After the screen was finally lifted today, allowing us media types to watch the action, there was a welcome sight. Sacramento Kings’ starting small forward Francisco Garcia was back on the practice floor, running full-court sets with the team. Unfortunately, that didn’t last long. Lost in the action of play on the court, Garcia re-aggravated his left calf injury, but this time it’s more serious.
According to Coach Paul Westphal:
Francisco injured his calf again. I’m not sure if the curtain was open or not when that happened, but he’s going to be out for a while, probably more like weeks than days so it’s a setback for him and us.
Coach Westphal later went on the Grant Napear show and confirmed that Garcia had sprained his left calf, and indeed, he would be out for an extended period.
This is an unfortunate turn of events for the veteran wing. After missing most of last season due to a freak weight room injury, Garcia had not only stayed healthy, but solidified the starting line-up with his long range shooting and leadership.
Coach Westphal would not confirm who would take Garcia’s spot in the starting line-up, saying “I’ll have to think about it overnight. I’ll let you know.” When I asked him if the length of time of the injury recovery was the reason that he would have to re-think the current situation of Donté Greene starting the last two games for Garcia, Westphal added this:
“Yeah, I’m actually leaning toward starting Omri right now, but I have to think about it a little bit.”
Westphal again addressed this situation on the Grant Napear show this evening and he sounded much more certain that Omri Casspi, the second year pro from Israel, would become the new starter in Garcia’s absence. Casspi is averaging 8.9 points on 40% three point shooting and 4.2 rebounds a game in 23 minutes per game this season.
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