Padrino
All-Star
You are giving him way too much credit for his court vision. It's not very good at all. And who cares if Evans is 20/5/5 if the team still sucks? If every other player has to suffer to get Evans his 20/5/5 then that will never be a recipe for success. Remember when the team was trying to get him the 20-5-5 at the end of his rookie year? The team was just terrible. I don't want to see that happen again.
I agree with you on the Beno thing but no matter how well they played together the team was still terrible. I think that trade was the dumbest thing we could have ever done, and if Petrie and the Maloofs cannot find a player to fit with Reke as well as Beno did after three years then they need to get rid of Evans or the GM.
while we agree about the beno trade, overall you have such limited evaluation skills its embarrassing for you. yes, "the team sucks." yes, "the team was still terrible." but what of it? are you just entirely daft to the nature of rebuilds in the contemporary nba? by your logic, the thunder should have traded russell westbrook after his rookie season. i mean, ****, 15 points on 40% shooting, 27% from three, 5 rebounds, and 5 assists per game, with limited court vision, a selfish streak, and a penchant for driving into traffic? trade him!!!!! "the team was terrible!!!!!" they were 23-59!!!!! and this was in kevin durant's second season!!!!!! get rid of them all, i say!!!!!!!!!

as with westbrook, evans is a clear #2 in the pecking order, but he's a much better two-way player than westbrook, and yes, with better court vision. it's as if you literally don't see what occurs on the court, like you've got a single negative image from tyreke evans' rookie season lodged firmly in your memory, and you refuse to replace it with more relevant ones. in a recent example that acts as evidence of his improvement:
in the video above, at :25, evans draws the defense and kicks out to aaron brooks for an open three. at :35, evans dishes to salmons on the break, resulting in a layup. at 1:02, he makes the smart play down low to a cutting jason thompson, who proceeds to blow what should have been a dunk. at 2:53, he posts up his man, and with the floor spaced well, he dishes outside to aaron brooks for three, signalling a chemistry we've seen develop in recent weeks. at 3:05, he makes the smart, simple pass to demarcus cousins for an open jumper. at 3:23, we see a perfectly executed pick and roll between demarcus and tyreke, with 'reke delivering the ball exactly where it needed to be, signalling the chemistry we've seen develop between the kings' two strongest talents every now and then (when keith smart elects to run plays for them in the two-man game). all of these plays necessitate some level of court vision, whether you choose to acknowledge it or not...
in the same video above, at :45, evans pulls up for the jumper off the dribble and drills it, precisely the kind of shot from evans that we have all been clamoring for. and, at 2:21, we have some hero ball on display. the kings run their infamous 1-4 flat, and instead of driving into what would quickly become a crowded paint, evans pulls up for another jumper, and drills it before the quarter expires. he has a slight fade on both of these jump shots, but he pulls up in control, the ball leaves his hands with excellent rotation, and he follows through. there is confidence in his form, and confidence in his shot. at 2:40, we see a well-run play in which brooks swings the ball to evans for the catch-and-shoot three pointer, and he drills it again. looked as pretty against the jazz as it did even more recently when salmons hit tyreke on the same play two times down the court for back-to-back threes against the raptors. that's jump shooting success off the dribble and off-the-ball, the kind of versatility evans has constantly been advertised as possessing, but hasn't always delivered. at 3:45, evans even displays a tear-drop layup that would be a tremendous asset to his driving game if he practices it consistently. these are all marked and obvious improvements, whether or not you choose to acknowledge it. and it's only from a single game. i could do the same run down in any of the last ten games and you'd see a version of tyreke evans that simply does not fit your description of him, and for the better...
but then again, it was never tyreke's job to impress you. it's his job to play an excellent all-around game in which he puts points on the board, shores up some of the team's rebounding weaknesses, plays great defense, and gets his teammates involved. geezus, even early on it was clear that tyreke could see the floor, could deliver the timely pass exactly where it needed to go (and in occasionally stunning fashion):
edit: continued in next post, because the board will only let me post five videos at a time.
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