Kings rookie small forward Donte' Greene entered play late in the first quarter against the Clippers, and there was no reaction from the fans inside the Staples Center. Yet back in Sacramento, Kings basketball president Geoff Petrie may well have let out a cheer at the sight of the youngster getting a chance to show his skills.
Greene's early playing time was among the less obvious progressions in the Kings youth movement, but it was progress nonetheless. He hit two shots for five points and grabbed two rebounds in eight minutes, which was nothing compared to the latest outburst from rookie forward Jason Thompson. Like Greene, Thompson -- who had 16 points and 11 rebounds in 33 minutes -- is part of the organization's new core of young talent that they wanted to develop as quickly as possible. And while the Kings' 4-5 start could be seen as better-than-expected, the play of Thompson, second-year center Spencer Hawes and -- to a degree -- rookie point guard Bobby Brown has been enough to prompt Petrie to offer an ear-to-ear smile.
Hawes had a quiet outing against the Clippers, but he has taken his scoring, blocks and rebounding to a level that even Petrie couldn't have predicted thus far this season. Brown has also recovered from a slow start and is producing in limited minutes behind starter Beno Udrih.
KINGS 103, CLIPPERS 98: Beno Udrih flirted with the idea of signing with the Clippers as a free agent last summer before returning to the Kings. On Wednesday night at the Staples Center, he made them pay anyway.
The point guard scored a career-high 30 points on 13-of-20 shooting and had seven assists as the Kings notched their first road win. After missing the final two exhibition games with a strained left hip flexor and starting slow in the first five games, he has hit 36 of 63 shots (57.1 percent) in the last four games while averaging 16.1 points.
