Not long after Isaiah Thomas was drafted by the Kings, Lorenzo Romar, his college coach at Washington, helped him acquire game video of his new teammates.
Thomas studied their tendencies, particularly how former Kings point guard Beno Udrih ran the team, so that he would be better prepared to play alongside them.
That's because, as the last pick in the NBA draft, Thomas wanted to do all he could to not be cut.
"I didn't know if I was going to make the team or not," Thomas said. "But now being the starting point guard and having my own night – it's something I never thought would happen."
It was Thomas' night Wednesday at Power Balance Pavilion. Arena employees and fans wore "I.T. Factor" T-shirts with the Twitter hashtag #IsaiahROY, part of the social network movement to garner Rookie of the Year votes for Thomas.
Thomas was sixth among rookies in scoring entering the game against the San Antonio Spurs, averaging 11.4 points per game.
Thomas won Western Conference Rookie of the Month in February and March.
Thomas is averaging 15.1 points and 5.2 assists in 32 games since becoming the starting point guard. Still, he said he was "surprised" to learn of the plans.
"Coming in as the last pick, coming into the season and no one really expected anything from me," Thomas said. "And toward the end of the year for the organization and for Reebok to set aside and do a night like this is big."
Injury update – John Salmons missed his 13th consecutive game because of a sore right hip. There is still no timetable for Salmons to return to the lineup, but with four games left in the season, it's looking unlikely that he will play again anytime soon.
Kings coach Keith Smart said last week that Salmons would need to be cleared and need time to get back in shape before he could play again.
Center Hassan Whiteside (sprained right ankle) missed his third game and is expected to miss the rest of the season.
Familiar visitor – Former Kings assistant coach and Basketball Hall of Fame member Pete Carril is visiting the team this week. Carril was on staff last season.
© Copyright The Sacramento Bee. All rights reserved.
• Read more articles by Jason Jones
(function() {
if (document.getElementById('gigyaShareBarStyles') === null) {
document.write(([
''
]).join(''));
}
if ((('gigya' in window) === false) || (('socialize' in window.gigya) === false)) {
document.write(unescape('%3Cspan style=visibility:hidden%20type%3D%22text%2Fjavaspan style=visibility:hidden%22%20src%3D%22http%3A%2F%2Fcdn.gigya.com%2Fjs%2Fsocialize.js%3FapiKey%3D2_-qT8zCFUanAVuj9IHG8BL0mo7xAwmoFMx7p23-DoJVCwjuLZhuEcsH5pmSPYnJ1-%22%3E%3C%2Fspan style=visibility:hidden%3E'));
}
})();
(function() {
window.gigyaShare_randid = 'gigyaShareBar_' + ((0x7FFFFFFF * Math.random()) >> 0).toString();
document.write(([ '' ]).join(''));
})();
(function(randid) {
Sacbee.load([ 'Shortener', 'API' ], function() {
Sacbee.Shortener.shorten(window.location.href.replace('//preview.', '//www.'), function(evt) {
var lurl = evt.longURL;
var url = (evt.success) ? evt.shortURL : lurl;
/*
var lurl = window.location.href;
var url = lurl;
*/
var act = new gigya.socialize.UserAction();
act.setTitle('Sacbee - ' + unescape("Kings%20notes%3A%20Thomas%20all%20smiles%20on%20his%20own%20night"));
act.setDespan style=visibility:hiddenion(unescape("Not%20long%20after%20Isaiah%20Thomas%20was%20drafted%20by%20the%20Kings%2C%20Lorenzo%20Romar%2C%20his%20college%20coach%20at%20Washington%2C%20helped%20him%20acquire%20game%20video%20of%20his%20new%20teammates."));
act.addMediaItem({ type: 'image', src: 'http://media.sacbee.com/smedia/2012/03/31/20/27/yNnmu.Em.4.jpg', href: url });
act.addActionLink('Read this story', url);
act.setLinkBack(url);
showShareBarUI_params = {
containerID: randid,
shortURLs: (evt.success) ? 'never' : 'whenRequired',
shareButtons: [ ],
showCounts: 'right',
userAction: act
};
showShareBarUI_params.shareButtons.push({ provider: 'Share'/*, iconImgUp: 'https://cdns.gigya.com/gs/i/sharebar/icons/share3.png' */, enableCount: false });
showShareBarUI_params.shareButtons.push({ provider: 'Facebook', enableCount: false });
showShareBarUI_params.shareButtons.push({ provider: 'Twitter', enableCount: false });
showShareBarUI_params.shareButtons.push({ provider: 'googleplus-share', enableCount: false });
showShareBarUI_params.shareButtons.push({ provider: 'Stumbleupon', 'url': lurl, enableCount: false });
showShareBarUI_params.shareButtons.push({ provider: 'Email' });
gigya.socialize.showShareBarUI(showShareBarUI_params);
}, 'sb-bitly', { }); //shorten()
}); //load([ 'Shortener', 'API' ])
})(gigyaShare_randid);
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.