Truehoop article on Tyreke's season and situation

[swisshh]

http://espn.go.com/blog/truehoop/pos...-in-sacramento

The light never changes on Tyreke Evans.

“He has total green light to do what he needs to do on the basketball floor with me,” Sacramento Kings coach Keith Smart said. “It’s only [up to him] what he does.”

But after emerging early in his career primarily through an uncanny ability to fearlessly and so fluidly charge the basket, Evans has been stuck in neutral to start a fourth NBA season that figures to finally define his place in the league, one or way or another.

Written after the Lakers game. Doesn't go too in depth or anything, but it is a question I hear from every broadcast team the Kings play against. Basically, what happened with Evans and what will happen with his future?

[tyreeeke]

http://espn.go.com/blog/truehoop/pos...-in-sacramento



Written after the Lakers game. Doesn't go too in depth or anything, but it is a question I hear from every broadcast team the Kings play against. Basically, what happened with Evans and what will happen with his future?

The fact that he has a total green light with Smart is baffling.

[sactownfan]

Basically it comes down to this... We tried the PG thing. Then gave up on it. Put him at SG... now hes worse... why? its NOT the whole "not having a position thing"..its because he failed at learning to shoot. which is what the article is all about...

blame our coaches, our front office, and our ability to develop talent.... but at the end of the day ITS UP TO EVANS TO LEARN HOW TO SHOOT.... his inability to shoot the basketball is his own fault. not the kings. he's had more than enough offseason's to make his shot even just ok decent... but he has not. When players have bad shots they hire shooting coaches... thats up to the players/ Evans to find a good one... obviously its back to the drawing board for evans and his shot coach.

Its painfully obvious this team needs more range. specifically 3pt/mid range shooting from the SF spot and Evans when hes on the floor. thats a front office problem at the SF spot... but we need it from evans too, he needs it. until we get a SF that can shoot/ Evans learns to shoot.... the paint and spacing will continue to be a mess.

This team needs to figure out the SF position. but at the end of the day if Evans had a ok decent jump shot things would totally be so much easier for him and our team.

[Warhawk]

Link?

[Bricklayer]

I continue to find it amusing that you have a guy who everybody says has to be more aggressive, who is leading his team in assists, and indeed one of only two guys (Hayes) who typically even get 3 in a game...and yet his detractors keep trying to paint him with the selfish tag. That's not the problem. In fact at least part of the proiblem is exactly the opposite. He, and we, would be far better off if he WERE far more selfish.

This is to a significant degree a classic case of what happens when you tell a player to not play like himself. To go against his instincts. That this is bad, this is worng, do this, no do that. Before long you have taken a great instinctual talent and turned it into a headcase overthinking everything and never sure what to do.

[tyreeeke]

Basically it comes down to this... We tried the PG thing. Then gave up on it. Put him at SG... now hes worse... why? its NOT the whole "not having a position thing"..its because he failed at learning to shoot. which is what the article is all about...

blame our coaches, our front office, and our ability to develop talent.... but at the end of the day ITS UP TO EVANS TO LEARN HOW TO SHOOT.... his inability to shoot the basketball is his own fault. not the kings. he's had more than enough offseason's to make his shot even just ok decent... but he has not. When players have bad shots they hire shooting coaches... thats up to the players/ Evans to find a good one... obviously its back to the drawing board for evans and his shot coach.

Its painfully obvious this team needs more range. specifically 3pt/mid range shooting from the SF spot and Evans when hes on the floor. thats a front office problem at the SF spot... but we need it from evans too, he needs it. until we get a SF that can shoot/ Evans learns to shoot.... the paint and spacing will continue to be a mess.

This team needs to figure out the SF position. but at the end of the day if Evans had a ok decent jump shot things would totally be so much easier for him and our team.

If Reke would focus on dishing and defense, he is the obvious choice at PG, IMO. Pass first, shoot second. Reke has the ability to create at a high level but he's too focused on scoring, and that absolutely destroys his potential as a GREAT PG.

[swisshh]

I continue to find it amusing that you have a guy who everybody says has to be more aggressive, who is leading hte team in assists, and indeed one of only two guys (Hayes) who typically even get 3 in a game...and yet his detractors keep trying to paint him with the selfish tag. That's not the problem. In fact at least part of the proiblem is exactly the opposite. He, and we, would be far better off if he WERE far more selfish.

Not really. He doesn't have good court vision, and he doesn't have a midrange game or a jumpshot. So when he attacks and the lane closes off it often leads to turnovers or junk shots.

I think he isn't as aggressive because defenses adjusted to him years ago and he hasn't grown his game enough to counter it. He also isn't good at recognizing when the opportunity is there or not there.

[tyreeeke]

Not really. He doesn't have good court vision, and he doesn't have a midrange game or a jumpshot. So when he attacks and the lane closes off it often leads to turnovers or junk shots.

I think he isn't as aggressive because defenses adjusted to him years ago and he hasn't grown his game enough to counter it. He also isn't good at recognizing when the opportunity is there or not there.

I never considered Reke not having good court vision, but you may be right. I always assumed he was just out to 'get his.' One of those things can be improved, one is a lacked skill.

[swisshh]

Also, on a note about the merged threads, there are TWO articles about Evans today. One is an insider article that I think sactownfan is talking about and another is the Truehoop article I linked.

[Section 101]

I continue to find it amusing that you have a guy who everybody says has to be more aggressive, who is leading his team in assists, and indeed one of only two guys (Hayes) who typically even get 3 in a game...and yet his detractors keep trying to paint him with the selfish tag. That's not the problem. In fact at least part of the proiblem is exactly the opposite. He, and we, would be far better off if he WERE far more selfish.

This is to a significant degree a classic case of what happens when you tell a player to not play like himself. To go against his instincts. That this is bad, this is worng, do this, no do that. Before long you have taken a great instinctual talent and turned it into a headcase overthinking everything and never sure what to do.

I wouldn't call him selfish this year. He's still making poor decisions on the break, IE 3 on 2 and not giving up the ball. And a few times goes into hero mode shooting the ball with never passing. I don't think we would be better off with him with the ball more until he can find away to score without being at the rim. Either a jump shot, set shot 3 or floater would work. More driving into 3 defenders is not the answer.

[rainmaker]

This is amusing.

When Reke isn't looking to score as much, and concentrate more on defense and setting guys up(leading team in assists), he's not being aggressive enough.

If he tries to be aggressive and attack, he's playing hero ball, is selfish and has no vision.

He's been our best creator, yet is still selfish, while our other three PG's in IT, Brooks, Jimmer aren't getting near his assist numbers and are looking for their own more than setting up others, or even the offense, yet all three somehow get a pass on the selfish tag. I mean, IT's clearly looking for his own and his only impact this year really has been when he's looking for his own or Reke is setting him up. Brooks pounds the ball into oblivion before jacking 30 footers, and we have Jimmer, who while he's shooting well is not creating aside from a couple pick & rolls and jacked 9 shots in 11 mins last game, with 1 assist, yet Reke is the selfish one with no vision?

Then we have Smart saying it's all on Reke to take over, and he has the ultimate green light. I saw that comment postgame. I thought it was weird, as is most of what Smart says. Reke can't take over when he's battling for the ball from our gunning PG's, and can't take over from the bench. Just how is Reke supposed to take over? He attacks and plays good defense, goes 3-3 then finds himself on the bench. He sits back and tries to facilitate more, and then finds himself on the bench. He's being played with with four other players at any given time who also appear to have the green light, and has a coach who'll run plays to get JJ, Chuck and Outlaw shots before he Cuz or MT.

Obviously Reke's jumper has been atrocious thus far, but apparently that hasn't stopped Smart from giving him the green light. Problem is, everyone has the green light it appears and Smart doesn't seem to be putting anyone in a position to take over or even play to their strengths.

There's confusion at every corner with this organization.

[hrdboild]

Rondo is an All-Star and he still can't shoot. To blame Tyreke's lack of success on his inability to develop a consistent jump shot is to be just as uncreative as the King's front office has been in developing his talent. From day 1 this guy was top 5 in the league in getting to the basket. What did we do? We told him to focus on his shooting, play off the ball, and set up a bunch of terrible outside shooters for open jumpshots they can't hit anyway. Basically we were sitting on a huge asset that every team in the league would covet and our reaction was to tell him to get back to work and come back when he's Lebron James. But he's not Lebron James.

The jumpshot is not the be-all end-all of basketball offense. Shaq flat-out dominated the entire league for 10 years and he couldn't hit a jumpshot outside of 8 feet his entire career. I've been watching this team a long time and it seems to me that every time we bring in a player with some potential to get the ball inside and score consistently we try to remake them as an outside shooter instead. For example, has anyone else noticed that DeMarcus keeps moving further and further away from the basket? Is it all that surprising that his overall shooting percentages continue to go down? A few years ago with Tyreke, Casspi, Dalembert, Cousins, and Whiteside we were promised a tough hard-nosed team which is going to attack the basket relentlessly and seal up the paint at the other end. Instead we have yet another group of streaky jumpshooters.

I'm not saying that Tyreke is without fault, but other teams have found ways to get high level production out of players who aren't consistent outside shooters. Maybe it would be a good idea to try out a coach who wasn't a scoring guard as a player? Just a thought.

[swisshh]

Guys like Shaq and Rondo have other assets that make their lack of a jumpshot not so detrimental to their game or the team's offense. Tyreke doesn't have those assets right now.

It's pretty basic, the defenses have found the limits to Tyreke's game and Tyreke has to expand his game to overcome that. That's why they work on his jumpshot and they work on his midrange game and his inbetween game. That's why he was put at SF and told to assess the situation before attacking, to better his vision and decision making. The problem is that nothing has really taken with him. Every off-season there's talk of getting Reke to stop fading away on every shot, yet every season he continues to do it. If you pound something into a guys head and he still retains the bad habit then I don't know how you blame the coaching staff on that.

[Reke 13 Havoc]

The fact that he has a total green light with Smart is baffling.

all 13 players on the team have a green light with Smart

[swisshh]

Guys who should not have a green light: Hayes and Johnson. Probably JT as well, though he's got offensive talent.

[rainmaker]

Reke is popular lately. Today, a new insider article. Per rules I can't post most, but here's some.

Early on in Sacramento's opener against the Bulls, Evans looked like a different player. The explosion to his right was still there. (Though he showed no evidence of having improved his ability to go left, another unplugged hole in his game.) And his jump shot looked good. Evans scored 11 points in the first quarter against Chicago on four shots, hitting a 3-pointer and another shot just inside the arc, which prompted tweets praising his improved shot. I agreed, but then again, shots that go in always look good.

Evans then rested, and spent the next quarter or so floating around the weak side on offense and swinging the ball when it came his away. Kings coach Keith Smart ran very few plays for him, and Evans didn't do much other than spot up. But when DeMarcus Cousins got into foul trouble, Evans started forcing the issue by driving the lane repeatedly, and he had success. The Kings lost, but Evans finished with an efficient 21 points on 8-for-13 shooting and committed just two turnovers. Was this a smarter version of Evans?

Since that encouraging opener, Evans has been awful. He's had shooting performances of 3-for-14, 5-for-15 and 1-for-9. In Sunday's loss to the Lakers, Evans was not a featured player, getting just nine shots in 26 minutes. He made 4 of 5 around the hoop, but was 0-for-4 away from it.

Evans is shooting 37 percent from the field and is just 7-for-43 (16.3 percent) away from the hoop, playing almost all of his minutes at shooting guard. Yes, it's early. But there is no evidence that Evans has improved his game. Next summer, assuming Evans finishes the season with the Kings, Sacramento will have to decide whether to tender Evans a $6.9 million qualifying offer. If his season doesn't get better, there will be a solid case against doing so.

This is a case of badly botched player development, though it's not clear who to blame. The onus falls on Sacramento's management. Does it have to find more motivated players, or does it have to do a better job developing them? The answer to that question will be key in deciding if the Kings are ever able to have another cycle of success.

A lot of truth here. Reke has been terrible at hitting his jumper since Chicago, as in, I don't think he's made any. But there's also the aspect that Reke is far better on the ball than off and is better when he's in the rhythm of the game, which sticking him off the ball for long stretches and not featuring or running plays for him hurts.

Does Reke need to shoot better? Without a doubt. But is Smart using him correctly? I'd say definitely not. Even when he had a great start in Chicago, and had another great start against the Lakers, what was the result from Smart? Sit him for a long stretch and then upon return, go against exactly what made his successful in the first quarter and stick him off the ball without featuring him. Even without the jumper, he's made a big impact for us penetrating and creating, better than anyone else on the team with their jumpers, and has helped us when aggressive and attacking. The jumper is vital for him and our team going forward, or wherever he ends up, but Smart is also neutering what he does best, and what he does best still helps our team when allowed to do so.

[Padrino]

Reke is popular lately. Today, a new insider article. Per rules I can't post most, but here's some.


A lot of truth here. Reke has been terrible at hitting his jumper since Chicago, as in, I don't think he's made any. But there's also the aspect that Reke is far better on the ball than off and is better when he's in the rhythm of the game, which sticking him off the ball for long stretches and not featuring or running plays for him hurts.

Does Reke need to shoot better? Without a doubt. But is Smart using him correctly? I'd say definitely not. Even when he had a great start in Chicago, and had another great start against the Lakers, what was the result from Smart? Sit him for a long stretch and then upon return, go against exactly what made his successful in the first quarter and stick him off the ball without featuring him.

indeed. smart's claim that tyreke has a "green light" is extremely deceptive. he consistently plays 'reke off-ball, which is limiting no matter what position he occupies. if the kings intend to go this route, styling their game away from evans' strengths, then they just need to ****ing trade him. why sabotage his value by playing him primarily off-ball, out of position, or, potentially, off the bench? clearly, this team needs to be cousins-centric, but they're not even doing that right. smart's gameplan is garbage. getting "everyone involved" does not mean that everyone must be shooting. cousins should touch the ball at least once on every offensive possession, and the offense could very easily be run through evans, who is a more consistent playmaker than anyone else on the team...

[chief bromden]

I think the onus falls on the Kings inability to develop young players. The idea that Tyreke needs to be "more aggressiveness" is just too general to hold any value. If anything, he needs to be more patient or calculating...but only if the Kings are running an offensive set and he's waiting for players to move to certain spots so that he can drive to the hoop or drive and kick. The 'freedom' thing being thrown around is also troubling for the Tyreke's future. If anything, the young players need structure... and then granted freedom from within that structure as play dictates. When I watch the Kings, it appears that often times that players just simply don't know where to go on the floor.


Can anyone spout off some names of young players drafted by the Kings that they have successfully developed? Maybe Jason Williams and Jason Thompson...?

[bajaden]

Rondo is an All-Star and he still can't shoot. To blame Tyreke's lack of success on his inability to develop a consistent jump shot is to be just as uncreative as the King's front office has been in developing his talent. From day 1 this guy was top 5 in the league in getting to the basket. What did we do? We told him to focus on his shooting, play off the ball, and set up a bunch of terrible outside shooters for open jumpshots they can't hit anyway. Basically we were sitting on a huge asset that every team in the league would covet and our reaction was to tell him to get back to work and come back when he's Lebron James. But he's not Lebron James.

The jumpshot is not the be-all end-all of basketball offense. Shaq flat-out dominated the entire league for 10 years and he couldn't hit a jumpshot outside of 8 feet his entire career. I've been watching this team a long time and it seems to me that every time we bring in a player with some potential to get the ball inside and score consistently we try to remake them as an outside shooter instead. For example, has anyone else noticed that DeMarcus keeps moving further and further away from the basket? Is it all that surprising that his overall shooting percentages continue to go down? A few years ago with Tyreke, Casspi, Dalembert, Cousins, and Whiteside we were promised a tough hard-nosed team which is going to attack the basket relentlessly and seal up the paint at the other end. Instead we have yet another group of streaky jumpshooters.

I'm not saying that Tyreke is without fault, but other teams have found ways to get high level production out of players who aren't consistent outside shooters. Maybe it would be a good idea to try out a coach who wasn't a scoring guard as a player? Just a thought.

Well I'll be honest with you, if Tyreke was 7'2" and weighed 350 Lbs, I wouldn't be worried about him having a jumpshot. Come on, talk about comparing apples and oranges. Your right about Rondo not being a great shooter, but you know what, he's a better shooter than Tyreke. And, he's surounded by players that can shoot. As I've said, you can get away with having one poor shooter on the floor, but we have two, and thats the problem. Now somehow, this discussion has turned into, Tyreke's not a selfish player. Maybe I missed it, but I don't recall anyone in this thread saying that he was selfish. I certainly don't think so. They did say, and the article said, that he seems to have lost his aggression. Which I can understand to some extent.

If the other team is packing the lane, and making it very difficult for you to get to the basket, and you can't hit an outside shot, guess what? Your confidence starts to wane. You start questioning what you should do, because nothing seems to be working. And when you lose your confidence, you lose your aggressiveness. Now everyone can say that the Kings are screwing up a good thing by asking him to change his game. I disagree! Every player should strive to be a more well rounded player. To grow his game. Fact: Tyreke needs to be able to hit a jumpshot to become a more complete player. Fact: So far, he's failed to do that. Fact: No one but him, can accomplish that, and no one else is to blame for that.

As I said before, without a jumpshot, what you see is what you get. Either way, he's still a very talented player, and with the right cast around him, and the ball always in his hands, he could still be very effective. But are we building around him, or Cousins? Because if its Cousins, the best player to have next to him, is someone like a Steve Nash. Of which there are few.

Let me make one thing perfectly clear. Tyreke is one of my favorite players. I think his ability to get to the basket is special. But I won't make excuses for him, and I doubt he would make them for himself. A player knows when he's not playing well. Were barely into the season, so there's still time for him to turn it around. But he needs to stick with what he practiced, and not revert back to old habits. If he does, the shots will start to fall. If he reverts back, I fear he's doomed to always be a poor shooter.

[Padrino]

Well I'll be honest with you, if Tyreke was 7'2" and weighed 350 Lbs, I wouldn't be worried about him having a jumpshot. Come on, talk about comparing apples and oranges. Your right about Rondo not being a great shooter, but you know what, he's a better shooter than Tyreke. And, he's surounded by players that can shoot. As I've said, you can get away with having one poor shooter on the floor, but we have two, and thats the problem. Now somehow, this discussion has turned into, Tyreke's not a selfish player. Maybe I missed it, but I don't recall anyone in this thread saying that he was selfish. I certainly don't think so. They did say, and the article said, that he seems to have lost his aggression. Which I can understand to some extent.

If the other team is packing the lane, and making it very difficult for you to get to the basket, and you can't hit an outside shot, guess what? Your confidence starts to wane. You start questioning what you should do, because nothing seems to be working. And when you lose your confidence, you lose your aggressiveness. Now everyone can say that the Kings are screwing up a good thing by asking him to change his game. I disagree! Every player should strive to be a more well rounded player. To grow his game. Fact: Tyreke needs to be able to hit a jumpshot to become a more complete player. Fact: So far, he's failed to do that. Fact: No one but him, can accomplish that, and no one else is to blame for that.

As I said before, without a jumpshot, what you see is what you get. Either way, he's still a very talented player, and with the right cast around him, and the ball always in his hands, he could still be very effective. But are we building around him, or Cousins? Because if its Cousins, the best player to have next to him, is someone like a Steve Nash. Of which there are few.

Let me make one thing perfectly clear. Tyreke is one of my favorite players. I think his ability to get to the basket is special. But I won't make excuses for him, and I doubt he would make them for himself. A player knows when he's not playing well. Were barely into the season, so there's still time for him to turn it around. But he needs to stick with what he practiced, and not revert back to old habits. If he does, the shots will start to fall. If he reverts back, I fear he's doomed to always be a poor shooter.

i would call this out as false. with his size and strength, demarcus cousins should be molded into an effective post player, and no great post player has ever needed a point guard of nash's caliber to be successful. nash is at his best when paired with bigs like amare stoudemire and, potentially, dwight howard, guys who rely on athleticism to get their points at the rim. but a great post player simply needs to be given the ball down low so he can go to work, and any nba-level guard should be able to deliver a simple entry pass into the post. the problem is that keith smart's gameplan is not cousins-centric, therefore its not clear how evans and cousins might play off of each other, though they have executed a number of successful pick and rolls in the past, and i've oft-wondered why smart does not utilize such a play call more often. it is never a bad thing to have multiple scoring threats who get their points in the paint. at one time, kobe bryant and shaquille o'neal existed just fine alongside one another. kobe certainly had a passable jump shot, but when he was younger, he got the majority of his points slashing to the rim. more recently, dwayne wade and shaquille o'neal existed just fine alongside one another, and wade did not have a very passable jump shot at that time. thompson can hit the midrange shot. thomas or brooks should be able to hit 3's at a rate consistent enough in the starting lineup to warrant the kick-out. you'd like to get some shooting at the SF position, as well, but better teams have won with less shooting than the kings have (the memphis grizzlies, for example)...