Back to old offense ?

#31
Tyreke's been fumbling the ball a whole lot more though, leading to a lot of turnovers and missed shots. He needs to either pass the ball earlier on his drives or gather further away from the rim. That will increase the likelihood that he gets a foul called on the defensive player. He's been over-penetrating a lot. Same goes with JJ.
What's incredibly frustrating is that Tyreke is making the game 100x harder on himself than it has to be. He gets at least 5+ looks a game where he has plenty of space to hit shoot a jumper or pull up a for a floater and opts to run into the teeth of the defense. More often than not, this leads to a TO or an incredibly wild shot.
 
#32
Without a jumper Reke has still been our best creator, best penetrator, and has been far better himself with the ball than without. The problem with just taking the ball out of his hands for long stretches is we don't have another guard who's had near the effect when they have the ball instead. MT is still better without the ball, spotting up, run off screens, running to an open spot, catch and pop.

I don't buy that we're better as a team with a Reke who doesn't have the ball. Shockingly, our best creator this year(Reke) and our best off the ball player(MT) have played a grand total of three mins together with Reke running the point. If IT is also playing better off Reke than with the ball, then wouldn't you ask yourself why wouldn't we want our best off the ball player in MT playing off Reke?

For all the talk of Reke's jumper, which has been downright terrible to start the year, we have not looked better with IT/Brooks running the team. IT has been best looking for his own or playing off Reke, and Brooks pounds away like he gets paid per dribble. Neither have been good running the offense for the large part. Once again tonight Reke had more assists than IT/Brooks.

There's also the defensive factor. IT hasn't been as good as last year. Now I do think a large part of IT's struggles are our offense, lack of confidence and Smart benching him for too long. I'm not even saying to bench him, but we should see more of a Reke/MT backcourt at least in stretches, and see where it goes. How is a Jimmer/IT or Jimmer/Brooks backcourt supposed to be better?

Seriously, how many coaches would run out Jimmer/IT and Jimmer/Brooks before Reke/MT?
IT isn't playing the same role he was last year. It's fairly difficult to run the offense when you aren't asked to be the one to run it.
 

bajaden

Hall of Famer
#33
Sad but true. It is very frustrating to see that Tyreke can't even hit wide open shots on a consistent basis. And for all we want to sit around criticizing him for it, you must realise that he's probably his own biggest critic. Imagine spending months shooting thousands of jumpshots, going into the season with loads of confidence and then finding that you can't buy a bucket from the perimeter once the game starts. Now you start second-guessing your shot, and that just makes things even worse.
I agree 100%. I think ever since the first game when everything fell for him, he's been second guessing his shot. Plus I see him reverting back toward his old form. A jump shooter can't have a concience, just ask Thornton. I think Jimmer suffered from the same aflection last season. Look, I don't know if Tyreke will ever become a good shooter, and part of the problem is, I don't think he knows either. Someone once told me when I was young and an aspiring baseball player, that 50% of anyone's success is based on confidence. I firmly believe that. I convinced myself that everytime I went to the plate to bat, that I had the advantage. And if by some chance he got me out or even struck me out, it had nothing to do with him, but was my fault for making a mistake.

If Tyreke is doubting his shot when he takes it, he's going to miss more than he makes. Its one of those actions that you can't think about, you just do it. I think Tyreke spends a lot of time thinking about his shot.
 

bajaden

Hall of Famer
#35
There appears to be two different camps. Those that think Tyreke should be the primary ballhandler and those that think he has to adjust his game to more of a team concept, which means ball movement with everyone getting their touches. I think the Spurs are a prime example of the latter. So lets ask the question, what exactly happens now, in Tyreke's fourth year, when he has the ball in his hands? Well one thing that happens, is that he's not closely guarded as long as he's near the perimeter. Ditto James Johnson. All the teams are jamming into the post, which has the result of taking away the best thing that Tyreke does, attacking the basket. It also makes life a lot more miserable for Cousins. Just about everytime he touches the ball near the post he's doubled and some times trippled. And its done by either Tyreke's or JJ's defender, or both.

Most of Tyreke's points are coming from breaks in the open court, and the occasional breakdown in the other teams defense. In between those times, he's forcing the ball to the basket for a rejection, or a turnover. There are nights when he's going to be more effective than others. When the Kings play a poor defensive team, or when they play a run and gun type of team thats poor in transition. But against a good defensive team, unless he able to hit his jumpshot, he's going to struggle.

Right now, Tyreke's biggest asset is his ability to defend, and to rebound. I do think he's trying to take whats there on offense, but as pointed out, he doesn't have all the tools he needs to truely be effective doing that. I don't have an easy answer for Tyreke, other than to get better with his jumpshot. I don't think the answer is to just give him the ball and let him do what he wants. Its a team game, and no one player, especially on this team can win it alone. I don't blame Tyreke! I think he's doing his best, and I'm not suggesting that we give up on him. All I can say, is that great players are constantly adjusting their games. The NBA giveth and the NBA taketh away. Right now the NBA has taken away, as much as they can, his ability to drive to the basket. Its up to him to adjust, not the team.
 
#36
Reke and Jimmer starting in the backcourt is the best solution, I can't believe people don't see it. Unfortunately, it doesn't look like Jimmer is going to get his fair shake to prove it.
Last night is a perfect example of this...no one can hit a jump shot and Jimmer sits the bench. Only he and Thornton can shoot. This is why it is no fun to watch this team play. Most shots look like someone is driving for a first down and then flips the ball up in a prayer. Defense means little if you can't shoot and score. Let Thornton and Jimmer take all the jump shots and just watch this team win!
 

bajaden

Hall of Famer
#37
The rotation should be 9 deep at the MOST, and should be consistant so everyone knows what their role is...right now everything is prozac.
Well good luck with that. Last night in Smarts post game remarks, he stated that his rotations would be like this all year long. He apparently thinks he has to give everyone a chance to touch the ball at some point. I was holding out hope, especially since he seems to have settled on a starting lineup (a miracle), that a set rotation would eventually follow. That doesn't seem to be in his plans. Now my hope is that he'll eventually come to his senses, or someone will enlighten him, that playing 12 players has never worked.
 

Capt. Factorial

trifolium contra tempestatem subrigere certum est
Staff member
#40
ya last nights pressor killed all my hope for Smart. now i think we need a new coach, there is no fixing Smart
You mean that during the game thread last night you DID have hope for Smart? Geez. Hate to see how badly you pollute up the game thread on Sunday now that your feelings are consolidated.
 
#41
Smart showed us last year what the rotations would be. We knew what we were going to get with the rotations and we know that he has run and run to fall back on if we don't win enough or can't fix the offense fast enough.

Oh, my bad, it was roster imbalance last year, right??? heh /shaking my head.
 
#42
Last night is a perfect example of this...no one can hit a jump shot and Jimmer sits the bench. Only he and Thornton can shoot. This is why it is no fun to watch this team play. Most shots look like someone is driving for a first down and then flips the ball up in a prayer. Defense means little if you can't shoot and score. Let Thornton and Jimmer take all the jump shots and just watch this team win!
Not true at all. IT has been shooting the ball with incredible efficiency thus far. (.585 TS%, .42% 3pt, .555 eFG%) He's struggled with TO's and his new role of being second-fiddle creator to Reke, but he by far as been our best shooter.
 
#43
You mean that during the game thread last night you DID have hope for Smart? Geez. Hate to see how badly you pollute up the game thread on Sunday now that your feelings are consolidated.
ya i guess i didnt. but he just basically came out and admitted that he's gonna stick to being a moron even though its obviously not working, and proved that he shouldnt be coaching an NBA team. i mean its freaking ridiculous. its not like we have the 1992 Dream Team over here in Sac, that would be the ONLY excuse i could ever see for wanting to make sure you get all your players some playing time. i mean jesus this is just a joke at this point. actually now that i think about it, im pretty sure even that team didnt play as many people as Smart does, they left Cristian Leightner on the bench
 
#44
Not true at all. IT has been shooting the ball with incredible efficiency thus far. (.585 TS%, .42% 3pt, .555 eFG%) He's struggled with TO's and his new role of being second-fiddle creator to Reke, but he by far as been our best shooter.
Yeah, MT has been volume scoring as he should, but has not been hitting outside shots. You want him to keep shooting because that's his game and it'll come around to a more reasonable efficiency, but to this point he has not been a good shooter at all.

IT has struggled, but not as an outside shooter, which should keep him in the game.
 
#45
wow i had no idea IT was shooting so well. i guess i just forget about him since he seems to spend most of his time on the bench or not handling the ball
 
#47
Not true at all. IT has been shooting the ball with incredible efficiency thus far. (.585 TS%, .42% 3pt, .555 eFG%) He's struggled with TO's and his new role of being second-fiddle creator to Reke, but he by far as been our best shooter.
Jimmer has a 68.7 TS% and a 62.5 eFG%. Not only has IT not been the best shooter "by far" he's not even been the best. Jimmer has been the best.
 
#49
i noticed some disgusting stats on NBA.com. the Kings are dead last in the league in FG% (.401), Dead last in assists per game (16.0). how is it that a team with the players we have is this bad on offense. we need to bring in some type of offensive minded assistant coach or something because obviously this team is not being taught any Offense

for what its worth the Kings are also averaging the MOST fouls per game in the NBA at 25.5 a game. and they also have the biggest foul Difference in the NBA, averaging 7.0 More fouls per game then their opponent