Misguided by Voices: Kings' Loose Reins (Apparently) Strike Again

This, and other matters, reek of amateurism. I can understand that the players cannot be monitored or aided non-stop during the offseason, but some guidance is necessary, especially for younger players who haven’t figured it all out yet.
Something similar apllies to Omri, when at some point PW said that he had to figure things out himself with regard to his late season collapse. Isn’t it a task of the organization to help him?

I feel horrible for Greene, and I just cannot imagine how this could be his fault. He busted his ass all offseason long, only to hear that his accomplishments are in fact to his detriment. I hope he has the strength of mind to stay possitive and keep working.

I think PW could have a rough season ahead.

I agree, this team is very young, and they do need guidance

I mean this implies a lack of communication and mismanagement of players. It is good to be balanced and maybe this is off the mark, but damn…

People gain weight as they attain their adults body size. Some of this might be Donte’ maturing. So, they could be pushing him in a direction that just doesn’t make sense.

I think that getting ripped and cutting down the mass he has acquired can probably happen, but what if he really is not done growing? What if he really is developing into more of a 4 instead of a 3 based on his natural body size?

This level of miscommunication is mystifying. And I really don’t understand what Westphal is doing with these starting lineups, but then, I never do.

(I know, I know, coaching staff wants to see different players together. You can still do that while letting the real starters get at least some time gelling.)

not to over worry about these things for anther week or two . . . .

I’ve already said about ten times that I think Casspi shoud be getting the nod, and didn’t see anything in the game the other night to disabuse me of that opinion.

I have no idea what’s going on with Donte’, so far it looks like C Landry slimmed down to his detriment and I think M Landry is just what he was brought in to audition for, a steady wing player of the bench.

There are plenty of bright spots so far though. Tyreke looked excellent and appears to have improved his jumper, JT looked very fit and much smoother and DMC had a very, very productive first rookie game. We haven’t even seen Dalembert and Whiteside really play yet but the front court depth and talent looks to be very impressive.

that if Donte called up Paul or Geoff and said “Hey, think I should gain 25 pounds so I can play more PF this year?” they would have said “mmmm, nah.”

Do you guys think they don’t have these guys’ numbers? It’s makes more sense that the players would bring something as drastic as this up to the coaches than to expect a coach or GM to say “hey are you gaining tons of weight this offseason?”

until they saw how he played in training camp with the weight? I agree with bench blob up above, I think we need a little more info.

One would think that the organization would lay out a plan for those under contract for the summer months, or even plan to have a face-to-face meeting once a month. They are still employees, and if management wants to check up on them, that’s hardly a labor dispute in the making.

But assuming no one was offering guidance, if Greene couldn’t look at who got drafted, and see the writing on the wall, he may be less clever than I thought. Once the draft was done, he should have been in the gym launching a thousand threes a day instead of putting on mass.

to learn the mental aspects of playing the game rather than the physical aspects. Learn how to read the game and to play it rather than getting into game shape.

Do our coaches give homework in the off-season? Like after a few weeks break, send the young players isolation highlights of their game on DVD? (e.g: Donte only gets Donte iso’s. Miscues, highlights, him not making the run he should.)

Using a telestrator (you know, that thing where commentators draw squiggly lines all over the court), the coaches highlight the player’s decision making in a certain situation (on offense or defense) and draw out for the player what their opponent does and what they need to do to combat it.

Then the player goes out to the gym / court and try and work on that into his game. Next week, a new DVD with a new thing to work on shows up. And so on until training camp.

During training camp, the coaches can immediately see who has really been working on the homework and who hasn’t. Coz, if you’re making the same mistakes as the coaches highlighted on the DVDs, you’re either A)unteachable, B)lazy or C)both

Donte says he’s down to 244 now. Battier is listed as 6-8 220, LeBron is 250, Artest is 260, Odom is 6-10 230, so even if Donte’s best weight is 230-235, how much is 9-14 lbs really going to affect his game, right now. By the time the season starts, Donte’s going to drop another 5-10 pounds, just because of all the PT and running.

I guess, if there is a communications problem that’s serious, but I’m more concerned about the way PW is handling this in the media. I get the impression he thinks he’s the next Phil Jackson, when it comes to using the press to motivate his players. But, so far, I don’t think he’s even close.

And yeah, a little worried about “big Donte”

sounds like it’s way too heavy for someone who isn’t quick on his feet like Donte. I was at the game and to be honest he looked pretty slow, I will be there today as well to get another look at these guys. Unless your going to be banging your body down low and trying to snatch up every rebound you can then I don’t believe gaining all that weight is a good idea. He needs to be going after every rebound though, In the 10 minutes i seen of him it didn’t seem like he tried to rebound a single ball. And it doesn’t help that he can’t hit shots. He has a lot to work on.

Back around 2000, how much did CWebb weigh? Back before he seriously hit the iron and really had hops. I remember the Jazz series, or the “We’re here to stay” series, and CWebb was bouncing around and could really slam.

Quick, send in the stunt double –

The thing is, the Kings have a bigger need at the 3 than they do at the 4. Donte is caught in a numbers game, and probably will be traded by the end of the year to clear up some of the logjam.

The question is do the Kings pick up the option for Donte, or do they let him twist in the wind and not pick up his 4th season? Questions abound, but I think in the end Donte’s option will be picked up so the Kings can trade him.

Oh well. Have fun somewhere else Doratio Kane. It was nice having you while it lasted.