Another week, another starting line-up. In what seems to be a never-ending rotation, according to Kings.com, Coach Paul Westphal has decided to try yet another combination. With the coach and general manager allegedly on the hot seat, the Kings will turn to their veterans to get them out of this slide. Francisco Garcia will join the cast of Tyreke Evans, Beno Udrih, Carl Landry and Samuel Dalembert to form one of the oldest combination’s of players the Kings have.
Garcia, known for his long range shooting, should help to space the floor and surprisingly enough, with all the other combination’s that Westphal has tried, this is Francisco’s first opportunity to start since the first game of the season when he replaced Evans, who missed the game due to suspension.
The six year veteran out of Louisville missed all but 25 games of the 2009-10 season due to a freak injury involving the popping of an exercise ball while he was weight lifting. Earlier this month, the Kings filed a law suit against the manufacturer of the ball.
With the injury behind him, Garcia is averaging 7.9 points per game on 45.2% shooting from the field and 38.9% from three point range in a smidgen over 20 minutes a game. The Kings are 29th out of the 30 NBA teams in three point shooting percentage at 32.4%. Hopefully, inserting Garcia into the line-up in place of Donté Greene will have a positive effect on that number.
With Garcia taking over the starting small forward role, it is yet to be known how this move will effect either Donté Greene or Omri Casspi. With Coach Westphal’s rotation pattern, one of these two is about to find a seat on the end of the bench.
In other news, Jason Thompson will return to action tonight against the Clippers. The Kings’ big man missed the last three games with a laceration on his right hand that required seven stitches. Before the injury, Thompson had started the previous ten games alongside rookie DeMarcus Cousins. With the benching of Cousins late last week, the tandem of Carl Landry and Samuel Dalembert have retaken the starting power forward and center positions.
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