casspi and greene vying for small forward nod: they signed donald sloan
casspi and greene vying for small forward nod: they signed donald sloan
Kings notes: Casspi, Greene vying for small forward nod
Jockeying for the starting small forward spot has already begun.
Omri Casspi and Donté Greene are two players for that position that the Kings' coaching staff will monitor during the Las Vegas Summer League and into the fall training camp.
Greene started 50 games last season, his second in the NBA, and averaged 8.5 points. Those starts came at both forward spots, along with some time at guard.
Casspi started 31 games as a rookie, averaging 10.3 points.
There's plenty of opportunity for playing time. After having a glut of small forwards last season, the Kings now have Casspi, Greene and Francisco García.
Gone from that group are Andres Nocioni, Dominic McGuire and Ime Udoka. García also could play guard.
That leaves Greene and Casspi competing for the bulk of the playing time at small forward.
"It's a big summer for them," summer league coach Mario Elie said. "We're pretty solid everywhere else, but that's the one spot that we were changing a lot last year."
Third-year players often pass on summer league play unless coming off an injury. Greene, however, sees this summer as crucial.
"I could have chose to come out here and chose to just work out and not play," Greene said. "But I wanted to lock the spot up and show coaches that I'm ready to get that starting job and keep it for the whole season."
Casspi said his focus is on improvement.
"I'm trying to be the best I can be on the court," Casspi said.
No-shows – Center Connor Atchley and guards Ryan Thompson and Tyrese Rice didn't practice Friday morning.
All played for teams in the Orlando NBA Summer League, which ended Friday. Atchley played for New Jersey, Thompson for Boston and Rice for Utah.
Thompson arrived during the morning practice. Thompson and Rice practiced Friday evening.
Sloan signs – The Kings signed rookie guard Donald Sloan to one-year contract for the league minimum. Sloan was undrafted out of Texas A&M.
http://www.sacbee.com/2010/07/10/2880824/kings-notes-casspi-greene-vying.html