Kings Need a Shooter

I never thought I would say this, but the Kings need a shooter. Last night's game against the Bulls was an indication that, with Kevin Martin and Francisco Garcia out, the Kings are lacking a consistent shooter.

Like the Kings, the Bulls were playing scrappy. They were clogging the lane, daring the Kings to shoot from the outside and there was no one to answer the call. It was a far cry from recent Kings teams where as soon as the ball crossed mid-court there was a good chance it would be shot by whoever touched it first.

I am glad shots were not going up from all over the gym, but someone has to be able to shoot from the outside to keep teams honest. It is clear that without K-Mart and Cisco, and to a lesser degree Nocioni, this is a weak spot for this team.

At one point Tyreke had a wide open three. He double clutched it and tried to force a pass inside. Turnover. The confidence in his shot was gone. Donte Greene, who last season would jack three's with no hesitation, was willing to shoot, but his shot is still the weakest part of his game. Sergio Rodriguez was zipping beautiful passes all over the place, but you can tell he believes he has no jumper. Beno was the only one with a consistent stroke and yet Sergio was playing well enough that he couldn't get off the bench.

Don't get me wrong, if this is the biggest problem the Kings have in the short term, I'll take it. Nocioni should be back soon. K-Mart and Cisco, soon enough. In the grand scheme of things, it's actually quite encouraging that this team is only losing when their outside shots aren't falling. That's a far cry from teams of the recent past.