Voluntary Conditioning Program Begins Sept. 8

Sam Amick of The Bee reports the Kings will kick off its voluntary conditioning program on September 8. Players can come to Sacramento and participate in the program in order to skip the conditioning test at the start of camp, which is apparently a front office thing instead of a Reggie Theus thing. If you'll remember last season, Spencer Hawes couldn't make the voluntary program, and initially begged out of the conditioning test. Amick reports that Hawes will be in Sacramento to take part in the program this year. (We should also note that Hawes eventually took and passed the test when it became a media/fan issue, and he was in terrific shape when he showed up.)

Strength and conditioning coach Daniel Shapiro said he expects about seven players to show up. Donte Greene and Jason Thompson are both back East, but I suspect they'll return. (Greene has been in Sacramento working with Shapiro most of the summer. JT has constantly tweeted about doing his lifting in the mornings.) Omri Casspi and Kevin Martin have been working out with David Thorpe in Bradenton, Florida. (Martin actually showed up unannounced a week earlier than expected to get some extra work in.) Omri has been working on getting into the best shape of his life as well as working on some skills to help translate his game to the NBA. (He has told people that he's never worked out so hard in his life ... and he still has two more weeks in Bradenton left. Good luck, Omri.) Martin is ... well, you know what Martin does every summer: he gets in beastly shape and adds something to his bag of tricks. These two will be in Sacramento about 15 days before the start of camp, but you certainly aren't worried about their conditioning if they've each spent three weeks with Thorpe. (In fact, it's quite the opposite.) They'll pass the test on first attempt.

I've heard that despite the summer league blow-up, Hawes has been working his ass off every day. And again, this jibes with last summer -- Hawes came into camp looking much more fit than in his rookie season. Sean May has been tweeting about his difficult work-outs in North Carolina. Beno Udrih and Francisco Garcia are playing with their national teams (there's no way Beno will be back in Sacramento by Sept. 8; Garcia is questionable). Sergio Rodriguez is still in Spain as far as I know, and Jon Brockman (still unsigned) has tweeted a few times about various Seattle events, so he's up there. Tyreke Evans is on Mars learning the way of the Space Shaolin Ninja.

(Is that everyone? Oh, yes, Kenny Thomas. No idea, though I think he popped up at the ARCO training facility at some point. Being in shape hasn't been his issue.)