Cousins-Westphal combo needs Divorce Court

Jan. 2, 2012

If Kings coach Paul Westphal and his young center DeMarcus Cousins were married, it would be time for a divorce.

Since they aren't married, maybe it's time for Cousins to be traded or Westphal to go - or both.

Better players than Cousins have been traded and better coaches than Westphal have been fired.

Clearly the grounds exist for a quick separation on the grounds of irreconcilable differences.

Even Rodney King would agree, "We all can't get along."

It's one thing to be in love with each other, but that doesn't mean you can live comfortably with each other.

They've each basically accused each other of lying. Westphal said, in an unusual press release, that Cousins twice demanded to be traded. Cousins denies that.

I found it interesting that the coach used the word, 'demanded', as opposed to 'requested' or 'asked.'

Westphal knew that particular word usage would put Cousins, 21, in a terrible light. Now, if Westphal was being direct and accurate in his assessment of what Cousins said, so be it.

Westphal says Cousins first said he wanted to be traded on Dec. 24. That day there should have been a meeting between management, Westphal, Cousins and his agent, John Greig.

That's before the season's first game.

I've been covering the NBA since 1978, 12 years before Cousins was born and six years after Westphal's rookie season with the Boston Celtics.

I've seen two players (together) on a championship-contending team walk, not knowing a reporter was there, into a coach's office after a game and tell him they wanted to be traded to his team.

Granted, the times of today have changed over the years. The NBA is comprised of much younger and lesser-prepared players.

Cousins is legally an adult, but two years ago, homeboy was in high school. In terms of being capable of merging his physical and mental components, I dont' see it, yet. Nor should he be, considering his basketball inexperience.

He's got to learn his craft during on-the-job training. And there is no way I believe Westphal knew what he really was in for when the Kings decided to draft Cousins.

Cousins' inability to get along with some authority figures in high school, one year of college and one year of NBA action have been well-documented.

Yet, Westphal has his own history with stubborn, forceful and talented performers as Gary Payton and former Kings guard Vernon Maxwell.

During the past few days, it has been suggested the coach may be incapable of mentally reaching these young players of today.

If that's true, it wouldn't be the first time. And not just for Westphal.

Sometimes I feel incapable of truly reaching my son, two months younger and 14 inches shorter than Cousins.

Kings President Geoff Petrie said Tuesday he wouldn't truly divulge every one of his thoughts when it was suggested the best move for all would be divorce court.

"If I was to believe that or say that...," he said, "what we're trying to do is put this thing together and make it work."

Greig, of course, is supportive of his client and said Tuesday Cousins has been unfairly singled out.

The situation that led to Cousins missing Sunday evening's victory over New Orleans began after Saturday night's loss to the New York Knicks. The agent said Westphal called Cousins 'selfish' and said he was the team's problem.

Clearly, Cousins is a problem, not 'the' problem.

Cousins later went into the coach's office, Greig said, and asked Westphal why he singled him out.

Greig said Westphal told Cousins, "I don't have time to talk to you about this."

If all this is true, it speaks to why these two need to be separated permanently.

And a Happy New Year to you.

Everyone has to wait to see who these Kings are

Dec. 28, 2011

Predicting what to expect from the Sacramento Kings at this juncture of an abbreviated NBA season is a sucker's fantasy.

An improved product is not too much to expect from a young, talented squad led by head coach Paul Westphal. The Kings finished the 2010-11 season with a 24-68 record for a .293 winning percentage.

Westphal admits he doesn't know what to expect from his young squad. His assistant coaches say the team has worked and played hard, but how that translates to the regular season is an unknown.

Initially, the Kings have to create an identity. Who are they? On what are they going to hang their hats? They talk of establishing a defensive focus, but that comes possession by possession, not sentence by sentence.

Heading into tonight's home game against the Chicago Bulls, the Kings (1-1) have shown that improved defensive focus. Actually, the Kings scrambled offense againat Portland Tuesday night consistently put the defense into a trick bag.

Certainly, the re-acquisition of veteran strongman and leader Chuck Hayes has helped.

Hayes brings an understanding of the game's nuances. He has a willingness and know-how to do all the little things most young players will not.

Kings center/forward DeMarcus Cousins said before Hayes had returned that the veteran had begun to support the defense by talking and helping the younger players recognize the need for improved communication.

As much as defense represents an individual devotion to slow your personal assignment, ultimately it's about a team-wide ability and commitment to protect the basket and contest shots.

Currently, the Kings have shown they'll play hard. Now, can a young team also play smart? One without the other breeds inconsistency.

Westphal said Wednesday his team's offensive woes stemmed from a lack of patience and a failure to execute the offense's second and third options. It seems simple to move the ball from one side of the floor to other.

However, teams, not only the Kings, consistently fall prey to defensive pressure early in the possession and quickly jack up shots. Good offenses make opposing defenses work to guard.

Yes, the Kings are virtual neophytes, but back when Sacramento was hanging out atop the Western Conference and had one of the league's most potent offenses, former coach Rick Adelmsn's major lament was his team's offensive impatience and unwillingness to move the ball from side to side.

That was a veteran crew known for its team-wide ball movement. Today's edition is exactly the opposite - young and without an established offensive presence.

These Kings, like their predecessors, play without a traditional pass-first point guard. The two starting guards, Tyreke Evans and Marcus Thornton, are more scorers than playmakers.

However, more of the league's teams have gone that route in recent years. There is more than one way to run an offensive attack.

In order for the Kings to quickly approach their potential, moving the ball to the open man must become an offensive staple. Everybody can get their shots - and good ones, at that - without selfish play.

It's more than preseason game at the No-Name Arena

Dec. 20, 2011

The Sacramento Kings meet the visiting Golden State Warriors tonight at the No-Name Arena, also formerly known as Arco Arena and never truly known as Power Balance Pavilion.

Yet, the lone Kings' preseason home game likely will be different than any other. This will be the first time Kings fans return to the No-Name Arena since many of them left following the final home game of the 2010-11 season believing the franchise was headed to Anaheim.

Thanks to the efforts of many, including Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson, the City is attempting to land financing for the construction of a new downtown arena to house the Kings.

That proposition remains a work in progress. However, the Kings are here for the moment and their fan base likely will be highly enthusiastic (read: wild as hell) for tonight's contest as well as next Monday's season and home opener against the Los Angeles Lakers.

The Kings are attempting to fast-forward the compilation of their team in the midst of the makeshift post-lockout training camp and preseason.

Sacramento's plans took a major hit this week when free-agent signee Chuck Hayes failed his physical due to a heart abnormality. The Kings subsequently voided his reported four-year/$21 million contract.

Said President Geoff Petrie, "(Monday) morning, in one of the most heartbreaking moments of my professional or personal life, Chuck Hayes was notified that he failed his physical exam with the Sacramento Kings. Subsequent to that, the contract signed on Dec. 9 has been voided. At Chuck's request, we will have no further comment at this time."

Management informed the team of the situation following Monday afternoon's practice. Coach Paul Westphal's eyes displayed the hurt he felt by the loss of more than just another player.

Hayes, a beast of a man at 6-foot-6, 238 pounds, was expected to bring mental and physical toughness as he had for six seasons with the Houston Rockets. Hayes already had taken a leadership role during his brief time with the Kings.

Westphal said, 'Hayes already had established himself as what you are looking for a man who would give everything of himself for the team and of himself.

The Kings likely will pursue free-agent center Samuel Dalembert in hopes of having him rejoin the crew and provide support in the middle. Suffice to say acquiring Dalembert has become more important and costly with Hayes' inability to play.

Most importantly, Hayes, who had signed the most lucrative deal of his career, now has neither the contract nor a job. Now, he has the questions of how to deal with the heart abnormality and an uncertain athletic future.

All that in a week. Let's hope this serves as a massive lesson to a group of primarily young group of young Kings how fragile their careers and lives are.

Most of the Kings are so young, they did not get the opportunity to play with former Kings shooter extraordinaire Peja Stojakovic.

Stojakovic retired Monday primarily because of back and neck problems at 34. He'd still be, if healthy, the best shooter on most teams.

Stojakovic answered his phone Monday and said, "I feel good physically and about my decision."

He and his family are living in New Orleans, "because the kids really like the area and we're comfortable here."

Stojakovic easily was one of the easiest guys to cover during my stints working the league. He was honest and always available for a comment. As a journalist, one can't ask for more.

Jimmer Fredette looks capable of one day challenging Stojakovic, Eddie Johnson, Jerry Lucas and Oscar Robertson as one of the Kings' best shooters. What an immediate review of Fredette's game shows is a need to stop leaving his feet 35-to-40 from the basket.

Fredette appears to be the real deal because of his shooting prowess, ballhandling and toughness. We'll see.

Westphal said Monday rookie guards Fredette and Isaiah Thomas are two of the more heady players on the team.

High praise for two players a week into their professional careers.

KIngs more of a mess off the court than on

Presumably, when Kings coach Paul Westphal asks you where you’ve been writing, that means your hiatus has been a bit pronounced.

However, if you don’t feel it, then it’s better to wait until you do feel it, instead of just writing some garbage. As my man legendary funkster George Clinton says, “If you fake the funk, your nose will grow.”

Thinking of Westphal and looking at how this season has unfolded for him, made me think of Detroit head coach John Kuester’s situation.

As jacked up and uncertain as things are for the Kings, at least there have been no reports of boycotts and uprisings.

On virtually every life level, whenever it seems as if things aren’t going your way, look around. There’s likely someone close by who has similar or worse problems.

Kuester Monday received the dreaded support of Pistons President Joe Dumars. Often times, that’s a coach’s kiss of death. However, Kuester’s Pistons are 5 1//2 games out of a playoff spot in the Eastern Conference and that’s close enough to keep him around until season’s end.

There would be nothing served positively by replacing Kuester.

As for Westphal, he and the Kings receive credit for being consistent. Sacramento is 8-22 at home and 7-21 on the road. Unfortunately, the Kings have been consistently poor.

With 24 games remaining, there is plenty of time for improvement, individual and team.

Forget not knowing whether the Kings will continue playing in Sacramento or be moved to Anaheim or elsewhere for that matter.

From a team standpoint, the Kings have displayed the ability to effectively perform every facet of the game. It’s their inability to sustain a high level of efficiency that has left them with a 15-43 record.

Yet, unlike those semi-experts such as Hall of Famer and TNT broadcaster Charles Barkley who believe the Kings talent is totally subpar, that’s not the case.

Certainly, it’s not equal to the level of the league’s best, but the Kings have proven capable of competing.

Many, if not most, of the Kings difficulties have been born from inexperience, immaturity and unfamiliarity.

If you’ve listened to Westphal all season, his comments are so similar to those out of the mouths of other coaches whose teams lose close games.

And these teams are far deeper and more experienced than the Kings, yet the methods of winning games are all the same. Teams have to protect their lane and basket. They have to consistently execute their offense.

And perhaps most importantly, teams have to play with heart and ferocity. They have to take advantage of opportunities and minimize the opportunities they present to the opposition.

Rookie DeMarcus Cousins has struggled since the All-Star break and that’s not highly surprising. Cousins is shooting 32 percent (16 of 50) from the field and averaging 5.5 turnovers during his past five games.

No. 1, all players have their struggles. No.2 Cousins still hasn’t scratched the surface of learning his game.

That’s before mentioning the 20-year-old still is trying to figure out who he is and what he truly wants to become. If you are older than 20, then you might be able to remember what those thoughts were then and how life has run its ever-unfolding misdirection plays.

Look at Monday night’s starting lineup and only center Sameul Dalembert and guard Beno Udrih have a strong knowledge of their respective games and themselves. Hence, that’s hardly a logical prescription for nightly success.

As the Maloof family and their plans, those appear far shakier than the team’s prospects. It seems to me as if the Maloofs don’t know what they are going to do.

If they know they are going to relocate the team in Anaheim, the easiest and most humanistic thing to do is say that’s the deal.

That’s more so for their employees if not just for their devoted and loyal fans, many of whom I’ve had the privilege of meeting and getting to know.

Throughout my 13 years of dealing with them, I’ve always said the Maloofs are the most down-to-earth millionaire business folk I’ve met. Yet, what’s real is once the family decided to sell their Coors distributorship, that was a major sign their financial situation was approaching dire straits.

From a bottom-line perspective, until prohibition hits, beer likely always will be consumed. So desperation had to factor into that decision.

Moreover, that was their late father’s business – not something easily kicked to the curb.

Not knowing the family’s financial standing, it’s impossible to truly know how the Maloofs will play their hand. Shoot, we don’t even know what cards they are holding.

And I wonder if they do.

Kings making moves to become relevant

It has taken nearly three months, but the Sacramento Kings have become worthy for time spent viewing.

Actually, the Kings (8-25) only were unworthy of watching if you were looking for victories. Winning was the game’s feature they couldn’t decipher.

Now, they’ve won three of their past four home games and with Thursday night’s 122-102 victory over the Denver Nuggets, Sacramento earned its first win over a plus-.500 team.

Moreover, the Kings recently have begun to receive productive play from four, five and even six players. That was not happening a month ago and still isn’t something coach Paul Westphal can wake up in the morning and count upon.

Really, though, counting upon major nightly, consistent production from five or six players only is a dream/fantasy for coaches on any level.

Yet, when you are the Kings, it’s time to appreciate blessings. Seeing patience and nightly growth from DeMarcus Cousins and Tyreke Evans, ages 20 and 21, respectively, is a blessing.

Surely, Evans has played a number of excellent games during his brief time as a King, but this performance was as complete as I’ve seen. His scoring (27 points) was timely and impactful and against solid defensive guards in Aaron Afflalo and Chauncey Billups.

More importantly, Evans looked to make plays for his teammates. He had a season-high 12 assists, in part, because the Kings made a season-high 56.4 percent of their field-goal attempts.

However, it also was because Evans made timely deliveries to give teammates layups, dunks and wide-open jumpers.

Include five rebounds, two steals and only one turnover in more than 41 minutes and there is the type of performance Westphal needs to get his team on the right track.

Cousins continues to show more poise and composure. His shot selection is improving and subsequently, his field-goal percentage rises.

By the way, when you see Cousins get excited over referee’s calls, keep this in mind. He received a technical in the third quarter for his reaction over a non-call.

He also heard Denver’s Carmelo Anthony threaten in front of an official to beat up Omri Casspi and go without a word.

That’s the type of stuff NBA officials need to clear up. It’s one thing to give stars calls non-stars don’t receive. Yet, stars often are allowed to say things other players are not.

All that does is give stars more belief they are untouchable and make others believe they are not getting a fair shake.

Think Cousins needs to feel that anymore than he already does?

Cousins, though, consistently reveals more facets of his skill set. It’s always important to remember he’s 20 years old.

There are parts of Cousins’ game that barely have been touched. There are things he’ll soon learn he can do that he never imagined himself capable.

That’s what growing up as a player and a person is about.

Now, as a team, the Kings have to prove they take their show on the road. They begin a six-game East Coast road trip in Toronto.

Certainly, it’s easier to play at home, but if Sacramento can use its longest trip of the season to display consistency of performance and focus, it can continue to improve.

They’ll need continued production from Omri Casspi, Francisco Garcia, Beno Udrih, Pooh Jeter and Carl Landry.

Samuel Dalembert and Jason Thompson need to continue pounding the boards to help the Kings continue to lead the league in second-chance points (16.4) per game.

Dalembert wants the Kings to show him more time, but he’s got to show he can score consistently around the basket to earn that.

No doubt he is a defensive impact guy, but missing six-footers is not the way to increase playing time.

Side note: Dalembert’s decision to attend the recent funeral of long time Philadelphia sports Phil Jasner was as classy a move as I’ve seen from a player during 32 years in the game.

And I’ve seen many classy acts unlike others who lump all young athletes into one group of knuckleheads with no sense and awareness of how fortunate they are.

Indeed, I’m aware how many knuckleheads populate, but I’m also aware of how many chumps there are in my profession and many others.

Kings win back-to-back home games, but what does it mean? We'll see

It’s important to attempt to discern what we’re seeing.

It’s not just that the Kings have won two of their past three games.

Or that they’ve won their past two home games over Memphis and Phoenix, respectively.

Or that their 7-24 record results in the NBA’s worst winning percentage at .226. Or that the Kings currently are grouped with the L.A. Clippers (10-24); Minnesota (9-25); New Jersey (9-25); Washington (8-24); Detroit (11-22); Toronto (11-22) and Charlotte (11-20).

Basically, these are the worst of the worst. And Sacramento’s .226 winning percentage comes on the heels of two victories, while uplifting in nature, that surely rank as remarkable, if not downright miraculous.

Actually, the Kings could have lost those games more easily than they were won.

Teams usually do not win with 55-foot shots, buzzer-beaters as the Kings did with Tyreke Evans bomb against Memphis.

Nor do they normally outscore their opponents, 19-2, during the game’s final six minutes by limiting a team to one basket in its final 10 possessions as they did against Phoenix.

There can be no sugar-coating where the Kings and the rest of these teams reside in the NBA’s hierarchy. We’re talking way on the outside hoping to get into a position in which they can look.

While assessing the Kings, the surroundings cannot be ignored. The teams whom share Sacramento’s early-season struggles have youthful bases.

New Jersey (Avery Johnson) and Washington (Flip Saunders) are considered first-class coaches. Larry Brown almost is universally acknowledged to be one of the world’s best coaches, yet he’s already been replaced in Charlotte by Paul Silas.

Others such as the Clippers, Minnesota, Detroit and Toronto have relatively young, new and/or inexperienced coaches.

The league’s most successful coach – the L.A. Lakers’ Phil Jackson – has his own problems at this time. Granted, the two-time NBA champion Lakers’ problems are relative and totally unlike those of the bottom-barrel group.

Yet, problems are problems and as Kings coach Paul Westphal alluded to following the victory over Memphis, the season can be described as attempting to plug leaks in a dike. Just when a hole is filled, another arises.

Many of the teams struggling to win also struggle to score. The Kings rank sixth from the bottom in scoring at 94.1 points per game. The inability to score usually indicates a lack of prime-time talent.

Yet, New Orleans averages 93.9 points with all-star point guard Chris Paul running the show. There are no givens when teams struggle other than all teams will. Some just will do it more and longer than others.

Clearly, the recent performances of rookie center DeMarcus Cousins have given the Kings reason for optimism. While Cousins figures his way, the Kings should be realizing their course of patience with the 20-year-old must be followed.

Cousins’ youth and inexperience will be a factor, but his growth cannot be denied. Cousins understands his growth also requires patience. As much as he’d like to be an immediate dominant presence, he has to learn the league, his teammates and himself.

Said Westphal of Cousins, “He’s cutting down some of his impatient mistakes and doing a better job of getting a wider base. He’s reading the defenses better, before he makes his move and he’s staying out of foul trouble.”

Cousins has a unique and distinctive game. He’s listed at 6-foot-11, yet at times he plays the game as if he’s a 6-footer. He’ll attempt to push the ball upcourt via the dribble or lay in the backcourt to try to poke the ball away from a guard.

These aren’t particularly smart moves, but they are part of what makes him who he is. Cousins isn’t scared and that heart in a big man has been needed around here a little longer than virtually forever.

He plays as if he‘s a big guy who grew tall relatively late instead of always being a big guy. He says that’s not the case.

“For me, I was never afraid to try stuff,” he said Sunday night after scoring a career-high 28 points, grabbing eight rebounds and handing out season-high and team-leading six assists. “When I first started playing ball, I used to take off dribbling the ball and coaches would flip their (lids). I’d just keep going and I guess I’ve benefited from it.

“My shot has been messed up, but I’m comfortable shooting (15-footers).”

The extra bonus Sacramento gets with Cousins is he is naturally silly and funny. It’s difficult ever imaging an uptight locker room with him roaming with walk-bys.

When told most of the Phoenix players believed he’d walked on a key fourth-quarter, three-point play, he said, “I took eight steps because I had a guy (Robin Lopez) on my back and I couldn’t control that.”

What Westphal and the rest of the Kings coaching staff and front office have not been capable of controlling is the players’ inability to make shots. It’s the coaching staff’s job to help their players get good shots. The coaches can’t make the shots for them.

Perhaps the players need to put in more work and control what they can control.

Witness 23.1 percent field-goal shooting (6-for-26) in the first quarter against Phoenix and 35 percent shooting in the second quarter. Then the Kings shoot 61.1 percent (11-for-18) in the third quarter and 10 of 20 in the fourth.

Explain that! Moreover, the Kings made eight of their last 12 shots in the fourth, so that means they missed six of their first eight. Explain that, too!

We’re still waiting to see what the Kings look like if they play a solid 48 minutes. It was nice Sunday, however, to see Sacramento receive workmanlike performances from Francisco Garcia, Omri Casspi, Carl Landry, Jason Thompson as well as Cousins. For once it didn’t matter that Evans and Beno Udrih stunk up the joint.

And it didn’t hurt that Pooh Jeter contributed four points, four assists and no turnovers during the fourth quarter, his only 12 minutes of action.

Kings lose again; Evans talks foot procedure

Imagine attending an NBA game with the Sacramento Kings playing host to the Los Angeles Clippers Monday night at Arco Arena and what evolved before you was an entertaining, competitive – OK, not always well-thought out – contest with both also-rans showing promise for the future.

Ultimately, the outcome came down to the luck of the bounce.

And as things usually go when you’ve lost eight straight and an almost unbelievably-bad 22 of your past 24 games, bounces aren’t exactly flowing on the positive for Sacramento.

Kings’ guard Tyreke Evans hurried a one-handed tap of a missed rebound and tip by rookie DeMarcus Cousins. Evans’ shot rolled off the rim at the buzzer and left the Kings on the negative side of a 100-99 defeat.

Evans began that portion of the possession when it was ruled he’d was in the act of attempting a three-point shot when fouled by Clippers forward Ryan Gomes with 1.9 seconds left.

The whistle appeared to come before Evans stopped dribbling to raise for the shot, but with L.A. holding a 100-97 lead, the second-year guard was awarded three free-throw attempts.

Evans swished the first two attempts, but slightly short-armed the third and it bounced off the rim. Cousins appeared to have an opportunity to tip in the miss, but never left the floor.

“(Clippers’ rookie) Blake (Griffin) pulled me down,” Cousins said of the explosive second-year performer who lined up with inside position on the attempts. “I could have tipped that ball in. But the ref didn’t call it so there is nothing I can do about it. It was a great effort by Blake.

“A sneaky play,” Cousins said of Griffin, “but he did a tough thing.”

Kings coach Paul Westphal said he had a chance to view the replay before entering the post-game media session, but said he didn’t want to comment for fear of being fined.

“Report what you saw,” the coach said.

Once again, the Kings appeared to have defied the odds while leaving the floor in defeat when signs pointed to victory.

The Clippers (10-22) committed 22 turnovers to minimize their their 48-34 rebounding advantage. Sacramento made a season-high 13 three-point field-goal attempts and shot 50 percent from behind the arc.

Evans scored a season-high 32 points during a sweet battle with Clippers guard Eric Gordon (31 points). Evans shot 11 of 24 from the field (including three of six from three-point range) and then dropped another bomb post-game.

Evans said he and agent Bob Myers had discussed possibly undergoing a procedure on his left foot that hopefully would correct the plantar fasciitis giving him problems.

“I talked to my agent about getting something done,” Evans said while admitting he didn’t know much about the procedure.

Evans said it was possible the procedure could be done following the all-star break. He also said the procedure might disable him for three to four months. He did not say why he said last week his foot no longer an issue. Nor did he say why he might wait until mid-February before undergoing the procedure.

Evans appears to be in a quandary about how to get his foot treated.

He also said his agent was supposed to get back to him with more information.

Perhaps the most informative stance Evans took was his foot felt pretty good Monday night and he’s cleared his mind over the weekend aided by an hour-long conversation with his mother visiting from Chester, Pa.

“I didn’t really want to talk to anybody, not my brothers or anybody,” Evans, 21, said. “My mom knocked on my door and I didn’t want to let her in, but I did.”

Smart move, No.1, Evans said because his mom doesn’t play with the cane she uses to help get around.

“I’ve always been pretty laid-back,” he said, “and I usually don’t talk about stuff with people. All this losing has been tough, so I’ve just been trying to go out and have fun. I was trying not to let it show. I talked with my mom and grandma and I’ve got to put it behind me… put it in the past.”

Evans never did get specifically into what has been bothering him over the past couple of months.

“It’s something between me and my family and I’ll just leave it at that,” he said.

Evans also said he was fouled by Clippers guard Baron Davis while attempting a short baseline jumper with about nine seconds remaining and the Kings trailing, 98-97.

“Baron Davis fouled me but (the referees) didn’t call it and we haven’t been getting calls like that all year,” Evans said truthfully.

Perhaps the saddest situation is the Kings realize even the Clippers are getting calls they are not.

It’s clear the officiating crew of Derrick Stafford, Leroy Richardson and Gary Zielinski –already gave all-star status to Griffith, a soon-to-be all-star. Griffith, whose picture can be found in the dictionary next to athletic, beast-like human, scored 24 points, grabbed a game-high 14 rebounds and had four assists.

“It’s not hype with that guy,” Westphal said of Griffith, “he’s really that good.”

His presence was a major reason why the Clippers held a 50-26 advantage in points scored in the paint.

And it didn’t hurt Clippers coach Vinny Del Negro to bring in former Kings forward Ike Diogu, who scored eight points and grabbed six rebounds during 22 minutes.

Said Westphal truthfully and perhaps self-incriminatingly, “I can’t remember a team that has held a fourth-quarter lead recently as many times as we have with nothing to show for it.”

Kings put 'F' in futility

Marty Mac’s World – 12-22-2010

If you’ve come looking for answers, you’re in the wrong place.

I’ve been watching the Sacramento Kings (5-21) consistently for the past 20 years. NBA veteran observers such as me like to believe and say nothing surprises them.

Yet, I was perplexed when walking out of Arco Arena Tuesday night following Sacramento’s come-from-ahead 117-109 overtime loss to Golden State.

What was that I’d just seen? As I said, I’ve seen the Kings since 1990 and just knew I’d seen pretty much every possible type of collapse. I’ve seen the Kings lose more than 40 consecutive road games as well as get out-shot from the free-throw line by Shaquille O’Neal at home in Game Seven of the 2002 Western Conference Finals.

Almost inevitably included in every collapse are the losing team misses free-throws down the stretch. The Kings, read Beno Udrih, made each of his four attempts during the final 14.3 seconds.

Meanwhile, Golden State (10-18) twice in five seconds during the game’s final 19 of regulation was fouled attempting a three-point attempt. Then the Warriors missed three of the six free-throw attempts.

And because they did, amazingly they gave themselves a chance to win.

The Kings wouldn’t let Golden State lose. They committed nine fourth-quarter turnovers and that doesn’t include one of the dumbest shots ever. With Sacramento leading, 98-93, the Kings inbounded following a Dorell Wright foul with 31.1 seconds left and veteran swingman Francisco Garcia inexplicably hoisted a wide-open three-point shot.

Perhaps even scarier than the ill-timed attempt was Garcia saying after the game he took the shot because he wanted to stick a dagger into the Warriors.

Garcia is one of the team’s best free-throw shooters and the intelligent play would have been to take time off the clock. Had Garcia just held the ball, Golden State likely would have had to foul. If Garcia makes two free throws, the Kings are up seven points with approximately 20 seconds remaining.

There’s the dagger, ‘Cisco.

Instead, Garcia became part of the team-wide dagger the Kings shoved into their own chest. DeMarcus Cousins lost the handle on a Reggie Williams free-throw miss with two seconds. Golden State turned that possession into Vladimir Radmanovic’s 27-foot, game-tying three-pointer.

Udrih scored a career-high 34 points, but fouled Williams on a three-point attempt. Then Carl Landry did the same thing four seconds later when he Wright to the line.

Coach Paul Westphal could have inserted Samuel Dalembert to perhaps get the rebound Cousins did not. The coach could have stationed five smaller players around the arc on the last play of regulation and told them to ignore every player inside the three-point line.

Perhaps the craziest thing of this crazy game was how many times Golden State failed to take advantage of opportunities and still won.

Ultimately, though, where do the Kings go from here? Do you change the coach? How soon will the calls for talented, but quirky also-rans Larry Brown and Don Nelson begin? Do you gut the entire project starting from President Geoff Petrie?

Does Petrie stay and begin to shake up this roster? The addition of one, possibly two more veterans would do a world of good for all things Kings.

Do the Maloofs get so scared and frustrated they open their checkbooks and say we have to pay the cost to the be the boss and improve the product they are putting out to a dwindling fan base?

Their record is the league’s worst and the Kings are coming off one of the worst defeats imaginable.

From a franchise perspective, one has to go back to the 1958-59 Cincinnati Royals to find a team that was 5-21. The’73-74 Kansas City-Omaha Kings were 6-21 before finishing 33-49.

As a team, the Kings seem to be sticking together as they should. Since they are stinking it up together, they might as well stay together.

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.

Kings always have one up their sleeves

The 2010 version of the Sacramento Kings is setting up to be quite interesting.

And it is just 15 games into the 82-game regular season. Already, the Kings have had major defensive, offensive and on-court chemistry issues.

Word is they’ve got a bunch of young talents, who are not showing an inclination to listen to the coaching staff or showing a collective dedication to hard work.

Until there is an acquisition of those two required traits, it will be difficult for the Kings (4-11) to maximize their strengths.

They’ve got 10 losses in their past 11 games entering tonight’s home game against the Indiana Pacers as an example of what not to do.

Other teams are experiencing problems of a similar nature to those of Sacramento. Consider the Miami Heat, a team many believed capable of contending for an NBA title this season after the free-agent signings of LeBron James and Chris Bosh and the re-signing of Dwayne Wade.

The Heat’s problems aren’t exactly like Sacramento’s, yet attempting to mesh its considerable talent into a consistent force is very much akin to what is going on here.

Tyreke Evans, last season’s Rookie of the Year, is struggling. Of all the problems one would have imagined, Evans having difficulty scoring was not one.

Yet, that’s been a major problem early into his second pro season.

First-round draft choice, DeMarcus Cousins, was tossed from practice Monday afternoon, reportedly for running his mouth to the coaching staff. Like Evans, Cousins has had problems scoring and is shooting just 38 percent from the field.

It’s likely these players are experiencing these difficulties for the first times in their lives.

The Kings are coming off a weekend home loss to the Chicago Bulls that displayed their season in a microcosm. Sacramento was superb during the first half while establishing a 57-44 lead.

The Kings held a 71-57 advantage with 3:23 left in the third before their game disintegrated into basketball mush.

Then their fourth-quarter performance was so putrid it had to be seen to be believed.

Sacramento made just three of 21 field-goal attempts, committed eight turnovers and was outscored, 27 to nine.

That nine-point mention is not a typographic error. The Kings scored nine points during 12 minutes despite having 29 possessions.

Coach Paul Westphal still is attempting to find the right combination of players to invest in basics. Moving the ball to the open man, covering for teammates defensively and following the team’s principles would be an excellent beginning.

No one is expecting the Kings to consistently perform at a playoff level. Yet, the Kings clearly can play better than they have.

Antoine Wright was waived Monday and Hasaan Whiteside was sent to the NBDL to play with Reno.

Kings president Geoff Petrie said the team doesn’t plan to add any more players in the short term.

“We’ve got to find a way of playing better together,” Petrie said Monday. “We’ve got to generate a more consistent offense.”

There is another one of those basics the Kings must adopt.

Kings can't handle ball or New Orleans

The Sacramento Kings played their best defensive game of the season and still lost, 75-71, Sunday afternoon at home to the New Orleans Hornets.

That’s how things can go for a team, now 4-8, attempting to find its way. The Kings lost a four-point game because they made just 60 percent (9 of 15) of their free-throw attempts.

Conversely, New Orleans (11-1) missed just one of 16 free-throw attempts.

Sacramento lost because it had 13 possessions during the fourth quarter’s final six minutes and made just two of 10 field-goal attempts and committed three turnovers.

That usually will not result in victory.

The Kings committed 22 turnovers that New Orleans turned into 23 points. That's nearly one-third of the team's scoring.

It was a team-wide Kings turnover fest. Three players committed three turnovers and three committed four.

Coach Paul Westphal said half of those turnovers were unforced and shouldn't have occurred.

“What we’re doing is very simple,” he said of the team's offense, “and we’re not running something different at the end of the game that we’re running all through the game.”

So the Kings aren’t executing. That statement also could be taken that perhaps they need to do some things differently down the stretch to give defenses other options to consider.

However, moving the ball to the open man truly is what the Kings need. Many times during the game, the Kings fail to make the simple pass to the open man. It’s not rocket science.

The Kings would like to play an up-tempo offense and passing, not dribbling, the ball up court is a key. Then making the next pass to the open man is key to offensive success. Often, that will be Tyreke Evans making that first pass to the open man. And until it is, the Kings offense will not smoothly function.

Granted, the Kings are a young squad, but youth has nothing to do with playing unselfishly and intelligently.

Certainly experience on New Orleans’ behalf and inexperience on Sacramento’s side played a role in the game’s final minutes. The Hornets basically kept the ball in the hands of point guard Chris Paul and forward David West. Those are two experienced and proven closers.

That’s two more than Sacramento has right now. Paul set up two plays off pick-and-rolls that led to West making two open wing jump shots. West made his last two shots to finish eight of 19 from the field.

However, no matter what plays are drawn up by any coach, a player has to make shots.

Additionally, the Hornets lead the league in defensive field-goal percentage at 42.5. So it’s not a complete surprise the Kings struggled offensively. The true surprise was Sacramento limiting New Orleans to 32.2 percent shooting.

The Kings have improved defensively in their past two games heading into Monday night’s game at Utah.

And as Westphal said, “It’s just a shame to play that well defensively against a team with one of the best records in basketball and walk out of the gym with a loss.”

It also was a shame to waste Donte Greene’s 15-point, 10-rebound performance in 32 minutes.

Indeed. The Kings, however, will not win many games with 14 assists and 22 turnovers. That’s unacceptable.

The overall concept is playing consistently at each end of the court and that’s what the Kings still are striving to reach. Playing on the road in Salt Lake City against the Utah Jazz is not the ideal situation, but it's what the Kings have before them tonight.

Little things keep Kings from improving

It seems as if it were just 2½ weeks ago the Sacramento Kings were 3-1 and preparing to play the Los Angeles Lakers.

It was.

Fast forward to Wednesday night against the New York Knicks, the Kings had lost five straight games, four at home and three to teams struggling as badly if not more than themselves.

The Kings raced to a 15-point lead near the end of the first quarter against New York, which had lost six straight, and the early consensus was Sacramento was moving toward stopping the bleeding with a reconfigured starting unit including Luther Head and Jason Thompson.

Wrong! Now the Kings have lost six straight entering tonight's home game against the New Jersey Nets.

The Kings went to their new second unit and allowed points so quickly, the term point-shaving entered the mindset. The Knicks scored so easily, it was like the Kings just had to be letting them, right?

After the game, coach Paul Westphal said this same second-unit Tuesday had battered the first unit so badly he almost felt sorry for his starters.

Against the Knicks, the second unit received what it had given in the previous day’s practice because during a 20-2 New York run I felt sorry for what predominantly was the Kings second unit of DeMarcus Cousins, Omri Casspi, Darnell Jackson, Francisco Garcia and Beno Udrih.

Or maybe it was that they were sorry. It was one of those two, well, maybe both.

The Kings twice ran away from players with the ball in the half-court. Those are a couple of moves that likely inspired Westphal to later compare their performance to ‘sub sixth-grade basketball that was indescribably bad.’

Now that was an accurate description. Include an incorrect traveling call on Cousins; an accurate traveling call on Cousins, an unnecessary 20-footer by Jackson, who appears to have 15-foot range at best; and a missed layup by Udrih; and the Kings had handed momentum to the Knicks like a friendly black jack dealer with an eight on a 13.

Check out this Kings defensive possession midway through the second quarter with four of the five starters in the game. Carl Landry had just made a jumper over Amare Stoudamire to cut New York’s lead to 38-37.

Then New York’s Toney Douglas (defended by Udrih) runs a high angle screen-roll with Stoudamire (defended by Samuel Dalembert). Stoudamire rolls and on the move gets stopped by Landry. Stoudamire goes to the floor.

Douglas passes to Ronny Turiaf at the top of the key with Stoudamire still on the floor. Turiaf takes one dribble and passes back to Douglas who has faded beyond the three-point line. He makes one hard dribble left to elude Udrih (yes, it was that easily done) and rises for a three-point attempt. Landry steps out to challenge the shot because Udrih now was behind Douglas.

The shot misses badly. Dalembert moves over to box out Turiaf. That leaves Stoudamire, who had risen from the floor, a wide-open path for a two-handed tap dunk and a 40-37 lead.

Now the Kings had spaced the floor on the opposite side with Danilo Gallinari (defended by Garcia) up top and Wilson Chandler (defended by Tyreke Evans) in the short right corner.

Evans remained in a four-foot area throughout the possession and basically did nothing. He didn’t go for the rebound nor did he attempt, maybe not even think about boxing out Stoudamire.

More importantly, Evans (last season’s NBA rookie of the year and 20-5-5 guy, yada, yada, yada) let his teammates down. He certainly could have and should have had Dalembert’s back when the center had Landry’s back who had had Udrih’s back.

On one possession, Udrih and Evans stunk it up defensively. In a five-man game, that’s 40 percent of your defense giving you nothing and the opposition everything.

It was just one possession, but the line between NBA success and failure can be that fleeting. Just like 17 days can turn into a 2½-week trip to hell and just like four minutes can turn a 31-18 Kings lead with 10:35 left in the second to a 38-35 Knicks lead with 6:30 left.

Heck, it wasn’t even four minutes of game time, but in real time it seemed less. And Westphal during one stretch called a time out with 8:59 left and followed with a 20-second time out 45 seconds later.

Now, the Kings had ample opportunities later to win this game, but this one stretch of play, low-lighted by one defensive possession, was an indicator of why they didn’t. It is a possession such as this that leads to Sacramento allowing a league-high 49.2 defensive field-goal percentage.

Moreover, it’s an example of how a team has to work in concert and trust each other defensively if it is going to be successful.

It’s not rocket science but it is a thinking man’s game.

Simply, though, let’s get back to Marty Mac’s theory of needing five or six players performing near or above their potential against the Knicks.

Landry, who is making me re-think his potential of scoring with his back-to-the basket, had 21 points and nine rebounds and played well.

Westphal credited his team with doing a better job of getting Landry the rock. Perhaps the Kings can begin to go inside to Cousins with more diligence and success, too.

Cousins committed a team-high five turnovers, but scored 15 points and had 10 rebounds.

Moreover, he played so hard, it was noticeably different than most of his teammates. The dude is intense. He plays as if he doesn’t want to lose. He sells out. I’m not sure I can say that about each of his teammates.

Donte Greene played 20 minutes, all in the second half and never came out of the game once he entered.

It could just be me, but his quickness and athleticism are needed on this team. He’s going to make mistakes, but when he’s playing really hard and relaxed, the Kings are a better team.

That’s three out of 12 who played well and that will not get the job done.

Evans scored a team-high 23, five of which came after the outcome had been decided. He added five rebounds and five assists, but soon must figure out how to stop leaving his feet and passing.

Being one who was guilty of the same thing, Evans has to stop taking off from so far away from the hoop and not knowing what he’s going to do. He’s got to get one dribble deeper on drives so he can fully take advantage of his strength and body control.

Moreover, he and Udrih both have to stop jumping into the air and passing almost blindly backwards. Those passes usually start the opponents’ fast break.

Udrih scored 18 and helped fuel the Kings fourth-quarter comeback with 11 points, but his recent defense has been embarrassing.

As Head said after the game, “This is so disappointing because we can play so much better than we’ve been playing.”

This is true and in the darkness, you’ve got to look for a little light somewhere. Sacramento’s light from one vantage point is it can play better. Maybe the Kings will when they truly get tired of getting their butts kicked.

Coaches have to coach and players have to play

A couple of thoughts come to mind after watching the Kings Sunday afternoon lose their fifth straight game, this time to the Detroit Pistons.

This is a question, more than a thought, but why are the Kings trying to make tuna fish salad out of chicken?

Luther Head is not a point guard, but that’s where the Kings are trying to play him.

Jason Thompson is not a small forward, but his natural position is power forward. This may not be a revelation, but play the dude at power forward.

If you still want him on the floor and don’t want to play him at power forward, play him at center. That’s probably his second-best position, but small forward is his third-best/worst position.

Actually, Westphal’s use of Thompson at three is a compliment, albeit a dumb one. The coach was trying to get him onto the floor. The same minutes Thompson played at three, he could have played at a position we used to call Bench.

Here’s a key that I can’t accurately assess, but J.T. wears size 20 shoes. Small forwards don’t have feet that big. If you wear 20’s like Bob Lanier’s 22’s (back in the day) or Shaquille O’Neal’s of similar size, make the mistake of putting him in the paint.

Let the man bang. Reportedly, he had one of the Kings’ best training camps. Everyone said no one came into camp in better shape. Play the man.

Coach Paul Westphal says there is a frontcourt logjam with Samuel Dalembert, Carl Landry, DeMarcus Cousins, Darnell Jackson and Thompson. And I guess this means we’ll never see Hassan Whiteside in anything but street clothes in the near future, so the NBDL likely is screaming at that youngster.

I’m with that, but someone has to sit. Westphal has to sit one of these cats. Two games ago against Phoenix, it was J.T. Last game, it was Jackson. Perhaps the coach is moving toward breaking up the logjam.

Donte Greene is a small forward, a long, athletic small forward whom I see as one of the team’s better defensive players. He’s not great, but he’s good enough to get time on this squad.

Westphal obviously has not seen it this way. Yet, he will. Omri Casspi and Greene should be getting the small forward minutes. It can be argued Greene should be starting over Casspi – and it has been.

I had a discussion with former Kings star guard Mitch Richmond about that Jackson receiving time over Thompson. For the record, I’ve seen each of the Kings games, some twice. I’d bet Richmond likely has not seen any from start to finish.

To say Jackson hasn’t earned playing time with his performances is unfair. When presented the opportunity, he’s performed well so I can understand Westphal giving him time. The man is trying to win and Jackson, during the season’s first few games, outplayed Thompson.

Yet, if you give Jackson credit for doing well early in the season, then Thompson should receive kudos for playing well at times during the last two seasons.

Richmond can’t understand Jackson outplaying Thompson, but Jackson reminds me of former Kings tough man Michael Smith. Jackson doesn’t rebound like Smith, but the Animal didn’t make shots like Jackson, either.

Kings President Geoff Petrie said he’s not having trade discussions regarding Thompson. If that’s true, then Petrie needs to pick up the phone.

The Kings are 3-6 and have lost five straight. They’ve lost to Detroit, Minnesota and Memphis, each of whom also is struggling.

Yet, they are not alone with their struggles. Consider the Atlanta Hawks just ended a four-game losing streak with a victory over Minnesota.

The Los Angeles Clippers are 1-10 (1-5 at home). Charlotte (4-7) is 1-4 at home, like Sacramento and Cleveland (4-5).

Miami (6-4) has different expectations, of course, but struggles are struggles.

The struggles of Washington (2-6) and Philadelphia (2-8) are along the same line of Sacramento’s. These teams have average, at best, talent bases and are trying to find their respective ways.

Just for the record, when things go poorly, coaches always catch a lot of flak and not undeservedly. They usually receive major accolades when things go well.

That’s the situation for which they signed the dotted line.

However, and this is a major however, coaches don’t play. There’s not a guard on the Kings who shot as well or even played as well as did Westphal or Mario Elie. Give either one the looks these current day cats are getting and the Kings are not shooting a league second-worst 29.5 percent from three-point range.

Only Oklahoma City at 25.3 percent shoots worse. Only Omri Casspi (38.3) and Francisco Garcia (37.8) are shooting above 25 percent.

However, the Thunder leads the league in free-throw shooting at 88.1 percent. The Kings are 28th out of 30 at 70 percent.

That’s a bad combination, folks. The Kings currently would lose every western in which they’ve appeared.

They are the gang that can’t shoot straight. Beno Udrih is shooting 17.4 percent from three, but check out the percentage of these dudes: Orlando’s JJ Redick (12 percent); Golden State’s Vladimir Radmanovic (29.6 percent). These are shooters who have gotten off to slow starts. It happens.

Westphal, like most all coaches, encourages his players, particularly shooters to take open threes. Sacramento went two for 18 in Sunday’s loss to Detroit on the same night Phoenix made 22 of 40 in a road victory over the Los Angeles Lakers.
Westphal was asked if 18 attempted threes were too many.

“If they don’t go in,” he said after they didn’t. “It’s always easy to look at the stat sheet after the game and say we took too many threes, if they are not going in. But what we tell our shooters, guys lot ‘Cisco, guys like Omri, Luther Head, who ever they are (that) if you are a good three-point shooter and you are open, you have to take it with confidence.”

Players also have to realize they don’t have to take every wide-open three-pointer they get. There are nights when you stink up the joint and have to make adjustments.

At some point, players have to play to their levels. It’s too much to expect a higher level of production of which they are capable. It is not, repeat not, too much to expect professionals to produce and earn their loot.

In the case of Sacramento, there are players who haven’t had enough of a career to determine a level. However, there are some who have and until the young boys get their acts together.

So we shall see what we shall see.

Kings have more pressing problems than Cousins' mouth

Rookie big man DeMarcus Cousins’ temperament and tendency to woof are just two of the Sacramento Kings problems Sunday as they look to halt a four-game losing streak.

The Kings begin a four-game home stand against Detroit and it could get late really early in this season if Sacramento coach Paul Westphal’s crew doesn’t quickly get its act together. The Kings are 3-5.

Cousins reportedly has been talking back to coaches and doing so to the point where he has required special attention. To the point, where a source says, Westphal has had to step away from his personality to deal with the rookie.

Really? Has the big 20-year-old kid whom the Kings were able to pick with the No. 5 choice because he likes to run his mouth been running his mouth?

As it consistently has been said in this space, the early part of the season is a feeling-out process. Westphal and his staff have to figure how to deal with this team and vice versa.

Recently it came to light Cousins flapping his gums had become a distraction. Word is Westphal has been hearing verbiage from more than just the rookie. Again, that’s not a news flash.

The Kings have a squad littered with youngsters who really don’t know what they are doing, yet believe they do. That’s often what being young is about.

I know. I have a 20-year-old son.

Moreover, I’ve been there and didn’t know that.

Cousins, for the most part, has to figure out when to talk and when to shut up. For the most part, he has accomplished that during games and practices. He's just done dumb stuff like most young folks - and quite a few older folks - including those who have painted Cousins as a bad person or a loser or a troublemaker.

Certainly Cousins has fed the fire of those inflammatory assessments. The guess here is he doesn't care, but he should. Image really isn't everything, but education inside your craft is and if your behavior hampers learning, it needs to be adjusted.

Don’t try to read his sour-puss faces and grimaces. One of the worst things people do is try to look at another’s face and discern thoughts. Nobody is that smart. Some faces tell everything. Others tell nothing. Some appear to reveal one emotion when the reality is totally different.

Cousins has to understand there is a time to talk and a time to listen. And he always has to recognize the coaching staff is attempting to help him grow as a player and person. The Kings need him to move toward maximum production, like yesterday.

Coaches make mistakes, too, and if they don’t recognize that, they are moving in the wrong direction.

It’s likely the Kings coaching staff should share some of the blame because it usually takes two to beef. Additionally, if their dealings with Cousins have been unsuccessful and aren’t designated to be effective in the future, the directions need alterations.

More importantly, Westphal has more pressing issues.

The Kings need low-post point production as well as ways to score easy buckets. The former should much easier to locate.

Cousins, who has come off the bench in each of the past four games (all losses), is Sacramento’s low-post threat. The Kings have not used him in the post nearly as much as they should; as they need.

Carl Landry is a face-up, mid-range jump shooter. If he scores around the basket, it usually is off an offensive rebound or a fast break.

Jason Thompson has the size to play with his back to the basket, but doesn’t finish sufficiently. Besides, currently he can’t make consecutive free-throws with any consistency.

Westphal has not settled on a lineup or rotation at this point, so we might as well see Cousins at power forward alongside Dalembert. Foul trouble is not a concern since it has been a constant, anyway.

The bottom line is most teams cannot score with perimeter-oriented offense. The Kings likely would reside near the bottom of that list.

Include a defense permitting far too much penetration to be effective and there needs to be a more efficient offense to compete. Don't look for those points to come off effective manuvering on the break. The Kings often look as if they've never run a three-man weave, much less worked on spacing and passing in advantageous situations.

The Kings, however, have been in position to defeat New Jersey, Memphis, Minnesota and Phoenix. So, all is not lost. Despite how ineffectively and unsightly, they’ve performed, the conversion of a few timely possession combined with similar defensive stops.

Yes, easier said than done.

Just about as easy as figuring out how to deal with young men who think they know it all.

Yo, while we're at it - can a brother get some Pooh Jeter?

Fire Westphal? Hold your water!

People are absolutely nuts. Maybe that should read fans are nuts.

I’m reading now how the Sacramento Kings should fire Paul Westphal.

This is after they go 3-3 to begin the season. Hold your water, people.

Granted, I’ve got many questions regarding what the Kings are doing and/or trying to do.

Those things I’m trying to figure out and from the looks of, so are they, coach Westphal included.

One thing I’d ask of those who believe Westphal should be fired. Did you think he should be fired when the Kings were 3-1.

If so, then OK.

If not, then shut up and quit being reactionary to a couple of losses.

One of those came against the defending champion Los Angeles Lakers. The other defeat was by a Memphis Grizzlies team one year ahead of the Kings in the growth process and definitely more athletic and talented at this point.

It doesn’t make a difference if the Grizzlies played two overtimes the night before. If it was six or seven overtimes, then OK, I’d see the point.

These are basically 22 to 30 year-old cats, who played 10 minutes longer than regulation. What? They can’t hoop two nights in a row. People, please?

Often times, I wonder if people who write some of the bizarre stuff they post ever really, truly laced up sneakers and competed. Most of the time, the answer I came up with is hell no.

Did you ever consider how pissed off, motivated and determine that team might be after just throwing away a game they'd dominated the night before? Isn’t that a factor?

You want to fire Westphal? Didn’t the Kings just hire homeboy? Can the man get more than one season and six games before kicking him to the curb?

Can he work with the same group of players for a minimum of two seasons so it’s clear to all what he’s trying to do? Or maybe it won't be clear and that'll also be a revelation.

An organization has to have stability and firing a coach every year or even every other year does not inspire stability.

There is no way a team can become a team without learning its rules and regulations and disciplines. Just because you have 12 players or 14 for that matter, doesn’t mean you have a team.

Teams go through adversity and become stronger as a result of lessons learned. What the Kings have is a nucleus that consists, in part, of Tyreke Evans (21 years old), DeMarcus Cousins (20), and Omri Casspi (22). Include Donte Greene (22, and his status is another discussion point), Hassan Whiteside (21) and there are five players, who still are shy of their 23rd birthdays. Add Darnell Jackson, who is 25 and has six games under his Sacramento belt and there is a collection of characters who don’t really know what they are doing.

They can’t because knowing what you are doing requires know-how. You know, doing it over and over again, like most of us have done in our given jobs/professions. And not when we were 20 or 21 or 22.

Just because these guys are tall and highly-paid doesn’t make them any different mentally or maturity-wise than others their age.

They have differing levels of maturity, intelligence and willingness to accept teaching or even acknowledge the need to be taught.

Westphal surely still is attempting to learn how to teach and reach these guys. The Kings have improved talent and size, but its collection by no means is so commanding that it is dominating.

OK, I could spend another four hours with the questions that surface with Westphal’s actions and decisions.

So, I’ll chill with those for the moment. Some of those might be answered, say, in the second or third weeks of the season. That was a joke for those of you taking this Kings thing a bit too seriously.

However, here’s a couple I hope to get the coach to answer by next week.

How many plays do you call a game? How many of those are pick and roll plays?

The Kings half-court offense often appears to have no direction. Is that because players fail to execute their roles? Or is it because it lacks direction.

How much time during practice does your team spend on defense? Is there a way to improve how stay in between your man and the basket? You know the basic concept of keeping one’s man in front of you?

So far, the Kings should be renamed the excavators since all they do is dig holes for themselves. That’s the most difficult way to win games.

Ahh, we'll get to Greene another day.

Lakers show Kings how far they have to go

The Los Angeles Lakers strolled into Arco Arena Wednesday night delivered all that is real.

Clearly, it was too real for the young Sacramento Kings.

It wasn’t just the 12-point victory margin. It was the team-wide defensive intensity combined with a self-knowledge, championship confidence and swagger combined with a discipline of execution that overwhelmed the Kings’ youthful intentions and desires.

The Lakers are what every team wants to be and where every team is attempting to get.

They’ve already won back-to-back titles and nothing was apparent last night to reveal they now aren’t on a similar course.

Could they become better this season than last? Only a season’s evolution and development can lead to that determination.

Yet, as the new-and-still improving almost 31-year-old (Nov. 6) Lamar Odom said, “Better? I hope so. That’s our goal. It’s always realistic, when you strive. Being perfect is like a realistic goal for us. That’s our way of thinking, our thought process.”

Can you get to that? Other teams are attempting to get into the playoffs, perhaps get a high playoff-seed, even. Meanwhile, the Lakers have begun the season 5-0 and have yet to put 23-year-old 7-foot talent Andrew Bynum on the court.

The Lakers seek perfection. Odom sounded like Denzel Washington in “Remember the Titans”, but the sincerity in his delivery and eyes, showed the versatile swingman was deadly serious.

Just as Kobe Bryant always is serious when he steps onto the floor, the Lakers carry themselves with an air of invincibility. That quotient never should be underestimated.

In some ways, Bryant’s presence and dominance manifest themselves in each of the Lakers. That goes the same for legendary coach Phil Jackson.

They don’t get shaken and there never is a situation in which they feel a loss of control.

Listen to how Odom and Derek Fisher speak of Bryant, who had off-season surgery on his right knee for the third time.

Said Odom, “Kobe is coming off surgery. He’s going to will the basketball game to kind of go his way. So, this is nothing different than what I’ve seen since I’ve been playing with him.”

Fisher and Bryant joined the Lakers together in 1996.

“I thought he might start off struggling to find some rhythm,” Fisher said of Bryant, “and he might build some rhythm as things went. But to see him playing this well, this early, he’s on my team, so that’s good for me. But that’s not good for everybody else when he’s playing this good this early.

“It’s not surprising. Nothing that he does surprises me. I’ve just seen too much, too many times. He’s capable of doing pretty much anything and everything.”

That’s the sound of reverence, of ultimate respect and confidence. The Lakers are a finished product that somehow still has an upside.

Meanwhile, the Kings are attempting to find their way with games such as the Lakers contest serving as monitoring levels. Sacramento’s leader on the floor is 21-year-old second-year guard Tyreke Evans.

Evans couldn’t stay on the floor against the Lakers and much of it was his own doing. He picked up his third foul with 1:08 left in the first half while defending Bryant’s shot attempt.

Evans’ fourth foul came with 8:42 left in the third quarter. He was caught reaching 20 feet from the basket as Bryant attempted to catch a pass. He was replaced 34 seconds later and sat the rest of the third.

It was no coincidence the Lakers quickly raced to an 82-62 lead as the Kings offense went ka-put.

Kings coach Paul Westphal didn’t mention Evans by name, but it was apparent the guard’s absence during the third quarter’s final minutes was a crucial factor.

“I thought it was an offensive breakdown in the third quarter,” the coach said. “I thought we were missing a lot of shots in the third quarter and let them get out. They’re too good of a team to let them get (into) transition and just miss, miss, miss over and over.”

Westphal knows how much the Kings (3-2) collectively have to improve to even approach the neighborhood in which the Lakers reside.

“The Lakers don’t even know who we are right now,” he said. “We would like to build a rivalry with the best team in the world, but to answer that question as if there’s a rivalry, that’d be an insult to them.

“We’ve got to win some games before there’s a rivalry. They are where we want to be.”

Who are the Sacramento Kings destined to become

It’s anybody’s guess what the Sacramento Kings ultimately will become this season.

They could end up in the playoffs or the lottery. Currently, more folks likely would wager their valuables on the lottery.

Yet, three games into their campaign, the schedule indicates we’ll likely be receiving a GPS-type directional indicator before we sit down for turkey.

The Kings not only play their next four games at Arco Arena, but eight of their next nine and 10 of their next 13.

Sacramento opens its home campaign against the Toronto Raptors tonight before games Wednesday and Saturday nights, respectively, against the two-time defending champion Los Angeles Lakers and Memphis Grizzlies.

Statistics don’t mean much at this juncture; nor do records.

However, there are a few indicators, if proven to be reasonably legitimate, that prove somewhat telling.

So far, the Kings appear to have nine to 10 players capable of playing productive ball. One of the many questions surrounding them will be how consistently they can perform. Another will be what type of defensive mentality they can establish as a unit.

Sacramento has just one set of back-to-back games – Nov. 21 home vs. New Orleans and Nov. 22 in Salt Lake City against Utah.

The Kings were the lone NBA squad to begin its season with three road games, yet the schedule presents an opportunity for Sacramento to establish itself capable of successfully competing – or not.

There are a couple of phases the Kings immediately will have to correct if they are to take advantage of the early schedule.

The Kings won two of three road games despite consistently committing dumb, careless fouls. It’s one thing to foul defensively in an attempt to prevent a player from establishing good position or easily penetrating its defense.

Fouling to prevent lay ups or dunks are good because they are the last line of defense.

It’s another thing to foul by needlessly reaching or gambling to make a steal, particularly in the backcourt. Those fouls merely fuel the opposing offense as well as weaken the Kings.

Sacramento’s ability to convert fast-break opportunities has to improve. Three-on-two advantages are basic basketball plays that have to be converted at a high rate if the Kings are to continue as a high-scoring squad.

It would help if the Kings get the ball into the hands of Beno Udrih at every opportunity. Tyreke Evans may be listed as a point guard, but at this stage of his career, the talented second-year guard goes for his better than creating opportunities for others.

It is easier for a team to improve offensively. Everyone wants to score, but few want to make the mental and physical commitments required to defend.

Individually, the Kings have to be impressed by rookie DeMarcus Cousins, Carl Landry, Francisco Garcia, Samuel Dalembert, Luther Head, Udrih, Darnell Jackson and Evans.

Cousins has been a force offensively and has been the lone back-to-the-basket post weapon. Additionally, the 20-year-old can and will pass.

Landry has been its most dependable scorer, but does most of his work facing the basket.

Garcia and Omri Casspi have combined to shoot 12 of 23 from three-point range, while the rest of the squad is six of 23. Casspi was incredible with six of seven in the win over Cleveland, but was zero of six during the previous two games.

Hence, there is a level of consistency yet to be established. As good as Casspi was offensively, his hustle and toughness defensively were equally important to the win.

Dalembert, in a combined 23 minutes during two games, has shown he can anchor the defense and provides a badly-needed shot-blocking presence. Like most defensively-oriented centers, he wants to prove he can be a scorer.

Dalembert has been in the league too long to become something new. His offensive game should be limited to put-backs and rolling to the hoop on screen-roll plays. That’s it. Jump shots should be a rarity for Dalembert.

If Head and Jackson can continue to produce at relatively similar levels, they will provide coach Paul Westphal options one month ago he had no reason to believe existed. The pair has been solid and consistent, characteristics only a coach truly can appreciate.

Jason Thompson has to figure out how to become more effective offensively. The guy misses more four-to-six footers than normally imaginable. Meanwhile, exactly what the deal is with Donte Greene is unknown to me at this point. I’m interested in asking a few questions this week to try to get a clue.

Organizationally, the Kings did not expect Jackson to make the team entering training camp. Head was a question mark at best. So his current assist-to turnover numbers of 10-to-one certainly qualify as a surprise.

It’ll be fun to see what other surprises the Kings have to offer this month.

Kings just work now - progress to come later?

Early NBA preseason games often provide more questions than answers.

There were times during Sacramento’s game Sunday night in Oakland against Golden State when it seemed as if the Kings didn’t want to play.

Now, we always must be careful of what we think we see and be capable of maintaining an open mind to all the circumstances involved.

Confusion can appear to be disinterest.

Coach Paul Westphal during his post-game comments did not implicate his team’s effort or lack thereof. He pointed towards his team’s lack of experience on the floor and indicated at times it made his team appeared disorganized.

“It’s hard for us to find the rhythm with a lot of key players out that we need to have on the floor,” Westphal said. “But that’s part of training camp. So it looks disorganized like we’re trying to learn our offense, so our offense is not effective at all.

“We’re not functioning smoothly. We’re not getting the ball inside. And that’s a problem.
I’m sure we’ll get better. We’ll get on the same page as we start getting some guys back.”

Center Samuel Dalembert, who has the NBA’s third-longest active games played streak with 354, has yet to play during the preseason because of a left adductor strain. The Kings miss him dearly at the defensive end.

“I don’t go to the trainer for an update every day,” Westphal said after Sunday night’s game, “but I’m hopeful to see him this week. I really don’t want to rush him, but at the same time, you can see that we can use him.”

The Kings Sunday also played without forward Carl Landry (eye injury) and guard Beno Udrih (sprained right shoulder). Westphal said he thought both could return to action this week.

Sacramento begins the regular season Oct. 27 in Minneapolis against the Timberwolves. It has four preseason games remaining, with tonight’s return engagement against Golden State at Arco Arena the only one at home.

Tonight’s contest should provide a more realistic indication of what the Kings will be working with this season. However, these upcoming games are dwindling opportunities for players (Luther Head, Darnell Jackson, Joe Crawford and Marcus Landry) to show they belong on this team.

Neither Marcus Landry nor Omri Casspi nor Donte Greene nor Antoine Wright has distinguished himself enough to win the wide-open starting small-forward position. The entire training camp body of work will be considered, yet making due with the minutes received during the next two weeks likely will go a long way to claiming that position.

Then again, Westphal has numerous frontcourt options. He could opt to go with Dalembert at center, Jason Thompson at power forward and Carl Landry up front. Francisco Garcia also factors into the mix at small forward.

It may not be fair to call this a work in progress at this juncture.

We must wait to see how it evolves.

Kings need to make defense a priority

Two games into their 2010 preseason, the Sacramento Kings may have shown us more of who they will become than anyone suspects.

Certainly, at this juncture for every NBA team, it’s difficult to recognize what is real and what isn’t.

We’ve yet to see shot-blocking center Samuel Dalembert play for the Kings, so there’s no true measure of his defensive effect.

The Kings need to be it large and immediate.

Sacramento’s defense against Phoenix and the L.A. Clippers in the respective first quarters of their two preseason games has been porous and soft.

It’s easy and natural for observers to assess the offensive end of the floor. However, it’s the defensive end where teams establish themselves.

There has to be a consistency of effort and commitment defensively for a team to compete, particularly on the road.

Most often, the ability to function in harmony defensively comes last in a team’s development. Perhaps Dalembert’s shot-blocking ability and defensive focus will permeate the squad.

That’s not something we’ll likely learn tonight when the Kings travel to Golden State for their first road preseason game. Yet, at some point, it’s the most important factor overall for the Kings to begin working towards.

Sacramento coach Paul Westphal and his coaching staff have the difficult job of highlighting the importance of playing physically, intelligently and coherently at the defensive end.

There is a reason teams attempt to establish a core group of players and keep them together. Why they want that core to be committed defensively thereby proclaiming with action what the team is about.

A common axiom around the league is young teams think about getting their personal games off before focusing at the defensive end.

Experience only is gained through taking a few lumps and going through historical progression.

The Kings have yet to display a penchant at the defensive end for consistently challenging movements with or without the ball. That’s where defense begins. Individually, you challenge where your assignment wants to move. You re-route him, if only temporarily. If you are defending a rebounder, work is done early and boxing out that player becomes a priority.

Defending individually as well as from a team standpoint means combining subtleties and nuances not often recognized by outside observers. It’s adhering to and recognizing how the team wants to attack offenses.

Actually, the NBA’s best defenses attack offenses. The Kings have to begin acquiring that mentality before they can establish consistency on a nightly basis.

Early look at Cousins shows big, talented, emotional young man

It’s safe no player in the 2010 NBA Draft attracted more attention than Kings’ first-round draft choice DeMarcus Cousins.

Granted, it’s early. Cousins’ professional career begins tonight with the Kings’ first preseason game tonight at Arco Arena against the Phoenix Suns.

However, so far, and again, it is so early, what I’ve seen from Cousins is a determined, fearless, highly-intense competitor on the floor and a big, soft, friendly, thoughtful teddy-bear type of young man off the court.

He’s emotional and it doesn’t take long for his feelings to reveal themselves externally. He’ll likely be one of the early tests for the NBA’s attempted cut down on players’ outwardly visible reactions to officials’ calls.

Does being an emotional young man and wearing said emotions on his sleeve make him a bad person? No, at the worst, potentially it might make him Rasheed Wallace Lite.

For whatever the value of initial impressions, perhaps Cousins should be Pooh Two, since Kings rookie point guard Eugene Jeter's grandmother already tagged him with the moniker.

Perhaps the pair can be Little Pooh and Big Pooh.

Preceding the draft, Cousins’ personality and demeanor were the objects of more direct hits than your local drinking establishment's dartboard.

Cousins, who turned 20 Aug. 13, was considered, even by his critics, to be the draft’s second-most talented player behind his Kentucky teammate John Wall, the overall No. 1 choice, selected by the Washington Wizards.

Yet, the size-desperate Kings were criticized across the board for selecting Cousins with the draft’s fifth choice overall.

On the court, Cousins has much as much to learn as he brings to the table. As with most young players, it’s important to consistently remember, he just turned 20 years old.

Back in the day, players had the luxury/reality of college years and experience. Cousins spent just one season at Kentucky. For perspective, check out your life at 20.

Imagine it being on stage for everyone to see. On second thought, personally, I'll pass on that concept.

Here's Cousins speaking with reporters following Monday’s practice. Cousins, listed at 6-foot-11, 270 pounds, chased a loose ball Sunday night at Arco. He ended up in the crowd.

“I really wanted to send out an apology,” Cousins said when asked about the incident. “I tried to dodge the kid and ended up mushing the lady in the face. I had to choose who I would rather hurt. I want to apologize to them. I felt bad for doing that.

The Sacramento Bee reported the pair’s names to be Erin Thurman and Tyner, her four-year son. They might want to call the Kings media relations staff to see if they can score a pair of tickets for a future game and perhaps even procure the chance to meet Cousins.

I'm guessing Tyner and Cousins would enjoy each other. Cousins possesses a wonderful sense of humor and clearly doesn’t take himself too seriously. I’m guessing Cousins likes and gets along well with kids.

“I’m trying to get the ball,” he said of the pursuit into the front row. “I thought I broke the lady’s neck. I was really scared that I’d hurt the lady’s neck. I guess that comes with courtside seats.”

That it does, but I’m guessing the pair would go for the same opportunity again.

Coach Paul Westphal complimented Cousins’ performance in the scrimmage and also said he’s done well in previous scrimmages.

Cousins said his major preseason goal is to find his role on the team.

DeMarcus, allow me to give you a little insight. Be a beast around the basket. Continue to display your wide array of skills and play hard.

Said one NBA executive who asked for anonymity, “Cousins is more than just a scorer and rebounder. He really can pass the ball and he seems like he likes to do it. In some ways, he’s similar to (Chris) Webber. I don’t think he can shoot the ball as well as Chris, and I don’t think he’s as long. But as far as the unselfish mentality, I think they are very similar.”

Cousins said Monday he’s excited about playing his first preseason game.

“I am looking forward to it,” he said of going against the Suns. “We’re tired of looking at each other’s faces, guarding the same players. It’ll be nice to get a change.”

Cousins and Jason Thompson likely will log many of the minutes at the center position. Samuel Dalembert, an off-season acquisition from Philadelphia for center Spencer Hawes and Andres Nocioni, will miss the game with a strained left adductor muscle.

The adductor is a group of muscles around the thigh and hip.

Connor Atchley, 6-foot-11, also likely will get playing time. Seven-foot rookie center-forward Hassan Whiteside is out for a few days with a strained left patellar tendon. Darnell Jackson, 6-9, of whom Westphal has spoken highly in recent days, also will not play because of a strained right hip flexor.

Westphal said Thompson will receive minutes this season at center, and particularly tonight.

“I think he will play some ‘five’ for us this year,” the coach said of the 6-foot-11 particularly (tonight) with Jackson and Dalembert both out. We’ll see him quite a bit.

“It might be kind of ugly if DeMarcus had to play 48 minutes, or 40 minutes or 30 minutes,” Westphal said with a laugh.

Rookies normally receive few breaks from referees with big, aggressive rookies receiving even fewer. It’s part of the learning process that Cousins already understands is coming. That doesn’t mean he’ll remember that in the heat of battle.

Westphal announced J.R. Giddens and Donald Sloan were waived. That leaves 17 players on the roster with the team currently looking to keep, “somewhere between 13 and 15,” according to the coach.

“I hope (Suns all-star point guard Steve) Nash doesn’t play as far as winning” the coach kidded. “I don’t even care who we play. We’re more in the mode of evaluating personnel.

“We want to do certain things against anybody we play. We want to take care of the ball. We want to get the ball inside. We want to play good defense and rebound and certainly, you play good defense, you have to have good transition defense, which you have to have every night.

That’ll be interesting to see how that holds up.”

It will be interesting to see how Cousins fares during his introduction to NBA battle.