Chester's Tyreke Evans adjusting to new role with Sacramento Kings

Six weeks ago, Evans suffered a left knee injury.

Just as his game finally began to click in a way it hadn't since 2009, just when he began to understand his role, his left knee flared up.

Evans returned to the Kings lineup at the beginning of this month but the injury has lingered, and without his usual burst Evans' game hasn't been as efficient.

"It's about continuing to get healthy now," Sacramento coach Keith Smart said. "Consistency is key."

On Friday night, Evans visits the Wells Fargo Center, not far from his hometown of Chester, as his Kings take on the Sixers at 7:30.

He'll have family and friends in the stands, so many he couldn't name them all here after the Kings were blown out by the Celtics on Wednesday.

For Evans, though, the game is about finding the rhythm he lost when the knee injury occurred. It's about getting healthier. The friends and family in attendance, well, that's just something he has to deal with.

"It'll be fun," Evans said of his return trip. "But it'll also be weird."

Since returning from the injury, Evans has hit the 20-point mark just twice and hasn't scored more than 21 points for a Kings team that is 13 games below .500.

"You can tell he's not at 100 percent," said Isaiah Thomas, who has taken Evans' old point guard position. "He's doing all right, but he doesn't have the same explosiveness that he did before."

The injury is healing, though. He scored 19 of Sacramento's 81 points Wednesday and has been in the teens in seven straight games.

"I'm playing OK," Evans said. "I just need to keep being aggressive, attacking the hoop."

Evans is aggressive yet quiet. When healthy, he can slash to the hoop as well as anyone. He says he tries to lead both on the court and vocally.

Part of that is true. He's a natural leader on the court directing teammates through traffic. But vocal? He's vocal in the same way Michael Vick is consistent.

"Nah, Tyreke isn't vocal," Thomas said. "He's a joker off the court and fun to hang out with, but he's quiet."

'So athletic'

After Sacramento used the No. 4 overall pick on Evans in 2009, he ran the point for the Kings and became the fourth rookie in NBA history to average 20 points, five rebounds, and five assists per game. The three others who accomplished that feat? Oscar Robertson, Michael Jordan, and LeBron James.

He took home rookie-of-the-year honors that season in a class that included James Harden and Jrue Holiday. But his production dipped the following season, and Smart moved him from point guard to small forward last season.

Slowly, Evans adjusted to the new position, what Smart referred to earlier this week as the "off guard." He's continuing to improve, his coaches said, as he learns what to do without the ball.

"He's just so athletic," Thomas said, "that he can sort of get away with some things others can't. It's crazy."

Evans speaks somberly about growing up in Chester.

He was lacing his black Nike shoes, size 15, when the topic of his childhood came up. Tucked into a corner of the visitors' locker room here at the TD Garden, Evans froze. He kept his head down, staring at his still-untied shoes. His fingers, wrapped around his black laces, stopped moving. He took a breath and scanned the locker room.

"It was tough," he said quietly. "I'm glad to have had the opportunity to get out of there. I had to work hard."

Evans is a man, a young 23-year-old man, of few words. He has even fewer words about his hometown and his childhood.

He was all but raised by his older brothers. They taught him how to shoot a basketball and talk to girls. They called themselves "Team Tyreke" and made it their mission to give their talented brother a way out of their tough neighborhood.

They served as coaches - both on the court and off - and helped get him enrolled at American Christian Academy in Aston.

"They were everything," Evans said of his brothers. "They kept me away from the streets and around positive people."

No offseason

In high school, Evans took around 4,000 shots a week just to have the opportunity to leave his troubled neighborhood behind. His older brothers put him through a two-a-day workout program. He had no offseason.

Evans' life almost got tragically sidelined on Nov. 25, 2007. He was driving the car in which a cousin, Jamar Evans, shot and killed Marcus Reason in a drive-by.

In 2009, Jamar Evans, pleaded guilty to third-degree murder and weapons offenses and was sentenced to nine to 20 years, plus eight years' probation.

Tyreke Evans was never charged with a crime, and he testified for the prosecution during the preliminary hearing for Jamar Evans.

Since entering the league in 2009, Evans has made more than $11 million. Another $11 million is set to come his way as part of his salary from this season and next season.

Friday night, he heads back for his fourth game in Philadelphia since leaving for Memphis in 2008. He's still not quite used to playing basketball a short drive from the place he grew up trying to get out of.

"It's always tough in front of friends and family," he said. "Everywhere you look, you see someone you know."