(From the diaries. Rather brilliant and obvious takedown of the decision to let Kenny Thomas play while Justin Williams racks up the DNP-CDs. -TZ)

Last 4 games played combined:

Kenny Thomas:
39 minutes, 8 rebounds, 0 points, 0 assists, 0 blocks, 1 steal, 5 turnovers, 9 fouls, 0-3 FG, 0-0 FT

Justin Williams:
DNP-CD

I think it's time that Reggie Theus stands by his word and puts Justin into the game instead of K-9 (b-arf).

Reggie has said many times that he is going to play the players that produce. He says he is going to play the players that hustle and bring it every night. If a player is not producing he will make a change. So he says. In almost all instances, he has stuck to his word. His philosophy. His creed. Except with Kenny Thomas.

Why?

Are there reasons that the Kings and Theus would put Thomas on the floor instead of Justin? Sure:

1) The Kings are trying to "showcase" Thomas for a trade. Show that he is healthy and can be a part of a team's plans.
Well, with these stats I don't think any GM is going to be knocking on Petrie's door. Actually, no GM will be.

2) Kenny is much more experienced than Justin.
Guess what? So is Vitaly Potapenko. So is Chris Dudley! If they were here, should they play ahead of Justin Williams?? Uh, no.

3) Kenny makes less mistakes.
How can you prove this if Justin is spending the whole 48 minutes picking splinters out of his ass? Kenny has committed a ton of turnovers this year and 5 in the last 39 minutes he's played as well as 9 fouls. I don't see how Justin could do much worse. Also, with time on the court, a young player should improve while Kenny is what he is.

4) Justin is a horrible free-throw shooter.
Yes he is and he needs to work much harder on it to be a legit 20+ minute a night player yet how many free-throws has Kenny made in the past 4 games? None. How many attempts? None. I don't think Justin could do any worse. In fact, nobody could.

5) Kenny will whine if he is benched.
GOOD! Maybe it's time he sits his butt down and realizes that he has to play well for Theus to get minutes from him. If he whines, let him watch the game from the locker room.

6) Justin is not playing well enough in practice to warrant any playing time.
Obviously, there is no way I can refute this but I doubt this is the reason that the Kings and Theus are not playing Justin. However, if by some small chance it is, I will say that I doubt that Kenny is tearing it up in practice either. Some players are practice players and suck in games, sometimes the reverse is true. Obviously Kenny is not doing it, give Justin a try. Maybe he's a "gamer".

7) Kenny makes too much money to let him just sit on the bench all game.
Yes he does. Still is this really a good reason to play Thomas instead of Williams? Do I really have to answer that? This is probably the worst of all the reasons.

Is Justin a savior? 97.26% no, but we KNOW 200% that Kenny isn't. Playing Justin ten minutes a game, no matter how bad he does is not going to be much worse than playing Kenny those minutes. Justin is a team guy, energy player and very athletic. By playing him, Theus might find out that there's something to be said about active legs, youthful energy, hustle, fire and ability to run the floor, block shots, and rebound. Hmm, sounds exactly like what Theus likes out of his players.

So he says anyway.