minutes to somebody else. But in the Kings case, who? We had no quality to fall back on. So you're stuck with what you've got. And that's our story.

Is it a good climate to judge the coach, or for that matter, the players? Hell no. Head, Taylor, Jeter, Jackson, they aren't the answer. Our starting fives, whoever they might be today, are no where near the answer yet despite the optimism born from many close losses.

Westphal could be a problem in this matter, but for me, it's too early to tell even though it is not too early at all.

 

[pshn80]

By the way, baja, I generally agree with your reasoning above. As I am always. But I'd be a helluva owner because I wouldn't know what to do now. I think conventional wisdom at this point is, if in doubt, change the coach. That's what I think will happen but I'm not at all sure it will solve the problem.

 

[kennadog]

I'm not really sure. I was thinking that they had played pretty hard for most of the season. Now though, the end of the season is in sight and effort isn't going to help take the stink off this year. I think maybe the tiredness, the frustration, the coming up short in so many close games has just maybe finally worn them down. I guess I'm more in line with Brick, in thinking I'm surprised this didn't happen much sooner.

WE know how frustrated and disappointed we are as fans. Well I'm sure it's even more frustrating and disappointing to the players and Westphal, for that matter. I'd like to see them continue to play for pride and maybe Tyreke's return will add some spark. This season's about done though.

As a Sacramento fan, if this is the end in Sacramento, it certainly is a very sad way to end.

 

[CruzDude]

Brick, BajaDen and Kennadog collectively see the same situation I see. Lots of very young, inexperienced players getting big time minutes losing many close games then having the frustration overwhelm them at this late point in the season. Compound that with the immaturity of Cousins, the persistent injury for Tyreke, and just maybe the wrong coach for this type of team needing a firmer style of coaching and we get to where the Kings are. Being tied or ahead in the 4th quarter of some 34-35 games this year they ended up losing speaks volumes on the talent of the kids without any significant veteran leadership.

Beno is a good guard but not the leader type. Dalembert is a defender and was brought on the be just that. His offensive spurt lately is based on opportunity not leadership. Cisco, who can be a leader, was out too much to get back into that role. So, the Kings are where they are for a number of reasons, kinda like the perfect storm, NBA version.