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Kings notes: Rookie big men face work in roster-spot battle
By Sam Amick - Bee Staff Writer
Last Updated 11:43 pm PDT Tuesday, October 24, 2006
Story appeared in SPORTS section, Page C6
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The spotlight won't stick around for long.
A few weeks from now, the Louis Amundsons and Justin Williams of the Kings' world won't matter so much, save for those annual rookie duties and the obligation to cheer courtside.
But while both big men would give anything to play that role, it's likely one or the other. The Kings' decision Sunday night to cut center Loren Woods put the roster at 16 players, and coach Eric Musselman said the decision allowed him to look at Amundson and Williams longer.
Thus, they are the big men of the moment, both with kinks to work out quickly if they want to stick around.
"Louis needs to continue to work on his foul shooting, and Justin just needs to understand the pro game, the defensive schemes and offensive schemes," Musselman said.
The Amundson appeal is in his activity, with Musselman's hope that he might become a quintessential role player of the scrappy sort. But the free-throw matter is nothing new. Amundson hit just 154 of 314 attempts (49.0 percent) in his four years at UNLV. He said he was better at Monarch High School in Boulder, Colo., hitting 70 percent.
"For me, the mental aspect is the worst part of it," Amundson said. "I think my basic fundamentals are OK, my release is OK. But mentally, with free throws, when you get up there and miss a few, it's all about confidence. When you no longer have confidence in your shot, you're worried about missing."
Williams, meanwhile, has been worrying about Musselman's playbook. He said his college playbook at Wyoming consisted of two plays, with freelancing the unofficial third.
"It's very complex," Williams said. "You come in here and get in that mind-set of knowing all the plays. It's been a bit of a challenge ... but it's also helped me learn the game a whole lot more."
With the undersized Shareef Abdur-Rahim and Maurice Taylor manning the center role, Williams' 6-foot-11 frame and athleticism are a selling point.
"Justin's got a great upside, because he's a player who's just going to get bigger and bigger," Musselman said. "His body will fill up from where he's at right now."
A failed plan -- The thinking was logical. Limit the minutes of your most vital players, thereby minimizing the injury risk before the regular season. But Musselman's plan couldn't prevent Mike Bibby's and Brad Miller's hand injuries.
"I'm looking at these box scores, and there's some teams playing guys 35 to 40 minutes, and we haven't done that because we don't want anybody to get hurt," Musselman said. "And unfortunately, we got two guys hurt who were only playing 18 to 24 minutes because we had been wanting to save everybody for the regular season."
Bibby boycott -- When the NBA introduced its dress code before last season, Bibby was one of its most vocal critics. Apparently, his opinion hasn't changed.
Bibby, who will miss at least two weeks, opted for a Kings warmup suit Tuesday instead of the conventional kind. When the regular season begins Nov. 1, Bibby would need a league-approved wardrobe change if he were on the inactive list because of his injury.
In shape ... finally -- Vitaly Potapenko finally passed Musselman's conditioning test Sunday.
Kings notes: Rookie big men face work in roster-spot battle
By Sam Amick - Bee Staff Writer
Last Updated 11:43 pm PDT Tuesday, October 24, 2006
Story appeared in SPORTS section, Page C6
Print | E-Mail | Comments (0)
The spotlight won't stick around for long.
A few weeks from now, the Louis Amundsons and Justin Williams of the Kings' world won't matter so much, save for those annual rookie duties and the obligation to cheer courtside.
But while both big men would give anything to play that role, it's likely one or the other. The Kings' decision Sunday night to cut center Loren Woods put the roster at 16 players, and coach Eric Musselman said the decision allowed him to look at Amundson and Williams longer.
Thus, they are the big men of the moment, both with kinks to work out quickly if they want to stick around.
"Louis needs to continue to work on his foul shooting, and Justin just needs to understand the pro game, the defensive schemes and offensive schemes," Musselman said.
The Amundson appeal is in his activity, with Musselman's hope that he might become a quintessential role player of the scrappy sort. But the free-throw matter is nothing new. Amundson hit just 154 of 314 attempts (49.0 percent) in his four years at UNLV. He said he was better at Monarch High School in Boulder, Colo., hitting 70 percent.
"For me, the mental aspect is the worst part of it," Amundson said. "I think my basic fundamentals are OK, my release is OK. But mentally, with free throws, when you get up there and miss a few, it's all about confidence. When you no longer have confidence in your shot, you're worried about missing."
Williams, meanwhile, has been worrying about Musselman's playbook. He said his college playbook at Wyoming consisted of two plays, with freelancing the unofficial third.
"It's very complex," Williams said. "You come in here and get in that mind-set of knowing all the plays. It's been a bit of a challenge ... but it's also helped me learn the game a whole lot more."
With the undersized Shareef Abdur-Rahim and Maurice Taylor manning the center role, Williams' 6-foot-11 frame and athleticism are a selling point.
"Justin's got a great upside, because he's a player who's just going to get bigger and bigger," Musselman said. "His body will fill up from where he's at right now."
A failed plan -- The thinking was logical. Limit the minutes of your most vital players, thereby minimizing the injury risk before the regular season. But Musselman's plan couldn't prevent Mike Bibby's and Brad Miller's hand injuries.
"I'm looking at these box scores, and there's some teams playing guys 35 to 40 minutes, and we haven't done that because we don't want anybody to get hurt," Musselman said. "And unfortunately, we got two guys hurt who were only playing 18 to 24 minutes because we had been wanting to save everybody for the regular season."
Bibby boycott -- When the NBA introduced its dress code before last season, Bibby was one of its most vocal critics. Apparently, his opinion hasn't changed.
Bibby, who will miss at least two weeks, opted for a Kings warmup suit Tuesday instead of the conventional kind. When the regular season begins Nov. 1, Bibby would need a league-approved wardrobe change if he were on the inactive list because of his injury.
In shape ... finally -- Vitaly Potapenko finally passed Musselman's conditioning test Sunday.
