SACRAMENTO -- Training camp continued Friday morning with the team running through offensive play sets. The coaching staff has a young roster and plenty of teaching to do before the team breaks camp on Sunday and heads to Phoenix for their opening preseason game against the Suns on Monday evening.
There isn’t a lot to glean from 5-on-0 drills, but it’s clear that the Kings are going to play with pace, even in their half court sets. Here are some of the highlights from the fourth day of training camp in Sacramento.
-Dave Joerger returned to the media scrum after taking Thursday’s session off to allow his voice to recover. Reporters had to lean in to hear him speak over the noise of basketballs hitting the hardwood, but he’s pushing his players to get out and run which takes a certain amount of vocal commands.
“We’re impressed that the level of conditioning has jumped already in a couple, of days,” Joerger said. “We’re going to continue to push and try to run and be a young, athletic, energetic group.”
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- There was a Bogdan Bogdanovic sighting following practice. The second-year shooting guard underwent a procedure on his left knee Monday in New York and is expected to miss the next 4-6 weeks of action.
“He’s smiling for a guy who loves to play and loves his teammates,” Joerger said. “He certainly wishes he could be playing and he’s going to try to play faster than he should and we’re going to try to make him wait longer than he should. The battle rages on.”
- The players continue to take turns chatting with the media. On Friday, both Justin Jackson and Yogi Ferrell took turns fielding questions. For Jackson, it’s his second season in the league and he seems more confident and comfortable in who he is as a player.
“It helps whenever you’re confident within yourself outside of basketball,” Jackson said. “And then once you’re good with yourself there, then everything else kind of falls in line. I would definitely say I’m a little more confident, a little more settled in to who I am.”
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- Jackson is competing for minutes at the small forward position and might even slide over and see some time as a stretch four in certain lineups.
“Man, however I can be on the floor,” Jackson said about playing the power spot. “I don’t mind it at all. I think we can get out and run pretty well whenever we go smaller. It think it opens up kind of the driving lanes a little bit more for some of our guards because it’s just more spacing. I wouldn’t mind playing the four at all. However he needs to use me, however I can get on the floor, I’ll do it.”
- Ferrell joined the team late in the free agency period after waiting for the Dallas Mavericks to figure out their plans. He’s fast and can play both guard positions for Sacramento, adding another ball handler to the rotation.
“I want to be a part of something that can be building long-term and to create a dynasty,” Ferrell said about what intrigued him about the Kings. “That’s what really brought me and attracted me to Sacramento was the youth and their style of play.”