Boy princes will have Kings competitive again

GAME TIME: Kings 102, Nuggets 100

Sacramento is the third-youngest team in the NBA, and two of their hooplings have been instrumental in leading the Kings back to respectability: Tyreke Evans and Omri Casspi.

Let’s examine their respective performances against Denver to assess what each of these rookies can and cannot do.

Omri Casspi

His defense depends on his anticipation, his quick feet and hands, as well as his long arms. Casspi is smart and alert enough to be in position to threaten every incoming pass to whomever he’s guarding. Once his man does receive the ball, though, Casspi is usually at a distinct disadvantage.

Joey Graham easily beat him on a baseline drive, and when Graham posted Casspi, the Kings were quick to provide help. Also, when Casspi turned his head, Graham made a swift backdoor-cut and wound up with an unopposed dunk. However, Casspi’s quickness also enabled him to draw two offensive fouls.

Ultimately, Casspi is strictly a finesse defender, who bounces off of any significant contact. About half of his help-rotations were timely and half were late.

In man-to-man confrontations, Casspi yielded a total of six points, mainly because Graham wasn’t really involved in Denver’s offense, and J. R. Smith was mostly interested in hoisting up (and missing) long-range shots.

No surprise that finesse, hustle, and quickness are also Casspi’s strengths on offense. He moved well without the ball, which enabled him to execute a sensational put-back layup in a crowd. He likes to catch-and-shoot, and has the quick release to make this work. Although he only recorded a single assist, his entry passes into low-post teammates were excellent.

If Casspi lacks the strength to be a consistent finisher — he missed two fast-break layups under mild pressure — he relies on floaters once his dribble gains entrance into the lane. However, he only converted 1of 3 in the game at hand — making a righty flip, missing badly on another, and air-mailing one with his left hand.

Because his dribble is relatively high, Casspi has difficulty busting his way through heavy traffic — and this is the cause of most of his turnovers. But Casspi knows how to draw contact and get to the stripe. Once there, however, he dips the ball below his waist-level before bringing it up and shooting. This unnecessary ball movement is the primary reason why he’s only shooting 64.6% from there.

Still, Casspi proved his ultimate value by burying a critical 3-ball in the endgame.

  Casspi must be protected in certain defensive situations and is relatively soft, but his smarts, speed, and 3-point shooting make him a very useful complimentary player.

Tyreke Evans

This rookie guard is an incredibly dynamic one-on-one scorer. Evans’ pull-up jumpers are feathery — he was 4 of 6 on these — and he has terrific crossover moves. He also has a wonderful blend of power and quickness that make him a reliable finisher. Evans' exceptional skills with the ball compelled the Nuggets to routinely two-time him in the clutch — but his extraordinary decision-making in these situations invariably created open shots for his teammates.

It should be clear at this point that there are insufficient superlatives to describe how difficult it is to contain Evans when he has the ball on a string and is looking to score. He makes 2-pointers at an incredible rate of 49.1%.

Even so, Evans does have his share of flaws on offense. His long-distant shooting (just 25.4%) needs to be improved. Evans also is guilty of grossly overhandling the ball — all three of his turnovers versus Denver resulted from this habit. Plus, he obviously doesn’t trust his left hand since he comes back to his right hand for every shot. And he made only one earnest off-ball cut.

Yes, Evans does a good job in executing kick-out passes — although his out-to-in passes are sometimes shaky — and he is indeed a scoring machine. But the Kings' offense becomes somewhat stagnant while he’s on the perimeter diddling with the ball. In those games when his shot is not falling, the Kings have trouble scoring.

Evans demonstrated his coolness in the clutch by sinking a pair of timely free throws, but he saved the best for last. A hard drive to the middle, followed by a quick-stop, a spin away from Kenyon Martin’s long-armed defense, netting a fall-back jumper that won the game.

As good as Evans is on offense, his defense was awful.

He either switched or went under high screen-rolls. With 11 seconds left in the game and the Kings up by 3, Evans casually went under a high screen and allowed Chauncey Billups to shoot an uncontested 3-ball that knotted the score.

“Casual” is exactly the word that best describes the rookie’s defense. He bit at crude fakes made more than 20 feet from the rim, made several unsuccessful (and no successful) gambles trying to steal passes, didn’t work hard to stay in front of whomever he was guarding, and was abused in the low-post by J. R. Smith.

All told, Evans gave up 16 points in direct defensive confrontations.

Under the expert guidance of Paul Westphal, Evans will eventually develop his left hand and his long-distance dialing, will learn the intricacies of team-offense, and also will put out more effort on defense.

Meanwhile, Evans is — and will be — such an irresistible point-maker as to be the focus of Sacramento’s game plan for many seasons to come. Moreover, Evans specific skill set makes Kevin Martin expendable.

Here and now, Evans brings to mind a bigger, stronger there-and-then version of Allen Iverson.

Straight shooting

Thus far this season, nearly all of the off-season’s most celebrated free-agent signings and high-profile trades have been grievously disappointing. For example:

SHAQ TO CLEVELAND has resulted in the Cavs playing at a considerably less efficient rate than they did last year — winning 73.7% of their games as opposed to 80.7%

RON ARTEST TO THE Lakers has been anything but smooth since Ron-Ron continues to have difficulty understanding the triangle offense.

ANDRE MILLER TO PORTLAND has produced more dissension than the crippled Blazers need.

ARIZA TO HOUSTON was an early-season bonanza, but his performance has become increasingly inconsistent and his shooting percentage has dwindled to a mere 37.8%.

OKAFOR TO NEW ORLEANS has led to his diminished production in virtually every category.

TY CHANDLER TO CHARLOTTE put him on a short path into Larry Brown’s doghouse.

VINCE CARTER TO ORLANDO has curtailed the Magic’s ball- and player-movement, led to more losses than expected, and has forced the team to rely on his 40.2% shooting to rescue their periodically moribund offense.

RICHARD JEFFERSON TO SAN ANTONIO has been an exercise in confusion and frustration for all concerned.

RASHEED WALLACE TO BOSTON has failed to yield the anticipated points, rebounds, and defense. In fact, the best of the transplanted players has been ZACH RANDOLPH. Which is precisely why I will be closely examining his performance against his former team, the Clippers, on Tuesday.

Vox populi

Hey, Charley. Thanks for your column. It goes a long way toward sating my daily b-ball fix. A question for you: If you could build a team with any current NBA players save those who are THE MAN for their teams—in other words, Robins and not Batmans (Batmen? )— which players would you choose? And how do you think the team would fare against, say, the Lakers or the Cavs? – Chris Wood, Brooklyn, NY

My starters would be Chauncey Billups at the point — for toughness, scoring under pressure, and leadership. Manu Ginobili at the shooting guard — for total hustle at both ends, and explosive scoring. Lamar Odom at small forward — for accomplishing whatever is necessary in any given game. Carl Landry at power forward — for scoring inside and from mid-range, for rebounding, and for creating points without his number being called. At center is Kendrick Perkins — for muscle, mass, defense, and an occasional post-up bucket.

The second unit would consist of Udonis Haslem, Joakim Noah, Wilson Chandler, Jamal Crawford, and Rajon Rondo.

Also on the bench would be Shane Battier, Nene, Jared Dudley, Louis Amundson, and Elton Brand.

The coach would be Rick Adelman.

In a chimerical playoff series, the versatility and depth of this squad would conceivably best both the Lakers and the Cavs in seven games.

Travels with Charley

Playing cards for money on flights is an integral part of any NBA’s socialization process. But, as we’ve seen in the Arenas-Crittenton debacle, things can easily get out of hand. And this has always been the case.

In the late '60s, for example, Dick Barnett routinely enticed the Knicks rookies into “friendly games” that ultimately led to the wily vet frequently gaining possession of the young players’ per diem monies and their next paychecks.

As soon as the situation became known to Red Holzman, gambling for money was outlawed in transit. While the players substituted Hearts or Spades for games of chance, Holzman would police their games by periodically checking to make sure that there was no money and no tally sheets in evidence.

And, indeed, the players limited their card playing to debtless recreation.

This harmless situation remained intact until 1971 when Jerry Lucas joined the team. Lucas, of course, had a photographic memory. I have personally seen him walk at a leisurely pace while circumnavigating a long mid-town city block — and then repeat in perfect order the numerals on the license plates of every car he passed. Or else he’d take a well-shuffled deck of cards, rapidly turn each one face up before reforming the original pack — and then verbally replicate the order and identity of each of the cards.

So, while Lucas never indulged in his teammates' card games, he was assigned an appropriate seat from which he could observe and memorize the action. At the end of the game, Lucas would inform each player how much he had won or lost.

The point being that card games are necessary functions of a team’s overall bonhomie. Instead of prohibiting them, bet limits of perhaps $10 and $20 should be agreed to by the players.

Competition in any conceivable venue is, after all, a characteristic that is shared by virtually every player in the league. The relative excellence of their cars, women, bling, clothes, electronic gadgetry, favorite food and drink, and their domiciles. Whatever.

And because playing in the NBA — with all of its material rewards and universal accolades — tends to maintain most of the players in various states of suspended adolescence, the distraction provided by even mildly competitive off-court games are absolutely necessary.