Russell Westbrook, Tyreke Evans And Fear Of Greed

About Evans?

This is the constant reality of ‘Reke: he’s criticized for taking shots (even though he makes a good share of them) instead of getting the ball to his often inferior teammates. His wings can’t shoot, so he shoots himself. His big men can’t handle drop-off passes, so he puts up a contested lay-up. The offense doesn’t move, so he creates himself.

This seems more apt in regards to the ‘09-’10 squad, than the ‘10-’11 one. Simply by having Thornton and Cousins on the floor, outside and inside, Evans just doesn’t have too many occasions where over-dribbling and crap-chucking are justified. Of course, the offense is going to get into stand-around mode once in awhile, but it’s kind of the man with the ball’s job to start yelling and directing traffic.

I love Tyreke’s game and once we get more pieces (Marcus Thornton is a great start) the league will not be able to stop Tyreke. The double teams will come less frequently next year because DMC is a BEAST down low and Thornton can shoot (first good shooter we have had since Bibby). We have 3 players who have the potential to avg 20+ ppg. This will open up the floor for Tyreke. He obviously needs to work on his shooting and health. I can’t wait for next season. I am starting to lean towards Williams in the draft, since he can give us minutes at the 3. Kevin Johnson will bring us either the #1 or #2 pick in the draft. I would like to draft a guard but I think Evans and Thornton could be our starting guards for years to come. Go Kings!

One thing to add, there was commentary around Westbrook’s passes to Westbrook being poor passes. Even I made a comment on Twitter that it almost looked like Westbrook was passing to Durant in a way designed to have Durant fail.

In a piece I wrote for Inside-Out Game, I stated that this view should not be taken seriously. Ultimately, I just don’t think Westbrook is an exceptional passer. His assist rate is right actually above those of Reke, Rose, and similar scoring guards. And yet he is being lambasted for not being Chris Paul.

Tyreke, Rose, Westbrook, they all have similarities. One of those similarities will be a constant criticism over whether or not they make their teammates and their teams better.

The Kings will not be relevant until they get a new coach, and I bet that Westphal doesn’t make it through next season with a Kings coaching job. I’d much rather have Adelman back and I think that the Princeton offense could be built into the current young group.

Tyreke would be a great cutter in the Princeton offense and Cousins can play the high and low post. It just seems like it would be a lot better than whatever system they have now. The Princeton offense would also take the ball out of Tyreke’s hands a bit and help these young guys play like a team.

but I am guessing it kind of morphed into something different altogether from some of the rumors about disagreements behind the scenes during the season

I sure hope Cousins is watching Zach Randolph!

I have been fearing the same we-need-to-trade-Tyreke-for-a-real-PG that Westbrook gas been getting. I agree we need more motion which I believe was stagnated by the lack of shooters.

Players not moving is the obvious place to point a finger but we need to take into account the frustration that possibly set in for Tyreke when no one can hit a shot. Then he stops passing and then the team stops moving because they know its pointless.

Great read but I hate westbrook i don’t know why. I just do, anyways Tyreke to me is like a Mini Lebron, cept I actually like tyreke when I hate lebron.

more to Omri and Carl Landry early in the year. But they were ignored by Reke and Westphal, and had poor years. Should have passed to Cousins more too. (One of the sources of tension between Cousins and coaching staff, IMO). Not Rekes fault entirely his teammates underachieved, but he did little to help their games. In retrospect, if Tyreke was more unselfish then perhaps Landry snaps out of his season long funk, becomes a more valuable contributor, and he is not dealt for Marcus Thornton. Conclusion: Tyreke the Ball Hog helped us land Marcus Thornton! /sarcasm

Ziller makes a fair point about ball getting stuck in PGs hand towards end of shot clock, and detrimental effect on individual stats, but still a PG should be able justify taking more shots than teammates with higher efficiency rate. Neither player can. Tyreke shot 41% vs. team 45%. Westbrook shot 41% too (surprisingly low) vs. team 43%. Both need to do one of two things to take game to next level, ideally both: (1) Shoot better, (2) find capable teammates more often.

Point of comparison: Chris Paul 55% FGs (!) vs. team 46%. Steve Nash 49% FGs vs. team 47%. These guys find perfect balance between shots for themselves and others.

Derrick Rose actually shoots worse than team 42% vs 44%, but his PPS (point per shot) is better than 2nd and 3rd best scorer (Deng and Boozer) because he gets to FT line so much. I still might argue that Rose could pass a little more (he shot 23 times per game, almost 30% of team FGs!), and I think he will as his career unfolds, but its hard to argue with their (his) success.

I think it is interesting Rose, Reke and Westbrook all shot about same rate: 41-42%. Goes to show that no matter how terrific and unstoppable a player is at getting to the basket , and all three are, you still got to be able to hit a jumper. Enough bricks among this trio to build a new ESC :-)

Its a good one to have when the guy is one the team’s best player, if not best player. Remember waiting 4 years for Webber to take the shot? Got Bibby instead.

This isn’t a new problem by any means. Remember Jordan Rules? Ya, foster his propensity to shoot himself and hopefully he’ll ignore his teammates. Kobe was also a word class ball-hog chucker the first 4-5 years of his career. How did Phil Jackson solve that? By telling everyone else on the team Kobe gets to the chuck the ball whenever he wants and rest of you are no longer allowed to shoot, play defense or don’t play. As long as Reke, Westbrook, Rose, etc. aren’t turning into JR Rider it’s good.

dominating in the NBA right now. I just don’t think it’s very interesting basketball to watch. Not unless it’s Jordan out there – and it isn’t.

In Westbrook’s case he does seem to have turned Durant into a spot up shooter too often in the Memphis series. Yes, some of the credit goes to Shane Battier (who has been awesome) but they should have been able to overcome that more often with some game planning and play calling by now. It’s a freakin’ 7 game series, not just the next game on the schedule.

This is the constant reality of ‘Reke: he’s criticized for taking shots (even though he makes a good share of them) instead of getting the ball to his often inferior teammates. His wings can’t shoot, so he shoots himself. His big men can’t handle drop-off passes, so he puts up a contested lay-up. The offense doesn’t move, so he creates himself.

I’ll give Tyreke a partial pass due to injuries, though.

I think when he cuts down on his shots, the Kings are in better shape. The Kings have better options on offense than a point guard playing on one leg.

He’s got a lot to prove, and putting him in the same sentence with Westbrook and Rose is a disservice. But naturally if he can regain the form of his best play as a rookie, he can get back into that discussion. Not now, though.

but in defense of the Westbrook bashing. It’s not the shots he takes with the clock running out that are the problem. It’s the 20 foot jumpers with 16 left on the clock. It’s when he goes “full Kobe” that he’s a problem.

When he’s getting 10 assists a game it’s hard to fault him, but the 22 shot 4 assist games are not really good for the team.

He’s a very good player, but he has faults.