Trying to make sense of it all

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I am going to attempt to find the similarities between all of the playoff bound teams in the Western Confrence. I want to look at how their starting unit fits together and what makes them similar. I will do this by looking at each team position by position and see if I can draw some similarities between the players at that position and where we stand at that same position.

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Lets look at the PG situations on these playoff bound teams. I am going to use ASST/TO ration, because in my opinion that is what a good PG should be measured by. He should make others around him better, while limiting his TO’s.

Team: Player ASST/TO

LAC: CP3 8.4/2.2

LAL: Fisher 4.2/1.3

Dal: Kidd 5.4/2.2

HOU: Lowry 8.7/3.7

MEM: Conley 7.4/2.4

SA: Parker 8.1/2.6

DEN: Lawson 6.7/2.6

OKC: Westbrook 5.6/3.4

POR: Felton 7.1/2.8

UTAH: Harris 4.5/2.1

SAC: Evans 4.4/2.7

Slightly over half of these teams have an efficient PG running the show. The Lakers, Thunder and Jazz don’t. The Lakers have Kobe playing lead guard, so they don’t need a true PG. The Jazz are winning with a combo of PG play as Harris is 4.5/2.1 and the backup Watson is a similar 4.9/1.9. The Thunder seem to be the exception, Westbrrok is about the exact opposite of a true PG, but he can score anywhere on the floor and has a guy named Durant that has the ball in his hands a ton. The Mavs have a true PG in Kidd, his numbers are down, but expect them to come closer to the 8.2/2.2 Asst/TO he put up last year. Two of the teams have their best player at this spot (CP3, Lowry), I have Manu slightly better then Parker, but just slightly.

Onto the SG’s. I’m going to use FG/3pt/ split as well as height and weight, because a SG should be able to shoot and size is big on defense for guarding other SG’s.

Team: Player FG/3pt Height weight

LAC: Billups 35/38 6’3 210

LAL: Bryant 46/26 6’6 205

DAL: Terry 41/37 6’2 180

HOU: Martin 42/32 6’7 185

MEM: Allen 48/20 6’4 213

SA: Manu 59/52 6’6 205

DEN: Afflalo 43/38 6’5 215

OKC: Sefolosha 49/55 6’7 215

POR: Matthews 41/35 6’5 220

UTAH: Bell 46/36 6’5 210

SAC: Thorton 40/33 6’4 205

As far as SG’s go we have a pretty wide range. It seems most teams have good defenders at the SG spot, that can spot shoot. Their size vary from 6’2-6’7 180-220lbs. Two of the teams have their best player at this spot (Kobe, Manu), I have Lowry better then Martin.

Now for the SF spot. I am going to use PPG, 3pt %, Reb, height and weight. I am using these stats because a lot of these teams have their 1st, 2nd, or 3rd options on offense here and their best defenders.

Team: Player PPG/3%/REB Height Weight

LAC: Butler 14.8/30%/4.2 6’7 228

LAL: Barnes 8.1/21%/5.1 6’7 226

DAL: Marion 11.8/43%/6.1 6’7 228

HOU: Parsons 6.8/26%/5.5 6’9 200

MEM: Gay 18.9/29%/6.2 6’8 230

SA: Jefferson 10.9/46%/3.1 6’7 230

DEN: Gallinari 17.4/31%/5.2 6’10 225

OKC: Durant 25.7/33%/7.2 6’9 235

POR: Wallace 14.2/28%/7.2 6’7 220

Utah: Hayward 8.4/27%/2.9 6’8 210

Sac: Salmons 7.1/22%/3.2 6’6 207

The SF’s on this list are not as big as I thought they would be, about the same size as our PG (we’ll get to that later). They average out at about 6’7.5 228lbs. What I notice about this list, is that all of these guys are above average defenders, except for Parsons and Hayward. Three of the teams have their best player at this position (Gay, Gallinari, Durant).

Now for the PF’s. The stats that I am going to use for this position are PPG/REB/BLK. I am using these stats because these are the most common stats used to judge a PF.

Team: Player PPG/REB/BLK

LAC: Griffin 21/11.5/.57

LAL: Gasol 15.8/9.3/1.39

Dal: Nowitzki 17.5/5.4/.56

HOU: Scola 15.3/5.7/.24

Memph: Randolph 14.8/7.5/.5

SA:Blair 10.6/6.1/.22

DEN: Harrington 15.5/5.7/.12

OKC: Ibaka 6.6/6.4/2.65

POR: Aldridge 22.7/9.2/.71

Utah: Millsap 16.6/8.7/.67

SAC: Cousins 14.6/10.8/1.47

The PF’s on this are some big time names. What I notice from this list is that we ACTUALLY have someone who is just as talented as most of the other players on this list!!!!!Soooo lets move on!!

Now for the C position. I will be using the same stats as I used for the PF’s.

Team: Player PPG/REB/BLK

LAC: Jordan 8/8.6/3

LAL: Bynum 15.9/9.5/1.79

DAL: Haywood 5.2/6.4/.83

HOU: Dally 8.7/8.4/2

MEM: Gasol 15.2/10.6/2.5

SA: Duncan 13.5/7.3/1

DEN: Nene 13.4/9.1/1

OKC: Perkins 5.1/5.8/1.24

POR: Camby 3.1/8/1.29

UTAH: Jefferson 18.3/9.4/1.5

SAC: Hayes 5.6/7.8/.38

Looking at the list of C’s on this list you’ll notice one thing in common, with the exception of Haywwod, these guys protect the basket. Most teams have guys here that play good defense, block shots and get rebounds. There are only a few stars here Bynum, Gasol, Nene, Jefferson.

Now for the coaches…

LAC: Del Negro

LAL: Mike Brown

DAL: Ric Carlisle

HOU: Kevin Mchale

MEM: Lionel Hollins

SA: Greg Popovich

DEN: George Karl

OKC: Scott Brooks

POR: Nate Mcmillan

Utah: Tyrone Corbin

A pretty odd list of guys. You have two HOF’s in Popovich and Karl, while the rest are guys that didn’t have a lot of experience before taking their jobs with their respective teams (except for Mike Brown and Rick Carlisle). I like Smart as a coach, and think we should give him a shot.

What should we do? I believe that our roster is flawed. I also believe that we have talent, it just doesn’t mesh well. The good news is that we are in a great position to make some moves, if our owners are willing to shell out some money (I know, BIG IF). We have some guys on our roster who I actually think could fetch us some quality player in return (JT, Thorton, Evans). We also have what looks to be a pretty high draft pick coming this year, not to mention our next years draft pick would be pretty valuable as well. We also have a lot of cap room.

I know a lot of people probably cringed when I wrote Tyrekes name as a player to be traded. The reality is that I think both the organization and Tyreke could both benefit from a fresh start. Tyreke is the only one on our roster that could fetch us a valuable piece that we need. I am a big Tyreke fan, but I am a bigger Kings fan. It would be hard to see Tyreke go. Tyreke has been a fan favorite since his rookie campaign. He made a lousy team watchable and gave us some hope for the future. He was rookie of the year, while putting up numbers only 3 other men in the history of the NBA had put up. Yes, you all know 20-5-5. Those numbers grouped him with 3 NBA greats, Lebron, MJ, and the Big O. We all rejoiced and figured his career would be similar to those 3 and lead us back to the promised land. Since that campaign however, the career arcs of the 3 players mentioned and Tyrekes career, have gone in very different directions. While the other 3 guys numbers improved, Tyrekes have gotten worse.

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Evans

Lebron

Jordan

Big O

Tyreke was the man his rookie year, literally. He was on a team that included the likes of Hilton Armstrong, Joey Dorsey, Desmond Mason, Sean May, Dominic McGuire, Noc, Sergio, Garrett Temple, K9, Udoka. Not exactly a playoff squad. He had the ball in his hands all the time, with good reason, so he filled up the stat sheet. With every assist, rebound, and basket scored their were ROY rallies 20/5/5 shirts and a whole lot of hoopla. You can’t really blame the organization, after all they were trying to sell tickets and merchandise for the worst team in the NBA. Since that season though, teams have obviously adapted to what Tyreke wants to do, he wants to get to the rim. His jump shot is well below average and his decision making is below average as well. This presents a problem, because he is our primary ball handler. There has been a lot of chatter around here and other sites that it doesn’t matter if he’s a PG or not, because he’s a lead guard. The Lakers don’t have a true PG, the Heat don’t have a true PG, the Bulls never had a true PG. That is true, but those teams lead guards were among the top 20 players of all time. I like Tyreke, but he’s no Kobe, MJ, Wade, Lebron. What could Tyreke get us? Im not to sure. Only GP knows that for sure.

I believe we could solve the PG problem on our roster right now. Jimmer or Thomas may be the PG of the future, but we need one now. There are two PG’s out their that want a starting gig somewhere else, Andre Miller and Mo Williams. Both guys are more then serviceable. I know there are a lot of people on this site that are’t big fans of Andre Miller. His game can be ugly at times, but he is a fierce competitor and winner. He’s 35, but he still has plenty left in the tank. He has been the starting PG of a playoff team 7 of the last 8 years. Mo Williams on the other hand, is not the pass first PG that Miller is. He is 29 years old. He is more of the Mike Bibby mold. His career ASST/TO ratio ,if you don’t count when he had Lebron on his team who dominated the ball, are about 6.3/2.8. He is a good outside shooter and was the 2nd best player on the CLE teams that had the back to back best record in the NBA. He also looks like a man on a mission this year to prove he is a starter somewhere shooting career highs across the board. I think that either one of these two could be had for JT and a 2nd rd pick. As I said in the trade thread, if POR doesn’t renew Nicholas Batums contract by tomorrow, he will be a RFA. We should offer him a big contract, and do to POR what they did to the Jazz with Wesley Mathews. He is worth it! As for Tyreke, if he could land us Granger or Paul Millsap, that would fill one of our other voids at SF PF. I’ve seen rumors that Granger is available, but Millsap would only be if Utah wanted to start playing Favors more. They have a lot of big men in Jefferson, Millsap, Favors, Kanter, and some big contracts with Harris, Millsap, and Jefferson. I would eat Harris’s contract if it meant getting Milsap(Maloofs, not so sure though). If you could net either one of these guys, you would fill one of our voids. The other void could be filled through FA.

GP is on a hot seat right now and he can’t just sit back and let us continue down the path of mediocrity. We need some changes, that is obvious. I do not envy his job, but I belive we have enough assets to get us pointed in the right direction. Go Kings!!