SB Nation User Blog: fatalerrorfoundyou

time for the next step

fatalerrorfoundyou — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 07:54:47 -0000

2009 draft is now history. We pick tyreke evans to be our point. Now, its time for K9's expiring contract to go to work. In my opinion, we should EITHER get a PF/C or a SF..

Let start first with the big fellow. Every championship/ winning team needs to have atleast a good big man. I think this statement is supported by the NBA history itself. Just look at all championship teams in the past, they all posses one thing. A franchise big man. So, in order for our team to be one, I think its time we go get our own. I know JT is one bigman that i think we could rely in the next seasons to come, but i think that he is not a franchise player. My personal choice for this position would be Amare Stoudamire. He is wants to be out of phoenix, and phoenix is starting to bargain him. He is already a proven 20-10 C/PF who, when partnered with a great backcourt (martin and evans(hopefully)) could be a monster down low. He is adept in an uptempo, run-and-gun type of offense which we probably would use because of Paul Westphal. I know his defense is still far from being superb, but this guy is oozing with talent guys. He is athletic, quick for a 7 footer, explosive. So learning to defend wont be a problem for him, and so i think it will boil down to wether he is WILLING to learn/play Defense, which i think he will be. I've heard that golden state is planningon aquiring him in exchange for andres biedrins, marco bellineli and some other unknown guy. Hey, we cannot allow GS to steal this talent. Use K9's damn contract, Francisco Garcia and (im sorry but) package Spencer Hawes also if necessary. Something got to give guys. With this kind of talent available, we should not hesitate to grab it. And with Garcia's condition, just think of his departure as a chance for Donte Greene to shine and have some playing time. If that happens, our starting would be:

Amare Stoudamire.

Second, if your not down we the first, then we should, in ny opinion get a SF (see Explosive 1 2 3 fan post). With our new backcourt combo filling the 1 and 2 spot and JT/Hawes filling the 4/5, i think we got a hole in the 3 position, I kknow that we have Garcia and Noc for that matter, but i personally think these guys are not starting 3, but more of an energy-off-the-bench 3 guys. Garcia is our sixth man and noc... i just dont feel it. We need a SF who could play above the rim, excite the crowd with rim-rattling dunks, shoot decently from the perimeter and play defense at the same time. My guy here is Josh Smith. He is just an incredible athlete. High-flyer, decent mid range shooter, and most of all, he can play some D which is highlighted by his multiple blocks per game. Atlanta recently acquired Jamal Crawford. JJ, Crawford, and Smith are all 3 starters. I dont think one of them is gonna be cool playing sixthman because of their superstar ego, so sac should be able to answer that problem, we get smith and they get Noc/Garcia plus K9. Atlanta would get the six man they wants in the person of Noc/Garcia, without having the starters' ego problem because either of these two guys are very comfortable coming off the bench, because that was the original role these two guys have in their previous teams. Plus, atlanta wants to resign mike bibby. They should be able to do that because of K9's expiring contract. Then, we get an explosive SF via a josh smith. So with that trade, we will have:

Tyreke Evans

Kevin Martin

Josh Smith

Jason Thompson

Spencer Hawes

Among the two I prefer the first trade scenario.

Please Comment.

Poll

which trade scenario are you more interested on?

Amare Stoudamire aquisition

9 votes

Josh Smith aquisition

23 votes

no trades please. our line-up is good enough for me

6 votes

aquire someone other than the two

18 votes

56 votes | Poll has closed

is ricky rubio a good defender or not??

fatalerrorfoundyou — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 04:00:55 -0000

i've been reading some article about rubio and have seen that others tend to overrate his defense mainly because of his stealing ability.

People always tend to misunderstand or often have the misconception that a player who is good or excel in the steals department is also a good defender. dont get me wrong ok, i dont discredit the degree of difficulty of stealing, especially here in the NBA, but, being a good defender should not be limited to how good a player steals or blocks. To justify my statement, I'll compare Ron Artest's steal stats and chris paul's steal stats. Chris Paul is the steals leader this season with 2.8 a game while Ron Artest only averages only 1.5 a game. But we know who is really the better defender. Ron Artest is one of the best if not the best defender in the business today. In fact, he is not even in the top 10 in that department. Let me also mention to you that Shane Battier, Artest's team mate averaged less than .8 steals a game, altough some consider him to be the best kobe defender during the playoffs. The bottomline is, being a stealing machine is not enough. In order for you to be a good defender, you need size, strength, quickness and athleticism, quick hands(here is where steals come in. you see, it is just one of the many requirements) and of course patience and good basketball IQ (this is where Battier is one of the best.)

So if you look at Rick Rubio, clearly he doesn't have enough strength, he is not that quick as the other PGs, he is defenitely not athletic, but yes, he has quick hands, relatively tall (6'4 i think), and i believe in his basketball IQ, but it's just not enough. Just imagine him defending a postup guard like Billups when he does not have enough strength, or guarding the flashy CP3 when he is not that quick and athletic. So, that being said, let me add that the king's backcourt is one of the weakest. Our backcourt defense is pathetic and always bullied, so what we need is a point guard who can somehow ease that weakness, and I dont think rubio is the right choice. If we want a PG who could help our backcourt defense, then IMO, tyreke evans is the better choice. he has the strength, size, quickness, atlethicism to guard the premier PG of this league. You might say that he is not a pass-first point, but still, he can defend and score, which we desperately need. Passing, i am sure he will learn that with the help of Carril, and he already played point guard in Memphis so all he need is a bit of adjustment, which he could do during the summer league and the pre-season games.

please comment

explosive 1 2 3

fatalerrorfoundyou — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 04:36:50 -0000

this idea just crossed my mid a while ago..

how about we aquire tyreke evans as our point guard via the #4 pick. we trade noc along with k9 for atlanta's josh smith and k martin still play no.2. this scenario i think, is very possible. because first, tyreke evans will definitely be there at no.4. second i think atlanta may fall for this trade because of the alluring contract of k9 which is expiring next season. so if that happens we would have the most explosive and high flying 1 2 3 combo and our starting 5 would be :

tyreke evans at PG

kevin martin at SG

josh smith at SF

jason thompson at PF

spencer hawes at C

this line-up i think will complement our new coach considering that westphal likes an up tempo game. and with those 3 throwing oops to each other and thompson and hawes continuing to develop as 2 of our main inside presence, imagine how exciting this team could become! and not to mention the playoffs being a possibility for the kings again.

add another free agent to help our interior defense like marcin gortat maybe. and we should be good.

our bench should look like these:

beno udrih at pg (dammit!)

francisco garcia at sg

donte greene at sf

#23 or #31 at pf

marcin gortat at c

let me also tell you why evans should be #4 and not rubio/flynn/holiday/etc.

evans can

1. play good defense. with his strength,size,quickness, and amazing wingspan. he should be able to guard to other premier pg on this league. with his strength he can stop postup pg like billups. with his quickness he can stay close to flashy pg like parker, with his wingspan he can disrupt the shooting rythm of the likes of nash and with his size which is 6'5 he can give problems to smaller pg like nelson.

2. he can score. this is not a problem for him. and to those who are saying that he shoot a lot for a pg, well, chris paul, who is recognized as the best pg today is averaging close to 15 shots a game. and i know the he is not a good jumpshooter but hey, remember tony parker when he first enter the league? he was all drive and no jumpshot but look at him now. also d wade is a poor shooter during his rookie season, but now he could kill you from almost everywhere. and he also outplayed flynn and cathales during his workout with sac. and with his size, he can create multiple matchup problem.

3. he will LEARN to be a true PG. he already played pg during the later part of his memphis days and he already said it, he has no problems playing pg. and with the talent and potential that he has, he will soon learn how to be a passer. plus with the priceton offense which is highlighted by lashy passes and backdoor cuts, where even a big man develops passing abilities, i dont see why evans would'nt. and he is a good ballhandler.

4. IMO, ricky rubio is a bit overrated. yes, he played well in europe, BUT, nba is very DIFFERENT from the euroleague. i'll give brandon jennings as an example. he was a sensational player during his highschool days, but decided to play in italy, as a result, he struggled an his average got ugly. some say jennings would have been a better prospect than rubio if only he had played in college instead of playing europe ball.

please comment :)) this is my first fanpost..