Posts tagged FranciscoGarcia at FanHouse

Via HoopsHype, Listin Diario reports Al Horford will play for his birth nation, the Dominican Republic, later this month in the Centrobasket tournament in Cancun. The top two finishers will be entered in the 2009 Tournament of the Americas; the top three teams not already entered in the 2010 World Championship pool get berths then.

Horford's Dominican roots were on display when he was drafted in 2007, as his father Tito waved the nation's flag as the Hawks selected Al with the #3 pick. The D.R. hasn't been relevant in international basketball ever, but Horford immediately makes the team a threat to win Centrobasket (take that, Najera!) and possibly place in the FIBA Americas '09.

Horford will be joined by Sacramento firefly Francisco Garcia, who could very well play every position but center for the team. I'd expect former Manhattan University point guard Luis Flores to show up as well. Bucks survivor Charlie Villanueva has two Dominican parents, but I've never heard rumor of him joining the team. Get these guys together though, and that headline will only be 25% farcical.

(Speaking of farce: Yeah, I'm a little obsessed with Caribbean basketball. I dream of Samuel Dalembert and Quincy Douby reconstituting the Haitian national team and destroying Carlos Arroyo and Peter John Ramos in the 11th-place game of the 2012 London Olympics.)

We showed you J.R. Smith's unfortunate bonked windmill earlier and mentioned it loomed large in Denver's eventual 3-point loss to the Kings. There were, of course, other causes -- turnovers galore, a bad night for Allen Iverson, huge scoring nights for Kevin Martin, Francisco Garcia and Mikki Moore.

Whatever the impetus, the result has caused a ton of trepidation in Mile High City. From the Denver Post's game story, by Benjamin Hochman.

You have to be kidding. ... Saturday's loss was inexplicable and inexcusable. ... What an embarrassment.

That was the game story! Columnist Woody Paige, who is possibly the worst living American wordsmith, reacted to the loss by calling for just about everybody's head. (Seriously, unless he wrote that entire "column" on a BlackBerry while strung from his toes upside-down over a pool filled with barbed wire and salt, the Post has no excuse to employ that guy. Awful.)

All the stories from Denver focus on the fact the Kings were without Ron Artest and Brad Miller, two VIPs for the Kings. Of course, they neglect to realize Martin is probably the Kings' best player, and those fellows John Salmons and Garcia are pretty good too. To Hochman and Paige, this was a total shock. Pickaxe and Roll, a Nuggs blog, noted before the game it wasn't a gimme. Maybe the combination of this Kings win -- along with one last week over the Rockets -- will make media folks in future opponent cities prepare for possible defeat.

Sam Amick of the Sacramento Bee checks up on the three-month-old hammer of Reggie Theus -- before this season, the coach instituted a midnight curfew on the eves of road games and banned cell phone usage on the team bus. Many expected a war, especially with a team rife with veterans and so-called difficult players. How are The Reggie Rules working?

"The rules are set in that, basically, if they do talk on the phone, they're quiet," said Theus, whose team finished its eight-day trip with a 3-2 record after its win in Milwaukee on Wednesday. "And if they do come in past 12 o'clock, then it (shouldn't be) past 1 o'clock. To me, if you come in after 1 o'clock, then I would consider that (an infraction)."

Theus did catch Francisco Garcia chatting it up in Spanish on the bus last week (nice camouflage there, Flaco); instead of a pimp slap or even a warning, Theus sent him a sternly-worded text message telling him to pipe down.

In fairness, The Reggie Rules looked ridiculous in October, but they seem to be working. Theus says guys are talking to each other on the bus and have stronger relationships -- it shows on the bench, where it seems the players actually get excited when another hits a big shot. Did that happen last year? Not much. You were more likely to get a story about Eric Musselman hitting the club with Ron Artest and Mike Bibby than you were to see seven Kings waving towels.

It's bad that the Kings' rising star Kevin Martin is down for a while with injury. The team's two best young players--you know, the people you develop when you can't win--play the same position. That would be John Salmons and Francisco Garcia, and we saw this before when Ron Artest missed some time.

From The Sacramento Bee:

García's long-range shooting ability brings a benefit, Theus said, as it would open the floor more offensively and maintain spacing that allows Artest to operate in the post and possibly avoid being double-teamed so often ... Salmons, who averaged 20.7 points and led the team in assists (4.0 per game) while starting for Artest in the first seven games, is effective in isolation play and known as a strong defender.

Both have some point guard skills, but aren't cut out for that position. Which is a shame, since the Kings could still use some help there. The bottom line, though, is that these two swingmen could probably play well together, and could turn into very good players. But unless Artest moved over to power foward, the team went small, and the known world ended, the two are going to get in each other's way.

Or they could follow Kelly Dwyer's advice and start trading everyone. Scorch the earth, and let Martin, Garcia, and Salmons scamper around with impunity.