Grade our Kings at the break.

[blind prophet]

Ok grade anyone you wish, perhaps add some detail up to you. Curious what our community thinks.

Roster

DeMarcus Cousins
Tyreke Evans
Jimmer Fredette
Francisco Garcia
Donte Greene
Chuck Hayes
J.J. Hickson
Tyler Honeycutt
Travis Outlaw
John Salmons
Isaiah Thomas
Jason Thompson
Marcus Thornton
Hassan Whiteside

Coach Smart

Geoff Petrie

Ownership

Feel free to add anything like offense,defense, etc.
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Isaiah - A
What a wonderful pleasant surprise of talent with the last pick in the draft.

Cuz - A-
Really stepping up his overall game, staying in better control, lots of work to do sure but exceeds my expectations for the moment.

JT- B+
JT has been one of the most consistent guys this season despite his free throw decline, as Jerry says put him in the game and leave him alone will fill the stat sheet. I had this guy one foot out the door when JJ came to town. Great job JT

Tyreke- B
Seems to have bought into Smart's system and becoming a better team offensive player. Moments of inconsistency, More hustle on D than I expected and playing a lot of mins.

Marcus- B-
We knew what we were getting with his streaky shooting ability, has rebounded well lately.

The following I will give a C- for doing a "decent" job but not quite performing to potential.
Fransico
Donte

Jimmer- D+
That word potential, and quasi improvement from day 1 are only things keeping you above an F. Honestly though to be fair I think the guy needs about 3 years in the league to properly gauge.

Hayes- incomplete
Thanks for the hustle and toughness buddy, are you worth the contract? To early to tell for me.

F marks
Salmons
JJ
Honeycutt
Outlaw

Coach Smart- B+
Walks in amidst the chaos and has our boys playing hard, improves Cuz game tremendously, from a fans perspective you took something ugly and made it enjoyable to watch even if the record is not that great.

Geoff- C
Well you have not made the roster worse after start up, This patience is worth mentioning and hope you have a deal working behind the scenes. To early on Chuck to say good or bad, Bomb with Outlaw and Salmons, Jimmer is looking real bad but think this was more Maloof and to be fair I think Jimmer will improve with time. You struck gold with Isaiah.

Maloofs- C
Thanks for staying out of the spotlight while this arena deal is being played out, still don't trust you guys but was pleasant to watch the team without the drama.

[tru6playa]

DeMarcus Cousins
Tyreke Evans (C+) - He still hasn't learned how to shoot consistently from the outside. He's one of the reasons our team has played so poorly. I still think he's talented enough to be a star in this league, but it all depends on his ability to shoot from outside. 25% on jump shots is never going to win anything.

Jimmer Fredette (C+) - He hasn't been too bad. His shot will eventually start falling. His defense has gotten better, but it'll never be better than average. His play making ability has been a nice surprise.

Francisco Garcia (C-) - He's tough to grade. Early this season he was absolute garbage. But as of late, he has proven to be that hustle, 3-pt shooter SF we need off the bench.

Donte Greene (C) - He's too inconsistent. HE has shown glimpses of marvelous defense. His outside shot is still a work in progress. I love his attitude though.

Chuck Hayes (C) - His offense has been atrocious. I still haven't seen his pass ability. Any time he tries to make a move to the hoop, it's almost always a bad decision. His defense is good, as advertised. His rebounding is adequate, but not great. I'm so-so on him at this point. I'm hoping his struggles have been due to his poor game shape.

J.J. Hickson (F) - A lot of disappointment from JJ. I have seen nothing from him this season that makes me think he'll ever be a starting PF.

Tyler Honeycutt - INC

Travis Outlaw - (F) - No summary needed.

John Salmons - (D) - He's still some-what useful on defense in certain situations. I'm clueless to why he has struggled so much this season.

Isaiah Thomas (A) - I knew from day one that this kid was going to be good. I posted about him on multiple occasions. His success has not surprised me at all.

Jason Thompson (B+) - I love his attitude and hustle. He knows his role and has been playing great for us.

Marcus Thornton (C-) - He's been hit and miss. If he and Tyreke ever become consistent, we'd be a tough team to play. Our failures are on Tyreke and MT23, imo.

Hassan Whiteside - INC

Coach Smart (B) - I like the rapport he has with this team. I wouldn't hate it if he came back next season, but I wouldn't oppose to bring in another coach either...

[SacTown Kings]

DMC - (B+) Has improved most aspects of his game (not fouling as much, attitude, better shape...) and if he continues he will be a superstar in this league. He's rebounding and hands are amazing! He doesn't get an A because he still does stupid things too often. Tried to dribble too much, or throw long passes down court that usually get picked...

Reke - (C+) Has been playing better lately but still has no jumpshot, still forces things too much, too inconsistent, and he still has a terrible basketball IQ. But the guy still has all star type talent.

IT - (A+) I really cannot find anything negative to say. He plays D, plays smart, can run an offense, can pass, can create, can score, has all the intangibles. Still has to work on his outside shooting a bit but imma give him an A+ anyways.

Thornton - (C+) Nothing really negative, but nothing really positive to say either. He is great for 5 minutes then not great the next 5 minutes. Just too inconsistent. Been somewhat disappointed in him, especially when he missed like what seemed to be 20 games cause of a bruise. Really? Dude pull the tampon out and play ball.

JT - (A-) I hope we do not trade JT. He is a good fit for this team. He plays within his limits and is one of the few players that seems to play well consistently. I'd give him an A but his free throw shooting makes him an A-.

Hayes - (C+) Maybe it's his injury but I have not seen this great passing everyone talks about, his rebounding is just ok, and his defense while good is not as good as I thought it would be. And of course his offense is terrible but I already knew that.

Garcia - (B-) Like JT he plays within his limit and knows his role, still has the intabgibles. Doesn't really do anything great but doesn't hurt us either.

Greene - (C+) I don't really expect much from him anymore but his D has been very good. His outside shooting is still as inconsistent as ever.

Jimmer - (C-) You can tell he will be a great shooter someday, just has to keep getting more confident and continue to work on his adjustment to the nba. His D is terrible but I think most here are too hard on him. He hasn't lived up to the hype, but it's still way too early to say he is a bust.

Salmons - (D+) Holy cow what happened to this guy. He has played better recently which is why he gets a D+ instead of a D-. Most nights his D doesn't even look good. And the guy just can't shoot well anymore. I was maybe one of the few who were excited to get him back but damn he has made me look bad.

Outlaw - (F) Why is he even on this team? He really doesn't do anything good, at all.

Hickson - (D) This guy needs to go. I do believe he has talent because we have seen it in Cleveland, but besides making a cool dunk here and there he hurts this team more than helps. And I swear the guy must put vaseline on his hands before the game. Worse hands I've ever seen, dude can never catch the ball cleanly.

Whiteside - INC

Honeycutt - INC

Smart - (A-) I like the way he has our team playing and to make that turn around so quick with no practice in the middle of the whole DMC debacle we couldn't ask for much more. I think he will be a great coach for this team.

[pillwenney]

Inc for Whiteside and Honeycutt. Otherwise....

Outlaw - F+ - I'll give him a little bit of a break for being injured and joining the team kind of late, but for the most part he has been just horrendous. His contract is small enough to not really hurt, but still. What a waste of a signing. we would have been better off staying under the minimum, or at least signing someone that sucks but brings some kind of leadership.

Salmons - D- - His D hasn't been what it needs to be and he rarely helps anything offensively. Still at least he's still better than Outlaw.

Hickson - D - Rebounding has been his best asset on a team that is already fine in that area. He's not good defensively and he's not good offensively. He could be good offensively. Except you can't put him in isolation because can't pass and doesn't have particularly great moves, and you can make him a finisher because finishing ability is irrelevant if you have terrible hands.

Donte - C- - More aggressive with the ball, D is as consistently inconsistent as ever, and his outside shot is still pretty damn erratic. Moving him to PF has been an interesting choice at times, but I still wish we'd see more progress from Donte.

Cisco - C - Don't play him for 6 games and bring him in, and he's ready to go. That's what I like about Cisco. He hasn't been great this year, but not terrible either. Very much deserving of a C grade.

Jimmer - D+ - It's what I said before, his playmaking is okay at times (awful at others), but hardly an asset right now. In order to have a positive impact on the game, his shooting has to be lights out, because man is his D awful. Jimmer doesn't just have trouble guarding everybody, but he makes aggressively bad decisions defensively. Steps in and gets a blocking call when it's totally unnecessary. Looks lost over and over.
Now it's not all his fault. I do feel like he doesn't know where he stands a lot of the time. I think it's going to take him some time to adjust to NBA offenses where he can become some kind of playmaker in a way that's based around his shooting. He just needs to focus on improving this. And man, he has to at least get some kind of a clue defensively. Because Jesus Christ.

Hayes - C - Put him in a very specific circumstance and you can use him offensively. But we're just not in a position to worry about that right now. We have to figure out how to get our main guys going. We have to figure out how they're going to fit together before we worry about a role player like Chuck. And if he's just standing around in your offense, his use is basically just setting screens. But he's still a liability. Gets blocked constantly and cant' shoot.
His defensive impact however, is palpable. I'd still definitely prefer Sam's shotblocking but Chuck is damn good at what he does. And I like to think that he has had some kind of positive impact on our younger guys. It all evens out to a C for me.

JT - B+ - I'm not sure if the direction JT is going is necessarily the best fit for this team, but it's great for him as a player. He hasn't taken many outside shots this year, but it's because his post game has gotten significantly better. He's still the hardworking, skilled, endless fuel tank that he ever was, but now he has go-to moves and improved D. He still gets lost sometimes for sure, but his individual D is improved and I don't feel so bad about him on that end any more. He has really grown into a solid NBA player.

Isaiah - A+ - Let me start by saying this: Isaiah Thomas is not the future at starting PG for the Kings. He's not the pure PG we need, and while he tries his damndest on D, makes big plays and looks like Gary **** Payton next to Jimmer, it's still going to be ultimately too much of a problem on that end when he has to face a really strong PG in a 7 game series.
His future still is as a sparkplug PG that often finishes games. But man, he's going to be one hell of one of those. There's really nothing more you could ask for from the #60 pick. He makes tough shots, big shots, big plays. He's a skilled player that always gives 110%. The dude's an absolute winner. I see Jimmer's future as a supersub PG, but to me, this is really the guy to fill that roll for us. I can't wait to lock him up as a King long term.

Thornton - B- - Eventually the fact that he and Tyreke don't fit particularly well together as a tandem was going to rear it's ugly head and it has. He's not playing horribly by any means. But his defense seesaws between okay and flat out bad, and he plays so selfishly sometimes (which wouldn't be so bad if he played more with a pure PG). This contributes to his low shooting percentages. He can make tough 3s as well as almost anyone, but it still shouldn't be a go-to for him at all. It kills his percentages. He can penetrate in the halfcourt, and I'd like to see him do that a little more. Get those FTA up and those shooting percentages up.
Regarding his passing, I mean he's a scorer and he should be. But we've all seen him on the fast break. He makes Tyreke look like Magic. Look to score, but pass when it makes sense. As far as his negatives in general though, I'll cut him a little bit of a break for being hurt for a while.
At the end of the day, I'm really glad we re-signed Marcus and I'm thrilled to have him on the team. The guy is a very capable scorer and a tough, tough competitor. He still makes big plays and he still has a swagger about him that I think is good for the rest of the team.

Tyreke - C - You know what really worries me about this team right now? I think we're starting to see Tyreke's limits as a player. Look at the game logs. He's had some really nice games this year, but any time a team scouts well and packs the paint, Tyreke is totally lost. He's better in the open floor, but so is almost every player in the league (the D isn't set. Duh.). But when you need that to have good games, then you're not really a star in this league.
The team is better when Tyreke plays more unselfishly because we badly need an unselfish ballhandler--not because Tyreke himself is better than way. And so that part's not really his fault. We keep trying to make him a PG, but always eventually go back to playing more of a PG next to him (see Beno, then Thomas) and it almost always improves our team because that's what Tyreke is--a SG.
The good thing about Tyreke probably not being a savior is that we don't need him to be. While his shot selection has improved, it's still pretty bad (he had a long ways to go). If he only shot catch and shoot 3's, I bet he'd be in the low 30's percentage-wise. But even when it goes in, him pulling up for any jumper is never, ever, ever a good shot. Ever. And frankly, that goes for a lot of the NBA.
He does need to improve his decision-making (still), his outside shot (still), and his defensive consistency. We see him play great D at times and make awesome individual plays, but he also has way more than his fair share of lapses.
But more than any of this, what Tyreke really needs to learn is how to be effective when things aren't opened up for him. How is he going to penetrate when the D is gearing up against him penetrating? How is he going to use that defensive situation to find his teammates more? How can he be more effective off the ball? He could learn some things from Marcus here about cutting more and (while our team doesn't always necessarily need it) attacking the offensive boards. Regardless of everything else, he's got to learn to think more in depth, more about what he could be doing, and what he will be doing, instead of what he's going to do now that he's in the paint with 3 defenders on him and he's in mid-air. To me, that's a bigger deal than his jumper. And so far, while there's been progress, it's not enough for my taste.

Demarcus - B/B+ - Demarcus hurt our team more often than he helped last year. That's not a big deal. That's the case with most rookies that have a big role on the team. This year, he is helping us. We are definitely a worse team with him off the floor, and that alone is a big step up. The guy completely owns the boards and he is much improved on D. It would be nice if he was an anchor but while he is improved there, that's not what he's going to be. He's going to be a nice player defensively once he develops some more discipline (he's already every so slightly better in this area).
Offensively is where I'm a little concerned. Frankly, the future of this franchise relies on him finding out how to finish better around the basket. If he can do that, I'm really not worried about anything else. But right now, I'm pretty worried about that. I don't think it's an issue of ability. He shows awesome touch at times, but it's terrible at others.
He clearly has the talent to be better in this respect. It's just like everything else with him. He has to focus on the moment. He has to think for a second about what is the best way to go up here. Right now, it seems like he just goes up almost blindly. He really lacks patience and right now, lacks the ability to really think quickly about what he's doing. Which, I guess when I think about it, is really kind of about maturity. So hopefully to some degree, that will fix itself.
Some of it is fundamental. He has his own version of Jason Thompson syndrome. He doesn't bring the ball down for that extra dribble like JT does, but he does start the finish way too low, and then he almost never goes up strong enough with it. Sometimes it's good that he doesn't play like a big, but when he's banging in the paint he has to. He doesn't have the lift to be Amare-like of course, but he can be a much, much better finisher. When you have a 9' 5" standing reach, lift really shouldn't be an issue.
Over all, I'm happy with his progress, but there certainly could be more.

Smart - B- - Smart has a done a lot of good things, given the circumstances. He has brought the team together, done great things for the chemistry and improved some of the x's and o's. I still don't think he's a wizards by any stretch here, but he's not incompetent either. His rotations could be more consistent, but at the same time, you can't really nail down consistent until you find something that really seems to work. That part is still a work in progress.

Petrie - C - Given that at this time last year, we hadn't yet traded for Thornton, I feel like it's only fair to include that in this grade. Trading for Thornton and re-signing him are both definite positives in my book. Signing Hayes is, IMO, a small positive. A very small one right now. And drafting Isaiah is a big time positive.
The negatives are the Salmons trade, the Hickson trade (minor one since Omri wasn't our SF of the future and we probably won't lose the pick), drafting Jimmer as part of the Salmons trade, and not re-signing Dalembert.
Bringing Smart on was kind of a positive though, and while I'm getting on Jimmer a lot right now and I didn't like the pick from the beginning, I think Jimmer will turn out to be a better prospect than he has showed so far. So it just about evens out for me.