Do the Kings Need to Pick Up the Pace?

I like the way he runs the offense and his passing seems to be contagious. The Kings are funner to watch when they are running the ball too. Maybe Jeter can be our Brockman this year, by coming in the game with the intensity and fearlessness that we need. Omri and Jeter off the bench is a pretty high energy tandem that can be a great change of pace during the game.

You really know how to take the fun out of stuff. I just want to see more Pooh-Shock alley-oops!

Seriously though, up-tempo or slowed down matters not to me. As long we shoot well (and that seems to be a rare occurrence) we seem to play “better offense”. Even last night we were missing a bunch of point blank shots, we just got a lot of putbacks (on the third and fourth attempt sometimes).

It all comes down to shooting. It sure seems like we have been hitting our 3’s the last few games. Just eyeballing it, no stats. I imagine that’s the biggest reason for our offensive improvement.

When Jeter got the ball kicked out to him on a rebound, or after a made basket, rarely had the clock reached 21 or less when he crossed half-court. He was making the defense hustle, and when you have to work on defense, you have less energy for offense.

RUNRUNRUNRUNRUNRUNRUNRUN

The Kings do well with Pooh Jeter in the open court because he’s A) quicker than almost every G in the league and B) because he can shoot, pass and make quality decisions without turning the ball over.

I like Tyreke in the open court because it opens up potential shots for him that aren’t available in the half court. HIs decision making needs to improve, but so do other things.

I don’t think it makes a difference for Beno because he can go either way.

48 minutes of hell!

Inefficient offensive units often have a tendency to squander a good 10 seconds before getting into their sets. Finding good shots against a defense as stingy as Cleveland’s is a tough business, and the more time you budget to generate those looks the better. By milking 10 seconds off the clock, you also let your opponent off the hook because it requires far less energy to defend for 14 seconds than 24 seconds.

From a fanshot I made a year ago, and actually talking about the Thunder, though it still feels pertinent.

Of course…just look at what this team is made of? A bunch of young runners (besides Cousins).

80 times a game is time off of our lives we’ll never get back . . . . .

if there is any statistical information on team passing. When ball movement increases so does our success.

I have never seen it but it would be interesting to examine our success on offense based on the number of average passes per possession.

we should definitely pick up the pace…

…although we have no shooters to spread the floor and our players are taller (hence slower) than the average in their position. Cousins won’t be able to follow a quicker rhythm. But yeah.. it would be much better than what we’ve seen so far.

Standing and searching for the pg’s shot leads to the other guys standing around a la the 4:1 flat. A running game seems to make the guys move more, sets up opportunities before the defense is set and simply makes for a more entertaining game overall.

Jeter’s quickness allows for an inbounds pass to sometimes act as a fast break (there were a few plays over the past few games that he had the ball up the floor before the defense was ready).

that helps keep the crew happy

Long threes with 14 seconds on the shot clock. Nocioni style.

The team is clearly much better with Jeter on the floor. He can make Head look like an offensive stud. All you have to do is run. Even with a strong defensive unit I think he can make lots of offense, and frankly you better have some good defenders around if you play a guy as small as he is. On the other hand, it seems that of late he has been getting more boards per minute than Landry.
It seems to me that Pooh is the MVP on the team of late. Not that he is the best player, but he is just what the kings need on offense.

1. You have young players who can run the floor well.
2. Running a faster offense will simplify the game on that end of the floor.
3. It should cut down transition buckets for the other team.
4. You tire out teams that aren’t don’t have a deep rotation.

Pooh is 12th in minutes played, but already fifth on the team in assists. That’s probably more of a reflection of our crappy passing before he started to get some PT.

He’ll probably move up to third on the team in assists behind Tyreke and Beno in the next week or two. Head and Cousins are the other two ahead of hum currently.

(1) According to the chart, it looks like the Kings play at a pace equal to NBA average. Am I reading this correctly? Or should there be two vertical lines instead of one?

(2) Pace is dictated by the opponent as much as us, if not more so, if superior in quality. Its not as easy as to say the Kings need to play at a faster pace to win. They would if they could. In other words, against quality opponents, easy leak outs and high percentage looks early in the shot clock are less likely. Against weaker opponents like we saw against injury depleted WAS team, our uptempo offense was a function of the Wizard inept offense, and their sieve-like, take-whatever-you-want defense as much as the impact of Pooh Jeter.

Regardless, talented speed and talented size is a winning combination. And up until the emergence of Jeter in the rotation, the Kings have barely had one element in their attack all year. Here’s hoping the two elements are more frequently present henceforth.

A few clicks and answered my own Q, regarding (1), 92.5 pace puts Kings 16th out of 30th, or at league average. I am not convinced by these stats one way or the other, though I want Jeter on the court. Pace and efficiency should be positively correlated across all teams. I cannot imagine too many instances in which a team is more efficient the slower they play, even if by design. It is counterintuitive. Even plodding half-court teams like the Jazz and Blazers are going to be more efficient on nights they get out on the break more so than normal. If a team is consistently running the 24 second clock close to zero, it is logical to say they are having difficulty finding quality shots. Less efficiency correlates to pace as does its opposite.

I think a more pertinent King scoring stat to monitor is point differential, which was the worst in the league, and currently at (6.1) after blowout win, but still 4th worst.

(3) A regression line plotted on the above graph would plot much steeper than your trend line, which would affirm the above point regarding correlation between efficiency and pace.

Especially as Pooh gets more playing time and, hopefully, plays at the same level he’s been at.

with pushing the pace a little bit, is one of the main reason to my insane desire to see Aaron Brooks in a Kings’ uniform before the trade deadline. Pack your baggages, Carl Landry.

His nine assists in 27 minutes tied him for second best in a game this season. Beno had 11 in the win over Cleveland and had nine in two other games. Tyreke has had nine in four games.