30Q: Will Tyreke Evans Be a Superstar?

by Tom Ziller on Oct 1, 2009 1:21 PM PDT in Commentary

This is the final entry in the 30Q series.

"He carried that ball like Linus carried his blanket on Charlie Brown."

The story could be legend -- a young Tyreke Evans, surrounded by much older brothers, molded into a Basketball Machine. The right arm taped behind his back to develop the left. 1,500 jumpers a day. A modified version of Twister to develop his footwork. Every decision made by executive board, each move considered fully. The most pragmatic Ascendance the lig has ever seen.

***

"He carried that ball like Linus carried his blanket on Charlie Brown."

In the end, when the nets drop October 28, when Tyreke Evans begins his march toward stardom, it comes down to a dude with a basketball, four teammates, five opponents. When the ball goes up, Evans had no protection on the court, no deliberation between the lines.

It comes down to Tyreke, and whether he can construct out of his trained and bestowed tools something great.

It comes down to Tyreke, and whether he can implement his own vision.

It comes down to Tyreke, and whether he can dominate.

It comes down to Tyreke.

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stardome

is his to lose. I don’t think any rookie has a better table set for a star potential season like Tyreke does. He will get instant minutes, unlimited shots, and almost undoubtedly, a starting role right from the word go.

Everybody looks to Griffin as the ROY, but he has to battle for minutes from Kaman and Camby. Evans is going to battle for minutes from Beno and Sergio. YAWN!!

The Kings have really set up Evans to have a monster rookie season, and I’m excited about and for this kid!!

by ianeriley on Oct 1, 2009 1:33 PM PDT reply actions

Word!

I expect Tyreke’s name to be mentioned whenever Blake Griffin’s name is mentioned in ROY conversations.

Hopefully, he worked on his jumper and a lower handle all summer long.

October 28th couldn't come soon enough.

by JETisKing on Oct 1, 2009 5:58 PM PDT up reply actions

Thanks for these, Z.

I’m not really a fan of the star/superstar classifications, but for this exercise I would define superstar as top 5 or so players, and stars as top 30 or so players.

I’m not that optimistic that Tyreke will ever be a superstar. I think he is missing a bit of charisma and a bit of smarts/awareness to become one of the top few players in the league. The two (charisma and smarts) may be interdependant.

His atheticism seems good, but not elite—I dont think he can’t depend on it to deliver him to star-level without a significant improvement skillwise. Currently, his skills as a whole are fairly weak compared to other young players with star-level talent; and I would put his skill ceiling at average (for a star).

So, all-and-all I would put his ceiling at star and give him a 50% chance of reaching it, with a 70% chance of being better than average.

by DustyG on Oct 1, 2009 1:45 PM PDT reply actions

Just thinking off the top of me head

James, Bryant, Howard, Paul and maybe Duncan (Age may have him left/leaving this category) and Wade (if he’s healthy) are my level one players…top of the next level Garnett Nowitski Anthony ,,,who I don’t think are superstars…so 5 is a good estimate.
But perusing the top 30, I would say my expectations of Evans are that he has an 80-90% chance of cracking that barrier. Did I miss someone?

by ElRonToro on Oct 1, 2009 2:45 PM PDT up reply actions

I would add Roy probably to that 2nd tier this year

Evans certainly could be a top 15, which is something the kings have only had once, maybe twice in sacramento.

Do you smoke grass in space Bowie? Or do you smoke astro turf?

by kangsfan on Oct 1, 2009 2:54 PM PDT up reply actions

No argument here.

Yeah B-Roy and Granger should probably be entering that 2nd tier of stardom. I hate to say it but I feel like Kobe is kind of on his own level above everyone else right now.

I place Howard in that 2nd tier since he’s still making his living off his athleticism and not skill (hopefully he worked on a few post up moves this summer).

October 28th couldn't come soon enough.

by JETisKing on Oct 1, 2009 6:03 PM PDT up reply actions

Gotta say it

I put the Rapist 2…..and definitely not in his own tier

by ElRonToro on Oct 1, 2009 6:52 PM PDT up reply actions

I sure as hell hope the part about 1,500 jumpers a day is not true

because you’d think he’d be a better jump shooter than he currently is. In fact, if it is true then I would be very concerned because one can infer that his jump shooting is not going to improve much more from what it is now no matter what he does.

by hozr on Oct 1, 2009 2:16 PM PDT reply actions

1500 jumpers a day with bad form

equals about 100 a day with good form.

by ElRonToro on Oct 1, 2009 2:46 PM PDT up reply actions

My thought

1500 jumpers a day equals 1500 jumpers a day. Your form is irrelevant. It shows dedication to practice and improvement.

Now that Tyreke has coaches who can focus on better shooting form (Coachie and the rest of the staff), those 1500 per day can expedite the process of improving Tyreke’s shooting touch.

Never forget: I am a complete idiot

by Exhibit G on Oct 1, 2009 2:57 PM PDT up reply actions

I believe shooting is the one skill

that you can greatly improve once you arrive in the NBA, others can be modified to improve somewhat but there is a long list a mediocre shooters who became good, and probably a longer list of those who never got any better. If he wants it , he’ll learn to shoot. I think he wants it.

by ElRonToro on Oct 1, 2009 3:03 PM PDT up reply actions

My thought is that anybody

who can shoot 1500 jumpers with his right arm taped behind his back has the persistence to learn to do anything in this league.

If charisma is a requirement for superstardom I think we can take Duncan off the list.

"We are in the business of kicking butt and business is very, very good." - Charles Barkley

by Bluejohn on Oct 1, 2009 9:20 PM PDT up reply actions

My assumption

is that with a whole team of people surrounding him and guiding his development he would not be shooting in bad form. Prior to this I have been hanging on to JR’s comment that he should have the ability to become a decent shooter because his free throw shooting form is so good.

Let’s just hope that if it is true it’s something that Coachie can sort out.

by hozr on Oct 1, 2009 3:41 PM PDT up reply actions

Picture from the article

Is that a Mitch Richmond basketball?

Never forget: I am a complete idiot

by Exhibit G on Oct 1, 2009 2:35 PM PDT reply actions

Could be a Sean Connery basketball

Do you smoke grass in space Bowie? Or do you smoke astro turf?

by kangsfan on Oct 1, 2009 2:55 PM PDT up reply actions 1 recs

Could be a "Can you smell what the Reke is cooking?" basketball.

by kwill on Oct 1, 2009 3:13 PM PDT up reply actions 2 recs

Looks like

one of his older brothers…

NeverForget1984.Com

by Neva Eva Forget 1984 on Oct 1, 2009 4:12 PM PDT up reply actions

Ziller, bringing out the drama!

If ’Reke blows up, they should use that last sequence in the Nike commerical.

by oldenpolynice on Oct 1, 2009 7:50 PM PDT reply actions

If Evans can mold a jumpshot like bibby....

is it much more likely.

giggity giggity goo

by DougChristieKO on Oct 1, 2009 8:52 PM PDT reply actions

Drama

There is drama here. Look at last season, then getting Evans, and a new coach…

Anticipation and expectation, fed by the dreams of fans who would like nothing more than to have a reason to dust off their cow bells and wave them under the L@ker’s and K*be’s nose.

To rub that nose in losses from what they see as the hick town of Sacramento and bring the oh so “great” oh so low.

To feel the roar of Arco again and be a part of something that as a community makes us stronger, greater, and proud.

To finally see a team that might, just might, have enough pieces that fit to work. That might have what it takes to finally avenge the theft of what corrupt officiating took away from us.

Yes, there is some drama in that. We can just hope it is more Rocky Balboa than Shakespearean tragedy.

by MustangMBS on Oct 2, 2009 6:24 AM PDT reply actions