I have been a sports reporter/broadcaster since 1976 which means ... I'm old and I love sports. I have done play-by-play for minor league baseball - including the infamous "Bad News Bees" - San Jose State football and football and high school sports in the Bay Area and on the Monterey Peninsula. I had the great privilege to host a weekly sports talk show on KNRY Radio Monterey/Salinas with my producer the late,great Gary Araki. I also hosted and produced "the Sports Fanatics" talk show on KSAC Radio in Sacramento. For the last 10 years, I have been a beat reporter covering the Oakland Athletics for Sports Radio Service. Three years ago, I became the senior reporter for our Sacramento Kings coverage. My goal is to bring you the news, views, fun and excitement of every event I am assigned to report on for Sports Radio Service.
The Sacramento Kings have revealed their 2015 preseason schedule. The Kings will play six preseason games – four on the road and two games at Sleep Train Arena.
The Kings will open the preseason with the Portland Trail Blazers at the Moda Center on Monday, October 5th. That game will be followed by a contest against the Phoenix Suns on Wednesday, October 7th at the Talking Stick Resort Arena in Phoenix.
The Kings only two home exhibition contests will feature games with San Antonio and Portland at Sleep Train Arena. The Spurs will face the Kings on Thursday, October 8th at 7:00 p.m. The Trail Blazers will play the Kings on Saturday, October 10th at 7:00 p.m.
The Kings will travel to Las Vegas on Tuesday, October 13th to play the Los Angeles Lakers at the MGM Grand Garden Arena.
Sacramento’s final preseason contest will be a reunion game as the Kings will play the New Orleans Pelicans at the University of Kentucky’s Rupp Arena in Lexington on Saturday, October 17th. DeMarcus Cousins, Willie Cauley-Stein and Rajon Rondo all played their college basket at the University of Kentucky. Anthony Davis of the Pelicans also played for Kentucky.
The Sacramento Kings have terminated the services of Dean Oliver. Who you say? Dean Oliver – the director of player personnel and analytics. Is that a big deal you ask? Yes, it is a big deal.
Dean Oliver is the inventor of APBRmetrics – a statistical method of tracking players, devising game plans and selecting personnel for professional basketball teams. Dean Oliver is to basketball what statistician Bill James (sabermetrics) is to baseball. Oliver puts a mathematical value on all elements of the game to determine what areas of the game are more important than others. For example, is a quick 3-point shot more important than working the ball to the basket for a higher percentage shot?
APBRmetrics attempts to remove the intangibles from the game of basketball. Its goal is to quantify the game and make logical decisions based on solid statistics.
Billy Bean and the Oakland Athletics have famously used Sabemetrics as their guide to help them find success as a “small-market baseball club”.
Former Kings general manager Pete D’Alessandro recruited Oliver to leave the Denver Nuggets and come to Sacramento. Kings majority owner Vivek Ranadive fully supported the hiring of Oliver as a part of his NBA 3.0 initiative. Oliver represents the new 21st Century decision making process.
Oliver was working with the Nuggets when George Karl was the coach in Denver.
D’Alessandro, former advisor Chris Mullin and now Oliver are all gone from the Kings front office. Vlade Divac is now the man in charge and its not good to have been associated with D’Alessandro regime.
There have been reports that Divac has little or no use for analytics preferring to use a more traditional approach to selecting players, game planning and game management. The only problem with that approach is that the NBA is becoming a league driven by analytics.
Every arena is equipped with special cameras to capture the key elements of APBRmetrics so statisticians can review the plays and break the game down into many different elements. The fact is the game can be quantified and teams are gathering that information to make plans to defeat their rivals. Analytics is only going to grow in its importance to NBA teams in the future.
Sacramento had the man who invented the science on their staff, and they just fired him. It is like firing the Wright Brothers as your airplane builders to go with an individual who has never built more than a paper airlplane. The move just does not make any sense.
There are two very prominent NBA teams that do not rely on analytics – the Los Angeles Lakers and the New York Knicks. How well is that working out for those teams?
The world is changing. There will always be a place for evaluating love for the game, motivation and hustle. There is also going to be a place for solid analytics that show what moves are valuable and what moves do not contribute to putting wins up on the board.
Divac is trying to build up his own executive team. Rumors have Peja Stojakovic and Bobby Jackson taking jobs in the Kings front office. It is always good to have trusted teammates on the front line with you, but the Kings also need new, highly trained warriors to help lead them out of the “valley of despair” into land of the playoffs.
Bottom line – letting Dean Oliver walk was not a good basketball move, and it only creates an increasing vision of chaos when it comes to the Kings management team.
The Sacramento Kings signed a third player on Wednesday. Forward Duje Dukan signed a free agent contract.
Dukan is 6-foot-10 and weighs 218 pounds. He played his college basketball at Wisconsin where Dukan was a part of the NCAA National Championship team. He played four seasons at Wisconsin.
Dukan played for the Kings in the NBA Summer League in Las Vegas. He averaged 9.2 points and 2.4 rebounds per game. Dukan led the Kings’ summer league team in 3-point shooting percentage at .417. He averaged 18 minutes of playing time per contest.
Dukan was one the college players the Kings brought to Sacramento for a pre-draft workout.
Don’t get too excited Kings fans. Seth Curry – Stephen’s brother – has reportedly signed a two-contract worth $2 million with the Sacramento Kings. The story was first reported by Yahoo Sports.
Curry will reportedly have a player option for 2016-17 with the two years guaranteed by the Kings.
Curry was a standout performer at the recently concluded Summer League games in Las Vegas where he played for the New Orleans Pelicans. Reports had the Pelicans pursuing Curry as well.
Curry averaged 25.3 points, 4.2 rebounds, 2.2 assists and 3.5 steals per game while shooting 49-percent from the field in summer league games.
Seth Curry has split his time between the NBA Development League and 10-day NBA contracts for the past two seasons. He has played in Cleveland, Memphis and Phoenix.
He played his college basketball at Duke.
Acy Returns to Kings
Small forward Quincy Acy will reportedly return to the Kings after spending last season with the New York Knicks. Acy played for the Kings in 2013-14.
Acy is a hard working, blue collar type of forward who is known for his tenacious defense. He averaged 5.9 points and 4.4 rebounds per game of the Knicks last season.
The Sacramento Kings voided the free agent contract of forward Luc Mbah a Moute after he failed a physical given by the team’s medical staff. No details were announced as to why Mbah a Moute failed the physical.
The Kings were looking to the 6-foot-8 Mbah a Moute to provide some much needed help on defense. Not having him on the roster means the Kings must go searching for additional help on the defense for the upcoming season.
The Kings also announced on Thursday the signing of guard James Anderson. Anderson who has played five years of professional basketball – four in the NBA and one in Europe – was a first round draft pick of the San Antonio Spurs in the 2010 NBA Draft. He played his college basketball at Oklahoma State University.
Anderson’s last season in the NBA was in 2013-14 with the Philadelphia 76ers. He averaged 10.1 points per game in 80 appearances (62 starts). Anderson shot .431 from the field and .328 from 3-point range for the Sixers.
Anderson spent last season in Europe playing for Zalgiris Kaunas of Lithuania. He started 24 games averaging 28.4 minutes of playing time. Anderson averaged 14.5 points per game while shooting .396 from the floor.
Forward Luc Mbah a Moute has signed a free agent contract and will once again be a member of the Sacramento Kings. Mbah a Moute was with the Kings in 2013-14 and was sent to the Minnesota Timberwolves in the trade that brought Derrick Williams to Sacramento.
The 6-foot-8 Mbah a Moute averaged a career high 9.9 points, 4.9 rebounds and 1.6 assists per game in 67 appearances for the 76ers in 2014-15. He shot .395 from the field, .307 from 3-point range and .589 from the free throw line.
Mbah a Moute is really known for his defense. Bill Herenda of KFBK Radio reported on Twitter that some within the Kings organization see Mbah a Moute as one of the top five defenders in the NBA. For a team that has lacked a defensive identity, the addition of Mbah a Moute and Willie Cauley-Stein goes a long way in helping establish a new attitude about defense for the team.
Mbah a Moute has been in “the association” since being selection in the second round of the 2008 NBA Draft by the Milwaukee Bucks. He has played for the Bucks, Kings, Timberwolves and Sixers in his seven year in the league.
The Oakland Athletics’ two All-Stars – Sonny Gray and Stephen Vogt – showed why they were selected to the American League All-Start team as they led the A’s to a 2-0 victory over the Cleveland Indians on Sunday. Gray was a ground ball throwing machine while Vogt applied the power to defeat the Indians and their Cy Young Award winning pitcher Corey Kluber.
On the Bump
Gray (10-3) had the two seam fastball working to perfection as he induced 16 Cleveland batters to hit ground balls.He also was able to use the slider sparingly as an “out pitch” to strike out six Indians’ hitters. Gray walked just on batter and allowed only two hits.
Gray was able to throw the complete game shutout because of his efficiency on the mound. He threw just 107 pitches (71 strikes) in his nine innings of work. The Indians left just one runner in scoring position because they could not get runners on base.
Gray thought the key to the win was that he threw more fastballs in better locations. He said, “We had a good game plan that we were able to execute.”
The Indians’ Corey Kluber (4-10) had the type of game that would produce a win for most pitchers. He gave up just two runs (both earned) on four hits. He struck out six and walked just one hitter in eight innings on the mound. Kluber was not able to get any run support because of Sonny Gray’s outstanding performance.
In the Batter’s Box
Stephen Vogt supplied all the offense that the A’s would need to win the game. After Billy Burns walked to lead off the top of the fourth inning, Vogt – on a 1-0 count – hit the ball into the right field seats for a two run home run. That would prove to be the game winning hit for Oakland. It was Vogt’s 14th homer of the season.
Ironically, Vogt almost had a home run in his first at bat in the first inning. Vogt hit the first pitch from Kluber deep to right field only to robbed on a great catch by Cleveland outfielder David Murphy. The play was reviewed and the out call was upheld.
Ben Zobrist (2) and Josh Reddick had the only other hits for the A’s. Burns and Vogt both reached first on base on balls.
Francisco Lindor and Giovanny Urshela recorded the only two hits for Cleveland.
Defense
The Oakland Athletics did not commit an error in the game on Sunday. In fact, the A’s did not commit an error in any of the three games in Cleveland.
A’s Win the Series
The win on Sunday gave the Athletics (41-50) the series victory two games to one. The win also evened the A’s record on the road trip to three wins and three losses.
On our Oakland A’s podcast this week, we said the A’s needed to win one game in New York and two games in Cleveland. Obviously, they were listening to what we had to say about their road trip performance.
Coming Up
The A‘s will now have four days off for the All-Star Break. Many members of the team will scatter around the country to enjoy this much needed time off.
The A’s will start the second half of the season at home on Friday night versus the Minnesota Twins. Sonny Gray will be on the mound to face the Twins in the series opener.
Sonny Gray and Stephen Vogt left Cleveland after the game on a “party bus” ride to Cincinnati for the All-Star Game. Gray will not pitch in the All-Star Game but will participate in all of the other festivities.
Roster Moves
The A’s sent starting pitcher Chris Bassitt back to Triple-A Nashville after making the start in Cleveland on Saturday night. Relief pitcher Dan Otero was brought up from Nashville to take Bassitt’s place on the roster.
Bassitt was sent back to Nashville so he can make a start on July 19th. That would make Bassitt available to start during the Giants series should Jesse Hahn (forearm strain) still unavailable to pitch.
Podcast
Be sure to listen to the next Oakland A’s podcast with Charlie O and Lee Leonard. It will be posted on the Sports Radio Service website Tuesday evening.
The Sacramento Kings have added small forward Caron Butler to their roster according to Yahoo Sports’ Adrian Wojnarowski. The Kings have not yet confirmed the signing, but there is no reason to question the unnamed source who leaked the information of the transaction.
Butler is a 6-foot-7, 228 pound, forward who has been in “the association” for 13 years. He was drafted in the first round out of UConn in 2002 by the Miami Heat. Butler has played with eight different teams over those 13 seasons.
Butler played for the Detroit Pistons last season. He appeared in 78 games (21 starts). Butler averaged 5.9 points in 20.8 minutes of playing time. He shot .407 from the field and .379 from beyond the 3-point arc. Butler averaged 2.5 rebounds and 1.0 assists in those 78 games.
The 35 year old Butler will provide some much needed veteran presence in Kings locker room that features players mostly in their 20’s. Butler – who has been to the playoffs seven times in his career – will be able to impart what it takes to be a playoff contender to his younger colleagues.
You can look for Butler to come off the bench with the second unit when Omri Casppi needs to come out of game situations. He will probably play 15 – 18 minutes per game.
International Players Identified
The Kings released the names of the two international players whose draft rights they procured in the five player trade with Philadelphia. They are Arturas Gudaitis and Luka Mitrovic.
Arturas Gudaitis
Gudaitis is a 6-foot-10, 254 pound center who plays for BC Lietuvos Rytas of the Lithuanian Basketball League. In his 20 Euroleague games last season, Gudaitis averaged 6.5 points and 2.1 rebounds per game. He played an average of 15-plus minutes per game.
Scouts like his muscular size but say he needs to use how to use his size to its fullest potential. The Sixers drafted Gudaitis in the second round (47th overall).
Luka Mitrovic
Mitrovic is a 6-foot-9, 225 pound forward who plays for Crvena Zvezda Belgrade of the Basketball League of Serbia. He averages 8.6 points and 5.2 rebounds in 24.7 minutes of playing time. Mitrovic appeared in 24 games (20 starts) last season.
Mitrovic helped his team – Crvena Zvezda – win the Adriatic League championship and the Serbian League championship as well as the Radivoj Korac’ Cup.
Philadelphia drafted Mitrovic in the second round (60th overall).
UPDATE: This transaction has been confirmed by the Sacramento Kings via press release at 1:39 PM
The Sacramento Kings have traded point guard Ray McCallum to the San Antonio Spurs according to multiple reports that are quoting unnamed league sources. The Kings will receive a future second-round draft pick for McCallum.
McCallum became expendable when the Kings signed Rajon Rondo to a one-year contract. Rondo and Darren Collison will handle the point guard duties for the Kings in 2015-16.
The Spurs need McCallum as a replacement for Cory Joseph who left for the Toronto Raptors.
McCallum – the son of a college head coach – was known for his high “basketball IQ”. He was called upon to be the starting point guard twice in his career with the Kings. McCallum started 10 games his rookie season when Isaiah Thomas went down with injuries. He started 30 games in 2014-15 for Darren Collison who was side-lined with a season ending core muscle injury.
Sacramento selected McCallum in the second-round (36th) of the 2013 NBA Draft. He average 6.9 points and 2.7 assists per game over his two seasons with the Kings.
Fan favorite Omri Casspi will remain with the Sacramento Kings for the next two seasons. The deal was finalized on Sunday but will not be official until July 9th. The signing was first reported by ESPN.
Casspi – who is in his second tour of duty with the Kings – averaged 8.9 points, 3.9 rebounds and 1.5 assists in 21.1 minutes per game is 2014-15. He shot 48.9 percent from the field and 40.2 percent from behind the 3-point line.
Casspi seemed to flourish under George Karl’s free-wheeling “dribble-drive” system as he averaged almost 20 points per game in the final 30 games of the season. The “three or in the key” philosophy appears to be tailor-made to utilize Casspi’s shooting skills and ability to drive to the basket.
Casspi – who is known as a swingman – can play small forward or shooting guard. His presence will give George Karl some flexibility – especially with his second unit.
Casspi made his own cryptic announcement on Twitter, “I’m all in. #SacramentoProud.”
Casspi has played with Sacramento, Cleveland and Houston during his six years in “the association”. He was originally drafted by the Kings.
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