What do you think of the new starting lineup?

[Kingsguy881]

I agree with the IT/Reke/Donte/JT/Cuzz starting lineup. Donte knows his role much better now, and also agree that he runs the floor with a purpose and is the beneficiary of getting out with IT. Man that dunk on Casspi was NASTY!

 

[cuad]

that's not true. Tyreke played well in the last two games at SF. He rebounded and in Detroit he had 9 assists completely in the flow of the game. He even had pretty much the same amount of successful drives as he does dominating the ball.

He only played noticeably bad when SMART was playing him at PG, and a little bit on defense.

 

[Mass]

I like the IT-Reke-Donte-JT-DMC lineup too. Works much better defensively, and MT could come from the bench and have a big impact. Right now we have pretty much nothing from the bench. I repeat myself here, but Marcus is a natural 6th man for me.
This should be our lineup tonight, because otherwise we are going to be destroyed. Thornton can't guard Wade and Tyreke can't guard Lebron. He is not a SF, and we saw the problems he had with Prince. I'm not saying that Donte can guard Lebron, but at least he has size and length to bother him.

That said, I'm sure tonight we will se Reke on Lebron and Thornton on Wade, and it's going to be very bad.

 

[Bricklayer]

that's not true. Tyreke played well in the last two games at SF. He rebounded and in Detroit he had 9 assists completely in the flow of the game. He even had pretty much the same amount of successful drives as he does dominating the ball.

He only played noticeably bad when SMART was playing him at PG, and a little bit on defense.

Um...please.

 

[rainmaker]

That said, I'm sure tonight we will se Reke on Lebron and Thornton on Wade, and it's going to be very bad.

That's a fireable offense.

 

[Kingster]

I like the IT-Reke-Donte-JT-DMC lineup too. Works much better defensively, and MT could come from the bench and have a big impact. Right now we have pretty much nothing from the bench. I repeat myself here, but Marcus is a natural 6th man for me.
This should be our lineup tonight, because otherwise we are going to be destroyed. Thornton can't guard Wade and Tyreke can't guard Lebron. He is not a SF, and we saw the problems he had with Prince. I'm not saying that Donte can guard Lebron, but at least he has size and length to bother him.

That said, I'm sure tonight we will se Reke on Lebron and Thornton on Wade, and it's going to be very bad.

It's going to be very bad, regardless, don't you think? They have three players better than anybody we have on our team.

 

[Mass]

It's going to be very bad, regardless, don't you think? They have three players better than anybody we have on our team.

Yes, I agree 100%. They are too good for us, no doubt about it. It's just that I like what I'm seeing from Donte this year. I still believe in him, and I would like to see if we can still get something from him, instead of seeing Salmons on the floor. I could be wrong, but this year he seems to understand his role much better, something like JT. When he had some minutes, I believe he's been our best SF (I know, even a can of beer would have done better than Salmons, but I just want to give Donte some credit...)

 

[Kingsguy881]

It's going to be very bad, regardless, don't you think? They have three players better than anybody we have on our team.

Yeah-no, Bosh is not better than Cousins.

 

[Hadlowe]

Yeah-no, Bosh is not better than Cousins.

Don't confuse where Cousins will be and where he is right now. Cousins potential is huge, but his game is still pretty raw. Bosh is polished and I would give the advantage to him. Ask me again next year (or even at the end of this year) and the answer would be different.

 

[kennadog]

I just can't imagine Evans as a small forward, a position he's never played. Smart is going to have to prove to me that this will work well. Small ball. Ugh.

I haven't had time to read all of this article in the Sac Bee today, but t's about Evans at the SF position and Smart's thinking.

http://www.sacbee.com/2012/02/21/4278323/kings-evans-adjusts-to-new-role.html

 

[Glenn]

I don't like this idea at all. I think it wastes another year of Tyreke's career. I think the problem that is pushing Smart in this direction is our lack of a SF. That doesn't mean you screw up the progress of another player. Evans is already showing discomfort and all I can say is "of course!" Is the purpose to change Tyreke to a full time SF for the rest of his career or just to find a way of Smart surviving a year as a coach. This is absurd.

 

[cuad]

I'm not saying that Evans should be at SF. I'm just saying that he is not useless without the ball. Even if he was, the team plays better when he isn't being asked to run the offense or to be a big time offensive juggernaut, so...

 

[Bricklayer]

I just can't imagine Evans as a small forward, a position he's never played. Smart is going to have to prove to me that this will work well. Small ball. Ugh.

I haven't had time to read all of this article in the Sac Bee today, but t's about Evans at the SF position and Smart's thinking.

http://www.sacbee.com/2012/02/21/4278323/kings-evans-adjusts-to-new-role.html

Yep. Really is asinine, and the sort of thing that will have me start emailing the front office to can ourselves another coach more concerned with his fate than our team's. People wonder why Reke hasn't made the strides expected yet? Play PG. No, play SG. Bring it up. Be aggressive. No, get your teammates involved. Take the last shot. Don't take the last shot. Oh here is your new taeammate. Here is your other new one. Here is your new coach. Be a PG! Map the floor! Shoot when open! Don't shoot, take it to the rack that's your strength! Push the ball! Run the halfcourt. But push it! Play SF. Learn off the ball. Except play point forward. Guard the PG. Guard LeBron. Hey, why not a little smallball PF? Hey, I've got an idea...

****ing bull**** is what it is. Sometimes you deserve your fate.

 

[Spike]

further proves that Tyreke is near useless off the ball. if this team wants to build around tyreke, they have to commit to him being either the pg or the ball dominant sg. i would be commited if tyreke showed drive and mental toughness, but im not seeing it.

I think taking all of these position switches PG/SG/SF without complaining shows a lot of mental toughness, but maybe it's just me. He's trying to make whatever is given to him work.

 

[Glenn]

Yep. Really is asinine, and the sort of thing that will have me start emailing the front office to can ourselves another coach more concerned with his fate than our team's. People wonder why Reke hasn't made the strides expected yet? Play PG. No, play SG. Bring it up. Be aggressive. No, get your teammates involved. Take the last shot. Don't take the last shot. Oh here is your new taeammate. Here is your other new one. Here is your new coach. Be a PG! Map the floor! Shoot when open! Don't shoot, take it to the rack that's your strength! Push the ball! Run the halfcourt. But push it! Play SF. Learn off the ball. Except play point forward. Guard the PG. Guard LeBron. Hey, why not a little smallball PF? Hey, I've got an idea...

****ing bull**** is what it is. Sometimes you deserve your fate.

No ****! Now we can debate how Tyreke can't defend SFs. This is absolutely disgusting and I probably shouldn't say it more than once. I haven't been this angry about the team in quite awhile. Thank goodness for the forum that I handle my anger in a much more sophisticated way than Bricklayer.

 

[Glenn]

I think taking all of these position switches PG/SG/SF without complaining shows a lot of mental toughness, but maybe it's just me. He's trying to make whatever is given to him work.

His response was that of a pro but he certainly has to be confused. Buck it up, big boy, huh? Maybe he SHOULD be elsewhere for his sanity. Does anyone think this was discussed with Petrie? It might have long range consequences beyond the imoortance of Smart. If Tyreke comes out the other end of this experiment with a better off the ball awareness, that's great, but that's as good a spin as I can put on this.

 

[HighFlyingMonkey]

Enough shuffling Reke around like a deck of cards. If the Kings are going to be successful we need a sure-handed Tyreke who knows EXACTLY what is expected of him.

Solution: Put him at SG. Tell him to attack the basket when he gets the ball. Know where your teammates are when the defense collapses. Cut when the play calls for it. Guard the bigger guard on defense.

Don't worry about bringing the ball up. Don't worry about making sure your teammates are involved in the offense. Don't worry about the pass/shoot zen. Attack at all times.

Of course this means Thornton goes to the bench; I feel like him and Jimmer have good chemistry together because Jimmer is passive and Thornton is aggressive. I'm an advocate for IT/Tyreke/Donte/JT/Cousins.

 

[kennadog]

Yep. Really is asinine, and the sort of thing that will have me start emailing the front office to can ourselves another coach more concerned with his fate than our team's. People wonder why Reke hasn't made the strides expected yet? Play PG. No, play SG. Bring it up. Be aggressive. No, get your teammates involved. Take the last shot. Don't take the last shot. Oh here is your new taeammate. Here is your other new one. Here is your new coach. Be a PG! Map the floor! Shoot when open! Don't shoot, take it to the rack that's your strength! Push the ball! Run the halfcourt. But push it! Play SF. Learn off the ball. Except play point forward. Guard the PG. Guard LeBron. Hey, why not a little smallball PF? Hey, I've got an idea...

****ing bull**** is what it is. Sometimes you deserve your fate.

That's exatly how I feel about this line-up change. It's Smart trying to save Smart, not help the team now or for the future. (teeth-gnashing here)

 

[rainmaker]

I'm not saying that Evans should be at SF. I'm just saying that he is not useless without the ball. Even if he was, the team plays better when he isn't being asked to run the offense or to be a big time offensive juggernaut, so...

Let's not forget, our record is far better(a winning record) when Reke scores 20+. let's also not forget our win streak and 8-10 game stretch where we played very well Reke ran the point in all those games. His ast rate was also shooting up.

Also, we have yet to win a game with IT starting. Doesn't mean we won't, doesn't mean we shouldn't have won the last.

 

[Kingster]

Let's not forget, our record is far better(a winning record) when Reke scores 20+. let's also not forget our win streak and 8-10 game stretch where we played very well Reke ran the point in all those games. His ast rate was also shooting up.

Also, we have yet to win a game with IT starting. Doesn't mean we won't, doesn't mean we shouldn't have won the last.

Reke should have no problem at the 3 scoring points. All he has to do is move without the ball and get himself open when they are in the half court. When they fast break he can get points just like he's always done. He's done some of that (move without the ball) in the past; he can do it much more in the future. It's really going to make him a better player. If he can add that to his lexicon, then do the work necessary to get a mid-range game, then you're talking. If, for some reason, he can't add the mid-range game, then at least we'll all be able to say that he improved in moving without the ball. It's better than what we have now.

 

[rainmaker]

Yep. Really is asinine, and the sort of thing that will have me start emailing the front office to can ourselves another coach more concerned with his fate than our team's. People wonder why Reke hasn't made the strides expected yet? Play PG. No, play SG. Bring it up. Be aggressive. No, get your teammates involved. Take the last shot. Don't take the last shot. Oh here is your new taeammate. Here is your other new one. Here is your new coach. Be a PG! Map the floor! Shoot when open! Don't shoot, take it to the rack that's your strength! Push the ball! Run the halfcourt. But push it! Play SF. Learn off the ball. Except play point forward. Guard the PG. Guard LeBron. Hey, why not a little smallball PF? Hey, I've got an idea...

****ing bull**** is what it is. Sometimes you deserve your fate.

Didn't Smart say all over 3 weeks ago that "Reke is a pg. Reke was born the with ball in his hands and that's what he needs. He can be a very good pg in this league and I'm teaching how to map the floor and where his teammates will be". Paraphrasing of course.

But god damnit, 3 weeks later he's a sf? WTF is this? Smart said a lot to the media his first few weeks, and now he's saying the direct opposite, and not only related to Reke either. He's either a liar, and hypocrite, or scared of a few egos in the locker room, with me thinking Salmons and Thornton. I'm beginning to think he's scared of both.

 

[rainmaker]

Reke should have no problem at the 3 scoring points. All he has to do is move without the ball and get himself open when they are in the half court. When they fast break he can get points just like he's always done. He's done some of that (move without the ball) in the past; he can do it much more in the future. It's really going to make him a better player. If he can add that to his lexicon, then do the work necessary to get a mid-range game, then you're talking. If, for some reason, he can't add the mid-range game, then at least we'll all be able to say that he improved in moving without the ball. It's better than what we have now.

My problem isn't Reke playing off the ball more. I have no problem with him doing exactly that as a sg. I have a huge problem with sf though, and have detailed my reasons why in previous posts, and it isn't just about Reke but the affect on the team as a whole.

 

[Glenn]

I take it Smart has determined after two starts against inferior teams that IT has what it takes to be a starting PG. I don't think many of us are willing to decide that yet. Let's see what happens when teams prepare for a 5'9" PG and not a 6'6" PG with a decidedly different game. To extend this conclusion of IT's competence into a need to change Tyreke's game so he can play SF reveals what he has learned under Nelson. It's disturbing and I'd be on the phone to Sloan.

The rapidity of this decision I think reveals that he has wanted to play small ball all along. Let us not even get into the problems this causes on defense. We already have set an NBA record for futility in allowing 92 points in the paint. Is Smart determined to "improve" on that record?

 

[Kingsguy881]

Didn't Smart say all over 3 weeks ago that "Reke is a pg. Reke was born the with ball in his hands and that's what he needs. He can be a very good pg in this league and I'm teaching how to map the floor and where his teammates will be". Paraphrasing of course.

But god damnit, 3 weeks later he's a sf? WTF is this? Smart said a lot to the media his first few weeks, and now he's saying the direct opposite, and not only related to Reke either. He's either a liar, and hypocrite, or scared of a few egos in the locker room, with me thinking Salmons and Thornton. I'm beginning to think he's scared of both.

Lighten up friend. Smart did say that but when he moved him to sf he said he calls Reke his point forward. Being that he still considers him a primary ball handler, but he has no better option to play sf to start the game right now. Man, Kings fans are freaking BRUTAL these days.

 

[cuad]

Tyreke Evans is not a PG, and when he plays PG he sucks and the Kings suck... He's not even 6'6. Tyreke doesn't have to change anything to play off the ball. He struggles more playing PG, anyway.

 

[rainmaker]

Lighten up friend. Smart did say that but when he moved him to sf he said he calls Reke his point forward. Being that he still considers him a primary ball handler, but he has no better option to play sf to start the game right now. Man, Kings fans are freaking BRUTAL these days.

Donte. At least give it a try.

 

[Bricklayer]

Tyreke Evans is not a PG, and when he plays PG he sucks and the Kings suck... He's not even 6'6. Tyreke doesn't have to change anything to play off the ball. He struggles more playing PG, anyway.

He has to change EVERYTHNG to pay off the ball. To call your latest argument even more ridiculous than your earlier ones is a stretch, but it appears you've topped yourself.

 

[pshn80]

He has to change EVERYTHNG to pay off the ball. To call your latest argument even more ridiculous than your earlier ones is a stretch, but it appears you've topped yourself.

And there you are. Which extreme statement might be closest to a fair picture? I don't know.

 

[The_Jamal]

Lighten up friend. Smart did say that but when he moved him to sf he said he calls Reke his point forward. Being that he still considers him a primary ball handler, but he has no better option to play sf to start the game right now. Man, Kings fans are freaking BRUTAL these days.

The problem is Reke loses every advantage he has in basketball by playing the SF. His entire game is being stronger, bigger, and quicker than other guards and simply overpowering them to the basket. Well, force him to defend LeBron, Gay, Melo, Durant and vice versa and al lof a sudden you have an undersized SF who can't shoot and struggles to play off the ball

 

[roasthawg]

But that is an inconsistency. IT starts and stars and we worry about his cutting into Evans and Thornton scoring. One way to solve that is to start Donte and not worry about it, just worry about Donte's defense. Let IT and Evans score and let Donte play defense. Anything above that in the scoring realm is a bonus.

I don't post on the forum a whole bunch but I do read a lot... I'm absolutely not worried about anyone cutting into anyone else's scoring so no inconsistencies there. The Heat have three guys who are better scorers than our best scorer and they're doing just fine. Not sure that without a 20ppg scorer on our roster that we can afford to give up too much offense at any position... at least I could see the coaching staff looking at things that way.

I'm all for a big lineup with Greene at SF. I'm all for a small lineup with Reke at SF and IT starting. I'm pretty much ok with mixing it up and seeing if something works.