Remember the issues Paul Westphal had with the offense when the Kings had two assists in the first half last week against the Clippers?
Well heading into tomorrow's game, he's still not happy with the progress. I'll let him tell you how he sees the offense:
"We're not cohesive yet by any means. We're one pass and shot. That's not the way we want to play unless it's the shot we want. We're not getting enough ball movement. We're not setting enough screens. We're not cutting, we're not looking to the weakside. We're dribbling too much and we don't know the plays. Other than that we're a finely tuned machine."
The problems are somewhat expected. The Kings added new players. Some, like DeMarcus Cousins and Pooh Jeter, were brought in to play key roles on offense.
Then there have been the injuries that have made for some unique lineups.
Westphal said his offense isn't too complex and that even us media types could learn it.
By the way, Westphal likes to joke with the media. So maybe we couldn't learn the offense, but I'd like to think I could.
What's serious is the Kings are struggling with the offense. They shot 34.1 percent against Golden State on Sunday and 41.3 percent the game prior to that.
So what does Westphal want? It doesn't sound too difficult.
"If you're open shoot it," Westphal said. "If somebody else is open, pass it. If they're guarding you move. It's not that hard."
Nope, doesn't sound too hard. That's easy for me to say from behind my laptop, right?
*The injury news remains the same for three Kings.
Samuel Dalembert (strained left adductor), Hassan Whiteside (strained left patellar tendon) and Beno Udrih (sprained right shoulder) are all out.
Forward Carl Landry (eye) is probable.
No return date is set for Dalembert, Whiteside or Udrih. Of the trio, Udrih is the most likely to return anytime in the near future.
With all the injuries, Westphal gave Tyreke Evans, Jason Thompson, Cousins and Landry the day off from scrimmaging. With back-to-back games coming up and the depleted roster, he's trying to keep them fresh.
The rest of the team scrimmaged so the coaching staff could get a better look at how they are progressing.
There was filmwork today, too, to go over things to fix on offense and defense.
--Jason Jones
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