Jason Jones had a nice little post on Mario Elie talking about Donte Greene’s defense on the Sac Bee Kings Blog.

Here is Elie’s quote followed by my quick thoughts:

“That’s going to be some work. This is my first real dose of Donte. He’s still a young player and that’s his thing. A lot of young players have got to understand offense is not going to get you on the court every time. Sometimes it’s doing the little things. Playing defense, making hustle plays and that’s how I got on the court. I got out there and Rudy T (former Houston coach Rudy Tomjanovich) would tell me ‘Mario, go out there and shut this guy down’ and I had no problem doing that. And Donte’s got to understand sometimes it’s not going to be offense. We may need you to guard (Shawn) Marion, an athletic three. I think he has the capability of doing it. It’s just up to him, the willingness to do it.”

Alright, this seems like kind of a stretch to me when talking about the near future of Donte as a player.

From what I saw in Vegas, he does seem like a much more dedicated defender. He’s the perfect amount of size, length and athleticism to excel at the defensive end of the court if he wants to. He not only was a better shot blocker in the summer than he showed his rookie year but he was a pretty decent defensive rebounder as well.

But he still had trouble guarding guys like DaJuan Summers and Anthony Randolph when switched out on them and even Joe Alexander got him for a couple of baskets. Looking at last season’s numbers, DG had an atrocious defensive rating of 116 compared to his 84 offensive rating. Now, those numbers are definitely skewed because Greene received inconsistent minutes, played on one of the worst defensive teams this franchise has ever employed and was a rookie forward that couldn’t even legally drink for half the season.

Like anything (and this is what Elie seemed to stress the most in my opinion), defense is a choice of effort, especially with a guy like Donte. He has all of the physical tools to do whatever he wants to do on both sides of the court. Hopefully for the Kings, he makes that choice night in and night out.

Even though it’s just Summer League, nobody wants to end up leaving town without a win.

Heading into the fifth and final Summer League game, the Kings didn’t want the winless New York Knicks to join the list of the Pistons, Warriors, Bucks and D-Leaguers as the teams that beat Sacramento in Las Vegas. Aside from a one-sided affair in the first game against Detroit, Sacramento had played solid basketball over the course of a week in which they received a glimpse into the future with role players hoping to make a training camp invite list, the prized rookies from this draft, and the players on the Kings roster who were trying to develop their talents.

During the broadcast of the game, Mike D’Antoni was a guest, speaking about the Knicks future plans and prospects while giving his insight to whatever Kings’ observations the announcer asked him to make. D’Antoni offered this gem that stings a little for Kings’ fans but also offers a glimpse into what other outside viewpoints are held around the NBA: “There’s good news and bad news for the Kings. The good news is they’ve got a good, young Summer League team. Bad news is it’s also their winter team. They’re a lot like us.”

I think that’s something that can be both a gift and a burden for the Kings in the next 12 months. They’re extremely young and virtually building from scratch. Only five guys on the roster so far are over the age of 25 and two of those guys are Beno Udrih and Kenny Thomas. The rest are young, prospects looking to evolve into NBA studs and help lead this Kings team or their next employer towards an NBA title. But at the same time, young teams often lead to terrible and inconsistent defensive teams. It leads to teams that offer excitement and jubilation on one play and frustration on the next due to a poor defensive rotation or a bad rebounding sequence.

After watching five games in the Summer League for this roster, I offer the viewpoint that Jason Thompson proved his worth, Donte Greene showed he has a lot to work on, Omri Casspi showed calm in the eye of what normally would create irritation, Jon Brockman has a place in this league, and Tyreke Evans should be the favorite to win Rookie of the Year if you’re putting together odds right now. Guys like Jerel McNeal, Brian Roberts, and Marcus Landry can definitely hold their own. I think it was an encouraging summer for Kings fans because they’ve seen the future of their franchise and have a much better idea of where Sacramento is headed (that’s not an Anaheim or Las Vegas reference by the way) and what they have to look forward too than what they saw two months ago.

And with that, here are player recaps for this game and a recap of their summer:

Jon Brockman
For this game, Brockman did what we’ve come to expect from him – he rebounded once every two minutes he was on the floor and played solid defense. Brock showed a lot of good signs that people should be impressed with in this game. When matched up with Jordan Hill (the 7^th pick in the draft), he used his strong base and core power to keep his defensive position, which put Hill out of his comfort zone. He also threw two excellent outlet passes to players leaking out ahead of everybody else. Instead of throwing them right to the player, he led his teammates with a lob that bounced between the Kings player and the basket so they just had to go get it and go up with it. It’s a subtle thing to see but something that is very encouraging for a player that is such a good rebounder and hustles to grab loose balls.

Over the course of the summer, he averaged 9.2 rebounds in 21.6 minutes per game. He only scored 27points in five games and made just 40.9% of his shots but his rebounding and defense made up it. He finished the VSL as the sixth leading rebounder. He’s a lock to make the Kings roster this fall and may even find his way into the regular rotation.

Omri Casspi
Omri had another really bad shooting game, making just 2/11 from the field. But he grabbed nine rebounds (seven on the offensive boards) and still managed to make a three and get to the line six times to total 11 points. His defense against a proven scorer like Morris Almond was encouraging as well. Just like he did in the previous four games, Omri looked active and positive despite the fact that he struggled with the basketball. On his first offensive rebound, he grabbed it on the right side of the hoop, reverse pivoted to the left side of the basket and laid it in. It was a fundamentally sound move that freed him from the defender and showed his good footwork.

As for the rest of the summer, he shot terribly the entire time here. He finished under 30% from the field and even lower from three-point range. He never looked completely comfortable and fluid on the court but he kept playing hard and showed great resilience. He’s definitely a project but he looks to be a quick learner and should blossom with the help of Andres Nocioni.

Jason Thompson
JT had a tough time making shots with just 9/22 shooting but he was still aggressive after his great performance against the D-League team. He was aggressive going to the basket, handled the ball extremely well in the open court and was very active on the boards. He finished with 23 points, 10 rebounds, and three assists. He played good defense against Jordan Hill and even did a nice job when he was switched out on Tskitishvili on the perimeter.

For the summer, he started the first three games looking like a walking regression and finished it instilling confidence in Kings fans and pundits that criticized him (see: me). He was much more active in the final two games of the summer and definitely shed the label of lethargic and slow. He seems to be adjusting to his added muscle and heads into the fall as the best low post presence the Kings employ.

Donte Greene
Coachie started DG at the shooting guard position to give him extended time on the floor with the other guys he’ll be playing with this coming season. Greene was once again very underwhelming as a scorer and shooter, which makes his 40-point outburst for the Rockets’ Summer League team last year look more like the exception than the rule with him. He made just 2/8 shots in the Kings fifth game and missed both of his threes. But his defense was very solid and he was active inside when he ventured into the paint.

For the summer, he also made fewer than 30% of his shots and knocked down just one of his eight three-point attempts. He only scored 15 points in his final three games after scoring 23 in his first two but he also took far fewer shots in those games. He often looked passive on offense while looking aggressive on defense and the boards. I have no idea what to expect from Donte heading into next year. He could absolutely click or he could never warrant any playing time. And I think that’s what Kings fans will have to live with for the next year or two – never knowing what DG will give you.

Marcus Landry
This was Landry’s worst scoring game of the summer and he’s been so good so far that I was shocked when he missed all three of his three-point shots. Despite his poor scoring performance in this game, his defense and play inside was exceptional. He blocked three shots and was active in helping against other Knicks players.

I’ve typed it a lot before this and I’ll type it one more time; Marcus Landry has earned a spot in training camp for the Kings. His three-point shooting was deadly this summer by making 10/24 threes and he made 48.5% of his field goal attempts overall. He averaged 9.4 points per game off the bench in just 21.8 minutes every contest. He was their best weapon off the bench and even outplayed Donte Greene in most games.

Jerel McNeal
McNeal’s fifth game was a lot like his entire summer. There were high expectations for him that he simply didn’t meet. He only played eight minutes in this game but most of them were ineffective. His defense was solid all summer long and he shot the ball well but he wasn’t a playmaker at all. He often played off the ball with Tyreke Evans running the point but he didn’t do a good job of creating for others when he did have the possession.

I think McNeal will get to a training camp somewhere and will probably have to prove himself in the D-League. But he didn’t play well enough this summer that could lead me to believe he ACTUALLY belongs in this league.

Wesley Matthews
Matthews showed up late in the summer after playing in the Orlando Summer League and played his best when paired on the court with his collegiate teammate, Jerel McNeal. Matthews was a solid scorer in two of his three games and proved to be fairly opportunistic on both offense and with loose balls at the defensive end. Matthews is strictly a scorer off the bench in this league at best and does a very good job of knowing when to attack the defense. But he’s fairly one-dimensional and you have to be exceptional at that one dimension to make it in this league (see: Eddie House). Matthews will have to continue to get better as an overall player to find a spot on an NBA roster.

John Bryant
We finally saw John Bryant in this final game against the Knicks and he proved to be exactly what we thought going in. He’s a big body. Actually, he’s a REALLY big body. He has a nice touch around the hoop and does a great job of sealing in the post. I just don’t know if he belongs in the NBA though after seeing him against better talent and athletes. In an up-tempo style like what the Kings will run, Bryant just doesn’t fit in like we hoped he would. I wouldn’t expect to see him this fall in Sacramento but he could eventually make it somewhere else.

Ryan Toolson
At the risk of angering alumni from Utah Valley University, Toolson just didn’t show me anything that translates to being an NBA player. He was a scorer in college but he can’t be that at the NBA level. He’s not a good and/or traditional point guard in any sense but at 6’4”, 190 lbs he won’t be able to play shooting guard in the pro leagues. Maybe his scoring ability can get him to catch on in the D-League but he’ll have to work on many aspects of his game to do so.

Robert Battle
Battle had a nice start to the summer due to his great physique and the fact that he’s approaching 30 years old. However, he probably didn’t show enough to prove he’s an NBA player. Most likely, he’s headed back to Europe to continue his career there.

Brian Roberts
I like what Roberts showed this summer and I think he can get a camp invite somewhere else. He committed just two turnovers in 51 minutes this summer and did a nice job staying in front of his man on defense. He’s likely a D-League player for most of his career but he’s scrappy and capable of playing with guys much better than him.

Victor Stowes
Unfortunately, Victor Stowes played just two minutes this summer and showed nothing in those two minutes to know anything about him.

Pat Calathes
Allegedly Pat Calathes was on the roster. I saw him at the games but I think he was just sneaking into places because he was so tall and looked like he belonged. I just don’t understand why bring someone to Summer League and then not play him a single second. He can’t be THAT bad. Can he?

And now for your Tyreke Evans recap:

Actually, let’s save that for Monday. He deserves his own post.

Jason Jones of the Sacramento Bee is quickly becoming one of my favorite in-print personalities via Twitter and his writings for the paper and their site. And he had a great post this morning on Tyreke Evans taking basketball extremely seriously.

There are no meaningless games in the eyes of this rookie.

Tyreke Evans discusses the Kings’ 2009 NBA Summer League finale as if its outcome affects his NBA future.

Win or lose today against the New York Knicks, would anyone really care if the Kings finished 1-4 or 0-5 this summer?

Well, Evans would.

“I don’t like going out there and playing for fun,” Evans said. “That ain’t what I do. I like to go out there, look good and win.”

I don’t know about you but that quote from Reke gave me chills. The more I see and hear from this kid, the more I get giddy about his pro basketball career.

There are worst things than losing to the D-League Select Team in the Summer League. You could find out that you’re $1 million richer if Mike Bibby gets a defensive stop. You could find out your child is going to be on the Real World: Cancun (I’m looking at you, parents of either Emilee or Ayiiia). In fact, there are probably thousands of things worse than losing to a D-League Select Team.

It’s not like losing to a college team in Spring Training. These D-League players are all extremely talented and a step or break away from being in the NBA. But at the same time, with the Kings down 0-3 in VSL play so far fans definitely wanted to see the Kings an almost assured win in game #4.

The perplexing thing about this game was how the Kings lost. The box score shows that the D-League team won by 16 with a big fourth quarter showing. But watching the game showed that the Kings were down 90-87 with four minutes left in the game and the D-Leaguers finished the game on a15-2 run. Part of it was sharpshooting by guys like Othyus Jeffers and Trey Johnson. Another part of it was getting tough breaks with the bounce of the ball and some questionable officiating.

Ultimately, nobody cares that this team lost. From my experience, being in Vegas for a fourth or fifth day can be completely draining. You should never spend more than three full days in Las Vegas. By the fourth day, you’re just going through the motions and wanting to get out of there. You’re not quite feeling the experience any more and you usually crash and burn as you finish out your gambling before you head for the airport. That’s how the Kings looked out there at times. Nine times out of 10, they take that game and take it convincingly. But with Tyreke Evans semi-nursing a sprained finger and the rest of the Kings enduring another day in Vegas past the three-day maximum it makes a lot of sense as to why they crumbled.

Here are the player recaps for the fourth game of the summer:

Jon Brockman
Kent Brockman wasn’t exactly the rebounding force that we have expected every game from him and that’s probably going to be indicative of how his nights in the regular season go. Some nights he’s going to grab eight or nine rebounds in limited time. Other nights, he’ll be lucky to get to four. He’s basically going to be the Kings’ version of Jamie Feick (peep the Per 36-minute numbers). Brock showed a nice spin move out of the post that produced a lay-up early on in the game and he also knocked down a 17-foot jump shot on the baseline. Both of these plays were things that Kings fans should be excited to see him develop. If he can even be a little bit of a threat on offense, he’ll get extended minutes on the floor.

Omri Casspi
Maybe I have blinders on but I still like what I see from Omri. He’s still aggressive but not in a degenerative Stephon Marbury-type of way. He knocked down a three-point shot that showed good form and he made a couple of nice moves to the basket. He stole the ball twice with both of them coming off of loose balls that he corralled. He’s getting to the basket but not finishing when he does. To me, that’s an encouraging sign. When you consider that until this week he hadn’t played competitive basketball in months, you can see that his shooting and scoring troubles probably have more to do with playing the rust off of his game rather than him being incapable of doing those things consistently. I also liked his man-to-man defense in this game. It wasn’t great, lockdown defense but it was nice to see.

Wesley Matthews
Wes didn’t shoot the ball all that great but he didn’t shoot it that poorly. He did a great job of attacking the defense and getting the free throw line. But Matthews didn’t do two things well at all in this game. First, he didn’t move the ball well and second, he didn’t defend at all. Matthews was lit up by both Jeffers and Trey Johnson throughout this game and couldn’t do anything to slow down the bigger scorers. If he can’t defend, despite his smaller stature, then he won’t have a place on an NBA roster. His scoring is nice but he’s not a good enough or big enough player to make it in the league if he gives up points like this.

Brian Roberts
Brian got the starting nod at the last minute because of Evans’ injured finger. Unfortunately for Brian, he didn’t really have much of a game. He only played about 11 minutes total and once Evans decided to get into the game, it was no longer necessary for Roberts to play. Roberts didn’t contribute to the scoring at all in this game with zero points and zero assists. It’s disappointing because Roberts was having a nice summer but this could have been a major setback in him garnering enough respect around NBA GMs to get him an eventual job this year.

Jerel McNeal
Look at what I just wrote for Roberts and replace Brian Roberts’ name with Jerel McNeal’s name.

Donte Greene
Donte had one of his better games in just 17 minutes of action. He only shot 2/6 from the field on his way to eight points but he rebounded the ball five times in his time, racked up three assists and even had a strong block inside. Greene has shown a much more consistent ability to play defense in the post this summer and has rebounded the ball very well for someone who was so poor at it last season. Fans might be concerned that we haven’t seen a 40-point outburst from DG this summer like Rockets fans saw last summer but he’s working on some intangibles that he needed to improve.

Marcus Landry
Once again, Landry scored the ball efficiently and shot the ball well from the floor. He made four of his six shots and put in 10 points in just 14 minutes. Landry should be figuring out where he’s staying in Sacramento for the months of September and October this fall because he has definitely earned a camp invite.

Ryan Toolson
He played eight minutes and the most important thing I can say about him is he’s Danny Ainge’s nephew. Thanks for coming, Ryan.

Robert Battle
In two minutes of play, he grabbed two offensive rebounds, turned the ball over twice and committed two fouls. He’s still terrifying to look at.

Tyreke Evans
This was a very low key and confusing game for the Kings’ prospect that NBATV play-by-play announcer Rick Kamla awkwardly called “delicious.” He didn’t start because of the sprained finger that kept him out of Tuesday’s scrimmage against Portland. But he managed to talk his way into playing when the second quarter started and ended up playing a facilitator role for the Kings in his 23 minutes. It felt like they told him to not worry about being a physical scorer and instead, just concentrate on moving the ball and hang back on offense.

Towards the end of the game, Reke couldn’t quite hold back any longer and did much more driving and playmaking. He ran the pick-and-roll with Tyreke perfectly a couple of times and kept the ball high on his entry passes to Thompson off the roll, which made it much easier for the JT to go straight to the rack. Evans even had a nice drive down the middle to suck in the defense and he dropped a low bounce pass to Thompson for another score around the basket. Tyreke also did a nice job on the boards with six rebounds on the night.

And now for some Jason Thompson breakdown:

I saved JT for last because he had the exact type of game that everybody wanted to see this summer. He wasn’t tentative, lazy, or sloppy with any aspect of his game. He scored early and often in a variety of ways. He attacked the basket quickly and aggressively, which the defense was too slow to stop. He showed tough, hard work on the boards, both offensively and defensively. He blocked shots and proved to be a solid defender throughout the game.

Jason was finally the player that I implored him to be, recently. He wasn’t slow and he didn’t wait for the game to come to him. He didn’t wait for the defense to take the inside away, forcing him to shoot jumpers. He kept the defenders off balance by making strong moves to the hoop and when they backed off, he shot and made jumpers. On the boards, he grabbed five offensive and five defensive rebounds while keeping numerous rebounds alive to give his teammates an opportunity to secure the ball. And he was credited with just two blocks because he had three taken away on questionable terrible foul calls. It was the type of game that erased all of my doubts of his heart and drive from his previous games.

There are a lot of worst things than losing to the D-League team in the VSL – especially when your second-year starting power forward breaks out of his funk to dominate the game.

This came from Sam Amick’s Twitter account a few minutes ago.

Two reliable sources telling me that two-time D-League coach of the year Bryan Gates will be added to Kings coach Paul Westphal’s staff.9 minutes ago from TweetDeck

sam_amick Sam Amick – sacbee

For those of you who haven’t checked out the Davis Sports Deli podcast, you’re really missing out on some great, quick interviews. They’re hosted by Jonathan Santiago and affiliated with Patrick Crawley’s Basketball Fiend site.

Jonathan has hosted four of the episodes of this podcast so far and they have included guests such as Elie Seckbach (NBA Fanhouse), Tim Kawakami (San Jose Mercury News), Alan Stein (basketball strength-and-conditioning coach) and me — Zach Harper.

Jonathan wanted to catch up with me after my time in Las Vegas for the Summer League to talk about the young players and check in on how the Kings have been fairing.

I recommend checking out the interview because Jon is great and to keep checking back with the DSD podcast for future episodes.

Here’s the link to the episode.

An author on BlogCritics.org by the name of Doktakra was kind enough to seek me out and ask me a few questions on my experiences with writing, the Kings, and other basketball related stuff. Why would he want to interview me of all people? I still haven’t figured that out.

But whatever the reason happened to be, he came up with some really great and thought-provoking questions for me to answer. Here’s a little snippet of it with a link shortly after.

You’ve followed the franchise since the (dreadful) days of Rory Sparrow and Duane Causwell in the early ’90s. Who have been your favorite players to watch during this time, and what are some of your best and worst Kings memories?

My absolute favorite player to watch, like many, was Jason Williams. He was never given the proper credit for galvanizing this franchise. Sure, he was part of the perfect storm of players coming together with a coach who maximized their abilities and strengths, but he brought a certain attitude and demeanor to the team that allowed them to entertain. It wasn’t just that he was the original posterboy for YouTube – he was the player that changed the viewpoint of the basketball universe to put focus and attention on Sacramento. I also loved to watch guys like Walt Williams and Sarunas Marciulionis. I loved those tough-nosed wing players that could knock down the outside shot.

I answer questions about my experience going from general NBA coverage with Talkhoops.net to the Tyreke Evans over Rubio selection to how I would describe the Ron Artest experience in Sacramento.

Here is the link to the interview and many thanks to Doktakra for conducting this.

My man Jon Santiago, who hosts a fantastic podcast with my man Patrick Crawley (Do I sound enough like Ahmad Rashad?), tweeted me last night, wondering why Donte Greene wasn’t starting. My reaction was it’s probably a way to see how some of the other guys adjust to a different role. Coachie inserted Jon Brockman and Wesley Matthews into the starting five to replace Donte and Jerel McNeal and I actually really liked the move. After watching Greene up close and personal for the first two games, I can confidently tell you that DG is pretty much the same player that he was at the end of last season. His rebounding is a little more spirited but his movement towards the basket is still sub-par on offense. His defense is improved with a little more muscle but he still doesn’t shoot effectively off the dribble.

So I was all for getting some fresh blood in there to see what happens with a different mix of guys starting the game out. Matthews and Brockman joined Tyreke Evans, Jason Thompson, and Omri Casspi in the starting lineup to square off against this year’s 10th pick Brandon Jennings, last year’s eighth pick Joe Alexander and the rest of the Milwaukee Bucks Summer League squad. The Kings lost again, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing, because the Bucks shot over 50% from the field and made 8/12 from three-point range.

But none of that is really important. What’s important is how the individual players performed and whether they progressed from last game or regressed. Here’s how they played:

Omri Casspi
You’ve got to respect Omri Casspi after the last two games than you might have with the first game of his Summer League career. He looked good and promising in the first game. In the second and third game, he looked like he had no clue how to play the game (or what I like to call – the Andrew Bynum Syndrome). Now, I think he’s much better than someone suffering from ABS because of the heart he’s shown in these games.

It would have been really easy for him, and probably typical for most young players, to just hide in his shell after performing two stink bomb games. But he never seemed to shy away from taking shots or attempting to make plays. His defense was solid. And he was still aggressive with the ball in a smart way. I like the mental makeup of Omri, especially considering all of the pressure he feels from being the first Israeli person to play in the NBA. He has the weight of a proud and passionate nation on his shoulders and is using that to persevere through these minor speed bumps.

Jon Brockman
Brock got the start and once again showed to me that he can be a regular rotation guy in this league. He’s still the best rebounder on the floor in every game he’s played so far. He grabbed 12 rebounds in 22 minutes, giving him 27 total rebounds in just 52 minutes of play this summer. And for questions about his height, he played good defense against the much taller and more experienced Amir Johnson. He held his own in the paint against him and rebounded better than everybody on the floor. He makes up for his lack of height with a quick jump to the ball and great positioning with his body on defense. His offense is really limited. He’s a good slasher at his position and can find openings in the defense to flash to for quick pass but he isn’t good shooting the ball and doesn’t have a post game at all.

Jason Thompson
The best way to describe Jason Thompson on the court this summer is sloppy. He’s just been sloppy all around. Before this game, he scored the ball pretty efficiently but couldn’t get much to drop against Amir Johnson and Joe Alexander. Once again, he failed to rebound the ball effectively and now has just 13 rebounds in 98 minutes this summer. His defense was especially sloppy with nine fouls and having trouble guarding Joe Alexander. JT has been forced to guard quicker and smaller players twice in the VSL so far and both times he’s been ineffective defensively. DaJuan Summers torched him on Friday and Joe Alexander had a fair amount of points against him last night.

I don’t think this is the end of the world for JT fans but I think it’s something to be mindful of. He doesn’t make smaller players pay in the post because he settles for the jump shot. He hasn’t hit the glass hard at all, despite the fact that he claims it’s about the strategy of the other teams in keeping him off the boards. And his defense has looked lazy at times and uninspired. If he’s still this way when the regular season starts, get worried. But for now, just chalk it up to some type of summer malaise.

Wesley Matthews
Listening to Jerel McNeal on Saturday, he spoke about how smart and cerebral Matthews is as a player in the backcourt. I thought that proved to be true in his VSL debut last night. Mr. Matthews (any Boy Meets World fans out there?) started out slow by missing his first five shots from the floor but quickly made up for that with a strong showing in the second half. He eventually ended up making five of his last eight shots, including two of his three three-point attempts, and finished with 14 points. He was strictly a scorer out there with zero turnovers, assists, or rebounds but he showed that he knew when to take his shots. Almost all of his 13 attempts were good, smart shots in the flow of the offense and it looked like he always ended up in the right spots. He might be a guy to keep an eye on for the last two games.

Jerel McNeal
McNeal’s defense has been solid throughout the Summer League so far. His offense was practically nonexistent in this game with only two shots from the floor but he did a nice job of taking care of the ball and moving it through the options on offense. He never forced anything in his 17 minutes on the floor. I don’t know that he’s shined enough so far to warrant a roster spot. But I think he’s probably earned a spot in someone’s training camp based on his solid play and proof that his injuries are behind him.

Marcus Landry
I’m still impressed every game with Landry’s ability to shoot the ball from outside. He went three of five from three-point range in this game and totaled 13 points to go with his six rebounds off the bench in 25 minutes. He’s shooting 9/18 from three in the VSL and has played acceptable defense, whether he’s guarding a bigger or smaller player. He’s only turned the ball over twice in 76 minutes of play and has grabbed more rebounds than Jason Thompson. Landry needs to be offered a non-guaranteed contract for the season and kept for his ability to shoot the ball off the bench. He’s really played as well as can be expected this summer.

Donte Greene
Donte Greene hardly played in this game and when he did, he was a non-factor on the offensive end of the floor. He wasn’t very aggressive and only found himself with a few touches. And his defense was average. He didn’t give up much but didn’t lock anybody down, either. But once again, Donte rebounded pretty well. He grabbed six boards in 15 minutes of action. He’s now racked up 20 rebounds in 72 minutes and seems to be more committed to being a presence on the glass.

Brian Roberts
I don’t think Roberts is going to make this team but he’s had a nice showing in the VSL so far. He only played six minutes in this game and didn’t really do much offensively but every time he’s on the floor, he plays solid defense. He’s done a nice job of taking care of the ball too and will either find himself in the D-League or playing overseas.

Robert Battle
Everyone’s favorite Michael Jordan look-a-like got into the game after sitting out Saturday’s contest with a DNP-CD. He didn’t do much in just four minutes of play but he did grab an offensive rebound. His two turnovers and one point were nothing to be proud of but he still looks exactly like present-day Michael Jordan.

And now for the Tyreke Evans show:

Let me start this off by sharing an email from TrueHoop Network brethren Jeremy over at Bucksketball, the Milwaukee Bucks TrueHoop blog:

“You get to watch Tyreke Evans play on your team for at least the next four years. From what I saw tonight that will be pretty cool. That dude was just relentless. He never stopped attacking the hoop with everything he had. He was like a wrecking ball attacking a building.

Wow.

I’m still not convinced he’ll be a point guard though. He seems like a dude you just get it to on the wing so he doesn’t have to worry about getting the offense set up. I don’t see how he wouldn’t be more effective as a wing who has point skills and CAN get others involved rather than be the initiator who HAS to get others involved.

Regardless he seems like he’s going to be a handful for everyone in the league. Early-Artest-like physicality on offense.”

I have to say, I’m completely sold on Tyreke Evans after three Summer League games and I know exactly how irrational that sounds. After all, it’s JUST Summer League. But he plays the exact way that the Kings will need him to play. He’s tough and physical. He powers his way to the basket. He’s like a boxer jabbing away at the defense, biding his time, and then exploding with an overhand right when he finally gets an opening. You all know that he put up 33 points, nine rebounds, and seven assists. Maybe you’re concerned with the seven turnovers and the fact that he’s turned the ball over 16 times in three games. But who cares? He’s a monster on the court.

He got to the free throw line 19 times in this game and has now shot 41 free throws in three contests. You can’t even compare him to a current or former player either because what he’s doing is so unique. He isn’t quite as reckless as Dwyane Wade when going to the hoop because he seems to slow down and switch direction at the perfect time. Wade is more of a quick strike guy. He isn’t like Derrick Rose because he’s too big and powerful. He isn’t as big as LeBron and doesn’t settle for jumpers when he should be driving. He’s almost always looking to drive because he knows that the defense hasn’t tried to take it away from him yet.

I also was really impressed with his defense in this game. Sure, Brandon Jennings ended up with some nice numbers. Jennings finished with 13 points, 14 assists, and one unfounded trip of Jason Thompson. Jennings made 2/3 threes against Evans but they were shots that you want Reke forcing Brandon to shoot. One of them happened to clinch the game when he pushed the lead to five in the last few seconds but it was exactly the shot that the Kings had to be hoping for – an off-balanced three from a bad outside shooter. It was good to see Evans guarding a smaller, quicker point guard in this game because that’s what he’ll have to do for the next few years.

His play-making ability also was more impressive in this game than in the previous two. In the previous two games, he was pretty much resigned to getting assists off of basic passes. Against the Bucks, he was able to draw the defense in more to open things up for his teammates. On one particular play, he drove into the middle of the lane from the right wing, drew the second defender to him and dumped it off to Brockman for a lay-up. Those are the type of plays that Kings fans want to see this season.

Overall, I’d give Evans a B+ for this game. He got lazy around half court when he was handling the ball a few times and Jennings took advantage by ripping the ball from his slow dribble for points the other way. He’ll just have to remember to be alert while handling the ball at all times. It’s good that he learns that now, rather than in the regular season when the steals and turnovers mean much more.

The win/loss really isn’t important in Summer League games.

And it isn’t really even about the way that this team lost the game, either. It doesn’t matter that they were up 14 with about five minutes to go. This Kings team seemed a lot more fluid offensively than they did Friday against the Pistons.

The problem is that these guys proved to be either errant or lazy at the free throw line. The 20 turnovers were ugly. There were missed alley-oop passes with some of them flying off of the court. There were more outside shots that weren’t contested with most of them coming at the end of regulation when the Warriors made their run.

The Kings players for the most part got complacent towards the end of the game, played sloppy offense, and lazy defense. Sure, it’s just Summer League but at the same time, you want to see more competitive fire with them.

Now let’s get to the players on the floor and how they looked because Summer League is much more about individual performance and growth than overall team record.

Donte Greene
DG had a terrible shooting game. He finished 5/17 from the floor and 1/3 from the free throw line. His 12 points were woven in a slew of bad pull-up jumpers off the dribble. It isn’t so much that he missed the shots; it’s the way he missed them. He tried to do too much to make up for the fact that Anthony Randolph was torching him on the other end. His rebounding was still pretty good with seven (three offensive) but nothing made up for the fact that he couldn’t cover Randolph (24 points, 10/13 FG).

Omri Casspi
Omri had just a terrible game from start to finish. He wasn’t fluid with the ball, he missed easy lay-ups, and he turned the ball over. He was forced to play with some adversity because of his terrible play and the crowd getting on him because they were restless and siding with everything Stephen Curry. But he did bounce back a little bit with a couple of threes to finish with 11 points. It will be interesting to see how he responds, now that he’s had such a potentially disheartening performance.

Jason Thompson
Jason Thompson thinks that he isn’t rebounding because he’s being doubled when shots go up and that the scouting report says he’s the Kings rebounder. Everybody else thinks that it’s because he’s playing slow and not being active on the boards. On a pretty key play late in the game, he was slow to a board that bounced on the ground. The Warriors scooped it up and the Kings second chance points opportunity was gone. But he did score pretty efficiently and forced the smaller Golden State squad to get into team foul trouble early with being more physical in fighting for post-position. He was pretty impressive being a face-up offensive weapon and knocked down a couple of shots. He finished with 17 points but missed five of his 12 free throw attempts.

Jerel McNeal
McNeal played great defense on Curry and helped force him into a 0/8 effort in the first half. He knocked down all four of his shots and even blocked a lay-up attempt. He didn’t have a statistically impressive game but did a lot of those cliché intangibles that don’t show up in the box score. This was a great game towards getting him a final roster spot on some roster.

Jon Brockman
He’s always the most active guy on the boards, no matter who is on the floor. He grabbed seven rebounds in just nine minutes, including a tip-in off a missed Evans lay-up. If he doesn’t find a way into the Kings’ rotation this year, it’s going to be a travesty. He’s a great backup option at the power forward position for 15 to 20 minutes (max). His height is obviously a concern but he makes up for it with instincts, work ethic, and his surprising leaping ability.

Marcus Landry
Landry has proven to be the best shooter on the floor from three for the Kings. He made four of his seven attempts from long range and finished with 14 points. He might be an option to make the team if they feel they need a reliable shooter. He probably isn’t a guy you can play for extended minutes but maybe he’s best served in a Steve Novak-type of role.

Brian Roberts
Roberts played extended minutes (20) for the first time this summer and had a couple of nice moments. He finished with four assists and forced a miss from Curry at the end of regulation to send it to overtime. He could find a place in the D-League with more performances like that.

And now for your daily Tyreke Evans fix:

The jumper is still very suspect. He took a lot more in today’s game than most people would have liked but a lot of that had to do with the Warriors trying to clog the middle. When he did attempt to drive, he often got where he needed to go. He made a couple of threes in five attempts and looked comfortable on four of the shots. He once again wasn’t able to finish many lay-ups in which he got fouled, which took away three-point play opportunities. And his free throws were very poor with hitting seven of 12.

He did a fantastic job on the boards with 10 and racked up five assists with basic passes to his teammates coming off of screens for open jumpers. He wasn’t nearly as controlled going to the basket as he was in the first game. He fell down while dribbling a couple of times. He threw some sloppy passes to go with his basic assists.

His defense was questionable as well. He gave up quite a few scores to Cartier Martin, who finished with 27 points. There didn’t seem to be an urgency to close out on shooters like there was the previous day.

Overall, the numbers were impressive and the actual play was pretty close to justifying them. As a young combo guard being asked to run the point (especially in such a sloppy, Summer League environment), the turnovers are going to happen. And I’d actually be shocked if he kept it to fewer than four in any of these games. But the important thing to remember is the outside jumper looked a little bit better despite the poor mechanics. He gets to the basket whenever he needs to. And his performance on the glass was nice to see in case his supposed-rebounding teammates (JT) don’t make the concerted effort to clean the boards.

Summer League is a chance for first impressions and to get a modicum of an idea of what you have with your young players. And that’s exactly what we get with the Kings after 40 minutes of play against Detroit’s rookies and Summer League roster fillers.

Here are some quick-hitter impressions from what I saw on the floor from the Kings players:

- Donte Greene is noticeably bigger and fitter. He’s not lying when he says that he added 10 to 15 pounds of muscle and it showed in his defense and rebounding.

– Talked to David Thorpe after the game and he was impressed with the playmaking ability that Omri Casspi showed. Casspi was much quicker than advertised and blew by his defender a few times. He also did a great job of setting up a couple of baskets. One play was Omri driving straight down the middle past his man and setting up Robert Battle for a dunk. The other nice one was a pick and roll with Thompson. Omri threw a great pass to Thompson that got the defense out of position and Thompson whipped the pass from the baseline to under the hoop for a Donte Greene score. It’s what David Thorpe called a “Gretzky play.”

- Jon Brockman is a very good rebounder. Reread that sentence a couple more time. I mean, he’s a REALLY good rebounder, especially on the offensive end. He finished with eight rebounds in 21 minutes and five of them were on offense. He is really instinctual in the way he attacks the rebound. And he definitely ATTACKS the rebound. He never really let them come to him. He’s going to be a nice fourth big man in the rotation.

– Jason Thompson was absolutely terrible. He seemed timid and lethargic on the floor. He was a little out of position having to guard DaJuan Summer who is a definite small forward but he didn’t move well in defending the post either when Summers wasn’t in the game. JT only grabbed three rebounds in 27 minutes of play. Part of that was because of how well Greene (7) and Brockman rebounded. But also part of the reason they rebounded so well was because he wasn’t very active. He scored fairly nicely with 15 points on nine shots. He got to the line a lot thanks to Tyreke Evans and Jerel McNeal setting him up. But he also seems completely uncomfortable posting up. He’s definitely always going to be a face-up type of offensive player.

– Robert Battle was very impressive. He looks like he’s been doing nothing but weight training for 10 years. He was powerful inside and the most active player the Kings frontcourt had. But he’s also 28 years old. As Thorpe put it, he’s a man playing against young guys. He should do that. Not to mention the fact that everybody seemed terrified of him.

– Marcus Landry had a nice stretch in which he made back-to-back threes. He was kind of sloppy defensively and committed six fouls in 23 minutes. He could actually be a nice player overseas.

And now to Tyreke Evans:

First play of the game, the Kings ran a set to post him up against the much smaller Sean Singletary. It resulted in a foul. Get used to that. He’s going to live at the free throw line. He won’t lead the team in free throw attempts as a rookie but I guess by his second year, he will pretty much need a molding of his shoes at the free throw line so he feels as comfortable as possible there.

He can definitely play the point but he isn’t a traditional point that sets up other guys first. He was too imposing for Singletary after the first play of the game and they immediately switched the much taller but thinner Deron Washington out to defend him. All that took away was the Kings idea of posting up Evans. Instead, they ran pick and rolls with him and Thompson and let him blow by whoever was desperately trying to stay in front of him.

He’s really quick and something that I can only describe as composed chaos with the ball (think Gerald Wallace with an angel on his shoulder reminding him to slow down when he gets in the lane). He teeters on the fine line of being aggressive and being reckless with attacking the basket. He pushes to the hoop and slows up at the last possible moment to make whatever play needs to be made. His turnovers are going to be high because that will be something defenses can exploit. But he’ll eventually figure out how to adjust to the flying hands, swiping down at him as he gets to the rack.

His defense wasn’t as good as advertised but it was still pretty solid. He could eventually be an annual All-Defensive 2^nd Team kind of player.

Any doubts should have been erased after seeing what he can do. It’s only a first impression but it’s a step towards knowing what the Kings have in store for next season.