Kings ink McLemore; rookie debuts with thud
The Sacramento Kings on Saturday signed first-round draft pick Ben McLemore. Per team policy, terms of the contract were not disclosed.
Sacramento selected McLemore with the seventh pick in the June draft. The 6-foot-5, 195-pound guard averaged 15.9 points, 5.2 rebounds in just a little more than 32 minutes per game as a freshman for Kansas last season.
McLemore made his Summer League debut also on Saturday and struggled to a 4-for-23 shooting performance as the Kings lost to the Dallas Mavericks.
"I wasn't trying to jack a lot of shots up or nothin' like that; they was all good shots," McLemore told probasketballtalk.com. "I feel like they was all good shots I was just missing. My shots just were not falling. Great shooters have some bad shooting nights."
Even though his shots did not fall, his Summer League coach, Chris Jent, was not concerned about the rookie's first outing.
"He's got to take good shots; when he's open he's got to knock shots down," Jent said. "He had a tough day today but he's got to pick his head up and get after it tomorrow. Fortunately we get back in the gym and get some shots up and learn from it. That's why we're here, to learn and get better."
