How impressive was Tyreke Evans' rookie season?

[Im Still Ballin]

Losing team aside, it was pretty impressive to average what he did without a jump shot or LeBron's freak athleticism. He was routinely crossing up the NBA's best defenders, getting to the rim, and finishing inside among packed paints.

One wonders what he could've been with a good jump shot. Another such case... He had stretches starting in NOR where he was doing the 20, 5, and 5 again, but you can only do so much if the defense doesn't have to respect your outside game. His three-ball finally arrived in Memphis, but it was too little, too late.

With a J, his game and ceiling would've most resembled big-bodied combo guards like Arenas, Roy, and pre-D'Antoni Harden. Probably 25, 5, and 5.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lqXJWLAcfxQ&ab_channel=TheBunmasta


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7RsnzGjDt7k&ab_channel=RW


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rbAViXpUn5o&pp=ygUedHlyZWtlIGV2YW5zIHJvb2tpZSBoaWdobGlnaHRz0gc JCX4JAYcqIYzv

NBA rookies to have averaged 20, 5, and 5:


Oscar Robertson 1960-61:
- 30.5 ppg, 10.1 rpg, 9.7 apg
- 47.3% FG, 82.2% FT (11.2 fta/g), 55.5% TS (118 TS+)

Michael Jordan 1984-85:
- 28.2 ppg, 6.5 rpg, 5.9 apg, 2.4 spg, 0.8 bpg
- 51.5% FG, 17.3% 3PT (0.6 3pa/g), 84.5% FT (9.1 fta/g), 59.2% TS (109 TS+)

LeBron James 2003-04:
- 20.9 ppg, 5.5 rpg, 5.9 apg, 1.6 spg, 0.7 bpg
- 41.7% FG, 29.0% 3PT (2.7 3pa/g), 75.4% FT (5.8 fta/g), 48.8% TS (95 TS+)

Tyreke Evans 2009-10:
- 20.1 ppg, 5.3 rpg, 5.8 apg, 1.5 spg, 0.4 bpg
- 45.8% FG, 25.5% 3PT (2.0 3pa/g), 74.8% FT (6.5 fta/g), 52.9% TS (97 TS+)

Luka Doncic 2018-19:
- 21.2 ppg, 7.8 rpg, 6.0 apg, 1.1 spg, 0.3 bpg
- 42.7% FG, 32.7% 3PT (7.1 3pa/g), 71.3% FT (6.7 fta/g), 54.5% TS (97 TS+)



Evans became the fourth rookie ever to average at least 20 points, five rebounds and five assists per game, joining Oscar Robertson, Michael Jordan and LeBron James in an exclusive club.

"This is one of the awards I had a goal of since I came into the NBA, being rookie of the year," Evans said. "I'm proud it came true. It was one of my dreams since I was little. I finally had a chance for my dream to come true."

...

Evans drew praise from around the league, with Kobe Bryant calling him a "grown man" when asked to assess the rookie race after playing Curry and Evans in successive nights in March.

...

"He's the most consistent rookie I've ever seen," coach Paul Westphal said. "There's nothing but a great career in Tyreke's future. Knowing him, I know he doesn't view this as an achievement. It's just a start to his career."


After a rookie year that saw him achieve the vaunted 20-5-5, take home the Rookie of the Year trophy and dominate game after game offensively despite a lack of weapons on the Kings, Tyreke Evans(notes), we should all be able to agree, is an awesome basketball player. Sure, he might not be the greatest defender in the history of on-ball defense, but he's also only 20 and that other half of the game, the scoring baskets part, he's already one of the best. And that's without being able to shoot jump shots.

According to HoopData, on shots that weren't at the rim, Evans hit on just a third of his jumpers. Not great for a guard. Heck, not even good for a guard. Barely passable, really. But still, Evans finished the season shooting .458 from the floor, mostly because he can get to the rim and convert at a 60 percent rate. Considering defenses would routinely sag off him, daring him to shoot a jumper, that's impressive. But just imagine if he could, and would, actually shoot from outside. Scary thought, right?


15. Tyreke Evans
The prototypical 0-guard: Someone who handles the ball all the time, looks for his own shot, gets to the rim at will and operates best if his teammates spread the floor to watch him. You can't call these guys point guards, and they handle the ball too much to be 2-guards. So they're 0-guards. Ideally, you want to surround 0-guards with spot-up shooters, one rebounder and a pick-and-pop forward who can make 18-footers. Gilbert Arenas created the 0-guard position, for better or worse; Dwyane Wade mastered it; Brandon Roy strikes the best balance between selfish and unselfish; and Evans might have the most raw talent of any of them. I've personally seen him turn four or five games into layup lines this season. And yet, would I want to play with him? Right now … not really. Some day … maybe.

(Here's the part where you say, "You can't play with him, you're a 40-year-old washed-up white guy who wasn't even good to begin with." Good point.)

https://a.espncdn.com/photo/2010/0216/pg2_g_evanst_300.jpg
Rocky Widner/NBAE/Getty Images
Tyreke Evans is a force taking the ball to the hole.

[Im Still Ballin]

Rookie season scouting report:


In analyzing Evans last season, we saw a player who had a very clearly defined value proposition at the NBA level. We fully expected Evans to enjoy a great deal of success creating shots against better competition, but he’s been even more effective than advertised. Not only has Evans proven time and time again that he can get to the rim against just about anyone with his blend of scoring instincts and physical tools, he’s become even more proficient at exploiting the opportunities that he creates.

According to Synergy Sports Technology, 34% of Evans’ offensive possessions this season have come in one-on-one situations –the fourth largest percentage league-wide. Last season at Memphis, Evans finished a meager 27.8% of his isolation plays, a far cry from the 41.3% he’s shooting on such attempt this season. Evans certainly has benefitted from NBA’s improved spacing and tightly scrutinized hand-checking rules, as his hesitation moves, ability to explode through driving lanes, and imposing size and strength for a guard make him even more difficult to keep away from the lane and off the line than he was during his time in Memphis.

In addition to translating many of the things he was already good at to the NBA level, Evans has also made some subtle progress in his approach to creating his own shot. In his college days, he was prone to simply making a move and attacking immediately, and while that was consistent with what John Calipari wanted out of his dribble-drive offense, it didn’t afford Evans the opportunity to be terribly selective given his aggressive nature.

A few months into his rookie year, Evans has started to show the patience and timing that is common amongst great one-on-one scorers. Poised enough to wait for traffic to clear out of the lane and seeming more willing to wait for the right opportunity instead of taking the first shot offered to him, Evans’ outstanding shiftiness with the ball and body control at the rim have made him one of the game’s most formidable young scorers. As he begins to get more comfortable in his own skin and carves out a more clearly defined niche, Evans’ progress this season should become more pronounced as Sacramento rebuilds.

...

Evans’ biggest weakness remains his perimeter shooting stroke. Fading away naturally on every one of his attempts, the prolific young guard hurts his efficiency every time he settles for a deep jumper. While it would be easy to write off Evans’ poor shooting mechanics because of how productive he’s proven to be in spite of them as rookie, one has to wonder just how good Evans could be if he revamped his shooting form to become a legitimate catch and shoot threat.

As it stands, his spot up game is the most problematic byproduct of his poor shooting form. According to Synergy Sports Technology, Evans makes just 18.2% of his unguarded catch and shoot jumpers, yielding just 0.48 points per-possession and ranking him in the 2nd percentile League-wide. While he fares slightly better with a hand in his face, opposing defenses don’t have to respect his range. Evans struggles to draw iron at times, looking confident, but simply lacking the mechanics to get the job done. His long, slow release lacks rhythm, and his willingness to take nearly 2 three-pointers a game despite making just over a quarter of them indicates how poor his shot selection still is. Playing for a team out of the playoff picture this season, Evans has had a long leash that may need to become shorter in time if his team is serious about winning games.

While the news on Evans’ jumper certainly isn’t good, it is not all bad either. He’s actually improved his shooting off the dribble. Last time we checked in on Evans, he was making a dismal 25% of his pull up jumpers at the NCAA level. He’s made 31.5% of such attempts as an NBA rookie, showing a degree of natural shot making ability that allows him to overcome his poor mechanics on occasion. Despite that improvement, Evans’ perimeter shot still needs a major overhaul, as his upside would be completely different if he was a threat to hit shots from beyond the arc.

As it stands, opposing teams have no qualms whatsoever about going underneath screens on every pick and roll play Evans is involved in, which puts his team at a major disadvantage. This issue would be magnified significantly if the Kings were a more competitive team that necessitated opponents executing higher-level advance scouting and game-planning in order to defeat them—for example in a playoff series. His development in this area will also have implications on his ability to function next to another talented ball-handling guard in Sacramento’s back-court.

...

Much of what we saw out of Evans in the NCAA has remained consistent through his first season in the NBA. He’s turnover prone, lacks ideal decision-making, but is simply too dynamic off the dribble not to create looks for his teammates. Though many of the qualitative aspects of our evaluation remain true, they simply haven’t mattered nearly as much as we thought they would. At the same time, Evans has improved his efficiency considerably, which has made this much less of an issue. After posting an assist to turnover ratio of just 1.08 last season, Evans’ questionable decision making off the dribble led many to question what position he should play at the next level.

At this point, Evans’ position is largely irrelevant –the Kings aren’t fighting for a spot in the playoffs and may not be for some time. He’s improved his assist to turnover ratio to 1.86 –an impressive development from last season, but still not ideal. As it stands, Evans’ playmaking ability resembles that of two guards like Dwyane Wade more than it does Tony Parker-like players due to the manner in which he creates looks for others.

Evans does not do most of his playmaking in the framework of Sacramento’s offense. While he’s able to thread passes to cutters on occasion thanks to his size, he doesn’t orchestrate sets to create open looks for his teammates. Rather, his ability to create his own shot and subsequently draw additional defenders creates the vast majority of his assist opportunities, whether they come on drive and kicks in half court sets or on dump-off passes in transition. Evans is capable of hitting the open man, but is looking to score first and pass second. The sheer amount of time that the ball is in his hands and the number of occasions he takes the ball to the rim guarantees him a degree of success as a playmaker, and to his credit, he’s done a better job recognizing when to give the ball up as the season has gone on. That’s not necessarily a knock against Evans—that’s just the way today’s NBA works.

As Sacramento begins to build a competitive roster, they’ll need to accommodate the fact that Evans requires a lot of touches. As the anointed superstar of a struggling franchise desperate for a savior, he’s been able to get away with many things that other players wouldn’t be able to. The fact that he ranks amongst the top 20 players in the NBA in both turnovers and assists speaks to his natural ability to put pressure on the defense and find the open man as well as his occasional carelessness with the ball.

With personnel shifting around him in coming seasons, Evans will no doubt have to make some adjustments to his game to help the Kings become more competitive. Whether that means developing more discipline and a better grasp of the offense to run the point more efficiently like Russell Westbrook has in Oklahoma City, or focusing on scoring and cutting back on his turnovers remains to be seen. Either way, is only 20 years old, so time is clearly on his side.

[dankok8]

Ahh Tyreke Evans...

Haven't heard anyone say his name in quite a few years. Yea he was a helluva rookie. I thought he would become a perennial all-star.

[ILLsmak]

I think a lot of these 'ahead of the curve' players just don't work hard enough while they are still elite. The thing is, when they came in, what they had was something the NBA wasn't ready for, but over time, they develop schemes, and if you can't counter, then you fall behind.

-Smak

[ralph_i_el]

He had a lesser version of what plagues Ben Simmons. He's dominant with one hand finishing, and didn't want to go to his off hand. That's why he hit the spin move so much. Without a good jumper, teams started playing him to his off hand, and he started getting blocked at the rim more.

[pandiani17]

I think a lot of these 'ahead of the curve' players just don't work hard enough while they are still elite. The thing is, when they came in, what they had was something the NBA wasn't ready for, but over time, they develop schemes, and if you can't counter, then you fall behind.

-Smak

This and the Kings' drafted guys like Cousins or Isaiah Thomas and they took a lot of shots from him. Plus he also had a bad injury IIRC.

[Meticode]

Impressive during the time, but looking back in hindsight it's not really surprising. It was an awful King's team and it's not super impressive.

Gilbert Arenas recently had DeMarcus Cousins on his podcast and him, Cousins and Young were arguing about if it was difficult to put up good stats playing for an awful team versus good team. Arenas argued that it was harder to do it on an awful team because the great player will be the only one on the team's scouting report that has to get shut down. Cousins agreed with this (probably because he played for shitty King's teams). I like the exchange between Young and Cousins about this because Young argued it was harder to put up good stats on a good team. And during one exchange it went like this...

Cousins: Okay when ya'll would play me in Sacramento who was all on the scouting report (expecting Young to say Cousins was)?

Young: No one because we were going to go in there and whoop ya'll ****in' ass.

Long story short. Good teams don't get up to scout or play the bad teams with a player putting up good stats because more time than not their talent will win the game anyway.

[FKAri]

Impressive during the time, but looking back in hindsight it's not really surprising. It was an awful King's team and it's not super impressive.

Gilbert Arenas recently had DeMarcus Cousins on his podcast and him, Cousins and Young were arguing about if it was difficult to put up good stats playing for an awful team versus good team. Arenas argued that it was harder to do it on an awful team because the great player will be the only one on the team's scouting report that has to get shut down. Cousins agreed with this (probably because he played for shitty King's teams). I like the exchange between Young and Cousins about this because Young argued it was harder to put up good stats on a good team. And during one exchange it went like this...

Cousins: Okay when ya'll would play me in Sacramento who was all on the scouting report (expecting Young to say Cousins was)?

Young: No one because we were going to go in there and whoop ya'll ****in' ass.

Long story short. Good teams don't get up to scout or play the bad teams with a player putting up good stats because more time than not their talent will win the game anyway.

Easier to score points on a bad team. Easier to be efficient on a good team.

[Meticode]

Easier to score points on a bad team. Easier to be efficient on a good team.

There's so many more variables that go into it. I don't paint it black and white like that. A good example is Jordan Poole. The Wizards are awful this season and he's putting up the same stats on the same or better efficiency than he did with the Warriors two years ago just coming off a championship and playing the best shooter that's ever lived.

[RRR3]

Impressive during the time, but looking back in hindsight it's not really surprising. It was an awful King's team and it's not super impressive.

Gilbert Arenas recently had DeMarcus Cousins on his podcast and him, Cousins and Young were arguing about if it was difficult to put up good stats playing for an awful team versus good team. Arenas argued that it was harder to do it on an awful team because the great player will be the only one on the team's scouting report that has to get shut down. Cousins agreed with this (probably because he played for shitty King's teams). I like the exchange between Young and Cousins about this because Young argued it was harder to put up good stats on a good team. And during one exchange it went like this...

Cousins: Okay when ya'll would play me in Sacramento who was all on the scouting report (expecting Young to say Cousins was)?

Young: No one because we were going to go in there and whoop ya'll ****in' ass.

Long story short. Good teams don't get up to scout or play the bad teams with a player putting up good stats because more time than not their talent will win the game anyway.
Young who? There are so many people with that last name :lol

[Xiao Yao You]

Impressive during the time, but looking back in hindsight it's not really surprising. It was an awful King's team and it's not super impressive.

Gilbert Arenas recently had DeMarcus Cousins on his podcast and him, Cousins and Young were arguing about if it was difficult to put up good stats playing for an awful team versus good team. Arenas argued that it was harder to do it on an awful team because the great player will be the only one on the team's scouting report that has to get shut down. Cousins agreed with this (probably because he played for shitty King's teams). I like the exchange between Young and Cousins about this because Young argued it was harder to put up good stats on a good team. And during one exchange it went like this...

Cousins: Okay when ya'll would play me in Sacramento who was all on the scouting report (expecting Young to say Cousins was)?

Young: No one because we were going to go in there and whoop ya'll ****in' ass.

Long story short. Good teams don't get up to scout or play the bad teams with a player putting up good stats because more time than not their talent will win the game anyway.

The kings were shitty because of cousins. A great player makes a team non shitty. He was hyped as great. The reality was different

[Meticode]

Young who? There are so many people with that last name :lol

I assumed most people at least knew the podcast. Nick Young. He's on the podcast usually.

Here's the YouTube short clip that explains the whole team. Cousins is arguing over being scouted by the opposing team while he's playing for a shitty team and Nick Young is basically like "There is no scouting report for your shitty team, we're not scouting you, we're gonna whoop your ass."


https://www.youtube.com/shorts/FlNcZNUfzxM

[Xiao Yao You]

Scoutin is why cousins didntbplay d, took bad shots and pouted :roll: