The painful education of growing up - the Sacramento Kings

It has been disappointing watching the Kings in their past two games. Collectively, they’ve stunk up the joint.

When Sacramento meets Phoenix Friday night, it’ll be a match up of two of the NBA’s worst defensive squads, so look for many, many points to be scored.

However, the Kings are youth-laden while the Suns are a veteran crew. When in doubt, take the experience.

When you can’t take care of the ball (19 turnovers in a 98-89 loss Wednesday night to Minnesota), you can’t muster consistent offensive production and you can’t find a way to keep an admittedly ultra-talented Michael Beasley and clearly improved Sebastian Telfair from dominating your squad, disappointing is the word that comes to mind.

Here’s another: $#@@&%%!!

Once again, the basics of Basketball 101 in Marty Mac’s World are a team usually needs four or five players doing what they do to snatch a victory.

It would be a good thing if one of those players was your best player.

However, Tyreke Evans was as terrible against the T-Wolves as Minnesota’s defense was determined to keep him from the basket. Omri Casspi scored 17 points in 27 minutes, but he was the first victim of Beasley’s assault.

Beasley treated Casspi as if he were his little brother. The second-year forward is an amazing talent but he was allowed to get off early, as almost every Kings opponent has been.

By the time, Donte Greene, yes, that Donte Greene, came off the bench for 3:40, Beasley was so hot, he’d have lit up an in-prime Dennis Rodman, the 6-foot-8 forward who already should have defended and rebounded his place in the Basketball Hall of Fame.

Francisco Garcia, Samuel Dalembert and Antoine Wright followed in the procession of torches, uhh, defenders to get some from Beasley on the way a career-high 42.

Only Dalembert, Darnell Jackson and Beno Udrih (other than those four turnovers) played well.

That’s not enough to overcome missing 12 of 32 free-throws, committing 19 turnovers (many sloppier than unforced) and making just five of 20 three-point field-goal attempts.

That left the Kings with three straight home losses during a stretch eight home games in nine. It’s extremely early in the season; however, this is where habits are formed.

This is where identities are created and established.

Remember, identities can be negative. It’s important for a team to establish difficult-to-discern and measure qualities like toughness, confidence, teamwork and chemistry.

Yet, without those qualities, a team has no shot at success.

Right now, the Kings have none of these qualities.

And it’s the team’s composition that is most responsible for that status.

Minnesota assistant coach Bill Laimbeer was discussing talented young forward Kevin Love and working with a young team.

He was speaking of the Timberwolves and Love, but his words equally could be applicable to the Kings and Tyreke Evans and DeMarcus Cousins.

Laimbeer was asked how Love can improve.

“By learning the game, how to get more involved in a team structure, which all of our young guys have to learn,” he said of the T-Wolves. “Defensive wise he has to learn how to short cut things and take away other guys opportunities and discourage passes coming into the post because he’s not the tallest guy or the strongest guy.

“He has to do his work early in order to discourage his guy from getting the ball.”

Laimbeer, one of the league’s great intangible players as well most despised, said many dynamics go into team and individual growth.

“When you don’t get to grow up as a unit,” he said, “it can be frustrating. That takes a few years. As far as Kevin, he’s going to learn his way. When you are young like this, you are thinking about how I’m going to get mine and how I’m going to establish myself as a player. And unless you are surrounded by intense veterans who are winners, you are going to stub your toe along the way and these guys are no exception.

“He’s very young, yes, and that’s a positive and a negative. You are so young you want to get out of the bad habits you pick up because you don’t know any different. And quite frankly being on a team where he hasn’t won that’ll wear you down and you don’t want to get into that rut early in your career.”

Youth means learning how to make the most of one’s ability and skills. It means avoiding one’s weaknesses and mostly, how not to defeat yourself.

We have yet to see how long this process will take, or if will occur. And tonight against a veteran Phoenix team, we’ll get one more indication.

If James' heart is as large as his ambition, he'll stay in Cleveland

Every alleged hoops expert has an opinion regarding the NBA's Mount Rushmore of free-agency, but what do they really know?

They don't know any more than you, I or my main man, Dwight.

You don't know Dwight, but any one and every one you know fits smugly into the equation.

We should all feel comfortable with not knowing which teams or team will sign LeBron James, Chris Bosh and their boys.

It's all good because that's the way free-agency is supposed to evolve.

However, I can tell you how things would play out in Marty Mac's World.

If I were James, there would be two choices - in this order, Cleveland and Miami.

Chicago's situation would make me think, but if I wanted to continue freezing my tuckus off, I can do that at home.

If James remains in Cleveland, virtually the Akron native's psuedo-hometown, he stays with the squad that won 127 games over the past seasons, but couldn't finish the playoff deal.

The Cavs hardly are the Minnesota Timberwolves or the Sacramento Kings.

Cleveland is right there with James, the dancing star.

He should know how close the Cavs are and as the guy who has accepted the moniker of 'The King", if he has the heart of a champion, he'll gather his teammates this summer and help lead them to the title he allegedly craves.

Indeed, this is an old-school mentality that says you start what you finish.

It says this is the squad I grew up loving and I'm not leaving until the job is done. I have built a mansion around the way.

Cleveland is my home. The rest of you can bring it - I'm the baddest boy around and we're going to win.

Virtually every NBA champion had to go through the process of brain-rattling losses on the destination to the title. Why should Cleveland be any different?

The case for going to Miami is as much social as anything.

There is freaking South Beach and when it's -10 degrees in Cleveland in January, it likely will be 75 degrees in South Florida.

Personally, that's a biggie for a guy, who grew up in New York City's snowy winters and now in California, hasn't shoveled snow for 30 years.

Then there is the case of playing with my boy Dwayne Wade, who brings the same fire, desire and talent to the court as do I.

Can we convince one more young star (Bosh, Amare Stoudamire or Carlos Boozer) to join us and then trust President Pat Riley to put role players around us that will enable us to compete for a title?

Each of these free-agents are on the record say all they want to do is win. That's something we shall see before the July 8 signing date.

A guess here estimates 99.999% of us regular folk never will have the opportunity to say, "I can make another $10 million over the length of my contract if I sign with Team X, but I'm going to sign with Team Y because the best chance to win is there."

In LeBron's case, if he's worried about this so-called icon status and winning four and five titles, then there is no way I can get into his cranium.

I know he didn't do college, but he has to know two and three come after one. And he doesn't have one yet. In that instance, he must realize how difficult it is to get it done.

Winning a title will be more difficult than deciding where he wants to cast his lot.