Omri Casspi should really take a good look at himself in the mirror this morning after coming out with a scathing column against his team the Sacramento Kings concerning the lack of playing time.  This was a serious airing of dirty laundry.  http://www.casspi18.com/index.php/page/43.html

 It’s true Casspi has not played over the past few weeks and seems to have been left out of the rotation by Kings coach Paul Westphal. What makes his absence more difficult for him to handle is the fact that the team has been winning without him on the floor.

The Kings have had a rough season, no question about that, and as a person Paul Westphal does like Omri Casspi and has the ultimate respect for Israel, so folks do not go down that road.

In an interview I did with Westphal this past November he made his feelings crystal clear as to how much he enjoys, respects and loves Israel as well as Casspi. But if a player is not performing it’s his duty as coach to find a way to have his team win games. That is what his job is.   

In many cases the star player will win out over the coach in a battle of attrition. There are very few instances when this has not happened. (see Patrick Roy, star goalkeeper and Mario Tremblay, well under average coach Montreal Canadiens)

However, Omri Casspi is not a star player in the NBA.

 Is he a decent player, yes. Does he put in maximum effort and care about his and his teams play, yes. Is he a starter, questionable at best.

We have seen erratic performances from him both this year and last, enough to truly question his NBA ability.

He is a streaky shooter, with ok ball handling skills, average defense and a mid level basketball IQ.

 Does he take his career seriously? Yes, there is no question about that and just one look at his body, which has bulked up tremendously and his playing in the NBA summer league as well as the European Championship qualifiers this past July & August speak volumes about his heart.

There is no taking that away from him.

What Omri still has to learn is that the NBA is still one big brotherhood amongst owners, general managers and management. Omri is an outsider coming in to play in the world’s best basketball league and with that he must take caution when he airs some of his feelings to the media and the outside world.

It will come back to bite him in the long run.