In case you missed these pieces, here is some required reading/watching links for Kings fans:
-
Andrew Nicholson with DeMarcus Cousins Bethlehem Shoals and Tom Ziller of The Works (Fanhouse) look at the coverage of DeMarcus Cousins thus far.
- Sam Amick of Fanhouse again gives a behind the scene look at the team that is bent on keeping Cousins on the straight and narrow.
- Marc J. Spears of Yahoo on Cousins.
- The Basketball Jones Kings season preview.
- And another piece on DeMarcus Cousins from Zach Harper over at Cowbell Kingdom.
Injury report:
- Carl Landry (eye)- Had the day off to heal up. He might be available for tomorrow nights game against the Warriors.
- Beno Udrih (shoulder strain)- Out.
- Hassan Whiteside (patella tendon)-Out.
- Samuel Dalembert (adductor)-Out.
News and quotes:
- Westphal on the small group left at practice: “Tyreke, Beno, Samuel, Hassan, Carl, Jason and DeMarcus, I kicked them out of practice today, I got mad at them and kicked them out……..no, I gave them the day off as far as the scrimmage, we did a lot of film work and offensive review as well as pointing out some defensive mistakes. I think it was more important for those guys to lick their wounds than to get contact work today.”
- On who was left: “We had a good scrimmage with the 10 players we had left. We really needed to get a better look at some of those guys and we did that.”
- On Carl Landry, “He’s feeling better but not a 100% yet.”
- On whether Landry will play tomorrow: “Wait and see until tomorrow.”
- On Beno: “He’s not ready yet, he’s getting better, he’s not ready yet.
- On the best player in practice today: “The best player in practice today was Joe Crawford and Cisco was right there with him.”
- On Casspi and the small forward spot: “Omri is trying very hard to fit the job description.”
- On the Warriors big three: “Curry and Ellis are a tremendous backcourt and David Lee fit in seamlessly.”
Observations from TPP:
5 on 5 scrimmage once the curtain was lifted.
White team: Garcia, Jackson, Head, Greene, Casspi
Black team: Jeter, Crawford, Wright, M. Landry, Atchley
Not on the floor: Udrih, Evans, Thompson, Dalembert, Cousins, Whiteside and Carl Landry.
Thoughts on the scrimmage:
- Garcia looks good. He hit jumpers from all over the floor and don’t be surprised to see he and Tyreke play a lot of minutes together this season.
- Joe Crawford is a much better player than people might think. He is a different player when the ball is live than he is in drills.
- Darnell Jackson drew the ire of Coach Westphal for not following instructions. Not the end of the world or an event that we have seen repeatedly but it was worth noting.
- Donté Greene had a mini-meltdown on the court. Marcus Landry seems to know how to get under Greene’s skin. Donté got called for two offensive fouls in a matter of a minute or so while being guarded by Marcus. While Donté was fuming, Landry buried back to back three’s in his face.
Following the scrimmage, Carl Landry worked on his post moves with Truck Robinson while Pooh Jeter worked on a couple of moves with Bobby Jackson and Pete Carril. On the noisy end of the court, Francisco Garcia, Tyreke Evans and Antoine Wright had a three point shooting contest. Evans and Garcia have made this their daily ritual. It was nice to see Antoine join the fracas.
I had a moment to ask Francisco Garcia about his role as mentor to Tyreke Evans. Here is that exchange:
TPP: I’m watching you here and every shot you take looks exactly the same. You have the smoothest stroke. Is that something you are working on with Tyreke Evans?
Garcia: Yeah, since he’s been in the NBA, his shot has gotten a lot better….(at this moment, DeMarcus Cousins, who had taken over control of the channel 3 camera, pushes the sound mic into Garcia’s face. Garcia gives a harsh looks and then chases after DMC, splashing water all over the court.) (back to the question…) I’m just trying to help him everyday to shoot the same shot every time.
Here is a little Tyreke Evans from the baseline for your viewing pleasure.
http://www.youtube.com/v/CSI2Jzklnp8
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