{"id":827010,"date":"2015-04-07T05:00:36","date_gmt":"2015-04-07T12:00:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cowbellkingdom.com\/?p=38345"},"modified":"2015-04-07T05:00:36","modified_gmt":"2015-04-07T12:00:36","slug":"second-unit-has-been-tough-for-jason-thompson","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/news\/second-unit-has-been-tough-for-jason-thompson\/","title":{"rendered":"Second unit has been tough for Jason Thompson"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/cowbellkingdom.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/Karl_JT.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-37092\" src=\"http:\/\/cowbellkingdom.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/Karl_JT.jpg\" alt=\"Karl_JT\" width=\"650\" height=\"433\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Jason Thompson is the Sacramento Kings\u2019 all-time leader in games played, and he currently builds his record from the bench.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s a less than ideal reality for the 12th pick in the 2008 draft. Thompson has played as a reserve for long stretches before, but the constant role changes throughout his career have never made it any easier.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNot at all,\u201d Thompson told <em>Cowbell Kingdom <\/em>when asked if the transition was smooth. \u201cPlaying behind Cuz (DeMarcus Cousins) is a tough thing. I haven\u2019t really gotten used to it. But you only can control what you can control.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Despite signing Thompson to a five-year, $30 million extension in 2012, the Kings have continually tried to replace him as the starting power forward. The 28-year-old with 400 NBA starts has won and lost preseason position battles, yet he\u2019s always come out on top by the end of the schedule. Not likely this time.<\/p>\n<p>Thompson was the opening day starter at four this year, but when George Karl joined the Kings during the All-Star break, the coach saw the big man as a better fit off the bench, particularly paired with Andre Miller.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think that with Andre Miller being there, he thinks I\u2019ll get more opportunities on the offensive end, because most of our guys in the first unit shoot the ball a lot,\u201d Thompson noted. \u201cBut it\u2019s just been tough. I was playing the four then, now I\u2019m playing the five so it\u2019s been tough. I know coach Karl likes to do the small lineups and spread the floor more.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>As a starter for 58 games this season, Thompson averaged a career-low 5.2 field goal attempts in 25.6 minutes. The veteran has logged six minutes less per game in 17 appearances as a reserve (13 with Karl), but he\u2019s upped his points average to 6.4 from 5.7 and shooting percentage from 44.9 to 55.1. Thompson acknowledges Miller\u2019s efforts to feed him the rock.<\/p>\n<p>\u201c(Miller is) definitely a guy that you get used to playing with,\u201d Thompson explained. \u201cThere\u2019s been games where if I had high points, he was mostly the guy that contributed the ball. So a guy you can definitely get along with on the court offensively and defensively.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Even with the 39-year-old point guard\u2019s help, the uncertainty of a bench role has nipped at Thompson. He admits it can get antsy for reserves when the clock runs\u00a0and the coach hasn\u2019t called your name.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt took some getting used to because the first game coach (Karl) was here, I came off the bench, and then I started in the second half,\u201d Thompson reflected of his temporary promotion versus the Boston Celtics. \u201cIt\u2019s been one of those types of years\u2026with three different coaches. Last game (Friday versus New Orleans), I didn\u2019t play the whole first quarter, so it\u2019s something I\u2019m not really used to but something you just got to go with the flow with and see how it goes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>If anything, Thompson can find the positives in any situation. Along with more touches, the 6-foot-11, 250-pounder enjoys going at less athletic backup centers and patrolling the paint on the defensive\u00a0end.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhen you\u2019re playing a reserve role, you don\u2019t have to worry about fouls as much too and trying to find ways to stay in the game,\u201d Thompson stated.<\/p>\n<p>As a backup, Thompson tied a season-high with seven offensive rebounds last week, and scored 18 points on 7-for-7 shooting two weeks prior. If he must remain in the second unit, then no one will question his effort.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cJust trying to be productive in the amount of minutes that I\u2019m playing, and just make the best of it,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Jason Thompson has not had an easy transition to the bench.<\/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":[5204276,706946,610259429,610259428,76563],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v22.2 (Yoast SEO v22.2) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Second unit has been tough for Jason Thompson - 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\/second-unit-has-been-tough-for-jason-thompson\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Second unit has been tough for Jason Thompson\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/news\/second-unit-has-been-tough-for-jason-thompson\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Sports Daily\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2015-04-07T12:00:36+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/cowbellkingdom.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/Karl_JT.jpg\" \/>\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=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"NewsArticle\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/news\/second-unit-has-been-tough-for-jason-thompson\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/news\/second-unit-has-been-tough-for-jason-thompson\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Alan Draper\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/#\/schema\/person\/2c8aadde2571800d0de74323730df7b5\"},\"headline\":\"Second unit has been tough for Jason Thompson\",\"datePublished\":\"2015-04-07T12:00:36+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2015-04-07T12:00:36+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/news\/second-unit-has-been-tough-for-jason-thompson\/\"},\"wordCount\":624,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/news\/second-unit-has-been-tough-for-jason-thompson\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\/\/cowbellkingdom.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/Karl_JT.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"DeMarcus Cousins\",\"George Karl\",\"Jason Thompson\",\"Sac Kings\",\"sacramento kings\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Cowbell Kingdom\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"copyrightYear\":\"2015\",\"copyrightHolder\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/#organization\"}},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/news\/second-unit-has-been-tough-for-jason-thompson\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/news\/second-unit-has-been-tough-for-jason-thompson\/\",\"name\":\"Second unit has been tough for Jason Thompson - 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