The Sacramento Kings are extremely high on their rookie Willie Cauley-Stein and they think he could be a nice compliment to their star player DeMarcus Cousins in the front court for the present and the future. Cousins is more of the offensive guy while Cauley-Stein is the defensive guy so the fit between the two seems perfect. The Kings haven't decided who is going to start alongside Cousin's this season but Cauley-Stein is one of the players that is said to be involved in that competition. Up to this point though it's not looking great for the rookie as he is reportedly out of shape, according to The Koz And Bru Show.
The report comes from Kings Insider James Ham who was making an appearance on the radio show and he said he would be shocked if Cauley-Stein gets a lot of minutes early in the season.
"He is going to open the season at 14 minutes a game, if he's lucky. When you show up to camp and you can't run up and down the court twice without being so winded you have to pull yourself off the court, then something's wrong," said Ham.
This is a bit of a surprise because Cauley-Stein is known for his athleticism and his ability to get up and down the floor which requires some sort of stamina. In his three years at Kentucky Cauley-Stein never played more than 26 minutes per game so he wasn't required to be in the best shape but now that he is in the NBA he is going to have to get in much better shape if he wants a starting role.
Regardless of what kind of shape the rookie is in it seemed as though George Karl was leaning towards starting Kosta Koufos anyway with Cauley-Stein coming off the bench. The problem now is that Cauley-Stein may not even be able to play a lot of minutes off the bench as the report says he would be lucky to be able to handle 14 a game.
This could be a problem for the Kings at the beginning of the season as their frontcourt isn't very deep. Quincy Acy would be next in line for minutes if Cauley-Stein isn't in better shape and behind him is Eric Moreland who has played two minutes in his NBA career. The best solution might be to go small and play Rudy Gay at the four should Cauley-Stein not be ready for regular bench minutes when the season starts.
Cauley-Stein was the sixth overall pick so the Kings are clearly expecting a lot out of him. So far though his rookie campaign isn't off to a great start and if these reports are true the Kings might have themselves a bit of a problem.
