Smart and unselfish basketball

[jcassio]

I still root for the Kings, but their current incarnation is about as opposite as you can get from the Kings who had a great chance to be champions back in 2002. Both teams were/are talented. But the 2002 Kings were smart. They were unselfish and played as a team.

What I find so frustrating with our current team is the lack of smart and unselfish playing - particularly on offense. Is that because we're a young team? I don't think so. Yes, we are a young team, and that's a fact. But if you take an objective look at the individual players, you find players who often don't play smart and don't play as a team. JJ, JT and Cuz all shake their heads from side to side throughout the game, indicating either disagreement with the last call or (perhaps) self-assessed criticism about something they just did wrong. In either case, you're telegraphing your emotions to your opponents to use against you. You're also spending too much time and energy thinking about something that has already happened instead of thinking about what is happening right now, and in the next minute. It's just not smart basketball. And although Tyreke has a pokerface, his one dimensional focus on offense (driving to the basket come hell or high water) is not indicative of a smart or unselfish player. Nor a player who makes his teammates better.

So I'm sorry fellow Kingsfans, but I think what we've got is a poorly constructed team. Too many players who don't play smart and who don't play unselfishly. How best to overcome this problem? Better coaching? More players who are smart and unselfish? Better management? How about... ALL THE ABOVE?

[UK_King]

The problem for me is we don't seem to have any go to sets in which our best players are able to thrive.

the offense is incredibly scattershot, the amount of times you see the guard point for a screen and no one even bothers coming up to set one is alarming.

Usually with a coach you know their offensive philosophy. "I like teams to run" is great until you have to set up in the half court. Westphal was the same in many respects he preached "lets be creative," that generally just leads to a lot of ISO ball and a lot of standing around.

We use curls but for some reason instead of having MT or Jimmer coming off them we always have Outlaw or Salmons coming off them which always ends up with the front of the rim getting bent.

It's just frustrating, i don't think is a playoff team, but i think it's a damn sight better than were seeing now.

[Rockmeister]

So I'm sorry fellow Kingsfans, but I think what we've got is a poorly constructed team. Too many players who don't play smart and who don't play unselfishly. How best to overcome this problem? Better coaching? More players who are smart and unselfish? Better management? How about... ALL THE ABOVE?

I agree with ALL THE ABOVE.

[LWP777]

I agree with ALL THE ABOVE.

I agree with this as well but I also believe that we aren't as talented as everybody thinks we are. IMO, DMC, Evans and Thornton are all highly overrated. They put up decent numbers on a bad team but have no idea of how to win or play the game of basketball (Thornton has some clue). I was holding out hope that they would grow but it doesn't seem to be happening.

[pshn80]

I still root for the kings.........

I may agree with all or part of what you say but this the team and coach and management we have and I'm glad you root for the Kings. What I hope for is that our blockhead players can get a little bit better and keep improving a little so we become competitive. Tough hill to climb but in the end the players are the game. John Wooden may get some more out of this bunch but he'd have to throw his whole reputation on the floor in front of them. They are all not stupid in the same way but they are all stupid.

[Reke 13 Havoc]

this team is being taught nothing on the offensive end of the court and it shows

[pshn80]

Sandlot BB teaches 'em more than they are doing. Bad shots they miss, open shots they miss, they miss aome open shots because they don't take them. A different coach would be wasted on them.

[HndsmCelt]

this team is being taught nothing on the offensive end of the court and it shows

At this point I will have agree with you with one caveat, transition fast break out of the defense. I suspect (hope, pray?) Smart wants the offense to be almost a pure fast break offense, but of course the first step for that is getting stops, steals and defensive rebounds. Once the team learns to stop/take the ball then the lessons of leaking out, spotting the open man and running the break come. Yes the team needs to learn ho to quick inbound and run the floor and it will take time, but in the mean time some hard nosed defense is not just a first step it will also let the team squeak out a few more wins. In short tis is MUCH different than wathing the kids going out to run plays and scoring while not playing a lick of defense.

[Capt. Factorial]

Sandlot BB teaches 'em more than they are doing.

Sandlot basketball is terrible for teaching ball-handling skills, because the darn thing won't bounce.

[tyreeeke]

Smart has to put his biases and personal relationships aside and play the best players, period. As with any situation with people in life, we will sometimes get along with some more than others. We will gravitate to people that we are similar with. Smart has to put an end to that and put a team on the court that will win the most games. This team, with the right lineup, can win a lot of games. The talent isn't great, but the mixture can be if the right decisions are made.

[Bricklayer]

You forget confused.

All of these players have looked better in previous years. ALL of them, well maybe except Jimmer. People have short memories, because most of them looked better 6 months ago, on offense at least.

What's going on right now is highly aberrant, and the single biggest x-factor right now is rampant confusion. About what they are supposed to be running, about who shoots when. People are bieng misused. People are uncomfortable in almost painful fashion. The coach absolutely refuses to settle on roles or rotations.

Anybody ever played pickup ball? Scenario 1: you take the court along with 4 friends who you go out wiht all the time. You've played together, know how you want to play. Know what everybody wants to do. May even have a few basic a little plays you have talked about. Scenario 2: you go alone to the park, join up with 4 other random guys who also went alone, and take the court never having played together before. Maybe you have seen some of them in other games etc. Maybe you have even played a game or 2 with or against 1 or 2 of them. But that's it. Now in your experience are you going to have as good a chance of winning with the second group as the first? How about just looking organized? How about just not having various of your teamamtes get frustrated and just start going 1 on 1, barking at teammates etc.? Familiarity and stability and structure make a difference. A HUGE difference.

[Spike]

Let's talk about the background of our players a bit, shall we?

Cousins: Coached by Calipari at Kentucky. Sure, one year, but I wouldn't call Calipari a slouch. Cousins looked pretty good in that system.
Evans: Again, a Calipari product. Excelled at the PG position at Memphis.
Johnson: Known for defense, but under Smart has decided to become an "impact player" on offense...
Thompson: Fairly consistent with steady improvement after coming out as a senior in college.
Thomas: Also consistent, came out of a good Washington program
Fredette: Scoring machine from BYU. He knows what to do with the ball based on what we've seen in college. Shows an ability to score. Defense...ugh.
Thornton: Showed success in New Orleans, can score the ball. One dimensional, but not bad.

The point (for those of you who are going to want to quibble about the details in order to derail the main point)is, people want to throw around "low BBIQ" with these guys, and if anything, we should assume the opposite. Is it impossible to assume a good two man game with Evans and Cousins? Even if Evans can't hit a set shot, he should be able to successfully draw and dish, similar to what he was asked to do in Memphis. Fredette and Thornton can hit shots, and Johnson should focus on the defensive end. We've seen what Cousins can do.

It's not an IQ thing, it's a coaching thing. You can't tell me that they're all of a sudden smart on defense but dumb on offense. These are professionals with a noticeable talent level. If anything, they're young, and they haven't had a lick of consistency since they've been here. Get a coach with structure on offense, and you'll see these players become a lot smarter. Run simple set plays, and expand them as the year goes on.

[Section 101]

You forget confused.

All of these players have looked better in previous years. ALL of them, well maybe except Jimmer. People have short memories, because most of them looked better 6 months ago, on offense at least.

What's going on right now is highly aberrant, and the single biggest x-factor right now is rampant confusion. About what they are supposed to be running, about who shoots when. People are bieng misused. People are uncomfortable in almost painful fashion. The coach absolutely refuses to settle on roles or rotations.

Anybody ever played pickup ball? Scenario 1: you take the court along with 4 friends who you go out wiht all the time. You've played together, know how you want to play. Know what everybody wants to do. May even have a few basic a little plays you have talked about. Scenario 2: you go alone to the park, join up with 4 other random guys who also went alone, and take the court never having played together before. Maybe you have seen some of them in other games etc. Maybe you have even played a game or 2 with or against 1 or 2 of them. But that's it. Now in your experience are you going to have as good a chance of winning with the second group as the first? How about just looking organized? How about just not having various of your teamamtes get frustrated and just start going 1 on 1, barking at teammates etc.? Familiarity and stability and structure make a difference. A HUGE difference.

And you expect them to be on the same page in a short amount of time? Yes they had 60 odd games under Smart last year, but he didn't have training camp or many practices during the season due to the lockout schedule. He just had his first off season and training camp as a coach. His focus on camp was on defense which everyone seems to agree is better. It's going to take time for the offense to do the same.

Rainmaker likes to talk about his time with the Warriors, but don't forget he got the job right before training camp. He didn't have an off season to prepare.

[spudfan]

You forget confused.

All of these players have looked better in previous years. ALL of them, well maybe except Jimmer. People have short memories, because most of them looked better 6 months ago, on offense at least.

What's going on right now is highly aberrant, and the single biggest x-factor right now is rampant confusion. About what they are supposed to be running, about who shoots when. People are bieng misused. People are uncomfortable in almost painful fashion. The coach absolutely refuses to settle on roles or rotations.

Anybody ever played pickup ball? Scenario 1: you take the court along with 4 friends who you go out wiht all the time. You've played together, know how you want to play. Know what everybody wants to do. May even have a few basic a little plays you have talked about. Scenario 2: you go alone to the park, join up with 4 other random guys who also went alone, and take the court never having played together before. Maybe you have seen some of them in other games etc. Maybe you have even played a game or 2 with or against 1 or 2 of them. But that's it. Now in your experience are you going to have as good a chance of winning with the second group as the first? How about just looking organized? How about just not having various of your teamamtes get frustrated and just start going 1 on 1, barking at teammates etc.? Familiarity and stability and structure make a difference. A HUGE difference.

This part here, I think HUGE difference is understatement! Now that you point this out, it really does look like pickup game. One player dribbles down, passes it once and then that guy shoots. Repeat over and over. No one else knows what to do, and halfway through the game most of the team isn't trying because they know they won't get the ball so they don't see a point in hustling. As a result teams with much worse individual talent put up more of a fight than they should.

side note: I play a lot of pickup ball. When I am playing with friends I look like a super star (as a pg), when I play pickup games I rarely get to touch the ball Knowing where your team is going to be and how they will defend certain plays gives each INDIVIDUAL a much better chance to live up to their potential.

[Section 101]

Let's talk about the background of our players a bit, shall we?

Cousins: Coached by Calipari at Kentucky. Sure, one year, but I wouldn't call Calipari a slouch. Cousins looked pretty good in that system.
Evans: Again, a Calipari product. Excelled at the PG position at Memphis.

And knew they were 1 year rentals. He wasn't teaching them like he would a player that was going to be around for 4 years. Hence he moved Evans to PG and rode him.

Thompson: Fairly consistent with steady improvement after coming out as a senior in college.
Thomas: Also consistent, came out of a good Washington program
Fredette: Scoring machine from BYU. He knows what to do with the ball based on what we've seen in college. Shows an ability to score. Defense...ugh.

All four year players. Jimmer' is the only one having to adjust to an entirely different role.

[spudfan]

And you expect them to be on the same page in a short amount of time? Yes they had 60 odd games under Smart last year, but he didn't have training camp or many practices during the season due to the lockout schedule. He just had his first off season and training camp as a coach. His focus on camp was on defense which everyone seems to agree is better. It's going to take time for the offense to do the same.

Rainmaker likes to talk about his time with the Warriors, but don't forget he got the job right before training camp. He didn't have an off season to prepare.

I don't think anyone expects the players to be on the same page, as they are reading from a different book every quarter.

[Padrino]

And you expect them to be on the same page in a short amount of time? Yes they had 60 odd games under Smart last year, but he didn't have training camp or many practices during the season due to the lockout schedule. He just had his first off season and training camp as a coach. His focus on camp was on defense which everyone seems to agree is better. It's going to take time for the offense to do the same.

Rainmaker likes to talk about his time with the Warriors, but don't forget he got the job right before training camp. He didn't have an off season to prepare.

do you honestly believe that his response to having a partial season and now a full training camp should be to waffle, to not have settled on a rotation? he should easily be locked into a solid rotation by now. ya know, these five guys start, these ones are the first to come off the bench, these are the garbage-timers, and these are the practice bodies, etc. i don't care whose feelings you hurt, its not that hard. sure, there's wiggle-room according to match-ups, and if your general rotation proves faulty across time, you try something else. but you don't just play "pick a card, any card" with your players every single game. they're already offensively deficient. all keith smart has done is invite more confusion into a complex equation...

[Spike]

And you expect them to be on the same page in a short amount of time? Yes they had 60 odd games under Smart last year, but he didn't have training camp or many practices during the season due to the lockout schedule. He just had his first off season and training camp as a coach. His focus on camp was on defense which everyone seems to agree is better. It's going to take time for the offense to do the same.

Rainmaker likes to talk about his time with the Warriors, but don't forget he got the job right before training camp. He didn't have an off season to prepare.

So a coach can only focus on one thing during the offseason? As you mentioned, he DID have 60ish games last year, and Smart himself has said that offense is easiest to fix during the season. Why didn't he work on it then last year? He decided to chase points instead of establishing a set offense like he did at the start of his tenure, which was arguably a good start. Now, by his own doing, his decision to not stick with what was structured and improving has returned to bite him in the butt. Had he stayed the course, we would have, this year, a great concept of team defense followed by an ever-improving half-court offense. That is precisely where this team should be by now.

[spudfan]

Has anyone come up with a reasonable argument to why the rotations are so sloppy? I often see people say "give it time, give it time" but that isn't really a reason to why the rotations have been all over the place.

[Spike]

And knew they were 1 year rentals. He wasn't teaching them like he would a player that was going to be around for 4 years. Hence he moved Evans to PG and rode him.

Are you being intentionally fatuous? While most may disagree with Calipari's philosophy on recruiting, we can't argue about his ability to maximize the talents of his players. He's one of the best developers of the talent in the game. And we had some pretty good half-court style game victories last year with Evans at the PG, but that's not the flippin' point I'm trying to make here.

All four year players. Jimmer' is the only one having to adjust to an entirely different role.

I'm not sure what you're getting at here. I'm saying that these guys should be able to contribute, and they do, to a greater or lesser extent. Jimmer is starting to show flashes, which is what we should see in his second year. It's up to the coach to maximize the talent, and we haven't been getting that. If you want to continue to parse words in order to miss the main point that I'm trying to make, feel free to do so, but it's not helping the conversation.