The Sacramento Kings have just sent out a formal press release regarding second year center Hassan Whiteside.
KINGS RECALL HASSAN WHITESIDE FROM RENO
SACRAMENTO, CA —- The Sacramento Kings today recalled center Hassan Whiteside from the Reno Bighorns of the NBA Development League, President of Basketball Operations Geoff Petrie announced. Whiteside will rejoin the team in Sacramento prior to Saturday’s contest versus the Golden State Warriors at Power Balance Pavilion.
Whiteside was assigned to the Bighorns on January 1st and averaged 7.8 points (.521 FG%, .343 FT%), 6.5 rebounds, 3.0 blocks and 18.9 minutes per game in 11 contests (started five). He recorded double-figure scoring in four games with his most notable performance coming versus the Sioux Falls Skyforce (1/13), where he tallied 15 points (7-10 FG, 1-2 FT), 10 rebounds, and two blocks in 29 minutes. Whiteside also registered 13 points (5-9 FG, 3-9 FT), nine rebounds, and six blocks in his first appearance with Reno versus Fort Wayne (1/3).
Whiteside has played a total of two minutes in his NBA career, spending most of last season on IR with a knee issue. This season, he is buried on the depth chart behind DeMarcus Cousins, Jason Thompson, J.J. Hickson and Chuck Hayes. Considered a project when the Kings drafted him, Whiteside is still young and has the physical tools to be a top flight shot blocker.
The Boston Celtics of the 1960s were known for their staunch defense, the New York Knicks of the 1970s were gutsy, the Los Angeles Lakers of the 1980s had “Showtime,” and the Chicago Bulls of the 1990s had that killer instinct led by the greatest player ever.
While not great, the very good Sacramento Kings teams of the early 2000s were at least known for their crafty passing and the Phoenix Suns of the same decade had the “7 Seconds or less” rule on offense.
For this Sacramento squad to get to the next level, they need something to define them.
Head Coach Keith Smart wants to run, but admitted that the Kings are not quite ready to begin a continuous fast break.
“They are not in the type of shape that is necessary to have a team run, or how I have been able to coach teams to run.” Smart said after practice last week. “Everyone wants to run, but I have been given the opportunity to know how to train a team to be a running team.”
You may need a lot more than knowledge to take on this identity.
Keith Smart is preaching two keys for the Sacramento Kings as they move forward with this season.
Freedom and spacing.
“A lot of the shots that we have are coming out of duress where we’re too close to each other,” the Kings new head coach said following practice Saturday at their Natomas training facility.
“I’m basically trying to create the proper spacing for this group so that they can have a better open look to shoot the ball, as opposed to having someone right on top of them,” he added.
Kings guard Marcus Thornton agrees with his new head coach’s philosophy.
“That’s a big deal in the NBA,” Thornton told reporters. “Teams that have the best space usually win the most games.”
Smart is keeping things simple for the Kings. He doesn’t want to overload them with too much information, considering the lockout compressed-calendar and recent firing of former head coach Paul Westphal.
“These are normally things you would do through the course of a training camp,” Smart said. “But I gotta do it on the fly right now, while still trying to keep them free enough to play as athletes.”
Amidst the drama surrounding DeMarcus Cousins and Sacramento Kings head coach Paul Westphal, the assignments of rookie Tyler Honeycutt and Hassan Whiteside became footnotes in the news. However, the demotions are part of a league-wide trend over the last week.
Last night, camp began with a Q&A with Geoff Petrie, followed by two hours of viewing time during the team’s scrimmage. We have seen more basketball action in the first two days of camp this season than all 20-plus days of last season combined. I like the policy change.
With players trickling back to Sacramento, the Kings practice facility in Natomas was a bit livelier today. Francisco Garcia, DeMarcus Cousins, Tyreke Evans, Isaiah Thomas, Jason Thompson, Hassan Whiteside and J.J. Hickson all wandered onto the practice court at various times this afternoon.
Since they’re currently not obligated to, none of the players addressed mediaonly Jason Thompson addressed media (I had to leave before he did). But the curtain was raised while a few of them organized a light scrimmage session. We have some video (without audio) of that, plus additional notes after the jump.
You’ve probably seen LeBron James (twice actually) and more recently, Chris Paul handle their business against the younger generation. Now watch as Kings center Hassan Whiteside goes to work on kids at a student rally yesterday at Jesuit High School.
One additional note: A student in the video asks Whiteside what’s been the toughest challenge he’s faced in his career so far, and no surprise, he says the knee injury that kept him out his rookie year. Out of everyone who played in the Goon Squad Classic two weeks ago, the general consensus among those in attendance was that Tyreke Evans looked the most impressive. But considering the left knee issues Whiteside battled all season, I was pretty impressed by the Kings center, who said before the game he had just been cleared to start playing a few weeks ago. Granted the GSC was just an exhibition, however Whiteside looked explosive and moved fluidly throughout the game. When I asked who impressed him most after the game, Donté Greene co-signed:
Hassan looked real good. Hassan Whiteside didn’t get a chance to play last year, injury-prone. So it was good to see him out there getting dunks and doing his thing.
Every NBA coach has the fear that one or more of his players are going to come back from this long lay off way out of shape. It’s happened before. Shawn Kemp and Vin Baker are two players that come to mind when people speak of the 1998-99 lockout. These two went from all-star power forwards to poster children for what can happen when players are left to their own devices.
Before his rookie season, DeMarcus Cousins fell under attack for being a player who was out of shape. I’m sure some people circled Cousins’ name on their lockout weight gain betting pools. He may have even been one of the favorites. Well, it didn’t happen. I saw DeMarcus last weekend at the Goon Squad Classic and he looked like he was in great shape. Wait … I have video.
Cousins wasn’t the only King to show up for Donté Greene’s charity game. Jason Thompson looked like he hadn’t missed a day in the gym all summer, but that is typical for JT. Rookies Jimmer Fredette and Isaiah Thomas also looked lean and ready to play, but you expect that out of rookies. Greene, who came into camp at 260-pounds last season, some 15 to 20 pounds heavier than his previous season playing weight, looked as though he had learned from the previous mistake. Hassan Whiteside played a total of 4 minutes for the Kings last season due to injury. The second year big man out of Marshall looked like he had continued to stack weight on in a positive way.
Coming into the game, there had been chatter that Tyreke Evans had added a few pounds. While I don’t want to say that the face of the Kings franchise looked portly, he was definitely thicker through the mid-section. Be it muscle or just a winter coat, Evans still dropped 54-points and looked good doing it.
The players have a little bit of time to fine tune and get ready for camp, which barring a major setback in negotiations, should start on December 9th. This should be a very busy couple of weeks for the Kings as they not only gear up for a shortened 66-game season, but also figure out a way to spend a whole lot of cap space.
The team over at Yay Area’s Finest put together an amazing mixtape of all the highlights from the Goon Squad Classic. Tremendous tip of the hat to them for their work.
