Category: Sacramento Kings

Kings lose to Jazz 110-109 in OT: watch the 2:20 game wrap

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by Charlie O. Mallonee

The Kings lost to the Utah Jazz on Sunday night 110-109 in OT with literally 1-tenth of a second left on the clock. It took a replay decision in New Jersey to decide the final outcome of the game. It was exciting, frustrating and exhausting all at the same time.

You can watch the final 1.6-seconds of the overtime period in these highlight clips from the Utah Jazz of Rudy Gobert (sorry you will have endure a 15-commercial) by just clicking on the link. Gobert – who has been a Kings killer – posted a double-double recording 16 points and 24 rebounds (6 OR) in addition to scoring the game winning bucket.

Gobert on the final game-winning basket

“I was rolling because I thought he was going to pull up into the shot and I didn’t know if I had time to get the rebound or not. When I saw the ball of on the side, I just tipped it in.”

Kings head coach Dave Joerger’s analysis

“This was a playoff game for us. We played with playoff intensity.”

Kings have no time to rest

The Kings headed to the airport after the game and flew to Denver where they will play the Nuggets on Monday night. Sacramento is three games behind Denver who is in the eighth and final playoff slot in the Western Conference.

The game tips off at 6 p.m. West Coast time.

Kings: Let the games begin -the Bogdan Bogdanovic negotiations are on!

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by Charlie O. Mallonee

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“We have (Bogdan) Bogdanovic coming over next season as another asset.” Sacramento Bee February 25, 2017

If you thought Serbian shooting guard Bogdan Bogdanovic was going to finish his season in Turkey and fly to Sacramento ready to put on a Kings jersey ready to play, you would be wrong. The Kings obtained the rights to Bogdanovic as part of a draft-night trade with Phoenix that sent Marquese Chriss to the Suns.

Bogdanovic was drafted in the first-round (27th overall) of the 2014 NBA Draft by the Phoenix Suns. The shooting guard decided to remain in Europe to play for Fenerbahçe of the Turkish Super League in part to avoid the NBA Rookie pay scale.

Now that three years have passed, Bogdanovic can negotiate a contract that pays him up to the maximum of a free agent with 0-6 years of experience in the NBA. A max deal at that contract level is projected to be $26-million dollars per year under the new CBA. Bogdanovic is not going get 26-mil but he is throwing down the gauntlet that he is not going to settle for $3 to 5-mil per year. This guy and his agents are looking for a major payday.

After researching his value, I still have no real idea where to place the “Euro” shooting guard on the salary chart. My guess (this is a pure “WAG”) is that Bogdanovic’s agent will be looking for a 3-year, $30-million deal with a one-year player option. This player and his agent have played hardball for three years, this will not be an easy negotiation.

Bogdanovic is having a very nice EuroLeague season. He is averaging 13.3 points per game while shooting a 55.2-percentage for 2-point shots and 38-percent from 3-point range. He scored a season-high 27 points against  Olympiacos Piraeus on February 23rd. By all accounts, he is a talented and still developing player with a tremendous upside.

Here is the downside. If Bogdanovic joins the NBA next season, he will be 25-years old. That is almost ancient by today’s NBA standards where first-round draft picks are 19-years old. A team will be asked to make a veteran level dollar investment in a player who will have a shorter career in “the Association” and has never played a minute in the NBA.

Bogdanovic might come into the NBA and have an instant impact while becoming an All-Star. The more likely scenario is that he will come into the league as rookie with a big learning curve and struggle like most rookies do while he adjusts to playing basketball at the highest level in the world.

Bogdanovic at the advice of his advisers has already played a very dangerous game with the NBA in order to up his contract value. If he spurs the Kings for next season, he takes an even more calculated chance that teams will want to invest big money in a 26-year old rookie. The “Euro” star needs to remember the big, new CBA money will not stay uncommitted for long.

For the Kings, this is a time to be prudent. They now have two first-round picks in a star-studded draft. They really like Bogdanovic’s game or they would not have included him in the Phoenix deal, but they need to cautious. Before backing up the “money dump truck”, the Kings must remember Bogdanovic has played zero minutes in the NBA where it is a brand-new game.

The NBA D-League comes to Sacramento for one night only

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by Charlie O. Mallonee

d-league-mag

SACRAMENTO–There was a time if you did not make the roster of an NBA team going overseas to play basketball was really a players only real option. Yes, there was the Continental Basketball Association that ultimately gave way to the NBA Development League, but the money was not good and the chances of moving into “the Association” were slim to none.

Now that players are being drafted after just one year of college basketball experience, the need to have player development teams similar to the system baseball uses has become a necessity. Rather than losing control of players to teams in Europe and Asia, NBA teams are establishing a true player development system of their own.

There are currently 22 “D-League” teams and the league will expand to 25 teams next season. It will not be long before every NBA team owns a D-League team of its own. The new Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) expands each teams roster from 15 to 17 players next season. There are special pay provisions for players 16 and 17 on the roster depending on whether they on a the team’s D-League roster or NBA roster. A D-League team could have up to five NBA contract players on its roster beginning next year.

The sleepy, little D-League is now a thing of the past. The D-League (which next season will become the NBA Gatorade League) is about to become the most important player development tool the NBA has in its arsenal.

The game on Friday night featured the Reno Bighorns (owned& operated by the Kings) and the Raptors 905 (owned& operated by the Toronto Raptors).

This was my first time to see an NBA D-League game in person

I was interested in seeing several things in this particular game:

  • I was curious to see the level of play and where it fits between college and the NBA game
  • This game also offered a chance to see center Georgios Papagiannis play extended minutes that he does not get with the Kings
  • This match up also provided the chance to see one of the best teams in the D-League. Raptors 905 came into the game with the best winning percentage in the league

By halftime I had some answers

  • The level of play was obviously not NBA-like but it was also a real cut above Division-I basketball. The pace was fast and furious plus they love to shoot the ball from beyond the 3-point arc
  • Papagiannis was very interesting to watch work around basket especially with his soft-touch half-hook shot that can be very effective and almost impossible to stop because of his height and length
  • 905 showed why they win so many games by outscoring the Bighorns 36-16 in the second quarter and took a 57-42 lead into the locker room at halftime

Bighorns made it close in the third but could not hold on in the fourth

The Bighorns behind the play of David Stockton (6 pts, 1 ast) and Kendall Marshall (6 pts, 5 ast) outscored 905 26-20 in the third quarter to cut the Raptors lead to 77-68. It appeared that the momentum had swung over to Reno but things changed rapidly in the final period.

Both teams shot 6-for-20 (30-percent) from the floor in the final period. The difference came in 3-point shooting. 905 converted 3-of-8 from long range while the Bighorns hit only 1-0f-6 shots beyond the arc. The Raptors won the quarter 17-13 and the game 94-81.

Raptors 905 now has a record of 30-9 on the season and 6- 0 versus Western Conference teams. The Bighorns are now 13-25 for the season.

The Wrap

Raptors 905

  • Brady Heslip was the game’s leading scorer with 33 points in 33 minutes on the floor. He hit 8-of-15 shots from beyond the 3-point arc
  • Yanick Moreria and Antwaine Wiggins each added 11 points
  • 905 hit 12-of-31 (38.7-percent) tries from long-range
  • Raptors are now 6-0 this season versus Western Conference teams
  • Their road record improves to 15-2

Bighorns

  • Former King David Stockton was the leading scorer for Reno with 20 points. He also had three assists and three steals
  • Georgios Papagiannis posted 17 points shooting 8-for-19 from the floor. The big man also had six blocked shots in contest
  • Kendall Marshall recorded a double-double with 13 points and 13 assists
  • Isaiah Cousins — who the Kings drafted in the second round — scored 11 points and grabbed seven rebounds. Cousins played his college basketball at Oklahoma with Buddy Hield who just joined the Kings in the DeMarcus Cousins trade with New Orleans

Kings porous defensively, disjointed offensively in glaring loss to the woeful Nets 109-100

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Sacramento Kings Brooklyn Nets during the second half of an NBA basketball game in Sacramento, Calif., Wednesday, March 1, 2017. The Nets won 109-100. (AP Photo/Steve Yeater)

By Morris Phillips

SACRAMENTO–Not enough defense early, and far too little offense late would be a fair label for the reconfigured Sacramento Kings on Wednesday.  But a more bottom line analysis had its roots elsewhere on a night in which the NBA’s worst team snapped a 16-game losing streak, leading start to finish in a 109-100 victory at the Golden 1 Center.

Both the Kings and Nets should have been equally energized with their prospects for a rare victory enhanced by facing each other.  But the Nets alone seized that storyline from the game’s opening tip.  Consequently, King’s coach Dave Joerger could decipher his team’s malaise, but not prevent it.

“We didn’t come out with enough force to start the game and they physically manhandled us around the perimeter of the floor,” Joerger explained.

While the Nets made nine of their first 11 shot attempts and led 21-6 at one point, the Kings struggled to run their offense, and get out of each other’s way.   The Nets surprised with accurate three-point shooting–they made six from distance in a 35-point first quarter.  The Kings started slow personified by a pair of turnovers by surprise starter Skal Labissiere.

The Kings’ responded initially with offense; Aaron Afflalo contributed 10 points in the first quarter as the Kings sliced the Nets’ lead to four, 35-31, after one.  But the Kings would score just 69 points over a final three quarters littered with tentative play, over dribbling and stilted ball movement.  Sacramento finished with just 12 assists on 35 made baskets, and seven of the Kings that saw action failed to record a single assist.

“I don’t think we’re necessarily focusing on playing the right way,” said Darren Collison, who had the only two assists credited to the team’s five starters.  “I know we have a lot of guys who are unselfish but when you see a guy like DeMarcus Cousins, your best player out, a lot of guys try to take it upon themselves to score, to make a play, instead of just letting the game come to them.”

Defensively, the inbalance in the Kings’post-trade roster is glaring, with guard Ben McLemore routinely matched with bigger forwards in the Kings’ three-guard starting lineup.  With not enough bodies in the frontcourt, and Brooklyn’s Robin Lopez bullying his way to the hoop, the Kings suffered a huge disparity in points in the paint on Wednesday.   But the interior defense was just a part of it; the hot-shooting Nets finished with 11 made threes, at least one from eight different players.

Brooklyn had dropped 27 of 28 overall since winning at home the day after Christmas, and Wednesday marked only their third win this season on the road.  The Kings have dropped three straight since beating Denver in their impressive debut following the Cousins trade.

And whatever designs the Kings maintain on making the playoffs in Cousins’ absence took another blow.  With the loss, and the Timberwolves’ surprising, 27-point road win at Utah, the two teams are now tied for ninth, with three other teams just a game back.  Of the five teams looking to unseat the Nuggets for the final postseason spot in the West, the Trailblazers have the fewest road games (9) and the most recent–last season–playoff experience.

At least, the Kings do have a leg up in the “moronic” trade competition. The Pelicans registered their first win since trading for Cousins, but ironically did so without the former King, who was suspended for last night’s game against the Pistons for his ongoing accumulation of technical fouls.  So the standings are: Kings, Pelicans 1-3; Cousins 0-3 and still looking for his first victory in the Big Easy.

Sacramento Kings podcast with Charlie O: Kings have now lost two since Cousins departure; Divac will step down if Cousins trade backfires

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Sacramento Kings center Willie Cauley-Stein, right, blocks the shot of Minnesota Timberwolves forward Gorgui Dieng during the first half of an NBA basketball game, Monday, Feb. 27, 2017, in Sacramento, Calif. (AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli)

The game that everybody well remembers is when the Denver Nuggets came into town and everything came off the hook this was the Kings first game since DeMarcus Cousins was dealt to the New Orleans Pelicans. The Kings won that game but the Kings played way over their heads. Willie Cauley Stein scored 29 points they played together as a team they played up tempo. They really surprised Denver and Michael Malone and they won that game you saw Kings owner Vivek Ranadive high fiving at his seat during that game.

Then on Saturday the Charlotte Hornets came in the Hornets had been on a slide and they came into Golden One having lost five games in a row but they seemed much like the Kings had a shot at post season in a sense because they were still in the hunt for a playoff spot and the Hornets came in and played gritty basketball. The Hornets are a big team and they’re able to push a lot of people around and the Kings were not in that game and lost. The Kings lost their second game since the Cousins trade on Monday night to the Minnesota Timberwolves 102-88.

Charlie O does the Sacramento Kings podcast each week at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

 

 

Sacramento Kings Monday game wrap: Kings lose their steam 102-88

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Minnesota Timberwolves forward Andrew Wiggins, left, stuffs as Sacramento Kings guard Ty Lawson looks on during the first half of an NBA basketball game Monday, Feb. 27, 2017, in Sacramento, Calif. (AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli)

By Jeremy Harness

SACRAMENTO – Late in the third quarter, Tyreke Evans threw a bad pass over teammate Buddy Hield’s head, and then lost focus on the play at half and let Nemanja Bjelica sneak behind him for a layup to add on to an already-commanding lead.

Mental lapses and overall lulls like that have plagued the Kings’ season. The only difference now is that they don’t have an All-Star big man to lean on anymore, to help them stay in the game when they otherwise would have no chance.

With DeMarcus Cousins now in New Orleans, the end result was a 102-88 landslide defeat at the hands of the 23-36 Minnesota Timberwolves at the Golden 1 Center on Monday, a game that was never really close once the first quarter ended.

In the battle of former University of Kentucky teammates, Minnesota center Karl-Anthony Towns clearly got the better of his matchup with Willie Cauley-Stein on Monday. Towns scored a game-high 29 points on 13-of-19 shooting to go along with 17 rebounds and a pair of assists.

Cauley-Stein, for his part, didn’t fare too badly himself with 14 points while making five of his 11 shots from the field while adding six rebounds and five assists. However, it was clear that he was overmatched by a young man who is already considered one of the top big men in the game in only his second year in the NBA.

Meanwhile, Andrew Wiggins, who is also in his second season in the league, was right behind Towns with 27 points on 10-of-22 shooting with four rebounds.

After winning the first game following the All-Star break and the Cousins trade, the Kings have now dropped the previous two contests. Sacramento, however, has still won seven of its last 10 games overall.

In the early going, however, it seemed as if the opposite would occur. The Kings got off to a great start, leading by eight points at one point in the opening quarter. But that opening jolt of momentum would soon come to a crashing halt.

The Kings cooled off considerably and allowed the Timberwolves to inch their way back into the game and eventually take complete control of it. They ended the first quarter with a 25-20 lead, but when Minnesota blitzed the Kings for a 40-point second quarter, Sacramento had no answer and played the rest of the game looking up.

After trailing at the half, 60-44, the Kings momentarily got the compass going in their direction to start the third quarter once they got out in transition, with Ty Lawson and Darren Collison at the controls simultaneously, and cutting the lead to single digits.

However, just like the one in the first quarter, that surge fizzled out, and Minnesota quickly regained control, and the Kings could get no closer.

For the Kings, Kosta Koufos had 14 points in the first half while making all but one of his seven field goals while pulling down six rebounds.

He did not score in the second half, but he did finish the game with 11 rebounds, giving him his second double-double of the season.

Kings four game win streak ends as they fall to Charlotte 99-85

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by Charlie O. Mallonee

SACRAMENTO–The Sacramento Kings four-game winning streak came to a screeching halt on Saturday as they lost to the Charlotte Hornets 99-85. The Buzz City team was in desperate need of a win to stop a five-game losing slide that had them falling farther away from the eighth and final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference.

The Kings (25-34) looked sluggish early on in the game which is to be expected. After experiencing the huge high of the win over Denver on Thursday without DeMarcus Cousins on the roster, the team was really set up to have a let down. Facing a Hornets (25-33) team that has been playing poorly, it was really easy for the young team not to come in pumped up and ready to conquer.

Even after a less than spectacular first half the Kings trailed by just 11 at halftime. It was the opening 4:33 of the third quarter that did Sacramento in and led them to a loss. The Kings did not score until Ben McLemore hit a 3-point bucket at the 7:27 mark but by then the Hornets had opened up a 23-point lead. Charlotte would continue to ride that big lead for the remainder of the contest.

This is going to be the reality of watching this young team over the final 23 games of the season. They will at times look brilliant, full of energy and unstoppable. At other times, they are going to look tired, confused and inept. That is just the reality of having a young roster filled in with seasoned veterans. Sometimes it will be fun and sometimes it won’t.

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Labissiere with a smooth move to the hoop Photo NBAE

Kings head coach Dave Joerger on the game

“Guys battled. I think we spend a lot of emotion as talked about in pregame of the game the other night. Tonight the was a situation where you had a team that is a veteran team, a very physical team. They pushed us around the court most of the night with their size and their experience at all positions. I’m not talking about just in the middle, we were okay in the middle. But twos, threes and fours – they took us out of some stuff. We didn’t do a great job finishing at the rim and in the paint. We were 15-for-34 in the paint and had a tough night shooting. So hats off to them. They’re a good team, and they’ve got a chance to get in the playoffs too.”

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Evans drives to the basket Photo NBAE

Kings

  • Ben McLemore was the Kings leading scorer with 18 points. Ben Mac had a slow start and found his rhythm when he drove the baseline for a slam. It seamed to jolt him alive and he finished shooting 7-for-15
  • Rookie Buddy Hield had a solid game coming off the bench to score 15 points while shooting 5-for-10 from the field in his 26-minutes of playing time
  • Anthony Tolliver made an impact early in the game especially with the 3-ball. Tolliver finished with 11 points going 3-for-6 from 3-point land
  • Tyreke Evans made his presence known with 11 points, five assists and five rebounds in 22 minutes on the floor
  • Darren Collison had a solid game at the point scoring 10 points while dishing out five assists
  • Skal Labissiere had a very nice game scoring eight points and grabbing 13 rebounds (3 offensive). Labissiere is looking very comfortable on the floor
  • Willie Cauley-Stein had a tough game scoring just two points and grabbing only two rebounds

Hornets

  • Big Frank Kaminsky was the man for Charlotte. He scored a game-high 23 points shooting 5-for-9 from behind the 3-point line. Kaminsky also hauled in 13 rebounds for a double-double game
  • Forward Marvin Williams added 16 points while Nicholas Batum put up 15 points despite shooting just 4-for-17 from the floor
  • Kemba Walker had a very quiet game scoring just 12 points while distributing six assists
  • Former King Marco Belinelli scored 13 points shooting 4-for-7 including two 3-point baskets

Up Next

The Kings will be back in action Monday when they host the Minnesota Timberwolves at Golden 1 Center. The Kings are 2-0 versus the T-Wolves this season.

The Hornets have to go back to work on Sunday night in Los Angeles when they will play the Clippers at the Staples Center.

A Malachi Richardson Medical Update

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The Kings rookie shooting guard who suffered a partial tear of the right hamstring continues to rehab the injury. There is still no date for his return to action but there is no need for surgery which is good news for the player and the team.

Surely you can’t be serious but I am – hire Kupchak to help Divac and the Kings

Published on by Charlie O. MalloneeLeave a comment

By Charlie O. Mallonee

When I posted this tweet, I expected to get some reaction but the reaction I received surprised me. Everyone thought I was joking and it was very funny. The only problem with that reaction is that I am not joking. I am very serious.

The Sacramento Kings are at a very critical juncture right now. They have traded away their one legitimate All-Star and flushed their chances to make the playoffs for the first time in 10 years. They have for all practical purposes hit the reset button and are starting over in the basketball operations division.

The Kings in all probability will have two first-round draft picks and two second-round draft selections in the upcoming 2017 NBA Draft which has been labeled “star-studded”. One of those first-round opportunities is going to be a lottery pick. The second first-round pick is expected to come in the “low teens”. Both selections bring the opportunity to add exceptional talent to the Kings roster.

Sacramento cannot afford to make a mistake with either pick. With the Cousins era over, the Kings must rebuild quickly to hold the interest of a long suffering fan base that will not have a great deal of patience for excuses about why a first-round draft pick did not work out. Kings fans are looking for results not excuses.

The Kings front office needs help and it needs it now. Enter Mitch Kupchak. I know his recent results have not been that impressive but if the reports are true, there are some explanations for those poor results. Kupchak may well have been handcuffed by an owner who thought he knew more about basketball personnel than he really does. The team’s governor Jeanie Buss spent several of those years concentrating on a bicoastal relationship with Phil Jackson.

Kupchak worked under the great Jerry West before taking over as general manager in Los Angeles in 2000. He is credited with leading the efforts that brought Shaq and Kobe to the Lakers. The team won four championships while he was in charge. The man knows how to run the front office of an NBA franchise.

There have been reports that other general managers have complained that they cannot get Divac on the phone. There is a style and art to being the head of basketball operations for an NBA team. Other general managers must be comfortable working with each other to make deals happen and most of those deals start with phone calls.

Kupchak could act as a mentor, confidant and friend to help Divac during what is going to be a high pressure period between now and the 2017 Draft. Kupchak could also go out on the road to college games, conference tournaments and the NCAA Tournament to scout the top talent that will be available come June. Scouting has also been listed as a weakness for the Kings organization.

Basketball executives with 17 years of experience as an NBA general manager do not become available everyday. The Kings are in need of expert help right now and Kupchak is an expert. It is time for Vivek Ranadive to fire up the jet, fly to LA, open up the checkbook and hire a consultant to help take his franchise to the next level.

No Cousins? No problem. Kings stun Nuggets with six scoring in double figures 116-100

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Danilo Gallinari, Willie Cauley-Stein, Nikola Jokic

Sacramento Kings center Willie Cauley-Stein, center, goes to the basket between Denver Nuggets’ Danilo Gallinari, left, and Nikola Jokic, right, during the second half of an NBA basketball game Thursday, Feb. 23, 2017, in Sacramento, Calif. The Kings won 116-100. (AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli)

By Morris Phillips

SACRAMENTO–And the Kings response to the near universal condemnation of the trade of their controversial star DeMarcus Cousins, with the deal frequently termed as being lopsided, even moronic?

No, it wasn’t just the confiscation of a few, mildly negative signs that found their way into Golden 1 Center on Thursday night.  And it wasn’t a last minute trade deadline sell off of Darren Collison or Ben McLemore.

Instead just minutes after Boogie and the Pelicans were blown out at home in their Big Easy debut, the Kings put on a display featuring youth, cohesion, balance and very little bantering with the referees in defensive transition.  The resulting 116-100 win over the Nuggets and former Kings’ coach Mike Malone was an eye-opener to say the least, and it brought the Kings within a half game of the coveted eighth spot in the West.

So, what’s that about Operation Tank Job?  Well on Thursday night, Tank Job was pre-empted by the new era of Sacramento basketball as authored by Vlade and Vivek.

“We don’t have a superstar presence, so we need everybody to step up and kind of fulfill their role.  Everybody needs to chip in one way or another and I thought we did a good job of that,” said Collison, one of six Kings to score in double figures, and one of eight to score at least eight points.

More encouraging was the fact that those guys the Kings need to be most energized by the opportunities afforded them in Cousins’ absence were. Cousins’ replacement in the middle, second-year man Willie Cauley-Stein responded with a career-best 29 points, 10 rebounds.  Rookie Buddy Hield in his Sacramento debut had 16 points off the bench.  And Tyreke Evans made the most of his return to the Kings with 15 points.

And what of the Kings’ Kentucky tandem down low? Cauley-Stein and 20-year old Skal Labissiere combined for 41 of the Kings’ 71 points off the bench, a nice counter to the 65 points posted by Davis and Cousins in New Orleans.   Labissiere, a skinny guy with a world of promise, had 14 DNP-CD’s in January, and six more this month.  But on Thursday, Labissiere was a double-digits scorer at the NBA level for the first time, and needed just 14 minutes, and seven shots to get there.

Afterwards, Labissiere appeared to be seven feet tall, even taller than the 6’11” that he’s listed as.  Coach Dave Joerger, a teacher by trade, looked as if he had just completed an engaging, college lecture.  And Cauley-Stein was unapologetically giddy, genuinely surprised by what he had just accomplished.

“I didn’t come in here to score damn near 30. Just come in here, just play hard, shoot the shots I get and play to the best of my ability and God willing, it happened tonight,” Cauley-Stein said.

“Willie just had a fantastic game, and his confidence was sky high–made a couple of jumpers too,” Joerger said.

With 24 games remaining, all of a sudden the Kings are intriguing, with home games against beatable Minnesota, Charlotte and Brooklyn up next. For now, all of the competing scenarios that could keep the Kings from maximizing their two first-round draft picks in June are in the background, and the focus is on the floor.

For Sacramento fans, it’s not cowbells just yet, but it’s certainly not cobwebs either. For the Kings, an A+ on Thursday night for freshness and originality.

 

 

Sacramento Kings podcast with Charlie O: With Cousins and Barnes gone the best the Kings can hope for is a decent rebuild

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AP file photo Sacramento Kings center DeMarcus Cousins whose pictured here playing against his future team the New Orleans Pelicans pauses after being called for a technical foul during the first half of an NBA basketball game in Sacramento, Calif., Sunday, Feb. 12, 2017. (AP Photo/Steve Yeater)

The All Star game on Sunday, let me just say this the next time they have an All Star I’m just going to watch the Harlem Globetrotters because they would be more interesting watching them play the Washington Generals.  That thing was horrible they players just stood there for two hours it is just as bad as the NFL Pro Bowl had become a couple of years ago when they thought about canceling.

Thank goodness for the NFL for stepping up making that game somewhat entertaining and interesting. If the NBA doesn’t start making that game competitive you might as well cancel it. They should make it a skills competition that All Star game was terrible until the big story broke about DeMarcus Cousins being dealt to the New Orleans Pelicans and right when I’m writing the story that there is no way their trading Cousins because their knocking on the door of getting in the playoffs for the first time in ten years.

There is no way at this point that their going to trade Cousins because if they get into the playoffs their first round playoff matchup would have been against Golden State. You know that I know if the Kings get into the first round of the playoffs their not going to beat the Warriors but they might have won a game or two just because the Kings have the make up that matches against the Warriors pretty good. But as of now that’s gone like a puff of smoke the best the Kings can hope for is a decent rebuild over the next couple of years after dealing Cousins and releasing Matt Barnes.

Charlie O podcasts Sacramento Kings basketball each week at http://www.sportsradioservice.com