Kings' younger players receive action in loss

#1
http://www.sacbee.com/content/sports/story/11152498p-12068718c.html

Kings' younger players receive action in loss


By Martin McNeal -- Bee Staff Writer
Published 2:15 am PDT Wednesday, October 20, 2004



FRESNO - Who said Kings coach Rick Adelman won't play his young guys?


Adelman's bench was filled with starters for nearly all of the final 28 minutes of Sacramento's 105-80 loss to the Los Angeles Lakers on Tuesday night at Save Mart Center on the Fresno State campus.

On the floor were rookies and free agents who hadn't received many, if any, opportunities to play in the previous three preseason games.



Asked about his reputation for not using younger players, Adelman mentioned the minutes he gave Clifford Robinson in Portland and Jason Williams in Sacramento when they were rookies. Tuesday, he said he had planned to use rookies and free agents.


An announced sellout crowd of 16,116, predominantly Lakers fans, watched Kobe Bryant have a below-par shooting game. In 33 minutes, he was 2 for 10 from the field and scored 10 points to go with five rebounds, five assists, three steals and four turnovers.

But Caron Butler and second-year forward Brian Cook picked up the slack for L.A. Butler had a game-high 18 points, six rebounds, three steals and two blocks, and Cook contributed 17 points, six rebounds and three steals.

The performance of his young Kings players pleased Adelman, whose team returned Sunday from exhibition games in Beijing and Shanghai against the Houston Rockets.

"After that China trip, I was going to play the young guys," he said. "I wanted the starters to get a run and get a sweat going, but that was about it. I wanted to see the other guys play.

"Most of them haven't been getting a lot of time, and I wanted them to get some extended minutes, and I thought they did a nice job until the last six minutes, when I thought they got tired."

The Kings appeared sluggish during much of the first 20 minutes while the starters were in the game. The revamped and smallish Lakers used their quickness advantage and led 44-34 with 4:10 left in the first half. That's when Adelman turned to Anwar Ferguson, Adam Parada, Matt Barnes, Tony Bland and Ricky Minard.

Immediately, the young bucks supplied a noticeable increase in activity, energy and quickness, resulting in a 10-2 Kings run to end the half.

Adelman also used Maurice Evans, Darius Songaila, David Bluthenthal and Erik Daniels during the final two quarters, and they showed why they have received praise for their work during training camp.

Ferguson, a slim, undrafted free-agent center from the University of Houston, scored 10 points, grabbed eight rebounds and blocked a game-high four shots in 28 minutes.

"He's one guy we know can go up and block shots," Adelman said of Ferguson. "He's very long. The question was how he would play against physical players because there's not much to him. But he's an interesting kid."

Et cetera - The Kings played without free-agent power forward Alton Ford (pinched nerve, neck) and swingman Courtney Alexander (sprained left foot).

Alexander, who has been slowed by a sprained left thigh throughout training camp, said he injured his foot during practice Saturday.

"The doctors said it will be OK in a couple of days, but it's just so frustrating," he said.

Alexander starred collegiately at Fresno State, adding to his frustration over missing the game. * Former Kings center Vlade Divac, who signed with the Lakers as a free agent over the summer, wasn't with the team because of a herniated disc that has sidelined him this preseason.
 

VF21

Super Moderator Emeritus
SME
#2
Alexander, who has been slowed by a sprained left thigh throughout training camp, said he injured his foot during practice Saturday.
Okay. He's already had a sprained left thigh and NOW he has an injured foot? Oh, please, somebody tell me we aren't going to waste a valuable roster spot on someone who can't even recuperate fully from one injury before encountering another one? Please?

At this point, I don't think we want or need to sign a permanent bench person.
 

piksi

Hall of Famer
#3
VF21 said:
Okay. He's already had a sprained left thigh and NOW he has an injured foot? Oh, please, somebody tell me we aren't going to waste a valuable roster spot on someone who can't even recuperate fully from one injury before encountering another one? Please?

At this point, I don't think we want or need to sign a permanent bench person.
How "guaranteed" is his contract anyway ?
 

VF21

Super Moderator Emeritus
SME
#5
I found this post in an older thread...Don't know if it answers any questions or not:

From AP: http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news?sl...ov=ap&type=lgns

Kings sign Courtney Alexander

October 1, 2004

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) -- Guard Courtney Alexander signed a one-year contract with the Sacramento Kings on Friday, shortly before the start of training camp.

Alexander scored 7.9 points per game as a reserve with the New Orleans Hornets last season.

Alexander was drafted 13th overall in the 2000 draft by the Dallas Mavericks. After a trade to Washington midway through his rookie season, he averaged 17.0 points over the last 27 games.
 

HndsmCelt

Hall of Famer
#6
VF21 said:
Okay. He's already had a sprained left thigh and NOW he has an injured foot? Oh, please, somebody tell me we aren't going to waste a valuable roster spot on someone who can't even recuperate fully from one injury before encountering another one? Please?

At this point, I don't think we want or need to sign a permanent bench person.
Maye Court can be the injusry scapegoat for the entieeteam, you know when Millernormalyhas his elbow problem in March, alexander gets sore instead, rather than Webber missing hiscoustomary 20 games with a badknee oranlel,Alexander can hobble arroud for a while. Instead of Bobby being sidelined wiht a broken hand orabdomal strain, Courtny cna b doubleed up or in a cast... this could be a good thing!
 

piksi

Hall of Famer
#7
VF21 said:
I found this post in an older thread...Don't know if it answers any questions or not:

From AP: http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news?sl...ov=ap&type=lgns

Kings sign Courtney Alexander

October 1, 2004

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) -- Guard Courtney Alexander signed a one-year contract with the Sacramento Kings on Friday, shortly before the start of training camp.

Alexander scored 7.9 points per game as a reserve with the New Orleans Hornets last season.

Alexander was drafted 13th overall in the 2000 draft by the Dallas Mavericks. After a trade to Washington midway through his rookie season, he averaged 17.0 points over the last 27 games.
More specifically, can he be released at some point without Kings paying his salary ?
 

Bricklayer

Don't Make Me Use The Bat
#8
piksi said:
More specifically, can he be released at some point without Kings paying his salary ?
All depends on whether it is a guaranteed or non-guaranteed contract.

But either way, you don't release a guy because of a strained foot in training camp. Only injury concern with him is the big one from last year -- if he's fully recovered he should be fine.

In any case, he's kind of working on a different scale than most of the rooks -- we already KNOW he can play in the NBA, so camp for him is really just a question of showing he's back from the injury, and meshing with teammates. On the other hand most of the rooks are still trying to show that they even belong in the league, so they NEED to paly.
 
#10
If Alexander doesn't make the team, that means the rookies impressed a great deal. They aren't at this point, so he's taking it easy (as he should).
 
#11
New to these boards, basically came here cause been a fan of Courtney's since he was growing up in Durham. I think most of the fans I've noticed here havent seen alot of his game and after watching the LAkers game and the two games in China, I suspect the coaching staff is holding him out of these games raher than he himself is. They realize they need scoring off the bench and someone who can create their own shot. Courtney can definitely do that, its the other end that he struggles with. So I see no need to play in these games until he is 100%
 

VF21

Super Moderator Emeritus
SME
#12
Thanks for the input, Truconfidence. Sorry if I sound down on Courtney, but it might simply be that I haven't seen enough of him to realize the possible benefit he could bring to our team.

After reading your post, I decided to wait and see before I make any more broad-based comments.

BTW, welcome to Kingsfans.com!!!
 
#13
i agree with Trueconfidence, personally I've always like Courtney and I think he'll be a great addition to the team. And honestly, even if he doesn't play much over the season, as long as he's healthy come playoff time... because if we're stuck with 7-8 guys like last year... i'd LOVE to have Courtney.. cuz i know he'll score for us when we need him most