Open Practice Today at 3:30

Mike0476 · Oct 3, 2010

I attended the Kings practice and took some pictures and videos from section 120. Enjoy!

Sacramento Kings practice squads introduced

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xheAQqu9-Mw

Omri Casspi for 3

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N_Qy0me8of4

DMC with a sweet pass

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-SG2RNso6CU

Tyreke Evans to the basket

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ktuLNLrVF5k

Tyreke Evans jumper

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uoi37NwQHAg

DMC to the basket

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nHKkS2ZD6rc

Tyreke Evans outside jumper

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J9EKRJ-Up4g

Pooh Jeter jumper with 1.5 seconds left

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_v1JiN-HPeQ

Marcus Landry dunk

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m2uuVye53Qg

Mike0476 · Oct 3, 2010

nickmcclure · Oct 3, 2010

As a fan of Omri, I must agree...dude does NOT pass the ball.
Casspi started off on fire, don't get me wrong, he hustled too but he played like he did in summer league. Once he gets the ball, its tunnel vision to the rack he needs to pass much, much more often. Tyreke's jumper was silky man. Not the prettiest but he was hitting tough pull ups from 20 feet like it was nothing. Unquestionably the star of the team and his patience is excellent I see an improvement on an already good player, had some nice steals and passes too. DeMarcus resembles a young C-Webb, seriously. He can beast and had the only real poster dunk of the game. He hit some 17 footers and he can pass...dare I even say it has some handles for a big man. Carl Landry looked ok, not as bad as people here make it seem (imo) but his brother Marcus made a case for making the team, he was dope... hit every shot I saw him take. He was incredibly efficient and he hustles on defense. Pooh Jeter also stood out to me. Great speed honestly he can outrun anyone on the floor and had some real slick passes too. He may be a liability on defense but man can he run. Francisco looked good I must say his stroke is still there and he made a few nice passes and cuts to the hoop we seriously need to consider him in the starting role. (For the record I want donte to start at the 3.) The only real negative that also stood out to me was how awful Luther Head was. He had 2 plays where he left his feet with nowhere to go and threw hail mary passes to the stands not to mention his ugly jumper hit the iron almost every time. Donte/JT and Beno played well...nothing spectacular. Dalembert didn't do anything other than hit both of his freethrows which I suppose is an improvement. I was disappointed we didn't get to see Hassan. We've got some serious talent and this group (both teams) played cohesively which is awesome considering how young we are and how little time we've had to practice together. Yes I said "we" lol we finally have a decent product on the floor to build on, good ****ing job Petrie!

LWP777 · Oct 3, 2010

Where is the replay of the game?

Warhawk · Oct 3, 2010

Had a good time at the practice. Long line to get in! About 2/3 of the lower bowl filled with fans. Will try to upload a video clip and post it later......

The Hammer · Oct 3, 2010

LWP777 said:

Yeah. Need that.

itzcoatl · Oct 3, 2010

Had lots of fun at the open practice! I was seriously impressed with Demarcus' crisp passes. I had seen him make those passes in summer league too, but it was even more impressive in person. The one concern was that in the 4th quarter it seemed like Demarcus was hanging out around the 3 point line a little. I think Francisco noticed this, and tried to get the ball to Demarcus in the post - which was a nice to see.

Warhawk · Oct 3, 2010

Sorry about the bit at the end, our little guy was playing with a slightly loose tooth he wants to come out!

bajaden · Oct 3, 2010

Kingsguy881 said:

So based just on this open practice, and forgetting anything he did last year or in summer league,or anything he may do in the coming exhibition games, Casspi is a selfish SOB and Donte should get the starting job. Great observation there. I like a man that keeps an open mind.

Sluggah · Oct 3, 2010

I'd have to also agree that casspi wasn't looking to pass today...but it ended in points more times than not. So I'm not too upset about it.

Sparky6string · Oct 3, 2010

Warhawk I was a few rows behind you with my gf. That was weird to see your video as it was almost the exact view we had throughout the game and on our videos.

Here's the Bobby Jackson vid. He signed a Kings practice jersey I bought to collect various King's signatures.

[yt=Bobby Jackson signing autographs]TdintUL8He8[/yt]

Kingsguy881 · Oct 4, 2010

bajaden said:

Yup. You damn right. I don't like the trend. It is not a good trend. Like Tyreke's trends, he worked on his jumper in the offseason, he showed tremendous growth in this practice by being a pest defensively and hitting 40-50% of his jumpers shows that that was a good trend. Omri being more and more selfish = bad trend. So yeah, I see Donte putting the team first and Omri putting his self first and you damn sure better believe I see that as a negative trend.

edit: and not to mention if you paid attention during VSL, Omri was being a selfish SOB then too. I wasn't even there and I saw that. And people on here remarked about it as well. So how come you are missing it????

Look, I'm not mad at Casspi. Far from it. I like the guy. But he is more suited to a volume scorer off the bench. He played like a more efficient Nocioni, like a Ginobli. I just wouldn't want him in my starting 5 because of cohesiveness factors, thats all. I'd want him in a second line support role, an off the bench assassin. I think Greene would be a better go-between for Tyreke and (eventually) Cousins than No Passpi cuz Tyreke and Cousins are gonna need the ball to keep the offense flowing smoothly. No Passpi would disrupt that, I think.

Kingsguy881 · Oct 4, 2010

Oh yeah and Warhawk, you can actually see my dad in a couple of your frames. We were sitting like 2 rows down and on the other side of the aisle from you. I took some pics but they didn't turn out that good. Nice shots.

Sparky6string · Oct 4, 2010

I do love these events they hold. We love to go to games also but these kind of things are great for the more serious fans, or the broke ones. Just the atmosphere is great- brings back memories of the years I've been going there. Hey and are those King's Breakers good or what?

Anyway we go to have a good time. I guess if it starts causing more grief than pleasure we'll stop.

SuperPowerMultiPly · Oct 4, 2010

Kingsguy881 said:

I got a feeling that if he would have passed the ball more during this game you would complain about his low scoring and say Greene is better because of his offense..

How many assists Donte had? 1! and Casspi scored more, took more rebounds and had 2 blocks.

So if you pick Greene to be your starter based on this game and stats like you said, it's a very weird decision..

Prince_XY · Oct 4, 2010

IMO, Kingsguy881 made a very good point. It's not only him who actually sees this selfish attitude in Casspi and it seems it's becoming more like his real character. Casspi really seems to be a very selfish player. A "me-first" kind of guy.

I hope he changes his attitude because I am beginning to see him as someone who believes in "entitlement". I am beginning to see him as believing he should be the number-one offensive option for this team, which of course far from happening.

Not good for team chemistry. And he better come off the bench and not start if he continue to play selfish game. You don't want to start the game with someone setting the trend of selfish plays.

NO, no, and another no.

mac · Oct 4, 2010

Prince_XY said:

I don't think that Casspi is a 'me-first' kind of guy. I think he's just very competitive and ultimately wants the best for the team, same as any normal guy would. He gets caught up in his passion and that's probably why he doesn't really pass that much, but hey, his second season hasn't even began and there's loads of time for growth and learning. Focus on the positives - his 3 point shot looked pretty good. I'm sure he's going to benefit from a lot of kickouts when season starts.

Warhawk · Oct 4, 2010

Kingsguy881 said:

This was actually just shot with my iPhone. Probably the second video I had taken with the thing.

Tried taking it just for kicks and thought it turned out well enough to post. Not great, but what the heck.......

Also picked up a Reke-DMC t-shirt for me. I have to get at least one t-shirt a year.

Kingsguy881 · Oct 4, 2010

SuperPowerMultiPly said:

Well your feeling is wrong. So next time don't go with your gut because it is letting you down. And I don't believe Greene had only 1 assist, I saw him passing the ball a lot, I didn't hardly see him shooting it either. He took the first shot of the game, a 3, and then seemed to blend in offensively the rest of the game, getting alley oops and generally just playing within the flow. Omri took a few bad shots and seemed to be looking only to set himself up and not really caring about what his teammates were doing. If he went toward the hoop, it was going up, not to another open teammate. I just didn't like seeing it out of a potential starter. A volume scorer off the bench, sure. But not a starter.

SuperPowerMultiPly · Oct 4, 2010

You tell me not to go with my gut and then say his stats are wrong because you think he had more assists?

Ok, If you really want to compare the two, and you don't believe in these stats, then compare the stats of a full season:

Casspi:
http://www.nba.com/playerfile/omri_casspi/career_stats.html
25.1 mpg, 1.2 assists per game.

Greene:
http://www.nba.com/playerfile/donte_greene/career_stats.html
21.4 mpg, 0.9 assists per game.

Roughly the same amount of minutes, but Omri "selfish" Casspi still got the same or more assists per game than Donte "Stockton" Greene, why is that? again you'll tell me that you believe these stats are wrong? and before you say Casspi played about 3 minutes more per game, if you calculate it you see Casspi is still ahead of the two in assists per minute.

All I'm saying is that stop labeling people with stupid stigmas, just let them play and see if they got good or bad influence on the team after they settle in their spot, or at least after a few season games.

Megalodon · Oct 4, 2010

Kingsguy881 said:

I think I see a trend here....

No, but I do see what the people declaring Casspi as selfish are seeing. I'm seeing it. I just think it is probably a combination of meaningless games/starting spot battle/actually feeling entitled to a starting role.

If he starts doing this **** in a game, then I would be concerned.

Kingsguy881 · Oct 4, 2010

I don't care about what stats say in this instance. I care about who is helping the team win and playing within the offense and if I see Casspi acting like a chucker I'm going to call him on it. Again, let me reiterate, I'M NOT MAD AT CASSPI, I JUST THINK HE IS MORE SUITED FOR A VOLUME SCORER OFF THE BENCH BECAUSE IT SEEMS HE HAS HIS MIND MADE UP THAT HE IS GOING TO SCORE REGARDLESS OF ANYTHING, ONCE HE TOUCHES THE BALL.

bajaden · Oct 4, 2010

MDM said:

You have to be kidding me? You really think that Casspi intentionly stole a rebound from Tyreke in order to keep him from getting a triple double? You need to get a life pal. Have you played the game? Never mind, I'm not going to waste my time with this nonsense.

Jechtsphere · Oct 4, 2010

Full Replay:

Kingster · Oct 4, 2010

Kingsguy881 said:

Yup. You damn right. I don't like the trend. It is not a good trend. Like Tyreke's trends, he worked on his jumper in the offseason, he showed tremendous growth in this practice by being a pest defensively and hitting 40-50% of his jumpers shows that that was a good trend. Omri being more and more selfish = bad trend. So yeah, I see Donte putting the team first and Omri putting his self first and you damn sure better believe I see that as a negative trend.

edit: and not to mention if you paid attention during VSL, Omri was being a selfish SOB then too. I wasn't even there and I saw that. And people on here remarked about it as well. So how come you are missing it????

Look, I'm not mad at Casspi. Far from it. I like the guy. But he is more suited to a volume scorer off the bench. He played like a more efficient Nocioni, like a Ginobli. I just wouldn't want him in my starting 5 because of cohesiveness factors, thats all. I'd want him in a second line support role, an off the bench assassin. I think Greene would be a better go-between for Tyreke and (eventually) Cousins than No Passpi cuz Tyreke and Cousins are gonna need the ball to keep the offense flowing smoothly. No Passpi would disrupt that, I think.

I like that: "No Passpi".

If Greene could just rebound like a 6'11, 250 guy rather than a 6'3" 190 guy they could call the match between him and Casspi right now. Still waiting on that though...

bajaden · Oct 4, 2010

Kingsguy881 said:

First off, I have no dog in this hunt. I like both Greene and Casspi. Secondly you have a tendecy to back yourself into a corner and become a pitbull about defending your position, even to the point of being contentious. I have no intention of arguing with you. If you want to have discussion thats not biased from the beginning, then fine. The facts are that Casspi shot better in the game than Greene. He outrebounded Greene, a very common thing which distrubes me about Greene. Both had 1 assist and Casspi had two blocked shots. Casspi took 10 shots in the game and made 5, and of those ten several were shots where the ball was kicked out to him on the perimiter.

Overall, I thought Casspi outplayed Greene. Does that mean I think Casspi should be handed the starting job based on this scrimmage? Of course not! You see, I don't have any preconcieved images of what kind of player Casspi or Greene are going to be. I don't cookie cutter them into a spot that I think they should occupy. I believe you see Casspi as bench player. A role player. But I think you have to excuse him for not agreeing with you. He may see himself as far more than that. And by no means am I saying he's right, but I certainly want that kind of attitude from my players.

In summer league Ellie asked Casspi to be more aggressive with the ball in his hands. They wanted him to attack the basket more. They wanted Greene to improve his ballhandling skills and also to be more aggressive. Thats what summer league and scrimmages such as the one last night are all about. Improving certain aspects of your game. So to make judgements based on these type of venues is ridiculous. But that aside, would anyone call Michael Jordan selfish if he took a shot instead of passing the ball? How about any star in the league? Yeah, I know! Casspi isn't a star, and he may never be. But he has more toughness and aggressiveness in him than Greene does, and I've never seen a star that didn't have those qualities.

Personally I don't care who wins the battle. I'm sure Westphal is smart enough to figure it out. As I said, I like both of them. But I don't have any preconcieved notions about what the role of either of them should be. This isn't a popularity contest.

mogli · Oct 4, 2010

Kingsguy881 said:

look the stat of the game Omri Casspi (5-10, 14 points, 5 rebounds, 1 assist)
Donte' Greene (3-8, 7 points, 2 rebounds, 1 assist)
now omri take only 2 more shot you can not consider this as selfish plus he block 2 shot and take more rebounds and give the same asists i saw the game and i dont agree with you at all.
he play hard and good not selfish...

bajaden · Oct 4, 2010

MDM said:

Sorry, I didn't mean to come on so strong. I'm afraid you took the blunt of built up frustration at what I call over reaction to things that just aren't that important. I try to keep things in prespective, but I failed to do that in my response to you. Sorry!

Boogie-havoc · Oct 4, 2010

Hey thanks for the replay! dumb question - but doesn't Youtube has 10min limit on thier videos?

As for the ongoing debate Omri Vs Donte.

I can understand those seeing Omri as selfish and ballhog at times.
But like Bajaden said, most of this is comming from the VSL games, and it's just so wrong to judge by those games!

In those games, Omri, Donte, and Cousins when on the floor, were asked to be and play as the main guys, to make shots, to be aggressive... so ofcourse he's gonna ballhog!

And ofcourse he's gonna make mistakes and loose the ball and look like a selfish bastard, cause hey, he's not used to doing those type of things usually!.. it's part of the progress of a young man maturing.

And Omri just came off a series of games where he was the man offensivly(where he held his own quite well and adapted great into the side)... and he starts the season in a team without a clear identity, fighting for a position that is up for grabs... so ofcourse he will try and fight his place and show he's a starter and not a role player.. thats exactly the kind of attitude you're looking to have in your starters!

Come the start of the season we will be able to judge things alot better then we do right now, and we will have a much better grasp of things.. so let's not jump into conclusions and start labeling people after 1 practice.

Capt. Factorial · Oct 4, 2010

bajaden said:

Well, here's my take on the Casspi/Greene passing issue. I don't have an issue with Casspi's threes from yesterday - he was open on all of them and they were good looks. But he had one penetration in particular where he made up his mind he was going to the basket despite the odds. And when the defense collapsed on him, he had no other plan and was forced to throw up junk - as I said I remember one possession in particular, but I feel like it happened two or three times. On the other hand, I remember that twice in about 3-4 minutes, Greene tried a dribble penetration from the baseline. Both times the defense stopped him cold, and both times he kicked a pass out to his baseline outlet on the other side of the floor. Greene clearly had plan B in mind there, whereas Casspi did not appear to. Now, I don't think Donte's squad scored following either baseline pass, but the point is that the offense still had an opportunity to find a good shot in those cases, but not in Omri's.

I don't mind Casspi being aggressive, but I'd like to see him always have that plan B and know when and how to kick plan B in. And I really don't feel like I've seen that from him yet, not just in the scrimmage yesterday, but in general. I think that's the weakest part of his game. I'm happy with his defensive effort, I'm happy with his rebounding, I'm happy with his play on the fast break (in fact, one of our training camp guards, can't remember which, completely missed Casspi on a break yesterday trying to take it to the rack himself against a defender - Casspi was there, open, and should have gotten the pass), I'm happy with his spot-up shooting. But it seems to me that Casspi's biggest weakness is attacking the basket in the half-court, because it's too much one-on-five. Great when it works, but too often it seems not to, and I'd like to see him make better use of second options.

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