Spencer Hawes Benched
By Bryan Rose
Like this team needed anymore dysfunction to it.
Prior to yesterday’s game, the Sacramento Bee released an article which quoted Sean May, Spencer Hawes, and Tyreke Evans on the struggles of playing time and the rotation. None of what the three players said was rude or inappropriate nor was any of it harshly directed at Paul Westphal. Well, apparently, Paul didn’t think so. Westphal informed Hawes that he would not be playing in last nights blow out loss to the Pistons nor would he even dress for the game.
For those of you wondering, here are the quotes from May, Hawes, and Evans:
Sean May:
"“Coach is probably going insane just trying to think of things to help us out, but it’s extremely difficult,” May said. “And you can see it with guys coming in and out of the starting lineup – especially J.T. (Jason Thompson) and Spencer, and how they’re up and down. It makes it tough.“It’s hard. Every (general manager) and every coach wants consistent results. That’s all anybody wants in this league, a consistent player, consistent results. But any time you have an inconsistent system, it’s hard to ask for consistent results, and I think that’s where a lot of guys’ frustration is right now.”"
Spencer Hawes:
"Hawes acknowledged his frustration, saying “that’s about right” when asked if this trend made an already-tough situation tougher.“All year we’ve kind of been dealing with that,” he said. “When you think you have kind of gotten over that hump, it comes back up again. That’s the philosophy, so you’ve just got to deal with it.“Everyone up and down the roster has had a taste of that, so everyone can relate. I think it’s kind of tough, the not-knowing part on a game-to-game basis, to get in that rhythm. But that’s the way it’s going and there’s not a whole lot you can do about it.”"
Tyreke Evans:
"Even players like Tyreke Evans, who play consistent minutes, conceded that it is a hot topic among the team.“Guys never know when they’ll be having their time to play or they might be (starting),” Evans said.“They’re going into the game confused, and when they get into the game they want to impress the coach and (try) to play well. … It’s probably hard for a player to keep that focus when they know that if they’re playing bad they might not go in again.”"
After the game, Kings beat writer Jason Jones explained that Sean May approached Westphal prior to the game and informed him there was no ill will on his part to which Westphal agreed. He also mentioned that Tyreke hasn’t been in the league long enough to know how to deal with the media, more or less…but Hawes should know better.
I’m not really sure what to make of it all. I can’t imagine Paul is that thin skinned and that they’re had to be something more to it….at least, I would hope so. I’m far from a Spencer Hawes fan, but if there wasn’t more to it…we’ve got a serious problem.
In unrelated news, *woof woof* Kenny Thomas is gone. The Kings bought out Kenny the other day and also released Larry Hughes who came over in the Knicks trade. Hughes never had any intention of coming to Sacramento nor did the Kings have any intention of using the problematic guard. As for Kenny, well, it’s the end of an era. I never really disliked the guy – just his contract. Our good buddy over at Bleed Black & Purple talks about the curious case of Kenneth (Kenny) Cornelius Thomas, which is totally worth a read.