One fan's Season Preview

by ForThree on Oct 23, 2009 3:05 PM PDT

The emotional transition from a fan's perspective is one of the best things about sports, especially as a long-term fan. From the team coming to Sacramento (yes I'm that old), to the reality of bad basketball, but our bad basketball. The excitement of getting the number one pick, the reality of Pervis Ellison; years of misery balanced by the pleasure of watching a true pro, the Rock.

The rejection of a young prima donna who doesn't want to play for your team. The disbelief of the turnaround. Witnessing a revolution, seeing a young point guard bring art back to basketball. Revelling in the beauty; watching the development of a contender. The excitement of rooting for a team that is truly your contender for years, the disappointments, rooting for the ultimate anti-hero Chris Webber.

The decline, pretending there isn't a decline, when its plain to see. The apathy knowing your team is "ok" but really has no chance; hitting bottom. So why am I as excited now as I have been in years to watch our team?

We're bouncing along the bottom, its actually possible we'll be worse than last year, though I don't think its likely. I am excited though, because we've turned the page completely on the glory days, and I really think we have some pieces worth rooting for.

Here's what I'll be watching in 2009-10:

Kevin Martin - He's entering his prime, he's going to be asked to do so much for this team. Kevin you've said you want to make shots that matter, here's how you get there:

You have to play, injuries happen, maybe its all bad luck, but...you must play this season, we need you for 75+ games
We need a more complete Kevin Martin. When you're not the guy, you can get your numbers. That's not what this team needs. I don't care how many games you score 40+. I want to see scores that end opposing runs, I want buckets in the 4th quarter. I want key steals and rebounds, we need all-around development and winning contributions, not just numbers.
I want to see a PER of 21+. Two years ago, Martin delivered 21 PER, I want to see that.
Defensive rating of 108 or less. All-Pro defense isn't required, but its got to get better.

Spencer Hawes - 21 years old, all you need to do is be a starter and hold your own against the best pros in the world. This is what I want to see from Spencer:

Less entitlement and more competitiveness. No one owes you anything, the refs aren't going to ever like you, you need to compete and earn it.
Post defense - avoiding foul trouble, holding position, boxing out. With JT and Tyreke, we've added good rebounders; free them to go get the ball by boxing out the opponents best rebounders.
Good decisions with the ball
50%+ true shooting percentage
Consistency - A PER of 15+ would be phenomenal, but what I really want to see is consistant, professional play, very few terrible games.

Jason Thompson - In some ways, I think JT is less interesting than some of our guys, which isn't a bad thing, its because he's pretty consistent:

Avoiding foul trouble - Be less eager when playing defense, you don't have to make a play every time you are defending the ball, good position defense is ok.
Put backs and scoring with the left hand
Post defense - not being pushed under the basket by power forwards
Setting good screens, and making good decisions as the screener on screen-roll. Evans/JT should be scary eventually running the pick and roll, I want to see development

Tyreke Evans - Wow, just keep doing what you've been doing. Personally I can't express how impressed I've been, the game comes easily to Tyreke and he seems like a great teammate.

Don't believe the hype - The NBA hype machine is coming, you'll get yours, keep being who you have been so far
Work on your jumpshot - this is the easy one, all basketball players like working on shooting
Distribute the ball - I have no complaints so far
I am eager to see the chemistry develop in our backcourt

Omri Casspi - Its only preseason!

Take what's given to you on offense, make the easy play and be aggressive on defense
I want to see what Omri really does at an NBA level, how good can he be?
It would be nice by the end of the year if Omri at least shows he's going to have an NBA career, we need to manage our expectations

Donte Greene - jjham summed up my opinion a couple of days ago. Dé3 needs to decide if he's going to be an NBA player or a bust, he literally has no NBA skills right now, hopefully I won't be able to say that by the end of the year.

Paul Westphal - I had my doubts over the summer, but our new Coach has said all the right things, and pushed the right buttons so far, here are my goals for the season:

I want to see developing chemistry amongst our guys
We're not going to be a good defensive team, but there's no reason we should be a defensive embarrassment either
Keep Beno and Nocioni under control - keep them happy enough that they aren't being complete pains in the ass and are being professional and contributing to the team
I want to see some joy in the team, and professional effort
I want to see professional learning. We're going to be bad, but I want to see player development over the course of the year.

So that's what I'm excited about this year, hopefully everyone's ready for a fun, oftentimes painful year.

(This is a FanPost from a member of the Sactown Royalty community. The views expressed come from the member, and not Sactown Royalty staff.)

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Nice 4-3

No mistakes in the tango, darling. Not like life. Simple. That's what makes the tango so great. If you make a mistake, and get all tangled up, you just tango on.....

by pookeyguru on Oct 23, 2009 3:43 PM PDT reply actions

Good stuff, Rec'd

We are in agreement.

Ball movement ... is like jogging for most people: They do it occasionally, and it makes them happy. Then they go back to not doing it. - Henry Abbott

by Kfan in Korea on Oct 23, 2009 4:11 PM PDT reply actions

Rec'd

Awesome.

SACTOWN ROYALTY - Try our thick creamy shakes!

by section214 on Oct 23, 2009 4:16 PM PDT reply actions

Formula for a contender, Nicely done

"If you don't have anything good to say, LIE" - Mom

by HighTops on Oct 23, 2009 4:57 PM PDT reply actions

can we send this in the mail to the entire organization?

maybe some extra copies to Spencer?

Another flaw in the human character is that everybody wants to build and nobody wants to do maintenance. Vonnegut

by Ice_9ine on Oct 23, 2009 5:42 PM PDT reply actions

Perfect combination of

reality and optimism. We are probably not going to be as bad as the national press predicts or as good as we’d like to hope. I’m sick of hearing newbies come on this board and say, “The Kings are ging to suck this year, get used to it” like this is some kind of revalation only they have access to. yes, we know we are going to be bad. But if we can end the year with a few wins we didn’t expect, and hope for the future, I’ll be just fine.

"Shut up and Coach!"
Vfettke

by SavageBeast on Oct 24, 2009 10:43 AM PDT reply actions

I don't understand your comment about JT being "less interesting" but otherwise excellent analysis

The other thing JT needs to do is shed any emotional attitude he picked up from Brad Miller because they are all bad and quit arguing calls with the refs.

This season really is about managing expectations for the fans. This time last year we were drooling over Donté and all his “potential”. I think Tyreke is going to be scary good. I was watching some of his Youtube clips after the game last night and he can do things we’ve never seen done by a Kings player ever. I agree that JJ nailed it on Donté. This is a new team and hopefully when we look back to this season in a few years we’ll understand that the second iteration of the King’s “Glory Years” began with this season.

Your post was easy to Rec, grat job.

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

by Bluejohn on Oct 24, 2009 3:34 PM PDT reply actions

My thought on JT was this

What do you think a bad game for JT looks like? For me about…10-12pts, 6-8 rebounds
What’s a good game? 18-20pts, 10-12 rebounds

Now compare to Tyreke, what’s a bad game for him? 1-12 shooting, 3rb, 3ast, 6 TO’s
good? 20pts, 6-9reb, 6+ assists; a vast difference.

With JT, you can almost pencil in what you are going to get, which to me is a tremendous compliment to a 2nd year player, especially when what you get is pretty good. I doubt JT is all of the sudden morph into a dominant low post scorer / passer, or suddenly start blocking shots and playing great defense without fouling. What he gives is evolving scoring around the basket on setups from teammates and putbacks, and good rebounding. He is making progress, and I am not at all minimizing his skills, he has very useful NBA skills, but you can already see what the finished product that is JT will look like at this point. He has less uncertainty in my mind.

Or, I could be completely wrong. :-)

Professional Hyperbole Slayer

by ForThree on Oct 24, 2009 3:52 PM PDT up reply actions

What I love about last night 4-3

Is that noone has mentioned that Thompson got 6 boards in 35 mins, and Hawes got 5 reb’s in 20 mins.

Yes Spencer Hawes shot like absolute doo-dah last night, but that doesn’t mean that JT is a brilliant player the way people are saying he is. JT is, as you say he is, a very consistent young player. I love his game, what he brings, but he is not a star.

And, that’s okay.

No mistakes in the tango, darling. Not like life. Simple. That's what makes the tango so great. If you make a mistake, and get all tangled up, you just tango on.....

by pookeyguru on Oct 24, 2009 4:08 PM PDT up reply actions

Gotta disagree with this

The moment the Kings traded Webber away was the day they stopped building towards a championship with that group. It started the spiral towards this point now, and that’s the way it works. One door closes; another opens.

But, this whole thing about rebuilding is a bit of a culmination. It started with Martin in 2004, Garcia in 2005, Douby in 2006, Hawes in 2007, Thompson/Greene in 2008, and Evans/Casspi/Brockman in 2009.

It’s been a slow build from one era to the other.

No mistakes in the tango, darling. Not like life. Simple. That's what makes the tango so great. If you make a mistake, and get all tangled up, you just tango on.....

by pookeyguru on Oct 24, 2009 4:05 PM PDT up reply actions

+1

We finished dumping the old pieces last year, so I can see the reasoning. But we actually started the rebuilding several years ago.

"Shut up and Coach!"
Vfettke

by SavageBeast on Oct 24, 2009 6:20 PM PDT up reply actions

Hawes

A sense of entitlement is a great way to describe Hawes. This kid is a project that all use fans will have to be patient with. At times I feel as though the NBA found him as opposed to him really wanting this. Time will tell…

by Doors Open on Oct 24, 2009 6:58 PM PDT reply actions

I don't see entitlement

I see “I have an abudance of skills, why can’t you all see it?” The common thing in these young pros – they talk the talk before the learn to walk the walk. But Spencer is smart, and IMHO dedicated. He just isn’t mature enough to figure out how to be smart AND dedicated at the same time and in the same direction.

by betweentheeyes on Oct 25, 2009 12:59 AM PDT up reply actions