Yea. I'm not so sure that Dallas and S.A. are as good as we made them look, or that Pedja is as bad as he looked. Kings (and Houston) both got thier pre-seasons screwed up with that little trip to China, and are a couple games behind everybody else in the league. They will be back. Last nights' game started out very promising.
they started last nights game very well i think...and they were still in reaching distance at the end of the first half...its still way too early to tell....obviously they are having trouble in the rebound department...and on defense....but its still early and though the starting five may be used to playing with each other once they sub like one person in....it becomes a team that is not entirely used to playing with each other...so i guess its a problem with flow and chemistry...but id MUCH rather have the problems this early and loose a few in the early goings than to go on a skid in the middle of the season...or at the end when you are trying to lock down playoff postioning
Geoff said:
Playing two of the best teams? Don't give Dallas too much credit this soon, even though they've been playing like they've earned it 
and i will throw in did Brad come to play in that game or what...woot woot
The problem with Peja is that he is a soft player and someone who can't handle contact or good defense. Or he can't handle hustles. After all that just happened before the season, I thought that we would see a much stronger and physical(comparatively) player. But that hasn't happened. If it doesn't happen in a month or so, we can assume that its never going to happen. He is always going to be pathetic against good defenses and at pressure times when the defense get stronger and more physically challenging. I think in that case it would be the best thing to trade him.
While I agree with some of that, I have a hard time seeing the Kings not giving Peja at least one more playoffs to try to prove he can get it done when it matters.
My concern is that he hasn't done the offseason work, and maybe never will at this point in his career. He's got his comfort zone, and I'm not sure he really recognizes the need to add to his game.
My concern is that he hasn't done the offseason work, and maybe never will at this point in his career. He's got his comfort zone, and I'm not sure he really recognizes the need to add to his game.
You're right about that, although he made a mean fadeaway shot last night against his defender and I've seen him do it countless times before. There have been times when his best shooting came as a result of being pressed.
Someone said to send him to learn under Bird, a very thoughtful idea. Maybe Peja needs a mentor in his position and someone to stroke his fragile ego. Also, Vlade was able to work the offense to Peja's advantage, and that definitely isn't happening anymore for him. If Peja doesn't grow up and/or find a good mentor, I fear he may disintigrate into an average player.
Throwing Artest in there for defensive purposes and losing Peja's shooting is definitely not the answer. Then all we have is TWO defensive players and that's STILL not enough!
Is there no one on the team who Peja can buddy up with and fill the gap Vlade left? Maybe if he can take the isolation for one more year, Vlade will move back to coach him
Someone said to send him to learn under Bird, a very thoughtful idea. Maybe Peja needs a mentor in his position and someone to stroke his fragile ego. Also, Vlade was able to work the offense to Peja's advantage, and that definitely isn't happening anymore for him. If Peja doesn't grow up and/or find a good mentor, I fear he may disintigrate into an average player.
Throwing Artest in there for defensive purposes and losing Peja's shooting is definitely not the answer. Then all we have is TWO defensive players and that's STILL not enough!
Is there no one on the team who Peja can buddy up with and fill the gap Vlade left? Maybe if he can take the isolation for one more year, Vlade will move back to coach him
I don't think we should trade him yet...As you can tell by my user name, I am a Peja fan, and still hoping for him to add other dimensions to his game. We'll give him a break this summer, since having a baby is a major event. But he is so tall that he really needs to work on some post moves - and I still notice that he 1) won't dunk or 2) does a wimpy dunk like the hoop is full of germs or something (he did one of those last night). He seems to approach rebounding the same way - like it's distasteful. Is this just his non-aggressive personality (in which case there is little hope of it changing), or the European way, or what?
The whining this summer was also disappointing. Why do you guys think he wants out? Does this have anything to do with his Greek wife/girlfriend? wanting to be closer to Europe? Peja's a big boy now, I can't believe it's because Vlade is gone. CWebb? Any problems with management? A combo of these reasons?
The whining this summer was also disappointing. Why do you guys think he wants out? Does this have anything to do with his Greek wife/girlfriend? wanting to be closer to Europe? Peja's a big boy now, I can't believe it's because Vlade is gone. CWebb? Any problems with management? A combo of these reasons?
