Evans Determined to Prove Last Season Was a Fluke

[Nicky Nix Nook]

"I'm anxious; I'm real anxious," Evans said. "I just want to go out there and show everybody I can play basketball, especially with the year I had last year. I hope we don't miss games so I can hurry up and get out there."

Looking back, he said the injuries didn't allow him to display his entire game much of the season.

"Especially getting to the cup," Evans said. "I really couldn't finish like I wanted to because of the foot. It was tough for me going to the basket and not finishing like I usually finish. Just pushing off that foot, that's the foot I jump off of, so that was kind of tough."

http://basketball.realgm.com/wiretap/21 ... _Was_Fluke

I'm optimistic he will prove the doubters wrong.

[pillwenney]

I am too.

One thing I'm afraid of is that his playing style will make some of these injuries chronic, but I hope not.

[LeBron's Time]

watching him in 2 exhibition games in manila together with other nba superstars, i dont see any improvement on his outside shooting, tyreke outside shooting still looks ugly. who was tyreke shooting coach?

[SacKingZZZ]

Love what I hear. Also read on Jones' twitter a few days back that Reke is organizing a team workout in August. Tyreke is taking the reigns here and trying to be a true leader, GO REKE!

[SacKingZZZ]

I am too.

One thing I'm afraid of is that his playing style will make some of these injuries chronic, but I hope not.

Don't know about the ankles but there are ways to deal with the foot issues. I remember Peja having the same issues and he had some kind of inserts for his shoes made or something like that.

[LeBron's Time]

it was 2 exhibition games. in game 1, tyreke did ok but in game 2, reke outside shooting is terrible. he never made any single outside field goal. he got 1 air ball in open 3 point attemp. kobe is the playing coach and kobe bench reke in the 4th quarter. this is tyreke 3rd year in the nba but i dont see any improvement on his shooting. harden is much impressive than reke in 2 games exhibition because harden can shot outside

[KF10]

it was 2 exhibition games. in game 1, tyreke did ok but in game 2, reke outside shooting is terrible. he never made any single outside field goal. he got 1 air ball in open 3 point attemp. kobe is the playing coach and kobe bench reke in the 4th quarter. this is tyreke 3rd year in the nba but i dont see any improvement on his shooting. harden is much impressive than reke in 2 games exhibition because harden can shot outside

That's not true. Evans started the fourth quarter.

Evans' shot from his first year and now is very different. Evans does not have the sling-shot wind up anymore ala Michael Redd-ish. It's more in front of his face, which is much better. He still has the tendency to lean back on his J though. I mean, his jumper is not horrible nor great but it can get better.

[LeBron's Time]

tyreke was bench the whole 4th quarter in 2nd game of the exhibition game in manila.

[LeBron's Time]

yeah tyreke shot is different compared on his rookie year but the outcome is still the same. we all just wish that reke improve his shooting, i cant imagine how good reke was if he added outside shooting on his arsenal.

[twoolfork1]

He needs to work on his passing, ballhandling and court vision just as much as his shooting. Way too many unforced turnovers last season.

Especially if Evans/Thornton is going to be our starting backcourt moving forward. Unfortunately that's hard to do in a gym by yourself so hopefully the lockout doesn't cause us to miss any games and he can get out there on the court and develop some chemistry.

[DickVitale]

I watched a few of the clips on you-tube and Tyreke had some pretty nice plays. The first half of one of those games he had a nice 3 point, and a few cross over j's from mid range. 13 points off the bench is nothing to frown down on especially when you're playing with greats like Bryant and Durant. On another fan site I frequent the guy who was actually present at the games and wrote about it had some nice things to say about how tyreke played. It's just a scrimage but still for the most part most of what I read about his game was favorable.

[LeBron's Time]

I watched a few of the clips on you-tube and Tyreke had some pretty nice plays. The first half of one of those games he had a nice 3 point, and a few cross over j's from mid range. 13 points off the bench is nothing to frown down on especially when you're playing with greats like Bryant and Durant. On another fan site I frequent the guy who was actually present at the games and wrote about it had some nice things to say about how tyreke played. It's just a scrimage but still for the most part most of what I read about his game was favorable.

that was game 1 against PBA all star (no defense on that game), like what ive said tyreke did ok on that game. what im talking is on the 2nd game of the exhibition against Philippine National team, that game is much more competitive than the first one, the defense is much tougher (nba stars won by only 9 points margin). on that game tyreke isnt impressive compared to his 1st game. thats the reason why kobe bench him in the 4th quarter. all his outside attemps are missed including 1 airball in 3-pt (uncontested shot).

I was there, i'm the only one wearing tyreke evans jersey in the crowd.

OT: im not a big fan of derrick williams but the kid can play bigtime.

[SacKingZZZ]

I don't really care about Evans improving his off the dribble shot, which I don't know if his leaning back thing is going to ever be fixed, nor should it be maybe since it's what gives him space on the shot. I want to see him become consistent as a spot shooter. At the start of last year he was beginning to go up straight and his shot looked good but then the injuries hit and his shot was far from the biggest issue he was facing on a nightly basis. If he can be a threat spotting up at the corner 3, or at the top of the key that would pretty much make this group unstoppable offensively if they work within the right team based system. Leaning back on an off the dribble shot is different than leaning back on a wide open corner 3. That's Reke's problem, leaning back on shots where you don't need to create space.

[LeBron's Time]

agree on that, i dont get why he always do a leaning back shots or stepback or fading.

like what he did in 2 exhibition games in manila recently. all of his outside shots are stepback from the 2 point area and stepback from the 3 point area even hes wide open, thats not basic basketball. better to shoot straight up jumper if wide open. no need to fade if you're wide open.

[SacKingZZZ]

I'm going to guess, not a real leap I know, but I'd bet good money Evans was never used much as an off the ball shooter and as such never practiced much as one, hahaha. If I were working with Evans I'd be focusing on spot up shots and NOTHING else.

[KF10]

According to data, Evans was best used as a spot up (off the ball) 3PT shooter (~35%) last season. To me, Evans will be similar to Jason Kidd when it comes to threes. Take most of your 3PT shots as spot ups, you will be fine.

I'm more worried about his mid range game than his 3PT game.

[SacKingZZZ]

KF10 with the statistical analysis FTW!! hahaha. His spot up 3 point game is what will allow him to help the team the most and will allow him to be most effective playing without the ball. If you're not handling the ball it's always best if you can help spread the floor by being a threat from outside. I'm still coming at this from the mindset that Tyreke will be much better to himself and his team as a 15-17 ppg scorer, not a 20+ scorer. It's tough to be a 20+ scorer as almost solely a slasher. It's the reason why there is a good chance a player like D-Wade has a shorter lifespan of excellence than a player like Kobe.

Last season is tough to go on with situational data. Evans just wasn't himself and the main part of his game looked like the caca for most of the year. Interesting data for sure though. How many of his shot attempts per game were spot up 3's?

[KF10]

3PT -> spot up: 52 attempts (35.3% of the time overall)
3PT -> off the ball (spot ups, off screen, hand offs): 75 attempts (51% of the time overall)

So, a little over 50%, Tyreke's 3PT attempts are good shots but the other half (which consists 3PT attempts: isolation + P&R) are bad shots. He is converting those shots @ 20.3%. That's why his overall 3PT% (29.3%) looks bad. He is not good at making his 3PT shots off the dribble.

I would be fine if Evans concentrated on scoring 15-17 ppg range @ high efficiency. He will able to exert more energy on the other things of his game: defense + off the ball play. But I don't think that would happen. The Kings will see Evans as the primary scorer and expect Evans to average close or surpass his rookie numbers. Which I think it's fair because I don't think Evans will dramatically change his game. He is always a primary scorer on every team he played in the past. Why change something if the results shown he was successful doing it? '

It would be interesting this season (or the next season, FU lockout) to see how Evans will play with a full year of Thornton, Cousins, Hickson & Salmons. If anything last year was an indication of the future, Cousins will be the major orchestrator on offense. We saw that the 2nd half of the season when he was playing the "Webber-role" and you saw Evans playing off the ball more because of that. And he did fine job doing it.

[pillwenney]

To be fair, that's still not a great percentage spotting up. Most guys that shoot 3's are going to be well above that. But it is the best option for him, I think.

I think he can get back to being around a 20PPG scorer if his slashing game gets back on track (which we have no reason to believe it won't). I wasn't even that bothered by Tyreke's shot last year. It was his shot selection that sucked. Mid-range jumpers are statistically a bad shot in basketball anyway (with the exception of truly elite mid-range shooters). Even worse when you're pulling up. EVEN worse when you're not a good shooter, like Tyreke. But there were so many times when it seemed like he was like "Well, the drive isn't there. It's not like any of my other teammates can do anything, so I guess I'd just better pull up for this crappy shot." That killed our offense so many times.

[SadKingsFan]

Video posted yesterday.

Tyreke Evans working out In Santa Monica: [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NCGc2FPgeak[/youtube]