Random Thoughts following 2 back 2 back blowouts

[sactownfan]

first thought is no Evans.... yup our supposedly 2nd best player out and the ball movement has looked the best it has all year? coincidence ??? hmm ....

even tho the wins were against old or injured teams...
Jimmer is still shooting terrible... 4-12 total and 1-6 3pt shots. had 9 total pts and 3 TO's in the 2 games... he was a +10 today and a -3 against bos.

Salmons has been very steady, along with Greene

Greene's only misses today... 3'pt shots and he missed 4 out of 5... maybe its time for him to step up a few feet and finally get over the 3 ball... he actually showed some balanced abilities this year in spurts. he could recharge his career if he lets go of the whole 3 ball chucking problem...

Thomas is a stud...looking better as time goes on... great all around PG with an amazing motor...

and finally MT ! with Evans out has really stepped it up with his energy... looks faster and is really filling it up on the stat sheets ... a ton of steals, pts, a few boards and even as hard as it is to believe assists!!!

anyway i'll end it how i started... Evans has been out... sure the teams we beat are super flawed... but... the ball movement has been great and we are blowing weaker teams out like we should...

have to wonder about the Evans factor here...

 

[UK_King]

going by the responses on another thread to that first point, all I'm gonna say is look out!

 

[sactownfan]

If i was Smart i'd pull Evans to be safe vs MEM... and see how this team responds... if we see the ball movement and TEAM play like the last two games... i think you can't help but to worry that Evans is the problem...

 

[vikinginferno]

I think it shows that Tyreke is just not good at the SF position. If you want Tyreke to succeed, play him at his strengths at guard. It also shows Tyreke really needs to get a shot.

 

[cstorm]

going by the responses on another thread to that first point, all I'm gonna say is look out!

I wish this was something that could be discussed without threat of ????. It has merit. It should be discussed. Does not make it true, just an opinion.

 

[pshn80]

On the issue of wins without Evans playing, wins because of better ball movement and better shots - there might be something there, don't be too hard on Evans, and it's a nice problem to have.

Also different, Fredette not making shots, dissed players Salmons and Outlaw contributing to our success. I guess we're never wise to rush to judgement. But we do.

 

[Tetsujin]

On the issue of wins without Evans playing, wins because of better ball movement and better shots - there might be something there, don't be too hard on Evans, and it's a nice problem to have.

To be fair, we blew out Dallas in similar resounding fashion and that was with Reke starting.

 

[PurpleHaze]

But there's no denying Tyreke Evans is by far Kings best defensive player - unless someone wants to say Salmons is in the short on D talent conversation. And surely Kings need more DEFENSE - lots, lots more! Maybe Reke's role on the team should be a sort of D specialist who is used where he has matchup superiority - like Bruce Bowen was once seen in San Antonio. Otherwise, I think Evans should be trade bait but only for star-type player (like a Granger) or one or more top 2012 draft picks. I think there's a player who is similar to Reke at Michigan St., a senior, and now Naismith national player of the year candidate. If you don't his name is you should - Draymond Green - a great passing 6'7" Mr. Everything SF (his NBA postion). Would love to have him if there's no Reke on the team. But Granger would be an even bigger prize.

 

[Fear the Putin]

Reke at the 2 please

Stop with the SF experiment and the offense is stagnant when he is at the 1

 

[Spike]

To be fair, we blew out Dallas in similar resounding fashion and that was with Reke starting.

Hush.

 

[cstorm]

Reke at the 2 please

Stop with the SF experiment and the offense is stagnant when he is at the 1

This!

 

[pshn80]

To be fair, we blew out Dallas in similar resounding fashion and that was with Reke starting.

Good point. Let's hope for blowouts our way so we do further study on the matter. Nice problem to have.

 

[xyrin]

Don't criticize Tyreke too much or you'll upset the powers that be.

I think Tyreke is much better suited for the shooting guard position and he needs to try to go the Wade route of being an ISO player who has developed a midrange game. Give up shooting the three until he can develop an elite midrange shot. Once he gets that down, he'll be an unstoppable force.

But he needs to stop playing at the 1 or 3 position. We just need to decide whether Thornton can go to the bench or not.

 

[vikinginferno]

Thornton should be the 6th man and Tyreke should stay at SG. People need to stop thinking of coming off the bench as a demotion. Thornton would get similar minutes, but it would just be at a better time for him to come in and score.

 

[rainmaker]

I think we should trade Reke for one of these. If you pass, guaranteed you'll see the ball again.

Downside is, assembly not included.

 

[swisshh]

I thought this was Jimmer's best game where he didn't shoot well. Normally, if its not dropping then he isn't earning playtime. Today he kept up the ball movement and even played a little ball denial on Barrea. Still got beat on D, but he didn't look scared tonight.

 

[Big Cuz 15]

Reke at the 2 please

Stop with the SF experiment and the offense is stagnant when he is at the 1

jyeah

 

[jcwkings]

tyreke should start at the 2 and we should get a real sf that can hit the 3 consitently(Salmons has been doing fine lately, but is not the long term solution). Thornton should be our James Harden. Also Tyreke needs to dedicate this off season to improving his mid range shot. If at this time next year we are having the same conversations, i say trade him, no way a true professional basketball player can't improve his most glaring weakness in 4 years. Seriously if he gets a good mid range shot he is literally unstoppable, and with his improving defense, he could be one of the better 2 way gaurds in the league. His jumpshot is literally holding back his career. The only thing i fear is that we get rid of him, and comes full circle somewhere else.

 

[Heuge]

Anyone who uses these 2 games to claim the Kings are better without Reke completely discredits themselves. Its flies in the face of logic and has complete disregard for the half dozen high quality type wins this team with Reke has registered this season.

 

[BMiller52]

Reke at the 2 please

Stop with the SF experiment and the offense is stagnant when he is at the 1

I agree with this.

 

[jcwkings]

Anyone who uses these 2 games to claim the Kings are better without Reke completely discredits themselves. Its flies in the face of logic and has complete disregard for the half dozen high quality type wins this team with Reke has registered this season.

well the logic is that with tyreke, we layed some eggs against the hawks, warriors, and pistons, where there was next to no ball movement, alot of ball pounding from everyone. The next 2 games, ball movement improves, and theres seems to just be alot more energy from everyone on both ends. Ball movement improves the energy of everybody on ends. Guys will not move if they know Tyreke, Thornton, or Cousins are just going to iso themselves and not move. If Tyreke can come back and play a team game, then everything should work out fine.

 

[sactownfan]

Anyone who uses these 2 games to claim the Kings are better without Reke completely discredits themselves. Its flies in the face of logic and has complete disregard for the half dozen high quality type wins this team with Reke has registered this season.

Easy there.. look for the 2nd straight game the ball movement has been the best I've seen it all year and last. Today I watched so many extra passes happening for wide open shots It must have been a record.

Now im not gonna base the last 2 games on evans alone. But.... on some of those passes where the ball needed to be moved just one more for a wide open look I think evans would have just put his head down and drove it to the basket instead of keeping the movement alive.

 

[MassachusettsKingsFan]

If the problem is that Isaiah, Tyreke, and Thornton cannot play together then benching Thornton is certainly not the answer.

Again, that is if I'm under the impression that those guys cannot play together, which I don't think we have the answer to just yet.

For those who seem obsessed with moving Thornton to the bench because the current starting unit doesn't work .. James Harden? that guy plays crunch time with the Westbrook and Durant. Jason Terry? Same thing. If they can't play together they can't play together. Moving Marcus to the bench doesn't solve anything.

The biggest problem right now is that Thomas, Evans, and Thornton are our best 3 players that aren't 'bigs' and even that would be ok if it was close, but it isn't. They are the best by a large margin.

Isaiah is the one that really threw a very small wrench in our future. He's playing too well to bench, but benching Thornton or Evans over some of our other scrub guard/forwards is just dumb. If Isaiah keeps this up, then we'll have to do something (and I'm thinking a trade may be the only solution if he does keep it up) but we have the rest of the season to evaluate that. I stand by my argument that Isaiah would make a much more natural bench player than Thornton, but like I said ... we have the rest of the season to figure out where these guys should land in the rotation.

We can't bench Thornton or Evans. And it's not Keith Smarts fault that he doesn't. It's not about having the 'balls' to do something like that ... Westphal was too much of a ******* to Cousins and lost him. Smart would be a fool to tell Evans or Thornton they've been benched, because neither guy deserves it.

 

[bluntsnbball]

i will say first off, i did not see the game today. But it would make sense to me that with Reke out, the line up was more balanced and people actually played their natural positions. I can see the starting 5 and it looks like everyone started in their natural position, ie no small ball. It sounds like the ball movement was better which doesnt surprise me at all, but maybe the fact that our guys are gonna be able to play their ROLES better when they play their natural positions and actually know what their roles are! W/ all this small ball bs, everyones playing out of position and i think it may be more difficult to play as a team when the fellas dont know what their roles actually are.

Don't misinterpret my statement here, i am not blaming wins or losses on reke, but he's a 2 guard without a shot, which kinda leaves him without a perfect position to a certain extent. It just might be less confusing for the rest of the team to have a balanced, logical lineup out there without trying to incorporate a very talented, yet position-less player.

Does that make sense or am i just rambling?

 

[Bricklayer]

well the logic is that with tyreke, we layed some eggs against the hawks, warriors, and pistons, where there was next to no ball movement, alot of ball pounding from everyone. The next 2 games, ball movement improves, and theres seems to just be alot more energy from everyone on both ends. Ball movement improves the energy of everybody on ends. Guys will not move if they know Tyreke, Thornton, or Cousins are just going to iso themselves and not move. If Tyreke can come back and play a team game, then everything should work out fine.

Its hard to even know where to start with Kings fans anymore.

Let's try this. Did you know we lost these last two games? Well we would have if we had allowed them to score 124 points the way the Pistons did.
Do you know who was basically the ONLY player passing in the Atlanta and Golden State games? You got it, everybody's favorite scapegoat.
And I find it ironic, and conveniently forgotten about that in Reke's last game Jason thomposn notched 4 assits, Marcus Thornotn nothched 6, Salmons added 5, Hayes 2 more...in short everybody was passing. With Reke on the floor. Not sure how that's possible.

 

[Bricklayer]

If the problem is that Isaiah, Tyreke, and Thornton cannot play together then benching Thornton is certainly not the answer.

Again, that is if I'm under the impression that those guys cannot play together, which I don't think we have the answer to just yet.

For those who seem obsessed with moving Thornton to the bench because the current starting unit doesn't work .. James Harden? that guy plays crunch time with the Westbrook and Durant. Jason Terry? Same thing. If they can't play together they can't play together. Moving Marcus to the bench doesn't solve anything.

The biggest problem right now is that Thomas, Evans, and Thornton are our best 3 players that aren't 'bigs' and even that would be ok if it was close, but it isn't. They are the best by a large margin.

Isaiah is the one that really threw a very small wrench in our future. He's playing too well to bench, but benching Thornton or Evans over some of our other scrub guard/forwards is just dumb. If Isaiah keeps this up, then we'll have to do something (and I'm thinking a trade may be the only solution if he does keep it up) but we have the rest of the season to evaluate that. I stand by my argument that Isaiah would make a much more natural bench player than Thornton, but like I said ... we have the rest of the season to figure out where these guys should land in the rotation.

We can't bench Thornton or Evans. And it's not Keith Smarts fault that he doesn't. It's not about having the 'balls' to do something like that ... Westphal was too much of a ******* to Cousins and lost him. Smart would be a fool to tell Evans or Thornton they've been benched, because neither guy deserves it.

Unless Isaiah Thomas is suddenly better than Jason Terry or Manu Ginobili he's certianly not playing to well to bench. But bench as in make a 6th man. But the problem of course has been a lack of options as to who you would start instead.

 

[king4life89]

i like how jt goes to top of key and looks for cutters or a open dmc but yea i have to agree our ball movement is much more better with out reke....he just seems to kill the moment at times if he just got it in his head not to shoot 3s or do one on one and do a fadeaway all the time just pass the ball and cut keep the ball mobing until we find the open cutter or the open shooter our offense has ben looing like the old kings basketball....t outlaw finaly playing somwhat better so is salmons lol what to do now in the next offseason who gots to go and whos gona stay...i really hope we could keep donte for the fact that hes getting better and has a lot of potential and also just the fact the he was a sk kings fan before he even enterd the nba....go kings!!!! oooo yea one more thing for thpse who wanna move thorton to bench theres no way hes our best scorer best shoooter best beast mode person we got he cannot be benched!thats just me

 

[ppine]

This week is the first time this year that it feels like the Kings can outscore people. Smart's idea to run has taken some time to sink in, but is becoming instinctive. It is good logic- a young team that doesn't shoot well needs lay-ups to stay in games. There has been some evidence of improved defense. The Kings still give up uncontested lay-ups in the half-court and on the break, but show signs of tipping the ball, intercepting passing lanes, and less over-playing. I agree with other posts about the wide open shots we give up in the name of trying to make steals.

The effort level has been there the last 2 games. Playing every other day really helps. Playing 4 games in 5 days hurts the Kings style of play. IT and MT are starting to cover a lot of ground and show big motors.. It was interesting this afternoon in that DMC had little impact on the game and Evans was on the bench. That should be interpreted as a positive. The victory against Minn was a team win. It was important to have so many players contribute. It was a confidence builder. Honeycutt's jam lit everyone up.

 

[The_Jamal]

Unless Isaiah Thomas is suddenly better than Jason Terry or Manu Ginobili he's certianly not playing to well to bench. But bench as in make a 6th man. But the problem of course has been a lack of options as to who you would start instead.

Lame argument. IT's numbers have more than justified a starting spot for us. Harden and Ginobli are essentially starters anyway and it's totally unfair to compare IT to them.

 

[Bricklayer]

Lame argument. IT's numbers have more than justified a starting spot for us. Harden and Ginobli are essentially starters anyway and it's totally unfair to compare IT to them.

Please. CAN IT be a starter wiht his numbers? Sure. 14.5pts 3.1reb 4.9ast in just a shade over 30 min? Sure.

But those are not numbers that DEMAND he be a starter (and they have sunk after his fast start). He is a good player. And notably he's being played in a system built better for his performance than that of the better players on hsi team. But its like the Beno situation. He's a good player, but not a star. Hence his role is determined by whatever works best for the team. It doesn't take a genius to see that a high energy 5'9" (maybe) PG with shoot first tendencies is a CLASSIC change of pace guard off the bench, and not so classic as a high level team in contention sort of starter. Jerry likes to babble on about how great Spud was, but I'll tell you how great Spud was: he won less than 40% of his games as a starting PG, got us to 1 playofff series, where we won 1 game. Tyus Edney was not the answer either. And the odds are let's jsut say pretty damn good that neither will IT be. Even being good enough to be considered as a potential 6th man is a considerable accomplishment in itself, but he has all the markers and you don't typically care as much about a 6th man's D.

Let's just say my "lame argument" is roughly as "lame" as decades of NBA history can make it.