21-year old shooting guard Tyreke Evans is off to a rough start to his sophomore season in the NBA.  Evans has played in 14 games (all starts) for the Kings so far this year and he is averaging 36.8 minutes, 17.4 points, 4.9 rebounds, 5.4 assists and 1.7 steals per game.  While those aren’t terrible numbers, his shooting has been way off so far this year.  Evans is hitting 40.8% from the floor and he’s only 5 of 27 (18.5%) from three point range.  Evans is the best offensive player the Kings have so they need him to pick up the pace.

The Kings have decided to replace Carl Landry as the starting power forward with Jason Thompson.  Landry has played in 15 games (14 starts) for the Kings so far this season and he is averaging 29.3 minutes, 13.6 points, 5.5 rebounds and 0.8 assists per game.  I pretty sure this move was made with defense and rebounding in mind as neither of those are Landry’s strengths.  Jason Thompson has played in 14 games (2 starts) for the Kings so far this year and he is averaging 15.7 minutes, 5.7 points, 4.6 rebounds and 1.0 assist per game.  I like this move for the Kings as Thompson is just a tougher player around the basket, plus, Landry has played his best basketball off the bench to this point in his NBA career.

The Kings have waived 26-year old SG/SF Antoine Wright.  Wright only played in 7 games (0 starts) for the Kings this season and he averaged 4.4 minutes, 0.3 points and 0.4 rebounds per game.  He did not shoot too well for the Kings hitting only 1 of 8 shots from the floor (12.5%) and he was 0 for 4 from three point range.  I would think that some team will pick up Wright but the Kings aren’t going to miss him.

The Kings have decided to send 21-year old rookie center Hassan Whiteside to the D-League.  The 7’0″ Whiteside has played in only 1 game for the Kings so far this year.  He played 2 scoreless minutes in that game but he did pick up 2 fouls.  The Kings have a lot of players in front of Whiteside in the frontcourt so I like this move because Whiteside will learn more from playing than sitting.

24-year old power forward Jason Thompson is the forgotten man on the Kings this year. He has played in 9 games (1 start) for the Kings this season and he is averaging 15.2 minutes, 5.3 points, 4.4 rebounds and 0.9 assists per game. Thompson is too darn good to be wasting away on the Kings’ bench playing only 15 minutes a night. If the Kings don’t start playing him more than maybe they should deal him as he likely still has a lot of value to a team that can give him 30 minutes a night.

20-year old PF/C DeMarcus Cousins is off to a solid start to his NBA career. He has played in 10 games (6 starts) for the Kings so far this year and he is averaging 22.6 minutes, 10.8 points, 6.6 rebounds and 1.2 assists per game. Cousins has an amazing upside and I think he will move into the starting lineup by the second half of the season. 21-year old center Hassan Whiteside has only played in 1 game (0 starts) for the Kings so far this year and he played 2 scoreless minutes getting 2 fouls. The Kings are going to bring him along slowly. 27-year old Eugene “Pooh” Jeter has also only played in 1 game (0 starts) in which he scored 2 points in 4 minutes. Jeter, like Whiteside, has a lot of guys on the depth chart that he would have to pass to start getting consistent playing time.

The Kings just couldn’t keep up with the Lakers last night. Tyreke Evans led the way for the Kings last night with 21 points, 1 rebound, 2 assists and 1 steal in only 29 minutes on the floor. Carl Landry (17 points, 5 rebounds, 1 assist and 1 steal), Beno Udrih (17 points, 5 rebounds and 8 assists) and Francisco Garcia (17 points, 5 rebounds, 2 assists and 1 steal) also pitched in with solid games for the Kings last night. The Kings are now 3-2 on the year.

20-year old DeMarcus Cousins is off to a very impressive start to his NBA career. Cousins has started his first 4 games of his NBA career and he has averaged 23.3 minutes, 14.0 points, 6.5 rebounds and 2.3 assists per game. Cousins is giving the Kings the toughness that they have craved as he is a good offensive player around the rim and he has been making his free throws. Cousins has shot 50% from the floor and 81.8% from the free throw line so far this year. If Cousins keeps playing well the Kings will have no choice but to increase his playing time.

The Kings outscored the Raptors 33-22 in the 4th quarter to pull out a nice victory at home last night. Tyreke Evans led the way for the Kings last night with 23 points, 7 rebounds, 5 assists, 2 steals and 1 blocked shot. Beno Udrih also had a solid game for the Kings last night with 17 points, 3 rebounds and 1 assist. DeMarcus Cousins only played 17 minutes last night but he still finished up with 16 points, 4 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 steal and 1 blocked shot. Omri Casspi pitched in with 14 points, 2 assists and 1 steal last night. The Kings are now 3-1 on the year.