SI.com's NBA Enemy Lines: Kings

[KF10]

SI are doing a scouting report on every team in the league. The Kings scouting report from SI is up:

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2009/b ... z0UgJGesJp

Here is a sample:

They finished last season as the worst team in the league and their only real addition is Tyreke Evans, a rookie who isn't sure if he's a point guard or not. What is there to rally behind? The thing about Sacramento for year after year was that its fans always showed up. Then one day, they stopped coming. This is a team that has been hampered by a couple of bad coaching hires in Eric Musselman and Reggie Theus, which has prevented them from developing any consistency. In both cases, their ownership stepped in and made the call to hire them.

....

I think overall they did a decent job on the report. But in my opinion they have a cynical attitude throughout the piece though iirc (I read the article yesterday and I'm only relying on memory) Especially on Martin's evaluation. I could actually hand pick one of their errors about Martin easily if I had to. (plus others too).

What do you guys think?

[Smills91]

SI are doing a scouting report on every team in the league. The Kings scouting report from SI is up:

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2009/b ... z0UgJGesJp

Here is a sample:

They finished last season as the worst team in the league and their only real addition is Tyreke Evans, a rookie who isn't sure if he's a point guard or not. What is there to rally behind? The thing about Sacramento for year after year was that its fans always showed up. Then one day, they stopped coming. This is a team that has been hampered by a couple of bad coaching hires in Eric Musselman and Reggie Theus, which has prevented them from developing any consistency. In both cases, their ownership stepped in and made the call to hire them.

I don't think this guy's watched Martin at ALL. His assessment had about 10% truth(probably read it from elsewhere) to it.
....

I think overall they did a decent job on the report. But in my opinion they have a cynical attitude throughout the piece though iirc (I read the article yesterday and I'm only relying on memory) Especially on Martin's evaluation. I could actually hand pick one of their errors about Martin easily if I had to. (plus others too).

What do you guys think?

[RoyalCourtJestr]

Everyone is going to undervalue us and try to point out all our 'flaws' (reguardless if, in the case of Tyreke, they haven't actually shown as serious flaws) until this team starts winning.

[cdt3]

Really no single outlet had anything positive. Even Bill Simmons just had a NBA preview and actually bought season tickets to watch Anthony Randolph and said absolutely nothing about Thompson who dropped a 20/20 on Randolph and was on pace for a 30/10 on Amare with BS calls fouled him out early. The Kings continue to get kicked in the groin. These people all love Portlands GM who rebuilt his team in 3 lotteries, the same as Geoff Petrie has done but he gets kicked too. Westphal has a .550 win % (the 4th best % of all current NBA coaches) but can't coach defense the Kings have already improved in rebounding and defense (exept the Phoenix game) has kept them in every game as much as offense. Tyreke Evans is not a PG, please let the experts know Bibby put up 13/5 in his first year with the Kings. Evans will be better. Hawes is ready to put up a RWallace level 15/8/1.3. Thompson is ready to put up a 18/10/1. Casspi will be very good rookie. Greene is still coming around and is a role player. May, Nocioni, Brockman can all hold their own as backups. Yes the Kings sucked last year and were rebuilding the past few years are done now. Get on the bandwagon early.

[bjax24]

I know we were last, so we can't expect people to be shouting our praise, but some sports "experts" are being completely ridiculous when evaluating us. ESPN gave us a nice big F for this coming season. But then again thats what to expect from a network that keeps Ric Bucher around.

[KingInExile]

SI has been cynical about the Kings ever since they moved to Sacramento. They always have had the attitude of Sacramento being way too redneck to deserve a legitimate NBA franchise. I frankly put about as much stock in their opinion as I do ESPN's...and that's no a lot.

[ICMTM]

Actually I found myself agreeing with the article a lot.

[Wolfay]

SI has been cynical about the Kings ever since they moved to Sacramento. They always have had the attitude of Sacramento being way too redneck to deserve a legitimate NBA franchise. I frankly put about as much stock in their opinion as I do ESPN's...and that's no a lot.

I give SI a little more respect than ESPN, because even in the glory years, ESPN's Stein only had us at the top of the power rankings something like 4 weeks total during the entire run. I might be exaggerating a tad, but he clearly didn't give us the respect we deserved. That said, SI sucks too.

[KingInExile]

I woll add that I haven't read the article yet (I will later once I get home from work). I just have an automatic skepticism over most everything they write.

[RoyalCourtJestr]

Doesn't Scott Howard-Cooper now work for SI?

[KF10]

Doesn't Scott Howard-Cooper now work for SI?

Yeah, I'm pretty sure he does. He was actually a very very solid writer for the Sac Bee IMO. I rarely disagree with him.

[KingInExile]

Finally had a chance to read the article. While I agree with some of what is there, I think the overall tone of hyper-cynicism is just more bashing for the sake of bashing rather than constructive (objective) criticism.