Six months ago, the story of Omri Casspi neared an abrupt end.
With help from the Sacramento Kings, he can now add a few more chapters to his NBA legacy.
Prior to rejoining the Kings, Casspi was a basketball player without a true identity. When the Kings drafted him 23rd overall in 2009, he was a heavy midrange shooter. Over the next few years in stops in Cleveland and Houston, the Israeli morphed into a 3-point specialist with not-so-special results.
By the end of his fifth season, Casspi lay in the free agent scrapheap, drawing little interest until Sacramento came sniffing around. He couldn’t afford to blow this opportunity. The 26-year-old stepped into Sleep Train Arena a new man, abandoning his jumper to shoot a career-best 48.4 percent while creating plays for his teammates. Casspi has shown a willingness to do the dirty work, which also drew admiration from fans and the organization.
Unfortunately, Casspi’s bounce-back year hit a bump in the road when he suffered a left knee bone contusion on December 6 and missed 13 of his next 18 games. When he returned, the forward favored his other leg and struggled to provide the spark he gave in the first month of the season.
“I think the last month and a half, my knee was bothering me, I was trying to go and get rebounds but I wasn’t as explosive as I feel now,” Casspi told Cowbell Kingdom this week. “It’s feeling a lot better. A few days off (during the All-Star break), I got to get away from the game for treatments and be with my trainer in Florida (which) helped a lot.”
The hire of head coach George Karl over the break has also done wonders, by allowing Casspi to unleash his game. Their first conversation stemmed over the wing’s role moving forward.
“We talked about the spacing on the offense, about some of the stuff we want to see offensively and defensively, what he expects me to bring every night,” Casspi recalled. “One of the things I want to bring every night is my athleticism. Try to run the floor, crash the boards, move the ball, be the guy that makes the extra pass, He said that we’re going to change the lineups a little bit and go small at times.”
In Karl’s first two games as a King, Casspi has already reached unforeseen heights. He led his team in assists (six) and tied a career-high with 12 rebounds in a win over the Celtics. Then he smashed his record a night later with an 11-point, 17-rebound effort against the Clippers.
“I feel a lot quicker, and sometimes rebounding is just the first person to get the ball, not necessarily who’s the tallest or maybe the strongest,” Casspi spoke. “I feel a lot quicker now so I’m trying to make a big emphasis there and on the defensive end. Especially when playing with the first unit offensively, I know I won’t get as many shots as when I play in the second unit. So I’m trying to find my places to go and trying to crash the boards.”
“Usually when it’s a corner shot, it’s probably long. Top shot, it’ll usually fall down,” he explained of his Rodman-like approach. “So I’m trying to see where the ball is going to, and see the angle where it’s going to hit the rim and try to be the first one there.”
In his past two games, Casspi didn’t light up the box score, but his activity and willingness to push the break and set up others haven’t gone unnoticed. Karl has played the forward 26.3 minutes per game, including one start, after the wing averaged 16.9 minutes and made four starts in 38 appearances prior this season.
Casspi feels optimistic for the rest of his sixth NBA campaign, and he’s appreciative of his new lease on basketball life. One of the politest players in the league, he’s never quick enough to credit teammates, and more recently Karl, on the revival of his career and the Kings’ hopes.
“All of us,” Casspi noted of who was helped by Karl. “Not only the crowd. The city, the players, the organization, I mean we needed it. It was something that we went through a slump as a team and us as players, and now we got a new fresh start so everybody’s excited.”
At this rate, when his contract expires this summer, Casspi may stick around for an epilogue.
Add The Sports Daily to your Google News Feed!
