Section 101
All-Star
According to Grant who talked to several players after returning from Colorado.
Real or the next Jim Les?
Real or the next Jim Les?
Jimmer best player in camp
- Thread starter Section 101
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I can guarantee you that DeMarcus Cousins is the best player in the Kings camp regardless of what anyone says. But if Jimmer is showing real improvement I'll be very happy, especially given that I considered his play in summer league a disappointment.
Bricklayer
Don't Make Me Use The Bat
That is disastrous news for the franchise if true. 
Bricklayer
Don't Make Me Use The Bat
Note too this is Grant. He is highly untrustworthy on the subject of whoever his latest pet player is. Jimmer was one of them last year. Srill, let's play what if? Well, I can only assume after seeing him all last year and as recently as two months ago in summer league that Jimmer isn't the "best player in the first 3 days of camp" playing at the point. And even if he were he's got two guys ahead of him, neither of whom figures to be moved this year. So then, he would have to be the "best 6'2" combo guard playing SG" in camp. Which puts him behind Reke and Thornton. I suppose if he was really really blow your door off spectacular he could make room for a Thornton trade...at which point our backcourt would go 6'5" 6'2" 6'0" 5'9", which is barely adequate size in the WNBA.
jcwkings
All-Star
Also i've heard that Smart has given Jimmer the greenlight to look for his shot first. Last year he was not thinking to score first and I think that really shook his confidence. Like it or not Jimmer is a volume scorer first, if he can establish himself as a major scoring threat off the bench, it will only help him grow in other aspects of his game.
Bricklayer
Don't Make Me Use The Bat
The very last thing this Kings team needs is a volume chucker off the bench. We are way, WAY overcommitted for shots to go around as it is.
Nonetheless that is the position you are put in given Jimmer's struggles in other areas. If he's not putting up points in bunches, you are losing ground with him out there. What he needs is not a green light to create his shot, but rather a green light to take a shot whenever he's given the ball. That way you control the chucking on a scale that works for the team, and it simplifies the decision making for Jimmer and just let's him focus on what he does well. Unfortunately that takes structure and roles.
Kingsfan23
All-Star
That is disastrous news for the franchise if true.
Exact thought crossed my mind. We have a lot of other young players who are fixtures that I would like to see some improvement with. Not tying to sound negative, but I can't recall the last time I was so down on a first round pick of ours... even Douby I thought had the legit speed and quick shooting ability to contribute something down the line.. Given Jimmer's natural abilities (size and quickness) and game I pretty much gave up on him ever being legit but I'll take the news seriously and look for something in these practice games
S
sactownfan
Guest
That is disastrous news for the franchise if true.
WOW how could you say this?!?! why you gotta be such a Jimmer hater!!! geez what do you have against mormons? .... haha just kidding thats the response i would get if i made the same joke you did...
I think the best news there could be is that EVANS was the best player in camp with his new sure fire jump shot... that would be huge!!! but jimmer? wow i dunno but that.... i just hope its Evans... cause we know big Cuz is gonna be an All-star
bajaden
Hall of Famer
First I find it interesting that a player playing better seems to be a negative to some. Secondly, there's nothing wrong with a player taking a lot of shots as long as he's making them. I would think thats a prerequisite. Of course, with Jimmer, thats yet to be proven. I do know for a fact that in summer league, the idea was for Jimmer to pattern his game after Bobby Jacksons. Someone that can come off the bench and score quick points. But your implying that last season we had too many chuckers on the team, and your right. And none of them could shoot. Jimmer, despite having and all around bad year, was second on the team in three point shooting.
Now that says more about the rest of the team than it does Jimmer. I think its a little too early to write off Jimmer. If he's improved his ballhandling and overall game during the offseason, thats should be a plus. Personally, I don't care who shoots the ball. I care about efficency. If a player is shooting the ball well, then feed him the ball. Wait, thats too logical!
bajaden
Hall of Famer
Last time I checked, its not either/or. In other words, Jimmer being improved doesn't mean other can't improve as well. Unless your playing favorites. Would you rather have Jimmer be what you negatively assume he'll be, or would you rather have him turn out to be a good basketball player? If Jimmer is to be a PG, then there's nothing wrong with his size at 6'2". And while he's not John Wall or Derrick Rose athleticly, he's probaly just as good an athlete as Beno or Dragic etc.
My personal opinion is that Petrie pictured him as sort of a Mike Bibby type of player. Someone that could bring the ball up the court, get it in play, and make the shot when open. One thing I know for sure, is that he can shoot the ball, and last season wasn't a true reflection of his shooting ability. And it had nothing to do with not being able to get his shot. He missed wide open shots, and passed up wide open shots. So for him to be greatly improved, wouldn't be that much of a leap. And if he has, we should be cheering for him, not worrying about him taking shots away from someone's favorite player.
Whats with the whole "There aren't enough shots to go around" deal that sprung up here last year? So there aren't enough shots to go around because everyone else is knocking them down at a 42% clip? If anything, we need to change who's doing the shooting because we were flat out awful last year. IT, Reke from 2, Jimmer from 3 and JT were the only efficient scorers last year. If Jimmer can come in and chuck up shots at a 45% clip, then I'm all for him taking shots away from whoever else was planning on shooting that isn't as efficient.
I'm not much of a Jimmer fan and I don't see him coming in shooting lights out, but you guys act as if we are set on offense when we are not. This team is terrible in a half court set.
King Baller
All-Star
I don't care who makes the shots, as long as they go in at a percentage that is NBA respectable. Last year the Kings were one of the worst in that category. Kings made .436 while their opponents made .476. Those numbers need to change!
KB
KB
MassachusettsKingsFan
All-Star
To the people suggesting we trade Thornton - If we can get Thornton to buy into the 6th man type, I'm trading Jimmer and Brooks. We don't need 3 bench guard chuckers, and Thornton blows those guys out of the water. They will never be as good as he is. The thing with Jimmer is .. the play of Thomas has made him completely expendable and borderline useless. He was brought in as a Beno Udrh replacement, no doubt about it. He was supposed be a guy who could either beat out MT for the 2/combo that would play with Evans or be the Beno type who could come in and play off the ball with Evans or as the point with MT. As bad as we were, The guard trio of Evans - MT - Udrih was very good offensively. They struggled defensively, obviously, but Jimmer wasn't going to help on that end anyway.
In fact, I'm willing to bet many here would be happier with an IT/Beno - Evans/Thornton guard foursome than the mess of chuckers we have now, because really, Jimmer and Brooks have no place on this team. I just don't see it.
Ugh. Everytime I mention Beno I get upset. That trade was so bad. We could have been in a much better spot today had we found a way to keep Dalembert over Hayes and if we never made that terrible Salmons deal. Where are we today because of it? We have an undersized frontcourt group and about 5 (6 if you call Salmons a guard) shoot first guards.
In fact, I'm willing to bet many here would be happier with an IT/Beno - Evans/Thornton guard foursome than the mess of chuckers we have now, because really, Jimmer and Brooks have no place on this team. I just don't see it.
Ugh. Everytime I mention Beno I get upset. That trade was so bad. We could have been in a much better spot today had we found a way to keep Dalembert over Hayes and if we never made that terrible Salmons deal. Where are we today because of it? We have an undersized frontcourt group and about 5 (6 if you call Salmons a guard) shoot first guards.
Hadlowe
Starter
That is disastrous news for the franchise if true.
Even as a Jimmer fan, I had to laugh at that.
On an unrelated note, how do I get Diet Coke out of a keyboard?
I don't think anyone really wants Jimmer not to play better. I think it would be great for the team if he is showing great improvement.
That said, any hype coming from an organization mouthpiece like Grant should be taken with a giant grain of salt. He isn't sharing insight as much as selling tickets.
That said, any hype coming from an organization mouthpiece like Grant should be taken with a giant grain of salt. He isn't sharing insight as much as selling tickets.
macadocious
Starter
HereWeBoogie
Hall of Famer
That is disastrous news for the franchise if true.
x100000000000000000000
lol, good for Jimmer if he is improving, but i HIGHLY doubt he was a top 8 player in training camp
Letsgokings13
Starter
Let's say he has dramatically improved - its negative in some of your eyes because that MUST mean everyone else sucked
lets say he got worse - negative in your eyes
lets say hes the same - negative in your eyes
the kid cant win
lets say he got worse - negative in your eyes
lets say hes the same - negative in your eyes
the kid cant win
Sometimes, life ain't fair.
I don't know if anyone one this message board (with the "possible" exception of sactownfan) is actively rooting for Fredette to fail, but criticizing people for being "negative" over the prospect of Fredette looking the "best" coming out of training camp is, IMO, grasping at straws.
Taken literally, there's is no reasonable level of play that Fredette could have achieved in the time between the end of summer league and the start of training camp such that him coming out of camp looking the "best" could be anything other than a negative, unless you think that he somehow went from Quincy Douby to Kobe Bryant in the space of three months. And, frankly, even taken figuratively (i.e., Fredette showed the most improvement from last season, is most prepared for opening night, etc.) it would still have to been seen as a negative, because if Fredette has shown more improvement from last season, or is more prepared for opening night than Evans or Cousins or Thornton, then the Kings are going nowhere, fast.
Ideally, what you want, as a Kings Fan, is to see Fredette show notable improvement over last season, such that he can be relied on to be a rotation player who can give the Kings consistent production in consistent minutes, whatever level of output that is. If Fredette averages the same amount of points per game as last season, but shoots at 45+ percent, then that's a significant improvement, which I think that most reasonable Kings Fans would be happy with.
But, seriously, the best coming out of training camp? That could mean that he looked the best, relative to expectations, but even that is not necessarily a good thing.
But, seriously, the best coming out of training camp? That could mean that he looked the best, relative to expectations, but even that is not necessarily a good thing.
Kingster
Hall of Famer
The title of the thread says, "Best player in camp." If that is true, then yes, that doesn't bode well. I would much rather hearing that Tyreke is the best player in camp, given his importance to the team. Or Cousins. If it's a mistatement and it just means that he's very improved from last year, then great, it's all good.
uolj
Starter
This is only true if we assume that Grant MUST be completely accurate with his statement. Since most of us assume that is not the case, then if the kid is dramatically improved nearly everybody here would be happy, and it would definitely be a positive.
In other words, you're taking people joking about Napear's hyperbole and incorrectly assuming it means they don't want Jimmer to improve.
treach1976
Bench
In my opinion, the big changes that I saw from Jimmer last night were: 1) He got to the line successfully. Last season he had a few good moments but for the most part was swatted away with no foul called when he brought it inside. It's probably a legit NBA skill to trick craftier/more skilled forwards and centers into fouling you --- much easier to do in college which was a legitimate part of his game. 2) He isn't any faster or more engaged on the D end, but he only got a lost a couple of times (bailed out by bad shooting against him). He was also doing a little more on the help end.
And then generally - just had more of a swagger / confidence going on.
And then generally - just had more of a swagger / confidence going on.
