Category: Sacramento Kings

by Ken Gimblin

SACRAMENTO–Sacramento Assistant City Attorney Matthew Ruyak says that the subsidy measure that would ask Sacramento voters if public subsidies could be used to build a new arena could make the ballot and that a judge could be persuaded enough to allow the measure to reach the ballot according to a confidential memo. Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson has said that the ballots are flawed and that the petitions are not legal and should not be allowed.

Sacramento Taxpayers Opposed to Pork or STOP and Voters For a Fair Arena Deal filed a lawsuit that their petitions were following political protocol and that they have the constitutional right to have their measure be legally on the ballot since they met beyond the minimum requirements to be on the ballot with 22,938 petitions over the ten percent minimum and some of the legalees were minor.

Sacramento City attorney James Sanchez sounded off immediately after STOP filed their lawsuit saying the petitions were not up to code and legal, “we believe the legal shortcomings presented by the STOP petitions will be persuasive to a judge, we believe a judge will be hardpressed to conclude they complied with the election code.” said Sanchez

But it’s Ruyak’s confidential memo that lends credence that the measure has a shot at making the ballot, although in basketball parlance it’s not a slam dunk Ruyak says there is no guarantee the city can fight to keep it off the ballot even with some of the legal inconsistencies, “we can not conclude with the requisite level of confidence that a court would more likely uphold an action to disqualify the initiative or it’s signatures. Given the fundamental right of the electorate to assist their voice through initiative, we cannot definitely conclude that there is a greater than 50 percent chance of prevailing in court should the city council refuse to place the measure on the ballot.” said Ruyak

STOP attorney Brad Hertz said that even though there were flaws on the petitions and legal disclaimer errors they are minor enough and that the initiative should go forward on the ballot, “it was a lot of very enthusiastic people with, you might say, too many cooks in the kitchen, all of (the flaws) are minor, technical, no voters were deceived” said Hertz

Ken Gimblin is covering the Sacramento Kings and Golden State Warriors arena developments for Sportstalk Radio

By George Devine, Sr.

The Sacramento Kings played once more without DeMarcus Cousins and Rudy Gay. Cousins had missed two previous matchups after spraining his left ankle. Gay, who had a strained left Achilles, warmed up but was removed from the starting lineup. Both have been leading scorers for the Kings — each averaging just over 20 points per game — but even without them, their teammates stepped up and came close at times in a 106-99 loss.

The Kings came into the contest closely matched to the win-loss record of the Utah Jazz. But after a close first period the Jazz began to take over, and a fourth-quarter rally could not pull the game out of the fire for the visitors who came up short, 106-99.

Jason Thompson led the scoring for Sacramento, with 19 points. He contributed 11 rebounds, 7 of them defensive, and 2 blocks. Derrick Williams had 17 points and 15 boards, again mostly defensive (13). Ben McLemore scored 14 points and had 9 rebounds.

For Utah, Marvin Williams and Enes Kanter each had 16 points. Williams also had 13 rebounds. Derrick Favors had 17 points and a dozen boards, and Jeremy Evans had 14 points with 10 rebounds.

By George Devine, Sr.

DeMarcus Cousins and Rudy Gay have made a big difference for the Kings this season. On this occasion their absence made a difference since neither played. But even with that, Sacramento came closer than expected in a 128-117 loss to Denver at Sleep Train Arena.

The Kings led in a close first period, 31-30, but the Nuggets moved ahead in the second, 35-28. The home team retained the advantage in the third, 34-30, but Ty Lawson broke up the party with 12 points in the quarter, and Sacramento lost it in the final frame, 30-24. High scorer for the Kings was Isaiah Thomas who scored 22 points, adding 5 rebounds and 8 assists. He was followed by Marcus Thornton with 19 points, Do McLemore with 18 and Jason Thompson who had 13 points and 10 boards.

For Denver, Ty Lawson scored 27 points and had 3 rebounds with 6 assists. Wilson Chandler had 20 points, 4 rebounds and 5 assists; Randy Foye and Nate Robinson scored a dozen points apiece.

by Ken Gimblin

SACRAMENTO–Efforts to reach representatives of the two anti downtown arena groups Sacramento Taxpayers Opposed to Pork or STOP and Voters for a Fair Arena Deal were fruitless on Friday as Sacramento City Clerk Shirley Concolino said that the Sacramento Registrar’s office had kicked out more than 6,700 petitions that allow the voter to decide if public subsidies should be used to pay for any new sports or entertainment facilities in Sacramento.

According to Concolino on Friday the 6700 petitions in question were flawed that there were nine different versions of the petition, the petitions had wording that were different and non consistant with voter guidelines, the petitions also left out legal language pertaining to the subsidy issue and other specific issues that must be included for the petition to have been able to move forward.

Concolino said of the petitions that were rejected on Friday, “I’ve never seen a petition with so many flaws as this one.” The 6,700 rejected petitions spells trouble for STOP and Fair Arena as they claimed that they delivered 23,000 petitions that were all nice and tidey but now have no comment on the registrar’s decision. The petition drive was largely funded by Seattle hedge fund manager Chris Hansen whose bid to move the Sacramento Kings to Seattle was rejected by the NBA.

Hansen paid $100,000 for the campaign to have signatures question the public subsidies on the June ballot if taxpayers should foot the bill for new sports or entertainment facilities. Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson said that the petition effort by STOP, the Arena Deal, and Hansen was not worth the petitions it was written on saying of the drive that it was an “underhanded attempt to subvert and trick voters with misrepresentations, hidden money and misleading petition language.

STOP and Arena Deal have been critcial of the city’s plan to use $258 million in public subsidies to fund for the new arena. The Kings would pay the other part of the $450 million plus for the downtown arena. The Kings just this past week barrowed $35 million from Goldman Sachs to help purchase the Mall at downtown plaza.

The current owners from San Francisco JM a base development firm sold the mall to the Kings, the deal would give the Kings most of the downtown plaza property. The Kings are trying to get the Macy’s building near the Holiday Inn by eminent domain. The latest on that is CalPERS who owns the property is a willing partner and would sell their share. U.S.Bank who owns the other share is challenging the Kings and the City on eminent domain because the offer from the city and Kings is far below market value.

Ken Gimblin is covering the arena developments for the Sacramento Kings and the Golden State Warriors for Sportstalk radio

By George Devine, Sr.

It was never really much of a contest, as the Houston Rockets blew out the visiting Kings, 119-98, a mere 24 hours after Sacramento had done the same to the Pelicans in New Orleans. By the middle of the first period, the Rockets had taken a lead that they would never relinquish, but only expand.

Dwight Howard was the key to the home team’s success, and is already touted as the one who can make the difference in the Rockets’ potential title hopes in the NBA this season. He had 26 points and contributed 13 rebounds. James Harden was not far behind, with 24 points and 9 assists. The advantage for Houston was so pronounced that both leading scorers were able to sit for the final quarter.

For Sacramento, Isaiah Thomas took the lead with 20 points and 6 assists; Jason Thompson had 12 points and 98 boards. Coming off the bench, Derrick Williams scored 22 points and had 11 rebounds. The Kings had beaten Houston in a close game on New Year’s Eve, but a key difference in this one was the limited participation of Rudy Gay, who played only 5:59 and scored only 4 points, leaving the game with an injured Achilles tendon. He had scored a career-high 41 against New Orleans the previous evening.

By George Devine, Sr.

The Kings have now won two games in a row, after a dramatic win in New Orleans, beating the Pelicans by a final score of 114-97.

Rudy Gay, who has been scoring somewhere in the range of 20 points a game, has been ramping it up lately, and on this occasion matched his career high with 41. At halftime he had scored 19, equal to his total output in many a recent game. He was 5 of 8 from 3-point range, and also made a big difference with 8 rebounds and 5 assists. Also scoring high for Sacramento were Isaiah Thomas with 20 points, 4 blocks and 11 assists, and DeMarcus Cousins with 18 points and 11 boards. The Kings outrebounded the Pelicans 46-35 and 10 of those were by Quincy Acy.

Key scorers for New Orleans all came off the bench: Tyreke Davis with 17 and rookie center Jeff Withey with 14, in addition to starters Anthony Davis (165) and Brian Robert (15). 12 of Withey’s points came in the second period, in which the home team led 36-26. However, at halftime the Kings led 64-56 due in large measure to a 38-20 first quarter. The third frame commenced with a 17-4 run by the visitors, resulting in a 27-14 advantage for the period.

The Kings next travel to Houston to take on the Rockets on Wednesday, January 22.