[Game] Kings @ Thunder 12/17/10 Game Thread

[Lockehead]

It sort of does. That a selfish player would average 5 assist per game is a contradiction in logic. Now Landry, averaging less than 1 assist even when he was playing 35+ minutes, that's selfish!

Teamwork leads to assists. But getting assists doesnt mean you have good teamwork. With Reke i tend towards the latter because imo they come from selfish takes and bailouts from teammates. I dont think that hes completely selfish, but he does have seem to have a lot of moments that makes me doubt his awareness of his team.

 

[RookieOfTheDay]

but he does have seem to have a lot of moments that makes me doubt his awareness of his team.

Maybe he just doesn't have much confidence in his teammates and feels like he needs to shoulder most of the load. And if that's the case, you can't really blame him.

 

[Asaf]

Maybe he just doesn't have much confidence in his teammates and feels like he needs to shoulder most of the load. And if that's the case, you can't really blame him.

That's actually pretty much the definition of selfish in basketball. You HAVE to trust you teammates, even if they suck. When the guy dominating the ball doesn't trust his teammates, that's when all possibility of team play goes down the toilet, and I think that was one of the big problem with the team last year. If you trust your teammates, they might mess up, but eventually they will get better, and that's the only way to build chemistry on a team. So yeah, if that's the case, and Tyreke doesn't trust his teammates, you have to blame him.

 

[RookieOfTheDay]

That's actually pretty much the definition of selfish in basketball. You HAVE to trust you teammates, even if they suck. When the guy dominating the ball doesn't trust his teammates, that's when all possibility of team play goes down the toilet, and I think that was one of the big problem with the team last year. If you trust your teammates, they might mess up, but eventually they will get better, and that's the only way to build chemistry on a team. So yeah, if that's the case, and Tyreke doesn't trust his teammates, you have to blame him.

I don't agree with that. It's a lot easier to trust people when you're confident that they'll deliver. In fact, that's the very basis of trust. Trusting people that have repeatedly shown that they can't be relied on to deliver is just stupid. In Tyreke's case, you also need to look at how the team has marketed him as the "franchise player". You can't hype a 20 year old up like that and expect it not to go to their head a little.

 

[Asaf]

I don't agree with that. It's a lot easier to trust people when you're confident that they'll deliver. In fact, that's the very basis of trust. Trusting people that have repeatedly shown that they can't be relied on to deliver is just stupid. In Tyreke's case, you also need to look at how the team has marketed him as the "franchise player". You can't hype a 20 year old up like that and expect it not to go to their head a little.

Well, if Tyreke thinks he can take on NBA teams all by himself then we have a problem (see our record in the last season and a quarter). Until he gets new teammates he has to trust his current ones, because otherwise there is no chance of winning. And it's not like Tyreke has been delivering the goods so much lately.

And yes, I agree with you that marketing him as the Franchise Player when he was only a couple of minths into his rookie season was a huge mistake and probably a main factor in Westphal losing the team.

 

[RookieOfTheDay]

Well, if Tyreke thinks he can take on NBA teams all by himself then we have a problem (see our record in the last season and a quarter). Until he gets new teammates he has to trust his current ones, because otherwise there is no chance of winning. And it's not like Tyreke has been delivering the goods so much lately.

And yes, I agree with you that marketing him as the Franchise Player when he was only a couple of minths into his rookie season was a huge mistake and probably a main factor in Westphal losing the team.

I don't really see him trying to take on teams by himself, though. He's not the most unselfish player on the roster but he's certainly not the most selfish one, either.

 

[mac]

I don't really see him trying to take on teams by himself, though. He's not the most unselfish player on the roster but he's certainly not the most selfish one, either.

I'm still going with tunnel vision rather than him being selfish. He just doesn't see guys that often and doesn't know what to do with the ball. Say what you will about assists not showing unselfishness, but when a guy gets 5-8 assists a game it's clear that he's looking for his team mates. It's more likely that half the time he just has no clue what to do or is indecisive, so at the end of the day he's just going to drive and try to make something happen.