Check out this little video of Reke and McGee working out with trainer Rob McClanaghan (via Dime Mag):
I don’t know if it’s just the extra medium workout shirt Tyreke has on but he looks HUGE. He’s definitely added some muscle to his frame this off-season. I’ll have more on that this week but I feel bad for the point guards in the NBA for now.
The Boost Mobile Elite 24 is a nice little get together for all of the best high school talent in the country. This year, some pros showed up to take on the youngsters and Tyreke Evans was one of those pro players. His team was comprised of himself, Brandon Jennings, DeMar DeRozan, Bobby Brown and John Wall.
Check out this video of some of the highlights. Tyreke has a few moves (including a much better looking jumper) at the 23-second, 1:06, 1:39 marks:
Basketball cyborg Kelly Dwyer is ranking all of the positions in the NBA from 30 down to the best (a.k.a. – #1). He opted not to put Tyreke with the point guards and instead threw him in with the shooting guards:
7. Tyreke Evans, Sacramento Kings (last year: unranked)
Tyreke handles the ball a ton for the Kings, but he also lines up in the starting five alongside Beno Udrih. And unless you want to start calling the 5-11 Udrih a shooting guard, Evans gets the call as a ball-dominating off guard.
There’s a little bit more than just the analysis there so click the link. And in reading deeper into the rankings, there really isn’t a 6th best shooting guard do to an issue KD had of ordering the lists and moving Andre Iguodala to the small forward list. So really, Evans is the 6th best shooting guard in the NBA according to Dwyer.
Now when I looked at his 1-30 point guard rankings and didn’t see Tyreke there (also didn’t see Beno there and Ziller handled that perfectly), I had the same reaction that most Kings fans probably had: Why won’t anybody give this guy credit as a point guard? I get Dwyer’s reasoning too. He didn’t want to call Beno Udrih a 5’11″ shooting guard even though that’s what he was for the majority of the second half of the season. 82games.com’s distribution of Beno’s minutes by position support KD but I tend to think that they just look at the lineup on the floor as opposed to what happened in those lineups.
I still believe Tyreke is a point guard. I saw too much play-making from him and too much running of the offense. You can throw the Dwyane Wade and LeBron James comparison’s out there (just in the way they dominate the ball without being points, not in terms of ability) but I don’t really buy them. Whether it was good or stagnant, Tyreke ran this team. A lot of the time Beno was on the court with him, Beno played off the ball. He was more of a spot-up shooter unless things broke down and he had to run a quick pick-and-roll at the end of the shot clock. To me, Beno was a shooting guard last year.
Does that mean I think Tyreke will be a point guard his entire career? No. I think it will depend on whether or not the Kings can get a good shooting guard or a good point guard to put next to him for the next decade-plus. And that’s sort of the beauty of Tyreke (assuming he can continue to develop and take his talents and skills more into the flow of the offense as opposed to just dominating a one-on-one situation) and what he can bring to the Kings’ future. He gives you so much versatility.
I don’t want people to flame KD here and say he doesn’t know what he’s talking about with Tyreke. The point of this should be more about looking at where Tyreke stands in the league in terms of individual talent with just one season under his belt. One of the best basketball analysts you’ll ever read (Dwyer) puts Tyreke ahead of everybody on this list other than Manu Ginobili, Joe Johnson, Brandon Roy, Kobe Bryant and Dwyane Wade. That’s damn impressive company to be in.
Your boy and mine, Alex Kramers of When Kingdom Come (also, follow him on Twitter – @doktakra), was at the NBA rookie photo shoot when the 2010 rookie class donned their new work uniforms and took pictures doing basketball things. He covered it for Full Court Press on Kings.com and wrote up a nice story about what DeMarcus Cousins and Hassan Whiteside are thinking about this team and their respective first year’s of the rest of their lives. Peep the link.
Here’s a snippet about Cousins:
After previously declaring he was the best player in the 2010 rookie class, the fifth-overall pick in the NBA Draft continued to stand by his bold proclamation.
“My goal is to win Rookie of the Year, and I think I established myself and earned some respect in summer league,” he said. “But Tyreke (Evans) and I spoke about some of the things we want to accomplish (as a team) this year, starting with making the Playoffs.”
Cousins has worked diligently to refine his game since he was drafted by the Kings to prevent himself from making “rookie mistakes,” and training to stand the rigors of an 82-game schedule.
Many people are questioning DMC’s conditioning this summer but it’s good to see his attitude seems very focused on the task at hand.
As far as Stretch goes, Alex wrote this about Hassan:
Whiteside, in the meantime, has been working on “getting bigger” by lifting weights and toning his lower body. He attended Tim Grgurich’s annual skills camp at UNLV with his new Kings teammate, Jason Thompson, and has also sought advice from Evans.
“We’re a young team and everyone is no more than three-or-four years older than me, so we can relate on a lot of things,” Whiteside said. “My goal is to stay hungry and humble.”
Whiteside acclimated himself to Sacramento by recently purchasing a home that he instantly furnished with a brand-new television to study and keep tabs on his upcoming NBA opponents.
This is probably evident of most rookies but it’s good to see two young guys talking about their hard work for this off-season to help this team get better during this crucial stage of the Kings’ rebuilding process.
And in case you couldn’t get enough of Cousins and his exploits at the photo shoot, here is another video:
DeMarcus Cousins at NBA Rookie Photo Shoot from Michelle Stark on Vimeo.
Dime TV captured a video of Hassan Whiteside juggling three basketballs at the same time (big ups to Aron Phillips for all of the coverage he gave us with the rookie photo shoot; follow him on Twitter):
Seems like this lady is going to be out of a job…
Southern gentlemen and one of the best bloggers around, Kyle Weidie of TruthAboutIt.net, posted these videos from the NBA and Dime TV.
First off, we have DeMarcus Cousins and John Wall playing one on one during the rookie photo shoot.
DMC destroyed Wall 1-0 (by my count from the video) and even swatted a shot. The Wizards have to be questioning their selection after such a one-sided affair.
Then they broke off into a Dougie session with Tiny Gallon as an innocent bystander:
We can probably safely call this one a draw so the final tally is DeMarcus Cousins winning 1-0-1.
There are many things about the internet and especially the basketball community that has grown from said internet that make being a basketball fan in this era a favorable experience. The interaction between Tom Ziller and Bethlehem Shoals and the product that comes from this interaction should be at the top of everyone’s enjoyment of the current NBA.
Since both have become firmly entrenched together at FanHouse over the last eight months or so, they have come up with some truly great work. Now, they have a daily collaborative piece called “The Works” and it’s something you should check out first thing to start your day.
In today’s version, Ziller explores the usage of international basketball as a hoops laboratory during the summer with respect to Omri as his initial muse:
Casspi has been a simply explosive scorer at the unfamiliar power forward position. In Saturday’s win over the very good Montenegro, Casspi scored 30 points in 33 minutes on an array of deep shots and drives. The Kings thought they were drafting a potential poor man’s Hedo Turkoglu. During Casspi’s rookie season, he looked like he’d instead be a bigger Bobby Jackson. Playing for Israel? He looks like the second coming of Peja Stojakovic. If the Kings are paying attention, they will say new and exciting ways to feature the Israeli in the Evans-led offense next season.
No matter how good Omri Casspi ends up being in the NBA, we can be sure that experiences like this for young, developing players are nothing but good. Yes, there is a chance for injury and I’m pretty sure I even said on this space not too long ago that it was probably for the best Tyreke Evans wasn’t on Team USA this summer because of injury reasons. But with guys like Omri who are trying to establish themselves in so many different facets of the basketball world, leading his country is nothing but a good, healthy, growing experience.
Omri is THE GUY in the country of Israel when it comes to basketball. And while Israeli basketball is on the rise and has been for quite some time now, they’re still not close to being one of the teams at the FIBA adult’s table for dinner. With Omri cutting his teeth in the leadership role as Noam pointed out yesterday, it can take him and the Kings down one of two paths.
1) The cultivation of Omri Casspi’s leadership skills on the court could most certainly help the Kings out over his career in Sacramento. I think we can all see that Tyreke Evans isn’t the most vocal person on the court. And while I think he’s shown enough leadership flashes to be that vocal leader and a leader by example in the future, the Kings need someone to be there in crunch time and get everybody on the same page. I think Omri – especially with what he’s shown so far in Israel’s run – can be that player.
He’s one of the best shooters and probably one of the best all-around players on the Kings roster with plenty of room for growth and progress. Casspi will be on the floor at the end of games if he earns it like the majority of us think he can and will. Having him as the vocal leader during crunch time and showing more of a pedigree for this type of role with his time this summer could be the extra boost the Kings need in an area they struggled with so mightily last season – fourth quarter execution. It doesn’t force Tyreke into a role he’s not ready for and the Kings get more production and leadership throughout the team at different points in the game no matter who is in.
Or.
2) Omri gets too big for his proverbial leadership britches from this experience and ends up demanding the ball and big shots late in the game. His teammates grow tired of a young player without having proven enough on the NBA stage and he begins to alienate other Kings on the roster. I’m not sure it would be quite the Andres Nocioni style of wanting more of an important role throughout the team but it could definitely grow to be an issue if this type of situation isn’t handled with care by the front office, coaching staff and veterans on the team.
I think it’s much more likely to be option 1 rather than option 2 because this seems like a good group of young players with more than enough leadership throughout the organization to get its guys in proper order of rank and file. Omri doesn’t seem like much of a hot head even though there were times in which he showed some pouting and confrontational actions with the team last season. But instead of just assuming he’s a malcontent, I think it’s clear he’s just a very competitive athlete with a lot of confidence and ability to back it up.
Ziller is correct when he says “International basketball is the window to the essence of a player’s potential.” When you have a guy like Omri who is so young and yet filled with so much potential, utilizing this stage for growth is so much more important than watching him fumble or vault through some random summer league schedule.
Good to see Omri gets this chance to see where he could be headed for the Kings.
The Sacramento Kings’ Head Coach Paul Westphal today announced an addition to his coaching staff, reaching an agreement with Otis Hughley to join the team as an assistant coach.
“Otis has a wealth of experience working with young players and is ready to jump to the NBA,” said Westphal. “We’re very excited to add him to our staff to replace Bryan Gates.”
“It’s an exciting time,” Hughley said. “I’m looking forward to being with an organization that’s proven and that’s exhibited class. I’m really looking forward to working with Coach Westphal and his staff.”
Hughley had coached at LeFlore High School in Mobile, Ala. for seven years (2004-2010), guiding the Rattlers to six straight regional appearances and a 6A state title in 2007. While at LeFlore, he coached current Kings center Demarcus Cousins. Before coaching at LeFlore, Hughley was an assistant coach at several universities, including Wright State, Liberty, and Southern. Hughley’s experience also includes coaching for the league’s NBA China program and working over 10 years at Pete Newell’s “Big Man Camp.”
Nice video with a look into DMC and a typical day he had during the Vegas Summer League. He’s suffering from a busted lip (he busted his lip a few times during that week) so some of the talking seems very forced, strained and limited. But overall, it’s a fun look to see Daniel Shapiro controlling his diet and working on his conditioning.
Today might end up being Pooh Jeter Day if people keep writing about him.
Sebastian Pruiti (who is in the process of taking a stranglehold over NBA blogging) from Nets Are Scorching and NBA Playbook has been breaking down the games of guys with international pedigrees who are on their way over to the NBA this summer. He did one for today on Pooh Jeter and what he does well and doesn’t do well on the basketball court.
Check out the the post here. It’s a great breakdown and if you’re not reading NBA Playbook on a regular basis then you need to slap yourself for doing this internet thing wrong.