{"id":825683,"date":"2013-10-03T05:00:35","date_gmt":"2013-10-03T12:00:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cowbellkingdom.com\/?p=23898"},"modified":"2013-10-03T05:00:35","modified_gmt":"2013-10-03T12:00:35","slug":"the-battle-for-the-starting-power-forward-position-heats-up-in-sacramento","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/news\/the-battle-for-the-starting-power-forward-position-heats-up-in-sacramento\/","title":{"rendered":"The battle for the starting power forward position heats up in Sacramento"},"content":{"rendered":"[youtube id=”sf9y6I6_7ME” width=”600″ height=”350″]\n

The fight over the starting point guard position between Isaiah Thomas and Greivis Vasquez is getting all of the publicity in Kingsland.\u00a0 It’s a nice little battle, but both of those players are going to have substantial roles on the 2013-14 Sacramento Kings, regardless of the winner.<\/p>\n

The real position battle on this team is for the chance to start alongside Cousins in the post and there are plenty of takers for the job.\u00a0 Jason Thompson, Carl Landry, Chuck Hayes and Patrick Patterson are not only vying for the starting position, but for the reserve minutes as well.<\/p>\n

“It’s not all about the point guard position,” Thomas said.\u00a0 “That big position, they going to be fighting for some minutes too.\u00a0 It’s good because they are all different power forwards.\u00a0 They’re all different big men.”<\/p>\n

The four veterans each possess a specific skill set that make them uniquely qualified for the job.\u00a0 The winner will likely play second fiddle to the Cousins on the offensive end, but the loser might be trapped on the bench for 82 games.<\/p>\n

“There are so many people at the four, that it’s going to be difficult to make sure that everyone is getting an equal amount of minutes,” Patterson told Cowbell Kingdom during media day.<\/p>\n

Patterson is the best long distance shooter of the lot.\u00a0 After coming over from the Rockets last February, the 24-year old Kentucky grad shot a stellar 44.4-percent from 3-point range.\u00a0 He might not keep up that type of percentage over an entire season, but he has spent the summer fine tuning other aspects of this game, including his ball handling and rebounding.<\/p>\n

Jason Thompson is the incumbent with a long history of coming out on top in these situations.\u00a0 A steady stream of players have come to Sacramento to take Thompson’s job over the last few years.\u00a0 Players like Landry, J.J. Hickson, Thomas Robinson<\/a><\/strong> and Samuel Dalembert<\/a><\/strong>, but he always comes out on top in the end.<\/p>\n

At 6-foot-11 250-pounds, he not only has the best size of the group, but he is also the most versatile.\u00a0 He can score in the post with both hands and has a clean 18 to 20 foot jumper.\u00a0 He isn’t a bad defender, but like the rest of the group, he lacks elite shot blocking skills.<\/p>\n

“I can play the four [and] I can play the five,” Thompson said.\u00a0 “As long as you’re with the right group, that’s how it’s going to work.”<\/p>\n

Landry has proven that he can score off the bench, but he has never been able to lock down a long-term job as a starter in the league.\u00a0 His best opportunity came as a member of the Kings during the 2009-10 and 2010-11 seasons in his first tour of duty with the team. But he was overtaken by Thompson in the starting line-up and then traded for Marcus Thornton when it became clear that he wouldn’t re-sign with Sacramento.<\/p>\n

The 30-year old Landry is very familiar with coach Michael Malone from their time together in both New Orleans and Golden State.\u00a0 Landry was also the first free agent signing of the new Kings regime, which may or may not have an impact once the regular season begins.<\/p>\n

Hayes is almost an afterthought coming into this season, but the third former Rocket of the group plays defense, which is a must under coach Malone.\u00a0 After signing a four-year deal with the Kings two seasons ago, the veteran forward has struggled with injuries and weight issues.\u00a0 He completely fell out of Keith Smarts<\/a><\/strong> rotation last season, averaging just 2.7 points and 4.0 rebounds in 16.3 minutes per game.<\/p>\n

The stage is set for an extremely interesting training camp.\u00a0 You have four different players fighting for one position, none of which\u00a0 wants to take a step back.<\/p>\n

“Epic,” a smiling Patrick Patterson answered when asked about the battle for the starting power forward position.\u00a0 “It’s going to be competitive.\u00a0 It’s going to be good.\u00a0 It’s going to be challenging.\u00a0 Each guy offers so much – their skill set, what they bring to the table, they’re unique in their own way.”<\/p>\n

With day three of training camp beginning a little later today, Malone and his staff are looking for the right combination of players.\u00a0 Four different starting positions are up for grabs<\/p>\n

“It’s just a new coaching staff,” Thomas added.\u00a0 “New everything.\u00a0 You’ve got to be ready from day 1, because they said they’re not going to give anybody anything and you’re going to earn it.”<\/p>\n

It should be a fun battle to watch.\u00a0 There is no telling who comes out on top.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Sacramento Kings come into camp ready to compete for one of four open starting positions<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[610259261],"tags":[610260301,610259684,35890,522941,610259429,5944924,1032221],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nThe battle for the starting power forward position heats up in Sacramento - The Sports Daily<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/news\/the-battle-for-the-starting-power-forward-position-heats-up-in-sacramento\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The battle for the starting power forward position heats up in Sacramento\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/news\/the-battle-for-the-starting-power-forward-position-heats-up-in-sacramento\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Sports Daily\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2013-10-03T12:00:35+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Alan Draper\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@sportsdailytsd\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@sportsdailytsd\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Alan Draper\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"NewsArticle\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/news\/the-battle-for-the-starting-power-forward-position-heats-up-in-sacramento\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/news\/the-battle-for-the-starting-power-forward-position-heats-up-in-sacramento\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Alan Draper\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/#\/schema\/person\/2c8aadde2571800d0de74323730df7b5\"},\"headline\":\"The battle for the starting power forward position heats up in Sacramento\",\"datePublished\":\"2013-10-03T12:00:35+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2013-10-03T12:00:35+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/news\/the-battle-for-the-starting-power-forward-position-heats-up-in-sacramento\/\"},\"wordCount\":802,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/#organization\"},\"keywords\":[\"2013 Sacramento Kings Training Camp\",\"Chuck Hayes\",\"Featured\",\"Isaiah Thomas\",\"Jason Thompson\",\"Michael Malone\",\"Patrick Patterson\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Cowbell Kingdom\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"copyrightYear\":\"2013\",\"copyrightHolder\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/#organization\"}},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/news\/the-battle-for-the-starting-power-forward-position-heats-up-in-sacramento\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/news\/the-battle-for-the-starting-power-forward-position-heats-up-in-sacramento\/\",\"name\":\"The battle for the starting power forward position heats up in Sacramento - 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