30Q: Can Tyreke Evans and Kevin Martin Co-Exist?

That seems to hold up about 95% of the time.

then this will be one of the best back courts in the league.

One of the things that makes Kevin so great is his ability to play off the ball. He doesn’t need to ball in his hands for 15 seconds to score. He’ll make those backdoor cuts and get himself open for a good shot. If Evans can take advantage of having a guy like that then they’ll be great

I’m comvinced these two will work together just fine. I tried to come up with arguments against this pairing.

Evans isn’t a “pure” point guard. As TZ said above, Marting doesn’t need a Nash.

Evans will struggle shooting. Martin can shoot. Evans can be a physical beast.

Defensive liability. Only an issue when opponents have 2 elite threats in the back-court, which is a struggle for any team to deal with. Evans is big enough and physical enough to guard shooting guards.

Yeah, consider me on-board with the Tyreke Evans bandwagon.

And was the biggest reason I jumped on the Evans bandwagon early. First off, Evans is huge for a Point guard. 6-5 with the same wingspan as Blake Griffin and about 220 pounds, if not closer to 230. K-Mart is fast and speedy as well as light. He usually gives opposing shooting guards fits. Now with Evans and Martin in the backcourt, teams are going to have to pick their poison. Do you put your Shooting guard on Martin and watch ‘Reke run over the point guard like a wrecking ball? Or do you put a bigger shooting guard on him and watch K-Mart abuse your point guard in ways that are too horrible to imagine? There’s not many teams that have Backcourts that can match up very effectively defensively with Evans and Martin. Only one I can think of is Westbrook and Sefolosha. And thats iffy.

Also, Martin was the primary focus of the defense last year. Now they won’t be able to focus just on him.

Defensively, ‘Reke can probably guard PG/SG/SF. He’ll probably be designated as our stopper, which is sort of sad if you think about it but what choice do we have? That versatility is very handy though. I would think the Kings put him on whoever is better of the backcourt pair. Him and Garcia in the backcourt should be pretty good defensively though.

Evans does not need to become a handler/distributor like CP3 or Deron Williams for this to succeed. If Tyreke can become as effective as Doug Christie as a handler/distributor, the marriage of Evans and Martin will be a big success.

Because if ‘Reke is moved to the 2, you lose a lot of the things that make him a unique and difficult match-up for other teams. He is an inside out player, which is great for a PG or a forward. But at this point the outside shot is not his game. Speed’s outside shot shoud open ‘Reke and ’Reke’s post up game should do the same for Speed. But if we move Evans to the 2, that all changes.

not addressed in the OP, of which I primarily agree:

K-Mart is not a great ball-handler, and neither is Tyreke Evans. Both I would classify as good, decent ball handlers, prone to occasional TOs and miscues.

As an opposition, I am going to pressure these guys 3/4 length of the court, and see how they respond. Put a 5"10 to 6"0 lightening bug out there, and in the NBA there are lots of those guys, and see what kind of havoc I can create. Particularly in late game situations, these guys need to protect the ball, advance into the front court, initiate the offense. In my mind, there is a question whether our backcourt can consistently do that. (Having Cisco at the 3 will help, of course.)

Second concern is defense on the smaller guards, Nate Robinson types, Jason Terry, Monta Ellis. No one completely stops these guys, but I envision match-up problems. Tyreke has the makings of a terrific straight up defender. But with his tremendous size for a PG, he is going to have to exert a lot of effort getting through screens: baseline, side, and high. Opponents are going to make him work, and see if he has the agility and tenacity to adjust. K-Mart can be switched to a smaller guard, and do a decent job, but I do not want my best scorer chasing around the fastest guy on the court for 40 minutes.

These are the two big questions in my mind RE: our backcourt. I will eager to see how they are answered come November.

I don’t think we will see the flow/ return of the Princeton offense that I desperately want as they are both iso-styled players. But that doesn’t mean they can’t be extremely good together.

Cause this is going to be fun to watch! You got Martin who teams don’t and won’t have an answer for as one of the quickest guys on the floor and now Tyreke who is strong, long, and fast as he!!.

This match on the floor is going to cause coaches to pull out their hair. Or lose more of it. Which team has two ultra fast defenders who can match up one on one? When they have to play zone with three players covering our two speedsters who is going to be left undercovered?

This combination will work because these two players are so fast. I think that the other discussions about who to pair up with them is valid, but don’t miss the point. That being that our two guys are going to be a super fast and hi-octane charged back court that blows away most teams.

I completely agree Ziller, forget co-exist, let talk domination. If they can get a transition game going watch out!

at least not right away. But, that’s ok, because Martin will take the pressure off Evans because he’ll still be the main offensive threat.

I’m not as concerned with the defensive matchups (defending smaller PGs) because we’ll have the advantage on offense. As long as we can score then the other team will have to change to matchup with us.

I expect to see a lot of pick & rolls and iso’s with both Evans & Martin penetrating and forcing the defense to adapt to us for a change. Look for a more inside out game, with feeds into the post to Hawes and drives to the basket from Martin & Evans. And, if the defense doubles, we’ll dish to the bigs or kick out to the 3pt shooters. That’s my idea of a motion offense, where the motion comes from aggression & attacking the basket. I’ve seen enough passing of the ball around the perimeter until someone takes a shot.

No worries on this issue for me though. Kevin will get his shots and there will still be plenty of opportunities for Tyreke to do his thing.

I agree with LPKF that having Cisco on the floor as well, at least against pesky PGs, could help if Tyreke is having trouble getting the ball up the floor.

you’ve pretty much said everything there is to know and guess about Martin’s and Evans’ game for 09-10. All I can add is that Jupiter in Aquarius will conjunct Martin’s Mars, and that is good :P

It will be interesting to see how the positioning turns out this season. Ideally it would be best if Reke wasn’t thrown in to play PG right away unless his ball-handling and court vision have improved tremendously this off season. I think he needs atleast two years in the league to be fully ready to run the show, and I think GP and Westphal also see it that way.

I think the kings are going to give Beno another shot early in the season under their new system. I truly think that he has the ability but his heart is lacking much luster. I don’t believe that you can just invest money into a player and expect to see what you want (Especially with a foreign player

Starting Five:
1 – Udrih
2 – Evans (guards 3)
3 – Martin (guards 2)
4 – Thompson
5 – Hawes

This lineup at an average distributor, excellent shooter, excellent slasher who will be the death to defenses stamina wise, and hopefully the continued development of the bigs will give us consistency and rebounding inside.

Agreed that it looks spectacle at first ,but powerful when you consider the possibilities it opens for bench play.

Sub depth chart
S – Garcia (6th man of the year, who can come in at 3 different positions)
S – Nocioni – fill in at either 3 of 4
S – May – Spacing filling rebounder with touch
S – Casspi
S – Greene
S – Brockman
S – Rodriguez
S – Ken

not as if the ball distribution has been dazzling the last few years.

To me there isn’t much question as to whether or not they can Co-Exist. Co-existing isn’t the same thing as maximizing potential.

Are there things between the two players that could be complimentary? Yes, especially the size and defense that he brings to the position.

I still remain much more cautious and guarded about effusing the sort of praise and expectations that a lot of people here are willing to shower on a kid yet to play a single game in the NBA that matters. There are a lot of things he still needs to work on develop. Specifically, his shot needs to get good enough that defenders are only keying on the drive. He also needs to show he has just enough skills/instincts with passing the ball that he doesn’t become a black hole on offense. He doesn’t have to be a true distributing PG or anything, just our version of Rondo who can kick it out to the open man and make some solid post-entry passes when he needs to.

I am expecting big things from ‘Reke, but everyone always is from their top picks. They are always the next big thing, until they aren’t. So I am going to stay much more restrained with my expectations than a lot of people.