I didn't appreciate Mitch Richmond enough while he was in Sacramento, but that's changed with time.
I was too young and too naïve to appreciate Mitch Richmond in his time. I watched basketball, and rooted for the Kings, but I was far from a die-hard. I loved playing basketball, though. One of my closest friends at Ridgepoint Elementary, Danny, wore two basketball jerseys religiously. His Mitch Richmond Kings jersey, and a Jason Kidd Mavericks jersey. In hindsight, both were great jerseys, but we still had a good time making fun of him for constantly supporting the two. He even crooked his feet when shooting his free throws, in homage to Mitch. It's sad, but that's one of my clearest memories of Mitch Richmond's time as a King.
The only other thing I remember vividly was Richmond being selected to the Dream Team II. At that point, the Olympics and the Dream Team seemed like something so far removed from Sacramento. I was simply amazed that Sacramento could be in such a conversation. Somewhere packed away in my basement I still have newspaper clippings from the Bee commemorating Richmond's selection.
The Kings weren't good, and I didn't understand basketball well enough to appreciate that Richmond could be an amazing player on a godawful team. I thought he was the typical player who looked better because he got to score for a bad team. I was a stereotypical casual fan. I also thought Tyus Edney was the best point guard in the NBA. I wasn't great at evaluating NBA talent when I was in 5th grade. Some would argue that not much has changed.
Now, as a slightly more savvy NBA fan, I watch highlights of The Rock on Youtube, and I marvel. I always knew he could score, but different things stand out to me now. Richmond's defense would make Basketball Twitter drool and fawn. And Richmond was so much more athletic than he looked. Ugly athleticism is the only thing I can think of to describe it. He could make acrobatic plays, power through traffic for a dunk, or contort his body to create a sliver of space to release a shot, but even his most impressive displays of athleticism fail to look particularly athletic.
I'm thrilled that Richmond is being inducted into the Hall of Fame. He belongs in the Hall, so that others like me can learn about his game and can appreciate it with the gift of hindsight. I only wish I had been able to appreciate it more as it was happening.
Richmond had a career replete with losing seasons and a dearth of playoff action. That doesn't matter. There's no denying his greatness. This is what we can learn from Richmond's Hall of Fame career.
Mitch Richmond never won much at the NBA level. His career win-loss record stands at 432-544, or a win percentage of .442. Compared to his top shooting guard peers Reggie Miller and Clyde Drexler (no one was truly Michael Jordan's peer), Miller's career win percentage was .552 and Drexler's was .612.
Rock Richmond played in 23 playoff games. Miller had 144 playoff games. Drexler played in 145. Richmond does have a championship ring, earned with the 2002 Lakers. But in that playoff run, he played exactly twice. Each appearance was in garbage time, including his solitary minute of Finals action. He earned four minutes of playoff action and retired after the season.
Despite of all of that, Mitch Richmond enters the Basketball Hall of Fame on Friday, and he deserves it every bit as much as Reggie and Clyde.
If you want a lesson in how basketball is a team sport, in how good players can exist on bad teams, in how winning is a function of collective quality over individual greatness, look at Richmond. There's an argument that for a six-year stretch from 1993 through 1998 Richmond was the league's second-best shooting guard behind MJ. (And remember: Jordan wasn't in the league in '94 and entered late in '95.)
Over those half-dozen seasons, Richmond made six All-Star teams and averaged 23.5 points per game (the sixth highest average in the league). Only six players took more threes than him over that span, and only Glen Rice and Miller shot them better among that group. Richmond, taking five threes per game with a laughable supporting cast around him, shot better than 40 percent in that stretch, and 38 percent for his career.
He could do other things, too. He was big and physical for a two-guard, getting to the line with some regularity, playing solid defense and helping on the glass. He was also a memorable passer. In four of those peak six seasons, he averaged at least four assists per game. He was, in a sense, the Platonic ideal of a shooting guard: an elite scorer who brought the other attributes necessary to be an overall credit to a team.
Unfortunately, his team stunk. In Richmond's seven seasons in Sacramento, which include that six-year run of glory, the Kings went 221-353, a winning percentage of .385, the 10th worst in the NBA. Losing teams didn't get featured too often on NBA on NBC. The Kings made the playoffs once during Richmond's stay.
Richmond was an All-Star Game staple and one of the 1996 Olympic stars in Atlanta, but in the days before League Pass and Twitter, even a great player could produce huge numbers in relative obscurity. If not for Richmond's famous pre-Kings tenure in Golden State as a member of Run TMC, he may have been even more anonymous through the mid-90s.
The arguments we hear now about Kevin Love, about Kyrie Irving, about DeMarcus Cousins -- the arguments about numbers not mattering if you don't win? It's malarkey. Mitch Richmond is proof. Individual greatness is not enough in the NBA, and hasn't been for decades. (Ask Wilt.)
We can't fault stars for the failings of their general managers or teammates. Doing so prevents us from better understanding basketball, putting players in proper context and from appreciating the game in the fullest, most inclusive way. Winning NBA games and NBA championships is not a matter of will. It's a matter of team excellence.
So few stars make teams great just by virtue of their solitary presence; you can probably count that club on one hand going back 20 years. Individual stars matter much more in 5-man basketball than 9-man baseball and 22-man football and 11-man soccer, certainly. But they are not the only thing that matters. Richmond's career is proof.
And his enshrinement is certainly encouraging. Everyone wants to win -- Rock absolutely wanted to win -- but perhaps if we more regularly acknowledge as a fandom and as a media corps that team success is a product of team quality and not a star's will, guts, heart or brain neurons, we wouldn't have guys like Kevin Love itching to bolt losing squads at first chance. If we hold players like Richmond up as heroes despite the losses, maybe our unfortunate stars wouldn't race to team up with other marquee names. Maybe there'd be enough stars to go around so no one had to watch the 2009 Kings or the 2012 Bobcats or the 2014 Sixers.
Richmond's enshrinement is a celebration of Richmond's excellence, yes, but it's also a celebration for the heroic losers strung throughout NBA lore. Great teams win championships. But the greatest players gets their accolades in Springfield.
Only hours after a report surfaced that Sacramento Kings forward Rudy Gay could be added to the Team USA as a Kevin Durant replacement, we have official confirmation.
USA Basketball adding Kings forward Rudy Gay to their World Cup roster.
Rudy joins DeMarcus Cousins as Kings players hoping to join Team USA in Spain for the 2014 FIBA World Cup and defend America's 2010 championship. Gay brings length, athleticism, and the ability to score the basketball at the wing position. All of which are areas Team USA took a hit in when Kevin Durant withdrew his name from consideration. As a member of the 2010 team that took home the championship in Turkey and also a finalist for the 2012 Olympic squad, Rudy certainly has experience in Krzyzewski's system.
You really can't put a price tag on this kind of thing. Gay joining Cousins on the squad could be ENORMOUS for a rebuilding Kings team that's still trying to find an identity. Increased national exposure aside, they'll have a chance to play in a winning system alongside some of the best players in the world.
The two Kings could have an opportunity to learn first hand what it really means to lead on a winning team and to trust the players around them to succeed. We often talk about the need for DeMarcus to embrace his role and really emerge as the leader on this young Kings team and the same could be said for Rudy. Bringing a little bit of that "Dream Team" magic (and maybe a gold medal or two) back with them to Sacramento, ain't a bad place to start.
Much like Cousins, Gay's ultimate inclusion on the final roster is anything but a given. At this time Rudy has only been added to the player pool and will still have to compete for a roster spot on the FIBA World Cup Team. It's also entirely possible that Rudy's inclusion could hurt DeMarcus' chances to ultimately make the team. But I don't wanna hear that noise!
Please excuse me while I imagine the possibility that TWO Sacramento Kings could be playing for Team USA!!!
"I received a call last night indicating that Rudy was available to join the National Team if Coach K and I felt he could help," said Colangelo. "We both felt he would be a valuable addition because of his outstanding skills and the fact that he is so familiar with USA Basketball and our national team program. Rudy has been an integral member of USA Basketball since 2005 and was a tremendous contributor to our 2010 World Championship Team. He has a lot of equity in the USA Basketball National Team."
Also, Rudy Gay is a great American! How cool is this quote?
"To see how Paul George went down, I feel like it’s not only for the country but we have to do it for him, too," USAB's Rudy Gay told Yahoo.
With five Nets in FIBA competition, three of them on Sunday, Brooklyn's reps will be playing almost every day between now and the end of the FIBA World Cup.
Jorge Gutierrez and his Mexican teammates will play Brazil later Sunday in the Tres Naciones friendly tournament in Tecnopolis, Argentina; Bojan Bogdanovic and Team Croatia will be playing their third game in three days vs. Greece and Sergey Karasev and the Russian national team will begin their attempt to return to the top level of European basketball vs. Switzerland in Fribourg.
Here's the renewed schedule for the overseas games as well as other dates, going right up to Opening Night.
August 8 - 10 -- Tres Naciones tournament in Technopolis, Argentina. Host nation takes on Mexico and Brazil. Mexico lost to Argentina on Saturday night, 96-71, with Jorge Gutierrez scoring four points in limited minutes.
August 8 - 10 -- Croatia playing in a friendly tournament in Pau, France, with the host nation, Serbia and Greece participating. In first two games, Bojan Bogdanovic tallied eight and 19 points.
August 10 - 27 -- FIBA Europe Qualifying Tournament, a competition to fill out brackets in FIBA's European championships, called Eurobasket, in 2015. Russia opens Sunday vs. Switzerland in Fribourg. Sergey Karasev will play vs. Italy and Switzerland in home and away sets. Bosnia opens vs. Great Britain Wednesday, whose coach is Kidd assistant Joe Prunty. Bosnia will play games vs. Great Britain as well as Iceland in home and away sets.
August 13 - Team USA returns to practice in Chicago. Mason Plumlee continues his quest to make the final roster.
August 16 -- Team USA vs. Brazil, Chicago, 9:00 PM., ESPN. A big test of USA's bigs. Brazil has Nene, Tiago Splitter and Anderson Varejao. August 20 - 21 -- Croatia will play in a tournament in Spain against the host country, Mexico and Ukraine. This is the only tournament where two Nets, Bogdanovic and Gutierrez, will play against each other. Mike Fratello is the coach of Ukraine.
August 20 -- Team USA vs. Dominican Republic, New York, 7 PM. ESPN. The game at Madison Square Garden begins final tune-ups.
August 22 -- Team USA vs. Puerto Rico, New York, 7 PM. ESPN August 26 -- Final Croatian warm-up for the FIBA World Cup will take place in Zagreb, Croatia's capital vs. Lithuania.
August 26 -- Team USA vs. Slovenia, Spain, 2 PM ESPN. Teams have until August 29 to cut down their rosters to 12 players.
August 30 – September 14 -- FIBA World Championship in Spain. Gutierrez will play for Mexico, Andray Blatche the Philippines and Bogdanovic for Croatia. The opening game in Sevilla will feature Philippines vs. Croatia, meaning Blatche vs. Bogdanovic. Later that same day in Gran Canaria, it will be Mexico vs. Lithuania.
September 26 -- The traditional date that NBA training camps open is October 1, but teams participating in the NBA Global Games, like the Nets, start a few days earlier. This may very well be the last Nets camp to be held at the PNY Center in East Rutherford. It's hoped the Nets new facility in Industry City will be ready for the camp in 2015.
October 7 -- Preseason: Nets vs Maccabi Tel Aviv, Barclays Center. 7:30 PM
October 8 - Nets board charter for Shanghai, China.
October 12 -- Preseason: Nets vs Kings at the Mercedes-Benz Arena in Shanghai. 1:00 AM, NBA TV
October 15 -- Preseason: Nets vs Kings at the MasterCard Center in Beijing. 7:30 AM, NBA TV
October 19 -- Preseason: Nets vs. Boston Celtics, Barclays Center. 3:00 PM
October 20 -- Preseason: Nets vs. Philadephia 76ers, Barclays Center, 7:30 PM
October 22 - Preseason: Nets vs. Boston Celtics, TD Garden, Boston, 7:30 PM
October 31 - Nets have to decide on extending Mason Plumlee and Sergey Karasev's rookie contracts into a third year and Marquis Teague's into a fourth year.
If you haven't heard by now, the Minnesota Timberwolves and Cleveland Cavaliers have a handshake agreement to trade Kevin Love to Cleveland for Andrew Wiggins, Anthony Bennett and a future first round pick. It's also possible that Bennett gets flipped to Philadelphia for Thaddeus Young.
On the surface, this trade doesn't appear to affect the Kings at all, but it does.
For one, someone in the West is finally getting worse. The West is incredibly competitive, and each year the teams in it just seem to keep getting better. Minnesota finished in 10th place in the West with a 40-42 record last season with Love and without him they'll probably drop several spots lower. That's good news for a Kings team that is trying to be competitive sooner rather than later.
This trade could also mean that the Timberwolves are open for business as far as their veteran players go, although that kind of depends on just how good Andrew Wiggins is. If the Wolves believe Wiggins can be a franchise level player, there's probably good reason to keep the vets around him and remain competitive; Teams often only tank to get players like Wiggins in the first place. Minnesota only really has a few veteran players on longer term contracts anyway: Nikola Pekovic (4 years, $47.9 million), Kevin Martin (3 years, $21.2 million) and Corey Brewer (2 years, $9.9 million).
Finally, on a less important note as it relates to the team itself, this could lead to an easier path to the All-Star game for DeMarcus Cousins. One could argue that Cousins should have been an All-Star last season (only Love and Anthony Davis had a higher PER among bigs) and only missed out because of how crowded the Western Conference frontcourt was. With Love gone, that's one less competitor for Cousins to deal with.
The Kings are still on the outside looking in compared to most other Western Conference teams, but the Love trade strengthens their position just a little bit. It does not change the fact that Kings need to make several more moves and get some good development from their own youth before the playoffs become a realistic possibility rather than just an optimistic target.
One of the most interesting things I got out of Jerry Reynold's most recent interview with the Rise Guys was his assertion that Jason Thompson has been possibly the most misused guy in Kings history. We've known for a while now that the Kings are interested in trading Jason Thompson, and we've also known that Thompson himself is probably rooting for that to happen as well.
Thompson is the longest tenured King, and in fact just needs 59 more games in a Kings uniform to be the longest tenured Sacramento King ever. During his six seasons with the Kings, Sacramento has never once won 30 games. There have been 5 coaches, two relocation attempts and an ownership change. To put it mildly, Thompson's time in Sacramento has been chaotic, and it's easy to see why he'd be frustrated.
Unfortunately for both Thompson and the Kings, trading him isn't exactly simple. He's got a guaranteed year left after this one and then another partially guaranteed year after that. His contract also contains a 5% trade kicker, making his salary even higher for the team that gets him. As such, it wouldn't surprise me at all if Thompson is still on the opening day roster.
This isn't to say that's a bad thing. Jason Thompson can be a very useful player if used correctly. He's also the only player on the Kings roster aside from DeMarcus Cousins that can play Center reliably for longer periods of time. He's a decent individual defender, although his team defense often leaves something to be desired (six years of bad habits and bad coaching don't go away quickly). He can play both in the low post and high post and he runs the floor very well. It's quite possible that with Darren Collison at the helm and a "push the pace" system that the Kings are seemingly wanting instituting that Thompson could be reinvigorated and actually become a valuable roleplayer.
You can't trade someone unless somebody wants him, and Thompson isn't exactly a hot commodity. His contract also isn't bad enough that it outweighs his potential usefulness to the roster (meaning we shouldn't trade him just to trade him). Thompson brings things our other bigs don't, and the Kings will need a way to replace those qualities if they do in fact trade him.
So no, I don't think it's too late for the Kings and Thompson, if only out of necessity.
The Sactown Royalty Show is back! This week I'm thrilled to welcome Jerry Reynolds to the show. When we ask for suggestions for guests, Jerry is the name we hear most often. It's really exciting to finally have him on the show.
As you know from 82 games each season, and from any radio or podcast appearance ever, Jerry is a fantastic guy to listen to. We were lucky enough to enjoy over an hour of one on one with Jerry. We covered so many topics throughout the show, and answered several questions posed by you. If we didn't get to your question, I'm truly sorry. We could have spent 4 hours talking, and I still would have had more questions for Jerry.
As it was, we covered a ton of Kings history, and a ton of the Kings current roster, as well as the future of the Kings. If you are to listen to any one episode of The Sactown Royalty Show, make it this one.
Like the show? Subscribe to us on iTunes or on Stitcher! Leave us ratings, leave comments, let us know how we're doing. Ratings and comments on iTunes really help us out with promoting the show. And of course, continue the discussion in the comments below.
And a big thanks to Audible.com for supporting us. To get your free 30-day trial and a free audiobook, sign up here. Using that particular link gets you the special offer, and let's them know you heard about them through our show.
Around SB Nation NBA we attempt to guess the future.
Today around SB Nation NBA we're taking a look at where our teams will be a year from now. For the Kings, this exercise emphasizes what a crossroads the Kings find themselves facing. Predicting the next year feels like a fool's errand after the massive roster reshaping we witnessed last season and this summer. Since it's a fool's errand, Akis kindly asked me to take a crack at it.
The Best Case
The Kings have finally made the long-expected leap. After a daring trade to acquire [player-to-be-determined], most of us thought Pete D'Alessandro had completely lost his mind. But the move paid off, despite losing [fan-favorite-to-be-determined]. The chemistry clicked, and the Kings made a charge for the 8th seed, falling just short due to the depth of the Western Conference.
The offseason has been successful, as the Kings reached a multi-year extension with Rudy Gay for [below-market-value-to-be-determined]. With a solid core and cap flexibility, the Kings finally won a top three selection in the NBA Draft and selected [franchise-cornerstone-to-be-determined], who is universally considered amazing and has been identified as the first human to possess Wolverine's mutant healing ability. The Kings were able to add [huge-name-free-agent-to-be-determined], and are considered playoffs locks as [superstar-to-be-determined] and [you-get-the-idea] moved to the Eastern Conference.
The Worst Case
The Kings have collapsed. After the gamble to replace Isaiah Thomas with Darren Collison, the Kings were unable to make any forward progress. Collison is fine, but hasn't altered the team the way the front office had hoped. The Kings were unable to pull off a trade at the deadline, maintaining the current roster throughout the year. Despite significant cap space in the offseason, the Kings were unable to draw interests from free agents. Upset by the lack of progress that was promised, Rudy Gay signed a steeply discounted deal to join the Los Angeles Lakers, despite the Kings publicly demonstrating a willingness to offer more money per season. There seems to be no hope for Ben McLemore's development, and there's no longer a trade market for the once-promising talent. Nik Stauskas was ok, but struggled to earn regular minutes in the rotation as he couldn't quite adjust to the speed of the NBA game.
The Kings are expected to be much worse in the coming season, and have a dark cloud hanging overhead as rumors swirl that DeMarcus Cousins is on the verge of demanding a trade.
The Most Likely Case
The most likely scenario is something between the two situations outlined above. I don't think things will be all sunshine and lollipops, nor do I think they'll be doom and gloom. I expect minor improvement in the Kings' record next year. That expectation could change dramatically between now and even the start of the season, depending on what trades Pete can pull off. Things change dramatically in a year.
Ultimately, I'm just afraid that the Kings will be looking worse than ownership and management expected this coming year, and the organization will make panicked trades. Taking wild chances on the off chance that you hit a homerun is a dangerous game. If the front office gets desperate, it could push us towards one of the scenarios above, but a desperate front office has traditionally yielded less than desirable results.
Conclusion
I have no idea. I don't think it'll be terrible, but I found that scenario easiest to write because of my years as a Kings fan. It's still tough to think about how things will work out in our favor, simply because we've become so accustomed to things going the other way. But there's reason for hope.
A year ago we were questioning if DeMarcus Cousins was worth a max contract and if we would ever find a small forward not named John Salmons. Two years ago we were wondering if we would even have a team in a year. Things change dramatically, and they've been moving in the right direction.
So let's hear it. Where do you think we'll be in 12 months?
When Coach Cal came to Kentucky, he changed Patrick Patterson's game. The results have been all Patterson could have hoped for.
Patrick Patterson, one of our all-time favorite Wildcats, was talking today about the impact John Calipari had on his game while he was at Kentucky. If you’ll recall, Patrick Patterson was purely an on-the-blocks player for his freshman and sophomore year at Kentucky. As a matter of fact, Patterson took a grand total of four 3-point shots in his first two seasons at Kentucky under Billy Gilispie.
In his final season under John Calipari, Patterson took 69 threes, making 24 of them (35%), and it was that ability, plus an improved ability to put the ball on the floor that made Patterson the player he is today. Consider this, from Pro Bball Report:
"Being taller than everybody, I was forced to play the 5," Patterson said. In college my first 2 years, I was a center at 6’8, so to that I credit my post defense and (Coach) Calipari, he came in my junior year, he introduced me to the perimeter game. He allowed me to shoot the ball, put the ball on the floor and that allowed me to transition to the NBA."
"It opened up my game. Had I not stayed with DeMarcus (Cousins) and John (Wall), I would have come out as a 6’8 center. A guy who had never stepped out to the three-point line or even taken an 18’ jump shot, I would be pretty much a version of Chuck (Hayes), but not as strong and not as wide. That would have been my game, just around the basket and then I would have had to start from scratch when I got to the NBA. Coming back with John and DeMarcus and Calipari is definitely the reason that I am the type of player I am today."
At Houston, Patterson took only 101 3-pointers in 3 years with the team, making 35 for a .347 percentage. At Sacramento, he took fewer, 75 in two years, making 25 (.333), and last season at Toronto he shot 112 threes and made 46 (.411). His game has expanded tremendously with the addition of the 3-point shot first seriously attempted under Coach Cal, and his transition to a "stretch" four now seems complete.
Anyone who tells you that John Calipari doesn’t prepare players for the NBA is blowing smoke, plain and simple. He does it in more ways than one, and in Patterson’s case, he may have been the difference between a relatively short career as an undersized center and a long one as a multi-skilled big man, and he recently got rewarded for that versatility by Toronto to the tune of 3 years at $18 million.
The Kings big man went down with a right knee injury, and is being held out of remaining scrimmages.
Sacramento Kings center DeMarcus Cousins injured his right knee during Thursday's Team USA scrimmage, according to multiple outlets. At this time, we do not know how serious the injury is. Cousins will undergo an MRI, and will be held out of Team USA activities for the weekend, including Saturday's game against Brazil.
Kings DeMarcus Cousins will have MRI on his right knee that was injured at @usabasketball camp, but Jerry Colangelo called it precautionary.
The decision to hold Cousins out of activities is being described as precautionary, and Jerry Colangelo is reportedly hopeful that Cousins will be fine.
Jerry Colangelo "wishful, hopeful" DeMarcus Cousins is fine and says he's out for Brazil game Saturday.
Losing Cousins to injury would be a big loss for Team USA, who has already lost multiple players to injuries and other commitments. But an injury to Cousins would be far more devastating to the Kings, whose success is largely contingent on the play of DeMarcus.
We'll continue to keep you posted as the story develops.
Update:
Kings DeMarcus Cousins walked out of @usabasketball practice slowly but without assistance after injuring his knee.
There were fears that Team USA had another damaging injury on its hands when DeMarcus Cousins went down during a Thursday practice, but an MRI revealed no significant issues.
Cousins was playing in a White-Blue scrimmage along with his USA Basketball teammates in Chicago when he went down and limped off the court. He was seen getting treatment on his knee near the sideline before Team USA president Jerry Colangelo announced the MRI.
The injury might not be serious, however, since Colangelo also said the procedure is "precautionary." Cousins will sit out the team's exhibition game against Brazil on Saturday in Chicago, Colangelo said, and USA Basketball will evaluate what to do from there.
Cousins' injury continues a rough few weeks for Team USA, which already lost Paul George to a major leg injury before seeing Kevin Durant drop off the team. Frontcourt depth was going to be a concern for the team entering the FIBA World Cup later this month, and losing Cousins will only magnify the issue.
Colangelo said he's "wishful, hopeful" that Cousins has avoided a significant injury. If that's not the case, this will not only be a major blow to Team USA, but the Kings as well. He's the cornerstone of their roster and would be essentially impossible to replace.
As for the World Cup, it would allow us to avoid the whole Cousins-Plumlee debate, if we're looking for a silver lining. Otherwise, this could be some pretty bad news for Team USA and the rest of the basketball world.
Could an injury open up a spot for Andre Drummond to make the roster? Exhibition schedule for Aug. 16 in Chicago.
Nobody ever wants to make a team because the person in front of you got injured, but that might the case for Andre Drummond in his quest to make the U.S. Men's National Team roster.
Director of Team USA Jerry Colangelo said Cousins will have a precautionary MRI on his leg and it is too soon to say how long Cousins will be out, but he has already been ruled out of Saturday's exhibition game against Brazil.
Drummond has been considered the odd man out among big men looking to make the roster. The only person penciled in is Anthony Davis. Competing to be a backup center are Drummond, Cousins and Miles Plumlee. Cousins and Plumlee seemed to have a better shot at making the team and it is unknown whether coach Mike Krzyzewski will opt to have one or two reserve centers.
Already, big men Kevin Love, Blake Griffin and LaMarcus Aldridge have withdrawn from roster consideration as well as Kevin Durant and Kawhi Leonard.
Including Cousins, there are currently 15 candidates to make the 12-man roster with a final decision expected near the end of the month. After Saturday's game against Brazil, the team will play the Dominican Republic on Aug. 20 and Puerto Rico on Aug. 22.
The Kings made a BIG signing this afternoon... like 7 feet 5 inches big.
It appears that the Kings came to an agreement with undrafted rookie, Sim Bhullar, this afternoon. You can credit Sim City himself for breaking the news of his signing on twitter:
The 7'5" 360 lbs Indio-Canadian represents the first NBA player of Indian decent. And while he's proven to be extremely popular, he definitely falls into the "project" category. He played 2 seasons for New Mexico State where he averaged 10.2 points (.633 fg), a ridiculous 2.9 blocks, and 7.2 rebounds in 25.3 minutes per game. Bhullar also received very limited minutes on the King's Summer League team this summer in Vegas, where most observers agreed that conditioning appeared to be Sim's biggest area of weakness.
News 10's Sean Cunningham reported that Sim's contract is of the Training Camp variety and he'll likely find himself in Reno eventually:
Sim Bhullar's opportunity with the Sacramento Kings is essentially a training camp deal. Definitely great opportunity to make roster.
Having been at Summer League myself, I can say that concerns about Sim's ability to get up and down the floor throughout an NBA game are VERY valid. But I'll say this for the kid... he has nice hands and pretty decent footwork with his back to the basket. And you know how they say you can't teach size? Well you definitely can't teach 7'5"!
I don't expect we'll see Bhullar on a regular season NBA roster in the near future, but another big body for DeMarcus Cousins to bang against in training camp can't hurt.
If nothing else, this ought to be interesting. Good luck Sim City!
Sports and arena politics have changed quite a bit since Gregg Lukenbill brought the Kings to Sacramento from Kansas City in 1985. The original owner of the Kings still lives in the area and is excited about what Vivek Ranadive is doing with the franchise and Sacramento.
Gregg Lukenbill entered the NBA as the owner of the Sacramento Kings shortly after the David Stern era began and Michael Jordan was drafted by the Chicago Bulls.
It was a different NBA, different California and a different Sacramento.
Lukenbill, a Sacramento native always known for sporting a simple pair of jeans and plaid shirt on regular basis, sold his share of the team in 1992 to Jim Thomas. Some 20 years later, Sacramento has its fourth team owner in Vivek Ranadive. One man brought the team here and the other saved it by preventing a relocation attempt to Seattle with the help of Mayor Kevin Johnson and others. As Ranadive leads the revival of the franchise on the court and in building a new downtown arena, Lukenbill, who still resides in East Sacramento, is watching as the city he always believed deserved to be "major league" takes a giant leap forward.
"I love the guy [Ranadive], he's world-class. He's the kind of guy we need in Sacramento and I think his vision is ideal for an opportunistic interchange between Sacramento as the state Capitol and the world," Lukenbill said. "I think this guy is effectively going to be Sacramento's ambassador to world, and I think he's a world-class human being and I think we're incredibly blessed and lucky to have a guy like that."
Lukenbill was the guy Sacramento needed in the early 80s. He cut through red tape created by an adverse political atmosphere at the time. He claims he was told if he got a team to come to Sacramento, the city would provide him the zoning for an arena. But when he got the deal in place to move the Kings from Kansas City to Sacramento in 1984-1985, the zoning wasn't made available to him so he "had to go build the building in the county instead of the city," he said.
"That's how spectacular the politics was in this town," Lukenbill said.
These days, things are a little different as the political climate in Sacramento, especially as it relates to sports and arena politics, revolves around Kevin Johnson and the connections that he has made to not only keep the Kings in town, but also put together an ownership group that is contributing $254 million for the new downtown arena and showing interest in bringing a Major League Soccer team and bringing it to Sacramento.
The political environment Johnson has been able to cultivate is something Lukenbill admires.
"Phenomenal job by Kevin Johnson. You just cannot say enough about how this group of people gelled in a great opportunity, and a great moment for Sacramento. It's probably in the top four or five most historic things that's ever happened for the future of Sacramento … They probably saved the Maloofs from themselves," Lukenbill said. "I couldn't have done this 30 years ago, I couldn't have done this 20 years ago - nobody could have done this 20 years ago. It was a different environment."
Lukenbill knows a thing or two about development projects - he is a construction man at heart, having not only built Arco Arena 1 and Arco Arena 2, but he also played a part in building the Hyatt Regency Hotel in downtown Sacramento.
Lukenbill credits Gov. Jerry Brown for putting California's economic environment back on the rails and therefore, Sacramento on the right path at the right time for the arena project to happen. Along with Johnson and Ranadive, Lukenbill acknowledges how big of a role Sen. Darrell Steinberg and former NBA Commissioner David Stern played in making this all happen.
"You better know that David Stern is the guy who made this happen, because that's the kind of commissioner David Stern was. He was just a guy who was an incredibly resourceful commissioner," Lukenbill said. "If they had a hall of fame for commissioners, I think David Stern would be the leader of the pack probably in the entire history of professional sports in America."
Bringing the Kings to Sacramento was one of Stern's first major decisions as NBA Commissioner. He visited Sleep Train Arena for the season opener last season and had this to say.
"It means a lot to me that we were able to respond to this city, which responded so well to us," said Stern, who plans to be back in town when the new arena opens in 2016.
These days, Stern's old partner Lukenbill works for Dynamic Airways, a charter jet company established in 2010. He's experienced his ups and downs as a business and NBA owner, but Lukenbill has always put the betterment of Sacramento front and center. A shell of a baseball stadium still sits abandoned next to Sleep Train Arena that he started. The guy also was in negotiations to bring the Oakland Raiders to town at one point. Both of these things are examples of how difficult it can be to both lure a team and build an arena/stadium.
Lukenbill still studies the area closely and keeps tabs on the latest construction developments. Always a strong advocate for utilizing the land in Natomas where Sleep Train Arena currently sits, he acknowledges the shift toward developing downtowns and believes the arena project is going to be a big boon for the city.
"I don't know about the basketball team, but the economic impact on Sacramento is going to be stellar," Lukenbill said. "I think its catalytic affect on downtown is going to erase at least 50 years, maybe 60 years of K Street doldrums since the late 50s...We're about ready to head into a growth spiral here that is perfectly timed for the Kings in my opinion, so it's fantastic."
Plans have called for a 250-room hotel along with restaurants and retail stores developed around the 745,000 square-foot, $477 million arena, which is scheduled to open in October 2016. This, combined with Ranadive's "NBA 3.0" vision, is something Lukenbill is excited about. He said one of the biggest changes in the league since he owned those teams that were led by Reggie Theus on the floor and coached by Jerry Reynolds is the impact of technology, which is Ranadive's calling card.
"The single greatest difference is the pervasive nature of the media in so many different ways, down to your hand-held cellphone, and apps, and sales, and online sales off your phone, and technology and the Internet - all of those things that didn't exist 30 years ago," Lukenbill said. "So you've got this incredible, insatiable appetite that really binds the world in a much closer way that I think is going to transcend the NBA into a global phenomena, and it's not if, it's when."
Ranadive frames his approach to the Kings with this global perspective in mind. As just one current example, he will be the Grand Marshal at the India Day Parade in New York City on Sunday. It is expected that there will be around 100,000 people in attendance. Also, this week the Kings officially signed the NBA's first player of Indian descent, Sim Bhullar.
"I’ve long believed that India is the next great frontier for the NBA," Ranadive said in a team release. "While Sim is the first player of Indian descent to sign with an NBA franchise, he represents one of many that will emerge from that region as the game continues to garner more attention and generate ever-increasing passion among a new generation of Indian fans."
A different NBA and a different Sacramento indeed.
Next year will mark the 30th season the Kings have been in Sacramento, and with this new era comes an opportunity to build on an already intriguing franchise and city history.
"Sacramento is getting some legs underneath it," Lukenbill said.
In this Epic Rap Battles of History spoof (can you actually spoof a... spoof?) Rollin Mason and I duel over the state of the Phoenix Suns offseason moves (or lack thereof). Rollin takes the side of extolling the team's successes while I, with my sunny disposition, rail against the failures. Just like the real ERB this is rated PG-13.
Whether you like them or not most of you have probably seen at least one edition of Epic Rap Battles of History.
The series has over 10 million subscribers on the YouTube channel and has achieved more than 1 billion total views. Each of the videos averages about 30 million views. If you haven't seen one of them I suggest taking a look before proceeding to the rap battle below to help you further enjoy the duel.
The rap battle subject is the Suns offseason. Rollin takes the positive and I take the negative.
The content below is rated PG-13 for mild profanity.
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**EPIC RAP BATTLES OF HISTORY!**
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Rollin Mason vs. Jim Coughenour!
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Begin!
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Jim Coughenour:
Just like your name Rollin, the Suns have been laying bricks
With player relations because they're acting like dicks
The Hornets are filled with all kinds of talent. Could any of this talent make it to Team USA?
Being a member of Team USA is one of the greatest honors in American basketball. You're part of an exclusive club of NBA players that includes the likes of Michael Jordan, Larry Bird, Magic Johnson, Allen Iverson, Vince Carter, and many more of the nation's all-time top talent. Sure, there have also been players that aren't known for being NBA greats, such as Christian Laettner. That doesn't make being a part of the team any less of an honor.
This raises a question. Who on the Hornets has the best chance of being future members of team USA? A team as young and as talented as the Hornets should have plenty of future candidates.
As weird as it is to say, the player with the best chance of making the team might be Cody Zeller. He was a member of Team USA's select team in 2014. This is the team that scrimmages against Team USA during practice. Very often, players are pulled from the select team onto the actual Team USA roster. At this point, Zeller is an athletic hustle guy. Kenneth Faried and Mason Plumlee are on the current team over Paul Millsap, who is a better and more skilled player, so this tells us that Team USA coach Mike Krzyzewski loves his hustle guys. Zeller's entire game is built on hustle plays. It might not be a stretch to think that in years like this, where many of the US's superstars have pulled out, Zeller could get a call up to Team USA.
Of course, the Hornets have players more talented than Zeller. The usual idea would be to take Charlotte's best player and say he has the best shot at being on Team USA. In this case, that would be Al Jefferson. Considering the US's lack of big men and their greatest rival, Spain, having an abundance of them, it feels like a no-brainer to add Jefferson to the team. Unfortunately for Big Al, time is not his side. He's not currently on Team USA's roster, and he's 29. It's unlikely Coach K and crew will want him at this stage in his career.
This means the guys Team USA will be looking for are young, proven, and talented. Kidd-Gilchrist seems like an easy choice. Like Zeller, he's a hustle guy, and he's already one of the best perimeter defenders in the NBA. Unfortunately, Kidd-Gilchrist can't shoot at all. Team USA's wing spots are filled with shooters and that's been true since 2008. Until MKG gets a consistent jump shot, his chances at team USA are slim to none.
That leaves two guys on the Hornets with a chance at Team USA: Lance Stephenson and Kemba Walker. Walker is fast, he can move the ball with his passing and dribbling and he can play off the ball effectively. That off-ball ability is key on a team that usually features the likes of LeBron James and Kevin Durant. The only problem for Walker? Team USA is stacked with point guards. Kyrie Irving, Derrick Rose, Damian Lillard, and John Wall are all possible point guard candidates for this team. Sorry to say it, but unless Walker gets extremely lucky to have all of these guys pull out from the team, he's going to have to make a significant jump. These are superstars he's competing with. The odds are against him.
That leaves us with one. Lance Stephenson is a curious case. Stephenson's talent broke through last season, showing the enormous potential that he has. The shooting guard spot is probably the weakest position for Team USA, and that's to Stephenson's advantage. If he continues to improve the way he has over the last few years, it will be very difficult to make an argument why he shouldn't be on the team. Well, there is one argument.
There are rumblings that Sacramento Kings center Demarcus Cousins won't make the team. This seems kind of crazy considering the lack of big men the team currently has, and that his competition isn't as good as him. The problem? In addition to a recent injury, some might speculate that it's his personality. Cousins has had a bad reputation for his attitude since he came into the league. Cousins wants to win above all else, but sometimes his emotions get the better of him. If you look at Team USA's current roster, it's filled with quiet, stoic types.
This brings us back to Stephenson. We all know about last year's rumors. I hate bringing it up as often as I do, but it has to be noted that if Stephenson doesn't shake the image of being a locker room killer off, he won't be getting a Team USA call up any time soon.
The Hornets have a few players that have a shot at making Team USA. They also have rookies that could very well develop into Team USA players. But we won't know about them until we see them in NBA action. For now, as strange as it sounds. Cody Zeller might have a head start on everybody.
Yesterday a rumor made the rounds on twitter and message boards about Rondo and the Kings (how original). It even made it to ESPN's rumors page (Insider access only, natch). Even before ESPN had it, Basketball Insiders posted a link to it. The problem is, it was bogus. I'll let Steve Kyler of Basketball Insiders explain.
Yesterday, unfortunately, we were on the wrong side of something that ended up being far from credible. One of our newsline editors came across a blurb on Rotoworld and against his own better judgment opted to run it. The story in question involved a Twitter report suggesting the Sacramento Kings had a deal "80%" complete that would land Rajon Rondo in Sacramento for a package of assets that included Ben McLemore and Derrick Williams among other things. After this report ran, as you can imagine the world (especially from the Boston side) kind of blew up. To say there were people unhappy with the report, especially considering we sort of co-signed it, is a bit of an understatement. As with most reporting, once it came out, sources on all sides of this reached out to squash this, and we have since reported that and removed the original post. It was a bad call by one of our guys and we’ll own that. That’s life on the bleeding edge. The issue has been addressed and lessons were learned.
Do a little digging and you'll find that the source of the rumor was some guy on twitter that calls himself an "insider." (No, I'm not linking to his account) Basically it seems like he finds rumors, posts similar rumors with a twist, waits for deals to happen, and claims credit for them (self promoting all along), and brushes off deals that don't happen by explaining that they "fell apart" or whatever. Do a little more digging and you'll find that you too can be his source, if you want to DM him claiming to be on the staff of some NBA team.
The point here is that there's a lot of junk out there. People claiming to know something just to get their 15 min. of fame or to troll the masses or whatever.
Don't get me wrong, I look into all of it. I want to know as much (if not more) than all of you. I'll look under every rock for a rumor. You never know where you'll find out about the next big thing. I had a couple of people email me about the KG trade a day before it happened and I mostly brushed them off as bogus rumors. Still, I listen to everything, but I only report what I feel comfortable reporting.
From time to time people email me with information but I don't really have any way of confirming that information so I don't report it. It isn't worth risking my credibility.
You could argue that reporting some of the stuff that gets run on ESPN and other major sites isn't responsible either, but at least there you can point to a major outlet that (in theory) cares about their reputation. As long as the site is being credited, the responsibility falls on them. This is why Tyler of Basketball Insiders is taking such an interest in squashing a rumor that turned out to be bogus.
I guess the point I'm trying to get across here is that this rumors game is all a little silly. If something is going to happen, it will happen. Will it really enrich your life to know about it hours or even days ahead of most other people? Is getting the information first really that valuable to you?
Like I said, I get it. I want to know and I actually have a vested interest in knowing sooner than the average Joe. But jumping at pump fakes only leaves you looking silly. So remember to listen to everything and believe nothing in the game of rumors.
Archie Goodwin is someone who Suns fans have been keeping a very close eye on. Flourishing with potential out of Kentucky, Goodwin went 29th to the Suns in the 2013 NBA Draft. The Suns were so scared of losing out on him that they traded one spot up just to make sure they landed him. There is obvious reason for intrigue.
Goodwin came out of college as one of the most raw players in the process. The best way to describe Goodwin is a term I really love, a zero guard. The way I see the term is someone who is stuck between shooting guard and point guard, which isn't necessarily a bad thing for them. Russell Westbrook (who John Calipari compared Goodwin to) is one of the better examples of this with Victor Oladipo closing in as well. These guys are freak athletes who can get to the rim just about any time, but they lack the true playmaking ability to be officially deserving of the title as a point guard. The other side is that these zero guards can't shoot a good number from the perimeter, making them off the ball at shooting guard even more difficult than letting them run the offense.
The progression of Goodwin over the next few years is what's going to determine if he becomes a true 1 or 2, or he lands in this zero guard paradigm, which quite honestly isn't such a horrible thing. Westbrook has improved on his passing in the past couple of seasons, but it's not like he's still a true point guard who doesn't go tunnel vision at times to get his own buckets. That's Westbrook syndrome though and I don't see Goodwin as a "selfish player" or whatever you want to call that. Westbrook added a killer mid-range jumper to his game that is basically unstoppable, but he's still an inconsistent shooter from deep.
So why are we talking about this when it comes to Goodwin's play for next year? It's because it is crucial for young players to recognize their flaws and work on them as much as possible.
Looking at what we learned from seeing Goodwin for an entire season so far, it's not that much new information to process. There was the early run in November where Goodwin had five games in the month playing more than 15 minutes. His highlight was a 7-10 performance against Sacramento, but in that home-and-home series the following game he shot 0-8. We saw him really succeed when head coach Jeff Hornacek let him loose and run wild. Archie played more than 25 minutes only twice last season, but in those two games he shot 17-23 combined.
The part of Archie's game that is difficult to judge from last year's tape is how much of it will translate with teams knowing what he's all about. Goodwin's ease of getting by the initial defender, making sharp cuts, and contorting his body after getting to the basket with such speed was so deadly when teams didn't adjust to it. This main feature of his game also applied to transition and picking up a few easy buckets off of steals. Those two big time performances were the perfect example of teams not being able to get a handle on Goodwin. Of course, those two teams were both very bad last year in Utah and Sacramento.
There were still the adjustments occasionally and that's where Goodwin started to really struggle. In that 0-8 game, The Kings were putting more defenders in the paint when Goodwin started to penetrate. Even with his athleticism in getting around that defense, he still had some tough finishes that he couldn't make. Sacramento was daring him to shoot all the time and there were some ugly misses in that process. It's unclear which side of Archie we would get if he was a regular feature on the Suns.
The next step in Archie's game is improving these weaknesses. Before the summer league started in Vegas last year, there was an expectation here at BsoTS on Goodwin being one of if not the best player on the roster. He was one of the high scorers on the Vegas squad last year and that plus his playing time last season should translate to him looking good this summer. Before the summer league started, assistant coach Mike Longabardi said, "we want him to do what he does and play with a lot of energy, be a great defender, cutter/slasher, playmaker."
Goodwin certainly played with a lot of energy and was that great cutter/slasher that we know of, but the other facets of his game weren't there. I wrote a ton during mytimeinVegas and covered Archie each game, but here was my main impression.
Watching Goodwin in Vegas last month gave me zero indication that he had significantly improved his jumper or his playmaking ability. Goodwin is really freaking good at getting to the rim already so it's two skills that could drastically improve the effectiveness of his elite skill. Want to sag off of him so he can't get by you? He's hitting the open jumper. Want to crash the lane so he can't finish? He will dump the ball off to the big or find the open player on the perimeter.
Those two clear areas of need will have us bring forth ESPN's Chad Ford's scouting report on Goodwin entering the draft last year. Ford had his weaknesses as "needs to improve the consistency on his jumper, can play out of control, takes wild shots, and needs to add strength." Ford never really addressed his passing, as he instead has a strength as Goodwin being a "competitive, unselfish player". Goodwin certainly took those wild shots when the offense either broke down or he was so committed to the finish at the rim that he couldn't pass out of it. It's a very small sample size to judge from though like I said. Still, it's clear that Goodwin needs to improve there yet and there's no indication that he did in his first year in the NBA.
Is Goodwin ready for the rotation? Mike Longabardi thinks so. "He's good enough to be a rotational player in this league," Longabardi said before the summer league. "He's got to get stronger, which he is working on, he's got to get experience which he'll get in summer league. And then form there, it's going to be up to him to see how far he can go. He's very blessed with god given ability with his quickness and athleticism, that's the reason why we like him."
In my opinion I don't think Goodwin is ready for the rotation. It's clear that he is an absolute terror whenever he is attacking the basket, whether it's in the half-court or in transition. The good news for the Suns is that they have the depth on the bench now to not force Goodwin onto the floor. Assuming Bledsoe is signed, the guard positions off the bench will be filled with Isaiah Thomas and Gerald Green. Also, rookie T.J. Warren is going to get a lot of shots off that bench. Tyler Ennis could find a way onto the roster as that fifth guard if Hornacek prefers the pure point who is a much smarter player and better game manager. Either way, the fifth guard position is nothing to freak out about when it comes to playing time.
Here is the good news about Goodwin. I doubt I need to remind you about this, but Goodwin just turned 20 this month. Ford said "if the Suns are patient, this could really pay off." With the new NBDL team the Suns have that we here at BSotS will be covering, Goodwin could be playing consistent competitive basketball throughout the year. Hornacek doesn't have any real reason for Goodwin to enter the rotation now unless his jumper is now magically fixed.
As a fan of the Suns you could talk yourself into being disappointed by Archie Goodwin thus far. There is a clear package of talent and we always saw those "flashes" of it whenever he got time to play last year. The problem is addressing those two areas of need and making Goodwin a slightly less one-dimensional player. In my opinion, Goodwin has another two years to figure out where he wants to go with his game before we start flipping tables and calling him a bust. That's a whole lot of time and I expect him to be a good scorer in this league whenever the opportunity for permanent playing time comes forward. That's what we know, but what we don't know is if he adds those two parts to his game. If he does, the NBA will be on high alert and start trying to figure out how the Suns added even more to their biggest strength.
