Probably not. But he's the best the Kings have at the moment -- even if it's not exactly a high standard -- and may turn out to be one of the better options once the roster is set for October, so it's a possibility.
Coach Reggie Theus said as much today, that he'd rather play Garcia at shooting guard and small forward but that more Garcia at the point has to at least be considered.
It would have been on the table anyway with second-round pick Sean Singletary the only natural at the position. Garcia's development there the second half of last season becomes another momentum shove for the idea.
The Kings have to like the opportunities for creating mismatches with 6-7 Garcia and 6-7 Kevin Martin in the backcourt. The obvious drawback: there would be payback on defense and Sac is bad enough there without Garcia in a transition period.
If the Kings re-sign Beno Udrih, which may not happen, trade for a new true PG or grab Udrih's replacement from the same free-agent market, the Garcia-as-starter theory becomes moot. Until then, it's in play on some level.
The transcribed Theus interview after the press conference to introduce draft picks Jason Thompson, Patrick Ewing Jr. and Singletary:
Question: Are you starting to give any thought to John Salmons as the starting point guard or Francisco Garcia as the starting point guard?
Answer: Only if I have to. I think that Francisco showed great improvement toward the end of the year in his ability to run the team. I worry most that when we put him at the point, it took away from what he did best, and that is to be a spot-up shooter, a catch-and-shoot guy. But at the end of the year, he started to get better at scoring off the dribble.
He's 6 foot 7, 6 foot 8. Point guards in this league are not very big, so he's able to shoot over the top of them. I watched him at the end of the season take on full-court pressure from Allen Iverson and a couple other veteran guards who needed the basketball at that point of the game and he handled it very well. He's going to make some mistakes some down there, but I thought at the end of the year he showed great promise in terms of being able to handle that position at times. Would I want to start him? No. Would I want to start John? No. But if we had to do it by committee, we could do it.
Q: Could you see those two handling the primary job as the point guard and maybe Sean Singletary or somebody else pitching in or you're not comfortable with either of them as starters?
A: I could see more Francisco playing point. If we had to do something, Francisco would play the point and Singletary would be backing him up.
Q: But that clearly isn't your preference.
A: No. Not at all.
Q: Is Francisco going to be at summer league?
A: He's not really going to play, but he's going to work out with us. Francisco, he's in the gym every day.
Q: Are you at least going to run him at the point more in anticipation of possibly using him there more or are you going to keep him at shooting guard and small forward for most of those drills?
A: I think that he'll play his natural position. It's always nice to have players that have those types of skills, that if you need them, you can call on them. I don't necessarily think that's what we're going to do with him in summer league. I think we're going to put him at (shooting guard). If he has to play some (point guard), we would. But certainly we're going to be trying to get Sean as many minutes as we can at the point-guard position. And then, of course, we're still going to have (Quincy Douby), too.
Q: I was going to ask about him. The feeling last season was that he's definitely a shooting guard. Because of team needs, is there a possibility he may get another look at the point?
A: If I thought it would help him become a better player at the same time, I would do it in a heartbeat. I'm just not sure that's best suited for him. He's a better player when he's able to play free, just catch and be natural with the basketball.
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