Starting Five Beginning to Emerge for Sacramento Kings

With the regular season approaching fast, the Sacramento Kings need to start settling the uncertainty surrounding their starting five. And it appears as if head coach Keith Smart is starting to do just that, as he gave a few hints on who's leading the various competitions for starting roles.

Smart told reporters that the battle for starting spots in the backcourt is still up in the air at this point.

"Three guys (at point guard among Aaron Brooks, Jimmer Fredette and Isaiah Thomas) have done a good job," Smart said, according to Jason Jones of the Sacramento Bee. "No one has really separated themselves. Off guard (Tyreke Evans and Marcus Thornton), nothing really earth-shattering there. The two guys have done a great job."

But Smart did imply that the starters in the frontcourt have already been determined. Two of those jobs—power forward and center—had pretty strong favorites entering training camp and preseason. Small forward, however, seemed to be a pretty open competition.

Of small forward, Smart said that "one guy is starting to move ahead based on what he's doing." As Jason Jones points out in his article, that guy is probably James Johnson, largely because of the defensive presence he brings to the team.

The matchup for the starting job at power forward was between four-year player and incumbent starter Jason Thompson and a promising rookie in Thomas Robinson. Thompson figured to get the nod over Robinson due to his experience. Smart basically confirmed as much when he said, "The (power forward) spot is kind of settled down."

As far as center is concerned, why there was even a competition is mind-boggling. Beyond the pure promotion of competitive spirit, there was no question that DeMarcus Cousins was going to be the team's starting center.

But in the sake of stating the obvious, Smart said, "we don't have anybody that can push (DeMarcus Cousins) yet."

All in all, the only thing really gleaned from Smart's comments is that James Johnson will be the starter at small forward. There are still spirited battles at point guard and shooting guard and there really haven't been any indications of where Smart's leaning based on his preseason lineups.

But with the season almost here, it's time for someone to emerge from the pack at both of those spots.

Follow me on Twitter: @SimRisso

Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/2012/10/22/4928350/kings-notes-wholl-start-smart.html#storylink=cpy

Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/2012/10/22/4928350/kings-notes-wholl-start-smart.html#storylink=cpy

Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/2012/10/22/4928350/kings-notes-wholl-start-smart.html#storylink=cpy

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Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/2012/10/22/4928350/kings-notes-wholl-start-smart.html#storylink=cpy

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Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/2012/10/22/4928350/kings-notes-wholl-start-smart.html#storylink=cpy