Might be time to go back to Noc starting for these last few weeks. If he plays well, we might be able to trade him.

The guy is from the same country as Manu? That is so cool.

Nonetheless, they’ve been at their best with veteran Nocioni in the starting small forward role.

The Kings are 11-9 when Nocioni starts at small forward, 2-11 when Greene starts at the position and 8-21 with Casspi in the slot. Ironically enough, the Kings’ early season surge ended when Nocioni was taken out of the starting lineup after their 35-point comeback in Chicago on Dec. 21 that made them 13-14 on the season.

While I liked the premise of Sam’s article, focusing on the possible players in the small forward position, I have problems with his conclusion regarding Nocioni being the best in that position. This is an example of using statistics to support your position.

He makes his case noting Kings were 11-9 with Nocioni starting at the small forward position. What he fails to take into consideration, there were four other starting players on the floor who each played a factor in that win.(If I call correctly, many of those early wins were due in large part to the bench’s performance.) Because Coach Westphal has changed his starting lineup so much this season, the other starting players varied. Consequently, it is unclear whether Nocioni was the primary factor, or if it was other factors(another player, the bench, games with lower ranked teams at the beginning of the season) which contributed to those wins. If all things were to remain equal, except Nocioni, a stronger argument could be made. For that to happen, all of the starting players would have to be the same each game, with the only variable being Nocioni. Then if there was a significant change in wins, then Nocioni could be identified as the only different factor in the starting lineup.

It would be more illustrative if the starting lineups for each of the 11 games in which Nocioni started in the small forward position were listed. Even if that were the case, it would still be a small sample size at best. Because of this, I would not draw the conclusion that the team was at it’s best because Nocioni was in the starting small forward position. There are just too many other variables to consider.

Noc is clearly the best starting candidate at this point. As an NBA veteran, he already knows what Casspi and Greene are still trying to learn.

That being said, the present is not about the present, but about the future. And Andres Nocioni is not part of the future of this franchise, in my opinion. Even if inserting him into the starting lineup brought us an additional win or two, it would not be worth compromising the growth of Casspi and Greene, in my opinion. Noc would be better served as bench rotation guy for a contending team.

And 1 – Noc logged most of his major minutes in November and December, during the easiest portion of the KIngs schedule. I’m betting that this has had at least a little impact on the starter vs. reserve won-lost percentages. I’m not completely discounting the data here – this team is better when Noc starts. I just think that the difference may not be as great as the data suggests, once you plug difficulty of schedule into the matrix.

in a better team? If so, Nocioni should start.

might get a little affected in a team struggling as much as the Kings are right now. What do they learn loose after loose? Perhaps is better for Casspi and Greene to have lesser minutes in a team that is a bit more strong and stable. And I believe that Nocioni and his experience and competitiveness could help the Kings with this.

You play to win the games. You do that by playing your best players regardless of age. That’s where the problems creep up IMO. Noc doesn’t really fit with Reke all that well and that’s the major issue here.

With regards to records that means little too. Sam mentioned the Chicago game but he left out that Noc played like crap that particular game. Noc, IMO, lost the right to start a long time ago. Also the Kings played pretty poorly when Donte or Omri were starting consistently. Some of those games also included no Reke available to play. That skews some of this.

The problem as I see it is that Omri and Donte haven’t played up to their potential consistently. When either Omri or Donte plays well their contribution is far more valuable than Noc’s at this point. The problem? The same problem that existed at the beginning of the season. It’s just about matching the potential with the consistency needed from both.

This team will improve as they get older and develop more chemistry/trust in each other. The other part of this is that PW is trying to get Donte/Omri to become starting caliber SF’s in the L. I suspect a big part of this is mental and approach. Maybe mostly it’s a subtle reminder to both that nothing is guaranteed in a competitive environment. If I had to guess I would say that it is all that.

The real point, albeit made very subtlety, is that a young team with holes is the reason the Kings have 44 losses at the moment. While that may be one of the messages being sent the fans way, it’s a clear cut mesage to the players this is why you don’t guarantee players jobs unless they earn it. Hopefully our young crop of players understand and respond.

My thoughts:

1) Noce no longer fits with the Kings. This is a young team which will peak in 3 to 4 years. By that time, the only shooting Noce will do is shooting deer and boars in Argentina. Kings future would be best served with trying to develop Omri and Donte. Wins now are good and all but I don’t think playing Noce 35 mins and Donte/Casspi 5mins each is the best way to go about that.

2) Noce needs to play. He is still a good NBA forward with shooting range, passable defense and unbridled passion. He can be an important contributor to a team like the Nuggets, the Mavs, the Magic, even the Cavs. If he becomes a threepoint threat and defense specialist for one of those teams for about 15-20 mins, he just might earn a ring.

3) Still, Noce CAN play and SHOULD play while he is here. I was fine with PW giving him 5-8mins a game. You know, just enough time to stretch the D a bit, give JT and Landry space to work inside, maybe hit a 3 or make Dirk/LBJ/Melo miss a couple of shots, help bring a 10 point lead down to 4 or extend a 1 point lead to 7…stuff like that.

Bottom line, I hope the Kings can trade Noce in the off season. Or buy him out. Also, watch out for Noce in the FIBA World Championships. He’s gonna make life hell for every other team there.

in games played since March 13th when Donté Greene starts at small forward.