I've been reluctant to pick on Tyreke. Mainly because these things seem to pick up steam and get out of control. Intelligent criticism is fine. Unfortunately it sometimes turns ugly and all rational thought goes out the window. Let me begin by saying I really like Tyreke. I was one of those that advocated drafting him. However, he still has a long way to go to become a complete player. His positives have improved. Besides being one of the best in the league at getting to the basket and finishing, his ability to see open man and get him the ball has improved greatly. His ability to pull up short of the basket and shoot the ball has improved, as has his perimiter shot. These areas still need future improvement, but he appears to be on the right track.
His negatives are as follows. He still eats up too much of the clock with his dribbling. I paid close attention in the last game when Tyreke brought the ball up the floor. Too many times there was no more than 10 seconds or less before he moved the ball, or attacked the basket himself. He does the latter far too often when there's nothing there. For whatever reason, he appears to be indecisive far to often. I don't know if thats because Westphal is leaving all the playcalling/making up to him, or he's just not running the plays that were called, or practiced, properly. Another problem is Tyreke running the fast break. Seldom does he move the ball on the break if its in his hands to start with. Now I'll admit that he usually finishes with a basket. But you have to reward the bigs, or anyone else that runs the floor with you. If he did so, I think he would have fewer charge fouls called against him.
I don't think Tyreke is a selfish player. But I do think that he tries to take on too much of the responsibility for winning the game, and therefore is percieved as selfish. Bottom line is that he has to initiate the offense sooner and he has to start trusting his teammates more. They have to become a team out on the floor and not just Tyreke and 4 other players.
You bring up a good point. What % of the plays does Tyreke call? I rarely, if ever, see Westphal calling plays from the sideline. With such a young, disorganized team, I have to question his intent. I know this team wants to run. Of course that start with defense and rebounding, but that's another discussion.
When we don't have a fast break opportunity, why not pull it out and run a play? Tyreke looks confused. The other 4 guys look confused. And any possession which starts with Tyreke pounding the ball for 10 secs usually doesn't end well. So why not call out plays and get guys into the sets earlier? If Tyreke is the one calling pays, it's simply not working at this point. There were also a few times last night where Beno was running the offense,Cousins had his man on his back, and he swung it the other direction.
If Beno and Tyreke are given thefreedom to call plays and run the offense, and they are essentially failing in that regard, and missing mismatches, and really not making the smart play, then why aren't the plays coming from the bench? If you miss Cousins in the post on one trip, come down, set it up, let him get position, throw him the ball, and let him go to work. Why is that so complicated? Are we running plays for Dally to end up with a 15 ft jumper, or are guys just not playing smart? Cousins dunks on his man, and doesn't touch the ball the next 5 possessions? We jack up numerous 3's and long 2's, and not once do the guys slow it own, and run a half court set and get the ball inside.
So if Westphal is in fact giving Beno and Tyreke the freedom to call plays, IMO, that freedom needs to be reigned in. It's not working. If Westphal is calling plays, and what we have seen is the result, that's a problem to, because that means guys just aren't concentrating and running plays correctly.
