The Sacramento Kings (5-8) found themselves down 10 at the half and they were not able to rally back against the Memphis Grizzlies (5-9) Monday night.  The Kings came out sluggish in the second half, scoring only 19 points in the third quarter and letting the Grizzlies build their lead.  There was not much defense played in this one, and the Grizzlies were able to out-shoot the Kings, hitting 54% of their shots.  They also gave up 49 bench points to the Grizzlies, which is terrible.  Rookie Tyreke Evans led the way for the kings, scoring 28 points, 4 assists, and 4 rebounds.  He had 5 turnovers though, and the Kings had 21 as a team.  Every starter scored in double figures for the Grizzlies and Rudy Gay led the way for them with 24 points, 8 rebounds, 3 assists, and 3 steals.

The Sacramento Kings (5-5) had 21 turnovers and lost to the Chicago Bulls (6-4) at home Tuesday night.  Jason Thompson had a bad game for the Kings, turning the ball over 7 times and finishing with only 8 points and 5 fouls.  He did have 9 rebounds, but he needs to take care of the ball better and not foul so much.  The Kings let the Bulls bench get way too many points, as Bulls reserve guard Jannero Pargo lit them up in the second quarter for 12 points.  They also let Brad Miller get 11 points, 4 rebounds, and 2 assists in only 22 minutes.  Tyreke Evans fared very well against fellow former Memphis phenom Derrick Rose, playing 42 minutes and finishing with 20 points, 4 rebounds, 4 assists, 3 blocks, and 2 steals.  The Kings need to do a better job shutting down opposing team’s bench players, because when you give up 31 bench points you are not giving yourself a very good chance at winning.

27-year old Beno Udrih and 23-year old Sergio Rodriguez will try man the point for the Kings this season. 27-year old Beno Udrih is a shoot first point guard. He played in 73 games for the Kings last season and he averaged 31.1 minutes, 11.0 points, 3.0 rebounds, 4.7 assists and 1.1 steals per game. The Kings brought in Sergio Rodriguez in a trade with the Blazers on draft day and he could battle Udrih for the starting job at some point this season. He will open the season as Udrih’s backup. He is a pass first type of point guards. Rodriguez played in 80 games for the Blazers last season and he averaged 15.3 minutes, 4.5 points, 1.6 reboudnds and 3.6 assists per game.

PROJECTED GRADE FOR THE POINT GUARDS IN 2009-2010: C