WT: Kings not moving Evans to SF

[Dustin5566]

http://basketball.realgm.com/wiretap/218664/Kings_Wont_Move_Evans_To_Small_Forward

Well I know many of us and speculated this type of move would be a good thing to try to promote some ball movement.

"That guy was born with a basketball in his hand - got to keep that thing in his hand.

This quote scares me since many of us have been praying that he would be more of a playmaker and less of a blackhole. Seems the HC promotes the blackhole mentality

[Javidad]

To be a play maker you need the ball in your hands. I think you're reading into this the wrong way. I like Tyreke at his current position and he shouldn't be moved. If the 3 is the problem play Frisco there because he knows his roll there better than anybody else. (Salmons being a black hole and donte starting to take more shots, settling for jump shots rather than slashing.)

[KF10]

I don't mind it at all. It tells me Reke is following Smart's idea of being a facilitator on offense. You have to have the ball in your hands to do that. And he's doing a good job at it so far.

I could see Smart putting Jimmer, Thornton, Reke in and have Reke become a point-forward type of player. That's probably the only time you will see Reke as close of playing the SF position as you can.

[SacKingsPejaFan]

I hate this logic.

Evans needs the ball in his hands to be effective. Okay...What's our record again? 6-14. How many points and assists does Evans average? He's 27th in the league in scoring and 27th in the league in assists. Why do we want the ball in his hands all the time again?

The strategy should never be, let's let Evans be the best player he can be. That's absurd. Unless that leads to winning games--which it obviously doesn't--the strategy should be to do what's best for winning games. If that means taking the rock out of Evans' hands and moving him to 3, do it.

I just don't understand why we feel the need to treat Evans like he's a Dwayne Wade or Kobe Bryant type of talent--he isn't and never will be. You only give non-PG's like that the free reign to dominate the ball; otherwise you're guaranteeing your own failure. Reality check: Kyrie Irving averages more points than Evans on fewer shots and more than half a quarter less playing time. In fact, Evans' production and efficiency is a dime a dozen in this league. This organization is just wedded to letting him do what he wants because of his rookie season.

I mean, come on--if Nick Young was on our team, would we be saying--Oh! He averages 16 points per game, we should cater our entire game plan around his needs, and let our success ride completely on his shoulders!

I'd rather see the offense consistently run through Cousins, which would mean a PG who gets the ball to him on a consistent basis.

[Dustin5566]

I don't mind it at all. It tells me Reke is following Smart's idea of being a facilitator on offense. You have to have the ball in your hands to do that. And he's doing a good job at it so far.

I could see Smart putting Jimmer, Thornton, Reke in and have Reke become a point-forward type of player. That's probably the only time you will see Reke as close of playing the SF position as you can.

I do not see him as following the facilitator idea. For every great play or nice pass he makes he takes 2 more bad ones in either a forced shot or a bad iso or a failure to pass on a break. He does not have the BBIQ to be the great playmaker that we need.

The problem is he is too poor a shooter to consistently play him off the ball. It is frustrating.

[bjax24]

I'd rather start Garcia Greene or Honeycutt than move him to SF.

[ADoaN17]

I'd rather start Garcia Greene or Honeycutt than move him to SF.

Honeycutt is far from ready.

[The Beam King]

I like the idea of Tyreke at the 3. It gets our two best shooters out on the court more, JIMMER and THORNTON. It gets us guys who can create their own shots. Does Melo or Pierce NOT dominate the ball at the SF position? Why can't Tyreke learn to develop a game patterned in that fashion? Why does it have to be at the 1.

I'm in the boat that any advantage of Tyreke's size is negligent due to the fact that he is a driving/slashing player. If he posted up smaller 1's then I would agree with this. I think Tyreke would be better suited matching up with the 3's in the league who are slower than 1's and 2's and be able to drive past them with more ease than he would the other team's guards.

[sackings916]

There is no reason why Tyreke cant play the 3 in stretches. A lineup of Jimmer/Thornton/Tyreke/Hayes/Cousins is probably our best lineup.

Today the Clips ran a 3 guard lineup of Paul/Mo/Billups with Butler and Reggie Evans up front for most of the 2nd Q. Im not saying the Kings should run Reke at the 3 full time, but to change the tempo and to spread the floor and open things up offensively the Kings should at times go with the 3 guard lineup.

[SacKingZZZ]

Smart has played him with smaller guys, I think he's talking about his role in the offense as much as anything. More him being a guy spotting up and spreading the floor, which isn't the best way to use him, so Smart is right about that.

[longfellow44]

Im a huge advocate of moving tyreke to the 3. it has noting to do with turning him into a spot up player. i envision him as a point forward type player that does damage as a play maker but isn't responsible for always running the offense. i would rather get a real point guard to start at the one and move Evans to the 3 where he would be a slasher and penetrates in the half court but gets the ball out of his hands during transition where he still has the habit of going one on five.

[SacTownKings4Life]

I think the biggest detriment to Tyreke's game (similar to how we did Kevin Martin) is that we're trying to force him to be a player that he's really not. Just like we wanted Martin to be our #1 option when he was really just a great complimentary scorer, we're trying to make Tyreke into a ball handling, playmaking point guard when he's really just a great penetrator who could benefit from a more consistent mid-range jumper. And in both cases, the so-called fans are turning on the guy because he's not "developing" into the player who we think he OUGHT to be, rather than just accepting him for the player that he actually is.

[youngthegiant]

would you guys do andre miller, wilson chandler, arron afflalo, 1st rounder for tyreke and hickson or thompson

[SacKingZZZ]

Not a chance.

[KF10]

would you guys do andre miller, wilson chandler, arron afflalo, 1st rounder for tyreke and hickson or thompson

LOL

After that deal, the rich gets richer and the poor gets poorer.

[ICMTM]

I think the biggest detriment to Tyreke's game (similar to how we did Kevin Martin) is that we're trying to force him to be a player that he's really not. Just like we wanted Martin to be our #1 option when he was really just a great complimentary scorer, we're trying to make Tyreke into a ball handling, playmaking point guard when he's really just a great penetrator who could benefit from a more consistent mid-range jumper. And in both cases, the so-called fans are turning on the guy because he's not "developing" into the player who we think he OUGHT to be, rather than just accepting him for the player that he actually is.

Best post I've read all year!

[VeeJay24]

I hate this logic.

Evans needs the ball in his hands to be effective. Okay...What's our record again? 6-14. How many points and assists does Evans average? He's 27th in the league in scoring and 27th in the league in assists. Why do we want the ball in his hands all the time again?

The strategy should never be, let's let Evans be the best player he can be. That's absurd. Unless that leads to winning games--which it obviously doesn't--the strategy should be to do what's best for winning games. If that means taking the rock out of Evans' hands and moving him to 3, do it.

I just don't understand why we feel the need to treat Evans like he's a Dwayne Wade or Kobe Bryant type of talent--he isn't and never will be. You only give non-PG's like that the free reign to dominate the ball; otherwise you're guaranteeing your own failure. Reality check: Kyrie Irving averages more points than Evans on fewer shots and more than half a quarter less playing time. In fact, Evans' production and efficiency is a dime a dozen in this league. This organization is just wedded to letting him do what he wants because of his rookie season.

I mean, come on--if Nick Young was on our team, would we be saying--Oh! He averages 16 points per game, we should cater our entire game plan around his needs, and let our success ride completely on his shoulders!

I'd rather see the offense consistently run through Cousins, which would mean a PG who gets the ball to him on a consistent basis.

Do you think moving Reke to 3 would produce more wins? If you do then you are obviously watching some other team other than the Kings. Reke playing PG is not the reason the team is losing. The team is losing for many reasons. One being they are just young and just have to learn how to win in this league, another is they have to learn how to play together. How about they have to play defense. One more is they didn't have a coach with a vision or one to give them any direction. Reke is fine and he is learning that he doesn't have to do it all himself; he is learning that because the coach knows how to communicate with his players.

Have you been watching the NBA? Have you noticed Rose & Westbrook? Well, in Reke we have the closest thing to those guys who are the future PG in the NBA. Just like Reke those guys had growing pains but unlike Reke they have stable coaches who helped them grow as players. Reke was brought into a mess but it looks like they now have a coach who is giving them a clear direction and I can't wait til these guys get it all together because Reke in the long run will have more weapons at his disposal then Rose and Westbrook. And if you look closer, you would see that the KIngs are one of the worst shooting teams in the NBA and I believe if this team could shoot the ball better that Reke would be averaging a double-double. Reke has played excellent since Smart took over and the Kings' best chance to win is with the ball in Reke's hands. He is the best player on this team and you win with the ball in your best players hands but saying he is the best player on this team doesn't say much but it is up to Reke to make this team a winner and make that mean something. He can only do that if the coach allows him to be who he is and trust him to lead and make his teammates better. Reke can be a superstar and perennial all-star but he has work to do with his jumpshot and midrange and I think he will improve in those areas.

And to all you guys throwing up this line up of Jimmer, Thornton & Reke; it will not work and should only be done in situations. Jimmer hasn't figured out that he can help this team best by spotting up and knocking down jumpers. He is not at BYU where he had the ball in his hands all the time and had to do everything plus playing a liitle defense wouldn't hurt either.

[longfellow44]

Got to say that Evans has really really improved as a play maker and passer over the last 5 games or so. If this is how he plays at PG then I'm ok with it. But I need to see him continue this trend. He has worked hard to get his teammates involved and I have seen him pass up his normal routine of charging into a group of defenders to make the pass back out to the perimeter a number of times recently which shows me that maybe he can be what we need. If he continues to improve as a passer and a PG then maybe we should simply look to find a better set of complimentary players to help round out the team.

guess I just wanted to acknowledge his improvement in this regard.

[blind prophet]

I have never been a fan of what position do you play. Tyreke can guard pretty much every 1 and 2 in the league and maybe 90% of the sf. For me it matters who you guard defensively, Tyreke with Thorton and Isaiah/Jimmer would be fine with many defensive matchups out there in the league. Setting up Cuz at the high post with a 3 "guard" offensive setup has many benefits in opening up the key and running the break. Defensively this setup works well if looking to trap and press.

Please stop this position hype, the best of the best often defy the position logic. Hopefully we can include Tyreke into that category as time goes on.

[ICMTM]

The Kings just don't have the talent across the board. You have Reke, Cousins, Thornton, and then everyone else is at best serviceable. In different situations our role players probably could do more in the league but they wouldn't get significant run on quality teams.

I don't think asking players to do things they aren't particularly great at will make this team better.