October 8, 2005 - Day Five
Sacramento had a shorter morning practice before the evening’s Fandemonium, an annual event giving season ticket holders a chance to get a first glimpse of the new team. That didn’t mean the session was any less intense though, because Saturday was dunk day, with guys throwing down on each other in beautiful fashion.
Two plays in particular stood out—Shareef Abdur-Rahim had a nice one-handed stuff over Brian Skinner on a fastbreak that had the sideline jeering and Eric Daniels singing the SportsCenter theme, as if Skinner had just found himself on that evening’s highlights. But the play of the day was rookie invitee Eric Sandrin’s dunk over Anwar Feguson.
The Seattle Pacific alum drove down the right of the lane on a fast break with only Ferguson coming, and then to everyone’s surprise just elevated and tomahawked the ball, getting an entire gym full of ooh’s and aah’s.
Kings fans will get a chance to see Eric in Saturday night’s dunk contest as a part of Fandemonium.
The coaching staff had a new mixture of guys playing against each other in scrimmages. Brad Miller, Mike Bibby, Kenny Thomas, Shareef-Abdur Rahim, and Kevin Martin took on Brian Skinner, Jason Hart, Peja Stojakovic, Corliss Williamson and Bonzi Wells for most of practice. What that meant was Kenny Thomas had the unenviable task of guarding Peja, who hit a handful of jumpers with Kenny right in his face.
At one point, Thomas ran back towards the other end of the court after a particularly nice shot from Peja, looked at the guys on the bench, shrugged his shoulders and said, “He’s supposed to hit that.”
What is obvious after almost a week of training camp is how deep this version of the squad can be, as opposed to the last couple of years when the Kings’ bench had been semi-tapped. Sacramento has a lot of talented guys on this roster, and should be one of the deepest teams in the league once again.
October 7, 2005 - Day Four
By day four of camp you can definitely see a bit of weariness starting to set in. Most if not all of the guys are icing down after practice, and less of the guys stay to shoot around, preferring to rest their bodies.
One person who did stay long after practice ended was point guard Jason Hart, working with assistant coaches T.R. Dunn and Pete Carril on coming off picks to shoot his jumper. One thing that was evident is how well Hart can shoot the ball from midrange.
Not known as a scorer, Hart may surprise teams that leave him open this upcoming year and provide the Kings will another threat off the bench.
The player that probably really can’t wait for the regular season to begin is Kevin Martin.
K-Mart is still officially a rookie until opening night, meaning he still is in charge of getting the veterans whatever they want before and after practice. Brad Miller had to remind him of this fact after the first few days when there weren’t any Jamba Juices waiting for the vets when they finished working out.
And because he’s the rookie with the most seniority, Kevin has to play den mother to all the other youngsters, making sure that they do everything that is needed (aka, getting everything the veterans want).
October 6, 2005 - Day Three
Day three of camp and a noticeable new face made his presence known on the court Thursday.
Luke Schenscher, formerly of Georgia Tech and a second round pick of the Denver Nuggets this past draft, suited up in Kings’ practice gear and worked out for the first time with his new teammates after getting claimed off waivers by Sacramento on Wednesday afternoon.
One of the first observations of Schenscher is that he immediately becomes the biggest guy in camp. At 7’2, he towers over Anwar Ferguson and Brad Miller, and his flowing mane of red, curly locks makes him look even bigger. He used that size a couple of times to hit a nice little jump hook over his defender.
The other thing that was interesting is the amount of bulk he has added since his college days. Those who remember him from Georgia Tech will recall a string bean with no meat on him. But Schenscher now looks more proportioned to his height with some muscle on him—he supposedly added 18 pounds over the summer while working out in Denver.
And while catching up with the rest of his new teammates may take a little time, the one area Luke doesn’t have to worry about is conditioning—having to work out in the Mile High City will put you in pretty good shape.
Schenscher adds another dimension and interesting angle to camp, making the competition for roster spots that much more interesting.
One of the other highlights of Thursday’s practice was watching Ronnie Price throw down on a fast break. The young point guard showed some hops by ripping a one-handed jam that had a lot of the viewing media surprised.
October 5, 2005 - Day Two
Thank god for no more two-a-days, at least that’s what most of the team was thinking after Tuesday’s double practice.
Anwar Ferguson was so tired after the double session that he went to his hotel room and fell asleep without eating dinner last night, and was still feeling tired after Wednesday’s three-hour session.
So far there are a couple of interesting battles that the coaching staff has been looking at. Kenny Thomas has been matched up with Shareef Abdur-Rahim in pretty much every scrimmage, while Francisco Garcia has squared off against Peja Stojakovic. Garcia presents Peja with a nice test because of his quickness and length.
Another good battle is for the third point guard spot, with rookie Ronnie Price taking on Luis Flores. One thing that is noticeable about Price after two days is that the kid is definitely not scared to shoot the ball.
Meanwhile, Kevin Martin is still battling cramps and sat out part of Wedneday because he wasn’t hydrated enough.
Since camp invitee Lonnie Jones is out of camp with a broken foot, the Kings announced late in practice that the team was adding another big body in center Luke Schenscher, claimed off waivers from Denver.
October 4, 2005 - Day One
The Kings went hard on the real first day of training camp, putting in two tough practices in the morning and evening. Brad Miller, being the veteran that he is, was prepared for the two-a-days, bringing his motorhome and parking it next to the Practice Facility on Monday night so he wouldn't have to drive home after the first practice.
Now that had to be a sight to see...Brad Miller trucking down I-80 in his big old motor home on the way to practice!
Coach Rick Adelman really had the players working in the evening practice, alternating between teaching the team's offensive scheme, emphasizing defensive pressure, and running scrimmages. And because it was the first end to end running of the year, leg cramps definitely came into effect, hitting Bonzi Wells and Kevin Martin.
Speaking of Martin, he is much more cut in his arms and upper body after an offseason of working out, and his jumper looks much improved—the guy was relentless taking the ball to the basket on Tuesday night.
Shareef Abdur-Rahim and Mike Bibby sat together and talked at the end of practice while watching the second team scrimmage, perhaps they were reminising about Vancouver?
Quite a few interesting notes there. Competition from the camp invites, and Price sound great. Along with stuff on Garcia/Martin. Schenscher stuff sounds great too.
http://www.nba.com/kings/news/Training_Camp_Blog_05-152742-58.html
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