Post game comments and commentary.

Kings are some of the numbers from last night that stick out:

• 2 first half assists.
• 17 missed free throws. Coach Westphal alluded to this being a point of emphasis throughout camp. Only Evans made 100% of his free throws so the blame can be spread around on this one.
• 0-7 from behind the three point line. Only Joe Crawford shot more than one three and he only shot 2. The Kings need to not only make three pointers but take three pointers for their offensive spacing to be effective.
• Casspi 3 points on 1-5 shooting. Casspi looked timid at the three point line, pulling the ball down a number of times and unsuccessfully attacking the defense instead. I asked him about this issue: “It was game motion but it played in my head a little bit too. It’s something I need to knock down. Those shots are good shots for me today, I was thinking too much and not shooting them and trying to do what coach asked me to do. Coach never told me to not shoot open shots so obviously I need to work on it mentally and knock those shots down.”
• Thompson was 1-7 from the floor. He still came away with 3 assists, 5 rebounds, 1 block and 1 steal in limited minutes, but the 3 point performance was nothing to write home about and neither was the 3 fouls in the first 5:54 of the game.
• Cousins finished the game with 3 rebounds. Players have tough shooting nights (5-14), but for a rebounder of this quality, 3 is unacceptable. Cousins and Thompson need to do a better job of staying on the floor or the Kings are going to see a lot more games with a 45-37 type rebounding disadvantage.
• Pooh Jeter played 38 minutes and only had 1 assist and 2 turnovers. The team had a really hard time getting into an offensive set and they did a very poor job of feeding the post. Jeter had the ball in his hands most of the game, and for whatever reason, the Clippers were able to disrupt his rhythm.

Quick quotes from Coach Westphal:

• Carl Landry is not right yet, but he’s getting closer to last year’s form. Coach Westphal chimed in on this: “He was ok, but he is not Carl Landry yet. I don’t think he has his quickness and explosiveness yet and there is no reason to think he won’t have it….He’s not looking like Carl Landry yet.”
• Westphal on not having Beno and Evans only playing 9 minutes: “We looked disorganized and confused at both ends of the floor.”
• Westphal on the the Clippers; “you can’t help from being super impressed with Blake Griffin. That’s a multi-year all-sat right there and the Clippers are going to be a lot better this year because of his presence and the other changes they’ve made.”

Congratulations to Shareef Abdur- Rahim on his promotion to assistant general manager yesterday. I bumped into him in the halls and he was nothing but gracious for the opportunity that Geoff Petrie, Wayne Cooper and the Maloofs have extended to him.