Smart and unselfish basketball

[bajaden]

I hate to beat a dead horse, but until either Tyreke or JJ can hit an outside shot, its going to remain ugly, and tough on Cousins. Yeah, Tyreke can drive into the lane with the idea of dishing, but he's going to be met by his own defender, the player defending Cousins, and the player defending JJ. Just watch the games. When they're in a half court set, they're not guarding Tyeke or JJ. Both defenders are cheating toward the post daring either Tyreke or JJ to shoot the ball from out there.

Tyreke is capable of taking anyone off the dribble, but his man has to be up guarding him for him to do that. when he's playing 5 to 6 feet off of Tyreke, its damm hard to get past him and if Tyreke does, he's usually met by another defender. The Kings are susposed to be playing a motion offense. The whole idea of a motion offense is less dribbling and more passing. So you spread the floor and keep the ball moving, and when the ball isn't in your hands, your susposed to be moving. The idea is, that sooner or later you'll get someone open for a clean shot. What good does that do, if the players they keep leaving open are Tyreke and JJ.

As I said, you can get by with one player on the floor that can't shoot, but not two. Thats why it was imperative that Tyreke show up with a jumpshot this season. So far, he hasn't!

[Npliam]

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.
.

I would be interested to see the career numbers vs the numbers this season. I would bet that things like fg% and pps aren't that far off from the career averages.

[tyreeeke]

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.

Great points, the time is now for at the MOST, a 9 man rotation. Cisco nor Outlaw should see the floor, IMO.

[Section 101]

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.

He did by moving Evans to the 3. That wasn't just for last year that was to help him going forward.

[Section 101]

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...

Do you really see anyone on the bench standing out and deserving minutes over the next guy? Outlaw, Garcia, Salmons really haven't done anything to standout to get minutes over another. Now Salmons is just coming back so he maybe that guy. And really Brooks hasn't been head and shoulders above Jimmer. The only guy that didn't see PT is Honeycutt. So there is your defined 13th guy. Until one of the other SF or guards can do something on a consistent basis then by all means play the guys you think are a better match up.

[Section 101]

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.

Simple, nobody is playing well enough over the next guy and pretty much stinking up when they get the chance.

[Section 101]

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.

They don't get to do anything team wise in the off season except summer league and training camp. No that isn't enough time especially with the newer rules on no two a day practices.

[Section 101]

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.

Yes, he stuck with their strengths is exactly the point. I disagree on his development of players otherwise he would have kept Evans as a SG. He wasn't preparing them for the future or NBA. He was trying to win now. He

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.

I was agreeing with you. The 4 year guys have been the more consistent while the 1 year guys haven't been consistent.

[Section 101]

I hate to beat a dead horse, but until either Tyreke or JJ can hit an outside shot, its going to remain ugly, and tough on Cousins. Yeah, Tyreke can drive into the lane with the idea of dishing, but he's going to be met by his own defender, the player defending Cousins, and the player defending JJ. Just watch the games. When they're in a half court set, they're not guarding Tyeke or JJ. Both defenders are cheating toward the post daring either Tyreke or JJ to shoot the ball from out there.

Tyreke is capable of taking anyone off the dribble, but his man has to be up guarding him for him to do that. when he's playing 5 to 6 feet off of Tyreke, its damm hard to get past him and if Tyreke does, he's usually met by another defender. The Kings are susposed to be playing a motion offense. The whole idea of a motion offense is less dribbling and more passing. So you spread the floor and keep the ball moving, and when the ball isn't in your hands, your susposed to be moving. The idea is, that sooner or later you'll get someone open for a clean shot. What good does that do, if the players they keep leaving open are Tyreke and JJ.

As I said, you can get by with one player on the floor that can't shoot, but not two. Thats why it was imperative that Tyreke show up with a jumpshot this season. So far, he hasn't!

People like to look back at Evans rookie year and say why can't he do it again. Simple answer is defenses know how to play him now. He doesn't even need a jumper at this point, a 5 foot floater over the defender instead of ramming into him would do the trick.

[Padrino]

Do you really see anyone on the bench standing out and deserving minutes over the next guy? Outlaw, Garcia, Salmons really haven't done anything to standout to get minutes over another. Now Salmons is just coming back so he maybe that guy. And really Brooks hasn't been head and shoulders above Jimmer. The only guy that didn't see PT is Honeycutt. So there is your defined 13th guy. Until one of the other SF or guards can do something on a consistent basis then by all means play the guys you think are a better match up.

no, but who the eff cares? what does it matter if none of the bench players clearly stand out over one another? this isn't elementary school. its not a feel-goodery. its about wins. its about developing chemistry and consistency. you don't dole out minutes based on some cockamamie notion that every guy on the bench "deserves" them. you pick a tight rotation that can become dependable through protracted usage, no matter who gets left out:

thomas
evans
johnson
thompson
cousins

thornton
brooks
hayes
robinson
garcia

i'm giving keith smart ten guys in this scenario. TEN!! that's more than enough, with garcia being the tenth man off the bench, the flex guy who receives spot minutes per his utility. nobody else needs minutes, except in garbagetime. yes, outlaw never sees the floor in this scenario. completely fine by me. yes, tyler honeycutt is permanently your 13th man. no objection there. and yes, jimmer's also on the outside-looking-in. that would certainly piss off his contingent of fans, but again, who the eff cares? blame geoff petrie. bringing aaron brooks to sacramento in the offseason complicated an already-muddy guard rotation. without brooks, jimmer becomes your ninth or tenth guy off the bench. as it is, you just have to make a decision. if coach decides to move brooks into the starting PG spot, and brings jimmer off the bench to spell, while sidelining thomas, i'm okay with that, too, as long as he makes a goddamn decision. no more of this lottery ball lineup ****...

[spudfan]

no, but who the eff cares? what does it matter if none of the bench players clearly stand out over one another? this isn't elementary school. its not a feel-goodery. its about wins. its about developing chemistry and consistency. you don't dole out minutes based on some cockamamie notion that every guy on the bench "deserves" them. you pick a tight rotation that can become dependable through protracted usage, no matter who gets left out:

thomas
evans
johnson
thompson
cousins

thornton
brooks
hayes
robinson
garcia

i'm giving keith smart ten guys in this scenario. TEN!! that's more than enough, with garcia being the tenth man off the bench, the flex guy who receives spot minutes per his utility. nobody else needs minutes, except in garbagetime. yes, outlaw never sees the floor in this scenario. completely fine by me. yes, tyler honeycutt is permanently your 13th man. no objection there. and yes, jimmer's also on the outside-looking-in. that would certainly piss off his contingent of fans, but again, who the eff cares? blame geoff petrie. bringing aaron brooks to sacramento in the offseason complicated an already-muddy guard rotation. without brooks, jimmer becomes your ninth or tenth guy off the bench. as it is, you just have to make a decision. if coach decides to move brooks into the starting PG spot, and brings jimmer off the bench to spell, while sidelining thomas, i'm okay with that, too, as long as he makes a goddamn decision. no more of this lottery ball lineup ****...

You think it would be that simple huh. In my mind it is. Pick a starter, and a backup. When the starter needs a blow, put in the bench guy. When he is ok, put the starter back in. No need for all this nonsense of making sure everyone gets play time. No need to take out a starter with 2 or 3 minutes left in the first quarter, and keep them out until 5 minutes until half. For all the talk about how good of shape we are in from running, running, running it sure seems like our guys are "resting" on the bench a lot!