Observations from being at the game

[BMiller52]

This team might suck, but they are still fun to watch. You can tell they're still learning a lot of stuff, and they play hard. Honestly, people showed up and its not like the arena was full or anything but I think a lot of people can tell that if you give these guys 1-2 more years they'll be pretty good.

This team needs a real PG who can either set things up or space the floor in the Aaron Brooks/Jameer Nelson mold. NOt that specific guy, but those are 2 guys out there who would fit our needs. We play well until we get to the fourth quarter when we're either relying on posting up our rookie center or trying to get the ball to Reke, and the other team keys in on Tyreke. We need someone who will set the team up, set the tempo, run the break, open up the floor, and distribute the ball.

Need to post Cousins more, he can go to work on people. He has a really nice post game already and if you give him 2-3 more years he'll be a franchise center who can hit his free throws.

Carl Landry is a good player but we don't need him. You can get the same thing from Darnell Jackson, Thompson, or Cousins. Darnell plays better D actually and seems like he boxes out and boards better, also runs the floor pretty well. JT has the jumper like Landry and is a better rebounder, and Cousins can post just like Landry. Honestly, we should trade Landry for a PG somehow.

There's a few more things but these were the main things that stood out to me.

 

[Kings Fan Gerard]

I agree, and my signature says the same.

 

[Lafayette]

YES, this team needs a PG and a reliable SF that can knock down the three and play D.

 

[FaStRmAn]

I totally agree with all the above. They need a Point Guard. Tyreke and Beno are both 2 guards. I always cringe when I hear Westphal talk about there not being a "point guard" or a main guard, but all guards should be able to play both positions. I think that is blatantly false. There are point guards, and there are shooting guards. Pooh is the only true PG on the team. And he isn't very good yet. Kings need to either draft or trade for a real point guard who can run the offense, make a 3 point shot, play defense, AND most importantly set up his teammates.

 

[theclash4u5]

YES, this team needs a PG and a reliable SF that can knock down the three and play D.

Cousins
Thompson
Battier
Evans
Brooks

Yum.

 

[pshn80]

This team might suck, but they are still fun to watch. You can tell they're still learning a lot of stuff, and they play hard. Honestly, people showed up and its not like the arena was full or anything but I think a lot of people can tell that if you give these guys 1-2 more years they'll be pretty good.(end quote)

I was at the game and had the same feeling. They played well and were entertaining. This time for a change they played decent ball until the end. At two minutes remaining in the game even though they hadn't done much in the preceding 5 or 6 minutes they were still in the game. Enjoyable game but sad to see the end. One wonders if we/they would be better off to take Cousins and Tyreke out for the last several minutes. My feeling tonight, right or wrong, was that anyone else on the Kings should have been on the floor but them.

 

[mr. moustache]

I totally agree with all the above. They need a Point Guard. Tyreke and Beno are both 2 guards. I always cringe when I hear Westphal talk about there not being a "point guard" or a main guard, but all guards should be able to play both positions. I think that is blatantly false. There are point guards, and there are shooting guards. Pooh is the only true PG on the team. And he isn't very good yet. Kings need to either draft or trade for a real point guard who can run the offense, make a 3 point shot, play defense, AND most importantly set up his teammates.

I still think the need for a PG thing is overblown. The team needs playmaking, it really doesn't matter where it comes from. Cousins can be an elite big man playmaker. Tyreke can be an elite guard playmaker. Neither of them are there yet and Tyreke has taken a weird step backward in this regard. Evans has been taking some bad shots from long range with a lot of time on the clock. A PG may reduce how often that happens, but that's the wrong solution to a solvable problem.

Longterm, we can run our offense through Boogie and Tyreke for 80% of possessions. Doesn't mean they take 80% of the shots, but they need to be making decisions with the ball, including scoring. Boogie needs to stop being sloppy and Evans needs to stop taking bad shots.

I think the struggles at SF and PF are a bigger concern. Our 2 main guys need shooters and defenders on the floor. I'm fine adding a PG to this team, but he'd better be a defender that can shoot. His ball handling skills will come in handy as he passes it to one of the 2 main guys.

 

[kingsboi]

It's pretty obvious that this team needs a player who can put the ball in the basket regardless of the defense, but those aren't very easy to find so we just have to keep hoping that we get one of them in the draft and/or free agency.

 

[SacTownKid]

What needs to happen is this team needs to make plays through Cousins. I liked what I saw in the Thunder game and for the first few plays of this one, but then Westphal completely went away from it. Why?

 

[bajaden]

I wasn't at the game, but I watched it twice, as is my nature, in HD on my daughters 65" widescreen. Does that count? By the way, my daughter who had Dish, dumped it for comcast. Yippi! Now at least I'll get to see the rest of the games. And thursdays in person. Anyway some of my insights based on my somewhat fragile memory. Cisco who was 5 of 8 for the game entering the 4th quarter, didn't get a shot in the 4th quarter. Landry who I believe was 5 for 10, couild have been 4 for 8, didn't get a shot in the 4th quarter. I have no explaination, but it would seem that when you have two players both shooting the ball well, you might want to give them a shot at it.

Greene, who I thought played very well in the first half, and just so/so in the third quarter, never saw the floor in the 4th quarter. There was a period in the 4th before Evans and Cousins returned to the game that the Rockets went on a layup drill, and erased the small lead we had and I believe took the lead. I thought Cousins and Evans should have come back in around the 8 or 9 minutes mark. Instead they came back in somewhere between 5 and 6 minutes left in the game. I would have rather had Greene in there for his defense. I know the logic to keeping Cisco in the game was for his offense. But he never took a shot, so what was the point? Evans missed two opportunities to hit Cousins wide open under the basket and ignored him both times. I have no explaination for that. Cousins played well until the last 1 minute and 30 seconds. Moments before a play that was drawn up on the sideline was obviously not run properly when it ended up with Evans forcing up a shot from 15 feet. Cousins was yelling at several of his teammates as they walked off the floor, and Westphal yelled at Evans as he approached the bench. I don't mean to point the finger at Evans because I don't know the play and its possible that someone else caused the play to collapse. At that point it appeared that Cousins tryed to take things into his own hands and the predictable happened.

I don't agree that Evans and Cousins need to be taken out of the game for the last couple of minutes. Both these guys are the future of the team, and the only way they'll ever learn, is by doing it. It will be painfull at times, but there is no simple way. Cousins has put two very good games together back to back. He stayed foul free in this one for the most part. What bothers me, is that I just don't see a lot of chemistry between Cousins and Evans. Not sure why. Cousins seems to have good chemistry with Thompson, and even Beno at times. But so far, I'm not seeing it with Evans. Hopefully the two of them will get on the same page.

 

[Lockehead]

I don't agree that Evans and Cousins need to be taken out of the game for the last couple of minutes. Both these guys are the future of the team, and the only way they'll ever learn, is by doing it. It will be painfull at times, but there is no simple way. Cousins has put two very good games together back to back. He stayed foul free in this one for the most part. What bothers me, is that I just don't see a lot of chemistry between Cousins and Evans. Not sure why. Cousins seems to have good chemistry with Thompson, and even Beno at times. But so far, I'm not seeing it with Evans. Hopefully the two of them will get on the same page.

Im with you on the Cousins and Reke chemistry thing.

The thing about Cousins is that he knows how to play as a team, he knows how to work with his teammates well enough for some chemistry to build. Allow him to get more game experience and the kids going to be a star, any team, with emphasis on TEAM, would want to have him.

 

[Tetsujin]

Im with you on the Cousins and Reke chemistry thing.

The thing about Cousins is that he knows how to play as a team, he knows how to work with his teammates well enough for some chemistry to build. Allow him to get more game experience and the kids going to be a star, any team, with emphasis on TEAM, would want to have him.

I think Cousins had the benefit of being on a team in college that was literally jampacked with NBA talent whereas Reke literally had almost no one else of a similar caliber with him in college.

 

[Kingster]

I still think the need for a PG thing is overblown. The team needs playmaking, it really doesn't matter where it comes from. Cousins can be an elite big man playmaker. Tyreke can be an elite guard playmaker. Neither of them are there yet and Tyreke has taken a weird step backward in this regard. Evans has been taking some bad shots from long range with a lot of time on the clock. A PG may reduce how often that happens, but that's the wrong solution to a solvable problem.

Longterm, we can run our offense through Boogie and Tyreke for 80% of possessions. Doesn't mean they take 80% of the shots, but they need to be making decisions with the ball, including scoring. Boogie needs to stop being sloppy and Evans needs to stop taking bad shots.

I think the struggles at SF and PF are a bigger concern. Our 2 main guys need shooters and defenders on the floor. I'm fine adding a PG to this team, but he'd better be a defender that can shoot. His ball handling skills will come in handy as he passes it to one of the 2 main guys.

Agreed. It's as if the foot issue makes him press to do more individually rather than within the team concept.

Also in agreement on a guard with ball handling skills that can defend. I'm absolutely done with one-dimensional guys that either can't defend or can't shoot. Cousins is never going to be a great help defender so we need guards that can defend.

 

[Lockehead]

May be, i cant comment i didnt watch them in college.

But from what im seeing in the NBA, Reke seems to be on a slow start even in his sophomore year in meshing with his teammates. BBIQ may play a part in the difference.

 

[Kingster]

I wasn't at the game, but I watched it twice, as is my nature, in HD on my daughters 65" widescreen. Does that count? By the way, my daughter who had Dish, dumped it for comcast. Yippi! Now at least I'll get to see the rest of the games. And thursdays in person. Anyway some of my insights based on my somewhat fragile memory. Cisco who was 5 of 8 for the game entering the 4th quarter, didn't get a shot in the 4th quarter. Landry who I believe was 5 for 10, couild have been 4 for 8, didn't get a shot in the 4th quarter. I have no explaination, but it would seem that when you have two players both shooting the ball well, you might want to give them a shot at it.

Greene, who I thought played very well in the first half, and just so/so in the third quarter, never saw the floor in the 4th quarter. There was a period in the 4th before Evans and Cousins returned to the game that the Rockets went on a layup drill, and erased the small lead we had and I believe took the lead. I thought Cousins and Evans should have come back in around the 8 or 9 minutes mark. Instead they came back in somewhere between 5 and 6 minutes left in the game. I would have rather had Greene in there for his defense. I know the logic to keeping Cisco in the game was for his offense. But he never took a shot, so what was the point? Evans missed two opportunities to hit Cousins wide open under the basket and ignored him both times. I have no explaination for that. Cousins played well until the last 1 minute and 30 seconds. Moments before a play that was drawn up on the sideline was obviously not run properly when it ended up with Evans forcing up a shot from 15 feet. Cousins was yelling at several of his teammates as they walked off the floor, and Westphal yelled at Evans as he approached the bench. I don't mean to point the finger at Evans because I don't know the play and its possible that someone else caused the play to collapse. At that point it appeared that Cousins tryed to take things into his own hands and the predictable happened.

I don't agree that Evans and Cousins need to be taken out of the game for the last couple of minutes. Both these guys are the future of the team, and the only way they'll ever learn, is by doing it. It will be painfull at times, but there is no simple way. Cousins has put two very good games together back to back. He stayed foul free in this one for the most part. What bothers me, is that I just don't see a lot of chemistry between Cousins and Evans. Not sure why. Cousins seems to have good chemistry with Thompson, and even Beno at times. But so far, I'm not seeing it with Evans. Hopefully the two of them will get on the same page.

I really think all the Monday morning qb on the substitution stuff is small potatoes. The main culprit is that these guys don't share the ball like they should. If they do, they win that game. Period. Evans is the main culprit, but it happens with others as well. I've gone from being moderately annoyed, to annoyed, to being p****ed at this behavior. You just want to take the bunch of them and clang their heads together until they get a clue.

 

[Asaf]

Tyreke can be an elite guard playmaker.

To be honest, so far he hasn't shown anything that would make me believe that he will become an elite playmaker. If anything, his court vision is below average for an NBA guard (be it PG or SG).