Now I'm worried again.... no bench

[Bricklayer]

Well, I think the issue is a little different between Barnes and Martin/Evans.

Martin and Evans are pinned by their position -- they are really pure OGs, and while they're athletic, they're not big enoghh to play SF, nor do they have the handling skills to play PG. And our one bench stalwart is of course Bobby, who eats up basically ALL of the backup minutes at 1/2. So there's just no time left for them to play. And really, our backcourt has not been the problem this year in rebounding. Bibby's done a great job, Bobby is amazing as a PG, and pretty good even as an undersized OG, and Doug is solid for a OG as well (not as good as in years previous).

Barnes, on the other hand, is both considerably bigger (about 6'7" 230lbs) and could help. Peja has obviously been a huge problem for us on the glass all year, and Matt is very aggressive there. But there are two factors working against him 1) he's so inconsistent, and prone to sloppy play that its hard to trust him; and 2) what I see is an unhealthy overreliance on Peja to play huge minutes. Even when Peja is not playing well, Rick will just leave him out there eating up space. That's wasted wear and tear on Peja, and really, if Peja is not scoring well, he's not going to consistently do that much to help you anyway (he does have stretches of inspired defensive play, but not enough to say "must play him"). If Matt could just come up with an extended streak of inspired play, maybe it would be enough to get Rick to drop his safety blanket and get Peja's minutes down closer to 35. But Matt just can't seem to maintain consistency and avoid mistakes for long stretches (can;t make it easy with the short stints and inconsistent minutes).

 

[CruzDude]

Now I'm worried again, really!

After watching the Lakers layup drill on Thursday night and seeing 4 of their bench hit 3s and everything else,nothing has changed for the kings.

Think back this year. When have the Kings had a really good game? Ok, at Phoenix. But what else? When in the past 5-6 games have they played well. Sure they win but against sub-500 teams

There is no athleticism, our three flat-footed big guys, no defense, and not very consistent offense. That's not whining, just observation of the last 20 games. The lack of athleticism may be the biggest deficiency, other than BJax and Barnes.

If no other talent is available, can it hurt to give some more time to Daniels and Evans? Something.......

 

[Bricklayer]

Man, if we don't have a consistent offense I hate to think what the other 28 teams trailing us in scoring must have.

Again, I think there is sometimes a lack of persepective vis-a-vis the other teams in the league. Outside of Phoenix, which is just playing out of its mind, we are pretty much THE offensive machine of the NBA. Same as we have been for years. Our difficulties lie in other areas. And our 11th/12th men aren't going to be able to save us there. More Tag minutes might help. Otherwise not a lot of defensive/rebounding answers on the roster. (well except for simply asking the guys who get the minutes (*ahem* Peja) to step it up to at least the level of previous years).