Orien Greene May Start Wednesday

Sam Amick updates the point guard search: Earl Boykins said no to the minimum and there's no interest in Gary Payton. It's clear Reggie Theus wants to bring someone in; it's a matter of whether Geoff Petrie can convince someone to step in and also whether Petrie thinks anyone available (Keith McLeod? Ugh...) can help the team.

In lieu of anyone new, Amick hints Orien Greene might start Wednesday night. Theus, though reasserting he wants another point guard, seems optimistic about the chances of Greene and Quincy Douby to succeed.

Via the practice quotes on Kings.com, Theus also set the stakes for the two kids.

For that reason, I think I'd start Greene. Douby's shown some nice defense, but Greene (as has been stated) is a Monster. He averaged a steal for every 9.5 minutes in preseason. He almost single-handedly caused about four 24-second violations. Quincy fights on defense -- through screens, in transition, for rebounds -- but Orien fights, too. And Orien just has more skill on defense. He knows what he's doing.

The offense is going to suffer, especially without Ron Artest banging and even more if Brad Miller sits out (!). Quincy at the point adds a stylistically similar player to Kevin Martin and John Salmons; the Kings need someone who's going to step back and pass the ball. It's going to be ugly either way: If it's Greene, that's an easy double team on Martin/Salmons; if it's Douby, you have three guards trying to create off the dribble individually while the other four players stand around. Neither Greene nor Douby helps the resulting starting offense. Greene seriously helps the defense. That's what side my opinion comes down.

A better offensive option might be to start Francisco Garcia back there, but that's leaves numerous problems. If you put Garcia on Paul, he's going to foul out in the first quarter. If you put Salmons on Paul, Peja Stojakovic is going has the opportunity to destroy whomever guards him. Either way, you have no one else to play small forward off the bench, which means one of Salmons or Martin has to stay in the game no matter what... unless you want to cast your lot with a superfun Greene/Douby/Garcia back court for a few minutes. (No thanks.)

It's a no-win situation, sadly. I prefer Greene as the starter, but it's not likely to matter a whole hell of a lot either way.