The refreshing taste of victory against Golden State on Saturday served as a reminder to the Kings that hustle and rebounds can generate a lot of goodwill.

And then there's Pete Carril, the Hall of Fame coach who douses that good cheer by reminding all comers that this is still very much a work-in-progress process: The Kings have one triumph in four exhibition attempts. There are three more exhibition games this week as the crash course session begins on tightening up a player rotation as the season opener at Oklahoma City looms.

When Carril stopped scrimmage Monday afternoon to make a point, everyone listened, including head coach Paul Westphal, who hustled over to absorb the tutorial. Carril coached the Kings summer league team while Westphal watched. Now the roles are reversed, though Westphal indicated he'll always listen to the grand old coach.

"I just love to hear what he has to say," Westphal said. "He really has the total freedom to say whatever he wants, to whoever he wants, whenever he wants.

"You're wise if you listen to him. He's someone who will say the truth in what he says."

Carril acknowledged the team's potential and youth, nodding in approval as he worked with players on post-practice shooting before the club departed for tonight's game in Phoenix. There, the Suns offer an uptempo test with some veteran leadership in Steve Nash and Amare Stoudemire.

There will be more pick-and-rolls, too. Westphal said he liked how the Kings defended the Warriors' pick-and-roll and transition defense, saying it was "miles better than it was against the Lakers (in an earlier exhibition loss)."

Nash will go against rookie Tyreke Evans, who has impressed in the exhibition season as a rookie who looks like he belongs. Evans had 16 points, six rebounds and three assists in a lot of point-guard duty Saturday in the 101-94 win over the Warriors. He did have six turnovers, one in the second half. More work in progress.

"It's a night in the NBA," Westphal said. "We want (Evans) to penetrate. He's going to have turnovers. We want him to be aggressive. For the most part, he makes good decisions, and as long as he's making good decisions, we'll live with the results."

In Nash, Evans will contend with a two-time MVP who can run foes silly with a variety of skills.

"I'm looking forward to playing him," Evans said.

Said Westphal, "Steve Nash is one of the geniuses to ever play that position. At the same time, Steve's going to have a tough matchup."

Stoudemire is back after an injury-plagued 2008-09 season. Jason Thompson had a Stoudemire-like night against the Warriors with 20 points and 20 rebounds as the Kings won the rebounding battle 56-38. Sacramento was 29th in the NBA in rebounding last season.

"We're obviously going to try and attack (Stoudemire) to get him out of the game," said Thompson. "They don't have too many veteran bigs. We should take advantage of that."

Westphal said he likes the on-court rapport between Thompson and Evans.

"They have a really nice chemistry together," the coach said. "They seem to know where the other is. They both have ability to play inside and out, to handle the ball. It's really fun to see that, especially when you have a weapon like Kevin Martin to distort the defense."

Martin had a game-high 32 points against Golden State.

Call The Bee's Joe Davidson, (916) 321-1280.