The Kings have more issues than LeBron has haters

The Sacramento Kings have lost five straight and 11 of their past 12 games. They are 4-12 overall and an incredibly poor 2-8 at home.

Friday night, the Kings travel to play the two-time defending champion Los Angeles Lakers who (in the words of late comedian Robin Harris) will be ‘pissed to the highest of pisstivity’ (no, that’s not a word) after losing four straight games.

The next night the Kings host the Dallas Mavericks, who currently share the NBA’s longest winning streak (with Utah) at seven.

Coach Paul Westphal felt the need Monday to kick the team’s first-round draft choice, DeMarcus Cousins, out of practice.

Tyreke Evans, last season’s Rookie of the Year, for the first time of his 21 years, is having difficulty scoring.

Moreover, judging Evans from his words, he’s feeling like some of his teammates think he’s at times playing selfishly.

“I’m thinking team-first,” Evans said. “If I score and guys (aren’t) getting touches then that’s when they just stop playing and think I’m selfish. So I try to go out there and get my teammates involved and to play hard.

“I’m just trying to figure out, whether it’s score or get assists, how to get us going.”

That some of his teammates feel Evans plays selfishly comes as no surprise because at times I’ve felt the same way.

Evans clearly is feeling the weight of the constant losing. Evans is a talent trying to lead when in a best-case scenario he would be the one being led. As we know, though, this is far from a best-case scenario.

Cousins, meanwhile, is another talent attempting to find his way. He’s in a new place and time. He’s a first-time professional dealing with, and seeing new situations.

A lot is made of Cousins’ immaturity and at 20 years and three months he’s hardly a finished product. He’s got a lot to learn and he doesn’t know as much as he thinks.

The kid should be focused only on himself and improving his game. Yet, he thinks he knows so much he feels entitled to question his coaching staff. Looking back on my life, one of the most important things to learn is when to shut up.

And 55, I’m much better at it, but sometimes I falter.

Cousins said Tuesday before the game he’d said nothing to Westphal and the coach had said nothing to him.

“I haven’t said (anything) to him and he didn’t say anything to me,” said Cousins, who then scored 20 points on nine of 16 field-goal attempts and grabbed eight rebounds in nearly 23 minutes of the 107-98 loss to Indiana.

“It’s a new day. I didn’t dwell on it. We’ve got to move on.”

When asked why he didn’t talk to Cousins the day after tossing him from practice, Westphal said with a laugh, “He heard enough from me (Monday).”

That may have been true, but it may not have been the whole truth. There is the possibility that the rookie doesn’t like the coach. Cousins probably doesn’t know Westphal well enough to know if he likes him or doesn’t.

Truthfully, it’s neither here nor there. Cousins is an employee and has to find a way of dealing with his boss respectfully. I haven’t liked each of my supervisors but I never was intentionally disrespectful. That’s unprofessional and learning to be a pro is one of the new obstacles Cousins faces.

It might help the young boy to realize Westphal wants nothing more than to consistently help him uncover more of his talent.

Westphal was asked if dealing with Cousins will compare with any past player-coach relationships.

“Oh, yeah,” the coach said with an incredulous look. “Have you looked at who I’ve coached?”

I hadn’t, but I now have. Over the years while coaching Phoenix and Seattle, Westphal had 3½ seasons of Charles Barkley and 2½ seasons of Gary Payton. Throw in Tom Chambers, Oliver Miller, Dale Ellis, a sometimes intoxicated Vin Baker, Ruben Patterson and my main man, the incendiary Vernon Maxwell.

That’s one special group of players and hardly a mouth monitor between them.

Yeah, Cousins has a long, long, long way to go before he gets into that neighborhood of mind-speak.

Westphal says neither he nor the organization had blinders on when they drafted Cousins. The Kings knew Cousins was a vocally emotional talent.

“I love the guy,” the coach said of the player. “We’re going to have ups and downs and we’re going to have some more downs. We’re going to butt heads.

“We knew that when we drafted him. He’s our guy. We’re going to keep working with him. And he’s going to get better. And someday, we’ll look back, hopefully, and I’ll say, ‘You sure were a knucklehead.’

“And he’ll say, ‘I know, but thanks for sticking with me.’

“I mean, he’s got passion. And he also can be impatient and misplace his passion. And we’re trying to help him.”

But you also have to be respectful.

“I’ve heard a lot worse than DeMarcus has given me, believe me. I love DeMarcus and he’ll either love me know or he’ll love me soon again.”

In my opinion, Westphal Tuesday in that loss to Indiana went way beyond sensibility in the third quarter of the loss to Indiana, to show Evans he had his back during these tough times.

The Kings were going through one of those once a game tough stretches that kill them. Evans was turning the ball over and generally playing poorly. Luther Head scored the team’s only field goals during first 10 minutes of the quarter.

The situation called for Beno Udrih, who made each of his six first-half field-goal attempts on the way to 15 points, to replace Evans. Yet, the coach waited nine minutes before he subbed in Udrih.

Personally, I’d have squatted Tyreke’s butt with the quickness while the Kings were being outscored, 17-2, to start the quarter.

Said Westphal, “How can a young guy get to know how handle situations until he plays the minutes. I’m not going to take Tyreke out if misses a couple of shots or makes a couple of bad plays, like he’s no good., because I think he’s very good.”

Meanwhile, Evans says his team has to find a way to play a solid 48 minutes, and a team meeting last week didn’t help. Yet, he believes the team remains confident.

“Definitely,” he said. “We’ve got the players. (A lack of) execution is what is killing us. We’ve got to stay together.

“We’ve had a meeting, but it was like in one ear and out the other. It was without the coaches. I think it was Sunday.

“We’re just frustrated right now and we’re trying to find a way. It’s tough right now.”


On an entirely different front, Lebron James goes back to Cleveland for the first time and I can’t wait to see how it plays out.

If I was James, I’d be trying to get 50 in our victory. If I’m playing for the Cleveland Cavaliers, there’s little I wouldn’t do to drop an ‘L’ on his way out of town.

Intense feelings on both sides – not to mention the crowd - should make for a great game.

Sacramento Queens are no more

The Sacramento media was introduced to rookies DeMarcus Cousins and Hasaan Whiteside Saturday afternoon and there is more than one first impression.

1) Coach Paul Westphal, who along with President Geoff Petrie represented the organization at the press conference, has just become a better defensive coach.

2) These two youngsters are as baby-faced as they are long.

3) Whiteside's mother, Debbie can pass as his sister - easily.

4) If Whiteside can defend as fiercely as naturally as he can make a group laugh, there'll be many an opposing player wondering where his shot went.

Said Whiteside, who briefly worked out with Hall of Famer, Hakeem Olajuwon, "He was scoring a lot on me, but I was trying my best."

5) If Cousins is overweight, then what am I? I know he was dressed in a sweet grey suit and all, but this kid is hardly Oliver Miller. He looked svelte and well-proportioned.

And Cousins said all the right things, "I want to work on my conditioning."

From what I hear and have seen, if Cousins becomes well-conditioned, he's going wreak havoc.

6) It was good to relocate my right hand after it disappeared inside the bear claw Cousins used to shake hands. The boy has meat hooks.

7) For the Kings sake, the organization only can hope these two kids remember the darts thrown in their respective directions by untold written and verbal assassins during the entire draft process.

8) There are many different ways lives can change and Whiteside's mother spoke of a terrible incident that she believed played a major role in Hasaan's development.

"Do you remember a couple of years ago when some kids were murdered in a park in Newark (N.J.)?" she said referring to the August 2007 case that became nationally known after three college students were killed and one more was severely injured.

The students were lined up against a wall and shot execution-style. Natasha Aeriel, then 19, survived and was able to identify the assailants. Aeriel, three years later, this May graduated from Delaware State University and also testified in the trial in one of the six linked to the killings.

Mama Whiteside continued, "That was when Hassan was living in Newark and that park where the kids were killed was the one he used to play in when he was living with his father. I used to always tell him to be careful. And he would say, 'Mama, all I do is go back and forth from home to play ball and then back.'

"But I think that situation was an eye-opener for him because after that he wanted to come back to Gastonia (N.C.)."

Hasaan spent one year averaging 18 points, 10 rebounds and 5.5 blocked shots during the 2006-2007 season at East Side High School in Newark.

Then he returned to Gastonia and attended Hope Christian (Charlotte) and the Patterson School in Lenoir, N.C., where he was recruited by UConn, Louisville and West Virginia among others.

That's not the same East Side High School in nearby Paterson that became famous after the movie, 'Lean On Me,' and principal Joe Clark highlighted some of the madness that occurs in inner-city school.

Hasaan Whiteside's NBA bio explains his father, Hasaan Arbubakrr, played with the Minnesota Vikings and Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Arbubakrr was a defensive end, who went to Texas Tech.

In a different situation, Hasaan Whiteside, who just turned 21 June 19, might have been a high jumper. His moves and stride scream 'smooth athleticism.'

The type of athleticism that hasn't been seen around these parts in a seven-footer - ever. Whiteside clearly is highly coordinated. He led the nation in blocked shots last season at Marshall with 5.35 per game and fouled out just once in 34 games.

At Marshall, Whiteside was schooled by assistant coach, Darren Tillis, the Boston Celtics' first-round draft choice in 1982.

Man, I'm old. I covered the 6-foot-11 Tillis in 1983-84 when he played with the Golden State Warriors.

The Kings believe Whiteside is a forward, not a center. They also believe Whiteside has quite a bit of work to do before he can play an integral role.

However, a future pairing of Cousins and Whiteside, say in two, three years when they are, 21 and 23, respectively, looms as a combination potentially lethal around the basket.

A baby-faced wall that could erase all mention of the Queens.