I know we’re without Blake, but are we noted to be that bad of a turnover team?

Against Portland, you have to create turnovers … and they’ll usually be more than happy to give them up.

In any case, you had to appreciate the oops from Sergio, Rudy, and the guys. Those were some sick passes those guys were dropping, and Martell Webster and company were all to happy to put ’em through the hoop.

he was freaking awesome. wonder what percentage of suns front office wanted to commit suicide after watching that game.

Spencer was terrrible. He looked like he’d worked on regressing his game in the offseason. Not fair, I realize, to make sweeping judgments based on one game, but, as a Hawes supporter, I was very, very, very disapointed in his outing. Not so much his shooting, which I don’t expect to be consistent at this point in the season despite having the natural ability, but his decision-making. Finally, and perhaps most importantly, was his inability to get position inside – in fact, much of the time he was just out of position (i.e. it wasn’t the Portland guys pushing him out of the way; he just wasn’t where he should have been.)

Beno and Garcia looked fine. Salmons shot terribly though he did have some beautiful drives to the hoop. Still pounding the ball way too much. Too early to make predictions, but JT looks like a nice pick-up. Nice all-around game and athleticism. Hope to see a lot more from him.

that Spencer has all these great post moves inside, yet I don’t believe they went to him more than one time on the deep block last night. If Shawes is going to be relegated to a high post center (ala Brad Miller) shooting 18+ footers all game, that is not going to be best for him or the team. One of the only baskets he made was a nice hook from about 10 feet. The Kings need a post threat. Based on last night, Shawes looked pretty bad, but to be (a bit) fair, he was forced to play on the perimiter which I don’t think is his best asset considering the Kings don’t have any low post threat. It’s useless to have center play the high post if there is nobody in the paint to spread the floor. In fact, one time last night, Shawes was on the 3-point line, passing it in to Greene. I sure hope that isn’t what his role is going to be.

The one guarantee I feel comfortable making after last night is that Greene will be the 2008 draft’s Monte Ellis or Leon Powe. Every year we see at least a couple of players, due to concerns about maturity, conditioning, basketball IQ, fall unfairly in the draft. Greene was a consensus late lottery pick coming in to March, but the Orangemen missed the tourney, struggled in the NIT and Greene opted to leave a roster that, had he stayed, would have been well regarded in November. The fact that Donte probably should have remained in school doesn’t also mean he’s not NBA ready. He can shoot and draws contact. Assuming he subverts his selfishness (and I always thought he was in a no win situation in Syracuse, where he was leaned on offensively but, the moment they lost, was lambasted for being a ball hog and/or not being Carmelo Anthony) I think Greene is at worst JR Smith with a potential low-post game or a less erratic Al Harrington. And if neither of those sound all that appealing remember we were so sick of Artest last year we were talking ourselves into Kleiza being adequate compensation.

Speed Racer and B52 really makes things tough to assess. I like Greene although I think he takes way to many 3’s. Noone played particularly well tonight…I guess the Blazers getting into camp early really helped.

Conspicuously missing from the recap…

Just on last night’s performance:
Jason Thompson (B) He showed some good things on offense and defense. Made some mistakes and fouled way too much but for his first game he showed a lot of promise.
Beno Udrih (B-) I would have liked to see more playmaking. His scoring was solid and he made some nice defensive deflections as well.
Donte’ Greene (B-) He chucked up some ill advised shots and he looked a bit lost at times but overall he did score 18 points (leading scorer of both teams) and had a very nice offensive tip in His defense needs work though but overall I was impressed.
Francisco Garcia (B) In the first half he played very well but faded fast in the second half. He needs to put it together for all 4 quarters. I liked his rebounding.
Spencer Hawes (D-) It was a bad night for Shawes. His rebounding was the only thing he did to so-so level.
John Salmons (D-) Almost as much as Spencer, I was really disappointed with how he played. 1-9 shooting with no steals or assists. Very poor. I’m sure it was just a bad night.
Mikki Moore (C+) I thought he did a pretty good job keeping in the mix and he did score 8 points in 14 minutes. One rebound though? That’s NOT good. His defense was also, just average.
Sheldon Williams (B-) Seven points, six rebounds in 20 minutes is very good for Sheldon. Shooting 1-7 however, is not going to work. He did get 4 offensive rebounds though. He played decent defense as well.
Bobby Jackson © Nothing special, nothing terrible. 3 assists led the team which is bad for the Kings but not bad for Bobby.
Bobby Brown (C+) Showed some ability to get to the basket and finish. Also was able to find the open man a couple times on the fast break. Needs to get much better on defense and on working the half court offense.
Kenny Thomas (D-) I almost gave him an F, but he DID get 2 steals…

I will admit, though, I didn’t get to see the game last night. I think Spencer has consistently tried to show everything in his repertoire. Rather than just isolate a few aspects of his game, and work on his body too I suppose, he almost seems if he’s trying to do it all at the same time which never works well. Once he figures out to do one thing well, then move onto another thing well, I imagine he won’t look so overmatched consistently. The only question is how long it takes at this point.

It’s probably not serious, but Beno is already hurt and may not play Friday.
http://www.sacbee.com/static/weblogs/sports/kings/archives/015986.html