http://www.sacbee.com/100/story/38282.html
Kings notes: Running isn't his strong suit yet
Vitaly Potapenko is the only King who hasn't passed his conditioning test.
By Joe Davidson - Bee Staff Writer
Last Updated 12:21 am PDT Thursday, October 12, 2006
Vitaly Potapenko has logged 10 NBA seasons and can safely say he's never run this much.
Like his teammates, the veteran center is in his first training camp directed by first-year coach Eric Musselman, and he feels it every morning. A conditioning test required of all the Kings has been a trudging-uphill exercise in futility. He's the only one yet to pass.
Players were informed in the offseason by Musselman to expect the drills, where players are allowed a certain amount of time to run from one baseline to the other four times. Potapenko isn't built like Kevin Garnett, who can glide up and down the floor. He's more nightclub-bouncer bulk and brawn.
"The only other time I did this in my career was in Seattle two years ago," Potapenko said. "The bigs had to do it in 67 seconds in Seattle. Here, it's 62. I'm getting closer. My strength and conditioning coach (Daniel Shapiro) isn't happy I haven't passed. And I'm disappointed. It's nobody's fault but mine. It'll pay off because I'm getting in good shape."
Potapenko was acquired from Seattle for frontcourt depth at midseason last season. He had 12 starts for Seattle but hardly played for the Kings (an average of 3.6 minutes in nine games). And the man who goes by "The Ukraine Train" knows that he's being pushed -- and even passed -- in practice by upstarts such as Justin Williams. But the Kings aren't likely to cut Potapenko, given his experience and guaranteed $3.6 million salary this season, the last of his contract.
The starting nod -- Kenny Thomas and Shareef Abdur-Rahim are offering the company line. They both want to start at power forward. They both prefer to win.
"It's up to the coach," Thomas said. "We'll see what happens. Me and Shareef are both competitive. We both feel like we're starters. We're both playing really hard. When it's all said and done, it's up to the coach."
Will Thomas respect the decision if it's Abdur-Rahim? "I respect the coach regardless," Thomas said. "He's come in here and done a great job. The only thing I can control is how hard I can play."
Artest's motor -- Ron Artest has played 60 consecutive minutes of pickup ball in New York City's oppressive summer heat and humidity just for kicks. And the Kings forward would play every minute of a preseason game even though his place on the roster is fixed. But he accepts, grudgingly, that this isn't the time to pile on the minutes.
"At this point in my career, I'm a little smarter about understanding that," Artest said. "It's a good job by the organization and coach (Eric Musselman) to have good backups behind me, to see what they can do. I know preseason is important for the backups. But yeah, I love playing a lot of minutes -- in any game."
Tickets on sale -- A limited number of individual tickets to Kings regular-season games will go on sale Saturday at 10 a.m.
Tickets can be purchased at the Arco Arena box office and Ticketmaster locations. Fans can log onto www.kings.com for more information.
About the writer: The Bee's Joe Davidson can be reached at jdavidson@ sacbee.com.
Kings notes: Running isn't his strong suit yet
Vitaly Potapenko is the only King who hasn't passed his conditioning test.
By Joe Davidson - Bee Staff Writer
Last Updated 12:21 am PDT Thursday, October 12, 2006
Vitaly Potapenko has logged 10 NBA seasons and can safely say he's never run this much.
Like his teammates, the veteran center is in his first training camp directed by first-year coach Eric Musselman, and he feels it every morning. A conditioning test required of all the Kings has been a trudging-uphill exercise in futility. He's the only one yet to pass.
Players were informed in the offseason by Musselman to expect the drills, where players are allowed a certain amount of time to run from one baseline to the other four times. Potapenko isn't built like Kevin Garnett, who can glide up and down the floor. He's more nightclub-bouncer bulk and brawn.
"The only other time I did this in my career was in Seattle two years ago," Potapenko said. "The bigs had to do it in 67 seconds in Seattle. Here, it's 62. I'm getting closer. My strength and conditioning coach (Daniel Shapiro) isn't happy I haven't passed. And I'm disappointed. It's nobody's fault but mine. It'll pay off because I'm getting in good shape."
Potapenko was acquired from Seattle for frontcourt depth at midseason last season. He had 12 starts for Seattle but hardly played for the Kings (an average of 3.6 minutes in nine games). And the man who goes by "The Ukraine Train" knows that he's being pushed -- and even passed -- in practice by upstarts such as Justin Williams. But the Kings aren't likely to cut Potapenko, given his experience and guaranteed $3.6 million salary this season, the last of his contract.
The starting nod -- Kenny Thomas and Shareef Abdur-Rahim are offering the company line. They both want to start at power forward. They both prefer to win.
"It's up to the coach," Thomas said. "We'll see what happens. Me and Shareef are both competitive. We both feel like we're starters. We're both playing really hard. When it's all said and done, it's up to the coach."
Will Thomas respect the decision if it's Abdur-Rahim? "I respect the coach regardless," Thomas said. "He's come in here and done a great job. The only thing I can control is how hard I can play."
Artest's motor -- Ron Artest has played 60 consecutive minutes of pickup ball in New York City's oppressive summer heat and humidity just for kicks. And the Kings forward would play every minute of a preseason game even though his place on the roster is fixed. But he accepts, grudgingly, that this isn't the time to pile on the minutes.
"At this point in my career, I'm a little smarter about understanding that," Artest said. "It's a good job by the organization and coach (Eric Musselman) to have good backups behind me, to see what they can do. I know preseason is important for the backups. But yeah, I love playing a lot of minutes -- in any game."
Tickets on sale -- A limited number of individual tickets to Kings regular-season games will go on sale Saturday at 10 a.m.
Tickets can be purchased at the Arco Arena box office and Ticketmaster locations. Fans can log onto www.kings.com for more information.
About the writer: The Bee's Joe Davidson can be reached at jdavidson@ sacbee.com.
