Kings 1st practice

jcwkings

jcwkings

All-Star
#3
#3
Good to hear that our two stars are in great shape and ready to lead this team. Also good to hear that Hayes and outlaw are looking good. People write off chuck, but I think last season was just a disaster, first the heart issues, lockout season, was out of shape early, and then the shoulder injury, I'm expecting a return to form from him. Hopefully outlaw returns to his blazer form as well.
 
Kingster

Kingster

Hall of Famer
#4
#4
"We were able to get a good look at Tyreke Evans‘ jumper and the early returns are good. He was able to effortlessly drop in three-point shots without the pronounced lean that he has become known for. He was mainly hitting set shots, so we will see how the tweaks translate in game action."

Now that's what I'm talking about. I could care less about his first day 3-point shooting percentage, but getting rid of that 'lean' is encouraging.
 
Section 101

Section 101

All-Star
#5
#5
Kingster said:
"We were able to get a good look at Tyreke Evans‘ jumper and the early returns are good. He was able to effortlessly drop in three-point shots without the pronounced lean that he has become known for. He was mainly hitting set shots, so we will see how the tweaks translate in game action."

Now that's what I'm talking about. I could care less about his first day 3-point shooting percentage, but getting rid of that 'lean' is encouraging.
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Lets see after the all star break. This isn't directed at Evans alone. It's a general statement that lots of players come in with shots looking better. Lets see if the old habits return after the body gets tired. It happened last year. This is why good form is important.
 
Kingster

Kingster

Hall of Famer
#6
#6
Section 101 said:
Lets see after the all star break. This isn't directed at Evans alone. It's a general statement that lots of players come in with shots looking better. Lets see if the old habits return after the body gets tired. It happened last year. This is why good form is important.
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I totally agree that the real test is going to be what happens after a couple of months of play when he gets tired. But it would have been very bad if he came into camp with that lean. Then you could toss out all hope about his shot at the very beginning of camp.
 
Section 101

Section 101

All-Star
#7
#7
Kingster said:
I totally agree that the real test is going to be what happens after a couple of months of play when he gets tired. But it would have been very bad if he came into camp with that lean. Then you could toss out all hope about his shot at the very beginning of camp.
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But he didn't have it last year in camp either.
 
rainmaker

rainmaker

Hall of Famer
#8
#8
I'm pretty tough on Smart, but I need to acknowledge positives when I see them. What I've heard so far about the concentration of defense is great to hear. While we might not have many great individual defenders, we do have guys with defensive talent, but more importantly than individual talent on that end will be collective team defense, sharp rotations, talking, be in the right positions, knowing how to shade opponents, knowing your opponents, knowing as a team which shots you want your opponent to take and which shots you don't want to give up, etc..

We'll see how it pans out, but I did see one quote which I liked a lot from Smart, which stated we had the 6th best offense last year, so really no matter our system we'll score points, that's not the problem, defense was the problem and that's what we're concentrating on.

As long as it isn't guys reaching and going for steals too often, which I'm a little nervous about as that isn't sound fundamental defense and leads to defensive breakdowns and foul trouble, I'm hopeful on that end. Still could do better in the personnel department though with another big or two.
 
est.1999

est.1999

Starter
#10
#10
Honestly, our offense sucked last year. It's not about how many points you score, it's about HOW you score and whether or not you have the ability to produce points when it matters or when your team is reeling in the 4th quarter.
 
Gary

Gary

All-Star
#11
#11
est.1999 said:
Honestly, our offense sucked last year. It's not about how many points you score, it's about HOW you score and whether or not you have the ability to produce points when it matters or when your team is reeling in the 4th quarter.
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After the change we had NO problem getting all the points in the world. The problem was most of the time we were down by so much or trading points for points. Our offense is fine.
 
Agent23

Agent23

Starter
#12
#12
Our offense was terribad last year. Most of it was off of transition. I wanna see some sort of half court offense and set plays where Reke and Big Cuz are the focus.
 
Circa_1985_Fan

Circa_1985_Fan

All-Star
#14
#14
Prince_XY said:
Yes!

Finally!

And sign the Birdman too to add a little bit of nastiness on our frontline defense.

This news make me have a second thought on my prediction of 19-24 wins for the Kings.
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Oh...ummm...about that Birdman guy...you seen what he's been up to lately??

Edit: I believe he's in Miami's camp anyway.
 
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SacTownKid

SacTownKid

Hall of Famer
#16
#16
sactownfan said:
6th best offense.... gotta fix that defense
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The scary thing is the coach seems to believe that crap. The reality is that a lot of the Kings defensive woes had more to do with poor shot selection, a function of BAD OFFENSE. Just because you play an improperly utilized up tempo offense and put up 98 ppg doesn't mean you have the 6th best offense. They were 5 worst in FG%. That's the important stat here.
 
est.1999

est.1999

Starter
#17
#17
SacTownKid said:
The scary thing is the coach seems to believe that crap. The reality is that a lot of the Kings defensive woes had more to do with poor shot selection, a function of BAD OFFENSE. Just because you play an improperly utilized up tempo offense and put up 98 ppg doesn't mean you have the 6th best offense. They were 5 worst in FG%. That's the important stat here.
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Exactly, thank you!
 
P

pshn80

Starter
#18
#18
Defense is not a bad thing to work on first. Of course our offense needs work, too. Most players can play defense better than they do so I think even just the emphasis helps. Be fair, out guys need lots of work on everything.

I think one benefit from practicing the first 5 days in Colorado Springs is that they'll be so happy to get out of there that the might enjoy Sacramento a little more.
 
S

swisshh

Starter
#19
#19
Kingster said:
"We were able to get a good look at Tyreke Evans‘ jumper and the early returns are good. He was able to effortlessly drop in three-point shots without the pronounced lean that he has become known for. He was mainly hitting set shots, so we will see how the tweaks translate in game action."

Now that's what I'm talking about. I could care less about his first day 3-point shooting percentage, but getting rid of that 'lean' is encouraging.
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Once Reke learns how to hit a set shot then he has to learn how to use a jumper within his game and that will take another year or two at the least.

But this is the important first step.
 
Telemachus

Telemachus

Starter
#22
#22
SacTownKid said:
The scary thing is the coach seems to believe that crap. The reality is that a lot of the Kings defensive woes had more to do with poor shot selection, a function of BAD OFFENSE. Just because you play an improperly utilized up tempo offense and put up 98 ppg doesn't mean you have the 6th best offense. They were 5 worst in FG%. That's the important stat here.
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The 2nd half of last season, the Kings shot 46.1% from the field (tied for 10th in the league), and averaged 103.3 pts a game (5th overall). I don't think you can just look at what the Kings stats were for the whole season last year. They came into the season with pretty much NO offensive scheme (that I could see) thanks to Westphal. Smart had to start from scratch with almost no practice time, but got them to play pretty good offense the 2nd half of the season.
I'm not saying they don't have things to work on, but defense should be the #1 priority IMO.
 
HereWeBoogie

HereWeBoogie

Hall of Famer
#23
#23
^^^i think a lot of the reason why the offense was so good the second half of the season was having a true point guard running the team (Thomas)
 
P

Prince_XY

Starter
#24
#24
Reke 13 Havoc said:
^^^i think a lot of the reason why the offense was so good the second half of the season was having a true point guard running the team (Thomas)
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It didn't matter because we still lost so many games. Part of the reason why we still lose so many games was because the team got too small we weren't able to defend consistently through out the whole game.
 
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S

swisshh

Starter
#25
#25
The team wasn't defending no matter the size of the line-up.

It is true about offense setting up your defense. The team's FG% was improved due to fast break layups, so overall FG% doesn't accurately relate the efficiency of the offense. Defensive improvement is a matter of cohesive effort and attention on defense, and taking good shots on offense so as not to leave yourselves unbalanced in transition.
 
SacTownKid

SacTownKid

Hall of Famer
#26
#26
Telemachus said:
The 2nd half of last season, the Kings shot 46.1% from the field (tied for 10th in the league), and averaged 103.3 pts a game (5th overall). I don't think you can just look at what the Kings stats were for the whole season last year. They came into the season with pretty much NO offensive scheme (that I could see) thanks to Westphal. Smart had to start from scratch with almost no practice time, but got them to play pretty good offense the 2nd half of the season.
I'm not saying they don't have things to work on, but defense should be the #1 priority IMO.
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They were looking at the whole seasons stats in mentioning 6th worst defense.

No question defense has to be worked on, but there has to be some clue that some of that defense was a function of bad offense, turnovers, etc. Even late in the year that was an issue along with revolving lineups and such. This team had a great March run, April was an example of decline. Not terrible numbers wise but a near 5 point per game drop on the offensive end. Getting hot after a coaching change, or a trade, isn't uncommon. This team has yet to find an offensive identity and it's no surprise coming from a coach who thinks that shabby pick and roll game they played was good for them. Not really a team built to play small and up tempo, nor is it a team designed to ride the pick and roll to death yet that's all I can decipher from what I've heard. I've heard more passing and sharing the ball and even some of Tyreke at PG, which I think are all good, but this team has legit go to talent yet the coach repeats that they don't have "that guy" who can take over games. Well, if they don't, get one. I personally think they do. Wrangling in the defensive ends shortcomings is great, but without a real identity offensively, being a good defensive team will be nearly impossible. Adding players like James Johnson and Chuck Hayes helps that end, but only if they are used correctly and their teammates step it up as well.
 
Gary

Gary

All-Star
#27
#27
SacTownKid said:
The scary thing is the coach seems to believe that crap. The reality is that a lot of the Kings defensive woes had more to do with poor shot selection, a function of BAD OFFENSE. Just because you play an improperly utilized up tempo offense and put up 98 ppg doesn't mean you have the 6th best offense. They were 5 worst in FG%. That's the important stat here.
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The second half of the season we really picked it up though. We were dead last before the all-stear break. Once we went with IT our offense was fine. The problem now is our defense.. It's dead last.

Before the break we were dead last at 41%FG
After the break we were 5th in the league at 46%FG

Assists were last in the league before the break at 17apg as a team
Assists per game after the break were at 21.2 which was tied for 14th in the league (middle of the pack)

I think the IT change is what did this..

However, like I said above our defense needs a ton of help.. We should worry about that, because our offense is fine.

EDIT: We DO need help on our 3pt shooting though. That didn't really change from pre-post allstar.
 
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SacTownKid

SacTownKid

Hall of Famer
#28
#28
Gary said:
The second half of the season we really picked it up though. We were dead last before the all-stear break. Once we went with IT our offense was fine. The problem now is our defense.. It's dead last.

Before the break we were dead last at 41%FG
After the break we were 5th in the league at 46%FG

Assists were last in the league before the break at 17apg as a team
Assists per game after the break were at 21.2 which was tied for 14th in the league (middle of the pack)

I think the IT change is what did this..

However, like I said above our defense needs a ton of help.. We should worry about that, because our offense is fine.

EDIT: We DO need help on our 3pt shooting though. That didn't really change from pre-post allstar.
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I'm completely tempered on my excitement of the 2nd half of the seasons offense. It was going really well when they starting playing through Cousins, Hayes, and IT. Then later on they went to the pick and roll most of the time, and I watched the games, it wasn't that great. Not terrible and it will be necessary for them to learn it but as a foundation of the offense, not a chance. Maybe with Robinson here that can change a little but I still don't see Cousins as a pick and roll big and I'm sure I'm not the only one. Shaq are you out there?

Like I said, and I'll stick by it, a lot of the offense the Kings played wasn't an offense that's going to help you if defense is your point of emphasis. If you want to be a good defensive team you have to have a structured offense that minimizes turnovers, uses the strengths of your most talented players, and gets you the best shot you can get on the majority of possessions. Hearing about them going to some Triangle and more passing is good because that's structure. Didn't see a ton of that offensively last year. It's exactly my point that offense has a ton to do with the kind of defense you can play.

Things were so bad at the start of the year it's hard to compare. That was clearly mostly to do with the disdain for Westphal more than anything. Not a shocker, he's been known to wear out his welcome wherever he's gone.
 
T

Tyndel

Bench
#29
#29
In my memory there were 3 parts to last season. First there was the start and failure of WP and the start and improvement of the game under Smart. The Second section of season was when things started rolling and coming together players started hitting shots not at a great rate but much closer to normal for them and the NBA. This is when we won the highest % of games last season also and when we played our best defense. It was when we started to have a semblance of a real offense in the half court and while we didn't score huge numbers we were close in every game and it was also the smallest subsection of the season. And Last we had the last couple games before the all star break and the rest of the season were we abandoned defense and insisted on playing players out of position and to cover it up we ran and ran and ran. We were not close in as large a % of games and while we scored a large number of points our offense was ugly and defense nonexistant if the other team wasn't just missing.

There was a point I truly believed we had turned a corner and it was in that second section and then we turned another corner and just started running across the race instead of toward the finish line. The offense was so horrible that by the end of last season I couldn't watch the games anymore. They may have scored more points but it wasn't in a way that could be taken to the playoffs with just changing the defense. Our offense created opportunities for the other teams offense and that will never be a good thing in my mind no matter what the numbers say or when some stat is scewed to reflect. I remember how it looked last season...

Btw we would have won more last season with WP as coach if our team would have shot within 5% of their normal shooting % then we did under "Smarts" running. Don't forget how poor our % were to start and try to use that as an example of how much better our offense became when the % would have had to come up anyway(particularly 3s).
 
SacTownKid

SacTownKid

Hall of Famer
#30
#30
Tyndel said:
In my memory there were 3 parts to last season. First there was the start and failure of WP and the start and improvement of the game under Smart. The Second section of season was when things started rolling and coming together players started hitting shots not at a great rate but much closer to normal for them and the NBA. This is when we won the highest % of games last season also and when we played our best defense. It was when we started to have a semblance of a real offense in the half court and while we didn't score huge numbers we were close in every game and it was also the smallest subsection of the season. And Last we had the last couple games before the all star break and the rest of the season were we abandoned defense and insisted on playing players out of position and to cover it up we ran and ran and ran. We were not close in as large a % of games and while we scored a large number of points our offense was ugly and defense nonexistant if the other team wasn't just missing.

There was a point I truly believed we had turned a corner and it was in that second section and then we turned another corner and just started running across the race instead of toward the finish line. The offense was so horrible that by the end of last season I couldn't watch the games anymore. They may have scored more points but it wasn't in a way that could be taken to the playoffs with just changing the defense. Our offense created opportunities for the other teams offense and that will never be a good thing in my mind no matter what the numbers say or when some stat is scewed to reflect. I remember how it looked last season...

Btw we would have won more last season with WP as coach if our team would have shot within 5% of their normal shooting % then we did under "Smarts" running. Don't forget how poor our % were to start and try to use that as an example of how much better our offense became when the % would have had to come up anyway(particularly 3s).
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That in a nutshell is how I remember it as well. The most important thing is I saw them utilizing strategies, not just in terms of the rotation, but in terms of playsets as well that this team won't benefit from long term. That's the thing that bugged me most of all. There were things that did work and they seemingly abandoned them as the year progressed.
 
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