The media was able to see the three-guard lineup many have wondered about this season during tonight's scrimmages.
Tyreke Evans, Marcus Thornton and Jimmer Fredette were on the court together along with J.J. Hickson and DeMarcus Cousins the first time around before the bigs began rotating.
The three-guard set was successful for the Kings last season. Evans and Thornton were especially aggressive on offense in that lineup.
The difference now is instead of steady Beno Udrih running the show, it was the rookie Fredette playing point guard.
Kings coach Paul Westphal liked what he saw early from the guards and he wants the uptempo game to show up on both ends of the floor.
"It really worked well at one point," Westphal said. "They ran off 12, 15 points in a row. They were picking up fullcourt, we're going to do a lot of more of that this year....they got out and were explosive."
Big Project
It's hard to miss Hassan Whiteside when he's on the court in transition situations.
Whiteside was able to block some shots during practice and showed off his shooting range with a jumper from the top of the key. Whiteside also had a nice scoring play in the paint for a dunk.
But the 7-footer still isn't being counted on to be a contributor immediately in his second season.
Whiteside's first season was cut short by injury and included an uneven experience in the D-League. He was also injured much of training camp.
Whiteside played in one NBA game all season.
"He's still got a long way to go," Westphal said. "He had some nice moments but he's a very young and inexperienced player. He's got a lot to learn but he's got some things that you can't teach as far as his shot blocking and offensive rebounding. He's a worthwhile project."
Post-practice Routine
Hickson has spent a lot of time working with the assistant coaches after practice both evenings of training camp.
Tonight he worked a lot with Keith Smart before Jim Todd and Bobby Jackson joined Smart to help out.
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