All Sacramento Kings Fans in So Cal that come to 33 Degrees - Harborside Pub tonight to watch the Kings play the Thunder will receive 25% OFF any food item.

Wear your Kings Gear so we know who you are...

If you correctly guess the final score, your dinner and drinks are on me!


Ed (SactownheartOChouse)

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While we all agree that better defense, and outside shooting are critical success factors still missing from this team, there is still a consensus that another player to initiate the offense and complement Tyreke's game is essential to bringing the Kings back to prominence and should be our focus in the upcoming NBA Draft.

As a result many here at STR wish for us to select Knight/Walker/Fredette. The reality is the first two may not be available at #7.  As for Jimmer, Petrie does like to take a flyer on someone with an outside shot. J-Will liked to jack em up early in his career from downtown and was drafted earlier than expected, Stojakovic with his dead aim was a surprise pick at 14, Martin and Douby also were great beyond the arc coming into the league and picked ahead of perceived value. Because of that nobody should be surprised if Jimmermania comes to Sacramento.

However, Petrie typically surprises us and as such we should start resetting expectations now if Jimmer is not going to become a member of the Sacramento Kings.

So assuming Knight and Walker are off the Board and Fredette is not selected at seven, we will still be in need of someone to complement Tyreke and become a starting floor general.

We all remember how much debate was had over the draft of '09 where 10 players were taken with the first 21 picks and 12 in the first round that could play point guard.

Last year I compared Tyreke to the other PGs drafted in the 2009 Class, posted stats and made comments on a few different criteria exclaiming who was most valuable to their team, who was the best value given their draft position and who had the best star potential. I was curious how this deep class has developed with two years under the belt. I was not surprised that Stephen Curry and Brandon Jennings have legit games but I was surprised at the success of the others drafted around them.

Then it came to me: The Kings maybe better off making a deal that lands them one of these other point guards than trying to draft any of the coveted guards in this year's draft.

After the break I will provide some stats and analysis on all of the point guards after their first two years in the league. I hope you enjoy.

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Mayor Kevin Johnson

P.O. Box 189719
Sacramento, CA 95818

Dear Mr. Johnson:

To say the past few months have been difficult for all of us devoted Sacramento Kings fans is an understatement. This  season witnessed a step backwards in team record despite a promising start and renewed hopes of success. We saw mixed results from our recent draft picks due to DeMarcus Cousins' fiery yet immature nature and injuries to Tyreke Evans. We endured a name change to our beloved Arco Arena (II) and we were face slapped by a frustrated ownership that sought to relocate the team to a different market because of an inadequate facility and the City of Sacramento struggle to produce a viable new arena plan. We gasped as the City of Anaheim quickly came forward with an exit strategy that would have transformed the Kings into a third NBA franchise in the Southern California market by next season.

We experienced a menagerie of feelings as we tried to come to terms with the apparent slow death happening before our eyes. Some of us were paralyzed trying to deny what was quickly becoming our reality. Some shrugged shoulders almost unwilling to admit what this void would create in our hearts and lives. Some of us were quick to point blame; allowing emotion to dictate logic. Some questioned the ability to remain loyal should the Kings leave while others waxed nostalgia as if the Kings had already packed and moved. Some got active and looked for ways to help keep the Kings here.

Almost all of us felt broken-hearted, betrayed and frustrated as we all struggled with our emotions to stay productive at work and positive with family, friends and faith.

While our thoughts, feelings, expressions and actions may not have emulated grace nor diplomacy, no one could deny our vigilant vigor merely encapsulated our passion and love for our Sacramento Kings.

As our local leader, Mayor Kevin Johnson, your are arguably our most vocal and effective advocate and ombudsman during this ordeal.

Likewise, your passion to make Sacramento a better place that includes the Kings, outweighs any lack of political savviness as exhibited by a few public missteps that don't need to be rehashed here. While your political acumen may not resemble the steeled poker face of a Phil Ivey--with letter writing and lawyers between the city officials of Sacramento and Anaheim...

or via your public pessimism that Sacramento won't be able to influnce the Kings to stay, no one can deny your determination to keep fighting including your trip to the NBA office, the introduction of a potential new Arena Plan, and Ron Burkle as a potential new owner.

Should the railroad yards northeast of the Sacramento and the American Rivers turn from this...

into this...

then your legacy as Mayor of Sacramento will be solidified.

People recollect that you are rooted here in Sacramento and are the area's first African American to be elected Mayor. A few of us remember your days as a standout baseball and basketball star at Sacramento High. Some will remember your accolades at Cal while most will remember your success in the NBA as a Phoenix Sun.

While a lot of your success stems from your ability to perform under pressure, your post basketball career has been anything but a layup. Despite a few public controversies that might have derailed most other political novices coupled with inheriting a city troubled with our generation's worst economy, you continue to deliver results.

By securing $500M in federal stimulus money, successfully pushing critical school reform, making neighborhoods safer buy putting more officers on the streets and continuing to drive economic development there is plenty on your plate and certainly most of us would understand if you didn't have the time to try and help keep the Kings in Sacramento beyond the typical political grandstanding for fear of losing support from other detractors.

While there is still 3/4 of the game yet to be played before the Kings organization, the fans, the community, and the politicians can all unilaterally declare this ambitious project a win, we can let out an emphatic sigh of relief that after the first quarter we are at least in the game. On behalf of all of us that love the Sacramento Kings, we thank you!

Please forgive us if we doubted and/or criticized your efforts, we once again believe. Please forgive the Maloofs for perhaps quitting too quickly on the City to get a deal done because working together with them will be essential to make the model work. Most of all, please keep doing what you are doing...trying to make Sacramento "A City that works for everyone."

Sincerely,

A Sacramento Kings Fan

Sam Amick beat me to the punch with his article Kings to Anaheim? Follow the money but I wanted to share a more focused view on the statistics of the two markets to illustrate that although there are presently 7 major professional sports franchises in Southern California, the math suggests Anaheim can support an NBA team.

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The gravity of the situation is palpable: Our beloved Kings are on the verge of leaving town and everyone is understandably frustrated and several are pointing fingers or expressing anger towards Orange County, The Ownership, The Sacramento Community and The Mayor's Office and his constituents.

When all is said and done, who really is to blame should the Kings leave their latest digs and for greener pastures?

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So I am bursting at the seams here with like all of you wondering how this train wreck is going to end. Living in Orange County makes it especially awkward given the inherent conflict of interest given the potential outcome landing my beloved Kings either 20 minutes from my current residence or 20 minutes from where for I lived for almost 25 years.

I was curious where all the Sactown Royalty fans reside and when they got there.

So first things first. Sorry I have been in my cave. I have not posted in quite a while and although I have tried to read and keep up on what is going on with the Kings and the Arena situation, the topic has been too depressing for me to be glued to the news.

I definitely have an opinion on the Sacramento community, the Kings ownership as well as the so. cal climate and many times I have started to write but wasn't able to add too much original context so I would just erase and sigh and read someone else's thoughts and opinions that was a little quicker hitting the send button.

In quick summary it is bitter-sweet to have roots, family and friends in Sac while living down in Orange County and owning a business in LA County. Likewise it is a conundrum to hope Sacramento can pull out a hail maker while at the same time think about picking some seats out for next season at the Honda Center to watch the Kings.

Sorry to digress. One of my good friends from El Dorado Hills came down to the OC with an extra ticket for the NCAA Regional action tonight and of course I was elated to go. After the break I will quickly summarize the game and my half time conversation with Geoff Petrie.

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The upcoming season is getting closer and I wanted to see if there was potential interest in getting a group of us fans that live in So. Cal together to enjoy the Kings games. My restaurant 33 Degrees - Harborside Pub will have the NBA package and with 14 HD TVs for your viewing pleasure plus a large projection for the bigger games it would be great to have a place where we can be the majority on any given night.

I know that it is hard for all of us to come to every game but would like to understand if there are a few in late October and early November that we could try to drive attendance for.

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Recently a debate over Tyreke being a Playmaker or not made me want to raise the discussion up and solicit the input form a larger audience. After the break I will put forth some definitions on the topic and solicit your collective genius to see if we can answer two fundamental questions: What makes a basketball player a playmaker and does Tyreke qualify?

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I recently posted about our prospects at Small Forward and a tangent ensued whether Cisco was more of a clutch player than his current King's peers. I was challenged that my word choice was merely an opinion without any statistical back up and despite a few trying to corroborate my assessment, no conclusion was reached. Since this accidental anecdote conjured more questions than answers, I felt it would be beneficial to cover this topic specifically. After the break I will define what is meant by "clutch", provide some background on what stats are associated with clutch performances and then see how our current Kings players stack up against the rest of the league.

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Having had little time to contribute this Summer with the opening of my Restaurant 33 Degrees, I confess I have barely kept up with the myriad wholesale changes endured by our beloved Kings and merely perused tidbits of STR contributions well after the discussions waned. As an aside, national news sources and the Sacramento Bee offer so little real information and insight so the only real source for Kings Basketball exists here on Sactown Royalty er NaAV (Not an Aileen Voisin).

There has been ample to digest and pontificate about and I hope to focus on a topic not already debated ad nauseam, by comparing our prospects at the 3. I believe we all know what to expect with Tyreke next season, are confident he will shine and hope his jump shot develops faster than his next speeding ticket. We also seem confident that Beno is the best side kick for our star since...

The ability for our front court to compete with the upper echelon of the league is a big unknown but there seems to be pronounced optimism that Samuel Dalembert is an improvement with an expiring contract who should average a double double with 2 blocks a game and hold his position in the low block with fewer fouls while Jason Thompson will overall raise his game with another year under his belt.  Because so much has already been shared and discussed regarding the addition of DeMarcus Cousins and the depth of Carl Landry it seemed better to focus on the small forward position where I believe we have the most risk and upside.

After the break I will delve into our prospects at the 3 for next season.

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I have been living in a cave. Actually working around the clock to open a new restaurant which our soft opening happened on Thursday in time to see the [Redacted] beat the Celtics. I must admit selfishly pining for the [Redacted] to get to a game 7 so that I could capitalize on the crowd excited to take in the festivities.

I was remanded to reading fanposts via my iphone on my drives home around 3 am--usually blurry eyed and dog tired--bemused with the collective punditic analysis and banter of the King's upcoming draft without really any energy or time to recriprocate or offer any value add.

Thanks to all of you for keeping our King's dream alive and I hope to return to a more engaged state as things settle down at the restaurant.

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So a week ago Thursday, I flew up from the OC to come visit the family and attend the Kings v. Blazers game.

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Is there really a single best approach to the draft that gives any given team the most probable success?

Some would contend drafting the best player available is the smartest route to building a successful team, others insist on drafting based on a team's need. Both arguments have merit and both are flawed.

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Having watched the progression of the young Kings team this season I have formulated some opinions regarding our strengths and weaknesses and was specifically interested in how the development of our two key young bigs--namely Spencer Hawes and Jason Thompson have improved since being drafted.

We are all elated with the immediate impact Tyreke Evans, Omri Casspi and Jon Brockman have had on our club and have high hopes the addition of Carl Landry makes our team better and deeper going forward. In contrast there have been a plethora of mixed feedback on JT and Hawes and I wanted to delve into some of these claims and serve up a topic of discussion that should illicit some spirited feedback from the STR populous.

In order to provide some context to some potential conclusions some of us have made regarding these two bigs, I have included some hopefully meaningful stats as a prelude. It should be noted these stats do not include games from this weekend.

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Although the body of work is not complete on the 2009-2010 version of the Kings, there are some conclusions that can be drawn based on what we have witnessed so far. 

In advance of the NCAA tournament where we will all start evaluating our top prospects play this weekend on National TV and before the upcoming NBA Draft, I wanted to take a closer look at where the Kings are and what needs remain in order to bring the franchise back in contention for a title.

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In my previous post, I referenced ESPN The Magazine's 7th annual ranking of all 122 professional franchises in the United States. The Kings ranked near the bottom at 117th.

I also polled everyone on which area needed the most attention and Bang for the Buck and Affordability were the biggest issues with those that responded. Ironically I share season tickets for the Angels who finished number 1 in this annual report and the areas that they really excel in are Bang for the Buck, Affordability, guest relations, and the overall experience.

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Larry David's piece on the Maloof's financial woes and dealings was a great read and begs the question how an infusion of cash from the sale of their distributorship will impact the Kings' destiny over the next few years--assuming at least some of those proceeds will be used operationally for the Kings franchise going forward.

Recent success aside, do we think the Kings can compete for a title with merely a few more years of Geoff Petrie's wizardry and that is assuming Petrie is offered and accepts a new contract? Current trajectory shows this roster can make the playoffs either this year or next year assuming a healthy team. Getting to the Finals is quite another mountain yet to climb.

Unequivocally it will take more than our current roster to win a championship. Additionally there are a number of other issues that need to be addressed including a new Arena in order to keep the team in Sacramento and bring this franchise back to being an upper echelon team in the league. All of it involves money and its anyone's guess how much money will be needed.

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Given the recent post by High Tops entitled, "Refs & the Integrity of the Game" --a solid swag btw--at this highly topical issue, I felt compelled to delve beyond the "Refs Suck!" and "Sacramento and its players always get screwed" diatribes which do little to further the validity behind those impassioned albeit sophomoric sentiments.

This matter cannot be analyzed and remedied in one setting so let me preface by saying this post has no ambition to comprehensively cover all its myriad complexities or nuances, nor bring this matter to any logical conclusion. However, there is a fair amount of misunderstanding and maligned angst that needs to be addressed so that the real issues that persist can be discussed and perhaps a valid and tangible outcome is feasible. I endeavor without being facetious nor didactic to add credence to the conundrum that plagues this great game we are so vested in, while dispelling dispersions that unfairly classify our men and woman who officiate the game.

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In reading articles and watching games around the country there has been a lot of discussion about how talented this class is and given Tyreke and Brandon have both been awarded Rookie of the Month for their respective conferences I thought it would be interesting to see how the class is comparing so far.

I have compiled some stats on all the guards that play the 1 or share time at the 1 that were drafted this year in all games played through Dec 6th, 2009. Brandon, Tyreke, Jonny, Stephen are all everyday starters so far and their numbers all are fairly solid across the board. Brandon and Tyreke are way ahead on scoring with Brandon, Tyreke and Stephen well ahead of expectations for assists. Tyreke and Stephen are also leading the pack in steals, while only Tyreke is well ahead of everyone in rebounding.

Based on the above it is easy why people are thinking that Tyreke may win rookie of the year honors based on his progress thus far.

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Dear Mr. Thomas,

StR has taken more bites out of you than all the dogs in Michael Vick's Dog Fighting League and I wanted to take a moment to come correct and apologize on behalf of many that unfairly attacked and/or took shots at you.

While I know I am not in your fav 5 and am not professing to know you personally, I do know that you haven't been given a fair shake and I hope to change that.

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It has been 5 months since I last contributed to Sactown Royalty and must apologize in advance for my unavoidable absence and weak post to follow as I was too encumbered with a job change, an unsuccessful attempt (so far) to open a sports grill, resolution of a lawsuit that sucked the life out of me, Angel's playoffs, Charger's tailgating responsibilities and some international travel. As a result, my interaction with the StR was limited to reading delayed posts via my Kindle.

So like a nervous little league batter stepping into the batter's box I close my eyes and swing in hopes of not embarrassing myself given the recent terrific work posted by the usual suspects such as LTTG, MLS, Aykis and Pookey to name a few.

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Tyreke! Tyreke! Tyreke!

Forced to record the NBA Draft and work I was in the middle of a dinner program surrounded by 50 somethings politely nibbling on their strawberry spinach leaf salads, I slyly pulled out my iPhone to check the draft results: I couldn't believe my eyes. I yelped and pumped my fist, then sheepishly looked around as the other guests expressed their disdain through winkled smirks as if I was at the Arden library circa 1979 looking for the latest issue of Sports Illustrated still on the shelf.

Petrie picked Tyreke with Rubio still on the board, Oh My God! it really happened. Petrie picked my guy! It took another day before I could pull an all nighter and read through the abyss of part timers weighing in, venting, feigning disgust and bewilderment, while others stepped up and respectfully believed TEVO (try it on...if you no likey you may like Te-Rex, still no? I come back later, ok?) was the BPA,  while still others conceded in GP we trust. Now I am all caught up and have a lot to say.

Before I delve into Tyreke and some other draft/trade observations, let me digress a little to put to bed (yeah right, I wish) GP's decision not to draft Rubio.

I was confident that Rubio, the obvious pick to most, would not be Petrie's selection. I did post several pieces alluding to this but I am no Nostradamus and was as clueless as most as to whom I thought would end up a King. I would never have guessed Tyreke was it. I wished it but  I didn't post why because I am very superstitious when it comes to my Kings (as some of you have read before) and subsequently didn't vote the other day because I was afraid if I voted for Tyreke, Petrie would not pick him--as he had yet to pick anyone that I was enamored with until now. 

While Tyreke was a surprise, upon closure inspection we should have foreseen that Rubio was not it. Huckleberry Hound Reynolds hinted on the type of player we might draft not too many picked up on that. Other STR brethren commented Geoff has a tendency to take a lot of stock in the pre-draft workouts and the Rubio camp not being proactive in Petries' PG Palhoopsa might have backfired. The return trip and last ditch shooting drills by Rubio probably just sealed his fate something Amick's cell phone interview seemed to subtly capture.

In Amick's interview, Rubio admitted that he hadn't picked up a ball in a month. Really? On the eve of the biggest event of your life you weren't hiding out like a gym rat working on your 18 footer to mask your few but noticable flaws? His interview at the airport reminded me of the video ride in the limo after a contestant is knocked off of the Apprentice (insert your reality show plug here). He definitely was tired, but his somber looked like The Kings didn't give him the thumbs up. 

Then he all of a sudden meets with Kahn down in LA? Fegan must have been like, "Mr. Kahn, yeah, sorry I am just now getting back to you. Turns out Rubio is available for a quick chat if you are still interested...REALLY? er really, ok. We will see you at 8, it's gonna be great."

If you watched the workouts, Tyreke looked solid--aside from his release--the shots were falling. He obviously was able to dispel the concern to the staff about him playing or defending the one. Compared to Harden, Flynn and Holliday he looked like a stud. Tyreke stated one of his goals was to keep hitting the gym hard this summer. Tyreke, I'm not using my 24HR fitness membership, it is all yours. Here is the catch, ya gotta show some leadership and get KMart and Cisco to spot you in hopes it inspires them to add some muscle to their slight albeit wiry frames.

Other clues included a closer peek at Petrie's Draft History which I posted last week--thanks to both of you that read it--I am still trying to get off the Trolls Most Wanted list. It  detailed that we can expect him to do two things: Pick a contributor and pick someone we didn't expect.

J-Will, Peja, Hedo, Hawes, Thompson, Douby, the list goes on and on on guys that we first went huh?. Everyone can argue that a different pick might have had an equal or greater result but Quincy and OMSJ aka Tariq (note to GP - No more draft choices with a Q in the name) aside, Petrie has consistently made our team better through the draft.

So knowing Petrie likes to pull the rabbit out of the hat and given all the national attention and the dare I say consensus belief that Rubio was the next best thing to Griffen and who the Kings should select, you had to know Petrie would pick elsewhere. In fact the more the King's scouts, ownership and media gravitated towards him the more Petire seemed to distance himself. I suspect he saw enough of him to formulate an opinion. I bet he was not even keen on him coming to Sac for a workout adding fuel to a fire he wasn't flaming.

I was blasted in my post a month ago that compared him in part to Jason Williams. As an aside, I spoke to Eddie Jordan the day after J-Will came in for his rather hush hush workout and learned he lit the net up from 25 feet all over the floor and showed some sweet alley oops and good court vision. He was a risk reward type of guy and the King's staff was in love with his upside.

Maybe there was enough of a resemblance to scare Petrie away. In reality they are completely different players. Rubio is taller, better IQ, longer and stronger, has more defensive potential, better finisher, more mature, less turnover prone, nicer, better looking, more marketable, yada yada. Got it. Here is how they are similar. 

Here are J-Will's career NBA avgs.              .396 FG%, .325 3FG%, 2.4 RPG, 6.3 APG, 1.3 SPG., 11.4 PPG.

Here are Rubio's stats in the Olympic Games: .35 FG%, .167 3FG%, 4 RPG, 3.0 APG, 2.1 SPG,  4.8 PPG.

And Rubio's stats for Spanish League '08: .391 FG%, 41.7 3FG%, 2.7 RPG, 5.8 APG, 2.4 SPG, 9.8 PPG.

I think we all know Rubio has more upside than J-Will, but that is partly because we know how J-Will ended up. If you rewind to his auspicious start most of us were loving the ESPN highlights featuring White Chocolate and figured he was going to be great. 

Finally, some have argued point guards that lack a consistent outside shot and cannot defend their position don't become all-stars. Our experiment with flash and sexy did bring excitement but it didn't bring us championships either it did provide us trade value for a PG that almost got us to an NBA Championship, but as many have pointed out a capable PG to facilitate the offense and is not a defensive liability is really the baseline.

Rubio won't be great next year. He will have to adjust to life in the US, the NBA, the NBA game, and not least of which the language. I spoke with Peja outside of Harlow's one night between after his third season and he said he was just finally feeling settled and the transition of having parents very involved in all of his basketball decisions to being really isolated from home and family was a long process.

He will likely be very good but in a few years, Peja and Hedo really shined in years 3 and 4. But I don't think the Maloofs, Petrie or even Westphal with his anemic two year $1.5M a season contract can be patient enough for Spanish Chocolate to let it rain at newly appointed Arco III, Cal Expo Redux or the Raley Center in West Sac if one of those palaces ever get built.

No, unfortunately we need to get to the playoffs in two seasons and versatile players that can help us rebound and defend will likely take precedent. 

I am sure most of you agree that Petrie deserves our respect since his picks beats our picks right? Heck I won't bore you with my draft choices over the last several years because only Rajon Rondo (I still like the dude, he will steal you blind) fared better than Petrie's Doubyious selection in 2006. So he picked Tyreke Evans. Take your picture and let's move on, nothing more to see here folks.

The folk who blasted Petrie should hold their judgement since the Draft is really only the start of the whole off season shuffle. In other words, Petrie and other GMs in the leagure including Minnesota's ' David Kahn have not played their final hand.  "This is only the first period of activity...no matter what occurs (in the draft Thursday), training camp doesn't start Friday. We have all summer to continue to explore some opportunities and to address the roster, and three months is a long time." 

By Petrie not selecting Rubio, he has a chance to have his cake and eat it too. He had to know the odds of Rubio opting to stay in Europe if drafted elsewhere and the likelihood most GMs are going to draft the BPA. If you look at Minnesota's situation they had the same purview hence the multiple PG picks. Kahn is going to wheel and deal and one of his point guards will likely end up elsewhere given they currently have Bobby Brown, Kevin Ollie (hmm where have I heard of these guys before), Wayne Ellington, Jonny Flynn, Ricky Rubio and Sebastian telfair. Other than Love and Jefferson they have more holes in their roster than the swiss cheese at Tony's Deli.

Now that Rubio is following suit by vocalizing a desire to stay in Spain expect the horse trading to begin. We have a glut at the 3 spot. Garcia/Nocioni/Greene/Casspi. I know Garcia can play the two, Nocioni can play some 4, Greene can play some four and Cassp allegedly is a four but I seem him being more like a slasher spread the floor 3 than a back to the basket 4.

Since we are in a rebuild/save money mode, I prefer Greene>Casspi>Nocioni>Garcia. I would like us to package Beno and say Garcia a future 2nd rounder for Rubio a big like Etan Thomas with his expiring contract. Minnesota might also be interested in Sergio/Nocioni for Rubio, Ryan Gomes and Brian Gomes' expiring contracts.

We could also package Sergio and Garcia to Orlando for Hedo who is opting out of his contract. My point isn't to take control over the trade discussions in this thread but merely mention that Rubio landing in Sacramento is still possible via a trade given Minnesota has way too many 1/2s and 4/5s. Surprisingly when you consider Sheldon Williams and Darius Songalia, the T-Wolves look like Sacramento's JV team.

Anyway, so we now have Tyreke in a Kings Uniform and I am excited. I think he provides us an immediate lift, will be be able to step in and compete for a starting spot right away. I don't think Rubio could have done that and I don't think Curry or Flynn could do that immediately (although certainly mid year or by next year Flynn and Curry could).

The last few seasons with injuries we have at best been inconsistent offensively and even when we scored we let the other team score more, sometimes a lot more. If Martin plays 82 games regains some lateral quickness maybe we don't need to worry about the 2 position except of course when we have to defend the 2.

When Kobe Bryant, Dwayne Wade, Tracy McGrady, Andre Igoudala, Joe Johnson, Corey Maggette, Jason Richardson (just to name a few) come to town, our defensive counter of Martin and Garcia is just not working. Tyreke gives us a better match up switching up coverage on defense while still being able to facilitate distribution of the ball on offense. We suffered with Garcia and Martin trying to do that and if we have BJax, he is much better as a spark off the bench.

While Tyreke may not be a pass first point guard, he is comfortable bringing up the ball, can effectively work the pick n roll around the high post, take his defender down to the low post, drive and kick to the open man or take the ball strongly to the hoop.

Probably more importantly we can expect better rebounding on both ends of the floor (IMO he will out rebound Kevin, Francisco and be close to Nocioni) while effectively contesting shots and stealing at an above average clip with those 7' arms of his.

He will be able to present match up problems for the opposing speedy PGs who won't be able to defend him, in the same way Baron Davis, Chris Paul, Jason Kidd among others took advantage of our PGs in the past and depending on the match ups Tyreke can defend the 1,2,3. position--especially any teams that utilize a point forward half court game.

A combination of Tony Parker scoring instincts in a Latrell Sprewell body, expect Tyreke to be awhile to develop a solid assist/turnover ratio like Parker or an outside shooting touch like Sprewell, but possess their gift at scoring.

I expect the following productivity from him next year:

25 min., 12 ppg., 4.5 apg., 4.8 rpg., and 1.6 spg., 1.5/assist to turnover ratio. 

Long story short, I love this pick, I appreciate Petrie's decision making and expect that with Sergio Rodriguez as a true PG option we have the best of both worlds. And just wait; when Petrie is done with another trade or two everyone will be able to put their worries on the shelf until our first loss.