Casspi and coach have words

Omri Casspi's frustration with being marginalized in the Sacramento Kings' recent games boiled over on Friday night in Philadelphia.

By ALLON SINAI
casspi with jersey 88 (photo credit: )
casspi with jersey 88
(photo credit: )
Omri Casspi's frustration with being marginalized in the Sacramento Kings' recent games boiled over on Friday night in Philadelphia.
Casspi and coach Paul Westphal had a brief but heated exchange in the second half of the loss against the Sixers, when the Israeli rookie didn't want to be taken out of the game.
After a superb start to the year, Casspi has dropped down in the pecking order over Sacramento's last couple of games, ever since star shooting guard Kevin Martin returned from injury.
Casspi scored six points and took six rebounds in the team's last two encounters, a 98-86 defeat at Philadelphia on Friday and a 96-86 loss on the road to the Washington Wizards on Saturday.
On Friday, he let his temper get the better of him, but a day later, Casspi and Westphal said the issue had been resolved immediately.
"I've been on the team 40 games, and even when I had bad days, I never had an argument or fight with nobody," Casspi said. "[The outburst] was part of the game. I got frustrated a little bit in the third quarter. I didn't really feel involved in the offense."
Casspi will not be fined for his outburst, but Westphal said that he will not tolerate a reoccurrence of the incident.
"I think Omri is super-competitive, and we want players who are super-competitive, but we've got to control our emotions, too," said Westphal, who also added that Casspi's starting small forward spot is by no means secure.
"He got a little upset about coming out of the game. Everybody gets upset about coming out of a game, but he is in a fight for playing time as well as in a fight with the other team.
"You have to focus your fight towards the other team and do as well as you can and make the most of your playing time."