Category: Sacramento Kings

Sacramento Kings make major additions to the front office staff

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by Charlie O. Mallonee

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The Sacramento Kings basketball operations division has been under fire during the entire transition to the new ownership group headed by Vivek Ranadive. When the initial front office staff was dismissed and turned over to a staff headed by former Kings star Vlade Divac, the concern was the executive group lacked experience.

As the Divac era progressed, the lack of experience criticism continued to grow with transactions like the one with Philadelphia that could cost the Kings valuable position in the upcoming draft lottery. There have also been rumors that the minority owners group have been pressuring Ranadive to increase the size of the basketball operations staff and reshape it into a more traditional NBA style structure.

The two new additions to the basketball operations staff show that someone in the ownership group is listening.

Kings add Executive Vice President of Basketball Operations

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Scott Perry is now executive vice president of basketball operations for the Sacramento Kings. Photo NBAE

The Kings have hired Scott Perry as executive vice president of basketball operations. Perry has been in “the association” in various positions since 2000.

Perry has spent the previous five seasons as the executive vice president of basketball operations for the Orlando Magic. He served in the same capacity for the Detroit Pistons when they won the NBA Championship in 2004. Perry  was assistant general manager in Seattle when the Supersonics drafted Kevin Durant.

Perry also has considerable experience at the collegiate level. He was the head basketball coach at Eastern Kentucky from 1997-2000. Perry spent time as an assistant coach at the University of Michigan, UC Berkeley and Detroit Mercy.

“I am thrilled that Scott will be joining our front office team,” said Divac. “His extensive experience in the league and management talents will help build our progress as we work to develop a winning franchise.”

Perry will report directly to Divac and will assist in all areas of the day-to-day basketball operations.

It’s a numbers game

Luke Bornn
Luke Bornn Sacramento Kings new VP of Strategy and Analytics

The days of “going with your gut” to select talent from the draft for you NBA team are over. Yes, it worked for Hall of Fame coaches like Auerbach, Sharman and even Don Nelson. Those great coaches had to go by the “gut” and the most basic of stats because that was all that they had available to them.

Today it is a brand new world. Analytics have changed the way players are analyzed and the number of areas that are looked at have increased in exponential proportions. Is there still a place for the intangible, intuitive decisions? Yes, they can play a part in making the final decisions but the most important selections will be made based on hard, cold statistics.

To compete in this “brave new world”, the Kings have hired Luke Bornn – PhD and Harvard professor to Spearhead Team’s analytical efforts – as vice president of strategy and analytics.

Bornn will report directly to Vlade Divac – vice president and general manger of basketball operations. His job will be to provide the data to the operations staff to help make informed decisions about roster makeup, player evaluations and overall team strategies. The data will be gathered in multiple ways including wearable technology.

Bornn will not be the only hire for the analytics staff. The Kings will be adding additional personnel to the department over the next few weeks. Sacramento has two big immediate decisions to make about who to draft with their two lottery draft picks in the June NBA Draft.

Bornn most recently worked as head of analytics for A.S. Roma of the Italian Serie A Football League. Prior to that, he was a visiting scholar and professor at Harvard University in the Department of Statistics.

 

 

 

Sacramento Kings podcast with Charlie O: Kings looking to make difference with the draft picks in the off season

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Los Angeles Clippers’ Blake Griffin, right, looks to pass after retrieving a loose ball against Sacramento Kings’ Willie Cauley-Stein, left, during the first half of an NBA basketball game Wednesday, April 12, 2017, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)

On the Kings podcast with Charlie O:

1) What are the final numbers for the Kings?

2) Who will be running the Kings basketball operations?

3) Will there be any coaching changes

4) What player personnel changes can we expect?

5) Who will be in the Kings draft

Charlie O Mallonee podcasted Kings basketball for 2016-17 and Jeremy Harness, Tony Renteria, Eric He, Pearl Lo, and Morris Phillips all covered the Kings during the season

Sacramento Kings Wednesday game wrap: Kings can’t keep up drop 115-95 decision as Clippers clinch No. 4 seed

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Sacramento Kings’ Ben McLemore, left, is fouled by Los Angeles Clippers’ DeAndre Jordan during the second half of an NBA basketball game Wednesday, April 12, 2017, in Los Angeles. The Clippers won 115-95. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)

~ By Pearl Allison Lo

~ LOS ANGELES– The Clippers kept their lead at Staples Center this time with a 115-95 win over the Sacramento Kings Wednesday in the NBA’s regular season final night.

With the win, Los Angeles has home court advantage in playoffs and will face the Utah Jazz, who also won. The Clippers ended the regular season with wins in their last seven.

The Kings were at a higher deficit in the fourth quarter, 21 points behind and were not close to shortening it like the last time the two teams met.

However, Los Angeles head coach Dave Joerger pointed out, “What’s validation for it? For Game 82, [the Clippers] had their starting group on the floor with five minutes to go, for whatever reason. But they had to because we pushed them to it. We pushed it to them last week.”

Overall on the season, Joerger said, “[It was a ] terrific season. [I’m] really proud of our guys. They fought and played hard to the end…Guys have really hung in there.”

Sacramento’s Willie Cauley-Stein finished with a game-high 19 points as part of his double-double with 14 rebounds. Los Angeles’ DeAndre Jordan had a double double with 18 points and 17 rebounds, and tied a season-high with four blocks.

The Kings have now lost 19 of the last 23 games versus the Clippers and lost the season series 1-3.

Sacramento had the higher shooting percentage after the first half but Los Angeles got better as the game continued. Quarter by quarter, their lead went from nine to 10 to 14 to 21.

The first quarter’s fourth tie was part of a 12-2 run that gave the Clippers a lead they would not relinquish. Part of it was an 8-0 run with 4:11 left. Within the 12-2 run, the Kings’ Ben McLemore fouled twice, Los Angeles’ J.J. Reddick scored from the line three times and Jordan had three rebounds, including one off Marreese Speight’s missed shot.

In the second, the Clippers’ biggest lead went to 10 points with 2:37 left. Before that, Sacramento twice got to within two points but could not tie up the game.

It was still close at the half, Los Angeles leading 53-47. The Kings shot better at 48.8% but the Clippers had 18 points off three’s compared to six for Sacramento.

Then Los Angeles started pulling away. By the end of the third, they were shooting 50% compared to 49.2% for the Kings. Reddick’s 201st three capped an 11-2 run and was the first time they got a 14 point lead in the quarter. Reddick’s three also set a club record with the most three’s in a season.

Sacramento reached 100 points with 6:21 left in the game and followed that with two buckets to reach their biggest lead of the match for the first time.

After a video tribute to the Clippers’ Paul Pierce, playing in his final regular season game, chants of “We want Paul” erupted from the crowd including Coach Doc Rivers, as Pierce entered the game. Pierce was reluctant to go on the court both times but the Inglewood native commented, “To be able to end it all here in front of family and friends, being back home, it’s special.”

 

 

 

Kings eclipse the Suns 129-104 in season home finale

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by Charlie O. Mallonee

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Buddy Hield drives to the hoop in Kings win over the Suns Photo NBAE

SACRAMENTO–The Sacramento Kings played their 41st and final home game of the 2016-17 NBA season Tuesday night at the Golden 1 Center. The Kings sent the sellout crowd of 17,608 home happy by soundly defeating the Phoenix Suns (24-58) 129-104.

Here’s your 2:20 Game Wrap

The season is now over for Phoenix. They finish with a record of 24-58 in 15th and last place in the Western Conference of the NBA. The Suns currently hold the number two pick in the NBA Draft Lottery before the pull of the ping-pong balls. That means Phoenix has a 19.9-percent chance of winding up with number one overall selection in this years’ draft.

As of now, that would mean the Suns would probably be the winners of the Lonzo Ball sweepstakes. Tighten those seatbelts – it could be a wild ride from here.

The Kings (32-49) are now in a tie for 12th place in the Western Conference with the Dallas Mavericks. If the season were over today, the Kings would own the number nine and 10 picks in the NBA Draft Lottery.

Dave Joerger seemed caught up in the victory celebration after the game

Major performances on offense

Kings

  • Buddy Hield leads all scorers in the game with a career-high 30 points
  • Ty Lawson posts his first career triple-double with 22 points, 12 assists and 10 rebounds
  • Sacramento uses nine players in the game and eight of them score in double figures
  • Kings shoot 51.8-percent (43-for-83) from the floor for the game
  • SAC uses the 3-ball hitting 9-for-19 (47.4-percent) from downtown
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Ty Lawson posted his career triple-double vs the Suns Photo NBAE

Suns

  • Tyler Ulis led Phoenix in scoring with 27 points hitting 10-for-25 from the field
  • Sacramento native Marquese Chriss put up 22 points before a large crowd of family and friends
  • The Suns attempted 109 shots in the game connecting on just 41 (37.6-percent) of those attempts
  • PHX went just 14-for-24 (58.3-percent) from the charity stripe
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Dave Joerger draws up a play vs PHX on Tuesday Photo NBAE

Up next

The Kings will be in Los Angeles on Wednesday to face the Clippers in the final game of the 2016-17 regular season. This game will help to determine who will finish fourth or fifth in the Western Conference. It is really a battle for home-court advantage.

For the Suns, the season is over. Up next for them, the NBA Draft Lottery.

Intern Jordan Chapin was our videographer for the coverage on Tuesday evening

Rockets make it rain 3-pointers as they down the Kings 135-128 on Sunday

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by Charlie O. Mallonee

SACRAMENTO–This was a tough game to analyze

“I think the whole thing is kind of hard, but some guys came through, played well. Bobby Brown played really well for us and we saw some good stuff. Obviously, a little ragged on both ends, but to be expected,” said Houston head coach Mike D’Antoni.

Here’s your 2:20 Game Wrap

Skal Labissiere on the Kings run at the end of the game

“We just started being more alert on defense because they have a hard offense to guard. So we kind of figured it out toward the end and just be more assertive on defense – that’s really what it was.”

Kings head coach Dave Joerger’s comments after the game

Key Stats from the game

Top Scorers

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Harden cheers on his team from the bench Photo NBAE
  • For Houston: James Harden posted his 21st triple-double of the season scoring 35 points to go with 15 assists and 11 rebounds
  • For the Kings: Rookie Skal Labissiere recorded 25 points shooting 10-for-12 from the floor. He also hit 5-of-6 from the free throw line

Team shooting stats

  • The Rockets attempted 80 field goals in the game. 43 of those attempts were from behind the 3-point line. They hit 18 of those 3-point shots (41.9-percent). Houston shot 56.3-percent overall for the game
  • The Kings shot 47-for-54 (50-percent) from the field which in most cases would be good enough to win the game for a team. They went 9-for-31 (29-percent) from 3-pointland. Sacramento had an unusually poor night shooting from beyond the 3-point arc

Kings who did not play – coach’s decision

Arron Afflalo, Darren Collison, Tyreke Evans and Kosta Koufos did not enter the game on Sunday versus the Rockets.

Kings draft positions after the loss

Sacramento would draft number eight in the Draft Lottery assuming the ping pong balls do not change history for all-time in favor of the Kings and make them number one. The Kings would also draft at number 10 with the pick they received from New Orleans for DeMarcus Cousins.

Tankathon.com projects that the Kings would wind up with French point guard Frank Ntilikina at number eight and small forward Miles Bridges from Michigan State with the number 10 selection.

Up next for the Kings

The Kings will play their final home game of the season on Tuesday night against the Phoenix Suns. Sacramento is 2-1 versus the Suns this season. The Kings two victories came on the road in Phoenix. The Suns won the game in Sacramento 105-103 on February 3rd.

Sacramento Kings Friday game wrap: Kings make valiant effort but can’t hang on in 98-94 loss to Lakers

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Los Angeles Lakers guard Tyler Ennis, right, tries to take the ball from Sacramento Kings forward Anthony Tolliver during the second half of an NBA basketball game, Friday, April 7, 2017, in Los Angeles. The Lakers won 98-94. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)

By Jessica Kwong

LOS ANGELES – The Sacramento Kings allowed the Los Angeles Lakers, two spots behind them in rankings and second to last in the western conference, to come up from behind and win Friday night’s game at Staples Center.

After Darren Collison’s triple with 14 seconds remaining, the Kings finished the quarter up 31-18, but that dwindled, and the close game got out of reach for Sacramento in the last minute.

Kings head coach Dave Joerger said what the team talked about postgame was “the consolation prize.”

“That we put ourselves in another game-ending situation, some things that you can learn,” Joerger said.

The Kings quickly blew a 13-point lead from the first quarter. A minute-and-a-half into the second quarter, Jordan Clarkson made a three-pointer to cut the lead to 31-25, forcing the Kings to call a timeout. The Lakers tied the game at 37 points when Julius Randle made two free throws with just under four minutes to go in the quarter.

Los Angeles lead by as many as four points before Collison passed the ball to Skal Labissiere who made a cutting dunk to put the Kings back up 45-44.

The third quarter was head-to-head, with neither team leading by more than five points and four lead changes. Sacramento managed to take the lead after George Papagiannis made an eight-foot turnaround hook shot. Then Collison made a running layup to put the Kings up 70-67, but Brandon Ingram made two free throws to put the Lakers within one point at the end of the quarter.

Sacramento again led by as many as five points in the fourth quarter, but the Lakers tied the game four times and sealed the win in the final minute.

D’Angelo Russell made a driving finger roll lay-up with 41 seconds remaining to give the Lakers up 93-92. Buddy Hield made a bad pass and Corey Brewer stole the ball, the Kings’ 23rd turnover. Langston Galloway fouled Brewer, who made both at the free throw line.

“Guys are trying to make plays. Most of them are not forced turnovers with us. Some of them are just losing the ball or a loose ball rolling off the foot or unforced turnovers,” Hield said. “We have to fix that and I think we’ll be fine.”

Hield made a driving lay-up with a second left in the game to 96-94, but fouled Russell, who made both at the line and give the Lakers a win by four points.

“They threw us around in the paint and got 16 offensive rebounds,” Joerger said. “Is it good for us to learn some of that stuff? Yes, because hopefully down the line that play that we have to draw up at the end is for us to get into the playoffs or the difference between getting fifth seed and seventh seed.”

The regular season for the past few weeks for the Kings has been about giving young players more time on the court and getting ready for a better season next year.

“That’s all this time is right now is gaining experience. Trying to compare through things like that. That’s big for our young guys and us making a step forward to making the playoffs for next year,” Cauley-Stein said. “You have to be able to execute those plays down the stretch. That’s part of learning it.”

The Kings return to the Golden 1 Center on Sunday to face the Houston Rockets. Tipoff is at 3 p.m.

 

Sports Headlines Podcast with Tony Renteria: Will Raiders cough up $800k for back pay on parking lot fees? Will Lynch have skittles in Oakland? Cotton rocked Wednesday waits for next outing

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Tony Avelar, Associated Press photo: Oakland Coliseum parking lot site of the city of Oakland who says Raiders owe for revenue since 2013

On the Sports Headlines podcast with Tony Renteria:

#1 The City of Oakland says the Oakland Raiders owe revenue for parking fees that was withheld and the city of Oakland wants it’s money. The city says the Raiders owe around $800,000 and the Raiders say they aren’t paying. The city says the Raiders owe $25,000 per game since 2013 and that if the Raiders don’t pay the city will kick the team out before it’s lease expires in 2019. The city will allow the team to play at the Oakland Coliseum until the end of the 2017 but if the missing parking revenue is not met the city will ask the Raiders to leave leaving the 2018 and 2019 up in the air as the team prepares to play in Las Vegas by 2020.

#2 Will Marshawn Lynch come out of retirement to join the Oakland Raiders? Lynch is still Seattle Seahawks property and has not played since 2015 but talk has been he would consider coming back and joining the Raiders. Lynch went to school in the East Bay at Cal Berkeley and might like to play a season or two before calling it a career. Keep those skittles on the backburner Lynch might return just yet.

#3 The Oakland A’s starter Jahrel Cotton had a rocky start on Wednesday night against the LA Angels in a 5-0 loss. He struggled surrendering five runs and eight hits. Was it a matter of Cotton having butterflies in his season opening debut, was he off balance, was it just a matter of the Angels saw his pitches and connected. Tony fills us in.

#4 The Sacramento Kings finish up their season this week in Los Angeles as they face the Clippers on Wed Apr 12th. Tony takes a look back on the 2016-17 season and tells us what was his most memorable moment covering the Kings.

#5 The San Francisco Giants have struggled through the first through two of the first three games with the Arizona Diamondbacks but Tony says it’s nothing to worry about it’s an early passing phase and the Giants will be back as they complete this road trip and get ready for their home opener on Mon Apr 10th.

Tony Renteria does the Sports Headlines each week at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

 

Sacramento Kings podcast with Charlie O: From the first day of the Kings and Golden One Arena to this month it’s been a great experience

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Sacramento Kings guard Langston Galloway, left, shoots against Dallas Mavericks forward Dwight Powell during the second half of an NBA basketball game Tuesday, April 4, 2017, in Sacramento, Calif. The Kings won 98-87. (AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli)

By Charlie O

SACRAMENTO–Time flies it just seems like yesterday when it was the opening of the Sacramento Kings new arena and the beginning of the season and now look were just a week away from the end of the season. I was just downstairs last night at Golden One Arena and it seems like old hat and were all kind of taking it for granted the amazing facility of Golden One as a whole and the professionalism of the Kings media relations staff. Now that were able to work in that great new arena. It’s wonderful to hear the feed back of other people coming into the building about what it’s like to come to Sacramento and cover a game.

The Kings know their not going to the playoffs so you want the best position in the draft lottery you want to get as many ping pong balls that you possibly can because you want to get that number one pick. Last night you have the Dallas Mavericks as a lottery pick team. You got the Kings in the lottery pick and everybody is resting everybody. The Kings rested multiple players last night and it didn’t feel right so somehow the Kings wound up losing it to the Mavs 98-87.

Charlie O does the Sacramento Kings podcasts at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

 

OMG! The Kings win second consecutive game downing the Mavericks 98-87

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by Charlie O. Mallonee

SACRAMENTO–Here is your 2:20 Game Wrap from the Kings 98-87 win over the Mavericks

It is that time of year when winning can be losing and losing can be winning

If you are an NBA team that is not headed to the Playoffs, there is very little incentive for your management to encourage your team to win games. The fact is – the more games your team loses – the better your chances are in the NBA Draft Lottery and the NBA Draft.

The 2017 NBA Draft has been labeled as one of the most talent-laden drafts in a decade or more. Non-playoff teams want to have the best possible selection positions as possible for this once in decade or more event. The question becomes how do you tell your players and fans that their team needs to lose games now to make things better in the future.

“Tanking” is a word that no one in NBA HQ wants to hear or acknowledge exists. The whole concept of a professional sports team doing less than its best to win a game is repugnant to sports fans everywhere, but yet, the current draft system totally encourages teams to “tank” after they are eliminated from Playoff contention.

Commissioner Adam Silver and his staff need to come up with a plan that rewards non-playoff teams for winning rather than losing as they head into the Draft Lottery. It would be better for the fans, players and the game overall. The game cannot have a system where winning is losing.

The Kings won the game because of their 3-point shooting and rebounding

The Kings shot an incredible 54.5-percent (12-for-22) from beyond the 3-point line on Tuesday night. Ben McLemore was a perfect 5-for-5 from downtown. Buddy Hield hit 4-of-7 from long range. Langston Galloway converted 2-of-4 three point attempts.

The Mavericks attempted 43 three-point shots. They were successful just 12 times(27.9-percent).

Sacramento outrebounded Dallas 50-39. The Kings grabbed 10 offensive rebounds and 40 on defense.

The Kings outscored the Mavs in the paint 38-30.

Ben Mac was on fire

Ben McLemore scored 11 points in the final 4:02 of the third quarter. He would go on to lead the Kings in scoring with 22 points. McLemore went 5-for-5 from beyond the 3-point arc.

Buddy Hield – the Western Conference Rookie of the Month – finished with 16 points. Four of his five field goals were 3-point baskets.

The Kings converted 12-of-22 (54.5-percent) from 3-point land in the game.

Game snapshot

  • Biggest lead: Kings 12 Mavericks 7
  • Lead changes in game 10
  • Number of times the game was tied 9

Coach Joerger’s final analysis of the game

Up next for the Kings

The Kings will have two days to rest and regroup before they have to fly to Southern California to face the Los Angeles Lakers on Friday night.

The Kings hand the T-Wolves a 123-117 loss on the road in Minnesota

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by Charlie O. Mallonee

min kat
Two former Wildcats working against each other Photo NBAE

The Sacramento Kings faced an impossible task on Saturday night in Minneapolis. They had been blown out of the arena in New Orleans on Friday night and then had to make a long flight to the Twin Cities to play the second game of a back-to-back set on the road on Saturday versus the Timeberwolves.

Dealing with losses is something a young team has to do but wait … the Kings did not lose in Minnesota. They beat the Timberwolves 123-117 to up their record to 30-47 on the season which puts them just one game behind the 12th place T-Wolves in the Western Conference standings.

The loss puts Minnesota just one game behind the Kings for the seventh best odds in the NBA Lottery. I hate this time of year where winning can be bad and losing can be good for your team. Somehow that system needs to be tweaked – hello Adam Silver!

This was a game of extremes

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Hield drives on the basket Photo NBAE

The T-Wolves led by 13 after the first 12-minutes. They increased that lead to 16 at one point. The Kings recovered from the big leads and held a 15 point lead of their own at one point.

There were 13 lead changes in this game and it was tied nine times. Both teams fought hard in this contest. The key for Sacramento was outscoring Minnesota 37-28 in the second quarter and 36-26 in the third quarter.

The Kings out-shot the Timberwolves

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Hield scored 22 for the Kings Photo NBAE

Sacramento finished with some very strong shooting stats. They shot 56.4-percent (44-for-78) from the floor overall. They were an incredible 11-for-19 (57.9-percent) from downtown.

Minnesota shot 39-for-87 (44.8-percent) from the field and just 36-percent (9-of-25) from behind the 3-point arc. The two teams tied with 48 points each in the paint.

The big difference was the bench scoring

The Kings bench outscored the Minnesota bench 66-26. It is very tough to stop a team who has a second unit that is that on fire.

Ty Lawson led the Kings bench scoring with 21 points. He was 5-for-8 from the floor and an incredible 11-for-14 from the charity stripe. Langston Galloway put up 17 points and hit 3-of-4 3-point shots. Arron Afflalo scored 16 points for the second unit converting 4-of-5 3-point tries.

Buckets and WCS lead the starters

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WCS ready to shoot Photo NBAE

Rookie Buddy Hield tied his season-high points total with 22 against Minnesota. He went 9-for-15 from the floor and hit 4-of-6 from downtown. Hield played just over 34-minutes in the game.

Willie Cauley-Stein posted another double-double scoring 15 points and posting 10 rebounds. He shot 5-for-9 from the floor and hit 5-of-7 free throws. WCS also had three assists and two steals.

Minnesota’s big two did their best to beat the Kings

Andrew Wiggins scored a game-high 32 points. He hit 13-of-20 shots from the floor and sank 4-of-7 3-point attempts. Interestingly, Wiggins converted just 2-of-6 free throws. He also had three assists and one blocked shot.

Karl-Anthony Towns sank 8-of-17 shots from the field for 26 points. He was just 1-for-5 from beyond the 3-point arc. He excelled from the charity stripe by sinking 9-of-10 from the line. Towns posted a double-double game by hauling in 11 rebounds.

The Kings return to the friendly confines of G1C

Sacramento – who has won two of their last three games – will return to action on Tuesday night when they will host the Dallas Mavericks.