My 16-year-old daughter attends about two NBA games a season. She has sat all around basketball arenas, from courtside seats to the last row.
When she goes to games she often gives an off-beat perspective, like when she started laughing during the first quarter of the Sacramento Kings’ 94-89 victory over the Phoenix Suns on Sunday night.
“The Suns are passing the ball so fast, the Kings can’t keep up with it,” she giggled.
And after the Kings pulled off the comeback victory, she said, “The Kings did the same thing at the end that the Suns were doing at the beginning.”
Let me translate this teenage language: The Kings were getting schooled in the art of ball movement until they started passing the ball well in the comeback win. They didn’t have it with Tyreke Evans in the first three quarters and they had it with Pooh Jeter in the final quarter.
This is not to insinuate that Jeter is the second coming of Suns point guard Steve Nash. But Sunday night proved again that the Kings need a point guard running their offense, not a shooting guard/point guard/baller that Evans has become.
Evans is a great player. He has proven that with last season’s 20-5-5 effort. And the fact that he is averaging 16.4 points, 5.1 assists and 4.7 rebounds despite physical and personal problems is a testament to his abilities. But he is not a true point guard and he can’t move the Kings’ offense consistently.
Look at the evidence against the Suns: In 38 minutes, Evans had five assists while Jeter had four assists in 12 minutes. The difference was negligible in shooting as Evans made 2 of 12 shots while Jeter was 2 of 6.
We are not calling for Jeter to replace Evans, the 2010 NBA Rookie of the Year, as the Kings play the Hawks on Tuesday night at Arco Arena. We were shocked as anyone that Evans was on the bench during the game’s final minutes. This is merely asking Coach Paul Westphal to let a true point guard run the offense. That could be a healthy Beno Udrih, Jeter or a whatever point guard the Kings acquire in the future.
The bottom line is passing helps teams win. And when a teenage casual fan can see their on-court problems, then it should be obvious to the Kings.
What do you think? Comment below.
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Agreed. Seems most folks in Sacramento think you are taking a shot at Tyreke if you point out that the Kings need a point guard. Tyreke is not a great passer – he is a scorer and there’s nothing wrong with that.
I think it is important to note that not only was Pooh Jeter running the offense in the 4th quarter, but also that the offense was running through Cousins and not through Landry. Cousins is a solid passer and more importantly he is a willing passer. Ball movement doesn’t stop when the ball enters the post. This is the opposite of Landry who remains a poor and unwilling passer. Once the ball is entered to Landry, ball and player movement cease and the Kings become a very easy to defend team.