Marty Mac: Douby is proving what he can do

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http://kingsfans.com/forums/showthread.php?t=22970

Marty Mac's World: Kings' Douby is proving what he can do
By Martin McNeal - Bee Columnist
Published 12:00 am PDT Tuesday, October 16, 2007
Story appeared in SPORTS section, Page C2

Newsflash: Quincy Douby is not a point guard.

The young fella is a scorer, a pure, unadulterated scorer. Douby can shoot from distance as well as get to the basket, and still hasn't truly displayed how effective his one-handed floaters (left and right) will become.

Douby is proving he belongs on the floor. He can be an adequate defender because of his desire, length and quickness. He needs to concentrate on getting back defensively, but his offense will have to be respected and will contribute to a lethal perimeter attack.

Perhaps it's just me overly responding to Kings verbiage, but to expect Douby to become a point guard handing out assists is unrealistic. And that's no slur. We are what we are and we do what we do.

Douby can improve his ballhandling enough to bring the ball upcourt. He isn't far from that juncture right now, if he can get comfortable enough to keep his head up.

However, point guards are born, not made. The natural desire to make plays for another is innate. It's like knowing where a missed shot is coming off the rim – great rebounders can just go there and really can't explain how they knew it.

Douby's natural instinctive strength is to score, and there's not a thing wrong with that. Let him do what he does because there aren't many who will do it better as he matures and becomes more comfortable. Not too long ago, there was another guy out of Brooklyn named Vinnie Johnson, also known as "the Microwave."

Johnson was as thick as Douby is slight, but the second-year guard also has some electronic scoring abilities we'll soon see. We'll see them even quicker when he stops passing up wide-open shots. That should be a finable offense for a guy with the ability to catch and shoot like he can.

Oh, yes, since we're talking about passing up shots, my man Brad Miller comes to mind. Pick and pop – instead of pick and roll plays – are called to take advantage of Miller's shooting ability, and he consistently passes up those shots.

Shoot the ball, big boy. Pretend you're in hunting mode and take advantage of your strength instead of putting the ball on the floor (that's a weakness).

Defenders would much rather see you drive than shoot...

 

[dude12]

I don't always agree with his columns but he's spot on with this one.

 

[jcassio]

Douby is making me a believer, and I wasn't (a believer) last year - based on his rookie season. Hopefully he won't take one step forward during the preseason, and then two steps back when the real games begin. But as Marty points out, Douby is a real talent when it comes to scoring. Now it'll be a test of Reggie's talent as a coach to use him well, and not as someone he isn't.

 

[Bricklayer]

Douby is making me a believer, and I wasn't (a believer) last year - based on his rookie season. Hopefully he won't take one step forward during the preseason, and then two steps back when the real games begin. But as Marty points out, Douby is a real talent when it comes to scoring. Now it'll be a test of Reggie's talent as a coach to use him well, and not as someone he isn't.

How? Marty has taken to "writing" these lazy little blurbs in lieu of columns, but they are always half ideas. Ok, he's not a PG. Agreed. But he's 6'3". And not only 6'3", but a horribly scrawny 6'3". Not only that, the OG is very scrawny himself. On top of that, there are two other scrawny 6'7" guys in Salmons and Cisco also there begging for the worm. So where do you get his minutes from? If he's not a PG, then he's an OG. If he's an OG, he plays behind our most talented young player, Said talented young player is too small to swing up to SF, and does not have PG skills/instincts either. Salmons and Cisco are in the mix as well. Even in the best case scenario that Cisco or Salmons can imitate a PG well enough to let Douby play off the ball, that's for maybe 12-15 min a game behind Bibby, and our passing is going to be terrible.

This is where Marty's from the hip little blurbs fall down. Quincy isn't being tried at PG just for kicks. He's being tried there because his size/build and our roster makeup make any other position problematic.

 

[dude12]

Thats because you are thinking of a traditional PG role in which the PG is a playmaker for others. He's not that guy but is in the Bobby Jackson type of PG. The type of guy who can come in and score off the bench and play some defense, get some steals.

 

[HndsmCelt]

Thats because you are thinking of a traditional PG role in which the PG is a playmaker for others. He's not that guy but is in the Bobby Jackson type of PG. The type of guy who can come in and score off the bench and play some defense, get some steals.

All well and good if you have Big men who can run the offense. Brad may be able to pass but he is no Webber or Vlade. Also the kind of improvisional play construction where the 1 gaurd, in this case Douby, looses the ball early to a play making big, in this case maybe Brad or Ron, is the hall mark of REALLY good and REALLY CREATIVE coaches like PJ, Nelly or Adelman (remember him?) we don't have one of those either. So as nice as it sounds to wave the magic wand and transform Douby from grosly undersized 2 to a non traditional 1 like Bobby Jackson, the necessary ellements for that spell are just not in this bag of tricks. Even if New Coach Guy WERE that sharp and Ron and Brad were that good, that still leaves us subbing out our worst defneder for a pure scoreer who can't even spell defense.

Im not sold on Green yet but I will say I liked what I saw in the first two PS games. Untill Doubey shows me that he can run the offense AND hold his own on defense I think his min will be limited. Sort of a spot match up or spark plug when the bench is listless.

 

[Rockmeister]

Although I have been impressed with Douby, he is not a PG.

 

[Entity]

Douby will do fine as long as Garcia or Salmons are in the game and I am sure one of them would be with him. Artest could bring it up as a last resort and start the offense. I am not going to say Douby isn't a PG but, he isn't a starting PG. With his style and size he is a carreer bench player. Now how far he takes that is up to him. Bobby Jackson did quite well for us because sometimes that type player is a real asset in certain situations were a traditional PG would not be useful at all. Douby has a place in the NBA and even on the Kings.

 

[jcassio]

How?

How does Reggie best use Douby? -By using him where/when his strengths give us an advantage, and by hiding his weaknesses to the extent possible. As long as he's defending 1s and 2s, I don't think his scrawny-ness is a problem, and his long reach will allow him to play a little bigger than he otherwise is. We all know his strengths are scoring ability, scoring ability, and scoring ability. Maybe defensive intensity deserves some mention. I've been encouraged by that. But his ball handling skills, while improving, are currently on the bubble at best (not a strength or a weakness), and his playmaking is the dark secret that Reggie will want to hide and protect. So, yeah, that's going to limit his minutes, as it should. But maybe he has something to contribute now, and in time can develop into a Terry Porter-type PG, which is not to suggest he's the next TP, but to say that he should work relentlessly on that part of his game.

 

[CruzDude]

In Coach Reggie's scheme of things, running-running-running does not require a true PG a la Stockton or Nash, rather it requires a bunch of guys who can bring the ball up the court full tilt and either get it to a scorer or score them selves.

In the half court offense Bibbs will start plays when he is in. But when he is not in and Kings are not running down court full tilt and the half court set is mandated, then we need a PG who can threaten to drive then dish, pull up and hit a 2 or 3, OR...... distribute and carry out a pick and roll.

If the Kings can become adept at the run and gun offense and don't need to rely on the half-court, then Douby-Cisco-Salmons can bring up the ball when Bibbs is not.

Then there is Shakur and Greene. What are their true PG skills? and experience? and how much of that is going to be needed in order to get them in the game? Not much I think once Kings get past the first 20-25 games and start to settle into a personality and a method to their hopefull madness.

 

[Arby's Roast Beef]

I like to see our gang of perimeter shotblockers rile up opposing players, and I see Douby as one of them (Garcia being the other). Yes, he's not an extraordinaire, but the way his sneaky long arms reach up to some of those jumpshots, he's definitely got potential there as he becomes more assertive on D.

As for his scoring abilities, he's pretty good--he's living up to his scouting reports, scorer/shooter through and through--but in terms of all-around game, as I've said in another thread, I do have to question how much more he can develop in those areas. Shore up his ballhandling, yes, but he's not a passer, as Marty Mac duly noted. Defense may become good, but more than likely become slightly above average as most scorers invest more on the offensive side than on the defensive. I hate to use the word one-dimensional, but from what we've seen of undersized SGs--which he really is--the comparisons may range from Gilbert Arenas--GOOD!--to Eddie House--solid--to uhmm, Ronnie Price--cool, but not exactly blowing the house off hte roof here. As for me, I simply like him for what he is--he may bring a real bench sparkplug with his scoring, filling his role on the team, and that's just as expected; his learning curve seems to be good so far.

 

[Bricklayer]

Here's the thing, and what Marty should have realized, or may even have realized and jsut chosen not to mention for the sake of making his point:

When Vinnie "Microwave" Johnson was part of the Pistons, he came off the bench as a third guard behind Isiah Thomas, one of the greatest assistmen in league history, and Joe Dumars, who was another combo guard who mostly ran the point while Vinnie played more of an OG. Every year Zeke would average 9+ assists, and Dumars would average about 5. That's about 14 assists, and THEN came your undersized just want to shoot OG (and Vinnie actually had a little ability to create for others). On top of that, Vinnnie was STRONG. He was built like an ox. Like a bigger Bobby Jackson. He would have snapped Quincy in two and used the splinters to pick his teeth with. That let him muscle up with opposing OGs without being a constant threat to get beat up inside.

When Quincy Douby comes off the bench it is behind a shoot first PG who did not even average 5 assists last year, and a pure schooting/scoring OG who averaged a smidge over 2. Havinghim come in too just trying to fire away leaves us really bereft of assists/creation from our backcourt, and our great frontcourt passers have all gone the way of the dinosaur. On top of that Quincy is very scrawny. So his OG work is matchup dependant. If the other team is trotting out a Kobe or TMac or Bonzi or Caron Butler or whatever, he just isn't going to have the strength to guard those guys.

What all of that means is the situation is much different. Microwave could play next to Dumars or Zeke, those guys would do all the PG stuff on offense while he shot. And on defense he was big/strong enough to hold off opposing OGs when he played OG. Quincy on the other hand really can't be paired with Kevin unless you want there to be no ball movement/passing at all. And he can only be paired with Bibby for certain matchups against opposing OGs who are not big/strong/smart enoguh to take advanatge of him down inside.