According to our friend Jason Jones of the Sacramento Bee, Keith Smart wants second-year wing Tyler Honeycutt to begin the season with the Reno Bighorns, not the Sacramento Kings.
Honeycutt has battled a series of stress fractures this summer and fall, missing all of summer league and most of preseason. While he was away, the Kings brought in undrafted rookie Tony Mitchell to compete for the one of two potential roster spots.
With Honeycutt in Reno, the Kings will have only 13 men on the active roster once John Salmons returns from hiatus. The Kings could max out their roster by keeping either Mitchell or one of the two remaining big men competing in camp – Hamady Ndiaye and Willie Reed, but nothing is certain at this time.
The Kings retain the option to allocate a player that is among their final cuts to their in D-League affiliate in Reno, NV. That doesn’t give the Kings any hold over the player, but it does allow them to monitor his progress more closely and have any input on his development.
A quick analysis of the Kings roster lends me to believe that if the Kings retain Honeycutt as a member of the Bighorns or the parent club, that eliminates the need for someone like Mitchell. Ndiaye might fill a need as the team’s fifth big and defensive specialist, but the Kings might be content sticking with 13 active players in case they need a roster spot down the road.
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