LAS VEGAS - This would be a great pace to rave about the play of DeMarcus Cousins. But if you read the tweets and the story in tomorrow's Bee, there will be plenty of that.
Instead I'll look at the backcourt, where the players on the Kings' Summer League team are competing for an invitation to training camp.
And considering he's Jason Thompson's brother, it's surprising it took me this long to get to writing about Ryan Thompson.
He scored 12 points today while playing point and shooting guard.
"I actually ran a lot of point in college," Ryan said. "My coach liked to have the ball in my hands so I'm familiar with the point guard position."
And like Jason, Ryan's style of play was altered by a growth spurt.
"Growing up I was always a point guard because I was smaller than everybody," Ryan said. "And as I got taller (he's listed at 6-6) my position changed."
Ryan is quickly becoming a favorite of Mario Elie. When Elie talks about him, it sounds as if Elie sees a little bit of himself in Ryan.
"He's a good glue player out there," Elie said. "He doesn't demand the ball. You don't notice him out there, but true basketball fans notice what he does out there."
*The DeMarcus Cousins-Greg Monroe "battle" proved to be anticlimactic.
On this day Cousins was clearly the better player. He had 14 points and 10 rebounds. Monroe had seven points and seven rebounds.
*If the competition at small forward is being graded daily, I'd declare it a draw after one game.
The plan was to play Donte' Greene most of the time at small forward, but he had to leave the game 3:11 into the first quarter with a bloody nose.
He returned and played 18:30. Casspi actually played more time than Greene, totaling 20:15 on the floor.
Casspi had 16 points, making five of 10 from the field. He hit three of his five three pointers.
Greene had 11 points on five of 11 shooting.
If the planned rotation is kept, Casspi would start tomorrow against the Lakers.
*Here's some video highlights from today's win over Detroit:
--Jason Jones
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