I was in a Red Lion Hotel along the Spokane River. I had just gotten back from a day at Silverwood in Northern Idaho. It had been a belated birthday trip, I was tired, sunburned and a little intoxicated. I laid down on the bed, kicked off my shoes, grabbed the remote, flipped on the TV and every channel was consumed with the same story.

It's so cliché, but so incredibly true that you absolutely remember exactly where you were and what you were doing when disaster strikes.

I am absolutely fascinated by natural disasters and think the power of mother nature in all her fury is nothing short of awesome. What if Hurricane Katrina never happened or just petered out along it's original path over Georgia instead of heading back out over the Gulf of Mexico and then on its deadly path on the through Louisiana, Alabama and Mississippi?

1. 1,833 people would still be alive right now and not have been killed in the storm.

2. I would not have been glued to a television in a hotel room and wasted a perfectly good birthday trip.

3. The Seattle Supersonics would not be the Oklahoma City Thunder and people outside the 408 area code still would not know Clayton Ike Bennett ever existed.

The New Orleans Arena was severely damaged during the hurricane forcing the Hornets to look for a new, temporary location. Baton Rouge was considered to be the likely location, but Oklahoma City was the city chosen, even beating out Kansas City, San Diego, Nashville and Louisville.

The Hornets would play six games in Baton Rouge during the 2005-06 season and 35 games in OKC. The Hornets would win their 2005 season/home opener in OKC against the Sacramento Kings by 26 points.

In January of 2006 the NBA announced that the Hornets would return to Oklahoma City for the 06-07 season with the team returning to New Orleans fully for the 07-08 season and the 2008 All Star game being held in New Orleans.

There was some skepticism that George Shinn would ever return the Hornets to New Orleans. The attendance in Oklahoma City was just too good. Up a full 78% from what it had been in the initial years in New Orleans after the relocation from Charlotte.

The NBA told OKC that the Hornets were off limits; they would be returning to New Orleans as soon as the market rebounded and could support them again, OKC had to go find a new team.

On July 18, 2006 Clay Bennett bought the Sonics from Howard Schultz and we can fast forward to present day.

Had the hurricane stayed on it's predicted course lives would have been saved, a city would have not had to endure all the trauma that it went through, the Hornets would have never played a game in Oklahoma City and the Sonics would still be in Seattle.

Then to continue the "what if game," what if Steve Ballmer did buy the team from Schultz? What if our next drafts went like this: Kevin Love (instead of Russell Westbrook), Ricky Rubio (instead of James Harden) and Ed Davis (instead of Cole Aldrich)? Build that around Kevin Durant as your star, a growing Serge Ibaka at center playing next to Love and a bench of Jeff Green, Nick Collison and Luke Ridnour.

What if Durant had a true point guard to play with? What if Durant didn't have to play 45 minutes a night and wore down in May and June because he had a quality bench backing him up?

What if last June we were celebrating a championship in downtown Seattle as a Durant lead Sonics beat the Heat four games to two?

"What if," the most torturous phrase in the sports lexicon dictionary.

New York Knicks big man Andrea Bargnani will not suit up for the Italian national team in EuroBasket 2013 due to his ongoing battle with pneumonia, according to Jared Zwerling of ESPN New York.

Bargnani has been dealing with the illness for several weeks, forcing him to miss Italy's training camp and several exhibition games. The Italian Basketball Federation released a statement Tuesday saying that while Bargnani's condition has improved, he won't be able to recover in time for EuroBasket when it tips off in Slovenia on Sept. 4.

The loss of Bargnani is a blow to an Italian team already without Danilo Gallinari. Bargnani was Italy's top scorer and rebounder at EuroBasket 2011, averaging 22.8 points and 7.4 rebounds in five games.

The illness shouldn't hamper Bargnani's availability for Knicks training camp in October. The big man will almost certainly miss the team workouts and scrimmages planned for after Labor Day, however, potentially putting him slightly behind schedule.

More from SB Nation NBA:

• Ziller: How good can Drummond be? | No. 3 in 2017?

• Ranking the top 100 NBA players of 2017

• Revisiting our Top 99 of 2015

• Kings taking calls about Jimmer Fredette

• Meet Brooklyn's "Three-Headed Monster"

When I heard we were doing a "What if" theme day on SB Nation, so many potential scenarios flew through my head. What if the NBA Board of Governors had approved the sale of the Kings to Chris Hansen? What if the Kings had drafted Greg Monroe over DeMarcus Cousins? What if Q & R had passed? What if John Salmons expressed an emotion?

I had a bunch of options to choose from, especially being a Kings fan during these last few years, where "What if" was almost always better than the "What is". But there is only one moment that's impact (on the court at least) is still being felt today, and that is Chris Webber's knee injury.

***

In 2001-02, the Kings came about as close as a team can to winning an NBA title without winning it. They took the eventual champion Los Angeles Lakasdsdreasdfffffffffj;aj;;weeeeeeeeeg.... sorry I blacked out there for a second writing those last four words, where were we? Oh yeah ... to seven games, and lost the seventh game at home in Overtime. The series was there for the taking, even with Game 6's terrible officiating, but Sacramento couldn't pull through.

After getting so close, the Kings reloaded their team for another attempt in 2002-03. They added Keon Clark and Jim Jackson, as well as seeing continued development from Hedo Turkoglu and Gerald Wallace. This was one of the deepest teams in the league, and they proved it, winning 59 games in the regular season despite long absences by key players like Mike Bibby (27 games), Bobby Jackson (23 games), Chris Webber (15 games) and Peja Stojakovic (10 games) due to various injuries and ailments. Only Vlade Divac, Doug Christie and Keon Clark managed to play more than 72 games (all were at 80) and the team still finished 1 win behind the Dallas Mavericks and San Antonio Spurs for the best record in the NBA (speaking of which, you know how it's a running joke how much deeper the West is than the East? It was even more true in 2002-03, when the Detroit Pistons had the best record in the East with just 50 wins. In comparison, the Lakers and Blazers had 50 wins and were 6th in the West).

Sacramento promptly finished off the Utah Jazz and John Stockton's career in five games in the first round and were feeling pretty good heading into the second round against the Dallas Mavericks, who were probably Sacramento's second biggest rivals after the Lakers. The Mavericks did have home court advantage, but the Kings had won the season series 3 to 1 (with every game except one being quite close). Sacramento comfortably won Game 1 to take home court advantage but then disaster struck in Game 2 when C-Webb went down with torn cartilage in his knee. The Kings had already lost the game at that point, but lost Webber, their best player, for the remainder of the series. Their vaunted depth still managed to keep them in it, taking Dallas to 7 games before finally falling. The rest is history, as Webber never fully recovered, and just two seasons later he was traded to Philadelphia. The Sacramento Kings have never been the same since.

***

So now let's delve into the "What if" portion of our piece. What if C-Webb had never injured his knee, and further, never had any issues there at all?

Well for starters, the Kings likely would have beaten the Mavericks in that series. They would have then had to face the San Antonio Spurs in the Western Conference Finals, a team the Kings didn't particularly match up that well against (San Antonio won the season series 3 to 1). The Spurs would also have home court advantage and Tim Duncan in his prime. The Spurs were younger, featured the best player (Duncan) but also didn't have the same amount of depth or experience (how weird is it to say that about the Kings and Spurs in this day and age). This would most likely be a six or seven game series, with the winner almost guaranteed to win the NBA Title by facing a much weaker New Jersey Nets team. I can't say for certain that the Kings would have won that series against the Spurs, but they would definitely have had a shot.

Next season is where history really changes. In real life, Webber missed the first 59 games and when he came back, he was far from his old self. Prior to his knee injury, Webber had never had a defensive rating lower than 98 during his time in Sacramento. After the knee injury, he never got below 102. Offensively there was a similar trend as his efficiency dropped due to an increase in jumpers taken vs. points in the paint. Webber's FG% went from 46-49% to 41-43%. Despite all this he still managed to be a very effective player, just not one worth the 7 year, $120 million contract he was receiving. The 03-04 Kings, with a depleted Webber, still managed to win 55 games and finish with the 4th best record in the NBA. A large part of this was because of Peja Stojakovic's best year ever (he finished 4th in MVP voting) and the acquisition of Brad Miller, who helped alleviate Webber's absence somewhat. The Kings got to the second round again, and barely lost in 7 games to the #1 seed Minnesota Timberwolves.

If C-Webb had been healthy, Sacramento likely would have been the #1 seed in the West, as Minnesota had just three more wins overall. That home court advantage (and a healthy C-Webb) would have been key, and I could easily see the Kings getting to the Western Conference Finals that year for a rematch against the Lakers. These Lakers were older than the ones that defeated Sacramento in 2001-02, and the Kings had taken the season series (again, without a healthy or even available Chris Webber for most of the season) 3 games to 1. Unlike 2002-03, the Kings matched up much better to the Lakers than to the Spurs and I definitely think the Kings would take that series, particularly with homecourt advantage. This would have led to a very exciting NBA Finals between the Kings and Pistons. The Pistons matched up well with Sacramento, and Webber vs. Sheed would have been a fun battle, but in the end I think Sacramento would have been the team to come out on top in six or seven games. Unlike the Lakers team that Detroit beat, the Kings had a lot more offensive options, and a healthy Webber playing for a title in his hometown? I think he would have been on another level. He would finally be able to put the "timeout" behind him forever.

With a healthy Webber, Sacramento's window for a title would have been stretched at least two more seasons, with a really good chance of winning it all in 2003-04. Webber would have been just 31 after that season with at least a few more high level years left in him. If we look at the tenures of an athletic big man like Kevin Garnett, he didn't start to really slow down until 32 or 33. Webber would have probably seen a similar dip in production as his athleticism started to come down from the elite level he was at. We saw that after the knee injury, just on a quicker pace than would have happened naturally.

The Kings probably wouldn't have traded Webber in the middle of 2004-05 season if he was still healthy. However, I don't think they would have been quite good enough anymore to win a title. Vlade wasn't re-signed, although even if he had stayed in the afterglow of a title win, his career was basically over as his age and injuries finally caught up to him. Doug Christie was traded for Cuttino Mobley, which gave Sacramento a big scoring boost in the backcourt, but an obvious loss in defense. More importantly, the rest of the league was getting better as Sacramento got older. San Antonio especially had Duncan, Parker and Ginobili in their primes. Phoenix was taking the West by storm with Steve Nash, Amare Stoudemire, Shawn Marion and Joe Johnson. The Mavericks had reloaded after a disappointing previous season. In the East, Detroit was still lurking and Miami had up-and-coming Dwyane Wade as well as Shaquille O'Neal. Barring a big trade for a younger star, the Kings were still good, but not quite good enough anymore.

But Webber being healthy would have been huge regardless. Rather than one real chance to win a title in 2001-02, the Kings probably would have had a couple more in 02-03 and 03-04. I find it pretty likely that the Kings would have at least one, maybe two, championship banners hanging from the rafters from those seasons if Webber hadn't gotten hurt.

Shams Charania of RealGM reports that the Atlanta Hawks are one of the teams that will be taking a look at small forward James Johnson at an upcoming workout. Other teams that are mentioned include the San Antonio Spurs and the Utah Jazz.

Johnson was drafted No. 16 overall in the 2009 NBA Draft by the Chicago Bulls. He was later traded to the Toronto Raptors and spent last season with the Sacramento Kings. He has career averages of 6.3 points and 3.2 rebounds. His best season came in 2012 when he averaged 9.1 points, 4.7 rebounds and 2.0 assists in 62 games for the Raptors.

Atlanta currently has 14 players under contract and have the room and cap space to add another player if they choose to. The small forward position still seems to be thin with DeMarre Carroll and Kyle Korver as likely options although Mike Scott and Paul Millsap could also see time there.

There was no word in the report of when the actual workout is scheduled to take place.

More from Peachtree Hoops:

• SB Nation Theme Day: What if the Atlanta Hawks hadn't traded Dominique Wilkins
• SBNation's Top 100 of 2017 features four Atlanta Hawks
• Atlanta Hawks remain competitive while rebuilding
• Mike Muscala to keep a video diary throughout his year in Spain
• Ivan Johnson seriously considering overseas offers

Thursday, August 22nd will be a day of podcasting infamy.  It will mark the very first Mail Sac Live.  Section214 is always a great guest, and he's graciously agreed to let me steal his wonderful Mail Sac to fill the dog days of August.  We'll answer your questions, so be sure to submit a few to asksactownroyalty@gmail.com.

We're also planning, for the first time on the Sactown Royalty Show, to take questions live.  Tune in, call in, ask your questions.  And if you call in and do something bad, you shall be punished.  Talking to you, rbiegler.

And we've even got a pick and droll topic to kick off the show.  It should be a lot of fun (shows with Section always are).  Check out the show here (we'll also post a link when the show goes live) at 9pm PT, Thursday.

As always, if you're on iTunes, subscribe to the show and you'll never miss an episode.  On Android? Check us out on Stitcher.

More from Sactown Royalty:

• What if Chris Webber's knees hadn't broken down?
• Jimmer Fredette trade rumors: Kings not shopping guard, but taking calls
• A coach's son becomes a King: Meet Ray McCallum and his dad
• Ben McLemore says he's gunning for Rookie of the Year award
• Report: FPPC Unveils Chris Hansen as the Source of $80,000 Donation to Anti-Arena Campaign

Tom Couzens is the sports editor at The Sacramento Bee. You may know him from previous vignettes like "leaving F-bomb laden prank calls on Don Geronimo's voicemail." Couzens is part of the rotation of Bee editors and writers who handle the daily Leading Off column. Leading Off is a brief rumination on some sports issue du jour. It's almost like a (gasp) blog post.

Couzens' Leading Off column on Thursday:

It's late August, the NBA's only "dead" month of the year.

But that doesn't mean the Internet isn't atwitter with speculation about the future of Kings guard Jimmer Fredette.

We figure it's mostly a bunch of bloggers bored in their basements, but Fredette's name has been all over Twitter this week, and some online reports cited our Jason Jones' conversation with Fredette in July about his uncertain future.

We'll leave the "bloggers bored in their basements" joke from 2006 alone. There's a 2 percent chance he's being ironic or something. But Holy Lack of Reading Comprehension Skills, Batman. The hubbub on Jimmer this week -- including our own post on the subject -- comes directly from an interview Couzens's own staff writer, Jones, gave to a Salt Lake City media outleton Saturday.

In that interview, Jones mentioned his July conversation with Jimmer. But he also provided some additional, seemingly updated reporting: that the Kings are not shopping Fredette, but are taking calls on him. (We'd expect this applies to other players, but Jones was answering questions about Jimmer.)

So Jones breaks (or reiterates, or updates ... whatever) a touch of news in another media outlet, fans of the Kings have the temerity to discuss it because they consider Jones reliable, and ...

We figure it's mostly a bunch of bloggers bored in their basements, but Fredette's name has been all over Twitter this week [...]

The best part: after Couzens's turned-nose critique of our collective interest in The Jimmer in August, he goes on to write about Jimmer's prospects of being traded. In fact, he basically aped my piece on Jimmer, though probably not intentionally. (It's a fairly straightforward situation: he's the fifth guard on the team.)

So basically Couzens makes fun of everyone for paying attention to his own writer's news, then does what he's making fun of everyone for doing. Tom Couzens, everyone!

It's a real disservice to The Bee's wonderful sports writers (especially a guy like Joe Davidson) and the sports fans of the Sacramento area that the paper has such a mediocre sports editor. If Couzens wanted to improve the sports page, he'd cut himself out of the Leading Off rotation -- I don't know the last time he wrote something actually insightful in that space.

More from Sactown Royalty:

• The Sactown Royalty Show Presents: Mail Sac Live!
• What if Chris Webber's knees hadn't broken down?
• Jimmer Fredette trade rumors: Kings not shopping guard, but taking calls
• A coach's son becomes a King: Meet Ray McCallum and his dad
• Ben McLemore says he's gunning for Rookie of the Year award

The Sactown Royalty Show is back, and so is Section214! Since there's not much in the way of Kings news, we thought it would be fun to do a live version of the Mail Sac. We answer your e-mails, do a little Pick and Droll, and we even took a couple calls.

More from Sactown Royalty:

• Ryan Bowen added to Kings coaching staff
• Jimmer Fredette has driven Bee sports editor batty
• What if Chris Webber's knees hadn't broken down?
• Jimmer Fredette trade rumors: Kings not shopping guard, but taking calls
• A coach's son becomes a King: Meet Ray McCallum and his dad

72. LaPhonso Ellis

LaPhonso Ellis was a 6'8" power forward from East St. Louis, IL. Born on May 5th, 1970, he graduated from Lincoln High in his hometown in 1988 with McDonald's All-American Honors. He then played with the Fighting Irish of Notre Dame, starting for four seasons. Overall, he averaged 15.5 points, and 11.1 rebounds per game while with the team. He led Notre Dame in blocked shots in each of his four seasons, the only player in school history to do so. The Denver Nuggets selected him in the first round of the 1992 draft, with the fifth overall pick.

Ellis played six seasons with the Nuggets (343 games), shooting 46% from the field and scoring 15.2 points and 7.9 rebounds per game. He also made the NBA's All-Rookie First Team. He then played two seasons with the Atlanta Hawks (78 games) and one with the Minnesota TimberWolves (82 games). During the 2001 offseason, he signed a two year contract to play for the Heat, for $6,100,000.

90s - LaPhonso Ellis MIX by MISIEK (via TheKingMisiek)

2001-02 would see Ellis play in 66 games for the Heat, starting 14 at small forward. He played an average of 25.5 minutes per game, scoring seven points on 41.8% shooting with four and a half rebounds per appearance. He posted 15 games with 10 or more points. On the 20th of November, he hit seven of his 11 shots in 37 minutes, scoring 17 points with three rebounds in an 80-73 win against the TimberWolves. He scored a season high 24 points 10 days later, sinking nine of his 12 field goal attempts with seven rebounds in a 84-75 Heat loss to the Washington Wizards. The Heat went 36-46, missing the playoffs by six games.

Ellis played in 55 games, starting three at power forward in 2002-03, his last NBA season. His field goal percentage dropped to .382, and he averaged five points and three rebounds per game. He scored over nine points 13 times over the course of the season. On November 30th, he played 28 minutes off the bench in an 85-79 win over the Cleveland Cavaliers, scoring 13 points with seven rebounds. On February 3rd, he scored a season high 15 points in 18 minutes as the Heat beat the Hawks, 99-79. For the second season in a row, the Heat missed the playoffs, posting a 25-57 record.

Ellis began his broadcasting career with ESPN as a college basketball analyst in 2009.

All-Time HEATline: Two seasons, 121 games, 20.4 minutes, 6.2 points, 3.7 rebounds, 0.6 assists, 0.4 steals, 0.4 blocks, 9.7 PER, 3.3 win shares.

71. Anthony Carter

Anthony Carter is a 6'1" point guard from Milwaukee, WI. Born June 16th, 1975, he played one season of high school ball at Alonza Crim High School in Atlanta, GA, dropping out to play street ball. He was devoid of positive guidance within his family, as his mother was addicted to drugs and all seven of his uncles served time in prison. His skills, however, were enough to earn notice throughout the community. He was encouraged to earn a GED, and afterward attended the University of Hawaii on scholarship. He played two seasons with the Rainbows, averaging 18.4 points, 4.5 rebounds, and 6.9 assists per game.

After going unselected in the draft of 1998, Carter signed on for a season of professional basketball with the CBA's Yakima Sun Kings. The Heat signed him before the 1999-00 season to a four-year contract with an option for a fifth. His four year salary was $8,101,250.

As a rookie, Carter played 79 games, starting 30 for the Heat at point guard. He shot 39.5% from the floor in 23.5 minutes per appearance, scoring 6.3 points 2.5 rebounds, 4.8 assists, and 1.2 steals per game (leading the Heat with 93 steals total). He finished in double digits 18 times, and dished out 10 or more assists five times, totaling five double-doubles. On December 6th, in a 99-91 Heat win over the Los Angeles Clippers, he hit nine-of-13 shots, scoring 20 points with three rebounds and five assists. In a 109-106 victory against the Orlando Magic on December 29th, He scored 21 points with three rebounds and nine assists in 33 minutes. On January 2nd, he scored 13 points with 10 assists and three rebounds in a 111-103 win over the Orlando Magic. On April 18th, he sunk eight-of-11 shots in 29 minutes, scoring 17 points with four rebounds and six assists in a 97-73 win over the Toronto Raptors. After winning the Atlantic Division Title with a 52-30 record, the Heat defeated the Detroit Pistons, 3-0 in the first round. Carter scored 10 points and dished out 13 helpers in game two, an 84-82 victory. The Heat then fell to the New York Knicks in seven games.

Carter started in six of his 72 appearances in 2000-01. He shot 40.6% from the field, averaging six and a half points, two and a half rebounds, and three and a half assists in 22.6 minutes per appearance. He scored 10 or more points on 16 occasions. On February 21st, he scored 19 points on nine-of-14 shooting with six assists in a Heat loss to the Phoenix Suns, 100-85. On April 13th, he went eight-for-11 from the field, scoring 17 points with six assists in 32 minutes of a 94-82 defeat at the hands of the Raptors. Miami earned the third seed in the playoffs with a 50-32 record, but bowed out quickly in three games to the sixth seeded Charlotte Hornets.

In 2001-02, Carter averaged 23 points per game, starting 18 of his 46 appearances. He shot 34.2%, scoring four and a half points with four and a half assists and two and a half rebounds. He had eight games where he scored in double figures, and made 10 or more assists five times. On November 8th, in an 86-82 Heat loss to the Bucks, he scored 11 points with 11 assists, three rebounds and three steals. In a 103-89 Heat win against the Orlando Magic in the season finale on April 17th, he scored 10 points with 10 assists, four rebounds and three steals. Miami finished the season at 36-46, missing the playoffs.

2002-03 would be Carter's last season with the Heat, although his option was technically exercised. In 49 games, he started 26 at point guard, averaging 18.6 minutes per game. He shot 35.6%, scoring four points wtih four assists and one and a half rebounds. On March 25th, he dished out 15 assists in a 108-91 loss to the Minnesota TimberWolves. Three days later, in a rematch, the Heat won 111-84 as Carter scored 10 points with 11 dimes in 35 minutes. Miami finished at 25-57, again missing out on the postseason.

Due to an error on the part of his agent, Carter's extension with the Heat was not exercised and he then signed with the San Antonio Spurs for far less money. The agent was fired, and Carter only played five games with the Spurs. He later went on to play with the TimberWolves (111 games), the Denver Nuggets (218 games), the New York Knicks (19 games) and the Toronto Raptors (24 games).

Anthony Carter Mix by Patrys15 (via BigPatrys15)

All-Time HEATline: Four seasons, 246 games, 22.2 minutes, 5.5 points, 2.4 rebounds, 4.3 assists, 1.1 steals, 0.1 blocks, 10.6 PER, 3.4 win shares.

70 Khalid Reeves

Khalid Reeves was a 6'3" point guard when selected in the first round of the 1994 NBA Draft by the Miami Heat. Born on July 15th, 1972 in Queens, NY, he played high school ball in Christ the King High, a school in Middle Village, NY. He was selected to the McDonald's All American squad in 1990. In college, he played four seasons for Lute Olsen with the University of Arizona Wildcats. As a senior, he averaged 24.2 points, 4.3 rebounds, and 2.9 assists, making the AP All-American second team. 

Reeves signed for $1,300,000 as a rookie in 1994-95, playing 67 games for the Heat and starting 17 at point guard. He shot 44.3% from the field, including 39.2% from three-point distance in 21.8 minutes per game. He averaged nine points, three rebounds, four and a half assists, and just over a steal per appearance. He notched three double-doubles, scoring in double figures 26 times and racking up over nine assists five times. He was decent all season, but saved his best performances for the last few weeks of the year. On March 28th, he scored 24 points on 9-of-17 shooting, including three from outside, along with 10 assists and five rebounds in a 126-115 loss to the Boston Celtics. On April 11th, he scored 24 points with nine assists in a 112-99 loss to the New York Knicks. In a 123-117 win over the Orlando Magic on April 15th, he scored 20 points with 14 assists, most of them to Glen Rice, who dropped 56 that night. On April 21st, he scored a season high 32 points, going four-for-seven from three-point distance along with three boards and four dimes in a 113-106 loss to the Philadelphia 76ers. Miami finished at 32-50 on the campaign, missing the playoffs.

Before suiting up for the 1995-96 regular season, the Heat traded Carter with Matt Geiger, Glen Rice, and a first round pick (Tony Delk) to the Charlotte Hornets for LeRon Ellis, Alonzo Mourning, and Pete Myers. After 20 games with the Hornets, he later played with the New Jersey Nets (81 games), the Dallas Mavericks (95 games), the Detroit Pistons (11 games), and the Chicago Bulls (three games). He also plaed with Aris (Greece), Pau-orthez (France), the Grand Rapids Hoops (CBA), the Phoenix Eclipse (ABA), the Florida Sea Dragons (USBL), Cafe Najiar (Lebanon), and Panteras de Miranda (Venezuela).

All-Time HEATline: One season, 67 games, 21.8 minutes, 9.2 points, 2.8 rebounds, 4.3 assists, 1.1 steals, 0.1 blocks, 16.9 PER, 3.5 win shares.

The Philadelphia 76ers pulled off a trade for 20-year-old point guard Tony Wroten on Thursday, as first reported by Adrian Wojranowski of Yahoo! Sports, and I loved it, but I received mixed feedback from Orlando Magic fans when I tweeted this response to the news:

The deal that Philly just got is sort of something I wish Orlando would have done.

— Tyler Lashbrook (@lashy) August 22, 2013

So I wanted to use this post to elaborate on my thoughts on the trade and why I would have liked to see the Magic pursue a similar deal this offseason.

I loved this trade for Philly for myriad of reasons. The fact that Wroten is over a year and a half younger than the 76ers' 11th overall pick, Michael Carter-Williams, is preposterous. Wroten's a 6-foot-6, high-energy combo-guard with all the physical tools to play both guard positions

I also love the competition that it creates for Carter-Williams. It gives Philly a young, feisty, scrappy guy, in Wroten, to push its 21-year-old point guard of the future.

But the beauty in the trade is that it's not going to help Philadelphia win this year. At all. Wroten and Carter-Williams are going to clank shots off the rim all season. If they are paired in the backcourt together, they could very well be the worst-shooting tandem in NBA history. The Wroten/Carter-Williams backcourt tandem--with Evan Turner at small forward, are you kidding me?--will shoot on the wrong side of 40 percent from the floor.

And that's totally okay for the Sixers. With each brick going up, a ping pong ball gets stacked on Philly's side, and that's exactly what it wants.

So, let's get this straight: the 76ers picked up an athletic combo guard who averaged 12 points, six rebounds, and four assists per 36 minutes in his first NBA season, for a "future second-round pick." AND he won't help them win? So they still drive the pace car in the Race For Andrew Wiggins? I understand Wroten's efficiency was terrible -- as highlighted by his 46.1 True Shooting percentage and 22.7 turnover rate -- but that's okay. He was born in 1993.

So why did I want to see Orlando make a similar deal? Well, why not?

Why wouldn't the Magic want to take a cheap look at young, unproven point guard? A "future second-round pick" is at the bottom of the NBA Trade Food Chain and, well, the Magic kind of need a young point guard. Jameer Nelson is tilting on the wrong side of 30, and Ronnie Price has never played more than 14.4 minutes per game or shot over 43.1 percent in his eight-year career. The jury is still out whether Victor Oladipo can even spell the point guard position for small stretches, let alone play there full-time.

Two guys similar to Wroten intrigue me: Isaiah Thomas from the Sacramento Kings and Kendall Marshall from the Phoenix Suns. Thomas is the much more proven player: in his first two seasons, he's started 99 games for the Kings and put up career averages of 13 points and 4 assists on 44.3 percent shooting. It's fair to wonder whether the Kings would part with its young point guard for just a future second-round pick, but Sacramento did trade for Greivis Vasquez and then signed rookie Ray McCallum to a three-year contract. And word Jimmer Fredette is still there. With that depth, a second-round pick starts to sound not-so-bad to unload Thomas and the nearly $2 million left on his deal.

The Suns, on the other hand, might part ways with their 22-year-old point guard a lot more quickly if another team dangled a future second-rounder in front of them. Phoenix traded for Eric Bledsoe and still has Goran Dragic, which completely buries Marshall on the depth chart.

Marshall, a 6-foot-4, pass-first point guard from the University of North Carolina, struggled in just about every aspect that he was criticized in leading up to the 2012 NBA Draft. Marshall was practically a matador on defense, couldn't shoot, and couldn't get to the free-throw line. But Marshall still has an absurd assist rate and was a lottery pick in the summer of 2012. For the Magic, he might be worth a future second-round pick.

Not acquiring a young point guard this offseason doesn't mean the end of the world for the Magic. They likely wouldn't have found anyone to be the point guard of the future. Maybe general manager Rob Hennigan didn't see his guy in this year's crop of free agents. Maybe no trade offer was good enough for Hennigan to pull the trigger on. Most likely it's just the dog days of August and I'm speculating nonsensical things to keep me stimulated until basketball comes back.

I think that's probably it.

We invite you to follow Orlando Pinstriped Post on Twitter and like Orlando Pinstriped Post on Facebook.

More from Orlando Pinstriped Post:

• Rumor: "Little doubt" that Magic want Davis trade
• Nickname the Magic's future pick from Denver or NY
• What if the Magic traded for Bynum or Lopez?
• What if Jameer Nelson had been healthy in 2009?
• Report: Magic working on land deal for complex

FIBA.com reports from Venezuela that new Kings point guard Greivis Vasquez has been cleared to train after offseason ankle surgery. But despite the quick recovery, he still will not be able to play in this month's 2013 FIBA Americas tournament. Teams are playing for a spot in the 2014 FIBA World Cup. Without Vasquez, Venezuela has a tough road given the presence of Brazil, Argentina, Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic and Canada. (The United States has already qualified.)

Here are Vasquez's quotes:

"My ankle is much better and Dr (Richard) Ferkel told me that I have his permission to begin training on the pick-and-roll, lateral movements and changes in direction," he said.

"He stressed that I need a gradual recovery to reach my optimum level."

Vasquez played almost 2,700 minutes for New Orleans last season.

More from Sactown Royalty:

• The Sactown Royalty Show Ep. 11: Section214 and the live Mail Sac
• Ryan Bowen added to Kings coaching staff
• Jimmer Fredette has driven Bee sports editor batty
• The Sactown Royalty Show Presents: Mail Sac Live!
• What if Chris Webber's knees hadn't broken down?

Sacramento Kings legend Grant Napear will be roasted in Marysville at -- wait for it -- Peach Tree Golf and Country Club on Friday night, reports the Marysville Appeal-Democrat. The roast will raise money for Operation Warm Heart, which benefits military families stationed at Beale Air Force Base.

Among the roasters are Friend of StR Carmichael Dave, Jerry Reynolds, Henry Turner, Jim Les, Harold Pressley, Brian Wheeler and the bailiff from Judge Judy.

Tickets are $49 and seem to still be available. In the interest of charity, if you have any jokes about this development, I request you drop a couple bucks on a charitable cause. I will be doing so thanks to my cheekiness in the first line of this post. (Oh God, why didn't we think of a Grant Napear roast, we could have raised millions!)

(If you attend, we absolutely need a trip report. Contact me.)

Former King Peja Stojakovic is heading to India next month to participate in an event dubbed "NBA Jam."

According to the India Times, Stojakovic, alongside Chicago Bulls greats Horace Grant and Ron Harper, will participate in the event that features the largest 3-on-3 tournament ever be held in India - nearly 500 teams. Winning teams will get a shot at playing 3-on-3 against Stojakovic, Grant and Harper.

"There will also be a National Finals for the three-point contest and the winner will get to shoot against Stojakovic."

This is yet another effort the NBA is using to get basketball more intertwined into India's culture. The league has an office in Mumbai and hosts several events a year. Earlier this year, David Stern visited the country. Cricket is the sport of choice in India, but maybe Peja can do his part and open some eyes to the greatness of basketball - something new Kings owner Vivek Ranadive, who was born in India, also aims to do with the Kings.

The league certainly seems to be on the right track. An event that incorporates one of the best shooters in Kings franchise (and league) history and NBA Jam (the name of the greatest basketball video game ever) sounds like a good time to me.

In fact, the whole thing sounds pretty NBA 3.0.

More from Sactown Royalty:

• The Sactown Royalty Show Ep. 11: Section214 and the live Mail Sac
• Ryan Bowen added to Kings coaching staff
• Jimmer Fredette has driven Bee sports editor batty
• The Sactown Royalty Show Presents: Mail Sac Live!
• What if Chris Webber's knees hadn't broken down?

Day 4 of the 2013 FIBA Africa Championship is in the books, with Groups B and D playing their second set of games on Friday. The round-robin portion of the tournament is for seeding purposes only, however, because all 16 teams participating automatically advance to the knockout round.

Let's take a look at Friday's action:

Morocco 87, Rwanda 57 -- Morocco responded from a tough loss to Tunisia with a dominant performance over Rwanda. Abdelhakim Zouita had 21 points and eight rebounds for Morocco, while Abderrahim Najah added 20 points and nine boards.

Morocco jumped all over Rwanda from the tip, running out to a 30-10 lead after the first quarter. Morocco extended their lead to 25 points by halftime and cruised the rest of the way to victory. Morocco shot 47.8 percent from the field and won the rebounding battle handily, 47-35.

Kenneth Gasans had 22 points to lead Rwanda, but he shot just 5-for-17 from the field. Cameroun Bradley was the only other player on Rwanda to reach double figures with 15 points. Rwanda shot a dismal 29.5 percent from the field and turned the ball over 19 times.

Tunisia 100, Burkina Faso 45 -- Tunisia is certainly a favorite for a top-three finish and advancement to next year's FIBA World Cup, but their 55-point victory over Burkina Faso is more due to the lack of experience Burkina Faso has in international competition.

Tunisia was once again led by Macram Ben Romdhane, this time scoring 23 points thanks to an improved efficiency at the free throw line (6-for-10 Friday compared to 5-for-17 on Wednesday). Former NBA Summer Leaguer Salah Mejri added 13 points, seven rebounds and three blocks, while Mourad El Mabrouk rounded out Tunisia's double-digit scorers with 16 points of his own.

Burkina Faso was led by Joris Ambroise Bruno Bado's 14 points, but none of his teammates scored more than seven. It didn't help, either, that the underdogs had only a few more rebounds (35) than turnovers (29).

Nigeria 93, Republic of Congo 75 -- Nigeria is one of the most talented teams in the tournament, sporting four players with NBA experience and a few others who have been on the NBA's radar. It came as no surprise, then, that Nigeria jumped out to a 21-point lead at halftime and never looked back.

Former Georgia Tech standout Alade Aminu was the team's leading scorer with 23 points and nine rebounds, but there were plenty of other solid performances on the Nigerian side of the ball. Veteran NBA big Ike Diogu scored 20 points and grabbed 12 rebounds in 22 minutes, New Orleans Pelicans wing Al-Farouq Aminu had 15 points and Stan Okoye -- a rookie who averaged 21 and nine for the VMI Cadets last year -- scored 14 points. The team's other former NBAers weren't as impressive as the aforementioned few, however, as Gani Lawal had four points and five rebounds, while Ben Uzoh contributed eight rebounds, seven boards and five assists.

The Congolese team was led by 19 points from Giovan Oniangue on the strength of 5-of-9 shooting from beyond the arc. Teammates Bertrand Boukinda-Dibessa and Kris Morlende added 14 points apiece, but it wasn't nearly enough to overcome their 49-24 disadvantage on the boards.

Cameroon 89, Mali 35 -- This game was 49-12 at halftime ... and didn't get any prettier after that, either, so we'll keep the recap short.

The only NBA player in the game -- new Sacramento Kings wing Luc Richard Mbah a Moute -- scored 16 points and added seven rebounds in just 18 minutes of action while Jeremy Nzeulie and Christian Bayang added 16 and 10, respectively, to round out Cameroon's double-digit scorers.

Unsurprisingly, Mali didn't have a player score more than seven points, as they made just 13 of their 52 attempts from the field and turned the ball over a whopping 34 times.

Next up: All eight teams will be in action again Sunday to complete round-robin play before the knockout tournament begins next week.

New York Knicks big man Andrea Bargnani will not suit up for the Italian national team in EuroBasket 2013 due to his ongoing battle with pneumonia, according to Jared Zwerling of ESPN New York.

Bargnani has been dealing with the illness for several weeks, forcing him to miss Italy's training camp and several exhibition games. The Italian Basketball Federation released a statement Tuesday saying that while Bargnani's condition has improved, he won't be able to recover in time for EuroBasket when it tips off in Slovenia on Sept. 4.

The loss of Bargnani is a blow to an Italian team already without Danilo Gallinari. Bargnani was Italy's top scorer and rebounder at EuroBasket 2011, averaging 22.8 points and 7.4 rebounds in five games.

The illness shouldn't hamper Bargnani's availability for Knicks training camp in October. The big man will almost certainly miss the team workouts and scrimmages planned for after Labor Day, however, potentially putting him slightly behind schedule.

More from SB Nation NBA:

• Ziller: How good can Drummond be? | No. 3 in 2017?

• Ranking the top 100 NBA players of 2017

• Revisiting our Top 99 of 2015

• Kings taking calls about Jimmer Fredette

• Meet Brooklyn's "Three-Headed Monster"

When I heard we were doing a "What if" theme day on SB Nation, so many potential scenarios flew through my head. What if the NBA Board of Governors had approved the sale of the Kings to Chris Hansen? What if the Kings had drafted Greg Monroe over DeMarcus Cousins? What if Q & R had passed? What if John Salmons expressed an emotion?

I had a bunch of options to choose from, especially being a Kings fan during these last few years, where "What if" was almost always better than the "What is". But there is only one moment that's impact (on the court at least) is still being felt today, and that is Chris Webber's knee injury.

***

In 2001-02, the Kings came about as close as a team can to winning an NBA title without winning it. They took the eventual champion Los Angeles Lakasdsdreasdfffffffffj;aj;;weeeeeeeeeg.... sorry I blacked out there for a second writing those last four words, where were we? Oh yeah ... to seven games, and lost the seventh game at home in Overtime. The series was there for the taking, even with Game 6's terrible officiating, but Sacramento couldn't pull through.

After getting so close, the Kings reloaded their team for another attempt in 2002-03. They added Keon Clark and Jim Jackson, as well as seeing continued development from Hedo Turkoglu and Gerald Wallace. This was one of the deepest teams in the league, and they proved it, winning 59 games in the regular season despite long absences by key players like Mike Bibby (27 games), Bobby Jackson (23 games), Chris Webber (15 games) and Peja Stojakovic (10 games) due to various injuries and ailments. Only Vlade Divac, Doug Christie and Keon Clark managed to play more than 72 games (all were at 80) and the team still finished 1 win behind the Dallas Mavericks and San Antonio Spurs for the best record in the NBA (speaking of which, you know how it's a running joke how much deeper the West is than the East? It was even more true in 2002-03, when the Detroit Pistons had the best record in the East with just 50 wins. In comparison, the Lakers and Blazers had 50 wins and were 6th in the West).

Sacramento promptly finished off the Utah Jazz and John Stockton's career in five games in the first round and were feeling pretty good heading into the second round against the Dallas Mavericks, who were probably Sacramento's second biggest rivals after the Lakers. The Mavericks did have home court advantage, but the Kings had won the season series 3 to 1 (with every game except one being quite close). Sacramento comfortably won Game 1 to take home court advantage but then disaster struck in Game 2 when C-Webb went down with torn cartilage in his knee. The Kings had already lost the game at that point, but lost Webber, their best player, for the remainder of the series. Their vaunted depth still managed to keep them in it, taking Dallas to 7 games before finally falling. The rest is history, as Webber never fully recovered, and just two seasons later he was traded to Philadelphia. The Sacramento Kings have never been the same since.

***

So now let's delve into the "What if" portion of our piece. What if C-Webb had never injured his knee, and further, never had any issues there at all?

Well for starters, the Kings likely would have beaten the Mavericks in that series. They would have then had to face the San Antonio Spurs in the Western Conference Finals, a team the Kings didn't particularly match up that well against (San Antonio won the season series 3 to 1). The Spurs would also have home court advantage and Tim Duncan in his prime. The Spurs were younger, featured the best player (Duncan) but also didn't have the same amount of depth or experience (how weird is it to say that about the Kings and Spurs in this day and age). This would most likely be a six or seven game series, with the winner almost guaranteed to win the NBA Title by facing a much weaker New Jersey Nets team. I can't say for certain that the Kings would have won that series against the Spurs, but they would definitely have had a shot.

Next season is where history really changes. In real life, Webber missed the first 59 games and when he came back, he was far from his old self. Prior to his knee injury, Webber had never had a defensive rating lower than 98 during his time in Sacramento. After the knee injury, he never got below 102. Offensively there was a similar trend as his efficiency dropped due to an increase in jumpers taken vs. points in the paint. Webber's FG% went from 46-49% to 41-43%. Despite all this he still managed to be a very effective player, just not one worth the 7 year, $120 million contract he was receiving. The 03-04 Kings, with a depleted Webber, still managed to win 55 games and finish with the 4th best record in the NBA. A large part of this was because of Peja Stojakovic's best year ever (he finished 4th in MVP voting) and the acquisition of Brad Miller, who helped alleviate Webber's absence somewhat. The Kings got to the second round again, and barely lost in 7 games to the #1 seed Minnesota Timberwolves.

If C-Webb had been healthy, Sacramento likely would have been the #1 seed in the West, as Minnesota had just three more wins overall. That home court advantage (and a healthy C-Webb) would have been key, and I could easily see the Kings getting to the Western Conference Finals that year for a rematch against the Lakers. These Lakers were older than the ones that defeated Sacramento in 2001-02, and the Kings had taken the season series (again, without a healthy or even available Chris Webber for most of the season) 3 games to 1. Unlike 2002-03, the Kings matched up much better to the Lakers than to the Spurs and I definitely think the Kings would take that series, particularly with homecourt advantage. This would have led to a very exciting NBA Finals between the Kings and Pistons. The Pistons matched up well with Sacramento, and Webber vs. Sheed would have been a fun battle, but in the end I think Sacramento would have been the team to come out on top in six or seven games. Unlike the Lakers team that Detroit beat, the Kings had a lot more offensive options, and a healthy Webber playing for a title in his hometown? I think he would have been on another level. He would finally be able to put the "timeout" behind him forever.

With a healthy Webber, Sacramento's window for a title would have been stretched at least two more seasons, with a really good chance of winning it all in 2003-04. Webber would have been just 31 after that season with at least a few more high level years left in him. If we look at the tenures of an athletic big man like Kevin Garnett, he didn't start to really slow down until 32 or 33. Webber would have probably seen a similar dip in production as his athleticism started to come down from the elite level he was at. We saw that after the knee injury, just on a quicker pace than would have happened naturally.

The Kings probably wouldn't have traded Webber in the middle of 2004-05 season if he was still healthy. However, I don't think they would have been quite good enough anymore to win a title. Vlade wasn't re-signed, although even if he had stayed in the afterglow of a title win, his career was basically over as his age and injuries finally caught up to him. Doug Christie was traded for Cuttino Mobley, which gave Sacramento a big scoring boost in the backcourt, but an obvious loss in defense. More importantly, the rest of the league was getting better as Sacramento got older. San Antonio especially had Duncan, Parker and Ginobili in their primes. Phoenix was taking the West by storm with Steve Nash, Amare Stoudemire, Shawn Marion and Joe Johnson. The Mavericks had reloaded after a disappointing previous season. In the East, Detroit was still lurking and Miami had up-and-coming Dwyane Wade as well as Shaquille O'Neal. Barring a big trade for a younger star, the Kings were still good, but not quite good enough anymore.

But Webber being healthy would have been huge regardless. Rather than one real chance to win a title in 2001-02, the Kings probably would have had a couple more in 02-03 and 03-04. I find it pretty likely that the Kings would have at least one, maybe two, championship banners hanging from the rafters from those seasons if Webber hadn't gotten hurt.

Ryan Bowen, a former NBA player and most recently a Nuggets assistant coach, will join the Kings as an assistant coach and the assistant director of player development, the team announced Wednesday. In the latter role, he'll report to Dee Brown (also an assistant coach). Bowen worked with Pete D'Alessandro the last two seasons in Denver, of course, and likely fills out the staff. The Kings now have a stunning six assistant coaches under Michael Malone. (In the recent past, the Kings have had 3-4.)

Bowen bounced around the league for 10 seasons, spending the longest stint with the Nuggets. He's an Iowa native and was an assistant coach for Iowa State before rejoining Denver. He's also a fan of the band STYX.

Welcome to Sacramento, Ryan Bowen!

More from Sactown Royalty:

• The Sactown Royalty Show Presents: Mail Sac Live!
• What if Chris Webber's knees hadn't broken down?
• Jimmer Fredette trade rumors: Kings not shopping guard, but taking calls
• A coach's son becomes a King: Meet Ray McCallum and his dad
• Ben McLemore says he's gunning for Rookie of the Year award

International firm AECOM will be named the architect of the Kings' proposed downtown Sacramento arena on Sunday, reports Tony Bizjak of the Sacramento Bee. AECOM designed 11 current NBA facilities, and was in charge of the master design plan for the 2012 and 2016 Summer Olympics in London and Rio, respectively. AECOM also designed Aggies Stadium at UC Davis.

Bizjak reports that the Kings will announce the decision on Sunday. The team had interviewed a number of firms a few weeks back. AECOM, you'll remember, did the design study on a potential arena in the Downtown Plaza months ago.

The construction team is complete: Turner Construction (construction), ICON Group (project management) and Mark Friedman (developer) have already been hired. Chris Granger told the Bee the team is now looking to get shovels in the ground in August or September 2014.

AECOM's most recent NBA building is Barclays Center in Brooklyn. That's the photo in this post.

More from Sactown Royalty:

• Peja Stojakovic to participate in 'NBA Jam' in India
• Grant Napear to be roasted for charity
• Greivis Vasquez cleared to train, won't play in FIBA Americas
• The Sactown Royalty Show Ep. 11: Section214 and the live Mail Sac
• Ryan Bowen added to Kings coaching staff

We had a lot of questions submitted for last week’s podcast that we couldn’t get to on-air, so let’s get to them here, beginning with a quartet of questions from LaBradford:

"You won a contest- the Kings will fly you to any regular-season road game in the country. Airfare and accommodations are all taken care of. Which game will you choose to go to and why? Kings versus ____________________? (Because you like the city? Like the team? Like the arena? Have a mistress in that particular city? Like the local cuisine?)"

My first choice is Chicago. They are my second-favorite NBA team, and I have a lot of good friends and family in Chicago. Plus Chicago is my favorite city – great food, great entertainment, great people. Portland would be next on my list. I’d love to hang with the Blazers fan base for a couple of games, and Portland is my favorite Western Conference non-Kings team. New Orleans would be next on the list (French Quarter!).

"You have been asked by Pete D’Alessandro to GM the Kings in a charity baseball game versus the Warriors. Which position will you put each current player at?

1. Pitcher: ______________________

2. Catcher: ______________________

3. 1st Base: ______________________

4. 2nd Base: ______________________

5. 3rd Base: ______________________

6. Short Stop: ______________________

7. Left Fielder: ______________________

8. Center Fielder: ______________________

9. Right Fielder: ______________________

You can assign the leftovers as relief pitchers, pinch hitters, batboy or whatever."

Jimmer’s my pitcher, as I want a chucker on the mound. Chuck Hayes is my catcher, as he is already in the squat. DeMarcus Cousins and his incredible hands are at first base – he can pick anything that the infielders throw at him…and he can turkey tap the runners. Isaiah Thomas is the natural sparkplug that you see at second base. Carl Landry’s at third – Hot Carl at the hot corner. Luc Richard Mbah a Moute is my shortstop, as he is my best defensive player. Patrick Patterson plays left field (it was either him or Salmons or Outlaw). Greivis Vasquez is my center fielder, and he can assist his fellow outfielders in either alley. I put Ben McLemore in right field and place him close to the line, so he doesn’t have to worry about going to his left. Jason Thompson is my setup man, and Marcus Thornton is my closer. Ray McCallum is my emergency reliever, and Salmons and Outlaw are pinch hitters.

"It is the year 2020 and the Sacramento Kings have won their first ever NBA Championship. How do you celebrate? Who you gonna call? Where do you go?"

Let’s see, I’ll be 61, so the first thing that I’ll have to do is manage an escape from the old folk’s home. But once that is accomplished, I head outside and overturn the neighbor kid’s pedal car and set it on fire. I call my friend Joe, who shared Kings tickets with me for a long time. And I make my way down to "K" street and party like it’s 2099.

"Vivek just bought a horse that he hopes will someday race in the Kentucky Derby. He is holding a naming contest, specifically stating that the name must be Sacramento Kings related. What will you name the horse?"

I’ve got nothing here, but I’m hoping that polotown delivers in the thread (no pressure). Bibbilicious? Maloof on my hoof? JOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOE?

Next, the trifecta, presented by adamsite, which were noted as questions specifically for me (which really hurt Greg’s feelings, which may or may not be why these did not make the podcast):

"If you could be any female actress, who would you be and why?"

The late, great Anne Bancroft, because…duh…married to Mel Brooks! Runner up goes to Jessica Alba, because I would love to look at that each morning in the mirror.

"If you could be any Sacramento Kings player (past or present), who would you be and why?"

Corliss Williamson. $42m in career salary, NBA champion, 100% class. Runner up would be Justin Williams because…you know…three-way.

"What are the first 3 things that pop (or poop) into your head when thinking of the other main contributors to Sactown Royalty?"

If we’re talking about the staff, it would be diverse/creative/obsessed. If we’re talking about the members, it would be informative/conversational/obsessed.

From Nizzyo: "After San Antonio brought in T-Mac for the finals last year, I have been thinking that, well it’s just that, ok look! Am I crazy for thinking that we could benefit from giving Allen Iverson a shot off the bench as PG/SG? I think he would embrace the opportunity and we wouldn't have much to lose right? Just include no thunder valley or red hawk visits in his contract. Seriously though, what do you think?"

I think that Iverson announced his retirement after you submitted this. But my thought was that he has not been a good basketball player since the 2007-08 season. That’s six seasons ago. That was the year of the Mike Bibby trade, a year in which the Kings’ core rotation was John Salmons, Brad Miller, Mikki Moore, Kevin Martin, Ron Artest, Francisco Garcia and Beno Udrih. Iverson is now 38 years old. I just don’t see him helping anyone, including the Kings.

"And from dannyboy55: One of the things I hated about the GP era of the last 5 years or so, was to go out and sign the mid-level exemptions, via FA or from our own RFAs...the signing of Carl Landry totally baffles me as far as trying to rebuild this team (the Reke let go was an obvious sign of rebuilding). If we had a scratch front court, the Landry signing is ok and makes sense to me, but this team is crowded with mid-level players both in the front court and the backcourt...why take on another mid-level salary when we need to shed at least 2 from the roster? I've always felt that the Kings have diminished the value of their recent signings and draft picks (Hayes, Salmons, Jimmer, Outlaw) because they can't get enough burn and thus their play and stats go down. Bottom line, why don't we trim the fat and pick a few key young guys to build around?"

OK, I’m going to preface this with the reminder that I would have paid Evans the $44m for four years, and I probably would not have signed Landry to the $27m deal over four years. That said…

It appears to me that the new regime is attempting to change the culture, while at the same time committing to building around Cousins. That is no easy task. And if you are going to build around Cousins, you simply can’t treat this like a lost season. You must implement your philosophy and culture and system immediately. And I think that’s where guys like Landry and Greivis Vasquez and Luc Richard Mbah a Moute come in. So while I don’t know that I would have done it the same way (building around Cousins still makes me as nervous as a tick), I laud new ownership/management for at least taking a direction and moving forward with it. That by itself is a refreshing change from the rudderless franchise that we have seen for the past several years. So in that regard, I don’t see the exodus of Evans as being an obvious sign of rebuilding as much as I see it as a determination that Cousins/Evans were not the answer, and the decision was ultimately made that Cousins will be a better investment than Evans.

It’s important to remember that as of right now, Jason Thompson and Carl Landry are the only two players on the Kings roster contracted beyond next year. Everyone else is signed on for two years or less, though an extension for Cousins could be forthcoming. It’s also important to remember that the bulk of the roster has been inherited by new ownership/management and not created by them. They have been in place for only a couple of months, and we’ve already seen significant changes. It’s going to take a while for this roster to be made over, but that does not mean that new signings should be avoided. If management sees Carl Landry as being something that Cousins/Thompson/Patterson/Hayes is not, then I have no issue with them bringing him in. The team does not have long-term salary issues and had cap room, so why not bring him in?

As far as guys like Fredette and Salmons and others being devalued due to their uneven minutes, I’m not sure that I agree. Salmons was 6^th on the team in minutes two years ago and 3^rd last year, so his devaluing is a direct result of his actual on-court performance. Outlaw was an amnesty flier that didn’t pay off, but at $3m a year for the next two years, it’s not a big deal. Hayes’ first year was a washout due to his injuries and conditioning, and last year he did log the 3^rd highest minutes among the bigs, behind Cousins and Thompson. To be fair, he would have also finished behind the combined minutes of Thomas Robinson and Patrick Patterson, but Hayes has never been a "stat guy" during his NBA career, so I’m not sure that his lack of playing time has had as an egregious impact on his value as has his actual play.

Bottom line, new ownership/management inherited a very messed up roster, and it’s not as easy as just saying "let’s trim the fat." Deals will need to be brokered, and other teams in the NBA will likely have to suffer an injury or two during their respective playoff runs to make guys like Salmons or Hayes look a little more appealing. It’s very early on in a process that may not see this franchise competing for the playoffs for at least another two years. A lot has to be undone before other things can be done.

And last but not least from Steve: "Breaking down Kings roster as it now stands who will take last shot of the game? We have not had ‘the man’ for several seasons. Some could say our last shot plays and attempted plays look chaotic. Do the Kings as structured have a ‘go to’ guy?"

I think that there are a couple of guys that could be "that guy." The first guy that comes to mind is Marcus Thornton. He has a scorer’s mentality, gets his shot off quick, and has had some of his best moments in 4^th quarters and with the game on the line. Isaiah Thomas has also been a 4^th quarter phenom. But my bet is that you’re going to see this team try to get the ball into the hands of DeMarcus Cousins when the game is on the line, with a spread floor that allows him to work it inside or dish to an open perimeter player (like Thornton and/or Thomas).

Frankly, the challenge for the Kings will be less about who is going to take the big shot and more about getting the game to the point where there actually is an opportunity to take the big shot.

-

Thanks to everyone that submitted questions last week, and thanks for your patience in awaiting a response. Send your questions and/or topic ideas to asksactownroyalty@gmail.com. The thread (and only this thread) is now open for your thread jacking pleasure.

For this next installment of Sactown Royalty's ongoing series of Q&A's regarding the joint effort of the city of Sacramento and the Sacramento Kings to build a new arena in downtown Sacramento, I caught up with a nationally recognized expert in the area of sports facility financing.

Mathew Parlow is associate dean for academic affairs and professor of law at Marquette University Law School. He focuses on local government law, land use, urban redevelopment and sports law.

Parlow has researched sports arenas for more than a decade and has been published on the topic as well. He has served as a consultant to many local and state elected officials in cities that were considering the public financing of new sports arenas. His work in this area has been used in reports for government analysis of sports arena deals in Los Angeles, Miami-Dade County, Ohio and San Diego. He also was recently appointed to the Regional Cultural and Entertainment Capital Needs Task Force that the Metro Milwaukee Association of Commerce put together as a result of the fact that a new sports arena is being considered in Milwaukee.

One of Parlow's research papers delved into the growth over the last 20 years in the number of new sports facilities for professional sports teams, specifically those that state and local governments have provided public financing for. In this paper, Parlow concluded that public investment in sports facilities isn't always justifiable, but that under certain circumstances and depending on the way the deal is structured, it is justifiable.

He points to the Staples Center in Los Angeles as an example of a project that fit his criteria for a "good deal." And now, he has found another deal that he says is structured properly and will provide a return on investment for a public contribution - Sacramento's arena plan.

Parlow, who holds a J.D. from Yale Law School, where he was an editor of the Yale Law and Policy Review and the Yale Journal on Regulation, was kind enough to answer some questions about the plan to build an arena in downtown Sacramento.

BE: So you published a paper that analyzes whether new sports facilities are justifiable for a city government to fund. In your paper, you found that in certain circumstances it is justifiable. How did you come to that conclusion and what makes an arena deal economically justifiable for a city?

MP: I have been researching new sports arenas for the past fifteen years, including documenting how each arena/stadium in the four major sports leagues-MLB, NBA, NFL, and NHL-were financed. Through my research, I found that those that were more successful than others had certain characteristics. First, these sports arenas have a relatively fair or balanced financing (private and public) and split of arena revenues to enable the city to cover its debt payments and for the teams to improve their profits and thus, the worth of their franchises. Second, the arenas were part of a larger economic development/urban redevelopment plan - that is, the city had planned for other development in and around the arena to build economic synergies with the new arena. Finally, the more successful arenas for cities are those arena deals that have protections for the city to cap or protect against cost overruns or yearly debt repayment obligations. Such protections help ensure that the city does not need to raid its general fund to finance cost overruns or greater-than-expected debt financing payments.

BE: In Sacramento, the city, for it's portion of the public-private deal, is going to go to the market and borrow money against the value of some of the parking garages and on-street spaces it owns. It is going to repay that over time. So the city is reusing its own assets to create value for an arena it will own. Does this seem justifiable to you?

MP: Cities and states tend to refinance their public debt through various taxes, and sometimes cities and states use existing assets (and revenue from those or other assets) to help fund the debt service obligations. I think that the parking approach that Sacramento takes seems to be justifiable to me. The city knows it has a consistent, dedicated revenue source to repay the public debt, and it has a plan to back-fill the lost general fund dollars that the parking would otherwise account for in the city's budget that seems realistic. So overall, yes, this approach seems justifiable to me ...

BE: Cost overruns and city debt as it relates to arena deals is something you have focused on quite a bit in your research. The Sacramento deal calls for the private partnership group to shoulder the burden of handling the cost overruns. What are your thoughts on this?

MP: I think that cities and states providing public financing for arenas need to protect themselves from unanticipated, increased costs - whether on the overall construction or in the annual debt repayments. The city protecting itself against cost overruns by shifting that risk to the private developer is a very prudent move and is one of the reasons that I think this deal is justifiable for Sacramento.

BE: The city is also contributing real estate and other pieces of land the city owns as part of this deal. This includes land close to the arena on the 800 K Street block in downtown Sacramento, which is a dilapidated area in the core of downtown. Revitalization is something you have keyed in on in your research. Do you have any comments on this portion of the Sacramento deal?

MP: It is incredibly common for cities and states to donate land to a private developer as part of an arena deal. The fact that Sacramento is contemplating the new arena as part of a larger redevelopment (and economic development) plan makes it more likely that the arena will be a better deal or more justifiable for the city.

BE: In a city that only has one professional sports team and a mall that is vastly underused in the core of its downtown, is this the ideal situation for an arena project to thrive and provide a decent amount of return on investment?

MP: Downtown redevelopment has become a big push for many major and mid-major cities in the past 15 years or so. With the rise of suburbanization, many cities found their downtowns to merely be office buildings without much other activity or vibrancy. Downtown areas had not become destinations for other economic or entertainment activity, nor neighborhoods where people wanted to live. Cities have undergone downtown transformation to remake and rebrand their downtown areas, and those that have used sports arenas as a piece of an overall redevelopment plan of the area have seen success in doing so. In this regard, I think that Sacramento is wisely looking to place the arena downtown with other projected development to occur around the arena. If done well, people will look back and see it as a success in terms of investment of public resources.

BE: You often have pointed to the Staples Center in L.A. as a good example of an arena success story. What makes it a success story?

MP: Staples Center was a good deal for Los Angeles because it met some of the criteria I mentioned above. The arena deal had a reasonable amount of public debt that the allocated taxes could realistically repay. And if those taxes did not cover the debt service in a particular year, the gap-filling provision in the development agreement put the cost on the developer to cover the difference. So, in this regard, it also protected taxpayers with a cap-like provision that limited their repayment exposure. Finally, Staples Center was part of a larger redevelopment/development effort in Los Angeles to bring more economic vibrancy to downtown Los Angeles. One only need visit Staples Center, see the construction that has occurred around it the last decade or so, and compare it to pre-Staples Center days to know that the arena, and the development plan for downtown Los Angeles more generally, was a success.

BE: Do you think that Sacramento will be doing more good to the local economy than harm through this deal, as it is currently crafted?

MP: Yes, I do. I think the deal is structured in a thoughtful and deliberate way which, if executed properly, should be a net positive for the Sacramento economy.

More from Sactown Royalty:

• Monday Mail Sac: Podcast Cleanup on Aisle Five Edition
• AECOM to be named Kings arena architect, according to report
• Peja Stojakovic to participate in 'NBA Jam' in India
• Grant Napear to be roasted for charity
• Greivis Vasquez cleared to train, won't play in FIBA Americas

The Mail Sac for Wednesday kicks off with Bloody Nate: "Have you ever taken a moment and thought about how it would have been had the ping pong balls fallen our way in 2009? Let's just say we get Blake Griffin (and he doesn't get the freak injury that puts him back a season) and still end the year with the 5th pick in the draft and take Cousins. Can you imagine that frontline? I think having another big guy to compete with for the spotlight would make Cousins work harder. Not only that, but Cousins would also likely be in great shape, because he and Griffin may well have been working out together.

I know you're not supposed to dwell in the past and blah blah, but I think that that was the biggest basketball-related misfortune for the Kings since Webber's injury, if not since The Series We Do Not Speak Of."

The challenge with this kind of exercise is taking the time and effort to continue Doc Brown's space-time continuum. If Griffin doesn't wind up on the Clippers, does that change the Baron Davis to Cleveland trade, in which the Cavs ultimately landed Kyrie Irving? Does it change the flight path of Chris Paul III to Los Angeles, and are CP3, Kobe and Howard currently sitting atop of at least the Western Conference if not the entire NBA?

But for grins, let's say that the Kings land Griffin. For starters, Kevin Martin probably doesn't have the rift with Griffin on the roster that he felt with Evans. But that may not make any difference, as the Maloofs were in full fire sale mode at that point. And there's the rub. The one constant would have been old ownership, and they would not have invested in player talent. They simply did not have the desire or the financial means.

But for more grins, let's say that the Kings still wind up with the #5 pick. Would the franchise have taken a chance on the red flag special? Or would they have passed on Cousins for a better fit with Martin and Griffin? Would Greg Monroe have made more sense? Al Farouq Aminu? Paul George?

I'm also not convinced that a Griffin/Cousins front line would be compatible. Griffin certainly does not fit the mold that Cousins is requesting: a long, defensive front line partner.

Bottom line, the biggest basketball-related misfortune over the past several years was the continued presence of the Maloofs. I can't envision any scenario where the Kings would have been successful with them and their empty wallets in the mix during that period.

From (not) Pete D'Alessandro: "They call me a salary cap gru for a reason. Late last night, I located a loophole in the collective bargaining agreement which I exploited to nullify the contracts of the entire roster in hope of getting a true fresh start. All Kings players are now restricted free agents, and this is both bad (Isaiah and Demarcus are going to cost a pretty penny) and good (See: Outlaw, Travis). While you may be upset with my decision to blow things up for our beloved team, I hope it will not cloud your judgment, as your help is desperately needed.

As you know, Vivek likes to fill the room with people smarter than him. Times are tough and I'm willing to make an exception. Here's what we need answered from both you and other STR members: Who should we resign and who should we let walk? Also, keeping in mind the fair market value and the current makeup of the team, what is a fair contract (dollar amount & years) for us to offer each player?

Oh, and one more thing - try to keep us under the salary cap. I didn't exploit that loophole to lose money."

This is another one that potentially calls for a lot of outside-of-the-box analysis, as you really have to look at supply and demand. Currently there are only a few teams that are more than a few million under the salary cap, and only three that have at least $10m in cap space, and only Philadelphia has gobs of cap room...they still have to spend about $9m to get to the salary floor. However, I suppose that any of these guys could go international for a year, so it's not like you can re-sign any of them for pennies on the dollar.

First things first. I disagree that it will be expensive to sign Isaiah Thomas. Nate Robinson just signed a two year, $4.1m (total) deal. It is what it is for those that are bereft of height in the NBA. I would be shocked if Thomas garnered more than a three year $10m deal right now, and that might a bit rich.

Cousins, on the other hand, would fetch max money on the open market...even Philly might consider taking that plunge. A front line of Cousins and Noel? Could work. Given my options, I pay Cousins the max and pray for the best.

OK, so we've signed Cousins. The one thing we can't do is tank it and hope that Cousins goes along for the ride. We need to start building immediately to keep the big fella happy and headed in the right direction. Unfortunately, the sexiest free agents at the moment (not including our own recently mass-released roster) are guys like Rip Hamilton and Roddy Beaubois. The best available big is Cole Aldrich. In other words, there is no solution on the free agent market right now.

Looking up front, I thank Chuck Hayes for time served. I'd sign Thompson to 3 yr./$15-18m as I know that I can deal out of that contract if/when the time comes. I hope to sign Patrick Patterson to a reasonable rate/term deal (3yr./$10-12m?) and I land Landry at the 4yr./$27m deal that he just signed (though I'd like to spend a couple of dollars less). I sign Aldrich to a cheap 1+1yr. deal at about $2m per. This will create some flexibility for that long, defensive big that I'm looking for while still putting a reasonable rotation on the floor this year. All told, I would have about $31m invested up front this year.

I try to land Vasquez for 3yr./$12m, but I'd add the fourth year if I had to. I offer Thomas 2yr.$6m. I have McLemore and McCallum on their rookie deals. I'd be comfortable offering Thornton 3yr./$18m, knowing that I can always deal out of that contract if/when McLemore is ready to take the reins. So that's about $16m invested at the guard positions. Fredette's the odd man out here, as I need Thornton's proven scoring in the starting lineup to begin the season.

I offer Mbah a Moute the three-year mid-level, and between Salmons and Outlaw, the first one that takes a one year deal at $2-3m gets the gig. That adds up to another $8-9m.

That's about $56m for 11 players. I visit the Bighorns to complete the roster.

All I've really done here is jettison Hayes and either Salmons or Outlaw, while trying to sign the other guys to reasonable deals that will allow me flexibility to make future deals. And thanks to all of these guys suddenly being free agents, I have to pay Cousins a year earlier.

Now, one could argue the merits of not signing Thompson and Thornton, for example. But all you've done is create another scenario where your team is flirting with the minimum salary cap and dropping games in bulk and in blowout fashion. The roster now lacks even the minimal talent required for coach Malone to begin to install his system, and you're going to lose Cousins in this mess, almost guaranteed.

And there is the truth for this Kings team right now. It is so effed up due to the past several years of negligence that there is no fast fix or silver bullet. No matter how you slice it, it is going to take time to right this ship.

One of my favorite adages is that it is at least possible to conceive ways to make more money, but you cannot make more time. The Kings now have money. What they need now is time.

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Pick & Droll: Mini-rant on the arena.

I touched on this in the podcast, but the discussion in yesterday's arena thread got me going again. Just a few (hopefully) quick points -

Now, I am certainly no economist. I think in simple terms, and I resist the urge to overcook these things. So, I'm sure that there are very complex reasons both for and against my following statements. But simple works for me in this case, so if I overlook the impact that this project is going to have on the North American Titmouse or I don't worry that someone might get rich off of this deal, it's only because I really couldn't care less about those things. I care about the future of Sacramento, and I think that the city has been presented with a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

To those that think that the $258m parking subsidy should be spent on schools or police or whatever, get over it. The missing link here is that there are no investors or developers or team owners that are willing to pony up a combined three quarter of a billion dollars to go towards those needs. So when it comes down to return on investment, there is no conversation to be had here. This is not a case where the city is putting up every dollar to make this happen, or even close to it. This deal will never come around for Sacramento again. A new arena and revitalized downtown area for about 25 cents on the invested dollar. Simple.

The arena is much more than about the Sacramento Kings, but without the Kings there is probably no arena. And no Kings would make us the largest city in the country without a major league sports franchise. And that would be absolutely ridiculous.

I was born here in 1959. In 1960 my family moved out to the Madison/Manzanita area, as my dad worked at McClellan Air Force Base. I-5 didn't go through at the time (it dead-ended in the Florin area and you had to skip over to Hwy.99 until you got down to Stockton if memory serves), and we used to get our eggs and fruit and vegetables from farms that sat where Sunrise Mall now (sort of) exists. Without looking it up, I'm going to guess that the region has about ten times the people that it had back in 1960. Sacramento has become a big city, which is no surprise for California's State Capitol.

As the years have passed, I have progressed from young sh*t-disturber to cranky old coot. As a 54 year resident of Sacramento, there are fewer people that can boast that they have lived here longer than me than there are young whippersnappers that have not. I am the demographic that should be resisting change and investment and progress.

But-the-arena-is-the-right-thing-for-Sacramento. It's the major leagues, and Sacramento should be a major league city. Look, I get that the River City will never be San Francisco. But why do some Sacramento residents continue to desire to live in the dark ages? How about a facility that could house a Broadway-sized version of "The Lion King?" Or Bruce Springsteen or Dr. Dre in a venue deserving of their talents? Or the NCAA basketball tourney? How about a facility and surrounding area that you would be eager to take out of town guests to?

Will the new arena be profitable? Who knows? Who cares? Is city street paving profitable? Is the jail profitable? Are the city pools profitable? No, but paved streets and a secure jail and city pools all add to the quality of life in Sacramento. And that's what the arena will do. It will add an immense amount of quality to the lives of those that live in the Sacramento region (probably not as much as paved streets, but more than pools). And it will all but certainly add jobs and spur the economy along the way.

The beauty about the Sacramento region is that if this growth is not for you, you don't have to live in it. You can live in Woodland or Davis or Galt or El Dorado Hills or Loomis (look, I just picked a small town in every direction!) and still work in the Sacramento area. But to think that growth in Sacramento can be squashed is fool's gold. It's going to happen sooner or later. And given the money that is being brought to Sacramento by the various investors, now is the time. Sacramento is no longer a small town, though there certainly remain some small town thinkers.

Dammit! That took way too long. Sorry about that. In closing, let me just say that anyone can certainly come along and pick the fly sh*t out of my peppered comments. But what no one can explain to me is how Sacramento is going to be better off without the arena than with it.

Yeah, I probably should have led with the last sentence and left it at that. My bad.

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