It has taken nearly three months, but the Sacramento Kings have become worthy for time spent viewing.
Actually, the Kings (8-25) only were unworthy of watching if you were looking for victories. Winning was the game’s feature they couldn’t decipher.
Now, they’ve won three of their past four home games and with Thursday night’s 122-102 victory over the Denver Nuggets, Sacramento earned its first win over a plus-.500 team.
Moreover, the Kings recently have begun to receive productive play from four, five and even six players. That was not happening a month ago and still isn’t something coach Paul Westphal can wake up in the morning and count upon.
Really, though, counting upon major nightly, consistent production from five or six players only is a dream/fantasy for coaches on any level.
Yet, when you are the Kings, it’s time to appreciate blessings. Seeing patience and nightly growth from DeMarcus Cousins and Tyreke Evans, ages 20 and 21, respectively, is a blessing.
Surely, Evans has played a number of excellent games during his brief time as a King, but this performance was as complete as I’ve seen. His scoring (27 points) was timely and impactful and against solid defensive guards in Aaron Afflalo and Chauncey Billups.
More importantly, Evans looked to make plays for his teammates. He had a season-high 12 assists, in part, because the Kings made a season-high 56.4 percent of their field-goal attempts.
However, it also was because Evans made timely deliveries to give teammates layups, dunks and wide-open jumpers.
Include five rebounds, two steals and only one turnover in more than 41 minutes and there is the type of performance Westphal needs to get his team on the right track.
Cousins continues to show more poise and composure. His shot selection is improving and subsequently, his field-goal percentage rises.
By the way, when you see Cousins get excited over referee’s calls, keep this in mind. He received a technical in the third quarter for his reaction over a non-call.
He also heard Denver’s Carmelo Anthony threaten in front of an official to beat up Omri Casspi and go without a word.
That’s the type of stuff NBA officials need to clear up. It’s one thing to give stars calls non-stars don’t receive. Yet, stars often are allowed to say things other players are not.
All that does is give stars more belief they are untouchable and make others believe they are not getting a fair shake.
Think Cousins needs to feel that anymore than he already does?
Cousins, though, consistently reveals more facets of his skill set. It’s always important to remember he’s 20 years old.
There are parts of Cousins’ game that barely have been touched. There are things he’ll soon learn he can do that he never imagined himself capable.
That’s what growing up as a player and a person is about.
Now, as a team, the Kings have to prove they take their show on the road. They begin a six-game East Coast road trip in Toronto.
Certainly, it’s easier to play at home, but if Sacramento can use its longest trip of the season to display consistency of performance and focus, it can continue to improve.
They’ll need continued production from Omri Casspi, Francisco Garcia, Beno Udrih, Pooh Jeter and Carl Landry.
Samuel Dalembert and Jason Thompson need to continue pounding the boards to help the Kings continue to lead the league in second-chance points (16.4) per game.
Dalembert wants the Kings to show him more time, but he’s got to show he can score consistently around the basket to earn that.
No doubt he is a defensive impact guy, but missing six-footers is not the way to increase playing time.
Side note: Dalembert’s decision to attend the recent funeral of long time Philadelphia sports Phil Jasner was as classy a move as I’ve seen from a player during 32 years in the game.
And I’ve seen many classy acts unlike others who lump all young athletes into one group of knuckleheads with no sense and awareness of how fortunate they are.
Indeed, I’m aware how many knuckleheads populate, but I’m also aware of how many chumps there are in my profession and many others.
Showing posts with label Omri Casspi. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Omri Casspi. Show all posts
Saturday, January 8, 2011
Monday, January 3, 2011
Kings win back-to-back home games, but what does it mean? We'll see
It’s important to attempt to discern what we’re seeing.
It’s not just that the Kings have won two of their past three games.
Or that they’ve won their past two home games over Memphis and Phoenix, respectively.
Or that their 7-24 record results in the NBA’s worst winning percentage at .226. Or that the Kings currently are grouped with the L.A. Clippers (10-24); Minnesota (9-25); New Jersey (9-25); Washington (8-24); Detroit (11-22); Toronto (11-22) and Charlotte (11-20).
Basically, these are the worst of the worst. And Sacramento’s .226 winning percentage comes on the heels of two victories, while uplifting in nature, that surely rank as remarkable, if not downright miraculous.
Actually, the Kings could have lost those games more easily than they were won.
Teams usually do not win with 55-foot shots, buzzer-beaters as the Kings did with Tyreke Evans bomb against Memphis.
Nor do they normally outscore their opponents, 19-2, during the game’s final six minutes by limiting a team to one basket in its final 10 possessions as they did against Phoenix.
There can be no sugar-coating where the Kings and the rest of these teams reside in the NBA’s hierarchy. We’re talking way on the outside hoping to get into a position in which they can look.
While assessing the Kings, the surroundings cannot be ignored. The teams whom share Sacramento’s early-season struggles have youthful bases.
New Jersey (Avery Johnson) and Washington (Flip Saunders) are considered first-class coaches. Larry Brown almost is universally acknowledged to be one of the world’s best coaches, yet he’s already been replaced in Charlotte by Paul Silas.
Others such as the Clippers, Minnesota, Detroit and Toronto have relatively young, new and/or inexperienced coaches.
The league’s most successful coach – the L.A. Lakers’ Phil Jackson – has his own problems at this time. Granted, the two-time NBA champion Lakers’ problems are relative and totally unlike those of the bottom-barrel group.
Yet, problems are problems and as Kings coach Paul Westphal alluded to following the victory over Memphis, the season can be described as attempting to plug leaks in a dike. Just when a hole is filled, another arises.
Many of the teams struggling to win also struggle to score. The Kings rank sixth from the bottom in scoring at 94.1 points per game. The inability to score usually indicates a lack of prime-time talent.
Yet, New Orleans averages 93.9 points with all-star point guard Chris Paul running the show. There are no givens when teams struggle other than all teams will. Some just will do it more and longer than others.
Clearly, the recent performances of rookie center DeMarcus Cousins have given the Kings reason for optimism. While Cousins figures his way, the Kings should be realizing their course of patience with the 20-year-old must be followed.
Cousins’ youth and inexperience will be a factor, but his growth cannot be denied. Cousins understands his growth also requires patience. As much as he’d like to be an immediate dominant presence, he has to learn the league, his teammates and himself.
Said Westphal of Cousins, “He’s cutting down some of his impatient mistakes and doing a better job of getting a wider base. He’s reading the defenses better, before he makes his move and he’s staying out of foul trouble.”
Cousins has a unique and distinctive game. He’s listed at 6-foot-11, yet at times he plays the game as if he’s a 6-footer. He’ll attempt to push the ball upcourt via the dribble or lay in the backcourt to try to poke the ball away from a guard.
These aren’t particularly smart moves, but they are part of what makes him who he is. Cousins isn’t scared and that heart in a big man has been needed around here a little longer than virtually forever.
He plays as if he‘s a big guy who grew tall relatively late instead of always being a big guy. He says that’s not the case.
“For me, I was never afraid to try stuff,” he said Sunday night after scoring a career-high 28 points, grabbing eight rebounds and handing out season-high and team-leading six assists. “When I first started playing ball, I used to take off dribbling the ball and coaches would flip their (lids). I’d just keep going and I guess I’ve benefited from it.
“My shot has been messed up, but I’m comfortable shooting (15-footers).”
The extra bonus Sacramento gets with Cousins is he is naturally silly and funny. It’s difficult ever imaging an uptight locker room with him roaming with walk-bys.
When told most of the Phoenix players believed he’d walked on a key fourth-quarter, three-point play, he said, “I took eight steps because I had a guy (Robin Lopez) on my back and I couldn’t control that.”
What Westphal and the rest of the Kings coaching staff and front office have not been capable of controlling is the players’ inability to make shots. It’s the coaching staff’s job to help their players get good shots. The coaches can’t make the shots for them.
Perhaps the players need to put in more work and control what they can control.
Witness 23.1 percent field-goal shooting (6-for-26) in the first quarter against Phoenix and 35 percent shooting in the second quarter. Then the Kings shoot 61.1 percent (11-for-18) in the third quarter and 10 of 20 in the fourth.
Explain that! Moreover, the Kings made eight of their last 12 shots in the fourth, so that means they missed six of their first eight. Explain that, too!
We’re still waiting to see what the Kings look like if they play a solid 48 minutes. It was nice Sunday, however, to see Sacramento receive workmanlike performances from Francisco Garcia, Omri Casspi, Carl Landry, Jason Thompson as well as Cousins. For once it didn’t matter that Evans and Beno Udrih stunk up the joint.
And it didn’t hurt that Pooh Jeter contributed four points, four assists and no turnovers during the fourth quarter, his only 12 minutes of action.
It’s not just that the Kings have won two of their past three games.
Or that they’ve won their past two home games over Memphis and Phoenix, respectively.
Or that their 7-24 record results in the NBA’s worst winning percentage at .226. Or that the Kings currently are grouped with the L.A. Clippers (10-24); Minnesota (9-25); New Jersey (9-25); Washington (8-24); Detroit (11-22); Toronto (11-22) and Charlotte (11-20).
Basically, these are the worst of the worst. And Sacramento’s .226 winning percentage comes on the heels of two victories, while uplifting in nature, that surely rank as remarkable, if not downright miraculous.
Actually, the Kings could have lost those games more easily than they were won.
Teams usually do not win with 55-foot shots, buzzer-beaters as the Kings did with Tyreke Evans bomb against Memphis.
Nor do they normally outscore their opponents, 19-2, during the game’s final six minutes by limiting a team to one basket in its final 10 possessions as they did against Phoenix.
There can be no sugar-coating where the Kings and the rest of these teams reside in the NBA’s hierarchy. We’re talking way on the outside hoping to get into a position in which they can look.
While assessing the Kings, the surroundings cannot be ignored. The teams whom share Sacramento’s early-season struggles have youthful bases.
New Jersey (Avery Johnson) and Washington (Flip Saunders) are considered first-class coaches. Larry Brown almost is universally acknowledged to be one of the world’s best coaches, yet he’s already been replaced in Charlotte by Paul Silas.
Others such as the Clippers, Minnesota, Detroit and Toronto have relatively young, new and/or inexperienced coaches.
The league’s most successful coach – the L.A. Lakers’ Phil Jackson – has his own problems at this time. Granted, the two-time NBA champion Lakers’ problems are relative and totally unlike those of the bottom-barrel group.
Yet, problems are problems and as Kings coach Paul Westphal alluded to following the victory over Memphis, the season can be described as attempting to plug leaks in a dike. Just when a hole is filled, another arises.
Many of the teams struggling to win also struggle to score. The Kings rank sixth from the bottom in scoring at 94.1 points per game. The inability to score usually indicates a lack of prime-time talent.
Yet, New Orleans averages 93.9 points with all-star point guard Chris Paul running the show. There are no givens when teams struggle other than all teams will. Some just will do it more and longer than others.
Clearly, the recent performances of rookie center DeMarcus Cousins have given the Kings reason for optimism. While Cousins figures his way, the Kings should be realizing their course of patience with the 20-year-old must be followed.
Cousins’ youth and inexperience will be a factor, but his growth cannot be denied. Cousins understands his growth also requires patience. As much as he’d like to be an immediate dominant presence, he has to learn the league, his teammates and himself.
Said Westphal of Cousins, “He’s cutting down some of his impatient mistakes and doing a better job of getting a wider base. He’s reading the defenses better, before he makes his move and he’s staying out of foul trouble.”
Cousins has a unique and distinctive game. He’s listed at 6-foot-11, yet at times he plays the game as if he’s a 6-footer. He’ll attempt to push the ball upcourt via the dribble or lay in the backcourt to try to poke the ball away from a guard.
These aren’t particularly smart moves, but they are part of what makes him who he is. Cousins isn’t scared and that heart in a big man has been needed around here a little longer than virtually forever.
He plays as if he‘s a big guy who grew tall relatively late instead of always being a big guy. He says that’s not the case.
“For me, I was never afraid to try stuff,” he said Sunday night after scoring a career-high 28 points, grabbing eight rebounds and handing out season-high and team-leading six assists. “When I first started playing ball, I used to take off dribbling the ball and coaches would flip their (lids). I’d just keep going and I guess I’ve benefited from it.
“My shot has been messed up, but I’m comfortable shooting (15-footers).”
The extra bonus Sacramento gets with Cousins is he is naturally silly and funny. It’s difficult ever imaging an uptight locker room with him roaming with walk-bys.
When told most of the Phoenix players believed he’d walked on a key fourth-quarter, three-point play, he said, “I took eight steps because I had a guy (Robin Lopez) on my back and I couldn’t control that.”
What Westphal and the rest of the Kings coaching staff and front office have not been capable of controlling is the players’ inability to make shots. It’s the coaching staff’s job to help their players get good shots. The coaches can’t make the shots for them.
Perhaps the players need to put in more work and control what they can control.
Witness 23.1 percent field-goal shooting (6-for-26) in the first quarter against Phoenix and 35 percent shooting in the second quarter. Then the Kings shoot 61.1 percent (11-for-18) in the third quarter and 10 of 20 in the fourth.
Explain that! Moreover, the Kings made eight of their last 12 shots in the fourth, so that means they missed six of their first eight. Explain that, too!
We’re still waiting to see what the Kings look like if they play a solid 48 minutes. It was nice Sunday, however, to see Sacramento receive workmanlike performances from Francisco Garcia, Omri Casspi, Carl Landry, Jason Thompson as well as Cousins. For once it didn’t matter that Evans and Beno Udrih stunk up the joint.
And it didn’t hurt that Pooh Jeter contributed four points, four assists and no turnovers during the fourth quarter, his only 12 minutes of action.
Friday, November 19, 2010
Little things keep Kings from improving
It seems as if it were just 2½ weeks ago the Sacramento Kings were 3-1 and preparing to play the Los Angeles Lakers.
It was.
Fast forward to Wednesday night against the New York Knicks, the Kings had lost five straight games, four at home and three to teams struggling as badly if not more than themselves.
The Kings raced to a 15-point lead near the end of the first quarter against New York, which had lost six straight, and the early consensus was Sacramento was moving toward stopping the bleeding with a reconfigured starting unit including Luther Head and Jason Thompson.
Wrong! Now the Kings have lost six straight entering tonight's home game against the New Jersey Nets.
The Kings went to their new second unit and allowed points so quickly, the term point-shaving entered the mindset. The Knicks scored so easily, it was like the Kings just had to be letting them, right?
After the game, coach Paul Westphal said this same second-unit Tuesday had battered the first unit so badly he almost felt sorry for his starters.
Against the Knicks, the second unit received what it had given in the previous day’s practice because during a 20-2 New York run I felt sorry for what predominantly was the Kings second unit of DeMarcus Cousins, Omri Casspi, Darnell Jackson, Francisco Garcia and Beno Udrih.
Or maybe it was that they were sorry. It was one of those two, well, maybe both.
The Kings twice ran away from players with the ball in the half-court. Those are a couple of moves that likely inspired Westphal to later compare their performance to ‘sub sixth-grade basketball that was indescribably bad.’
Now that was an accurate description. Include an incorrect traveling call on Cousins; an accurate traveling call on Cousins, an unnecessary 20-footer by Jackson, who appears to have 15-foot range at best; and a missed layup by Udrih; and the Kings had handed momentum to the Knicks like a friendly black jack dealer with an eight on a 13.
Check out this Kings defensive possession midway through the second quarter with four of the five starters in the game. Carl Landry had just made a jumper over Amare Stoudamire to cut New York’s lead to 38-37.
Then New York’s Toney Douglas (defended by Udrih) runs a high angle screen-roll with Stoudamire (defended by Samuel Dalembert). Stoudamire rolls and on the move gets stopped by Landry. Stoudamire goes to the floor.
Douglas passes to Ronny Turiaf at the top of the key with Stoudamire still on the floor. Turiaf takes one dribble and passes back to Douglas who has faded beyond the three-point line. He makes one hard dribble left to elude Udrih (yes, it was that easily done) and rises for a three-point attempt. Landry steps out to challenge the shot because Udrih now was behind Douglas.
The shot misses badly. Dalembert moves over to box out Turiaf. That leaves Stoudamire, who had risen from the floor, a wide-open path for a two-handed tap dunk and a 40-37 lead.
Now the Kings had spaced the floor on the opposite side with Danilo Gallinari (defended by Garcia) up top and Wilson Chandler (defended by Tyreke Evans) in the short right corner.
Evans remained in a four-foot area throughout the possession and basically did nothing. He didn’t go for the rebound nor did he attempt, maybe not even think about boxing out Stoudamire.
More importantly, Evans (last season’s NBA rookie of the year and 20-5-5 guy, yada, yada, yada) let his teammates down. He certainly could have and should have had Dalembert’s back when the center had Landry’s back who had had Udrih’s back.
On one possession, Udrih and Evans stunk it up defensively. In a five-man game, that’s 40 percent of your defense giving you nothing and the opposition everything.
It was just one possession, but the line between NBA success and failure can be that fleeting. Just like 17 days can turn into a 2½-week trip to hell and just like four minutes can turn a 31-18 Kings lead with 10:35 left in the second to a 38-35 Knicks lead with 6:30 left.
Heck, it wasn’t even four minutes of game time, but in real time it seemed less. And Westphal during one stretch called a time out with 8:59 left and followed with a 20-second time out 45 seconds later.
Now, the Kings had ample opportunities later to win this game, but this one stretch of play, low-lighted by one defensive possession, was an indicator of why they didn’t. It is a possession such as this that leads to Sacramento allowing a league-high 49.2 defensive field-goal percentage.
Moreover, it’s an example of how a team has to work in concert and trust each other defensively if it is going to be successful.
It’s not rocket science but it is a thinking man’s game.
Simply, though, let’s get back to Marty Mac’s theory of needing five or six players performing near or above their potential against the Knicks.
Landry, who is making me re-think his potential of scoring with his back-to-the basket, had 21 points and nine rebounds and played well.
Westphal credited his team with doing a better job of getting Landry the rock. Perhaps the Kings can begin to go inside to Cousins with more diligence and success, too.
Cousins committed a team-high five turnovers, but scored 15 points and had 10 rebounds.
Moreover, he played so hard, it was noticeably different than most of his teammates. The dude is intense. He plays as if he doesn’t want to lose. He sells out. I’m not sure I can say that about each of his teammates.
Donte Greene played 20 minutes, all in the second half and never came out of the game once he entered.
It could just be me, but his quickness and athleticism are needed on this team. He’s going to make mistakes, but when he’s playing really hard and relaxed, the Kings are a better team.
That’s three out of 12 who played well and that will not get the job done.
Evans scored a team-high 23, five of which came after the outcome had been decided. He added five rebounds and five assists, but soon must figure out how to stop leaving his feet and passing.
Being one who was guilty of the same thing, Evans has to stop taking off from so far away from the hoop and not knowing what he’s going to do. He’s got to get one dribble deeper on drives so he can fully take advantage of his strength and body control.
Moreover, he and Udrih both have to stop jumping into the air and passing almost blindly backwards. Those passes usually start the opponents’ fast break.
Udrih scored 18 and helped fuel the Kings fourth-quarter comeback with 11 points, but his recent defense has been embarrassing.
As Head said after the game, “This is so disappointing because we can play so much better than we’ve been playing.”
This is true and in the darkness, you’ve got to look for a little light somewhere. Sacramento’s light from one vantage point is it can play better. Maybe the Kings will when they truly get tired of getting their butts kicked.
It was.
Fast forward to Wednesday night against the New York Knicks, the Kings had lost five straight games, four at home and three to teams struggling as badly if not more than themselves.
The Kings raced to a 15-point lead near the end of the first quarter against New York, which had lost six straight, and the early consensus was Sacramento was moving toward stopping the bleeding with a reconfigured starting unit including Luther Head and Jason Thompson.
Wrong! Now the Kings have lost six straight entering tonight's home game against the New Jersey Nets.
The Kings went to their new second unit and allowed points so quickly, the term point-shaving entered the mindset. The Knicks scored so easily, it was like the Kings just had to be letting them, right?
After the game, coach Paul Westphal said this same second-unit Tuesday had battered the first unit so badly he almost felt sorry for his starters.
Against the Knicks, the second unit received what it had given in the previous day’s practice because during a 20-2 New York run I felt sorry for what predominantly was the Kings second unit of DeMarcus Cousins, Omri Casspi, Darnell Jackson, Francisco Garcia and Beno Udrih.
Or maybe it was that they were sorry. It was one of those two, well, maybe both.
The Kings twice ran away from players with the ball in the half-court. Those are a couple of moves that likely inspired Westphal to later compare their performance to ‘sub sixth-grade basketball that was indescribably bad.’
Now that was an accurate description. Include an incorrect traveling call on Cousins; an accurate traveling call on Cousins, an unnecessary 20-footer by Jackson, who appears to have 15-foot range at best; and a missed layup by Udrih; and the Kings had handed momentum to the Knicks like a friendly black jack dealer with an eight on a 13.
Check out this Kings defensive possession midway through the second quarter with four of the five starters in the game. Carl Landry had just made a jumper over Amare Stoudamire to cut New York’s lead to 38-37.
Then New York’s Toney Douglas (defended by Udrih) runs a high angle screen-roll with Stoudamire (defended by Samuel Dalembert). Stoudamire rolls and on the move gets stopped by Landry. Stoudamire goes to the floor.
Douglas passes to Ronny Turiaf at the top of the key with Stoudamire still on the floor. Turiaf takes one dribble and passes back to Douglas who has faded beyond the three-point line. He makes one hard dribble left to elude Udrih (yes, it was that easily done) and rises for a three-point attempt. Landry steps out to challenge the shot because Udrih now was behind Douglas.
The shot misses badly. Dalembert moves over to box out Turiaf. That leaves Stoudamire, who had risen from the floor, a wide-open path for a two-handed tap dunk and a 40-37 lead.
Now the Kings had spaced the floor on the opposite side with Danilo Gallinari (defended by Garcia) up top and Wilson Chandler (defended by Tyreke Evans) in the short right corner.
Evans remained in a four-foot area throughout the possession and basically did nothing. He didn’t go for the rebound nor did he attempt, maybe not even think about boxing out Stoudamire.
More importantly, Evans (last season’s NBA rookie of the year and 20-5-5 guy, yada, yada, yada) let his teammates down. He certainly could have and should have had Dalembert’s back when the center had Landry’s back who had had Udrih’s back.
On one possession, Udrih and Evans stunk it up defensively. In a five-man game, that’s 40 percent of your defense giving you nothing and the opposition everything.
It was just one possession, but the line between NBA success and failure can be that fleeting. Just like 17 days can turn into a 2½-week trip to hell and just like four minutes can turn a 31-18 Kings lead with 10:35 left in the second to a 38-35 Knicks lead with 6:30 left.
Heck, it wasn’t even four minutes of game time, but in real time it seemed less. And Westphal during one stretch called a time out with 8:59 left and followed with a 20-second time out 45 seconds later.
Now, the Kings had ample opportunities later to win this game, but this one stretch of play, low-lighted by one defensive possession, was an indicator of why they didn’t. It is a possession such as this that leads to Sacramento allowing a league-high 49.2 defensive field-goal percentage.
Moreover, it’s an example of how a team has to work in concert and trust each other defensively if it is going to be successful.
It’s not rocket science but it is a thinking man’s game.
Simply, though, let’s get back to Marty Mac’s theory of needing five or six players performing near or above their potential against the Knicks.
Landry, who is making me re-think his potential of scoring with his back-to-the basket, had 21 points and nine rebounds and played well.
Westphal credited his team with doing a better job of getting Landry the rock. Perhaps the Kings can begin to go inside to Cousins with more diligence and success, too.
Cousins committed a team-high five turnovers, but scored 15 points and had 10 rebounds.
Moreover, he played so hard, it was noticeably different than most of his teammates. The dude is intense. He plays as if he doesn’t want to lose. He sells out. I’m not sure I can say that about each of his teammates.
Donte Greene played 20 minutes, all in the second half and never came out of the game once he entered.
It could just be me, but his quickness and athleticism are needed on this team. He’s going to make mistakes, but when he’s playing really hard and relaxed, the Kings are a better team.
That’s three out of 12 who played well and that will not get the job done.
Evans scored a team-high 23, five of which came after the outcome had been decided. He added five rebounds and five assists, but soon must figure out how to stop leaving his feet and passing.
Being one who was guilty of the same thing, Evans has to stop taking off from so far away from the hoop and not knowing what he’s going to do. He’s got to get one dribble deeper on drives so he can fully take advantage of his strength and body control.
Moreover, he and Udrih both have to stop jumping into the air and passing almost blindly backwards. Those passes usually start the opponents’ fast break.
Udrih scored 18 and helped fuel the Kings fourth-quarter comeback with 11 points, but his recent defense has been embarrassing.
As Head said after the game, “This is so disappointing because we can play so much better than we’ve been playing.”
This is true and in the darkness, you’ve got to look for a little light somewhere. Sacramento’s light from one vantage point is it can play better. Maybe the Kings will when they truly get tired of getting their butts kicked.
Friday, November 12, 2010
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.
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.
Monday, November 8, 2010
Fire Westphal? Hold your water!
People are absolutely nuts. Maybe that should read fans are nuts.
I’m reading now how the Sacramento Kings should fire Paul Westphal.
This is after they go 3-3 to begin the season. Hold your water, people.
Granted, I’ve got many questions regarding what the Kings are doing and/or trying to do.
Those things I’m trying to figure out and from the looks of, so are they, coach Westphal included.
One thing I’d ask of those who believe Westphal should be fired. Did you think he should be fired when the Kings were 3-1.
If so, then OK.
If not, then shut up and quit being reactionary to a couple of losses.
One of those came against the defending champion Los Angeles Lakers. The other defeat was by a Memphis Grizzlies team one year ahead of the Kings in the growth process and definitely more athletic and talented at this point.
It doesn’t make a difference if the Grizzlies played two overtimes the night before. If it was six or seven overtimes, then OK, I’d see the point.
These are basically 22 to 30 year-old cats, who played 10 minutes longer than regulation. What? They can’t hoop two nights in a row. People, please?
Often times, I wonder if people who write some of the bizarre stuff they post ever really, truly laced up sneakers and competed. Most of the time, the answer I came up with is hell no.
Did you ever consider how pissed off, motivated and determine that team might be after just throwing away a game they'd dominated the night before? Isn’t that a factor?
You want to fire Westphal? Didn’t the Kings just hire homeboy? Can the man get more than one season and six games before kicking him to the curb?
Can he work with the same group of players for a minimum of two seasons so it’s clear to all what he’s trying to do? Or maybe it won't be clear and that'll also be a revelation.
An organization has to have stability and firing a coach every year or even every other year does not inspire stability.
There is no way a team can become a team without learning its rules and regulations and disciplines. Just because you have 12 players or 14 for that matter, doesn’t mean you have a team.
Teams go through adversity and become stronger as a result of lessons learned. What the Kings have is a nucleus that consists, in part, of Tyreke Evans (21 years old), DeMarcus Cousins (20), and Omri Casspi (22). Include Donte Greene (22, and his status is another discussion point), Hassan Whiteside (21) and there are five players, who still are shy of their 23rd birthdays. Add Darnell Jackson, who is 25 and has six games under his Sacramento belt and there is a collection of characters who don’t really know what they are doing.
They can’t because knowing what you are doing requires know-how. You know, doing it over and over again, like most of us have done in our given jobs/professions. And not when we were 20 or 21 or 22.
Just because these guys are tall and highly-paid doesn’t make them any different mentally or maturity-wise than others their age.
They have differing levels of maturity, intelligence and willingness to accept teaching or even acknowledge the need to be taught.
Westphal surely still is attempting to learn how to teach and reach these guys. The Kings have improved talent and size, but its collection by no means is so commanding that it is dominating.
OK, I could spend another four hours with the questions that surface with Westphal’s actions and decisions.
So, I’ll chill with those for the moment. Some of those might be answered, say, in the second or third weeks of the season. That was a joke for those of you taking this Kings thing a bit too seriously.
However, here’s a couple I hope to get the coach to answer by next week.
How many plays do you call a game? How many of those are pick and roll plays?
The Kings half-court offense often appears to have no direction. Is that because players fail to execute their roles? Or is it because it lacks direction.
How much time during practice does your team spend on defense? Is there a way to improve how stay in between your man and the basket? You know the basic concept of keeping one’s man in front of you?
So far, the Kings should be renamed the excavators since all they do is dig holes for themselves. That’s the most difficult way to win games.
Ahh, we'll get to Greene another day.
I’m reading now how the Sacramento Kings should fire Paul Westphal.
This is after they go 3-3 to begin the season. Hold your water, people.
Granted, I’ve got many questions regarding what the Kings are doing and/or trying to do.
Those things I’m trying to figure out and from the looks of, so are they, coach Westphal included.
One thing I’d ask of those who believe Westphal should be fired. Did you think he should be fired when the Kings were 3-1.
If so, then OK.
If not, then shut up and quit being reactionary to a couple of losses.
One of those came against the defending champion Los Angeles Lakers. The other defeat was by a Memphis Grizzlies team one year ahead of the Kings in the growth process and definitely more athletic and talented at this point.
It doesn’t make a difference if the Grizzlies played two overtimes the night before. If it was six or seven overtimes, then OK, I’d see the point.
These are basically 22 to 30 year-old cats, who played 10 minutes longer than regulation. What? They can’t hoop two nights in a row. People, please?
Often times, I wonder if people who write some of the bizarre stuff they post ever really, truly laced up sneakers and competed. Most of the time, the answer I came up with is hell no.
Did you ever consider how pissed off, motivated and determine that team might be after just throwing away a game they'd dominated the night before? Isn’t that a factor?
You want to fire Westphal? Didn’t the Kings just hire homeboy? Can the man get more than one season and six games before kicking him to the curb?
Can he work with the same group of players for a minimum of two seasons so it’s clear to all what he’s trying to do? Or maybe it won't be clear and that'll also be a revelation.
An organization has to have stability and firing a coach every year or even every other year does not inspire stability.
There is no way a team can become a team without learning its rules and regulations and disciplines. Just because you have 12 players or 14 for that matter, doesn’t mean you have a team.
Teams go through adversity and become stronger as a result of lessons learned. What the Kings have is a nucleus that consists, in part, of Tyreke Evans (21 years old), DeMarcus Cousins (20), and Omri Casspi (22). Include Donte Greene (22, and his status is another discussion point), Hassan Whiteside (21) and there are five players, who still are shy of their 23rd birthdays. Add Darnell Jackson, who is 25 and has six games under his Sacramento belt and there is a collection of characters who don’t really know what they are doing.
They can’t because knowing what you are doing requires know-how. You know, doing it over and over again, like most of us have done in our given jobs/professions. And not when we were 20 or 21 or 22.
Just because these guys are tall and highly-paid doesn’t make them any different mentally or maturity-wise than others their age.
They have differing levels of maturity, intelligence and willingness to accept teaching or even acknowledge the need to be taught.
Westphal surely still is attempting to learn how to teach and reach these guys. The Kings have improved talent and size, but its collection by no means is so commanding that it is dominating.
OK, I could spend another four hours with the questions that surface with Westphal’s actions and decisions.
So, I’ll chill with those for the moment. Some of those might be answered, say, in the second or third weeks of the season. That was a joke for those of you taking this Kings thing a bit too seriously.
However, here’s a couple I hope to get the coach to answer by next week.
How many plays do you call a game? How many of those are pick and roll plays?
The Kings half-court offense often appears to have no direction. Is that because players fail to execute their roles? Or is it because it lacks direction.
How much time during practice does your team spend on defense? Is there a way to improve how stay in between your man and the basket? You know the basic concept of keeping one’s man in front of you?
So far, the Kings should be renamed the excavators since all they do is dig holes for themselves. That’s the most difficult way to win games.
Ahh, we'll get to Greene another day.
Tuesday, November 2, 2010
Kings get early test Wednesday against Lakers
It is perfect timing for the world champion Los Angeles Lakers to show up in Sacramento earnest.
No more exhibition games and no more regular-season games during which the Kings could spend the first halves looking like they wanted to give up 80 points.
Sacramento (3-1) gets the Lakers Wednesday night at Arco Arena and it’ll be something serious. Granted, serious and special come in different packages for the teams, Sacramento has an opportunity to prove something to itself.
This will be Sacramento’s first opponent destined for the 2011 playoffs. That’s a bit of a guess, but anyone betting against a Lakers post-season appearance is on for double-double wager at your local cheeseburger establishment.
Those who have watched the Kings win three of their first four games should be aware of how slim the margin can be between winning and losing. The Kings just as easily could be undefeated as winless.
Victories are not to be undersold, no matter the method of achievement. The ‘W’ is the bottom line.
And there is certain strength in being able to come back from double-digit deficits to get a win, even if a similar ugliness exists in the abhorrent performance that takes a team to such depths.
For example, the Toronto Raptors, in Monday night’s Kings home season-opener, literally conducted fast-break drills that ended in dunks and lay ups throughout much of the first half.
It wasn’t exactly the way the new-style Kings wanted to greet their sellout crowd. However, led by Tyreke Evans and Beno Udrih, the Kings were able to hang around in the second quarter and eventually outscore the Raptors in each of the final three quarters.
Evans is a statistical phenomenon. He’s perhaps on his way to becoming the most unusual player I’ve had the opportunity to watch.
The guy can look like one of the most devastating drivers I’ve ever seen. Therefore, passing the ball, particularly in a one-on-one situation, is unnecessary, if not even foolish.
Then Evans can attack a defense, either in a half-court situation or on the break, and appear to be one of the most selfish cats ever. He has no problem driving into a group of three or four defenders and forcing up an off-balance attempt that seemingly has nary a chance of conversion.
On a similar possession, Evans can draw all of that attention and somehow find an open teammate he seemingly has no apparent ability to locate and hit for a basket or at the least, an easy opportunity.
And just like Monday night, despite the distractions of receiving his 2010 Rookie of the Year award before the game and missing the start of the second half with an upset stomach, Evans finished the night with 23 points, seven rebounds, five assists, two steals and a blocked shot in nearly 37 minutes of action.
It was another night at the office for 21-year-old.
Not to be overlooked was the contribution/on-the-job training of center DeMarcus Cousins. The 20-year-old is on the early road to becoming a low-post, go-to-guy. Without him they become a jump-shot reliant, Evans-penetration dominated offense.
Cousins quickly is showing his mettle as a beast. Clearly, he’s ferocious on the boards and is capable of getting rebounds the Kings have struggled to get for years. Cousins rebounds in traffic. He rebounds with people on his back or on each shoulder. He rebounds with the hands of others on the ball, at least momentarily.
Yet, on this night, it was possible to watch him grow. He had two low-post moves blocked virtually before they left his hand by seven-foot non-shot blocker Andrea Bargnani.
Cousins, who played just 17 minutes, scored 14 of his 16 points in the second half. Ten of those came during the fourth quarter where he played Bargnani like an oboe.
The education taught in the first half already had been eaten, digested and evolved into a learned lesson in the fourth quarter. Cousins is an amazing case. Among all the words of critics heard about him during the draft, I can’t remember any of them mentioning his considerable intelligence.
Its clear Samuel Dalembert is rounding into shape. Dalembert grabbed a Kings’ season-high 14 rebounds in a little more than 22 minutes. His career-high is 23 boards. Dalembert’s tremendous length did not result in a blocked shot on the stat sheet, but if there was a stat for altered shots, he’d have had a couple.
What the Kings have lacked in recent years are players of impact - those who change the directions of a game with intelligence or heart in addition or independent of talent.
Omri Casspi didn’t do much in the first half, but his steal and driving dunk with 1:16 left in the third quarter was dynamic and quickly sent the crowd into a frenzy. Casspi outran the Raptors defenders and quickly forced down a surprising two-handed dunk.
“I just said, ‘(bleep) it,” Casspi said after the game.
Casspi clearly is unafraid of the moment. He scored 12 of his 14 in the second half and nine of those came on three of three three-point shooting in the fourth.
What Casspi appeared afraid of on this night were rebounds. He didn’t have one in nearly 33 minutes. Perhaps it was a positional thing. Toronto small forward Linas Kleiza had just one rebound during 34 minutes.
On a night, where Carl Landry’s jump shot was harassed by Reggie Evans (game-high 19 rebounds, 10 offensive), Darnell Jackson (eight points), Jason Thompson (seven points) and Luther Head (nine points, three assists) made impacts off the bench.
Donte Greene was the lone active player to receive a DNP-CD (Did Not Play-Coach’s Decision). Coach Paul Westphal said after the game Greene has done nothing wrong.
“There is no problem with Donte,” the coach said of Greene, who started at small forward in the season-opener but has been replaced by Casspi. “There are only so many minutes. We had so many bigs out.
“I’ve found out Luther and Darnell can come off the bench with energy and I don’t need Omri to come off with his energy. But it’s nothing Donte has done. Right now, Omri is the answer to the equation. It’s more of the contributions of Luther and Darnell than it is a slam on Donte.”
Greene opted not to discuss the situation following the game.
No more exhibition games and no more regular-season games during which the Kings could spend the first halves looking like they wanted to give up 80 points.
Sacramento (3-1) gets the Lakers Wednesday night at Arco Arena and it’ll be something serious. Granted, serious and special come in different packages for the teams, Sacramento has an opportunity to prove something to itself.
This will be Sacramento’s first opponent destined for the 2011 playoffs. That’s a bit of a guess, but anyone betting against a Lakers post-season appearance is on for double-double wager at your local cheeseburger establishment.
Those who have watched the Kings win three of their first four games should be aware of how slim the margin can be between winning and losing. The Kings just as easily could be undefeated as winless.
Victories are not to be undersold, no matter the method of achievement. The ‘W’ is the bottom line.
And there is certain strength in being able to come back from double-digit deficits to get a win, even if a similar ugliness exists in the abhorrent performance that takes a team to such depths.
For example, the Toronto Raptors, in Monday night’s Kings home season-opener, literally conducted fast-break drills that ended in dunks and lay ups throughout much of the first half.
It wasn’t exactly the way the new-style Kings wanted to greet their sellout crowd. However, led by Tyreke Evans and Beno Udrih, the Kings were able to hang around in the second quarter and eventually outscore the Raptors in each of the final three quarters.
Evans is a statistical phenomenon. He’s perhaps on his way to becoming the most unusual player I’ve had the opportunity to watch.
The guy can look like one of the most devastating drivers I’ve ever seen. Therefore, passing the ball, particularly in a one-on-one situation, is unnecessary, if not even foolish.
Then Evans can attack a defense, either in a half-court situation or on the break, and appear to be one of the most selfish cats ever. He has no problem driving into a group of three or four defenders and forcing up an off-balance attempt that seemingly has nary a chance of conversion.
On a similar possession, Evans can draw all of that attention and somehow find an open teammate he seemingly has no apparent ability to locate and hit for a basket or at the least, an easy opportunity.
And just like Monday night, despite the distractions of receiving his 2010 Rookie of the Year award before the game and missing the start of the second half with an upset stomach, Evans finished the night with 23 points, seven rebounds, five assists, two steals and a blocked shot in nearly 37 minutes of action.
It was another night at the office for 21-year-old.
Not to be overlooked was the contribution/on-the-job training of center DeMarcus Cousins. The 20-year-old is on the early road to becoming a low-post, go-to-guy. Without him they become a jump-shot reliant, Evans-penetration dominated offense.
Cousins quickly is showing his mettle as a beast. Clearly, he’s ferocious on the boards and is capable of getting rebounds the Kings have struggled to get for years. Cousins rebounds in traffic. He rebounds with people on his back or on each shoulder. He rebounds with the hands of others on the ball, at least momentarily.
Yet, on this night, it was possible to watch him grow. He had two low-post moves blocked virtually before they left his hand by seven-foot non-shot blocker Andrea Bargnani.
Cousins, who played just 17 minutes, scored 14 of his 16 points in the second half. Ten of those came during the fourth quarter where he played Bargnani like an oboe.
The education taught in the first half already had been eaten, digested and evolved into a learned lesson in the fourth quarter. Cousins is an amazing case. Among all the words of critics heard about him during the draft, I can’t remember any of them mentioning his considerable intelligence.
Its clear Samuel Dalembert is rounding into shape. Dalembert grabbed a Kings’ season-high 14 rebounds in a little more than 22 minutes. His career-high is 23 boards. Dalembert’s tremendous length did not result in a blocked shot on the stat sheet, but if there was a stat for altered shots, he’d have had a couple.
What the Kings have lacked in recent years are players of impact - those who change the directions of a game with intelligence or heart in addition or independent of talent.
Omri Casspi didn’t do much in the first half, but his steal and driving dunk with 1:16 left in the third quarter was dynamic and quickly sent the crowd into a frenzy. Casspi outran the Raptors defenders and quickly forced down a surprising two-handed dunk.
“I just said, ‘(bleep) it,” Casspi said after the game.
Casspi clearly is unafraid of the moment. He scored 12 of his 14 in the second half and nine of those came on three of three three-point shooting in the fourth.
What Casspi appeared afraid of on this night were rebounds. He didn’t have one in nearly 33 minutes. Perhaps it was a positional thing. Toronto small forward Linas Kleiza had just one rebound during 34 minutes.
On a night, where Carl Landry’s jump shot was harassed by Reggie Evans (game-high 19 rebounds, 10 offensive), Darnell Jackson (eight points), Jason Thompson (seven points) and Luther Head (nine points, three assists) made impacts off the bench.
Donte Greene was the lone active player to receive a DNP-CD (Did Not Play-Coach’s Decision). Coach Paul Westphal said after the game Greene has done nothing wrong.
“There is no problem with Donte,” the coach said of Greene, who started at small forward in the season-opener but has been replaced by Casspi. “There are only so many minutes. We had so many bigs out.
“I’ve found out Luther and Darnell can come off the bench with energy and I don’t need Omri to come off with his energy. But it’s nothing Donte has done. Right now, Omri is the answer to the equation. It’s more of the contributions of Luther and Darnell than it is a slam on Donte.”
Greene opted not to discuss the situation following the game.
Monday, November 1, 2010
Who are the Sacramento Kings destined to become
It’s anybody’s guess what the Sacramento Kings ultimately will become this season.
They could end up in the playoffs or the lottery. Currently, more folks likely would wager their valuables on the lottery.
Yet, three games into their campaign, the schedule indicates we’ll likely be receiving a GPS-type directional indicator before we sit down for turkey.
The Kings not only play their next four games at Arco Arena, but eight of their next nine and 10 of their next 13.
Sacramento opens its home campaign against the Toronto Raptors tonight before games Wednesday and Saturday nights, respectively, against the two-time defending champion Los Angeles Lakers and Memphis Grizzlies.
Statistics don’t mean much at this juncture; nor do records.
However, there are a few indicators, if proven to be reasonably legitimate, that prove somewhat telling.
So far, the Kings appear to have nine to 10 players capable of playing productive ball. One of the many questions surrounding them will be how consistently they can perform. Another will be what type of defensive mentality they can establish as a unit.
Sacramento has just one set of back-to-back games – Nov. 21 home vs. New Orleans and Nov. 22 in Salt Lake City against Utah.
The Kings were the lone NBA squad to begin its season with three road games, yet the schedule presents an opportunity for Sacramento to establish itself capable of successfully competing – or not.
There are a couple of phases the Kings immediately will have to correct if they are to take advantage of the early schedule.
The Kings won two of three road games despite consistently committing dumb, careless fouls. It’s one thing to foul defensively in an attempt to prevent a player from establishing good position or easily penetrating its defense.
Fouling to prevent lay ups or dunks are good because they are the last line of defense.
It’s another thing to foul by needlessly reaching or gambling to make a steal, particularly in the backcourt. Those fouls merely fuel the opposing offense as well as weaken the Kings.
Sacramento’s ability to convert fast-break opportunities has to improve. Three-on-two advantages are basic basketball plays that have to be converted at a high rate if the Kings are to continue as a high-scoring squad.
It would help if the Kings get the ball into the hands of Beno Udrih at every opportunity. Tyreke Evans may be listed as a point guard, but at this stage of his career, the talented second-year guard goes for his better than creating opportunities for others.
It is easier for a team to improve offensively. Everyone wants to score, but few want to make the mental and physical commitments required to defend.
Individually, the Kings have to be impressed by rookie DeMarcus Cousins, Carl Landry, Francisco Garcia, Samuel Dalembert, Luther Head, Udrih, Darnell Jackson and Evans.
Cousins has been a force offensively and has been the lone back-to-the-basket post weapon. Additionally, the 20-year-old can and will pass.
Landry has been its most dependable scorer, but does most of his work facing the basket.
Garcia and Omri Casspi have combined to shoot 12 of 23 from three-point range, while the rest of the squad is six of 23. Casspi was incredible with six of seven in the win over Cleveland, but was zero of six during the previous two games.
Hence, there is a level of consistency yet to be established. As good as Casspi was offensively, his hustle and toughness defensively were equally important to the win.
Dalembert, in a combined 23 minutes during two games, has shown he can anchor the defense and provides a badly-needed shot-blocking presence. Like most defensively-oriented centers, he wants to prove he can be a scorer.
Dalembert has been in the league too long to become something new. His offensive game should be limited to put-backs and rolling to the hoop on screen-roll plays. That’s it. Jump shots should be a rarity for Dalembert.
If Head and Jackson can continue to produce at relatively similar levels, they will provide coach Paul Westphal options one month ago he had no reason to believe existed. The pair has been solid and consistent, characteristics only a coach truly can appreciate.
Jason Thompson has to figure out how to become more effective offensively. The guy misses more four-to-six footers than normally imaginable. Meanwhile, exactly what the deal is with Donte Greene is unknown to me at this point. I’m interested in asking a few questions this week to try to get a clue.
Organizationally, the Kings did not expect Jackson to make the team entering training camp. Head was a question mark at best. So his current assist-to turnover numbers of 10-to-one certainly qualify as a surprise.
It’ll be fun to see what other surprises the Kings have to offer this month.
They could end up in the playoffs or the lottery. Currently, more folks likely would wager their valuables on the lottery.
Yet, three games into their campaign, the schedule indicates we’ll likely be receiving a GPS-type directional indicator before we sit down for turkey.
The Kings not only play their next four games at Arco Arena, but eight of their next nine and 10 of their next 13.
Sacramento opens its home campaign against the Toronto Raptors tonight before games Wednesday and Saturday nights, respectively, against the two-time defending champion Los Angeles Lakers and Memphis Grizzlies.
Statistics don’t mean much at this juncture; nor do records.
However, there are a few indicators, if proven to be reasonably legitimate, that prove somewhat telling.
So far, the Kings appear to have nine to 10 players capable of playing productive ball. One of the many questions surrounding them will be how consistently they can perform. Another will be what type of defensive mentality they can establish as a unit.
Sacramento has just one set of back-to-back games – Nov. 21 home vs. New Orleans and Nov. 22 in Salt Lake City against Utah.
The Kings were the lone NBA squad to begin its season with three road games, yet the schedule presents an opportunity for Sacramento to establish itself capable of successfully competing – or not.
There are a couple of phases the Kings immediately will have to correct if they are to take advantage of the early schedule.
The Kings won two of three road games despite consistently committing dumb, careless fouls. It’s one thing to foul defensively in an attempt to prevent a player from establishing good position or easily penetrating its defense.
Fouling to prevent lay ups or dunks are good because they are the last line of defense.
It’s another thing to foul by needlessly reaching or gambling to make a steal, particularly in the backcourt. Those fouls merely fuel the opposing offense as well as weaken the Kings.
Sacramento’s ability to convert fast-break opportunities has to improve. Three-on-two advantages are basic basketball plays that have to be converted at a high rate if the Kings are to continue as a high-scoring squad.
It would help if the Kings get the ball into the hands of Beno Udrih at every opportunity. Tyreke Evans may be listed as a point guard, but at this stage of his career, the talented second-year guard goes for his better than creating opportunities for others.
It is easier for a team to improve offensively. Everyone wants to score, but few want to make the mental and physical commitments required to defend.
Individually, the Kings have to be impressed by rookie DeMarcus Cousins, Carl Landry, Francisco Garcia, Samuel Dalembert, Luther Head, Udrih, Darnell Jackson and Evans.
Cousins has been a force offensively and has been the lone back-to-the-basket post weapon. Additionally, the 20-year-old can and will pass.
Landry has been its most dependable scorer, but does most of his work facing the basket.
Garcia and Omri Casspi have combined to shoot 12 of 23 from three-point range, while the rest of the squad is six of 23. Casspi was incredible with six of seven in the win over Cleveland, but was zero of six during the previous two games.
Hence, there is a level of consistency yet to be established. As good as Casspi was offensively, his hustle and toughness defensively were equally important to the win.
Dalembert, in a combined 23 minutes during two games, has shown he can anchor the defense and provides a badly-needed shot-blocking presence. Like most defensively-oriented centers, he wants to prove he can be a scorer.
Dalembert has been in the league too long to become something new. His offensive game should be limited to put-backs and rolling to the hoop on screen-roll plays. That’s it. Jump shots should be a rarity for Dalembert.
If Head and Jackson can continue to produce at relatively similar levels, they will provide coach Paul Westphal options one month ago he had no reason to believe existed. The pair has been solid and consistent, characteristics only a coach truly can appreciate.
Jason Thompson has to figure out how to become more effective offensively. The guy misses more four-to-six footers than normally imaginable. Meanwhile, exactly what the deal is with Donte Greene is unknown to me at this point. I’m interested in asking a few questions this week to try to get a clue.
Organizationally, the Kings did not expect Jackson to make the team entering training camp. Head was a question mark at best. So his current assist-to turnover numbers of 10-to-one certainly qualify as a surprise.
It’ll be fun to see what other surprises the Kings have to offer this month.
Sunday, October 3, 2010
Lessons learned part of process for young Kings
The Sacramento Kings are in the midst of an overhaul and coach Paul Westphal realizes keeping life real is more important to their growth than worrying about their feelings.
Tuesday night, they open the 2010 preseason at home against the Phoenix Suns, so things are about to get real. Well, as real as the preseason can get.
Reality comes in different shapes and forms to different people. The Kings will open the regular-season as one of the NBA’s youngest teams.
They’ll also be one of the most inexperienced. Only six of the current Kings were here for 2009 training camp.
Tyreke Evans and Omri Casspi were rookies last season. Now they are relative Kings veterans just because they’ve been here before – once.
Westphal said Saturday he read a quote from Utah coach Jerry Sloan describing his Jazz players. Westphal liked the message, so he brought the sentiment to his players.
Sloan told the Salt Lake Tribune, “At this stage, they’re probably a little but tired, but I don’t really care. From that standpoint, they should be in better shape when they get here. If you’re going to spend your time getting conditioned in training camp, then you’re probably going to be trying to play catch-up the biggest part of the time.”
Westphal was not dogging his team in any manner. In fact, following Saturday’s long afternoon workout, he spoke of how his team had been fortunate to have few players miss practice.
He was asked how his team was holding up physically.
“Pretty well, really,” he said. “Five days of training camp, a lot of times you can expect more missed practices than we’ve had. They are tired and they are sore, but that’s to be expected.”
Said Westphal of Sloan's quote, “I read that and told that to our young guys today. That’s the way it is. If you don’t come (into camp) in great shape, don’t complain about being sore. It’s time to pay the piper.”
The NBA season is a long, long journey and it’s conceivable the Kings will begin the regular season with seven players (possibly more) with fewer than three seasons of experience.
Center Samuel Dalembert, acquired this summer from Philadelphia, is the most experienced with eight NBA seasons. Beno Udrih is next with six and Francisco Garcia is entering his fifth season.
Conversely, Boston’s Shaquille O’Neal has 18 years of NBA experience all by his large lonesome.
So, many of the team’s key performers will balance the positives of younger legs against on-the-job education.
One of the lessons Westphal hopes his players acquire is respect for the game. All the players truly need to do research the fervor and aggression with which Westphal and assistant coaches, Mario Elie and Leonard (Truck) Robinson played the game.
Check out the sideline antics of 80-year-old assistant coach Pete Carril. He could be a veritable mad man when his passion and competitive nature was unleashed.
Sloan’s Utah teams usually display his intensity. It’s one reason why Sloan ranks among Westphal’s most respected coaches.
“There are a couple of coaches that I think really respect the game in a way I admire,” the Kings coach said. “(Those are) Larry Brown and Jerry Sloan.
“Both of them, I think, would rather have a game called correctly than in their favor. At the same time, they’d fight for every advantage they could get. They love the game and they have a good perspective about competition.
“I don’t want to slight anybody else, but those guys have been around for a long time and I think it’s because they have such a great love for the game.
They’d do anything to win, but at the end of the game, they’d shake your hand and mean it.”
.
Tuesday night, they open the 2010 preseason at home against the Phoenix Suns, so things are about to get real. Well, as real as the preseason can get.
Reality comes in different shapes and forms to different people. The Kings will open the regular-season as one of the NBA’s youngest teams.
They’ll also be one of the most inexperienced. Only six of the current Kings were here for 2009 training camp.
Tyreke Evans and Omri Casspi were rookies last season. Now they are relative Kings veterans just because they’ve been here before – once.
Westphal said Saturday he read a quote from Utah coach Jerry Sloan describing his Jazz players. Westphal liked the message, so he brought the sentiment to his players.
Sloan told the Salt Lake Tribune, “At this stage, they’re probably a little but tired, but I don’t really care. From that standpoint, they should be in better shape when they get here. If you’re going to spend your time getting conditioned in training camp, then you’re probably going to be trying to play catch-up the biggest part of the time.”
Westphal was not dogging his team in any manner. In fact, following Saturday’s long afternoon workout, he spoke of how his team had been fortunate to have few players miss practice.
He was asked how his team was holding up physically.
“Pretty well, really,” he said. “Five days of training camp, a lot of times you can expect more missed practices than we’ve had. They are tired and they are sore, but that’s to be expected.”
Said Westphal of Sloan's quote, “I read that and told that to our young guys today. That’s the way it is. If you don’t come (into camp) in great shape, don’t complain about being sore. It’s time to pay the piper.”
The NBA season is a long, long journey and it’s conceivable the Kings will begin the regular season with seven players (possibly more) with fewer than three seasons of experience.
Center Samuel Dalembert, acquired this summer from Philadelphia, is the most experienced with eight NBA seasons. Beno Udrih is next with six and Francisco Garcia is entering his fifth season.
Conversely, Boston’s Shaquille O’Neal has 18 years of NBA experience all by his large lonesome.
So, many of the team’s key performers will balance the positives of younger legs against on-the-job education.
One of the lessons Westphal hopes his players acquire is respect for the game. All the players truly need to do research the fervor and aggression with which Westphal and assistant coaches, Mario Elie and Leonard (Truck) Robinson played the game.
Check out the sideline antics of 80-year-old assistant coach Pete Carril. He could be a veritable mad man when his passion and competitive nature was unleashed.
Sloan’s Utah teams usually display his intensity. It’s one reason why Sloan ranks among Westphal’s most respected coaches.
“There are a couple of coaches that I think really respect the game in a way I admire,” the Kings coach said. “(Those are) Larry Brown and Jerry Sloan.
“Both of them, I think, would rather have a game called correctly than in their favor. At the same time, they’d fight for every advantage they could get. They love the game and they have a good perspective about competition.
“I don’t want to slight anybody else, but those guys have been around for a long time and I think it’s because they have such a great love for the game.
They’d do anything to win, but at the end of the game, they’d shake your hand and mean it.”
.
Thursday, September 30, 2010
Easier to stop Chris Paul than get an interview with World Wide Wes
For a hot minute Wednesday, I had thoughts of snatching an interview with NBA juice-meister William Wesley.
Then reality smacked me like an old girlfriend's right hand.
Wes, as I was introduced to him by former Kings forward Lionel Simmons about 17-18 years ago, might as well be the NBA's deputy commissioner. That's if you believe he's responsible for half of the occurrences with which he's been linked.
I'll keep referring to him as Wes. This whole World Wide Wes thing is relatively new to me. Reportedly, my man Jalen Rose, now an ESPN analyst, claims to have given him that moniker. And it does fit since when you are on the NBA beat, there's no city in which the brother might not be found.
I've heard him referred to as Uncle Wes. Call him what you want, but Wes is known in Commissioner David Stern's office, Michael Jordan's inner circles and as being the right-hand man of such NBA stars as LeBron James, Chris Paul and most recently, Carmelo Anthony.
In fact, one of the goals for contacting Wes Wednesday was to find out what role, if any, he was playing in Anthony's current travails with the Denver Nuggets.
Anthony is represented by agent Leon Rose and the powerful Creative Artists Agency. Rose and Wes have been linked since they both grew up in South Jersey.
There were reports earlier this year Wes had filed to become certified as an agent. If he did, he says that has not yet happened.
"I'm not an agent," Wes said Wednesday.
Wes is a cat whom has more hookups than Verizon, AT&T and T-Mobile put together.
He's also a dude who consistently keeps his cards close to the vest.
"Man, I don't want to do any interviews," he said Wednesday as he's told me before. "I see so much crazy stuff out there that ain't hardly correct."
Wes is a mystery to 99 percent of the world. Clearly, he wants it like that and it's likely why so many athletes are comfortable with him. They know their business won't be in the street.
It's also why many of those who don't know him question his motives and duties. Then again, I don't know him in any depth, but I've seen no reason or proof to think he's done any dirt.
This is a dude who once had to move out of the way on the Dallas Cowboys sidelines while players gave then coach Jimmy Johnson a Super Bowl dousing.
That's juice and we ain't talking Gatorade.
Quick story: I'm in the visitor's locker room at Arco Arena a couple of years ago talking to then New Orleans head coach Byron Scott, assistant Paul Pressey and I think Kenny Gattison also was there. Somehow the conversation turned to Wes, and in walks Paul.
I think we'd been talking about how Wes seemed to be everywhere and how everybody knew him.
Said Paul, "Y'all talking bout Uncle Wes?"
We just started laughing as the point was made. Paul, now entering his sixth NBA season, still was a serious young boy at the time.
However, Paul, 25, said he'd known Wes for years. Paul also is represented by Rose and CAA, which also reportedly represents big ballers like Oprah and Will Smith. Rose also represents Sacramento Kings' Tyreke Evans and Omri Casspi.
Wes said he had to do a quick dash off the phone, so I never got to ask him anything about 'Melo's situation.
I think it's safe to say I probably ended up with the same information I would have gotten had the questions been asked.
However, I'll trade any and all stories I can do on Wes, for the book deal. My man is a success story of the highest and most unique order.
Once again, I may have better odds at hitting a lottery than getting Wes for a tell-all.
However, right now I'll settle for a tell-some. Dos Equis might want to re-check their most interesting man in the world commercial.
Since I went to the 'Melo concept, imagine how nice life is when you are 26, have a standing offer of three years for $64 million from the Nuggets, and things are so sugary, you can just leave it there for some reason.
Now that's 'Melo.
I also talked Wednesday with former Kings draft choice Anthony Johnson, who played the past two seasons with the Orlando Magic.
Johnson, the 39th pick of the 1997 draft out of the College of Charleston has played with eight teams. Johnson, who will turn 36 Oct. 2, was not re-signed by the Magic but still wants to play.
"I'm working out, staying in shape and waiting to see what happens," Johnson said. "I want to try and go out on my own terms. I know that doesn't happen for everybody, but I still want to play before I shut it down. I'd like to go into coaching as an assistant if nothing comes up."
The NBA currently is going around the league and airing what it calls "NBA Real Training Camp" where practices are televised.
One of the teams featured is the New York Knicks so obviously success is not a prerequisite.
Vice President of Media Relations/Basketball Operations Troy Hanson said NBA Entertainment has plans to feature Evans, Casspi and first-round pick DeMarcus Cousins.
Then reality smacked me like an old girlfriend's right hand.
Wes, as I was introduced to him by former Kings forward Lionel Simmons about 17-18 years ago, might as well be the NBA's deputy commissioner. That's if you believe he's responsible for half of the occurrences with which he's been linked.
I'll keep referring to him as Wes. This whole World Wide Wes thing is relatively new to me. Reportedly, my man Jalen Rose, now an ESPN analyst, claims to have given him that moniker. And it does fit since when you are on the NBA beat, there's no city in which the brother might not be found.
I've heard him referred to as Uncle Wes. Call him what you want, but Wes is known in Commissioner David Stern's office, Michael Jordan's inner circles and as being the right-hand man of such NBA stars as LeBron James, Chris Paul and most recently, Carmelo Anthony.
In fact, one of the goals for contacting Wes Wednesday was to find out what role, if any, he was playing in Anthony's current travails with the Denver Nuggets.
Anthony is represented by agent Leon Rose and the powerful Creative Artists Agency. Rose and Wes have been linked since they both grew up in South Jersey.
There were reports earlier this year Wes had filed to become certified as an agent. If he did, he says that has not yet happened.
"I'm not an agent," Wes said Wednesday.
Wes is a cat whom has more hookups than Verizon, AT&T and T-Mobile put together.
He's also a dude who consistently keeps his cards close to the vest.
"Man, I don't want to do any interviews," he said Wednesday as he's told me before. "I see so much crazy stuff out there that ain't hardly correct."
Wes is a mystery to 99 percent of the world. Clearly, he wants it like that and it's likely why so many athletes are comfortable with him. They know their business won't be in the street.
It's also why many of those who don't know him question his motives and duties. Then again, I don't know him in any depth, but I've seen no reason or proof to think he's done any dirt.
This is a dude who once had to move out of the way on the Dallas Cowboys sidelines while players gave then coach Jimmy Johnson a Super Bowl dousing.
That's juice and we ain't talking Gatorade.
Quick story: I'm in the visitor's locker room at Arco Arena a couple of years ago talking to then New Orleans head coach Byron Scott, assistant Paul Pressey and I think Kenny Gattison also was there. Somehow the conversation turned to Wes, and in walks Paul.
I think we'd been talking about how Wes seemed to be everywhere and how everybody knew him.
Said Paul, "Y'all talking bout Uncle Wes?"
We just started laughing as the point was made. Paul, now entering his sixth NBA season, still was a serious young boy at the time.
However, Paul, 25, said he'd known Wes for years. Paul also is represented by Rose and CAA, which also reportedly represents big ballers like Oprah and Will Smith. Rose also represents Sacramento Kings' Tyreke Evans and Omri Casspi.
Wes said he had to do a quick dash off the phone, so I never got to ask him anything about 'Melo's situation.
I think it's safe to say I probably ended up with the same information I would have gotten had the questions been asked.
However, I'll trade any and all stories I can do on Wes, for the book deal. My man is a success story of the highest and most unique order.
Once again, I may have better odds at hitting a lottery than getting Wes for a tell-all.
However, right now I'll settle for a tell-some. Dos Equis might want to re-check their most interesting man in the world commercial.
Since I went to the 'Melo concept, imagine how nice life is when you are 26, have a standing offer of three years for $64 million from the Nuggets, and things are so sugary, you can just leave it there for some reason.
Now that's 'Melo.
I also talked Wednesday with former Kings draft choice Anthony Johnson, who played the past two seasons with the Orlando Magic.
Johnson, the 39th pick of the 1997 draft out of the College of Charleston has played with eight teams. Johnson, who will turn 36 Oct. 2, was not re-signed by the Magic but still wants to play.
"I'm working out, staying in shape and waiting to see what happens," Johnson said. "I want to try and go out on my own terms. I know that doesn't happen for everybody, but I still want to play before I shut it down. I'd like to go into coaching as an assistant if nothing comes up."
The NBA currently is going around the league and airing what it calls "NBA Real Training Camp" where practices are televised.
One of the teams featured is the New York Knicks so obviously success is not a prerequisite.
Vice President of Media Relations/Basketball Operations Troy Hanson said NBA Entertainment has plans to feature Evans, Casspi and first-round pick DeMarcus Cousins.
Wednesday, September 29, 2010
Donte Greene and Kings have much to prove
Say what you will regarding Tyreke Evans, last season's NBA Rookie of the Year, and 2010 first-round draft choice DeMarcus Cousins.
The Kings are third-year small forward Donte Greene.
Greene is a physical specimen at 6-foot-11, 251 pounds. He's 22 years old, can jump out of the gym and possesses the agility and foot speed to at least deter the offensive prowess of Los Angeles Lakers' star Kobe Bryant.
Greene has the potential to one day grow into one of the NBA's best players just as the Kings this season have the capability to grow into one of the league's most improved squads.
However, for both Greene and the Kings, wanting to do it and doing it are completely different animals.
Folks, we're talking Yorkshire Terriers and Gorillas.
Greene is entering his third NBA season and is contending with Omri Casspi for the team's starting small forward position. Establishing consistency in shooting, rebounding, decision-making and playing solid defense will be the keys to winning the battle with Omri Casspi.
Greene certainly would like to establish himself as the team's starter, yet he says filling the team's needs for role players is what he's about.
"A lot of guys can’t accept their role," he said. "With me being traded here (from Houston in August 2008) and really not knowing what to expect and last year being my first year playing, I came out and wanted to be a defensive guy.
"I knew we needed a defensive guy – especially after John Salmons got traded in my rookie year – I tried to fill that role. Scoring, I have my nights, but mostly I was just worrying about defending."
Greene started 50 games last season and played small forward, power forward and shooting guard.
Since the Kings have re-arranged their frontline with the additions of Samuel Dalembert, Cousins and fellow rookie Hassan Whiteside, Greene likely will see more playing opportunities at small forward and shooting guard.
There are match ups that could play out where his quickness and agility could prove valuable at power forward.
Greene's 251 pounds mark quite a change from the 215 to 220 pounds at which he began his NBA career. He said he put on 15 pounds during the off-season by eating and lifting weight.
" I loved (playing four)," Greene said. "I was looking forward to it (again this season). KG (Kevin Garnett) talked trash to me last year. Amare (Stoudamire) talked trash to me. I was going to have something for them, but what ever it takes to get on the floor. (I'll play) 1-2-3-4-5 ... it doesn’t matter."
The spirit is appreciated, but seeing Greene at point guard is not something to which I look forward.
As a starter last season, Greene shot 43.5 percent overall from the field and 36.5 percent from three-point range. Both those marks should improve with a higher comfort level that comes from experience.
Greene is too good a shooter to repeat 64 percent from the free-throw line and he should accept nothing lower than 75 percent. His improvement will come through increased concentration and focus. Those factors often are the most difficult for young players to grasp.
Not much is expected nationally of the Kings or Greene. Like Denver's Carmelo Anthony, who has been the subject of many recent trade rumors, Greene hails from Baltimore after being born in Munich, Germany and spending some of his childhood in Japan.
Greene was asked what he knew about those 'Melo rumors and what it would be like for his friend to become a teammate.
Greene smiled and joked (I think), "If 'Melo comes here, send me to Denver. With him and Tyreke, it would be a wrap here."
Yes, the opportunities to score surely would be diminished, but since Greene freely believes he can become a role player, that scenario might not be all bad.
Petrie without a plan?
Kings President Geoff Petrie said he hadn't read a recent ESPN assessment that noted he nor the Kings had a plan for development.
Personally, it's difficult for me to believe Petrie had not read the analysis, but I guess it's possible.
However, he unveiled his sharp tongue when responding to the attack.
"We still go into the season with a tremendous amount of salary cap room and all our future picks and all that. So there’s always the potential to be involved in things other teams are trying to do."
Said Petrie with an ultimate sarcasm, "I’ve always been a plan-less guy. Sometimes you have to consider the source."
Over the past 18 years, I venture to guess no media member has spoken with Petrie more than I. No wonder he looked me dead in my face while issuing the 'plan-less guy' comment.
Petrie always has plans. They haven't always worked, but he's got a drawer full of them.
Said Petrie regarding the team's unsuccessful quest to nail down a new arena, "I'm not really the guy to ask about that. It’s clear that Arco (Arena) is getting near the end of its useful life and at some point, the community and the city and the team need a new facility."
The Kings are third-year small forward Donte Greene.
Greene is a physical specimen at 6-foot-11, 251 pounds. He's 22 years old, can jump out of the gym and possesses the agility and foot speed to at least deter the offensive prowess of Los Angeles Lakers' star Kobe Bryant.
Greene has the potential to one day grow into one of the NBA's best players just as the Kings this season have the capability to grow into one of the league's most improved squads.
However, for both Greene and the Kings, wanting to do it and doing it are completely different animals.
Folks, we're talking Yorkshire Terriers and Gorillas.
Greene is entering his third NBA season and is contending with Omri Casspi for the team's starting small forward position. Establishing consistency in shooting, rebounding, decision-making and playing solid defense will be the keys to winning the battle with Omri Casspi.
Greene certainly would like to establish himself as the team's starter, yet he says filling the team's needs for role players is what he's about.
"A lot of guys can’t accept their role," he said. "With me being traded here (from Houston in August 2008) and really not knowing what to expect and last year being my first year playing, I came out and wanted to be a defensive guy.
"I knew we needed a defensive guy – especially after John Salmons got traded in my rookie year – I tried to fill that role. Scoring, I have my nights, but mostly I was just worrying about defending."
Greene started 50 games last season and played small forward, power forward and shooting guard.
Since the Kings have re-arranged their frontline with the additions of Samuel Dalembert, Cousins and fellow rookie Hassan Whiteside, Greene likely will see more playing opportunities at small forward and shooting guard.
There are match ups that could play out where his quickness and agility could prove valuable at power forward.
Greene's 251 pounds mark quite a change from the 215 to 220 pounds at which he began his NBA career. He said he put on 15 pounds during the off-season by eating and lifting weight.
" I loved (playing four)," Greene said. "I was looking forward to it (again this season). KG (Kevin Garnett) talked trash to me last year. Amare (Stoudamire) talked trash to me. I was going to have something for them, but what ever it takes to get on the floor. (I'll play) 1-2-3-4-5 ... it doesn’t matter."
The spirit is appreciated, but seeing Greene at point guard is not something to which I look forward.
As a starter last season, Greene shot 43.5 percent overall from the field and 36.5 percent from three-point range. Both those marks should improve with a higher comfort level that comes from experience.
Greene is too good a shooter to repeat 64 percent from the free-throw line and he should accept nothing lower than 75 percent. His improvement will come through increased concentration and focus. Those factors often are the most difficult for young players to grasp.
Not much is expected nationally of the Kings or Greene. Like Denver's Carmelo Anthony, who has been the subject of many recent trade rumors, Greene hails from Baltimore after being born in Munich, Germany and spending some of his childhood in Japan.
Greene was asked what he knew about those 'Melo rumors and what it would be like for his friend to become a teammate.
Greene smiled and joked (I think), "If 'Melo comes here, send me to Denver. With him and Tyreke, it would be a wrap here."
Yes, the opportunities to score surely would be diminished, but since Greene freely believes he can become a role player, that scenario might not be all bad.
Petrie without a plan?
Kings President Geoff Petrie said he hadn't read a recent ESPN assessment that noted he nor the Kings had a plan for development.
Personally, it's difficult for me to believe Petrie had not read the analysis, but I guess it's possible.
However, he unveiled his sharp tongue when responding to the attack.
"We still go into the season with a tremendous amount of salary cap room and all our future picks and all that. So there’s always the potential to be involved in things other teams are trying to do."
Said Petrie with an ultimate sarcasm, "I’ve always been a plan-less guy. Sometimes you have to consider the source."
Over the past 18 years, I venture to guess no media member has spoken with Petrie more than I. No wonder he looked me dead in my face while issuing the 'plan-less guy' comment.
Petrie always has plans. They haven't always worked, but he's got a drawer full of them.
Said Petrie regarding the team's unsuccessful quest to nail down a new arena, "I'm not really the guy to ask about that. It’s clear that Arco (Arena) is getting near the end of its useful life and at some point, the community and the city and the team need a new facility."
Thursday, July 1, 2010
Kings look to make moves under radar
The Kings won't use their entire $15 million queen in this mega free-agent game of chess.
However, it wouldn't be surprising for Kings President Geoff Petrie to use a couple of pawns, knights and bishops to fill a hole or two.
Petrie said Wednesday afternoon he planned to make calls after the 9 p.m. (PST) opening of free-agency.
"I'll probably call any number of different players," he said, "and some agents who represent some pretty large groups of players to get a lay of the land."
Petrie admitted the Kings are more inclined to wait and watch.
"Sometimes it better to stand pat and see how it all shakes out," he said.
The Kings priorities recently have been altered following the recent additions of 6-foot-11 rookie DeMarcus Cousins, 7-foot rookie Hasaan Whiteside and 6-foot-11 Samuel Dalembert.
Amazingly, the Kings' roster now is big-man heavy. The Kings are young up front with the likes of 6-11 Jason Thompson (23), 6-11 Donte Greene (22), 6-9 Carl Landry (26), 6-9 Omri Casspi (22) and 6-7 Jon Brockman (23).
The Kings need more backcourt depth with just Tyreke Evans, Beno Udrih and Francisco Garcia as natural guards. And Garcia, who can handle the ball well enough to play guard, might be more of a small forward.
Certainly, the Kings need a backup point guard capable of changing tempo, running the fast break and penetrating defenses to create shots for teammates. Handling his weight defensively would be a nice trait as well.
Said Petrie, "If we were to prioritize, getting more shooters and more depth at the '1' and the '2' probably would be what we'd like to do."
Unrestricted free agents who bring these qualifications are Ray Allen (shooter), Nate Robinson (point guard), Flip Murray (shooter), Jannero Pargo (point-shooter), Earl Watson (point guard), Luther Head (combo guard), Steve Blake (point guard), Rafer Alston (point guard), Carlos Arroyo (point guard), Luke Ridnour (point guard), Eddie House (combo guard), Jason Williams (point guard), Kyle Korver (shooter), Randy Foye (point guard) and Shaun Livingston (point guard).
Actually the guard I'd love to see the Kings get is point Kyle Lowry, but he's restricted and Houston publically said it plans to re-sign him.
Petrie said he's enthusiastically looking forward to watching his team in the Las Vegas Summer League.
The Kings won just 17 games in 2008-09 and 25 games last season.
"We've had some pretty lean couple of years," he said of games won.
Petrie also could have been referring to the team's spending as it created salary cap room that can be used to facilitate trades as well as signing free agents.
However, Petrie is mindful of making the most of this money under the cap.
And consider the current 10 highest salaries:
1) Kobe Bryant - $24,806,250.
2) Rashard Lewis - $20,514,000.
3) Kevin Garnett - $18,800,000.
4) Tim Duncan - $18,700,000.
5) Michael Redd - $18,300,000.
6) Pau Gasol - $17,822,187.
7) Andres Kirilenko - $17, 822,187.
8) Gilbert Arenas - $17,730,694.
9) Zach Randolph - $17,333,333.
10) Vince Carter - $17, 300, 000.
How many of those salaries would you like to be paying this season?
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