Category: Sacramento Kings

Kings send Isaiah Thomas to Phoenix in sign-and-trade deal

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by Charlie O. Mallonee

The Sacramento Kings sent guard Isaiah Thomas to the Phoenix Suns in exchange for the draft rights to Alex Oriakhi and a $7-million trade exception. Thomas has signed a four-year, $28-million contract with the Suns.

The Kings have been looking for a “pass first” point guard to run their offense. The team believes they have found that point guard in the person of Darren Collison who signed as a free agent. The Kings were looking for Thomas to return to a sixth-man role. Thomas reportedly was not enthusiastic about coming off the bench after having been a starter in Sacramento.

The Kings selected Thomas in the second round (60th overall) in the 2011 draft. He averaged 15.3 points, 2.5 rebounds, 4.8 assists and 29.1 minutes per game for Sacramento. Thomas started 153 times for the Kings.

“We welcome Isaiah Thomas,” Suns president Lon Babby said in a statement to Yahoo!Sports. “His addition to our backcourt makes it one of the deepest and most dynamic in the league. We have enjoyed getting to know him during his visit to Phoenix this week. He will quickly become a fan-favorite.”

Alex Oriakhi was drafted by the Suns in the second round (57th overall) in the 2013 draft. The 6-9, 225-pound forward played for the Sioux City Skyforce and the Erie Bayhawks of the NBA D-League last season. Oriakhi was named to the All-Rookie First Team in the D-League after averaging 7.2 points and 6.2 rebounds per game in 43 games. He also has played internationally in France and Israel.

With Thomas gone, the Kings will be relying on Collison and second-year player Ray McCallum to run the point on offense. Sacramento will be looking to rookie Nik Stauskas and second-year shooting guard Ben McLemore to fill the scoring gap that has been created with the trade of Thomas.

LeBron’s taking his talents home sweet home;Miami fans deface LeBron mural burning talkshow phone lines

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by David Zizmor

LeBron James return to the Cleveland Cavaliers will also be a homecoming as he’s from Akron Ohio. LeBron played seven seasons with the Cavs. The main reason why LeBron signed with the Cavs is he saw the writing on the wall, the Miami roster based in the finals in San Antonio LeBron saw they were going to have a tough time being competitive even in the Eastern Conference given the players that they have the Heat went out and picked a couple of players in case LeBron wouldn’t come back.

A mural in Miami that depicts the entire Heat team was defaced, just LeBron’s face only and talk shows in Miami were the abuzz about how fans would respond to LeBron leaving Miami for Cleveland. It’s almost like the time when he left Cleveland the first time, the fans feel like they were stabbed in the heart.

The Heat’s Dwayne Wade is a shadow of his former self, four years ago LeBron signed with the Heat and Wade was still a superstar and a starting player in the All-Star game and people wondered if Wade and LeBron could co-exist and frankly in the first month or two that was the big problem.

Wade had trouble giving up the ball conceding that LeBron was the better player and it made for an adjustment in the first couple months in November last season in Miami. Eventually that problem went away and the Heat won more consecutive championship series. In this last one you kind of saw Wade was on the downside of his career. If you look at it Wade sat out a lot of games and when he sat it allowed him to rest and be fresh in the playoffs.

Wade’s defense was a liability in the finals and his defense was awful and he wasn’t helping much on the offense side of the game. If LeBron moved back to Miami Wade was going to stay there and Wade still might. The simple fact that Wade is not a superstar and you can’t consider him an NBA top ten player. At Miami they have multiple top players and Wade doesn’t fit the bill anymore.

The Cleveland roster has a lot of young players on it who are on the upswing and they aren’t so expensive and they can add pieces to help them be title contenders. They have, Tristan Thompson, Anderson Varejao, Dion Waiters, Andrew Wiggins who was taken in the draft and Anthony Bennett. There is a lot of talent on the Cavs that can help Cleveland become top dog in the Eastern Conference.

Now the question is would they become a good enough team to beat San Antonio? Who knows at this point. When LeBron was there in his first run with the Cavs 2003-04 (rookie year) he help take them to the NBA Finals and they lost and that roster was worse than the one he’s on now.

David Zizmor covers the NBA for http://www.sportsradioservice.com

Kings sign pass first point guard Darren Collison

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 By Charlie O. Mallonee

The Sacramento Kings have apparently signed the pass first point guard that they have been desperately seeking since last season. As reported first by the Los Angeles Times, point guard Darren Collison will leave the Los Angeles Clippers and become a Sacramento King by signing a three-year, $16-million contract. The deal will not become official until July 10th when free-agents can sign with a new team under NBA rules.
Collison became a free-agent when he opted out of the final year of his contract with the Clippers that would have paid him a reported $1.9-million in 2014-15. Collison averaged 11.4-points per game, 2.4-rebounds and 3.7-assist as the back-up point guard to Chris Paul. Collison started 16 games when Paul was out due to injury.
The signing of Collison immediately brings up the question of what does this acquisition mean to the Kings pursuit of Isaiah Thomas? Signing Collison does not change what the Kings are thinking when it comes to Thomas. The worst kept secret in the world has been the Kings desire to have a pass first point guard in the lineup. Isaiah Thomas’ role with Sacramento was going to change in 2014-15 because a “true” point guard was going to be added to the roster.
The Kings were hoping to move Thomas into the sixth-man role to energize the second unit and keep scoring pressure on their opponents. The Kings have reportedly priced that role at $6-million per year. Reports have the Detroit Pistons offering Thomas a three-year contract at $8-million per year. The Kings have the first right of refusal but $8-million per year may exceed their budget for the position.
It has been suggested that the Pistons offer sets the table for a sign-and-trade deal with Sacramento that would send Thomas to Detroit in exchange for forward Josh Smith. The Kings were reportedly interested acquiring Smith for their number-eight draft pick, but the deal was not completed.
The selection of Nik Stauskas also put Thomas’ future with Sacramento in doubt. The Kings now have two legitimate shooting guards in Stauskas and Ben McLemore. Either of those players have the talent to become the sixth-man off the bench for the Kings. Sacramento also has Ray McCallum to play backup point guard which leaves the need for Thomas at a much lower priority.
Collison is a 6-foot, 175-pound point guard who played his college ball at UCLA. He was a first-round pick (21st selection) of the New Orleans Hornets (now the Pelicans) in 2009. Collison spent one-year in New Orleans, two-years in Indiana, one-year in Dallas and last year in Los Angeles with the Clippers.
Clippers coach and president Doc Rivers had indicated that re-signing Collison was a priority for the Clippers. The prospect of being the starting point guard and making $5-million plus per year appears to have been too much for Collison to ignore.
The signing of Collison does not mean the Kings are finished with making changes to their roster. Sacramento continues to be rumored to be looking to move forward Jason Thompson. Veteran guard Jason Terry has an expiring contract that might make him attractive to a team looking for cap room.
For now, the Kings appear to have filled what they saw as a major hole in their roster with the signing of Collison.

Warriors Mission Bay arena: Real Estate occupancy at 99 percent in Mission Bay neighborhood

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by Jerry Feitelberg

SAN FRANCISCO–The Mission Bay properties for housing in recent developments are going like hotcakes and no wonder the rents in the city are being driven by the high tech firms purchasing of land and real estate developing condos and the future home of the Golden State Warriors is no different. You can only imagine what it’ll be like once the arena is completed.

Bio tech developer Alexandria Real Estate Equities had built out over one million square feet of property space that is already tenant occupied at a rate of 99 percent. There are 5,000 units that Alexandria is still constructing before the gap is filled in and you can best bet that these units are already spoken for. As it turned out this might be a better or equally good investment than where the Warriors originally wanted to build their new arena at Piers 30-32.

Mission Bay is showing tremendous growth and development for housing at nearly 100 percent and the Warriors who purchased Mission Bay land from Salesforce, once the new arena is developed the Warriors plan on adding retail, hotels, and condos the latter three are designed to off set the costs of building the arena.

The Warriors designs for the new arena will seat 18,000 and will be on 12 acres of property owned by the team, the Warriors have not selected an architect yet but in the selection process the team is reportedly consulting with other NBA teams about architects who designed their buildings. There is no question the Warriors want a state of the art building that is futuristic above other NBA arenas.

Sources also say the Warriors are considering installing an NHL regulation ice at the new arena. The San Jose Sharks’ CEO John Tortara this month said that the team would explore the possibility of moving out of SAP Center in downtown San Jose and build their own arena. The Sharks are considering Santa Clara and being next to the 49ers. If that deal doesn’t work out the Warriors could share the Mission Bay facility with the Sharks and make the arena NHL campatible.

The Mission Bay development still is hitting record levels for development for businesses too as just three blocks away from the arena site Kilroy Reality Co whose had a lot of success with development in the Mission Bay too said they are planning to build a $450 million R & D project for offices that include a 12 story building at 680,000 square feet.

Jerry Feitelberg is covering arena developments of the Golden State Warriors and Sacramento Kings for http://www.sportsradioservice.com

Nik Stauskas meets the press in Sacramento

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Image                                             Photo credit: Sports Radio Service

By Charlie O. Mallonee

Nik Stauskas the newest member of the Sacramento Kings met the press on Saturday morning at the Kings’ practice facility. Stauskas was the eighth pick overall in the NBA Draft and was a surprise selection to many of the draft experts who have expressed displeasure with the Kings’ choice.

Stauskas said being drafted started to sink in while traveling to Sacramento. “I think yesterday having a lot of travel I had some time to sit on the plane … I got to take a couple of minutes to sit back and reflect on everything  I’ve been through and the fact that I’m here now. I am extremely happy and excited to get to work.”

Stauskas wanted to make sure the fans in Sacramento know that he is here to improve and play hard. “I want to let people know here that I’m not satisfied with being just a NBA player. Obviously it has been my goal to get here now to this point. Now that I’m here I need to reevaluate things and make new goals. I’m a very motivated kid. I’ve had a chip on my shoulder my entire life and I want to keep it that way because I know that’s what’s going to keep me successful. Just moving forward, I want you guys (the press and fans) to know that I will be giving 150-percent every day to help this team win and help myself be successful as well.”

The press wanted to know more about the chip on Stauskas’ shoulder. “Well the chip on the shoulder started as young kid growing up just outside of Toronto where … no one really pays attention to basketball in Toronto (like) here in the U.S. Now they do because we have a lot of kids coming from there. I feel like I was never recognized and that kind of motivated me to show out and let people know how good I was. That’s been the case my whole life. And even when I got to Michigan my first year, I had players like Trey (Burke) and Tim (Hardaway,Jr.), Glenn Robinson (III). These were projected lottery picks, so I always felt like I had something to prove.

Stauskas wanted to be sure the Sacramento fans know that he is all about basketball. “Basketball is what I love to do. It’s what makes me happy. I hope that people will get the sense when I’m out there and I’m talking a little bit of trash that that’s just me out there having a little fun and enjoying the hard work I’ve put into it.”

Stauskas’ uncle was the person who introduced him to the game. “My uncle was the first one to invite me to play basketball for his club team when I was a young kid. I don’t what it was about the game of basketball, but I just seemed to love it and it made me happy. The more I played the better I got. The better I got the more I wanted to play. It just became a cycle and being a fan of the Toronto Raptors I looked up to bunch of NBA players … just watching them and the lives they live just inspired me to be like them.”

The next question to Stauskas was obvious – who was your favorite Toronto Raptor? “I loved Vince Carter when he was there. I got a chance when I was young to meet him and play with him when I was like nine-years old. That was a huge moment for me because was like god and he couldn’t do any wrong. To meet him, to see him play and to be the face of the franchise was one the things that motivated me to become an NBA player.”

Even though his plane did not arrive in Sacramento until 11:30 PM Friday night, Kings’ fans were there to greet Stauskas as exited the plane. That reception made an impression on the newest King. “Yeah, it’s awesome. I’m so excited to be here in a city where the fans are passionate about the team and supportive. Coming from just outside Toronto where no one really knew who I was and coming to Sacramento – a city I’ve never been to before – and have fans stay up late to welcome me at the airport is a dream come true and really made me feel happy. I want to send a special thank you to everyone who came out and supported me yesterday.”

The Nik Stauskas era has begun in Sacramento. If confidence and drive count (and they do), Stauskas is going to be an exciting addition to the Kings.

Sac Kings downtown arena: Additional lawsuit could cog the Kings construction schedule

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by Jerry Feitelberg

SACRAMENTO–If things weren’t complicated with three citizens filing an evironmental and private subsidy complaint against the City of Sacramento to block the Sacramento Kings new arena at Downtown Plaza which is bad news for the Kings construction schedule. Another group has filed a lawsuit on Thursday, the group Sacramento Coalition for Shared Properity says that the city and the Kings are responsible for affordable housing and assisting small businesses who could be forced out by the Kings new arena.

Shared Prosperity said in a news release on Thursday that the Kings did not “diclose analyze or mitigate impacts to local street traffic, air quality and climate change” those studies according to the group were not set up when the arena blueprints were created at downtown plaza. Shared Prosperity also says that the city and the Kings are responsible for “the impact of the health and safety of low income residents.”

Shared Prosperity said that they are not trying to stop the construction of the $477 million arena but they request in the lawsuit that the Kings adress solutions on affordable housing, low income residents, consider local street traffic and air quality. The Kings biggest fear of these two lastest lawsuits is the delay in meeting their deadline set by the NBA by having the arena finished by 2017.

The 2017 deadline is expected to be met or the NBA will relocate the franchise, the arena project could face a legal challenge that could stall construction that is scheduled to start at downtown plaza for demolition in late July. The other fear by the city is the judge in the case could order the city to make it clear as to how downtown infrastructure, air quailty, and other specific environmental impacts are met prior to any groundbreaking at the plaza.

To make matters worse for the Kings and the city’s concerns of making the schedule the coalition has also been joined by the Sacramento Housing Alliance and the Environmental Council of Sacramento in the suit. The groups are asking the city and the Kings to start a fund that will commit $40 million to affordable housing and have monies set aside for small businesses who might be affected by street changes, neighborhood construction, temporary moves due to construction, and assurances that they will be able to continue to do business in the Downtown Plaza neighborhood.

Jerry Feitelberg is covering the new arena developments for the Sacramento Kings and the Golden State Warriors for http://www.sportsradioservice.com

Warriors draft report: 2012 picks compensates for W’s not making any picks in the draft

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by David Zizmor

OAKLAND–The Golden State Warriors who did make a draft selection on Thursday said they’re confident with who they selected back in the 2012 draft. In that draft they had a four player selection and feel that it should hold with those young players inspite of not selecting any players this year, “We’re pretty good at making our lives exciting, but we couldn’t do it tonight” said Warriors general manager Bob Woodward.

The Warriors who spent $3.2 million in trades said they were capped out during the fiscal trade period and that parting with a player would have been their only other choice during the draft something that Woodward wasn’t prepared to do. Thus the team for the first time ever did not select a player in the draft.

The Warriors are one of the more involved teams in the NBA at this time of the year had a fairly quiet selection at the draft on Thursday. Costs played a part in the top 11 draft picks in contract signing however it was reported had the draft selection went past number 12 and went to 13 the Warriors who were hoping that Doug McDermott would drop to the 13 or below in the selections would have changed that picture.

Nothing doing as McDermott went to number 11 and was selected by the Denver Nuggets and was traded to the Chicago Bulls. The Kings during the draft kept active selecting Nik Stauskas. In recent weeks the Minnesota Timberwolves and the Warriors have kept active in keeping their eye on Kevin Love. Love might have been a Warrior if the Warriors had been able to obtain either Stauskas or McDermott and trade for him.

Since there was no deal the Warriors walked out of the draft empty handed but again don’t feel slighted as they are satisfied with their past selections from drafts since 2012. NBA sources who are following the Warriors and Kevin Love situation said that a deal still is not impossible. The Warriors are still very interested in Love and the Timberwolves still expressed interest in forward David Lee and guard Klay Thompson but the Warriors didn’t want to take back Kevin Martin and $21 million that Martin has left on his contract.

There is some talks left the other option is that Love finish out his last season with the T-Wolves this year and become a free agent and tell the T-Wolves that he will not sign with them for 2015-16. Right now Golden State is $11-12 million under the luxury tax. With the July free agency approaching the Warriors can look at offers in the $5.3 million to $9.8 million range. The traded-player-exception expires on July 10th.

David Zizmor covers the NBA for http://www.sportsradioservice.com

Kings take shooting guard Nik Stauskas at No.8

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By Charlie O. Mallonee – Sports Radio Service

The Sacramento Kings surprised the experts on Thursday night by selecting shooting guard Nik Stauskas from the University of Michigan. The experts were predicting the Kings would draft a power forward or a point guard at number eight. The Kings drafted shooting guard Ben McLemore out of Kansas last year. McLemore saw an increasing amount of playing time in the second-half of the 2013-14 season. Does the selection of Stauskas mean the Kings are giving up on McLemore or could Stauskas have been drafted as a piece for a potential multi-player trade with someone like the Detroit Pistons? As the great expert continues to say on a regular basis, “Only time will tell.”

Stauskas is a 6’6”, 205 pound shooting guard from Etobicoke, Ontario. He played his high school ball at St. Mark’s School in Southborough, Massachusetts before heading to the University of Michigan. Stauskas was voted the Big Ten Player of the Year in 2014. He was named to All-Big Ten First-Team and to the Associated Press All-American Second-Team last year. Stauskas was selected to the NCAA Tournament All-Midwest Regional Team for his play leading the Wolverines to an Elite Eight run. Michigan lost to Kentucky, the eventual tournament champions, 75-72 in the Elite Eight.

Stauskas led Michigan in scoring in 2014 averaging 17.5 points per game which ranked third in the Big Ten. He shot 47.0-percent from the field and 44.2-percent from three-point range. Stauskas is an 82.4-percent free throw shooter.

Stauskas is an elite shooter with a quick release and great mechanics. The experts say he has unlimited range and is comfortable shooting off the dribble or on pull-ups. Stauskas is solid ball-handler with a good first step and the ability to make plays off the bounce pass. He is also known as an unselfish player who will make the extra pass. David Aldridge of NBA.com had Stauskas as the number-one shooting guard available in the draft.

When asked how he felt about being selected by the Kings Stauskas said’ “I’m excited about the city and the organization. They have a great young corps there. I’m excited to get in there and help the team win some games.”

Responding to a question about being drafted after the Kings selected shooting guard Ben McLemore last year he said, “I feel like I can play multiple positions. Moving forward in the NBA I feel I can play a little bit of the one (guard) and some two. I know this team has kind of struggled shooting the ball and that’s obviously the best part of my game and spreading the floor and knocking down shots is what I’m excited about doing for this team.”

“A lot of guys who come to Michigan, the guys who were under recruited, we play with a chip on our shoulder,” he said on ESPN. “Me and Trey we felt we had something to prove and coach Beilein and the assistant coaches they’ve all done a great job and they gave us a great system to play in and we really succeeded in it.”

“You’re playing with Trey Burke and Tim Hardaway Jr. you have to take a backseat somewhat,” ESPN analyst and former Wolverine Jalen Rose said on the broadcast. “He improved his ball handling, he got stronger, able to finish at the hoop, knock down three-point shooter and he’s fearless. He’s one of those guys who goes on the court and thinks, I’m the best player out there.”

Sac Kings arena at the Plaza: Opposition builds up a frenzy against arena, claims of unethical financing

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by Jerry Feitelberg

SACRAMENTO–With $255 million approved for funding by the City of Sacramento for the Sacramento Kings new arena lawyers opposed to the new arena due to environmental and housing issues and accusations of the city making funding possible by private susidies. Attorneys representing three citizens Patrick Soluri and Jeffery Anderson are working on blocking the Kings new arena which is scheduled to go under construction at the Downtown Plaza.

The city plans to spend upwards to $755,000 to defend itself against the suit that says that the appropiration of the funds to be spent by the city on the arena were done in a back room deal and that the funding transaction was not tranparent as the city and Kings are spending $477 million for the new Kings digs at the Downtown Plaza.

The suit was filed but a Sacramento Superior Court judge ruled that the lawsuit didn’t have merrit because a preliminary term sheet was approved last year by the city council when working on the financing plan. Soluri and Anderson readjusted the suit and adding a $255 million contribution which had been approved from the council and that difference allowed for the amendment.

The suit says that the parking lot properties in Sacramento were not listed as gifts when Soluri and Anderson said that the city’s proposal is fraud and they are asking the court to block the construction of the Kings arena. The city has argued in their previous appearence in court that the value of the garage property is worth almost nothing.

The city also argued that the parking properties need extensive upgrade improvements and the city had made it clear to the public that the garage and other particulars of the agreement was made to the public through public meetings and the media.

The city has hired the law firm Myers Nave to defend the city against the suit, funding for the law suit would come out of the city’s general funds. The city so far has dropped some $500,000 already fighting the three citizens in legal fees, represented by Soluri and Anderson. With the additional $755,000 that will bring that figure up to over $1.2 milllion fighting the arena opposition all out of the general fund.

Sacramento Coucilman Jay Schenirer said that the city is already bleeding red ink and this is money that should be going to other city departments that badly need funding rather than fighting arena opponents in court, “it’s $750,000 that we cannot spend on police, that we cannot spend on community centers and cannot spend on providing services for young people, all of which should be our priorities.” said Schenirer.

Jerry Feitelberg is covering the new arena developments for the Sacramento Kings and Golden State Warriors for http://www.sportsradioservice.com

NBA Championship Finals: Miami never had what it took to come back

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by David Zizmor

San Antonio (4) Miami (1): When San Antonio’s AT&T Center didn’t have cool air in game one of this series and it disabled the Heat to lose the first game of the series it almost set the tone for this match up. The Heat did come back and won game two and the way the Heat played it it looked like it would be a repeat of last season’s championship.

Last season’s finals was a lot closer with these same two teams but this year they traded body blows, and this series didn’t turn out that way. It was not going to be a complete loss for the Spurs as the Spurs took game three in Miami. After the Heat lost yet another game in game four the Spurs took a 3-1 advantage.

The Spurs really took it to Miami and it was the typical in the way that this series went. The Spurs flipped the script by winning game seven by a big margin. No one really believed Miami could come back, the Heat had a very good swarming defense. The Heat was not able to keep up with San Antonio’s passing. This is not the same Spurs team compared to last year.

The Spurs did have some ability to swing the ball out at the parimiter at a whole new level, last year they were able to swing at the parimiter but they were still a post up team. They would throw it down to the Spurs Tim Duncan and get it down to him whenever they had the chance and they would also throw it down to one of the bigger players like center Tiago Splitter.

This year there was none of that this year’s team is primarily a parimiter team they definitely worked some of those post up swings and the options were there but this Spurs team is all about making the extra passes. As good as the Heat defense is and let’s face it their one of the best in the league the Spurs were so good.

The Spurs passed the ball around and they had that extra guy to move the ball and the Heat just couldn’t keep up the Spurs were always one pass ahead of them and over the course of the series the Heat just couldn’t hang with the Spurs speed on passing and working the ball outside the arc. The Heat were just not deep enough.

Miami just could not keep up in this series, they don’t have back court guys like the Spurs have, the problem is everybody thinks that Miami is all about the Big Three but the fact of the matter is that Dwayne Wade has really fallen off. He got a lot of rest this season, this is not the same guy who lead the Heat to the finals in game six over Dallas.

Wade has had knee injuries, he is just simply sapped, he doens’t have the speed to run the parimiter and he doesn’t have the agility anymore to hang with some of the top players and at times he became a liability for the Heat. LeBron James and Chris Bosh played well but Wade definitely took a step back.

David Zizmor covered the NBA for the 2013-14 season for http://www.sportsradioservice.com