SacBee: Ailene Voisin: Beno makes his point

[Revrag]

Beno Udrih is stretched comfortably over a chair at a coffee shop a few miles from Arco Arena, a few blocks from the house he rents, and only a few hours removed from another productive performance as the Kings' starting point guard.

More...

 

[VF21]

I thought this was a pretty good article and I liked the assessment from Theus about Beno and his future as a King:

"When Beno got here at the beginning of the season," said Kings coach Reggie Theus, "I told him: 'We're going to attack all the things that people are saying about you, that you're soft, that you're always hurt. We can help each other. If you can knock down the jumper, find the open man, turn the corner on the pick and roll, and stay in front of your man defensively, you can play in this league.'

"I want him to cut down his mistakes in the last few minutes of the game, but aside from that, he has everything you want in a point guard. There is just an element of toughness that has to be mastered."

Another part I thought was interesting was a quote from Beno himself:

"...When I got older, the Sacramento Kings became my team because of Vlade Divac and Peja (Stojakovic). After that I always wanted to be a King."

I was surprised to find this part in the middle of the article:

...Petrie has always been intrigued by the point guard, who has average-sized palms, but unusually short, slender fingers for such an accomplished ballhandler. Had Martin been unavailable when the Kings drafted 26th in 2004, the plan was to select the crafty, if unproven, Udrih, because of his size and multitude of skills.

And this quote from Petrie says a little more than we usually see...

..."Whatever happened with Beno in San Antonio happened. He's only missed one game. He had a pretty significant contusion (in New Jersey). I just watch the way he plays every night, and he's already changed the way we play. In the short term, once we get Mike and Kevin back, we've added talent and experience. We need to keep trying to win games and add more talent."

I criticize Voisin a lot, but this article seems to have quite a bit of interesting information.