FanHouse DonteGreene

Three prospects from basketball-crazed Israel -- Doron Shefer, Lior Eliyahu and Yotam Halperin -- have been drafted by NBA teams in the past. But all were second-round picks, and none of the three made the league. But Omri Casspi took a major step for Israeli basketball by making into the first round, where the Kings picked him at No. 23.

There had been fears Casspi would be selected by a team seeking to "stash" him in Europe for a year or two, keeping his salary off the books but preventing another team from grabbing the talented forward. That won't be the case with Sacramento. The Kings need a talent infusion now. After speaking with team officials, Casspi told media he would be in the NBA in 2009-10.

Casspi will be competing for minutes with Donté Greene, an electric forward acquired in last year's Ron Artest trade. Andres Nocioni seems to be the de facto starter at the position, but there have been suggestions he'll be traded this offseason. Francisco Garcia also spends some time at the three, and begins a five-year deal this season.

Every night there are some stupendous, silly, stupid, or downright outlandish individual lines from around the "lig." Doing Lines lets you know which one tops the list.

Alvin Gentry knows how to make a statement. The Suns again went over 100 possessions and again went for 140 points. With Amar'e Stoudemire felled by a detached retina, Leandro Barbosa helped destroy the Thunder. Barbosa had 41 points on 16-21 shooting, with seven rebounds, seven assists, six assists and one turnover. The Blur simply brutalized his defenders, getting to the rack and hitting from long-range.

NBA Essentials provides the must-see links, quotes and videos of the day.

* "No big deal. I'm going to have own private dunk contest at my house. Just me. I'll be the only one invited." -- Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel.

* "A while ago, back when Myspace was more like Facebook and less like Adultfriendfinder.com, I came across LaSalle Thompson's page in a random Pacers search. Assuming it was some sort of fan site, I sent a friend request. But instead of being accepted, I receive a not-at-all-friendly 'Who's this? Do I know you?'" -- Basketbawful.

Elie Seckbach, the Embedded Correspondent, brings his exclusive video reporting to FanHouse. Check back regularly for more videos.

Millions of Americans were very excited about the victory of President-elect Barack Obama, and that included many of the NBA's players. In this video we hear from the players about what the victory means to them. Al Thornton tells us the results brought him to tears, while Stephen Jackson says he is excited, but regrets his great-grandparents aren't alive to see this day. We also hear from Tim Thomas, James Singleton and more, while another player says he is now interested in visiting the "Black House".

Check out the full video after the jump.

One thing the NBA has too many of: swingmen. The D-League is littered with shooting guards and small forwards good enough to play in the bigs, and you'll find most domestic players who end up taking a European payday fall in the swing positions. It is a bountiful position.

The Kings currently have one healthy non-rookie swingman. One. Francisco Garcia strained his calf in the preseason, and will be on the sidelines another week at least. Quincy Douby (a failed point guard, now an Eddie House-style two-guard) twisted his ankle early in camp and has only been back long enough to re-injure himself.

Most recently, Kevin Martin sprained his ankle hard in Sunday's win over Golden State, and he'll be out 7-10 days.

That leaves starting small forward John Salmons and the rawest rookie of them all, Donté Greene, as the only swing players left.

Rook Check takes a look at the progress of NBA Rookies throughout the season.

The nation held its breath as two exciting young teams met in Minneapolis last night. ... Wait, what? No one watched the Kings and the Timberwolves battle? Well, that's surprising. And unfortunate, because it was quite a game.

The two rookies who saw burn played extremely well. The style of Minnesota's Kevin Love -- skilled but bruising -- definitely translated against a soft Sacramento interior. Love hammered the boards relentlessly (nine rebounds in 18 minutes) and scooped in some crafty buckets (12 points). Concerns with his athleticism were only relevant on a few plays; in one of those, an opposing forward soared over Love to tip in an offensive rebound.

That opposing forward was Jason Thompson, Sacramento's surprise pick at No. 12 last June. Thompson had a shocking, masterful game with 18 points and 10 rebounds in 22 minutes. Kings fans didn't expect to see much Thompson, even with Brad Miller suspended for the first five. To see J.T. enter the game early in the first quarter and stay on the floor ... a pleasant surprise. J.T.'s defense needs to improve, but the potential spilled all over the court Wednesday; both these rooks can be good this year.

Also of note: Donté Greene, a rookie forward Sactown acquired in the Ron Artest trade, made the inactive roster. His fro-hawk is at roughly six glorious inches, and his suit was natty. And his show debuts soon. This rook's making first team All Awesome this year.

Houston's outgoing rookie class might have a touch of rhythm, but Sacramento's newcomers are surely taking over the throne this season. The dance contest starts at about 2 min 40 sec.



That's Jason Thompson up first, followed by Bobby Brown and Donté Greene. Thompson wins the crowd vote, but Greene's wilin' antics get my trophy.