Getting Better Without Tangible Results

But I’ve already begun using the NCAA to ease my pain from this Kings season. I can’t help but think how good some of these draft prospects will look in a Kings uni next year. It’s the only thing that keeps me optimistic. As a team you have to be good at what you do, nothing worse than being average. If you’re going to be good, be very good. If you’re going to suck, suck so bad that you end up with the Blake Griffins, the John Walls, or even the Tyreke Evans of the basketball world. If you’re bad but still average? Well then you’re just stuck with Ekpe Udohs and the Greg Monroes.

Good god do I need a suprise win.

his Ziller wants to get Westphaul fired conspiracies are ruined!

you have a gift of absorbing all thoughts and feelings from the Kings fan base and shaping them into a great organized post. That’s not a compliment, that’s an observation.

About the team… the present situation is not as bad as having the 17-win team and Natt as the coach. Things are much better now. I mean it. Having two – good to great – young players and 2-3 more decent ones and a great salary cap status is a BIG deal. We might be disappointed but the light is still bright at the end of the tunnel.

I would only say that the situation is worse than the Natt-era, if Tyreke’s contract was about to expire, because he would have nothing to hold him here.

The famous Presti model needed four top 5 picks. The Hawks needed four top 6 picks (3 of them were underachievers) + Joe Johnson (RFA) + Josh Smith at #16. What do we have for now? Two high picks, great picks actually (Tyreke and DMC)… and 3 more – at least – decent players picked at 12 (JT), 23 (Casspi) and 28 (Greene). We’re still two good players away from the playoffs and given that no one will gift us Gasol for Pooh and a 2015 pick, I think we have to “wait” for a couple of more top 5 picks and/or a good FA .

(This is not a pro-Westphal comment, thank you very much)

But provided he is working hard to develop the Kings’ young players and hold the kids accountable, he should be here. Provided those goals (and any goals Petrie has laid out) are met, there’s literally nothing to lose in keeping him on board. The benefit could be whatever a measure of franchise consistency or stability provides.

I’d add “and as long as he hasn’t lost the team” (which it would appear he has not at this point) to that. Petrie and the Maloofs aren’t stupid, nor do they want the team to flounder any more than the rest of us. I’ve found some of PW’s decisions puzzling, but GP and the Maloofs are the ultimate arbiters there. Bottom line, they don’t want the team to suck any more than we do and if they didn’t think PW was getting done they’d get rid of him.

but in the end, how many people here on this site are going out to buy more tickets the way the team is playing. We’re on pace to win less games than last year, after making 2 major additions to our low post game.

As far a players earning minutes, when your a rebuilding team your youth needs some minutes. And a comfort level that allows them to enjoy whatever minutes they do get without worrying that their next mistake will get them pulled and possibly a DNP-CD in the next game.

I have never said that the coach needs to be fired, but I have been against his rotation policies since the middle of last year. And, I could understand last season because of all the injuries and roster changes. But, there are no excuses this season. Our 6 returning core players, and 3 major additions of Dalembert, Cousins and Head, should not be mysteries after training camp, preseason and a month and a half of regular season. So, whatever minutes they have earned that should be getting consistently.

But, still it continues. Donte scored 6pt and held Granger to 5pts in the 1st quarter of the Indiana game, yet Greene didn’t play the last 18 minutes of the game. PW’s wants consistency, yet he is the biggest culprit when it comes to not being inconsistent.

Petrie makes a good point about the rotation changes improving the defense, because it has. We added Dalembert which was the purpose we added him in the first place. And, we started Donte who leads the team in DNP-CD, and we replaced Beno with Luther who also was added to the team for his defense as well as his outside shot. But, those improvements came from player movement. When are we going to see improvement directly related to coaching?

Petrie also makes the point that the players know the plays but just sometimes forget. But, it seems that even when they do remember them, the plays are perdictable and highly defensable. How good are the plays when the result is DeMarcus getting the ball at the left elbow extended and having him beat his man one on one and drive to the basket. Or the same for Carl, only on the right wing, or Evans at the top of the key? From all accounts at least one of the players has the same concern and maybe others. And, unless JT is suffering from Althimers, how is it that after 15 months of PW’s coaching, he still can’t defend or run a pick and roll with Tyreke.

As for TZ’s final conclusion that things could go wrong-er by changing the coach right now, that might be true. But, if PW doesn’t stop coaching by his gut when it comes to playing time and rotations, and start teaching his young players how to rely on each other to get themselves out of trouble, this team will implode before the end of the season. And that will be even wrong-er-er.

A lot of the Kings problems, inconsistencies, etc. are definitely related to the young ages of the players and future success is dependent on the development of those players. With age they will be better, how much better remains to be seen. Tyreke hasn’t shown much improvement from last year. Defenses are wise to his 4 on 1 offense and easy layups don’t come as easy as before. His jump shot improvement has a long way to go and without a good one defenses will continue to plug up the key. Cousins sometimes appears to be lost on the floor and PW, well, that’s another topic. If it takes another 2-4 years to develop into a play-off contender, will the Kings still be in Sacramento? Are the Maloof’s pockets deep enough and are they willing to watch attendance continue to drop. They need a winner. No matter how big a fan you are no one likes a loser year after year. NBA is a business and they are good business men. Empty seats don’t pay the bills and what bothers me is that by the time the Kings youth grow up they may do so elsewhere.

LeBron’s just dismantling the Cavs tonight. Not quite the revenge the Cleveland fans were looking for.

at least half a game? Has this ever been done before?
It strikes me as very odd. I really don’t have abything to say , except weird.

Wizards: 5-12
Sixers: 5-13
Nets: 6-13
T-Wolves: 4-14

A top five pick, even when accompanied by another top 5 pick from the year before, does not turn a team around. Even the Clips who have probably this year’s ROY, who was a number 1 pick last year are 4-15.

We are not where I’d like us to be. But I don’t think we’re as far off where we should be as most people think. This is why a lot of us “good old boys” were warning people not to start thinking we are a playoff team. It is a long slow process.