In Defense of PW

the offense was bad last year too. the kings stood around and watched tyreke go 1:1 last year – especially down the stretch as he pushed for his 20-5-5. this is not a new problem – it was something they should have been aware of going into the offseason and done something about then – not on the fly at the beginning of this year as you success.

PW has created much of his own issues in my opinion. constant shifting of the lineup to start the year made it virtually impossible for any of the players so get a rhythm. they all struggled and didn’t start breaking the 100 pt barrier until recently he stopped the musical chairs act.

as for dalembert in the post…. really???? success – making a shot does seem like success when you miss 16 in a row but please – the guy is not a good offensive player and should be the 5th option whenever he is on the floor.

as for Tyreke – his struggles are well-documented and it definitely impacts the team. however, i’d argue it’s PW’s insistence on having Tyreke run PG and initiate the offense much of the time that compounds the issue. If you have a 2 that is struggling it mainly impacts him but not the rest of the team because they will still get their touches. If you have a scoring 1 that is playing poorly – not only is he not hitting his shots but he is not getting other guys their shots as well.

No, I don’t think so and, if that wasn’t clear as mud, I disagree. PW has brought thi upon himself. Madz addresses a lot of the points, but did not address some important issues. Like playing Landry in the high post distributing the ball and having JT play 3.

PW does not seem to understand how to get the most out of and use these players the best. He has seemed more bent on pushing players into a mold they can’t play rather than using them and their talents best. Luther Head should not play PG, SG yeah, but he isn’t good at setting up plays.

They still do this at times and you will see weird assignments on the floor. You will see Pooh on the floor basically playing SG or SF rather than PG and you will still see Landry in the high post. It is just less often rather than all the time.

PW has been his own worst enemy, IMO. Tyreke Evans has been playing hurt. That is all there is to it and other players need to step up. Beno and JT did last night. Omri did the game before that. It is up the coach to start putting other players in the position to score and he wasn’t doing that. He wasn’t playing them to their best abilities and setting them up to succeed.

I get that this is a young and rebuilding team, but PW has clearly screwed it up repeatedly. He seems to be turning it around, I hope.

He’s a veteran at coaching veteran players. Players who have established their own game and play within themselves.

And, by that I mean that he let’s the players play their game within the confines of the offense. Less structure and more freedom. And, that’s why we’re seeing Carl and Cuz getting the ball 15 ft from the basket instead of in the paint. And, Tyreke still playing his game.

On the positive side, I can remember posting in the past that the past coaches needed to play the rookies more. But, that’s never been a complaint against PW. In fact, he seems to be letting Cuz and Tyreke do their thing and find their own way. Some times to the detriment of the team which may be why he feels he needs to continually change the lineup in order to find ways to conteract the problems that they’re causing.

I think it’s debatable as to whether or not that’s the best way to develop a player like Cuz or Reke. But, at least their getting their minutes. And, overall if we were to be on pace for a 30-33 win season, we would need 7 or 8 wins in our first 20 games. And, looking back at the schedule, I think the only games we should have won that we didn’t were the home games against Minny and Detroit. INDY & NYK are much better than I thought coming into the season, and losing to the Clips on the road while disappointing, wasn’t to be totally unexpected.

W T F . . . . .

I mean some of your points are close to the mark. But when has Landry really ever rebounded well? When has JT not worked hard. And we did not all love PW last year. His wacked out rotations, pulling players willy nilly, and the whole Spencer fiasco were not all hands down appreciated.

AND yeah ppl are still talking about JT at 3 because it highlights a particular point. That PW has a consistent pattern of putting players in roles they are not suited to play. That is my point and that isn’t the only instance or support for it.

I am not saying PW is unredeemable. I am not even saying fire him now. I am saying that he has screwed up and I recognize that fact. I am not going to let my fanhood blind myself to reality. PW is a question mark. He has the opportunity to change that and I hope he does that.

Let him heal up. As that Bulls fan from a week ago said, Rose went through this type of injury that also resulted in a slump in his gameplay. The Bulls sat him, then he got back to playing better than ever.

Seriously though… one day it feels like all players have no idea what to do on court and that can only be blamed to Westphal’s bad job, another day it looks like that we just don’t have quality, we’re a bad team and that’s all, not Westphal’s fault. Maybe the truth is somewhere in the middle. The bright side is that they are all young so there’s only upside. That’s very very important.

Look at the Clippers. Baron Davis is better than Beno in every way. Gordon plays way better than Tyreke. Griffin is much better than any of our PFs. Kaman (although injured) is still better than DMC and we’re probably a bit better at SF. They have more quality, yet they have a worse record. And yes.. they have a new coach this year.

1) Westphal is very experienced.

Which translates to what? You would think experience would lead to stability but that hasn’t been the case with these players. The constant shifting of lineups, the inconsistent handling of players – how has experience helped? Musselman also had NBA experience.

2) Coaching philosophy.

I’m not expecting a winning record from this club so that isn’t an issue. How many coaches in the NBA don’t preach ball movement or defensive rotation? 25th in the league in scoring, 25th in the league in assists, 18th in Opps pts per game – he apparently isn’t being heard by the team because it isn’t working. every coach has a philosphy.

if you want ball movement – why would you ever have tyreke initiate the offense? if you want to pick up the pace – why do you let tyreke take 10 seconds to get up the floor and not start the offense until there’s 14 seconds on the shot clock – that’s not a whole lot of time to get good ball and player movement. if you want ball movement – why would you ever throw the ball into Dalembert in the post???

3) I listen to the people who spend time with him. And what these people keep repeating is that if the players were playing as well as Westphal was coaching, this team wouldn’t be losing like they are. Jerry Reynolds is adamant that PW is doing a good job. Yes, he is paid by the Kings, but that hasn’t stopped him from saying what he believed in the past. Bill Walton repeated the exact same thing.

4) He rewards hard play.

Agree to an extent. Donte lost his job after 1 game – not enough time in my opinion to lose a starting spot. I didn’t see he sit Reke all of a sudden after he tanked a game a couple weeks ago. I want a guy to have to perform to earn their minutes but the issue is you have to be consistent. Landy has received far more PT than his play has warranted.
  
5) The players did NOT give up on him.

Tough to make that call. I don’t think the players are nearly as supportive of him as you think. Following guys on twitter – when Donte was racking up DNPs he was constantly was retweeting comments from folks that were critical of his lack of playing time etc. Why speak out about you getting screwed when you can have somebody else do it and you just retweet it.

6) Continuity.

I’m not expecting playoffs, i’m expecting improvement. since the first two months of the season of last year we have not shown improvement – we’ve gotten worse. the kings won 8 games in November last year – they won 9 games total in Feb, Mar, April. kings record in 2010 (calendar year) = 16-55. 27% winning percentage. how long do you stick with that level of success before you make a change?

7) Future coaches.

Agree – I think PW is a stepping stone. He isn’t the answer and I think the Kings know that. I was expecting him to maybe get the team back to .500 in 3-4 years and then sent on his way for a higher-priced option. Now, however, I don’t think he has what it takes to get us to the .500 level. The problem I see it is you are going to lose players the longer you have a dead duck coach. If you want to keep your existing talent and attract new talent you need to spend the $$ to bring in a top coach. I don’t want a coaching change for another bargain basement – time for the Maloofs to spend the $$.

8) Lastly, like it or not.

Your points here are quiet humerous because you are basically talking about the beginning of last year. PW was shifting the lineup all around and the kings were playing close to .500 ball. Guess what – it drove me nuts and seemed just as idiotic back then.

yes several players were in high school a few years ago but if you look at Westphal’s run at Pepperdine – he hasn’t done so well with this age-group.