So I was perusing the Sacramento Bee as I tend to do when I wake up and I came across this piece from Sam Amick about Beno and Westphal differing over playing time. In it, we are getting two different stories about the condition of Beno’s feet and the results on the court because of this injury.

Paul Westphal is saying the sore right foot and plantar fasciitis has slowed Beno Udrih down a step, which seems completely logical. Westphal kept Beno out of the game on Wednesday and instead played Sergio Rodriguez. But apparently, Beno said he was “fine” and okay to play basketball on the injured foot. He says he’s been dealing with it all season:

“I’ve been icing it after every game, playing with it. I didn’t say I don’t want to play because of my plantar fasciitis. I said, ‘I’m fine.’ He just decided he’s going to play Sergio. That’s his decision. Not mine.”

This is a point in which you’d like players to put the ego aside and gain some perspective. The Kings are a bad team right now and can’t seem to get a W to save their lives. When Kevin Martin came back, it meant that Beno’s starting spot was going to disappear. In fact, his minutes were going to be cut because now you had a player coming back and taking away starter’s minutes in the process. Add in Beno’s bad foot with a serious nagging injury and the fact that Sergio Rodriguez seems to get things done on the basketball court in his limited playing time and of course Beno is going to see a dip/hit in his minutes.

But instead, he’s going to pout a little and claim that he’s no longer being involved.

You remember this conversation he had with Carmichael Dave on Media Day?

This was frustration with the Theus/Natt regime (more Natt than anything) of throwing him in the corner and making him a spot-up shooter. But I don’t see that going on since Kevin Martin has returned from injury. Beno is still getting opportunities to run the point, run the offense and create like he loves to do. You’re still seeing pick-and-roll plays with him. You’re still seeing him come off screens and create mid-range jumpers.

So what gives?

Maybe this is Beno’s default complaint. When things aren’t going right for him, he decides that he’s just being thrown to the corner (literally and figuratively). Personally, I think it’s dumb for him to play through this plantar fasciitis. It’s a serious injury that can have damaging long-term affects if it isn’t treated properly. He needs to sit some games now to get his body right rather than try to play through it on a team that will be lucky to reach 30 wins.

With the money he’s signed up for, it’s better to fix the injury now with rest and treatment than feed his ego and need to prove the validity of his contract.

One of the more surprising moments for me on Media Day was walking upon an interview between Carmichael Dave and Mid-Level Exceptional point guard, Beno Udrih.

It’s no big revelation that Beno was the ire of a lot of fan’s frustration last season and rightfully so. At times, it appeared as if he didn’t seem to care much about basketball success because he hit the jackpot with his 5-year, $30 million contract during the 2008 off-season. The weird thing is by the numbers, Beno had a pretty comparable 2008-2009 campaign with the Kings as he did in the 2007-2008 season when he seemingly came out of nowhere and pleasantly surprised Arco attendees (back when people used to attend the games in person).

Here are his numbers from his two seasons in Sacramento:

2007-2008 Season: 12.8 ppg | 4.3 apg | 0.9 spg | 32 mpg | 46.4% FG | 38.7% 3FG | 85% FT | 2.3 topg
2008-2009 Season: 11.0 ppg | 4.7 apg | 1.1 spg | 31.1 mpg | 46.1% FG | 31.0% 3FG | 82% FT | 2.2 topg

There isn’t a whole lot of difference in the two seasons. But there was clearly something missing in his game. You could see it when you watched his movements and demeanor on the court. He just wasn’t the same confident guy. Tom Ziller did a great “deconstruction” of Beno in a post, showing a correlation between Udrih’s three-point shooting and his confidence as a player. And really, the three-point shooting is the only significant drop off in his production between the two years.

So why was Beno so down last year? Perhaps it was his frustration with feeling that he wasn’t involved with this team at all:

Beno Udrih Frustrated With Last Season’s Confusion from Zach Harper on Vimeo.

While I think a lot of this has to do with sour grapes because of his fall off in fan acceptance and feeling like he was unfairly ignored in the Kings offensive scheme, he could still have a valid point. Monday night, I went back and watched the January 14th game between the Kings and Warriors — a game that went to triple overtime and ended by the hands of John Salmons. The Kings were victorious 135-133 after 63 minutes of basketball. In that game, Beno Udrih played 56 minutes and finished with 17 points and 7 assists. He shot just 7/21 from the field and 0/5 from long range (part of that falling confidence) but there were moments in which he shined.

During his time on the court, Beno was involved in quite a few pick and roll plays. And in those plays, he looked extremely comfortable on the court — much more comfortable than I ever remember seeing him last season. Now, if the Kings ran a Stockton-Malone type of offense with Beno and either Spencer or JT, would Beno Udrih be worth his contract? Probably not. But perhaps, he’s been written off too early by everybody (including myself). I still don’t think he has any business starting in this league but if his role is defined and it’s as the backup point guard, does anybody think that he can be worth more value than frustration for this squad?

Personally, I would much rather watch the point guard combination of Tyreke Evans and Sergio Rodriguez. They have the potential for a lot more firepower and this team needs more than just a competent P&R point man. But this was an educational look into where Beno’s psyche is heading in the second year of an albatrossian deal.

By the way, Ziller’s NBA Fanhouse report of this interview.