The NBA doesn’t enforce overtime laws apparently. Day 2 of the Sacramento Kings’ summer league mini-camp ran over a half-hour past schedule again.
When the media was allowed to catch the end of another scrimmage, the pace of the game remained fast. Highlights included Eric Moreland driving and dishing the ball, James Anderson stealing a pass and finishing a break and Corey Hawkins showing nice touch on assists and overall hustle.
Kings head coach George Karl was present to observe the scrimmage, as was his whole coaching staff. Along with Karl, Vlade Divac, Corliss Williamson and Anthony Carter comprised the retired players in attendance.
Assistant and summer league co-head coach John Welch spoke to the media. So did players Julyan Stone and Sim Bhullar. Stone worked with Karl in Denver from 2011-13, while Bhullar is hoping to earn a Kings training camp invitation for the second year in a row.
Coaches Notes and Quotes
- John Welch on players learning the offense: “Luckily I think all of the terminology is the same in many different places. So a lot of the guys have a high IQ and they pick things up very quickly. So we try to make it a situation where it’s not overly complicated, that it’s basic for them and they just play basketball.”
- Welch on how he’s implementing the system: “We’re trying to instill our style of play right away. We want to play as fast as we can. We think the running game is a big advantage for us, but conversely we have to get back in transition D. It’s not an advantage if we let the other team come down and get easy baskets as well. So a big emphasis has just been, push the ball, play as fast as we can and we think everything is easier earlier in the clock whether it’s penetration, pick-and-rolls, post-ups. We want to get into it as fast as we can and sprint back and then make the other team play halfcourt offense.”
- Welch on George Karl’s involvement in mini-camp: “He’s very involved. We have meetings each morning. We have meetings each afternoon. But again, a lot of us, we’ve been together eight years. It’s something we’ve done in the past and I think we’re all very familiar with each other. So it makes it easy, it’s not something that we’re just starting.”
- Welch on Willie Cauley-Stein: “Willie’s way ahead of the game. Willie’s done a great job with just running the floor and getting down the court early, and then playing behind or under the defense. We’re try to penetrate a lot and we want Willie right by the rim to, if we miss a layup to tip it in, or as a target in our penetration to pass it to him for easy baskets. That’s something that he’s going to excel at.”
- Welch on any standouts in mini-camp: “We’ve been going so hard, and we’re going twice a day, that what happens is it’s more effort based. Coach Karl each day will ask us, ‘Well who were the three best players?’ Well it’s hard to pick someone out when everyone is playing so hard and so kind of chaotic, and everyone is tired. So it’s more of kind of a group effort, a group thing rather than one or two individuals being stars.
- Welch on how much hustle factors into winning a roster spot: “The game is changing a little bit. The game is becoming faster. You need players that can play multiple positions that have the quickness. It’s turning into more of a ‘quickness’ more than a ‘size’ game. And again with Eric (Moreland) out there, that fits him. For his size, he’s about as quick as anyone there is.”
Players Notes and Quotes
- Julyan Stone on his early impressions of mini-camp: “It’s tough. Intensity’s real high. Coaches expect something out of us and more than anything, it’s just running and being prepared to play fast.”
- Stone on whether his prior experience with Karl in Denver is advantageous: “Kind of, but not really. Coach Karl, he treats me like everybody else, if not harder. I come in every day and he’s on me. I don’t think I have a leg up, I think he expects more out of me, but I don’t think I have a leg up.”
- Stone on what he’s learned from Karl: “I’ve learned a lot, you know. More than anything I’ve learned mental toughness. He’s going to push you, especially if you’re a young guy, you’re a bubble guy, he’s going to push you to let you know, your role, your way into the league is going to be different than a star player. More than anything, I’ve learned that diligence and toughness is what he wants.”
- Stone on why the Kings fit his skills: “I’m a big point guard that likes to get up and down the court. I love to run, I love to defend. I think with this style of offense it allows me to get out on the open court and do what I do best.”
- Stone on how he’s changed in the past few years: “I think I’m a better person and I’m more humble. A faced a bad injury in Denver that kept me out eight months, and Coach Karl stuck behind me and worked me every day. And I think that, just to myself, showed a little more toughness and a little bit more hunger than I thought I had in me. More than anything it’s about making it and trying to help the team win.”
- Sim Bhullar on his slimmer figure: “(I’ve lost) a lot. I mean, almost 25, 30 pounds I lost since last year. That’s really what I needed to do and that’s what the team wanted me to do, and I’m doing everything I can to get in that weight range to be able to play in the NBA and keep an up-and-down pace.”
- Bhullar on how he lost the weight: “I got a lot of good trainers and a lot of good people telling me what to do. I kind of learned that nutrition is a big part of it. I used to be a teenager like everyone else, eating junk food, and I kind of got out of that habit and started eating more salad and more chicken and eating a lot healthier. So it’s going in the right direction.”
- Bhullar on the benefits of playing at a lighter weight: “Easier to run up and down the court. Getting a lot higher. Getting some put-backs, a lot more dunks and lobs I’m being able to catch because of the dropping of the weight. It’s just easier to be a basketball player when you’re lighter on your feet.”
- Bhullar on whether the media attention on him has waned: “Not really. I mean I still get a lot of phone calls and media requests. I mean, it’s going to be there wherever you go, especially being the first Indian in the NBA. I’m just focusing on basketball right now and the media is the back part of it. All the attention, I’m enjoying it and I’m not really focused on it. I’m just focusing on playing better basketball.”
The Kings will host their last mini-camp practice in Sacramento on Thursday before playing the Toronto Raptors in Las Vegas on Friday.
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