Talking about the "is" instead of the "isn't"

have given up on Spencer becoming a banger or a low post threat but I’m sorry your 7 ft starting center should pull down atleast 7 rebounds every single game IMO. If you want to call him a good offensive “spread the floor” guy who can pass then 14pts,7 reb,5 ast, & maybe 1 block is not too much to ask of your starting center.

For example Mehmet Okur is very similar style to Spencer minus the assists. He is averaging about 13pts, 7 reb, 2 ast, & 1 blk. If we could get that every game with maybe 2 more ast I would be happy.

Chalize Theron had on a silly dress. Go back to Jo’Berg.
Demi Moore looked amazing but too old
Cameron Diaz’s face is looking rounder.
Sandra Bullock lips were just too red
Vera Farmiga’s name is too difficult to pronounce
Rachel McAdams looked frumpy
Penelope Cruz is plain frikkin’ gorgeous. But I am married.

And yes, Spencer Hawes is young talented but limited athletically. He can develop a very solid consistent game – but not for another two seasons. If he were to come out in this draft he would go in the top 10. You like Greg Monroe better? Really? Hawes is already on the Kings, and like it or not, one of the best players on the team. This squad needs a serious talent upgrade across the board.

Sorry all, but this young team is also an inexperienced team. Two seasons away. At least. Take a deep breath. Patience. Enjoy that this team is an improvement over last year. Next year will be an improvement over this one. And I know that Penelope really wants me not Javier Bardem.

So, when you say something is not the brain doesn’t hear it… So, according to this theory I must have heard “talking about the is instead of (nothing)”

To me, the post could have also been titled “Accepting Spencer as a role player”, which is what he is. Which leads me to 2 conclusions:

1. This team desperately needs another all around player, regardless of position. That’s the beauty of Tyreke – he can legitimately play and succeed at 3 positions, which gives the Kings the option of going after BPA in the draft, whomever that may be.

2. This summer, and subsequently, next season, is very important for Spencer. While it is OK for Spencer to be a role player for the Kings, the larger question IMO is whether he can be a consistent player for them. Others certainly share the blame, but 2 rebounds in 25 mins for a guy playing the pivot just kills the team. Hopefully, he learned his lesson from last summer and really dedicates himself to becoming stronger and developing the weak areas of his game this offseason. A more consistent Hawes next year would be a welcome sight to be sure…

I don’t know if anyone else was confused by the title of this post and how it was presented in the first couple of paragraphs. The article is about Spencer Hawes and the title should have reflected that. I thought you were talking about how to view players in general, until I realized that you were talking about Spencer Hawes. Spencer Hawes was not an example to bolter your point of viewing players in a positive way – Spencer Hawes was the topic. If felt almost like you did a bait and switch of your topic.

Anyway, once I got that figured out, then I could see where you were going with your argument. I tend to agree with you that people do tend to see the deficits in Spencer Hawes, rather than his strengths. From the beginning, he has tended to be a square peg (offensive minded) that the people have tried to shove into a round hole (defensive player at center position).

The franchise picked him up because of his height and their need for a center. He was to replace Brad Miller and was their hope for the future. Because of that position, there has been an expectation that he would play center and be a strong defender. However, I am not so sure that is what Spencer wants. Spencer has put a lot of his efforts into becoming a better shooter. To me, he plays as though he would rather play at the 3 position. As you point out:

Spencer is not a good rebounder. He’s not a banger down low. He will not be a dominant force in the post or be able to consistently hold his own against the powerful bigs of this league.

I will certainly agree with you on those points. Problem is these are the same qualities people expect from their center. However, the point you want to make is to forget Spencer’s weaknesses and concentrate on his strengths: “above average passing game… and good shooting range.” From this you make this proclamation: “He probably won’t be the rebounder of the team, but he can be the big that can stretch the floor and have the offense run through him… how many teams are able to run their offense through their 21 year old center?”

Well, now I can see why you spent so much time trying to assuage the reader with looking at a player’s strengths, by making such a dramatic proclamation. When you say that you want the team to “run their offense” through him, are you saying that he should play the role of the PG in addition to being the Center? Or, do we just drop the idea of Spencer being the center and put him into an offense position? I am not really clear on your point.

I am trying to wrap my mind around the positive attributes that Spencer brings. It comes down to what I have been feeling all along. To me, Spencer acts like he wants to play the 3 position, while the coaching staff wants him to play center. Now, I may be looking at this all wrong. So, if I am hearing you correctly, you are saying that he should be playing in an offensive role, running the offense, but from the center position.

Honestly, I don’t know what to think of this. It certainly seems to fly in the face of the expectations that the offense will be run through Tyreke and/or Beno. What are you proposing that the team do with their positions? Trade Tyreke and Beno and build the team around Spencer? You bring up some interesting ideas, but I am not even going to try to come up with a resolution for this seeming dilemma. Although, there is the possibility of letting Spencer play the 3 position and getting someone else to play center position. Basically, consider the Spencer as our-next-center experiment a failure.

To believe that Spencer or any young center can’t improve past his 3rd year in the league is naive. Here’s my thoughts on Spencer from the OKC game where he had 3 rebs.

Spencer is the big that always moves away from the rim to set the high screens and as such is never in position to rebound on offense. In fact, once the shot goes up, Spencer is frequently the 1st player back on defense.

Defensively, when other teams run the high pick & roll, it’s usually with Tyreke’s man and the center. This again forces Spencer away from the basket and out of position to rebound, especially since Tyreke is very poor at getting around the screen so Spencer is forced to go deeper to cut off the ball handler.

Right now, the Kings offense is designed for Tyreke or Landry to go one on one and attack the basket. As such, whenever either of those 2 players have the ball, Spencer again most away from the basket and out of rebound position, to clear the lane for his teammates.

One think I noticed in the OKC game was that the Kings guards were very slow to pick up their man in transision. Cisco was actually on the opposition side of the court from his man in a side out play. Of all the bigs, Spencer was the only one to leave his man and go out to challenge the shot, when someone was left open. And, again he’s out of position to rebound.

Now, for the bad. Spencer had Sefolosha take the ball away from him on one rebound, and that should never happen. Over all Spencer doesn’t really get into the battle for the rebound as often as he could. And, as others have pointed out he doesn’t anticapate how the ball is going to come off the rim very well. And, I think most importantly, his timing is bad when he goes up for the rebound. Frequently he goes up too early, and is actually coming back down before the ball is in reach. This allows better leapers to get to the ball first and take it away even when Spencer has position. Lastly, when players beat their man and attack the rim, Spencer tries to block shots that he can’t actually get to and is therefore out of position to rebound when they miss. Although it may be because Spencer tried to block the shot that caused the shot to be missed, so it’s a double edged sword.

The sad truth is that Spencer will never be a dominant low post defender. But, his value as an offensive weapon will only get better. Finally, the ability to anticipate where you need to be to rebound can be a learned trait, as is knowing when to try and block shots and timing your jump for the rebound. And, added strength will keep the smaller players from taking the ball out of his hands, after he does come down with a rebound.

Spencer doesn’t have the ball handling skills to be a true PF, and will always be a center.
Whether his role will be as a starter or a backup will depend on whether the Kings can acquire someone better. But, for right now, he’s the best we have and like wine will only get better with time as long as he’s allowed to age slowly.

Now, for the bad.

Cause past the first couple of sentences that didn’t sound good. Now for the worse, perhaps?

Hey Ed, I like your post. I have a few comments to you and others but instead of addressing them as individual reply’s I will attempt a reply to all with my 2 cents.

I have been one of the town criers with a pitch fork chasing Spencer Hawes down the street. So, without rehashing so many of the previous statements I have made, let me try and be precise. Spencer Hawes has, in my opinion, plateaued as a basketball player because he has allowed himself to do so and that bugs the shit out of me.

I, like many of you coming into this season, envisioned Spencer Hawes and Jason Thompson as the starting front court of the Sacramento Kings for the foreseeable future. I now no longer feel that way because both players have, in certain respects, regressed. So why do I still believe in Jason Thompson and have so much reservations about young Spencer? Because I see a work ethic in Thompson, on the floor, game in and game out that I, as a fan can be proud of. JT may make mistakes but his effort is always there and that is something I can not say for Hawes.

The issues for Hawes began for me in the summer. Hawes is a professional basketball player, not a college student or a 21 year old going on vaca with the family. They continued in the preseason when Westphal chose to start Sean May (insert fat joke- remember, this is October) instead of Spence to make a point. Now, we can speculate that this was about the summer debacle but if Westphal was blown away with the conditioning and development in Hawes game, he would have had no choice but to start Hawes out of the gate.

Now, it’s March and I’m still harping on summer, pre-season, and the first month of the season- get over it, I know. Well, I’m still waiting to see the growth that should have occurred during the off-season. Some of you have debated this mystical 7 rebounds a game number and I would like to point to last year when Hawes did actually average 7.1 rebounds a game. For those of you who say, hey, give the kid a break, he’s only 21, I respond with, last year he was 20 and a better rebounder (8.7 per 36 to 8.1 this season).

Here is the crux of my reply to all. I don’t buy it. I don’t accept that Spencer is this player and that this is ok. The Kings have invested a top 10 pick and 7-8 million in a player and that player has taken the money but squandered the opportunity.

What do we do about his deficiencies you ask? Because this team is nowhere near being a finished product and more pieces wil be added later, we hope that another big is acquired and hopefully this PF or C will be the banger that Spencer is not, the good rebounder Spencer’s not, and a big that can hold his own against the powerful guys in the L. Instead of bashing Spencer for not being who we expect him or want him to be, we find him a complement that will highlight his skills and hide his weaknesses because I believe he brings many positives to the table that can truly help this team win in the future.

I respect you Ed but this paragraph is a cop out in my opinion. Certain things in life you can control and certain things you can’t. What you are telling me here is that Spencer can’t do these things and so the Kings need to add a player to cover for his inadequacies. But here is the problem, Spencer Hawes can bang and rebound and if he worked out like he should have the last two summers he could hold his position in the post. So this becomes an issue of “he won’t” and not “he can’t” and you are proposing that the Kings let a lazy 21 year old dictate not only the role of one roster spot but two.

I can accept Hawes for not being a great defensive player and being a poor rebounder. What irritating is that he is so inconsistent at the things he’s supposed to be good at. He’s a great passer? He has good range on his shot? I wish he’d show me those skills more often then I’m told he has those skills.