SI: KINGS go from bad to WORSE.... neg and positive article

[sactownfan]

http://nba-point-forward.si.com/2010/12/23/young-kings-team-goes-from-bad-to-worse/

i liked the positive spin at the end... we really do need 3pt shooting.... however if we got a 3pt specialist would westphal play him? or would he go on to confuse and lower that players self-estem and confidense like he has with everyone else using his musical chairs line ups?

or maybe he would play the 3pt specialst but at Center with Beno at Power forward, JT at small foward, Evans at Shooting guard and Dalembert at Point Guard

 

[hrdboild]

That pretty much sums up my view on the season so far too. The individual games are demoralizing but not because our team is hoplessly bad. It's because they play well for most of the game and then seemingly forget how to play the game for the last 8-10 minutes or so. I can't recall ever seeing a run of complete end-game collapse from the same team go on like this for this long. But the overall picture is still pretty good. Our cap situation is as good as it's ever going to get and we have young talent at almost every position, some of it elite talent. The chemistry is taking longer to develop than most would have expected, but that doesn't mean it won't come eventually.

There's usually some kind of positive to be taken from the games too. Cousins looking dominant for stretches in some games, Donte shutting down the other team's star for two quarters, and so on. In the last game I thought our defensive rotations were very good. When they did get open shots it was usually because Bogut was setting moving screens that didn't get called. And we wouldn't have looked nearly as inept on offense without all the offensive fouls, a fair number of which were legitimate but just as many which were not.

We're not closing out games the right way but there are a number of possible explanations that make sense-- our finisher all last season is injured and not himself. Our second option is a mistake-prone rookie and every other option is inexperienced in high-pressure situations. When a couple calls go against us or a shot we needed rims out they lose their cool. It's understandable but the players that know how to win eventually overcome that. Everyone wants an easy answer because a losing streak like this seems to demand one but honestly, I don't think it's just one thing. We're in these games and every time we find new and more interesting ways to lose. It's like rolling a 1 over and over again. The odds are against it, but it does happen. We're not playing as bad as the record indicates.

 

[Big Cuz 15]

i've given up on westphal. he needs to be gone. the players are tuning him out.

 

[FaStRmAn]

i've given up on westphal. he needs to be gone. the players are tuning him out.

Are the players tuning him out? The offense seems to get run for 3 quarters a game. Plays drawn up even get run out of time outs in the first 3 quarters. Then when the scoreboard flips from 3 to 4, our team forgets everything they were ever taught about basketball! Fouling 3 point shooters, fouling in stead of moving their feet, one on one offense in stead of the offense that had worked for 3 quarters, stupid turnovers by players trying too hard or not hard enough. Players loosing focus and not being where they should be. The list is limitless!

But it is hard for me to believe that a team that is working like a clock for 3 quarters and then just stops working in the 4th quarter no matter who is in the game is something to be blamed on "the players tuning out the coach." They listened the first 36 minutes! What changes in the last 12 is what we need to be asking? Do we have players who are professional enough to handle it when the other team turns up the pressure on defense? Do we have clutch outside shooters when the other team sinks back into an illegal zone that refs rarely ever call? Do we have any 3 point shooters? Are we able to execute the same offense in the 4th as the 3rd and WHY?

I think the Kings are just VERY YOUNG in Key areas of the team. I think that is effecting their play in the forth quarter to the point that they are overwhelmed by the opposing team that knows their weaknesses. Players on the team pass more than they shoot in the 4th, afraid to be the one who "Shot them out of the game". Look at all the passed up shots in the fourth and who is passing them up! It is our best shooters. Garcia, Beno, and Greene. We have no shooters with the ballz to take important shots down the stretch! They all suffer from K-Mart disease! Instead of stepping up and taking those important shots, the people we want shooting those shots are passing them up! By then the clock is usually running out and a bad shot is taken by someone who almost always misses.

You have to ask WHY are these so called SHOOTERS not taking the shots that are open that they need to take? You can't be held accountable for the shots you dont take I guess. That is outright cowardice! And THAT is what Westfall, and perhaps Petrie needs to fix on this team. They play good enough to win for 3 quarters. But the lack of a shooter who can MAKE SHOTS (Evans not included) who has the ballz to take the shots is killing this teams chances to win. Petrie needs to acquire a 3 point threat to score some perimeter points and to loosen up the gridlock under the basket! Perhaps Petrie can get a renta player for the rest of the season to help with the outside shooting. When Francisco Garcia is your best outside threat, you have NO outside threat.

Evans does not possess the outside shooting ability at this point in his career to make those needed outside shots. I dont know what his Off season Shooting Regiment was, but it was certainly not successful. At least to this fan's eye, the ball coming off of Tyreke's hand doesn't look any different nor do his stats show any CHANGE in his shooting ability. It is still a weakness in his game. This coming off season, Evans needs to go to a PROFESSIONAL shooting coach and work out his shooting troubles. But it is too late for this year. He cant learn to shoot in the middle of the season. I believe that his selection to Team USA, while being an honor, really messed up the training schedule he had planned. He hurt his foot practicing for Team USA, and it must have set back his plans to fix his shot. At least that is how it looks to me.

Perhaps with this in mind, Petrie might see fit to use some of the cap room they have to acquire a reliable 3 point shooter who can make outside shots no matter what quarter the team is in.