By Ailene Voisin
avoisin@sacbee.com
I screwed up. There is no other way to say it. In Thursday's column about Carl Landry, in which the Kings forward discussed his frustrations with the team's disappointing season, I relied heavily on my written notes and messed up one of his quotes.
After Landry complained publicly that he was misrepresented, I compared my written notes with my tape-recording of the interview and immediately recognized a discrepancy in one particular paragraph.
Accuracy in our industry is everything. These were supposed to be his words, not mine.
What I quoted him saying was: "The basketball IQ on this team is not very good," Landry said, "and that (knowledge) takes time. If you look at J.T. (Jason Thompson), he's had three or four coaches in his four years, coaches that probably weren't that good. Everybody in this league can play. But it's about spacing, having the right guys on the floor, running the right play. Move the ball. Set back screens, down screens, and play together. Our shooting percentage is so low because everything is one-on-one."
What he actually said was: "If you look at the last couple years ... Jason Thompson has been here for three years. He's probably had about three or four coaches in the last three or four years, coaches that actually, probably, weren't very good. That's why they're not here. So the knowledge, the basketball IQ of this team is probably not where it needs to be."
Later, he also said: "Everybody in this league can play. But it's about spacing, having the right guys on the floor, running the right play. Move the ball. Set back screens, down screens, and play together. Our shooting percentage is so low because everything is one-on-one."
As I tried to illustrate in the column, this was not an angry diatribe. I called to apologize Friday but was told by a Kings media representative that Landry wants to drop the matter and move on.
Nonetheless, my apology stands. I can keep learning, keep striving, and say I'm sorry when I have made a mistake.
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