What´s your expectation for the upcoming season?

[Ed2009]

Consider these sort of season 2 jumps amongst players sometimes compared to Reke, and Reke is younger (and thus has more room to jump) than any of them except Lebron were at the time:

Wade rookie: 16.2pts 4.0reb 4.5ast
Wade year 2: 24.1pts 5.2reb 6.8ast

Roy rookie: 16.8pts 4.4reb 4.0ast
Roy year 2: 19.1pts 4.7reb 5.8ast

Pierce rookie: 16.5pts 6.4reb 2.4ast
Pierce year 2: 19.5pts 5.4reb 3.0ast

Rose rookie: 16.8pts 3.9reb 6.3ast
Rose year 2: 20.8pts 3.8reb 6.0ast

LeBron rookie: 20.9pts 5.5reb 5.9ast
LeBron year 2: 27.2pts 7.3reb 7.2ast

Evans rookie: 20.1pts 5.3reb 5.8ast
Evans year 2: ?


When singular talents get a chance to go home after their rookie season, work on a few things, get stronger, and come back the next season understanding the league nad their place in it and setting lofty goals, you don't often see them take steps back or even sideways.

I am quite sure he will improve his scoring this year.
The team fully understands that he is option number one based on his performance last season.
In addition it is really essential that he will bring every night 20+ points to be able to compete with other teams.
I honestly hope he will improve his courtview and will give more assists.
I´d rather see 2-3 assists more than another 5-6 points.

It will be interesting to see how the shots will be distributed this year..

 

[Prince_XY]

My expectations:

50 win season, playoffs.

Dalembert and Cousins, the type of BIGS we've been lacking last year will be the key players for this huge turn-around. Dalembert will be working like crazy since it is his contract year. Cousins will work hard for the ROY award. Evans will also duplicate his amazing rookie year performance and Garcia will prove to be the best fit SG next to Evans. Anything less than 50 win record, I'll charge to our young player's inexperience.

Landry will be dealt before trade deadline.

By the middle of the season our 9-man rotation will be known or clear. Also by this time, I am expecting coach Westphal consistently having a starting five of:

C/PF - Dalembert
PF/C - Cousins
SF - Greene
SG - Garcia
PG - Evans

Key Bench players: Thompson, Casspi, Udrih, and Whiteside ( garbage time minutes ).

 

[R2D2]

Sorry Ed. You asked a pretty straightforward question and it took me weeks to answer. I don’t know why I thought about this for so long. My only excuse is that I hope we are on a verge of something very exciting and it was not so easy to finalize my expectations at this point. But here goes…

1. Bring back the Arco Thunder. This is a big wish and it is directed both to the FO and to us, the fans. I don’t know how many remember the team that played in Sacramento in the 80’s. It was not as exciting as the Webber era, but the Arco still was the best home court in the NBA. I think this team deserves a better basketball arena now – but until that happens this is our home. And the players (both ours as well as those who come here wearing other jerseys) should notice that the minute they step on the floor. I think the marketing team has a challenge to incentive us to do just that.
2. Paul, make up your mind. This is directed to our coach. Last year we tried different players and rotations while we changes quite dramatically the way the Kings played the game. We are still young but nevertheless we need to start building roles. So I don’t know who is the best fit next to Tyreke. I don’t know who should start at SF. I don’t know if Landry needs to start or JT. I guess this is why I am not the coach, who is exactly the person who should know and should make sure every player understands his role and delivers at it. Please Paul – make up your mind and lead the way. You sometimes have to gamble and hope the gods smile upon you…
3. Cohesiveness and team spirit. We have our alpha dog. Now I want to see the team follow. I want to see everyone happy, sure, but if it doesn’t work then we need to trade. I want to see as many bodies jumping and banging after all the great team moves we are capable of producing. Oh, almost forgot - I want to see those moves as well! Team spirit is the best enabler of synergy. The only way to make sure we achieve more than our combined individual potential.
4. Commitment. I just expect every player to put up his best (and a little bit more) every time he steps on the court for how long he does. I never asked for more from any player. I am only frustrated with players who fall short of that standard.
5. Luck the Fakers. I hope this needs no explanations.

I don’t really care about personal recognitions. I think we have a lot of potential and if these (personal trophies) will come then I will be as happy as anyone else. But I really want the team to succeed first. And if we will be respected by other teams every time they face us and by the national media, then it is the first step toward fear. And I hope we give them a reason to fear us in the next few years…

GO KINGS.

 

[Insomniacal Fan]

41 wins and just missing the playoffs

I felt that the team underperformed last year, and got into the tanking game towards the end. So add a few games to our win total there.

Nocioni wasn't just sucking minutes away from our dynamic young SF duo... he was also just sucking. Even if Casspi/Greene goes through a slump sometime during the season, he'll probably contribute more than Nocioni did last season.

The most important change this year is that we should be a good rebounding team. And last year, when we rebounded well, we played like a .500 team

I think the next big problem (after taking care of defensive rebounding) will be ball movement. The offense will become stagnant and predictable, and we will have droughts of 5 minutes when nobody can create anything.

The X-factor is Cousins' development. It's tough to project how rookies will do. The more he looks like Shaq this year, the closer we get to the playoffs.

 

[Superman]

If you shoot 500 jumpshots a day, your just going to get better. How much better is the question. It took Kidd about 4 years to get to the point where other teams started to respect his outside shot. Michael Jordan arrived much quicker. To be honest, the only jumpshot I really care about is his mid-range shot. If he can hit that shot consistently, thats all he needs to keep the other team honest. Wade is a perfect example of a player that seldom if ever takes a three point shot, but he's deadly with his mid-range shot, so you can't play off of him. We'll know soon. Only 6 more days to training camp..

A few years ago we dissected the "X many shots a day" claim and began to realize just how tall a task it is to shoot that many shots on a daily basis. I don't think 500 is impossible, but it's pretty daunting. I'm always hesitant now to take such claims on face value. I believe Tyreke is putting up a bunch of shots, and that's good, but I don't know that 500 is realistic or even a very good idea. But whatever. 500 or not, he's gonna be better.

I agree with you that his midrange shot is the key to his game. I could care less about his three point potential at this point. When you look back at the beginning of Jordan's career, he was well under one attempt per game for his first five years. Averaged 1.6 for his entire career. It's a good weapon, but it's not something that Tyreke will need to rely on.

And I'm sure there will be improvement, but I get the feeling that people are expecting him to have a consistently smooth jumper going into next season.

 

[Bricklayer]

A few years ago we dissected the "X many shots a day" claim and began to realize just how tall a task it is to shoot that many shots on a daily basis. I don't think 500 is impossible, but it's pretty daunting. I'm always hesitant now to take such claims on face value. I believe Tyreke is putting up a bunch of shots, and that's good, but I don't know that 500 is realistic or even a very good idea. But whatever. 500 or not, he's gonna be better.

I agree with you that his midrange shot is the key to his game. I could care less about his three point potential at this point. When you look back at the beginning of Jordan's career, he was well under one attempt per game for his first five years. Averaged 1.6 for his entire career. It's a good weapon, but it's not something that Tyreke will need to rely on.

And I'm sure there will be improvement, but I get the feeling that people are expecting him to have a consistently smooth jumper going into next season.

It doesn't have to be great -- with the fear of his driving ability Tyreke may not have to take a single contested jumper his entire career. According to hoopdata.com Reke shot 30% on his jumpers over 10 feet last year. If he did no more than approached below average and shot them at 40% it would be a huge and notable step forward.

I think 500 shots might be doable. A ton, but Kobe at least has supposedly done that. I can almost remember that discussion you are referencing -- think it might have been about Arenas, in a classic case of clueless woofing one-upmanship, claiming he was going to shoot 1000. Figure wiht a ball shagger, if you take one shot every 15 secodns you could get up 240 in an hour, so an hour in the morning an hour at ngiht and you could get 500. At 1000 now you're doing it for 4 hours every day, non-stop. Add in a break and its 5 hours of tedium before you even get to the rest of your game. Ball shagger is key though.

 

[Warhawk]

It doesn't have to be great -- with the fear of his driving ability Tyreke may not have to take a single contested jumper his entire career. According to hoopdata.com Reke shot 30% on his jumpers over 10 feet last year. If he did no more than approached below average and shot them at 40% it would be a huge and notable step forward.

I think 500 shots might be doable. A ton, but Kobe at least has supposedly done that. I can almost remember that discussion you are referencing -- think it might have been about Arenas, in a classic case of clueless woofing one-upmanship, claiming he was going to shoot 1000. Figure wiht a ball shagger, if you take one shot every 15 secodns you could get up 240 in an hour, so an hour in the morning an hour at ngiht and you could get 500. At 1000 now you're doing it for 4 hours every day, non-stop. Add in a break and its 5 hours of tedium before you even get to the rest of your game. Ball shagger is key though.

I guess I just assume there would be a couple guys grabbing the rebounds and feeding him the shots. Probably shoot one every 5-10 seconds if they have a ball return under the net, etc. Wouldn't take all that long.

 

[pshn80]

With so many changes from a last year that was so unsettled, it's hard to get a handle on this coming season except that I'm excited and looking forward to it. Last year we had only one deliberate and regular starter - Evans. Two guard - Beno by default, three - three different starters and nothing settled - except Nocioni is gone, power forward - two guys started lots, nothing settled, center - nothing settled, for a short burst Thompson played the best for me. We have some significant new blood, particularly Dalembert. A couple are gone.

With all that said there are a lot of pluses to work on. Garcia should be healthy and inspired, whether he starts or not, that's good. This is Cousin's premier, so he should show up. Dalembert should have a small chip on his shoulder and something to prove. Thompson should continue to be upbeat and a hard performer. Casspi has got to be motivated as Greene should be. Landry should be working to find a place for himself. The attitude should be good and most know they haven't got minutes or starting privileges sewed up. So it should be good. But they really are starting fresh and really don't have a track record. It's really a chalenging situation for the coach as well as the players. I just hope an exercise ball doesn't explode. Go Kings.

 

[Kingsguy881]

With so many changes from a last year that was so unsettled, it's hard to get a handle on this coming season except that I'm excited and looking forward to it. Last year we had only one deliberate and regular starter - Evans. Two guard - Beno by default, three - three different starters and nothing settled - except Nocioni is gone, power forward - two guys started lots, nothing settled, center - nothing settled, for a short burst Thompson played the best for me. We have some significant new blood, particularly Dalembert. A couple are gone.

With all that said there are a lot of pluses to work on. Garcia should be healthy and inspired, whether he starts or not, that's good. This is Cousin's premier, so he should show up. Dalembert should have a small chip on his shoulder and something to prove. Thompson should continue to be upbeat and a hard performer. Casspi has got to be motivated as Greene should be. Landry should be working to find a place for himself. The attitude should be good and most know they haven't got minutes or starting privileges sewed up. So it should be good. But they really are starting fresh and really don't have a track record. It's really a chalenging situation for the coach as well as the players. I just hope an exercise ball doesn't explode. Go Kings.

Now you've done it! The jinx is on.

 

[Superman]

It doesn't have to be great -- with the fear of his driving ability Tyreke may not have to take a single contested jumper his entire career. According to hoopdata.com Reke shot 30% on his jumpers over 10 feet last year. If he did no more than approached below average and shot them at 40% it would be a huge and notable step forward.

I think 500 shots might be doable. A ton, but Kobe at least has supposedly done that. I can almost remember that discussion you are referencing -- think it might have been about Arenas, in a classic case of clueless woofing one-upmanship, claiming he was going to shoot 1000. Figure wiht a ball shagger, if you take one shot every 15 secodns you could get up 240 in an hour, so an hour in the morning an hour at ngiht and you could get 500. At 1000 now you're doing it for 4 hours every day, non-stop. Add in a break and its 5 hours of tedium before you even get to the rest of your game. Ball shagger is key though.

About Reke's shot, any improvement is welcome. Even marginal. I was just trying to say that we shouldn't expect him to be a dead eye shooter just yet, not even from mid range. It takes time to get to that point, and no matter how much you shoot in practice, it's totally different come game time. Fourth quarter, defender draped all over you, the lane is clogged... A lot different from catching passes in an empty gym.

I remembered the X shots per day discussion about Bibby, and I do think it was 1,000 a day. Which, yeah, that's just not happening. Maybe you take a day a week and put up as many shots as you can, but there's no lifting that day, no other drills either. It's just shooting, all day, once you include the breaks. Legs would be gone a long time before you get to 1,000, your form would deteriorate, and now you're practicing bad habits. Even 500 every day is pushing it, and probably not necessary.

 

[Amory]

What´s your expectation for the upcoming season?

I'll tell you what Marc Stein has to say...

Power Ranking #29 of 30
Kings 25-57

"These very young Kings will definitely be bigger with Cousins and Dalembert, but don't bank on anything more than marginally better yet. Tyreke and Cousins, as a franchise duo, have some questions to answer."


http://espn.go.com/nba/powerrankings

 

[annihilator_33]

What´s your expectation for the upcoming season?

I'll tell you what Marc Stein has to say...

Power Ranking #29 of 30
Kings 25-57

"These very young Kings will definitely be bigger with Cousins and Dalembert, but don't bank on anything more than marginally better yet. Tyreke and Cousins, as a franchise duo, have some questions to answer."


http://espn.go.com/nba/powerrankings

wow.......not that i expect anything more or less from any of the so called "NBA experts" from ESPN

 

[kingsboi]

What´s your expectation for the upcoming season?

I'll tell you what Marc Stein has to say...

Power Ranking #29 of 30
Kings 25-57

"These very young Kings will definitely be bigger with Cousins and Dalembert, but don't bank on anything more than marginally better yet. Tyreke and Cousins, as a franchise duo, have some questions to answer."


http://espn.go.com/nba/powerrankings

I just saw that article too, I was surprised to see us ranked so low. I know were young and inexperienced and all, but wow! Are we really going to be the second worst team only behind the T-Wolves?

 

[Superman]

Somehow, a worthless "reporter" puts out worthless power rankings. Who'da thunk? I can almost hear Slim flushing these down the toilet.

 

[Bricklayer]

Somehow, a worthless "reporter" puts out worthless power rankings. Who'da thunk? I can almost hear Slim flushing these down the toilet.

Stein catches heat whenever he dares to rank us (or anybody) low, but he's actually one of the most solid NBA guys we have most of the time.

However in this case, he's being an idiot and I just sent him an email detailing for him just how and why.

 

[fnordius]

Wow. He says we will not win even one more game than last year, and will drop from 28th place to 29th? He thinks we got WORSE during the offseason?

 

[Bricklayer]

Wow. He says we will not win even one more game than last year, and will drop from 28th place to 29th? He thinks we got WORSE during the offseason?

the records at least are just last year's record. The ranking deserved comment.

 

[Amory]

Stein catches heat whenever he dares to rank us (or anybody) low, but he's actually one of the most solid NBA guys we have most of the time.

However in this case, he's being an idiot and I just sent him an email detailing for him just how and why.

Will this email be posted on Kingsfans.com? =D

 

[Circa_1985_Fan]

41 wins and just missing the playoffs

I felt that the team underperformed last year, and got into the tanking game towards the end. So add a few games to our win total there.

Nocioni wasn't just sucking minutes away from our dynamic young SF duo... he was also just sucking. Even if Casspi/Greene goes through a slump sometime during the season, he'll probably contribute more than Nocioni did last season.

The most important change this year is that we should be a good rebounding team. And last year, when we rebounded well, we played like a .500 team

I think the next big problem (after taking care of defensive rebounding) will be ball movement. The offense will become stagnant and predictable, and we will have droughts of 5 minutes when nobody can create anything.

The X-factor is Cousins' development. It's tough to project how rookies will do. The more he looks like Shaq this year, the closer we get to the playoffs.

I agree with you on pretty much everything you said, with the exception of the very last thing. DMC is NOT Shaq, DMC is big...and that's about the only comparison between the two. DMC is a WAY better passer than Shaq, but lacks in rebounding and boxing out abilities that the Big Shamrock brings. DMC will score, but not in the same fashion as Mr. O'Neal, due to the fact that he will be playing the high post/elbow most of the time, whereas Shaq camps out in the paint. Very different games between the two in comparison. I think it's better said like: The more DMC looks like Moses Malone, the closer we get to the playoffs.

 

[Tetsujin]

What´s your expectation for the upcoming season?

I'll tell you what Marc Stein has to say...

Power Ranking #29 of 30
Kings 25-57

"These very young Kings will definitely be bigger with Cousins and Dalembert, but don't bank on anything more than marginally better yet. Tyreke and Cousins, as a franchise duo, have some questions to answer."


http://espn.go.com/nba/powerrankings

Stein's kinda had it out for the Kings ever since we traded away K-Mart (his client) and sat Omri down for a bit (also his client). We could have signed LeBron, Bosh, Wade, and built a time machine to get Wilt and Bill Russel in their primes and still have managed to get ranked at 29.

 

[bajaden]

It doesn't have to be great -- with the fear of his driving ability Tyreke may not have to take a single contested jumper his entire career. According to hoopdata.com Reke shot 30% on his jumpers over 10 feet last year. If he did no more than approached below average and shot them at 40% it would be a huge and notable step forward.

I think 500 shots might be doable. A ton, but Kobe at least has supposedly done that. I can almost remember that discussion you are referencing -- think it might have been about Arenas, in a classic case of clueless woofing one-upmanship, claiming he was going to shoot 1000. Figure wiht a ball shagger, if you take one shot every 15 secodns you could get up 240 in an hour, so an hour in the morning an hour at ngiht and you could get 500. At 1000 now you're doing it for 4 hours every day, non-stop. Add in a break and its 5 hours of tedium before you even get to the rest of your game. Ball shagger is key though.

Actually I think I was the one that started it. I brought up the fact that I heard an interview with Chris Mullins about what he did in the offseason. What his daily routine was. As I was going on memory, I may have overstated some of it. but I clearly remember his saying that he took 500 shots a day. One would assume that he had someone feeding him the ball. I really don't think it would take all that long. But it would be tiring. Anyone thats gone to ARCO for a game and went early to have dinner as well before the game, would have seen a player on the floor working out with a coach and taking shot after shot.

The routine was always the same. 10 shots from five different positions at top of the key range, and then 10 shots from 5 different positions from behind the arc. I'm just guessing, but that usually took around 20 minutes. So thats a 100 shots in a 20 minute span. If you broke it up into five sets interupted by other drills, it wouldn't be that hard to get in 500 shots in a day of working out.

 

[swisshh]

I just expect more wins and individual improvement from major players, and an offensive team identity established.

But if that crazy Melo deal goes down, it weakens the western conference schedule enough to add a couple wins.

 

[bajaden]

I agree with you on pretty much everything you said, with the exception of the very last thing. DMC is NOT Shaq, DMC is big...and that's about the only comparison between the two. DMC is a WAY better passer than Shaq, but lacks in rebounding and boxing out abilities that the Big Shamrock brings. DMC will score, but not in the same fashion as Mr. O'Neal, due to the fact that he will be playing the high post/elbow most of the time, whereas Shaq camps out in the paint. Very different games between the two in comparison. I think it's better said like: The more DMC looks like Moses Malone, the closer we get to the playoffs.

Yep, I have to agree with you. Considering that Shaq was 7'1 without shoes and weighed around 300 pounds, and had a great vertical to boot, its not a fair comparison. I wouldn't be surprised to see Cousins rebound the ball almost as well as Shaq though. He has a nose for the ball and is great at blocking out, to go along with great hands. Remember, I said almost!. Moses Malone is a better comparison. Similar size and hopefully, toughness.

 

[Kings Fan Gerard]

This has to be the most anticipated Kings season since 2003. I can't wait for the season to start. I hope we can win games so that Reke can make it to the all star game.