nbrans
All-Star
I have way too much time on my hands, and I'm curious about what people think about the correctable problems facing the Kings. I know a lot of people think the Kings just aren't that good, but we can all probably agree that they should be winning more games than they are right now. Here are some thoughts on improvements.
BIBBY
Inconsistency has been the consistent theme for Bibby this year. In the beginning of the season he wasn't shooting well, but he was playing decent defense. Then he started shooting well and stopped playing defense. Against the Cavs, just to show a new look he didn't shoot well and didn't play defense. We all know Bibby is not a good defender. But his inability to consistenly direct the offense has been the real surprise this season. Toward the end of last year the Kings depended on him to create for the entire offense, and he fulfilled that role admirably. This year, for whatever reason, he just hasn't showed much of a handle on the offense. Part of it is that he's shirking his PG duties in favor of being a shooting guard, part of it is just unexplainable.
Rx: Bibby's got to play defense like he did against TJ Ford, he needs to show more of a command of the offense and he needs to be a steadying force for the team. Right now he's occasionally doing all three of these things, but thus far it's always one out of three.
BONZI
It's really a tale of two Bonzis. On defense and intangibles Bonzi's been great. He's really filled the void left by Christie's departure. He's not the defender Christie was -- he's not as long or as athletic, but he's shown a ton of heart, he's boarding at an embarassingly high rate and he's been the lone bright spot on defense. Most importnatly, he's shown heart night in and night out.
On offense though, he hasn't really fit in very well. Part of this is that he still hasn't found his outside shot. His shooting percentage is extremely low given that he is taking most of his shots near the hoop. He's always been a streak shooter, but in the past few years he really had become more dependable outside shooter and his current inability to make a shot is strange. But more importantly, he has yet to really embrace the offense. Most of his points and assists have come on drives to the hoop -- it's great that he's penetrating, but it results in 2.9 turnovers, which is alarmingly high for someone who has the ball as little as he does.
Rx: Bonzi's got to keep it up on defense, shoot less on offense and look to rotate the ball within the offense rather than looking to penetrate every time. I hope we'll see one of Bonzi's patented gonzo shooting nights here pretty soon.
PEJA
Peja is just getting exposed thus far this season, and last night was Exhibit A as Lebron just killed him on both ends. I think one of the underdiscussed aspects of Peja's decline is the sudden rise of superstar SFs in the league. Just a few years ago most of the best players in the league were either SGs or PFs. Three years ago you had to worry about Kobe, Vince, Steve Francis, Ray Allen, Paul Pierce, Tracy McGrady... There really weren't very many good SFs in the league. Now all of a sudden you have Lebron, Carmelo, Richard Jefferson, Gerald Wallace, Tayshaun, Artest, Maggette, Diaw, Kirlenko... and Paul Pierce and McGrady are now playing SF to boot. Peja just isn't in these players leagues athletically, and he can't keep up with them on defense and has a really hard time getting his shot off.
I'm not sure where Peja is mentally right now either. Peja doesn't seem to be able to block out the noise around him. I personally think his hand is still bothering him and that he might have come back too soon due to the outside pressure on him from fans and the media. He's got to block it out and just focus on finding his game.
Rx: Peja's got to find a happy medium between asserting himself and overasserting himself. He has a tendency to either launch wild shots or slip into passive mode. He's got to find some rhythm on offense and keep up his cutting to the basket. He's got to do what he can on defense but make a pronounced rebounding effort to compensate for his defensive deficienes. It's not like he's getting fast break opportunities -- he's got to crash the boards.
ABDUR-RAHIM
SAR has given the Kings most of what they wanted on offense. An inside game that gives a new dimension to the offense, good passing, and capable-if-not-spectacular defense. For $5 million a year, I'll take it.
However, SAR has got to get a board. Make that 10 boards. Every game. As I mentioned elsewhere I don't question his effort, but he seems bewilderingly slow to rebounds. This hasn't been the case throughout his career, and he needs to get in touch with his inner rebounder.
Rx: Keep up the good work on offense. On defense, REBOUND REBOUND REBOUND REBOUND REBOUND.
MILLER
I'm of the opinion that Miller has been pretty terrible this year. I'm not discounting the fact that he broke his leg at the end of last year and something like that can be very difficult to recover from, but Miller just hasn't brought it. To make matters worse, Miller is running the offense, so when Miller has a good game, the Kings win. When he has a bad game, which has become just about every game, the Kings lose.
Teams with good coaches are discovering that it's actually pretty easy to shut down Miller, and thus the Kings' offense. All you have to do is send your center out and get in his face, body him up and swipe at the ball and he'll get frustrated and crumble. The Timberwolves sent Garnett to harass him in the high post and Miller responded with an almost comically bad game.
Meanwhile, while playing defense, Miller is hosting his own "All-Star for a Night" award, aka the Jerome James Award. Winners of this honor include such luminaries as Michael Olawokandi, Adonal Foyle and Eddy Curry. He has just been flat out terrible on defense. He's also been flat-out terrible rebounding. According to 82games.com, the Kings are getting outrebounded by more than 5 a game from the Center spot. That's bad.
Rx: I'm of the opinion that Miller's struggles have been the single biggest reason for the Kings' struggles. In large part it's because of the amount the Kings depend on Miller on offense. The Kings have to find a way to score when Miller isn't contributing. On defense, Miller needs to give better effort and he has to rebound. Basically he needs to just be better.
BENCH
An almost total disappointment. Jason Hart hasn't hit his shots and has been wild, Kevin Martin was at first consistently decent and then just bad, KT hasn't boarded while he's in the game and everyone else hasn't played much. Who am I leaving out? Francisco Garcia. I was a Garcia skeptic when the Kings drafted him, but this guy is the future. He's shown a lot of improvement since his mostly disastrous preseason, but he's one of those players where good things happen when he's in the game. He's competitive, he's a deft passer, he can shoot from oustide, and he really needs to play more.
Rx: More Garcia. I think Hart will come along with time, Kevin Martin needs to decide if he belongs in the league, KT needs to show more energy when he comes in the game, Adelman needs to play Skinner more and put in Corliss whever he can.
This book is available for $14.95 on Amazon and Bn.com
BIBBY
Inconsistency has been the consistent theme for Bibby this year. In the beginning of the season he wasn't shooting well, but he was playing decent defense. Then he started shooting well and stopped playing defense. Against the Cavs, just to show a new look he didn't shoot well and didn't play defense. We all know Bibby is not a good defender. But his inability to consistenly direct the offense has been the real surprise this season. Toward the end of last year the Kings depended on him to create for the entire offense, and he fulfilled that role admirably. This year, for whatever reason, he just hasn't showed much of a handle on the offense. Part of it is that he's shirking his PG duties in favor of being a shooting guard, part of it is just unexplainable.
Rx: Bibby's got to play defense like he did against TJ Ford, he needs to show more of a command of the offense and he needs to be a steadying force for the team. Right now he's occasionally doing all three of these things, but thus far it's always one out of three.
BONZI
It's really a tale of two Bonzis. On defense and intangibles Bonzi's been great. He's really filled the void left by Christie's departure. He's not the defender Christie was -- he's not as long or as athletic, but he's shown a ton of heart, he's boarding at an embarassingly high rate and he's been the lone bright spot on defense. Most importnatly, he's shown heart night in and night out.
On offense though, he hasn't really fit in very well. Part of this is that he still hasn't found his outside shot. His shooting percentage is extremely low given that he is taking most of his shots near the hoop. He's always been a streak shooter, but in the past few years he really had become more dependable outside shooter and his current inability to make a shot is strange. But more importantly, he has yet to really embrace the offense. Most of his points and assists have come on drives to the hoop -- it's great that he's penetrating, but it results in 2.9 turnovers, which is alarmingly high for someone who has the ball as little as he does.
Rx: Bonzi's got to keep it up on defense, shoot less on offense and look to rotate the ball within the offense rather than looking to penetrate every time. I hope we'll see one of Bonzi's patented gonzo shooting nights here pretty soon.
PEJA
Peja is just getting exposed thus far this season, and last night was Exhibit A as Lebron just killed him on both ends. I think one of the underdiscussed aspects of Peja's decline is the sudden rise of superstar SFs in the league. Just a few years ago most of the best players in the league were either SGs or PFs. Three years ago you had to worry about Kobe, Vince, Steve Francis, Ray Allen, Paul Pierce, Tracy McGrady... There really weren't very many good SFs in the league. Now all of a sudden you have Lebron, Carmelo, Richard Jefferson, Gerald Wallace, Tayshaun, Artest, Maggette, Diaw, Kirlenko... and Paul Pierce and McGrady are now playing SF to boot. Peja just isn't in these players leagues athletically, and he can't keep up with them on defense and has a really hard time getting his shot off.
I'm not sure where Peja is mentally right now either. Peja doesn't seem to be able to block out the noise around him. I personally think his hand is still bothering him and that he might have come back too soon due to the outside pressure on him from fans and the media. He's got to block it out and just focus on finding his game.
Rx: Peja's got to find a happy medium between asserting himself and overasserting himself. He has a tendency to either launch wild shots or slip into passive mode. He's got to find some rhythm on offense and keep up his cutting to the basket. He's got to do what he can on defense but make a pronounced rebounding effort to compensate for his defensive deficienes. It's not like he's getting fast break opportunities -- he's got to crash the boards.
ABDUR-RAHIM
SAR has given the Kings most of what they wanted on offense. An inside game that gives a new dimension to the offense, good passing, and capable-if-not-spectacular defense. For $5 million a year, I'll take it.
However, SAR has got to get a board. Make that 10 boards. Every game. As I mentioned elsewhere I don't question his effort, but he seems bewilderingly slow to rebounds. This hasn't been the case throughout his career, and he needs to get in touch with his inner rebounder.
Rx: Keep up the good work on offense. On defense, REBOUND REBOUND REBOUND REBOUND REBOUND.
MILLER
I'm of the opinion that Miller has been pretty terrible this year. I'm not discounting the fact that he broke his leg at the end of last year and something like that can be very difficult to recover from, but Miller just hasn't brought it. To make matters worse, Miller is running the offense, so when Miller has a good game, the Kings win. When he has a bad game, which has become just about every game, the Kings lose.
Teams with good coaches are discovering that it's actually pretty easy to shut down Miller, and thus the Kings' offense. All you have to do is send your center out and get in his face, body him up and swipe at the ball and he'll get frustrated and crumble. The Timberwolves sent Garnett to harass him in the high post and Miller responded with an almost comically bad game.
Meanwhile, while playing defense, Miller is hosting his own "All-Star for a Night" award, aka the Jerome James Award. Winners of this honor include such luminaries as Michael Olawokandi, Adonal Foyle and Eddy Curry. He has just been flat out terrible on defense. He's also been flat-out terrible rebounding. According to 82games.com, the Kings are getting outrebounded by more than 5 a game from the Center spot. That's bad.
Rx: I'm of the opinion that Miller's struggles have been the single biggest reason for the Kings' struggles. In large part it's because of the amount the Kings depend on Miller on offense. The Kings have to find a way to score when Miller isn't contributing. On defense, Miller needs to give better effort and he has to rebound. Basically he needs to just be better.
BENCH
An almost total disappointment. Jason Hart hasn't hit his shots and has been wild, Kevin Martin was at first consistently decent and then just bad, KT hasn't boarded while he's in the game and everyone else hasn't played much. Who am I leaving out? Francisco Garcia. I was a Garcia skeptic when the Kings drafted him, but this guy is the future. He's shown a lot of improvement since his mostly disastrous preseason, but he's one of those players where good things happen when he's in the game. He's competitive, he's a deft passer, he can shoot from oustide, and he really needs to play more.
Rx: More Garcia. I think Hart will come along with time, Kevin Martin needs to decide if he belongs in the league, KT needs to show more energy when he comes in the game, Adelman needs to play Skinner more and put in Corliss whever he can.
This book is available for $14.95 on Amazon and Bn.com
