My Thoughts After 4 Games

[HereWeBoogie]

So after 4 games i have some things i like and dont like about the team so far.

LIKES
Defense: the team is noticeably better on the defensive end. especially when Tyreke and JJ are both on the court. it is very encouraging to watch.

MT: Thornton seems to be embracing his bench roll. He is leading the team in scoring again, and doing a little bit of everything. hustle, rebounds, assists, and some good defensive effort. (18ppg, 3.5rpg, 2.8apg)

Competitive: Each game this season has been winnable. arguably the Kings should be 3-1 or 4-1 if they made some shots and Smart made the right subs.......

DISLIKES
Rotations/Subs: Keith Smart has shown no signs of improving this after 4 games. he takes the entire starting lineup out of the game and leaves them out for the entire second quarter or close to it. He also starts the 4th quarter with questionable lineups and waits to long to bring starters back in. Tonight is a prime example, DeMarcus was not in any kind of foul trouble, yet only played 33 minutes, why?

James Johnson's offense: Coach Smart needs to sit down and tell Johnson he is not out there to be creating his own shots. only take wide open jumpers JJ, unless you have a putback or a fast break dunk.

Tyreke: although his defense looks great. he clearly has not developed a good shooting stroke, and he is struggling on offense once again (11ppg)

Offense: has looked terrible at times. no ball movement sometimes, bad shooting, bad execution, bad play calling. you gotta get the ball to Cousins, especially times like tonight in the last 5 minutes. just bad offense all around. lets hope the offense can fall into place.

Cousins: it is really pissing me off that he primarily plays 18 feet away from the hoop on offense now. he needs to get in there and bang, and the coach needs to make this a game plan.


overall, im still optimistic the team can have a much improved record this year. but its gonna take a lot of changes from Keith SMart

 

[Gilles]

When Evans shoots his body movement is inconsistent. This summer he shot in the open gym without fatigue. He's exerting himself on D now which makes him fall back to bad habits. He needs to adjust.
This team needs more patience, movement and much better picks on offense. Robinson went from screen stance even before ballhandler ran past him today.

 

[Reke]

Good Post.. I Agree On Alot Of It... Tyreke Will Be Fine. Trust Me

 

[UK_King]

Even a high school coach could get cuz where he needs to be CROSS SCREENS.

in the half court a bit of it is cuz always ambles down the floor so to set anything up like that you did him to hurry up, he usually ends up collecting the ball beyond the three point line to start the offense, if he's going to that he needs to body up at the high post like Melo does for NY, because he has the ability to take these slow 7 footers all... day... long.

 

[jcassio]

IT - he's making uncharacteristic mistakes early in the season, which I know he'll turn around. But he has been the Kings best shooter so far and he does play surprisingly good defense (despite his 5-9 size).

Reke - his shooting just sucks. Except for the Warriors game, his game in all other aspects (especially his stellar defense) has been very good. Against the Warriors, he looked like someone stole his mojo.

JJ - his shooting sucks and he seems to be mistake-prone on offense. Hopefully he'll settle down and accept the role that helps the team win. Really good defender, though.

Thompson - well, at least we know what to expect from Jason: a full plate of dumb mistakes and a whole lotta energy that can result in a double-double or 4 pts and 4 rebounds.

Cousins - calling Cousins emotional and talented is like saying the universe is big and wide; it doesn't do it justice. For better or for worse, and sometimes a bit of both, we go as he goes. Hopefully, he'll get wiser with experience.

Thornton - I hope we can keep him in a 6th man role because he brings something off the bench that few other teams can match. He really is our version of Vinny Johnson (see Championship Pistons if your eyes are rolling...). And his defense is improved this year (so far).

Brooks - he's impressive at times, but so far I don't see that he makes his teammates better. He's also a better defender than most gave him credit for after signing with the Kings.

Chuck Hayes - after last season, I was ready to ship this guy out to anyone that wanted him. But he's proved his value so far this year. He's also shown that, even when playing well, his size combined with the high post position he plays, results in a rebounding imbalance.

Robinson - gotta like the progress so far.

Jimmer - there's gotta be a role for him on this team other than cheerleading. Aside from IT, all of our other shooters are really streaky, in that they could just as easily miss 5 in a row as make 5 in a row. But Jimmer is less streaky, and maybe with more experience, could become our most consistent shooter.

Outlaw - jeezus, can this guy buy a basket??? His shooting is like Reke's: full of blanks.

 

[Kingster]

When Evans shoots his body movement is inconsistent. This summer he shot in the open gym without fatigue. He's exerting himself on D now which makes him fall back to bad habits. He needs to adjust.
This team needs more patience, movement and much better picks on offense. Robinson went from screen stance even before ballhandler ran past him today.

I'd really like to know exactly how Tyreke practiced during the summer. Did he stand there and shoot a lot of outside shots? Or did he put himself in game type situations in which he was running the ball up the floor and and stopped and popped from 12-15 feet from the basket? You've got to practice like you're in a game. Otherwise, you're practicing for HORSE, not for NBA basketball. Looking at his performance so far it is very hard for me to believe that he has practiced properly. He may have practiced a lot, but until he does it properly, it's wasted energy.

 

[The_Jamal]

I really like watching the game to game progress we've seen from Robinson. He's starting to slow the game down a bit and let his athleticism and strength do the hard work for him.

 

[HereWeBoogie]

I totally forgot to add my rant about how the kings defend high screens. Its horrible!

 

[Gary]

So after 4 games i have some things i like and dont like about the team so far.

LIKES
Defense: the team is noticeably better on the defensive end. especially when Tyreke and JJ are both on the court. it is very encouraging to watch.

MT: Thornton seems to be embracing his bench roll. He is leading the team in scoring again, and doing a little bit of everything. hustle, rebounds, assists, and some good defensive effort. (18ppg, 3.5rpg, 2.8apg)

Competitive: Each game this season has been winnable. arguably the Kings should be 3-1 or 4-1 if they made some shots and Smart made the right subs.......

DISLIKES
Rotations/Subs: Keith Smart has shown no signs of improving this after 4 games. he takes the entire starting lineup out of the game and leaves them out for the entire second quarter or close to it. He also starts the 4th quarter with questionable lineups and waits to long to bring starters back in. Tonight is a prime example, DeMarcus was not in any kind of foul trouble, yet only played 33 minutes, why?

James Johnson's offense: Coach Smart needs to sit down and tell Johnson he is not out there to be creating his own shots. only take wide open jumpers JJ, unless you have a putback or a fast break dunk.

Tyreke: although his defense looks great. he clearly has not developed a good shooting stroke, and he is struggling on offense once again (11ppg)

Offense: has looked terrible at times. no ball movement sometimes, bad shooting, bad execution, bad play calling. you gotta get the ball to Cousins, especially times like tonight in the last 5 minutes. just bad offense all around. lets hope the offense can fall into place.

Cousins: it is really pissing me off that he primarily plays 18 feet away from the hoop on offense now. he needs to get in there and bang, and the coach needs to make this a game plan.


overall, im still optimistic the team can have a much improved record this year. but its gonna take a lot of changes from Keith SMart

What's Cousins to do when they are clogging the middle because we have Evans and Johnson on the floor together and neither of them can shoot to save their lives. Cousins is good, but he cannot consistently go againse teams that clog the paint. It's not possible. We need to put MT in at SG in order to spread the floor then maybe Cousins would get touched inside that don't get blocked.

 

[SacTownKid]

Cousins is a face up C, just accept it. Just so happens he's one of the best in the league and could be right up there with anyone to play that way in the past. He reminds me more and of Patrick Ewing. I think he'd be well served to study Ewings game and find a consistent spot on the floor to spot shoot. His ability to drive will help him be a dominant inside player and he can still post up. Clearing the lane for him will be imperative moving forward for he and the team.

 

[SacTownKid]

What's Cousins to do when they are clogging the middle because we have Evans and Johnson on the floor together and neither of them can shoot to save their lives. Cousins is good, but he cannot consistently go againse teams that clog the paint. It's not possible. We need to put MT in at SG in order to spread the floor then maybe Cousins would get touched inside that don't get blocked.

Not with the NBA's allowance of the zone defense. There was one play against Minnesota where Cousins literally had to go 1 on 4 when getting the rim. That's just leaving your best player out to dry right there.