Training camp update: Day 10.

Injury report for today:

• Beno Udrih- Sprained right shoulder. Out for Sunday.
• Samuel Dalembert- Playing half court but doubtful for Sunday.
• Hassan Whiteside- Out for Sunday with left patella strain.

5 on 5 scrimmage to finish practice:

White Team: C. Landry, Casspi, Jeter, Dalembert, Greene

Black Teams: Evans, Thompson, Cousins, Garcia, Wright

Red Team: Crawford, Jackson, Atchley, Head, M. Landry

I’m not sure if these teams say anything about the roster pecking order but they are interesting to say the least.

Coach Westphal news and quotes:

• 

  Sunday’s starters- barring injury are Evans, Garcia, Wright, Thompson and Cousins. Westphal- “If I change that, don’t think I’m lying to you now.”

• Francisco said he flew in yesterday morning before shoot around and he was a little tired for last nights game. He and Tyreke Evans had a lively shooting competition after practice. If there is one thing that Evans can learn from Garcia, it is consistency with his shooting mechanics. Garcia is robotic in his release- always the same exact look while Evans goes over his head, in front of his face and leans back, depending on the moment. Evans jumper looks much improved but he does not have a shooters mechanics.
• Westphal on Dalembert’s injury progress: “We don’t want to hurry him back. We didn’t go full court with Sam today but he looked good in the half court.”
• Westphal on Jeter playing big minutes: “Every minute he can play is good for him. We are counting on him this year but his role will be off the bench and we want to get him as many minutes as we can throughout these pre-season games because he is going to need to run the team when he is out there.”
• Westphal on the small forward spot last night: “Out of the players that played the three spot last night, that Donté was the most effective. I thought he played hard. He had a couple of plays that I wasn’t too happy about but he bounced back from that.”
• Westphal on Donté Greene: “He’s lost a lot of his weight and his knee is feeling a little bit better. I won’t say that Donté has had a good camp but I know Donté can be a good player. He’s got to be in the best possible shape and he’s got to have his mind focused on what he needs to do and we’re trying to help him with that”
• Westphal on Greene’s weight: “Nobody told him to do that. Whatever his reasoning was, was in my opinion, not very good reasoning.”
• On why Donté Greene is down in the pecking order as of right now: “The reason is because other guys have been playing better than he has in training camp. It’s not a permanent situation. This is always the merit system and this is just the way it is.”

Here is today’s video highlights and I must say, that if you don’t like this, you don’t like Kings basketball.

http://www.youtube.com/v/hN1jXaACwBE

Dalembert is out with Carril almost every day after practice, working on both offense and defense. It was nice to see Thompson join the conversation today.