When Donte' Greene was traded to the Kings from Houston over the summer, no one in Sacramento knew just how long it would be until the 20-year-old rookie small forward out of Syracuse would make an impact.
He did just that on Wednesday night in New Orleans, where the Kings salvaged a split on their two-game getaway by pulling a 105-96 upset over the Hornets in which Greene received the first start of his NBA career. After opting to start veteran Bobby Jackson at shooting guard the night before and move John Salmons back to his natural small forward position in light of an ankle injury to forward Mikki Moore, Kings coach Reggie Theus put Salmons back at shooting guard and inserted Greene into the lineup. Greene, who looked as if he may have been headed for the NBA Development League just two weeks ago, responded with 15 points on 5-of-9 shooting and had no turnovers in 35 minutes. The move couldn't have panned out better for Theus, whose job security has been a major topic of discussion in Sacramento this week.
With the team's owners clamoring to see their young prospects develop, these sorts of developments could go a long ways toward securing Theus' future.
Greene played 13 minutes at Memphis on Tuesday night. But to that point, he had yet to play more than eight minutes and had not played at all in six of the team's 11 games.
KINGS 105, HORNETS 96: One night after losing so miserably to the lowly Memphis Grizzlies, the Kings recovered in a big way for the upset at New Orleans Arena. Swingman John Salmons set the pace with 29 points on 13-of-18 shooting, but it was veteran guard Bobby Jackson who provided a well-timed second half surge to help finish the job. He hit a three and a baseline jumper late to help the Kings pull ahead, and his suffocating defense on Chris Paul helped contain the Hornets point guard down the stretch.
