NEW ORLEANS – The Kings' second unit has been altered a lot lately.
Coach Keith Smart had worked on developing a rotation where he could play five reserves at once, but that hasn't been possible recently because of injuries.
The biggest loss has been guard/forward John Salmons, who missed his 10th consecutive game Wednesday because of a sore right hip, an injury that had nagged him before he was sidelined.
Salmons was averaging 8.1 points and shooting 53.4 percent in 14 games as a reserve.
"He'd gotten to the point where he understood the position (point guard) as well as understanding how to keep that group under control," Smart said. "He and Francisco (Garcia) and Chuck (Hayes) were really good at keeping things under control. Anytime we were down or holding on to a lead, that group came in and pushed us ahead or solidified what we were doing."
With seven games remaining in the season, there's no timetable for Salmons' return. Since the injury, he has not been with the team on trips.
"It's more so what our training staff says," Smart said. "Plus, he hasn't been able to run, so now you're dealing with a conditioning issue. I know his basketball conditioning has dropped completely, and you have to deal with that part of that as well as whatever the setback from the injury might be. When they tell me he's ready to go, he'll be ready to go."
The addition of Terrence Williams has helped Smart deal with the loss of Salmons. But the Kings also have been without Garcia (concussion) for the last three games.
Smart said there are no plans to keep Garcia out the rest of the season.
"I think when you start X-ing players off, it doesn't sit well with the team," Smart said.
More injuries – Backup center Hassan Whiteside left Wednesday's game with 5:01 left in the second quarter because of a sprained right ankle and did return.
© Copyright The Sacramento Bee. All rights reserved.
• Read more articles by Jason Jones
What You Should Know About Comments on Sacbee.com
Sacbee.com is happy to provide a forum for reader interaction, discussion, feedback and reaction to our stories. However, we reserve the right to delete inappropriate comments or ban users who can't play nice. (See our full terms of service here.)
Here are some rules of the road:
• Keep your comments civil. Don't insult one another or the subjects of our articles. If you think a comment violates our guidelines click the "Report Abuse" link to notify the moderators. Responding to the comment will only encourage bad behavior.
• Don't use profanities, vulgarities or hate speech. This is a general interest news site. Sometimes, there are children present. Don't say anything in a way you wouldn't want your own child to hear.
• Do not attack other users; focus your comments on issues, not individuals.
• Stay on topic. Only post comments relevant to the article at hand.
• Do not copy and paste outside material into the comment box.
• Don't repeat the same comment over and over. We heard you the first time.
• Do not use the commenting system for advertising. That's spam and it isn't allowed.
• Don't use all capital letters. That's akin to yelling and not appreciated by the audience.
• Don't flag other users' comments just because you don't agree with their point of view. Please only flag comments that violate these guidelines.
You should also know that The Sacramento Bee does not screen comments before they are posted. You are more likely to see inappropriate comments before our staff does, so we ask that you click the "Report Abuse" link to submit those comments for moderator review. You also may notify us via email at feedback@sacbee.com. Note the headline on which the comment is made and tell us the profile name of the user who made the comment. Remember, comment moderation is subjective. You may find some material objectionable that we won't and vice versa.
If you submit a comment, the user name of your account will appear along with it. Users cannot remove their own comments once they have submitted them.
Order Reprint
About Comments
Reader comments on Sacbee.com are the opinions of the writer, not The Sacramento Bee. If you see an objectionable comment, click the "Report Abuse" link below it. We will delete comments containing inappropriate links, obscenities, hate speech, and personal attacks. Flagrant or repeat violators will be banned. See more about comments here.