Westphal on KHTK with Mike and Grant:

[bajaden]

Paul Westphal was on with Mike and Grant yesterday and had some interesting insights regarding Brockman, and the summer league.. A couple of things of note were that Jason Thompson is trying to get as many players as possible to come to Sacramento early and start training and working out together. Also, Thompson, Cousins, and Whiteside are all going to the big mans camp that was started by the now deceased Pete Newell. I happy to hear that. Its a great camp and much can learned there.

http://khtk.cbslocal.com/2010/07/20/coach-paul-westphal-talks-about-jon-brockman/#more-3064

 

[Bricklayer]

I had no idea Pete Newel had passed. That thing has been "Pete Newel's Big Man Camp" for about as long as I remember watching basketball.

 

[Kingster]

Paul Westphal was on with Mike and Grant yesterday and had some interesting insights regarding Brockman, and the summer league.. A couple of things of note were that Jason Thompson is trying to get as many players as possible to come to Sacramento early and start training and working out together. Also, Thompson, Cousins, and Whiteside are all going to the big mans camp that was started by the now deceased Pete Newell. I happy to hear that. Its a great camp and much can learned there.

http://khtk.cbslocal.com/2010/07/20/coach-paul-westphal-talks-about-jon-brockman/#more-3064

Thompson just stepped up his leadership on that one. Love to hear stuff like that.

Thanks for the info. Any other significant tidbits would be appreciated, as I can't listen to the interview.

 

[cuad]

Aren't the Thompsons just great? I think he's excited about the next year as much as we are. omg I just heard Westphal say that he likes Ryan Thompson! And he's the perfect guy for spot minutes here and there.

 

[bajaden]

I had no idea Pete Newel had passed. That thing has been "Pete Newel's Big Man Camp" for about as long as I remember watching basketball.

He died in November of 2008 at the ripe age of 93. He was a great coach and his big man camp was legendary. He was one of a kind. Just about every big in the NBA has gone through that camp. Usually more than once.

 

[Entity]

I tell you what I am pretty excited about Jason Thompson stepping up and trying to pull this together. The last time I remember this happening was Jermaine O'Neal the summer before the brawl that happened like 2 weeks into the season. At that time I think Indiana had only lost 1 or 2 games.

 

[Rookie]

Thompson I know would work hard to improve his game but I'm even more glad that our rookies wanting the same thing. I'm excited for our Big 3.

 

[bajaden]

Thompson just stepped up his leadership on that one. Love to hear stuff like that.

Thanks for the info. Any other significant tidbits would be appreciated, as I can't listen to the interview.

Regarding Brockman, he said they loved him and were sorry to see him go. Most of what he said, we already know. Great person, hard worker etc. He also said he understood Brockmans reason for leaving. The team, once big man poor, was now totally different. John was going to have a hard time finding minutes, so you can't blame him for moving on. He said he's very pleased with Cousins, but that he has a lot of work to do. What impresses him is in the amount of different ways that Cousins can score. Off the dribble. Posting up. Cutting to the basket, and with the jumpshot. He surprised me when he said that Cousins may be the best 15 ft jumpshooter on the team. He said that most of Cousins demeanor comes from the fire in his belly. And while Cousins has been critized to a large degree because of it, he'd rather have the player with the fire, instead of a player, in who he's trying to light a fire.

He realizes that Cousins has to learn how to channel his passions differently, my words, not his. I also listened to Bobby Jacksons interview and Jerry Reynolds interview. After listening to all three, one thing is clear. They look at Whiteside as a long term project, and not someone thats going to contribute right away. One of them said that he has to get a lot stronger, I mean, a lot stronger. I agree whole heartedly. Whiteside really got pushed around under the basket. But they were happy with his play and never considered him anything else but a project when they drafted him. Apparently they don't want to put too much pressure on the kid. But they're very high on him and think he's going to be a very good player in the league. They don't consider him a center.

Westphal said none of the guards stood out at summer league, but a couple of them might be invited to camp. Westphal liked Ryan Thompson in particular. One of them joked that they told Ryan he couldn't be Jason's brother, because he seldom made a mistake. Both Reynolds and Westphal agreed that the team needed better outside shooting. Neither offered as to how the team would aquire that shooting. Reynolds acknowledged that the team had gone to the Adam Morrison workout. He said that it was probably too early to write off Morrison's career just yet. But that didn't mean he would be with the Kings. He pointed out that Jon Barry and Mad Max had both struggled in their careers until they came to the Kings, and that sometimes a player has to kick around the league for a few years until they figure things out.

Thats all I can remember for now. You need to buy some speakers. The last thing you want to do is rely on my memory....

 

[Andre87]

I hate that the coach is always so skeptical of Donte

 

[bajaden]

I hate that the coach is always so skeptical of Donte

I didn't feel that Westphal was skeptical. I thought he was just being honest in his judgement. I happen to agree with his opinion. I stated in an earlier thread that I would give the edge to Casspi in the SF competiton as far as summer league went. But I'd hardly call it conclusive. Both had some good games and both had some less than stellar games. I gave the edge to Casspi because I thought he contributed more when his shot was't falling than Greene did. I thought Casspi rebounded better than Greene overall. But Casspi did make some bonehead plays at times, as did Greene. Greene has also fallen in love with his new found ballhandling ability. My point is, that he was over dribbling quite a few times instead of passing the ball. I think the Kings are high on both players, and personally I don't care who starts. Both are going to get a lot of minutes.

 

[Larry David]

Reynolds acknowledged that the team had gone to the Adam Morrison workout. He said that it was probably too early to write off Morrison's career just yet. But that didn't mean he would be with the Kings. He pointed out that Jon Barry and Mad Max had both struggled in their careers until they came to the Kings, and that sometimes a player has to kick around the league for a few years until they figure things out.

Yeah, that sounds like Jerry. Those 5-6 years as a starter putting up 15 a game in Houston don't measure up to V-Max's year as a Kings backup. Jerry never lets logic get in the way of his mouth

 

[bajaden]

Yeah, that sounds like Jerry. Those 5-6 years as a starter putting up 15 a game in Houston don't measure up to V-Max's year as a Kings backup. Jerry never lets logic get in the way of his mouth

Well Max did struggle, but not for the same reasons that some of the other players did. He struggled with the grey matter between his ears....

 

[Kingster]

Regarding Brockman, he said they loved him and were sorry to see him go. Most of what he said, we already know. Great person, hard worker etc. He also said he understood Brockmans reason for leaving. The team, once big man poor, was now totally different. John was going to have a hard time finding minutes, so you can't blame him for moving on. He said he's very pleased with Cousins, but that he has a lot of work to do. What impresses him is in the amount of different ways that Cousins can score. Off the dribble. Posting up. Cutting to the basket, and with the jumpshot. He surprised me when he said that Cousins may be the best 15 ft jumpshooter on the team. He said that most of Cousins demeanor comes from the fire in his belly. And while Cousins has been critized to a large degree because of it, he'd rather have the player with the fire, instead of a player, in who he's trying to light a fire.

He realizes that Cousins has to learn how to channel his passions differently, my words, not his. I also listened to Bobby Jacksons interview and Jerry Reynolds interview. After listening to all three, one thing is clear. They look at Whiteside as a long term project, and not someone thats going to contribute right away. One of them said that he has to get a lot stronger, I mean, a lot stronger. I agree whole heartedly. Whiteside really got pushed around under the basket. But they were happy with his play and never considered him anything else but a project when they drafted him. Apparently they don't want to put too much pressure on the kid. But they're very high on him and think he's going to be a very good player in the league. They don't consider him a center.

Westphal said none of the guards stood out at summer league, but a couple of them might be invited to camp. Westphal liked Ryan Thompson in particular. One of them joked that they told Ryan he couldn't be Jason's brother, because he seldom made a mistake. Both Reynolds and Westphal agreed that the team needed better outside shooting. Neither offered as to how the team would aquire that shooting. Reynolds acknowledged that the team had gone to the Adam Morrison workout. He said that it was probably too early to write off Morrison's career just yet. But that didn't mean he would be with the Kings. He pointed out that Jon Barry and Mad Max had both struggled in their careers until they came to the Kings, and that sometimes a player has to kick around the league for a few years until they figure things out.

Thats all I can remember for now. You need to buy some speakers. The last thing you want to do is rely on my memory....

Thanks. Much appreciated. From the sound of it, they might not be opposed to putting Whiteside in D league. Will be interesting to see their strategy to have him progress.

I'm a little concerned with all the talk about the diversity of Cousins' game, and his outside shooting. I'd like to see 90% inside, 10% outside at the most. It's hard to get rebounds and fouls when you're outside. Also, it's impossible to physically wear down your opponent when you're outside. All this verbage about his outside game for a 280 lb center is the last thing I want to hear right now...

 

[NME]

I'm a little concerned with all the talk about the diversity of Cousins' game, and his outside shooting. I'd like to see 90% inside, 10% outside at the most. It's hard to get rebounds and fouls when you're outside. Also, it's impossible to physically wear down your opponent when you're outside. All this verbage about his outside game for a 280 lb center is the last thing I want to hear right now...

http://blogs.sacbee.com/sports/kings/archives/2010/07/final-thoughts-4.html

"He has so much ability, and he's very smart," Westphal noted. "One thing that would help ... he can do so many things, but he needs to focus on doing a few things well (offensively)."

Westphal will work with him in honing down his game. I think the split will be more than 10 percent at least in the high post, if not the perimeter, but we won't see him floating all over the place like in SL.

 

[Kingster]

http://blogs.sacbee.com/sports/kings/archives/2010/07/final-thoughts-4.html



Westphal will work with him in honing down his game. I think the split will be more than 10 percent at least in the high post, if not the perimeter, but we won't see him floating all over the place like in SL.

If Westphal would just be less ambiguous and say that he'd like Cousins to work on becoming a dominant low post scoring center, it would take all of the guess-work out of this. Isn't that the message that you would want to send early-on to your big guy? We wouldn't have to ponder whether his game is going to be 10%, 20%, or 60% outside. Has anyone heard that specific message? I've heard a lot of stuff about diversity, and outside shooting, and passing, but I haven't yet heard that the Kings organization is firmly committed to developing Cousins as an inside low post back to basket force in the NBA.

 

[MizzouKing]

If Westphal would just be less ambiguous and say that he'd like Cousins to work on becoming a dominant low post scoring center, it would take all of the guess-work out of this. Isn't that the message that you would want to send early-on to your big guy? We wouldn't have to ponder whether his game is going to be 10%, 20%, or 60% outside. Has anyone heard that specific message? I've heard a lot of stuff about diversity, and outside shooting, and passing, but I haven't yet heard that the Kings organization is firmly committed to developing Cousins as an inside low post back to basket force in the NBA.

Let's not confuse what Coach is telling the general public with his actual communication to DeMarcus. It's a pretty safe bet that the private coach-player conversations are a lot more direct. Unless you're "calling someone out," you don't just belch out raw criticism onto the street. You tell it like it is in private, but use more measured and diplomatic words in your public comments, if you care about building trust with the player.

MK

 

[Kingster]

Let's not confuse what Coach is telling the general public with his actual communication to DeMarcus. It's a pretty safe bet that the private coach-player conversations are a lot more direct. Unless you're "calling someone out," you don't just belch out raw criticism onto the street. You tell it like it is in private, but use more measured and diplomatic words in your public comments, if you care about building trust with the player.

MK

All Westphal has to do is say something like: "We want Cousins to develop into a dominant low post back-to-the-basket player." He doesn't have to call him out or diminish his ego or criticize him. It's just stating what the goal is. It's giving him and us an idea of what is expected down the line. I don't think that's much to ask. Just some clarity, please.

 

[mr. moustache]

Obviously I want Cousins to work on his post game, but the fact that he has a high post game could really help Tyreke's dribble drive game. I'm not going to worry about misusing the big guy until I see problems in real games.

 

[The Hammer]

Thompson I know would work hard to improve his game but I'm even more glad that our rookies wanting the same thing. I'm excited for our Big 3.

Who are our "Big 3" again?

 

[bajaden]

All Westphal has to do is say something like: "We want Cousins to develop into a dominant low post back-to-the-basket player." He doesn't have to call him out or diminish his ego or criticize him. It's just stating what the goal is. It's giving him and us an idea of what is expected down the line. I don't think that's much to ask. Just some clarity, please.

Right now I think most of whats coming out of Westphal and others is more PR than anything else. Believe me, they know where Cousins strengths lie. Ellie was constantly on Cousins the last three games, telling him to get down in the post. Of course Cousins was both exhausted, and frustrated. It seemed that everytime he went down low the guards didn't get him the ball in a timely matter, and when he did get the ball he ended up being double or triple teamed. The more tired he became, the more he drifted out from the basket, or didn't set up close enough to the basket to be effective. I'm in no way excusing his play. Cruzdude and I expected his play to diminish as the games went on. So no surprise there. It just is what it is.

But back to your point. I do think the Kings are pleased that Cousins has more weapons in his arsenal than first advertised. That being said, I also think that they know his strength is his low post presence. And I think he knows it as well. He didn't become the best per minute rebounder in college by standing outside the three point line. To his credit, there was on moment where he recieved the ball outside the three point line and no defender was within 20 feet of him. For a moment I thought he was going to shoot the ball. But he did a pump fake as a defender ran toward him, put the ball on the floor and drove to the basket. He didn't make the basket, but was fouled and made both freethrows. Anyway, I don't think you have anything to worry about. If you kept track of all the games, I'm sure he spent a lot more time down low than out away from the basket.

Remember the Kings want to run more pick and rolls this year, so he needs to be able to play out at the top of the key. He has a deadly shot from 15 feet. Not so deadly as he moves further out. Also remember that your just looking at the first brush strokes of what he going to be down the road. He has a lot of growing up to do, and he'll give all of us a few grey hairs along the way. But he's going to be a good one. He wants to be great. He wants to be a hall of fame player. So he has the desire and he thinks big. Its a good start. Lets hope all his dreams come to fruition, because were along for the ride.

 

[Boogie-havoc]

Obviously I want Cousins to work on his post game, but the fact that he has a high post game could really help Tyreke's dribble drive game. I'm not going to worry about misusing the big guy until I see problems in real games.

That.

Obviusly not in the level he showed in SL, but still i'd want him to take those jumpers, maybe develop a pick 'n roll with reke, he seems to drive to the basket preety awesome.. once the team reachs a point where it's contending you'll cry for the skills DMC shows right now, we don't need to limit his game drasticly.

 

[Kingster]

Right now I think most of whats coming out of Westphal and others is more PR than anything else. Believe me, they know where Cousins strengths lie. Ellie was constantly on Cousins the last three games, telling him to get down in the post. Of course Cousins was both exhausted, and frustrated. It seemed that everytime he went down low the guards didn't get him the ball in a timely matter, and when he did get the ball he ended up being double or triple teamed. The more tired he became, the more he drifted out from the basket, or didn't set up close enough to the basket to be effective. I'm in no way excusing his play. Cruzdude and I expected his play to diminish as the games went on. So no surprise there. It just is what it is.

But back to your point. I do think the Kings are pleased that Cousins has more weapons in his arsenal than first advertised. That being said, I also think that they know his strength is his low post presence. And I think he knows it as well. He didn't become the best per minute rebounder in college by standing outside the three point line. To his credit, there was on moment where he recieved the ball outside the three point line and no defender was within 20 feet of him. For a moment I thought he was going to shoot the ball. But he did a pump fake as a defender ran toward him, put the ball on the floor and drove to the basket. He didn't make the basket, but was fouled and made both freethrows. Anyway, I don't think you have anything to worry about. If you kept track of all the games, I'm sure he spent a lot more time down low than out away from the basket.

Remember the Kings want to run more pick and rolls this year, so he needs to be able to play out at the top of the key. He has a deadly shot from 15 feet. Not so deadly as he moves further out. Also remember that your just looking at the first brush strokes of what he going to be down the road. He has a lot of growing up to do, and he'll give all of us a few grey hairs along the way. But he's going to be a good one. He wants to be great. He wants to be a hall of fame player. So he has the desire and he thinks big. Its a good start. Lets hope all his dreams come to fruition, because were along for the ride.

I'll take your word for it and won't worry (maybe a just a little).

One thing that concerns me about your report is that Cousins wasn't listening to Ellie when Ellie told him to get inside. If the kid doesn't do what the coach tells him to do, I would hope the coach pulls him out of the game and lets him sit for a while. Wouldn't you?

 

[Rookie]

Depend on situations. The coach can say one thing but on the court if the defender somehow act differently, the player needs to adjust as well. You want to go into the post but if you can't than you can't.

But I do agree that he should try to do what the coach would like him to do as best as he can.

 

[NME]

It's not like Cousins was just ignoring Ellie, he was physical incapable of doing it (at least with any consistency) at that point. Maybe you could argue that if he was mentally tougher he could have pushed and got down there a bit more, but Ellie's demands and leaving him out on the floor gassed were more like hazing to make a point than standard coaching.

 

[MizzouKing]

One thing that concerns me about your report is that Cousins wasn't listening to Ellie when Ellie told him to get inside. If the kid doesn't do what the coach tells him to do, I would hope the coach pulls him out of the game and lets him sit for a while. Wouldn't you?

Not if I placed a higher priority on driving home an even more important point, like how beat-up-from-the-feet-up a guy will be if he doesn't get himself in NBA shape, and where his conditioning level is truly at right now.

 

[Telemachus]

I'll take your word for it and won't worry (maybe a just a little).

One thing that concerns me about your report is that Cousins wasn't listening to Ellie when Ellie told him to get inside. If the kid doesn't do what the coach tells him to do, I would hope the coach pulls him out of the game and lets him sit for a while. Wouldn't you?

The problem with that is that Cousins kept begging to come out of the game (especially the final game), and Ellie just smiled and waved him to keep playing. I think he was trying to drive home the point that getting into shape needs to be important.

 

[Spike]

The problem with that is that Cousins kept begging to come out of the game (especially the final game), and Ellie just smiled and waved him to keep playing. I think he was trying to drive home the point that getting into shape needs to be important.

I noticed this as well.

 

[RookieOfTheDay]

That's really good to hear. Seems like this young group has a great rapport and really wants to improve as a team. Hopefully that will translate to a lot more W's next season.

 

[Kingster]

It's not like Cousins was just ignoring Ellie, he was physical incapable of doing it (at least with any consistency) at that point. Maybe you could argue that if he was mentally tougher he could have pushed and got down there a bit more, but Ellie's demands and leaving him out on the floor gassed were more like hazing to make a point than standard coaching.

He either gets his butt in the post, or he gets his butt on the bench. Otherwise, you're just enforcing a bad habit.

 

[Kingster]

The problem with that is that Cousins kept begging to come out of the game (especially the final game), and Ellie just smiled and waved him to keep playing. I think he was trying to drive home the point that getting into shape needs to be important.

That's a fair point. Ellie had as his first priority to get Cousins in shape. Personally, I'd rather have as first priority to get his butt in the paint, and leave getting in shape to the suicides in practice. To me, you're just teaching a bad habit. Reasonable people can differ, however.