When it comes to the rookie class, Brandon Jennings has dominated the headlines, and for good reason. His 55-point outburst against Golden State was quite the coming out party and his 22.1 ppg average in November was far and away tops amongst rookies, right?
Not so fast.
Rather quietly, Tyreke Evans has put together a nice month and a half. Here’s a comparison:
Jennings: 21p, 6a, 4r, 42% FG, 44% 3PT, 1.1s, 3.0t
Evans: 20p, 5a, 5r, 46% FG, 26% 3PT, 1.5s, 3.0t
Aside from Jennings’ superior accuracy from long range, those numbers are pretty similar. Evans has been playing more off guard since Kevin Martin has been sidelined, but the Kings are still starting him at the point. In December, he’s averaging 24-5-6 and is shooting 51% from the field. After his hot start, Jennings has cooled off, averaging 19-3-6 this month, while shooting just 39% from the field. He has only hit 9 of 31 threes in December (29%).
The Kings are a surprising 9-12, while the Bucks are a less surprising 10-11. Evans is much stronger and is probably better suited to the rigors of an NBA season (though it should be noted that he has missed a game this season, while Jennings has not). Meanwhile, Jennings attacks the defense with quickness using more of a finesse game (pull up jumpers, crafty layups, teardrops) to score. It’s going to be interesting to see these two guards battle for status as the ROY frontrunner, and what happens when Blake Griffin returns. Also, can Evans keep up this pace with Kevin Martin back in the lineup?
We will see.
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My dream scenario would be Kevin Martin coming back in and Tyreke shifting his mental focus totally to point and becoming like a Magic Johnson-type physically huge point guard.
no way is tyreke made for the point guard position…the kings are using him there cuz they have no better option right now kind of like what the heat did with D-Wade when he came up and just like D-Wade he will slide over to the 2 spot once the get somebody to run the offense…tyreke is too much of a natural scorer and making him try to get the kings offense running smoothly is a joke…in 3 or 4 years he will be top 5 in the league in scoring and you will see this was bad idea to make him try to change his game to become a distributor
Fair enough, but it’s not like scoring and running the offense are mutually exclusive. Two words: “The Answer”.
What are they going to do with Kevin Martin? Evans was all right at point guard at Memphis. He’s not a natural passer, but if he can develop enough in that area I don’t see why he couldn’t play the point a la Wade. I don’t see Evans moving to the two unless the Kings move Martin in a trade or to small forward (not his natural position).