KHTK 1140, Casspi to start?

C

Citizen Able

Prospect
#1
#1
Did anyone else hear Whitey this morning mentioning that Westphal said Casspi was going to be our starting small forward?

If true I love the idea. I think Casspi is going to be a very solid all around player and potentially one of the steals of this draft.

So far I love the moves Westphal is making. I'm very encouraged by the direction in which he is moving the team.
 
U

USNAVY15

G-League
#4
#4
Omri is the most experienced rookie and i fully expect him to pull some euro stuff on some veterans. He is like a more athletic Ryan Anderson with a better handle. He is what, 6-9. I would like to see him and donte on the floor at the 3 and 4
 
keflanag

keflanag

Bench
#5
#5
I didn't hear it, but it doesn't sound like something Westphaul would say this early in the pre-season. Are you sure he didn't say that he would be the starting SF for the next pre-season game vs. the Lakers?
 
C

Citizen Able

Prospect
#6
#6
No I'm not certain about that. That is sort of why i was seeking confirmation of what I heard. It does make sense that he may have been talking only about preseason but even that is a good sign I think.
 
gunks

gunks

Hall of Famer
#7
#7
Well, Westphal did say he wanted to bring Noc off the bench as a 6th man type of player. And with Garcia out...Not a long shot to see Omri get the starting nod. It's either that or we have an abyssmally bad 2nd unit (not that Noc really puts our bench over the top into just rediculously bad territory).
 
keflanag

keflanag

Bench
#9
#9
From what I've seen in the open practice, and heard from interviews, Mason could very well get the starting nod too if his back is better.
 
Bricklayer

Bricklayer

Don't Make Me Use The Bat
#10
#10
This is a move I would definitely approve of -- its what a rebuilding team SHOULD be doing with its kids and the best possible outcome of Cisco's misfortunes. Let's get Omri some seasoning and see what we have there.

Two things however: 1) are you sure he wasn't just saying that he was going to get the start for this next preseason game, rather than the regular season?; and 2) our ballhandling is going to be abysmally bad with Reke, Kevin, and Omri, for whom ballhandling has traditionally been listed as one of his biggest weaknesses. This is that Reke on an island stuff I was talking about. Trial by fire.
 
Entity

Entity

Hall of Famer
#11
#11
Bricklayer said:
This is a move I would definitely approve of -- its what a rebuilding team SHOULD be doing with its kids and the best possible outcome of Cisco's misfortunes. Let's get Omri some seasoning and see what we have there.

Two things however: 1) are you sure he wasn't just saying that he was going to get the start for this next preseason game, rather than the regular season?; and 2) our ballhandling is going to be abysmally bad with Reke, Kevin, and Omri, for whom ballhandling has traditionally been listed as one of his biggest weaknesses. This is that Reke on an island stuff I was talking about. Trial by fire.
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Its still better than the Beno, Reke, Matin lineup that was passed around a few days ago. i'll tell you straight out that scares the carp out of me.
 
Kingster

Kingster

Hall of Famer
#14
#14
Interesting move. The only thing it really tells me is that Westphal likes Casspi better than Greene, at least right now. It doesn't mean that Casspi will get big minutes at the three. The move may have a lot more to do with Westphal wanting vets like Noc and Mason coming off the bench than anything else.
 
PurpleHaze

PurpleHaze

All-Star
#15
#15
Omri Casspi must be impressing Coach W in practice. Being overall 23rd pick means he was certainly considered talented. No doubt his professional experience is considerable compared to a lot of NBA rooks, from playing several years in a good int'l league to having served in the "do or die" IDF. Hope he does well, with not only local Kings fan anxious for success but his entire nation rooting him on.
 
F

fnordius

All-Star
#16
#16
I'm guessing that Casspi's getting the start in this next game because both Garcia and Mason have owies to one degree or another. I'm assuming that there's no more to it than that.

It's a pity that Casspi's a very poor candidate for point-SF, I'd really like to see him get some development time.
 
nickmcclure

nickmcclure

Bench
#17
#17
Bricklayer said:
This is a move I would definitely approve of -- its what a rebuilding team SHOULD be doing with its kids and the best possible outcome of Cisco's misfortunes. Let's get Omri some seasoning and see what we have there.

Two things however: 1) are you sure he wasn't just saying that he was going to get the start for this next preseason game, rather than the regular season?; and 2) our ballhandling is going to be abysmally bad with Reke, Kevin, and Omri, for whom ballhandling has traditionally been listed as one of his biggest weaknesses. This is that Reke on an island stuff I was talking about. Trial by fire.
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Really? From what I've seen so far Tyreke's got handles and I don't think Martin is a bad ball handler at all, not point guard material but decent. I don't buy that but I agree with everything else you've said.
 
Bricklayer

Bricklayer

Don't Make Me Use The Bat
#18
#18
nickmcclure said:
Really? From what I've seen so far Tyreke's got handles and I don't think Martin is a bad ball handler at all, not point guard material but decent. I don't buy that but I agree with everything else you've said.
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Kevin's ballhandling is actually nororiously weak for an OG. Its his greatest weakness on offense, and he doesn't create many shots for teammates as an assistman. And Reke actually has a negative assist/TO ratio right now in the first couple of preseason games, and had a lot of TO problems in summer league too. I actually think he has the makings of a solid halfcourt PG, and he would be a good ballhandler at OG, but left alone, next to two guys with weak handles and not much assist potential, and asked to bring the ball up against pressure = going to be a huge challenge for him this early in his career. You could easily end up with a starting PG/OG/SF combo going 4.5ast/2.5ast/1.5ast on the season with nearly as many TOs.

And mind you that's with me still thinking we should give it a shot and see if the kids respond and grow. I am just realistic about the potential for ugliness some nights.
 
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F

fnordius

All-Star
#19
#19
nickmcclure said:
Really? From what I've seen so far Tyreke's got handles and I don't think Martin is a bad ball handler at all, not point guard material but decent. I don't buy that but I agree with everything else you've said.
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Ummm...

A/TO ratio last year
Martin: 0.94
Evans: 1.08
Casspi: 0.36

The average of their ratios is 0.79, which, if they were one player, would give them the 318th best A/TO ratio in the NBA, right above #319 Mel Ely. I don't think that is a good place, statistically, for them to be.
 
bajaden

bajaden

Hall of Famer
#20
#20
Bricklayer said:
Kevin's ballhandling is actually nororiously weak for an OG. Its his greatest weakness on offense, and he doesn't create many shots for teammates as an assistman. And Reke actually has a negative assist/TO ratio right now in the first couple of preseason games, and had a lot of TO problems in summer league too. I actually think he has the makings of a solid halfcourt PG, and he would be a good ballhandler at OG, but left alone, next to two guys with weak handles and not much assist potential, and asked to bring the ball up against pressure = going to be a huge challenge for him this early in his career. You could easily end up with a starting PG/OG/SF combo going 4.5ast/2.5ast/1.5ast on the season with nearly as many TOs.

And mind you that's with me still thinking we should give it a shot and see if the kids respond and grow. I am just realistic about the potential for ugliness some nights.
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In college and so far from what I've seen, Evans turnovers are related more to making bad decisions than his ballhandling. A turnover is a turnover, but I've never had a problem with his ballhandling. Now Martin is another story..
 
rainmaker

rainmaker

Hall of Famer
#22
#22
LPKingsFan said:
I thought, based on people's observations over the summer, that Casspi had the makings of a point forward?
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I think he does, down the road. It will take him a little while, but I think he has the ability to take opposing sf's off the dribble. But we won't see that for a few years.
 
SacTownKid

SacTownKid

Hall of Famer
#23
#23
Bricklayer said:
This is a move I would definitely approve of -- its what a rebuilding team SHOULD be doing with its kids and the best possible outcome of Cisco's misfortunes. Let's get Omri some seasoning and see what we have there.

Two things however: 1) are you sure he wasn't just saying that he was going to get the start for this next preseason game, rather than the regular season?; and 2) our ballhandling is going to be abysmally bad with Reke, Kevin, and Omri, for whom ballhandling has traditionally been listed as one of his biggest weaknesses. This is that Reke on an island stuff I was talking about. Trial by fire.
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While he isn't the greatest ball handler out there, I was fairly surprised with how well he did handle it in summer league.
 
K

Kingsguy881

Guest
#24
#24
SacTownKid said:
While he isn't the greatest ball handler out there, I was fairly surprised with how well he did handle it in summer league.
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I think what concerns most people is not so much what happens in the front court. I think people have reservations about how hard it might be just getting the ball to the front court.

I bet that if it really ends up being a problem just to get the ball up the court after a made basket then Westphal will see it. He isn't a dummy, he'll figure out something that would involve passing the ball to get it in the front court rather than dribbling it.

And I don't think ball handling will be too much of a concern while on the break. If anything, Reke's ballhandling seems to excel on the run.
 
F

fnordius

All-Star
#25
#25
SacTownKid said:
While he isn't the greatest ball handler out there, I was fairly surprised with how well he did handle it in summer league.
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Well, he did a little better than with Maccabi, his A/TO ratio for SL was 8/17 (0.47). But that still ranks him with Jake Voskuhl, at #384 in the NBA. I think that this is probably going to be a big priority for his development, I don't see any other flaws in his game, offensively or defensively, that are quite that major. I'm pretty sure he can do it, but I think it may take a while.
 
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