After spending the latter part of last season with the Raptors, Patrick Patterson said the team gave him a much need boost of confidence.

Arriving in Toronto from the Rudy Gay trade from Sacramento, Patrick Patterson wasn't playing his best. That however seemed to changed as Patterson began to flourish within the Raptors' system.

Only four years in the league, Patterson's numbers with the Kings weren't all that well. In his last year in Houston, Patterson averaged 11.6 points, 4.7 rebounds and shot 51.7% from the field, according to NBA.com. In Sacramento however, his numbers dropped dramatically. He shot 41.0% and only made 6.9 points per game. To top it all off, the Kings weren't winning so that losing culture must've stuck by him.

According to an interview with ProBall Report conducted earlier this summer:

"We have no egos on the team and everyone knows their role," Patterson said. "Everyone wants to do what it takes to win. There's no problems, we all know what we have to do on the court to get better and it's a beautiful thing when everyone does that."

With the Raptors picking him up, his individual impact was seen almost immediately. "(My) coaches, coaching staff (and) teammates just telling me to shot the ball, Patterson said. "Whether I'm missing three or four or whether i'm hot. Take advantage of my opportunities out there"

Patterson said Dwane Casey was one of the key reasons why for the team having tremendous success. He continued saying Casey was extremely dedicated every day and brought it to the floor every single day.

Within Casey's system, defense has been a crucial component. With a priority on that end, Patterson has been given tons of minutes to guard big wing players and stretch fours.

Despite Patterson gaining tons of confidence, last season's progression was lacklustre. With expectations at an all time high to get in the second round of the playoffs, the team needs to take a giant leap forward. Individually, Patterson has his own expectations he wants to surpass:

"Everyone should take a huge leap forward because we're going to hold ourselves accountable (and) we're going to put ourselves on another level," Patterson said. "Everyone is going to be here early, everyone is going to stay late, everyone is going to get extra work in. We're going to do everything possible to have even a better year than last year and most importantly get off to a great start."

Ray should some glimpses of being a true NBA point guard last year at the end of the year. This season he will have plenty of opportunity to show us what to make of that.

Even with him winning the highly coveted Summer League Finals MVP trophy, I think many of us here in Sacramento think of Ray McCallum as our little secret. He spent most of last year riding the bench of playing down in Reno, and really did nothing until we cut Jimmer and Isaiah went down with an injury. It was then that we saw glimpses of what could be a very good player in the future. He can handle the ball, take it inside, and gather assists without giving up too many turnovers. Due to the Sacramento Kings lack of depth at the PG, he will get his chance to go right into the middle of the action and prove that he has a place in the NBA.

When I think of the kind of sophomore year Ray can have I think back to Kevin Martin. Though Kevin was a different type of player, he had a similar rookie year, though he had even less opportunity than Ray did. It wasn't until a couple months into his sophomore season that he really started to shine. He went on to be runner up for Most Improved Player two years in a row, (which when you think about it is incredible in it's own right). Ray will get his chances and I fully expect him to make the best out of them.

While the Isaiah trade will never be popular around here, the Kings do have two true point guards which should mean we have 48 minutes of solid point guard play. Are either of them stars? No, but it does not mean we should spend the next few years in a depressive state. If Ray can be an effective contributor off the bench it would be huge for the team. Last year, (and seemingly every year before it), when we went to the bench the game went downhill. Ray has shown us no reason to believe he would be a slouch off the bench. Guys like Derrick Williams, Jason Thompson, Omri Casspi, and Nick Stauskas could benefit greatly playing with Ray if they can learn to communicate with him off the ball. He has shown an ability to thread the needle with scary precision. Derrick and JT especially could benefit with a little tweaking. The Kings have let it be known that they want a pass first point guard and now we have two of them to work with.

Outside of Ray's promising playmaking, he has shown glimpses of a great ability to get to the basket. He made rookie mistakes while doing so, which many of our seasoned veterans still do, but he has also gotten to the hole with finesse and speed when he wanted to. With a little more time on the court and some experience this could be his biggest strength as a player in a few years. A passing point guard who can also get where he wants to on the court is a nightmare for other teams. It will be interesting to see how Ray can do with a consistent role in the rotation.

I am not trying to make Ray seem like the next Chris Paul (he's not), but I think he could actually be the key on how we view the departure of Isaiah in a few years. Ray has shown himself to be highly skilled. His defense can use some work, but he does try hard on that end, and Michael Malone even called him one of the only defensive-minded players on the team last year.  He'll also need to become more consistent as a shooter, as he made just 37.7% of his shots last season (although with a very respectable 37.3% from three).

I see big things from Ray in the future. Even if he takes a couple of years to develop, if he becomes that true point guard we wanted in our offense, and the team can improve with him, it may be one of those switch-offs that does not seem nearly as bad when all is said and done.  Swaggy Ray is here to stay!

The Brooklyn Nets and their capped-out roster came up short of championship aspirations last season when they fell in the second round to the Miami Heat. So now, here we are yet again with another dramatic offseason in the books and training camp just weeks away. Naturally, questions will be addressed as far as the new coaching situation, health, game plan, and the transformed roster containing the same stars, but a different group of supporting role players has entered the mix. With that comes the departure of a few key players.

Today, I'll look at who and what we lost this offseason, starting with a player who is a better ambassador to the game off the court than he is productive on it.

Pooch's Picks: The Five Who Got Away

5. Jason Collins

Last season, Jason Collins didn't receive much of a role with the Nets. The acquisition of Collins was mostly to give Jason Kidd the insurance of always having a big man to go to, just in case any injuries occurred or Kevin Garnett needed extra time to rest. Collins received about eight minutes per contest where he averaged 1.1 points per game. His impact on the court wasn't nearly as large as the impact he made around the league, and throughout the nation, most notably finishing in the TIME's ‘100 most Influential People' list.

Being the first openly gay professional athlete is what most of Collins' final NBA season revolved around, but his signing proved to be for basketball purposes, serving as backup to Kevin Garnett and Mason Plumlee. As for his career, he has bigger fish to fry off the court than on it.

4. Marcus Thornton

With the Nets revitalizing their season and becoming winners again around last year's All-Star break, Billy King was looking to improve the team in any way he could, despite having minimal flexibility. As we've seen through King's managerial career, his ability to turn nothing into something has been a work of art, as he traded Reggie Evans&Jason Terry to the Sacramento Kings for the sharp-shooting swingman, Marcus Thornton. We saw Thornton's ability to heat up in the blink of an eye, but his lack of consistency was the cause for his small role in the playoffs. In a Nets uniform, Thornton averaged 12.3 points per game, while shooting 38% from three, and 41% overall.

It seemed when Thornton's shots weren't falling, he was a liability on both sides of the ball. If his offense was off, there was no way of depending on his defense to pick up the slack.

Of course the price of Thornton makes the debate of his success in a Nets' uniform one-sided. When you trade two non-factor players for a guy who can contribute 12 points per game, it's fair to say the trade worked out for the Nets.

Now with Thornton on his way to Boston in exchange for Jarrett Jack, King and the Nets organization are hoping that Jack can fill the role of a solid backup point guard, and once again, gain something from what started as nothing.

It wasn't necessarily his best game as a Net, but it shows how fast he was able to heat up and make a serious impact. As mentioned, the inconsistency was an issue, but his spark off the bench will be missed.

3. Andray Blatche

"The worst thing in life is wasted talent," the famous quote from Robert DeNiro's "A Bronx Tale." Blatche has plenty of talent, but it's always a shame when a player's immaturity off the court overshadows (and rightly so) the good he brings to a team on the court.

For the $1.37 million the Nets paid for Blatche in the 2013-2014 season, the risk was worth it. His two seasons in Brooklyn showed the league that he can still contribute and be a solid offensive big  -- especially off the bench - the role that made him worthwhile in Brooklyn, backing up Brook Lopez in both seasons up until Lopez was deemed out for the season following a loss to the Philadelphia 76ers on December 20. Blatche averaged 10.7 points and 5.2 rebounds in 20 minutes per game during his tenure in Brooklyn.

His inconsistency and off-court issues, however, seemed to play a role in Jason Kidd decreasing his minutes during the playoffs. His 22 minutes per game average during the season fell to 14 minutes per in the playoffs, where he averaged only 6.4 points per game.

Blatche's offensive spark off the bench will be missed, and so too will his stressful-but-fun behind the back And-One mix tape-like-moves. But clearly his inconsistency and immaturity problems were so overwhelming that it was time for both the Nets and Blatche to go their separate ways.

(Who said Blatche couldn't play point guard?)

2. Shaun Livingston

It's easy to root for a guy like Shaun Livingston. Whether he's in a Nets uniform or not, Livingston's comeback story is as good as it gets and the Brooklyn Nets helped write the script.

Livingston's success was crucial to the Nets turnaround last season. Deron Williams was noticeably hurt and Brook Lopez was out for the year, and Jason Kidd didn't have many options because he essentially had zero ‘natural' centers to fill Lopez's shoes. So, instead of big he went "long."

Shaun Livingston was the epitome player for the "small ball' system Kidd implemented midway through the season. With the 6'7" Livingston playing combo-guard side-by-side with Deron Williams, it enabled him to take advantage of much smaller guards in the post and on the defensive side of the ball. His ability to force turnovers became a large part of the Nets scrappy identity. With the scrappiness and high amount of forced turnovers, the Nets finally saw their offense excel due to the increase in fastbreak opportunities.

Livingston quickly emerged as one of the most important role players on the roster. He was brought in to backup Deron Williams, but ended up starting 54 of the 76 games he played in. In 26 minutes per game, Livingston averaged eight points on 43% shooting.

Nearly everything about Livingston's game was perfect for the Nets' system last year, but a major flaw in his offensive skill was his inability to hit the three. When teams finally adjusted, the Nets struggled to find open shots because the defenses would sag off Livingston, so much that it would sometimes clog the paint. If he would've been able to hit the three on occasion, his value could've skyrocketed (even more) than it did this offseason.  Still, he will be severely missed and Jarrett Jack will have very large shoes to fill, whether it's backing up Williams or starting side-by-side with him.

The deflection heard around the world. Who else can cite a time they went so berserk over a regular season victory?

1.  Paul Pierce

This one was hard for the Nets faithful to swallow. After all, it's never easy to watch someone like Pierce, a future Hall of Famer and leader on the floor, walk away after one season.

Pierce seemed a step behind during the early stages of the season. Emotionally and physically, he just didn't look like the player Billy King and the Nets had expected. But similar to Livingston excelling under Jason Kidd's small ball adjustments, Pierce took advantage of sliding over to the '4' and matching up against the slower power forwards. He was able to spread the Nets' offense around the perimeter, which opened up the paint for the rest to penetrate to the basket, or swing it around and find the open shot. Of course with that, the Nets were very undersized and were often out-rebounded, but it was a risk worth taking. They essentially had no other choice.

Pierce's points per game average of 13.5 were the lowest of his career, including his rookie season when he averaged 16.5. Still, it doesn't seem like his game dropped off too much, but his career average before joining the Nets was near 37 minutes per game. This season's average of 28 made a big difference.

Paul Pierce's shotchart during the 2013-2014 season:

Pierce shot 37% from three on the year, averaging about two made threes on five shot attempts per game. The 37% actually matches his career average from downtown. Overall, he shot a stellar 45% from the field, also hovering around his career average. Keep in mind he struggled early in the season.

Pierce's longevity in Brooklyn may have been shorter than expected, but he certainly left the organization with plenty of great memories, some that only legends can cite in their careers. "This is why they got me here" and the series-winning block on Kyle Lowry stick out the most. The Pierce-era in Brooklyn was a fun one, one that the fans will miss, and the team will certainly miss as well. You only get a leader like Paul Pierce on your team so often.

.........

Despite the losses of these important players, there's no reason for panic or pessimism heading into the next season. With the addition of new head coach Lionel Hollins, along with players such as Jarrett Jack, Bojan Bogdanovic, Sergey Karasev, Markel Brown, and Cory Jefferson, this upcoming season has plenty of things to be excited for.

Oh yeah, and if all goes expected, Deron Williams and Brook Lopez should be 100% healthy at the same time. Really, that's the first time we can truly say that.

Some are touting the punch that wasn't as progress. I say not so fast.

Yesterday's incident with DeMarcus Cousins and Jonas Valanciunas was not a bright spot for DeMarcus.  Yes, he didn't throw a punch when everyone expected he would.  And that's wonderful.  I'm glad Cousins didn't throw a punch and undo all the positive strides he's made with Team USA.  But not throwing a punch isn't something to be celebrated, it's to be expected.

DeMarcus Cousins has a reputation for having a bad temper.  As Kings fans, we've watched the growth of DeMarcus since his rookie year.  Rookie DeMarcus, in the same situation, might very well have thrown a punch.  DeMarcus of two years ago, if presented with the same situation in the Olympics, might have thrown the punch.  But that's why DeMarcus Cousins wasn't on Team USA two summers ago.

What's held DeMarcus back in the eyes of the Team USA powers that be, and in the eyes of the general public, is that he can't be trusted to keep his cool.  A guy you can't trust to maintain his calm is a risk, talent be damned.  Cousins' temper, improved as it may be, is still a risk for the Kings.  He's doing better, and I'm glad he didn't throw a punch, but I'm not celebrating progress.  I'm thanking the basketball Shammgods that Cousins only took a small step backwards.  But make no mistake, Thursday was a step backwards.

We can justify Cousins' reaction all we want.

"He plays with passion."

"Jonas was throwing high elbows."

"I would have been pissed too."

"The refs hadn't called it all game"

But those reactions don't change the fact that Cousins hurt his team on Thursday.  Sure, Team USA won in a rout.  But what if it hadn't been?  Cousins drew a technical.  And while I think there should have been a call against Jonas, a technical was absolutely deserved for DeMarcus.

Beyond the technical, what happens when Cousins get angry?  We all know the answer.  It throws off his game.  He loses control.  He either sulks, which he did  on the bench Thursday but did less often last season, or he plays out of control trying to prove he's better and therefore, somehow, in the right.

Ask the average fan what they know about Cousins in the FIBA World Cup and they're going to point to the highlight that made Sportscenter on Thursday.  They aren't going to talk about Cousins averaging nine points, five boards and an assist in just 14 minutes per game.  They're not going to notice that he's shooting 70% from the field.  They're going to know that Jonas Valanciunas feared his imminent demise at Cousins' hands.

We're Kings fans.  By extension, many of us are fans of DeMarcus Cousins.  I consider myself a fan of his.  But an incident like this doesn't make me feel like celebrating his progress.  It reminds me just how far Cousins still has to go.

As NBA D-League teams continue to search the country for prospects during open tryouts, should the minor league consider exploring Seattle for talent as well?

In preparing for the upcoming NBA D-League season, minor league teams have already begun the open tryout process. Each squad's respective staff will keep its eyes open, currently on the prowl for surprising talent. The tryout process allows each team to cast a wider net, giving those previously unseen players a chance to strut their stuff and be seen once and for all.

As NBA and D-League squads continue to form exclusive one-to-one relationships, the minor league squads remain close in proximity, and as such, host their open tryouts rather locally. But one team has it harder than others.

Call it a blessing or a curse, but the defending D-League champion Fort Wayne Mad Ants (the league's sole remaining independent franchise) will host an all-time high thirteen NBA affiliates this coming season. With that in mind, they'll be traveling across the country over the next month (from New Jersey to Los Angeles and a handful of spots in between) in hopes of finding talent closer to each of their respective affiliates.

This allows a team like the Mad Ants to cast quite a wide net for talent. But what if that net were able to be cast even wider?

What about Seattle? This is a question basketball fans have been asking for years. Since the Seattle Supersonics left for Oklahoma City to become the Thunder, that same passionate community has been hungry for basketball. Every time speculation arises that a respective team may relocate (from the Kings, Bucks, and most recently, the Hawks), Seattle appears to, almost by default, be in the conversation.

Whether or not the D-League should have a team in Seattle is another debate to be had entirely. At the very least, however, perhaps a team like the Mad Ants should hold tryouts there. Aside from the fact that such an appearance would satisfy the community's craving (albeit it, a little bit), there's little doubt a D-League team would strike gold if they came looking for talent in Seattle.

Though the city still has a void to be filled by an NBA team, there's been no shortage of related competition. For starters, the IBL's very own up and coming Seattle Flight plays a select few games there each summer. The squad is backed by former Sonics star Shawn Kemp, and his wife, Marvena. Just this past season, the likes of former NBA player Will Conroy, Marcellus Kemp (son of the former Sonics' star), and former Lamar standout Mike James all hit the hardwood for the Flight at some point.

Earlier this summer, RidiculousUpside.com spoke with James about his participation in the Seattle Pro-Am, which is headed by NBA stud sixth man Jamal Crawford. Over the course of the summer months, James matches up against current and former NBA stars, international veterans, D-League prospects, and others simply hoping for a shot to break into the game. If there's one thing they have in common, it's that most, if not all of them, hail from Seattle.

Despite the ongoing speculation and/or hope that simply stands to continue, one can only wonder when (if at all), the NBA will return to Seattle. But in the meantime, the D-League could provide a worthwhile assist by opening up its tryout process even further to pluck a few prospects from the city and inject some Seattle blood back into the league, in some form.

In case you were wondering what's been going on with the Kings and Omri Casspi, we've finally got some clarification from the man himself.  The Kings seemingly wrapped up negotiations with Omri Casspi to sign a one year deal back in late July, but since then, there has not been official word of his signing.

Today, Casspi tweeted out this picture of his old jersey along with a short message:

I'm back where I belong... #SacTown #18 http://t.co/LFMtoNV6lK

— Omri Casspi (@Casspi18) September 12, 2014

The Kings have still not officially acknowledged his signing, but as we've been saying since Casspi was released off of waivers, he's going to be a Sacramento King this year.  The delay was likely due to Casspi's overseas duties back in his homeland of Israel this summer.

Casspi returns to Sacramento after a poor stint with the Cavaliers and a much better one with the Rockets.  Casspi seemed to embrace being a roleplayer in Houston and the Kings will look for more of the same.

It looks like the Lakers are trying to sort through training camp bodies, hosting a workout with five players.

The Los Angeles Lakers have space to work with before opening up training camp and are still hosting workouts to decide on who they want to give a long look at. The latest roundup of players working out for the Lakers includes Pooh Jeter, Ronnie Price, Wayne Ellington, Jeremy Tyler and James Nunnally, according to HoopsHype.

Jeter is coming off a strong FIBA World Cup showing with Ukraine, averaging 15.4 points and five assists per game as their leading point guard. He's never played in the NBA, spending the majority his career playing overseas after going undrafted out of the University of Portland.

The rest of the list features a handful of players who haven't been able to find a sticking points in the league. Wayne Ellington was traded to the New York Knicks in the deal that sent Tyson Chandler to the Dallas Mavericks, and was then traded to the Sacramento Kings in the same summer and subsequently waived. He's shot 38 percent from deep through his career.

Ronnie Price hasn't been able to find a home since spending four years with the Utah Jazz, playing for three teams over the past three seasons, and is currently an unsigned free agent at the age of 30. Jeremy Tyler had an opportunity to soak minutes with the Knicks due to frontcourt injuries last season, but still played just 9.6 minutes per game while tallying 3.6 points and 2.4 rebounds per contest. Nunnally is a nondescript second-year player who went undrafted last season. Both Tyler and Nunnally went to college in California, something the Lakers have had a tendency to take into consideration over the years.

None of these players represent significant pieces in the Lakers rebuilding plans, but could be a group of players Los Angeles is interested in as training camp bodies. Considering Xavier Henry may be limited to open training camp as he continues recovering from knee and wrist injuries, it's not surprising there are a few wings in the mix before camp begins.

The Kings forward's injury is more severe than first reported.

Thursday's semifinal matchup against Lithuania was a hard-nosed and chippy affair, and it even resulted in a bit of a yelling  skirmish during the post-game handshake line.

Rudy Gay got hit especially hard late in the game when he took an elbow to his mouth as he was taking it into the basket.  Gay was knocked to the floor and immediately had to exit the game.  While initial reports seemed to indicate that Gay was fine and may have just suffered a chipped tooth, Gay told USA Today's Sam Amick that it was a little more serious than that:

"I've got a fracture in my jaw, a broken tooth and am going to probably need a root canal," Gay told USA TODAY Sports. "The top is where I got hit. It's painful. It's uncomfortable, and it still bleeds, so I've got to continuously gargle. It is what it is, man."

Gay ended up having to get dental work done until 2 a.m. the morning after the game before he could rejoin the team on the way to Madrid.  Fortunately he's still able to go for Sunday's final match and hopefully will have a Gold Medal to lift his spirits, although he probably won't be biting down on it to make sure it's real any time soon.

Once again, we look at how other people evaluate our team . . .

I can understand that probably half of you do not play video games. I know our blogs demo, so I'm being conservative here. I have been playing video games most of my life, and it does not appear as though I will stop. The next version of 2K Games / 2K Sports' NBA franchise is coming out right around the corner. It releases on October 7th, and you can still pre-order a copy of you want. (It's almost worth it to do so, if you are going to pick up the title)

The one thing you really care about, beyond the fact that you have something to play with more recent rosters, is how good or bad the Utah Jazz players are. There are over 400 players in the game, and well, 8 guys on our roster are on the other side of the 200 mark.

• Dante Exum (Ranked #221, 74 Overall rating)
• Trevor Booker (#236, 74 Rating)
• Steve Novak (#263, 72 Rating)
• Rudy Gobert (#302, 71 Rating)
• Rodney Hood (#306, 71 Rating)
• Jeremy Evans (#337, 70 Rating)
• Carrick Felix (#367, 68 Rating)
• Ian Clark (#397, 67 Rating)

So, glad Ian Clark is in the game, but is Steve Novak really THIS good? He played 10 MPG last season, while Rudy Gobert just romped his way to a Bronze Medal as the starting center in the World Cup. We can argue about this later though.

The top 200 players have not yet been announced, so we can speculate on their order a bit. (Hmmm, will LeBron James be #1?) The Jazz players who will most likely be placed there will be Derrick Favors, Gordon Hayward, Trey Burke, Alec Burks, and Enes Kanter. That would put the Jazz roster at 13 players. Because the #201st player has a rating of 74 it is likely that all five of those guys will be rated 75 and above.

Since I'm a crazy person, and I had disc copies of NBA 2K11, NBA 2K12, NBA 2K13, and NBA 2K14 round I could check to see how everyone has progressed over time.

• Derrick Favors: 73, 70, 74, 77, __ ?
• Gordon Hayward: 64, 67, 68, 75, __ ?
• Trey Burke: 72, __ ?
• Alec Burks: 70, 71, 72, __ ?
• Enes Kanter: 63, 65, 69, __

If we assume some level of internal consistency within 2K15 then our top two players should be Favors and Hayward, with one or both of them approaching that 80 overall rating. Klay Thompson, of the Golden State Warriors, has an 82 overall rating. As does David Lee. Jordan Hill, of the Los Angeles Lakers has a 76 overall rating. Nick Young, also of the Lakers, clocks in at 78. So I'd expect Favors to be between those two bigs somewhere in that 76 to 82 range (if not higher). And Hayward would be between the two guards, between 78 and 82 as well -- so a little higher maybe?

I don't know where the other three will fall.

The Jazz do have a few guys coming into training camp, but I don't know if they will be on the day one release roster for the Jazz. One player who could be is former New York Knicks point guard Toure' Murry. He got a 65 overall rating from 2K last year. A 65 rating would mean he should be on that 200-400 ranked player range, but has not shown up on any of the breakdowns. (N.B. Confirmed that there is an error from 2K and 10 players are missing who will have a 70 over all rating. You are welcome.) We will only be so lucky if Kevin Murphy, Dee Bost, Brock Motum, or Jack Cooley are listed in the default Free Agency pool on the disc version.

The overall rating isn't the be all / and end all of a player, though. Kyle Korver is very good at what he does best, and in the game he has not had a very high traditional overall rating: (from NBA 2K11 and onwards) 63, 62, 65, and 64 overall. (Of course, this time around he has an overall that is greater than 74 -- big jumps can happen as the overall rating is calculated in a different way this year around) We don't have to look far for evidence of this with our own squad, Gobert went from 52 -> 71, Evans went from 60 -> 70, and Novak went from 53 -> 72 from 2K14 to 2K15.

I am interested to see how the game plays, and the internal logic for it. John Lucas III gets a +5 overall bump, and Marvin Williams went up +7 points, after having probably one of the worst seasons of his career.

For me the game is about MyTeam mode, so ratings matter a lot. And expect more and more posts on this game in the next few months. For now, though, watch this video!

Oh look! Karl Malone on the Sacramento Kings! *Barf*

Anyway, thanks to all the hard working and dedicated people who make these games and the communities which revolve around them. You can get the full list of currently released overall ratings from Operation Sports over here, or from the NBA2K Facebook page here.

Every weekend, we update the Nets' off-season with bits and pieces of information, gossip, analysis, etc. to help take the edge off not winning the NBA championship. Sad for us. We rely on our own reporting as well as what the Nets’ beat reporters and others have slipped into larger stories, blogs and tweets...

Not much left to say...

Bottom line is that in two business conversations, one an email, the other a conference call, involving the expenditure of millions of dollars, the Hawks (white) executives discussed race in a callous and discriminatory fashion.  Our Brian Fleuratin wrote a great piece for us on larger issues in the NBA  and in tweets, we've expressed our disgust with the latest developments.

There is one other thing interests us, however:  the whole of the Luol Deng scouting report. It was the basis of the Danny Ferry comment that Deng has some African in him.  A few things about the report, the first we've ever seen, surprised us.  It. like the Nets reports, is hosted on a password-protected section of the RealGM website. There was basic data on the player, but no deep stats, no statistical analysis of his game.

There were a series of comments from former teammates, scouts and executives from teams he had played for.  All but one --the one Ferry cited-- were positive, as well they should be.There were also some published reports on Deng's character, all positive, as well as they should be.  That was it.  It was in short, shallow and random, without a conclusion or even a summary.

As Adrian Wojnarowski has reported, just the inclusion of the controversial (and we're being kind) comment was egregious.

It doesn't matter whether he laid eyes on that report before the call or not, because it still goes back to this: Something about the environment in Atlanta made it all right to send that up the line to Ferry, and for good reason – it was all right with him.

It was a cultural issue, but it was also a management issue. The report was just poor.  We asked a league source we trust if this was typical of what you find on other NBA scouting reports.  No, he said, "the Hawks suck."

What about the Nets?

We don't have access to the Nets emails or recordings of their conference calls (not that we don't want them!) but a few things make us believe that what happened in Atlanta could not have happened in Brooklyn.

Here's one reason: the Hawks, as Brian Fleurantin noted, have few blacks in decision-making positions.

When you take a look at Atlanta's staff makeup, that seems to be the case. If you take a look at the front office of Atlanta (ownership, executive management, and basketball operations), there are 22 positions, and of those 22, only four are occupied by non-white people and only one woman.

In 2010, after buying the team, Mikhail Prokhorov hired a woman, Irina Pavlova, and two black men, Billy King and Avery Johnson, to run his day-to-day business and basketball operations.  Pavlova is his representative on the NBA Board of Governors. Only one other team, the Lakers, regularly has a woman sitting on the board. She's Jeanie Buss, the daughter of the late Lakers' owner.  He made a marketing deal with Jay-Z that led to the "cultural icon" --the Nets official description of him-- joining the board of directors of Barclays Center.

It is hard to imagine Pavlova, King or Johnson (or Lionel Hollins) not reacting with outrage on seeing the equivalent of the Bruce Levenson email or the Danny Ferry comments. Jay-Z? You don't even want to think of his reaction to suggestions that the owner wanted to rework the racial make-up of the audience. It's even harder to imagine Prokhorov suggesting it!

One other thing about the Nets. They have an interest in how the Hawks fare this year. If the Nets should finish with a higher pick in the 2015 Draft, it must be sent to the Hawks, as part of the Joe Johnson trade in 2012.  We feel a lot better about keeping that pick. Talk about your team turmoil.

Moving on...

Twelve days until the Nets Media Day ... and one more Off-Season Report next Sunday.  After that, it's pre-season!  Here's the quick schedule of how things will play out. On Friday, September 26, the Nets will hold Media Day in East Rutherford.  Media, both national and local (including us) will spend the morning interviewing players, coaches, etc. On Saturday, September 27, the Nets will open practice with the first of at least five two-a-days.

Ten days after the first practice, Euroleague champion Maccabi Tel Aviv comes to Barclays Center for the first preseason game.  The next day, everyone boards a charter out of Newark Liberty Airport, headed for Shanghai, where the Nets will play their first game of a two-game set vs. the Kings four days later. The second game will be held three days after that in Beijing.  Then it's back to New York for three games in four days, starting October 19, against the Celtics and 76ers at home and the Celtics in Boston on October 22, a full week before the season begins.

Will there be an Open Practice? We assume so and think it's more likely in that last week before the season opener in Boston. Would not hazard a guess as to the specific date but the weekend of October 25-26 is our best guess, but again, we have no inside information on this one.

Jerome Jordan

We found a couple of things interesting about the signing of Jerome Jordan this week.  It was billed as a
"training camp contract," but ...

1) Unlike previous years, when camp invites were announced all at once, Jordan's signing was announced separately.

2) Jordan was in Grizzlies' training camp two years ago, being the last player cut.  Lionel Hollins ran that camp. As Tom Lorenzo of Grizzly Bear Blues wrote at the time, "it seemed as if Jordan was the only player in the mix to possibly make this roster, based on his fairly decent play in the preseason." Jordan might have made the team, but the Grizz decided to keep only 13 players going into that season.

3) We hear that if Jordan makes the final roster, he may get a small guarantee, which would put him on equal footing with the player he's likely competing with, Cory Jefferson, who has a $75,000 guarantee.

As Reed Wallach wrote Saturday, Jordan could bring some positives to the Nets. Bottom line: With only 13 guaranteed contracts and the Nets rightly concerned about front court depth in light of last season's injuries, Jordan has a fighting chance.

Mason Plumlee's big game

We wish Mason Plumlee good luck Sunday vs. Serbia in the World Cup. Plumlee has played well after being the big surprise of the Team USA training camp.

His averages (2.5 points, 1.8 rebounds in six minutes per game) really don't matter.  What matters is that if Team USA wins, it's another personal milestone for Plumlee.  He will have won an NCAA championship while at Duke and the FIBA World Cup championship, two of basketball's great achievements, both under Coach K.  The other two are an Olympic gold and an NBA ring, not outside the realm of possibility for a 24-year-old.  (Teammate Anthony Davis will have three of the four if USA wins: the NCAA with Kentucky and the Olympic gold, both in 2012, as well as FIBA gold ... all by age 21. That leaves only an NBA ring. NO player has ever won all four.)

New trainers

Alessandro Oliveira, formerly with Hawks, has joined the Nets as an assistant trainer, replacing Nixon Dorvilien, who followed Jason Kidd to the Bucks. It's the second change in the training staff this summer.  Lloyd Beckett replaced Robby Hoenshel as director of rehabilitation and assistant trainer. Beckett had previously been a physical therapist with the U.S. Marine Corps Special Operations. Hoenshel is now working with the Jacksonville Jaguars. 

Tim Walsh returns as the Nets head trainer for his 15th season with the Nets.

Final Note

As Derrick Williams enters the final year of his rookie contract, can the Kings develop him into a long-term fit, or is he more valuable as an expiring contract?

As the Kings enter the second season of the Derrick Williams gamble, they may soon hit an impasse with the 23 year-old forward. Williams remains one of the youngest players on the squad and has plenty of potential for growth, but the team wants to win now, and his $6.6 million dollar expiring contract is a logical fit in any blockbuster trade. Is it too late for Williams to earn a place as a long-term player in Sacramento?

In a perfect world, Williams could be an ideal 6^th man at the forward spots, offering the Kings a scoring punch off the bench who can rebound and throw down highlights in transition. Yet with Rudy Gay and DeMarcus Cousins anchoring the three and five spots, the ideal fit at power forward would be a defensive player with an efficient shooting touch. That isn't the type of player Williams has been in his first three years – he's been an average defender with a career shooting percentage of 42.7%.

Williams' biggest strength is his ability in transition, where his excellent athleticism makes him a dangerous weapon. He's also a solid inside scorer; a third of his shots were within three feet of the basket, and he made 67.4% of them. Outside of that zone, his efficiency plummeted– 33.7% from 3-10 feet, 35.7% from 10-16 feet, and a whopping 28.6% from the three point line. He's shown no statistical improvement as a shooter in his three NBA season, but he's still taking jumpers; his average distance on his shots as a King were from 10.6 feet away from the basket.

Even while Williams possesses excellent athleticism and stayed in good shape, his physical gifts didn't translate to defensive success. According to basketball-reference.com's On/Off Court statistics, opponents scored an estimate of 2.2 points more per 100 possessions while Williams was on the court. His defensive awareness wasn't great on a team that struggled with team defense. As a rebounder, Williams was adequate with 4.4 rebounds a game and a 10% rebounding rate, but that rate was the lowest of the Kings big men (Patrick Patterson was closest at 13.3%, while Reggie Evans led the team at 20.9%).

Despite the major question being "is it too late for Williams?" to earn a role in the organization going forward, that could be flipped on the Kings– can they figure out a role for Williams? Pete D'Alessandro said Williams would be primarily a small forward with minutes as a power forward, but the addition of Gay just 13 days later moved Williams back to the bench and shifted the bulk of his minutes back to the four;  basketball-reference notes he spent 61% of his playing time with Sacramento as a power forward.

Worse off, the move to the bench dampened Williams' confidence. He wasn't amazing as a starter (12.5 points and 7.3 rebounds on 44.4% shooting), but when he came off the bench he was less aggressive, less effective (6.9 points on 42% shooting) and was often invisible. The numbers show Williams is a player who needs significant minutes to be effective– in 18 games where he played 30 minutes or more, he averaged 13.3 points 48% shooting (and 32.4% from three!). In 35 games where he had 20-29 minutes of playing time, his usage stayed the same (17.1% usage rate with 30+ minutes, 16% with 20-29 minutes) but his percentages plummeted to 43.4% overall shooting and 22% from three.

The Kings have to figure out the proper role for Williams; he's redundant between Gay and Cousins if he can't offer above-average defense or shooting, but he struggled off the bench. Can Sacramento figure out ways to get him enough minutes to keep his confidence high? Can the Coaching staff figure out how to turn Williams into a competent defender when he's guarding taller power forwards? Williams' has developing to do, but the Kings need to figure out if Williams is a puzzle piece they can use.

Despite every weakness, there's reason for optimism about Williams' future. He's only 23 years old, the fourth youngest player on the Kings roster; he may be entering his fourth NBA season, but he's still got plenty of time to develop. He may end up serving the Kings best as a young trading piece with a $6.6 million dollar expiring contract, but it isn't too late for him to develop, figure out his role on the squad, and earn a long-term position in the franchise.

Team USA looks to clinch the gold.

Team USA faces their final challenge on Sunday as they square off against Serbia. Rudy Gay of the Sacramento Kings is expected to play despite the fractured jaw he suffered against Lithuania. Gay will be joined by Kings team DeMarcus Cousins.

The game tips off at noon PT, and will be aired on ESPN2.

Go USA!

USA! USA! USA!

In a result that surprised nobody, Team USA went on to win the Gold medal at the 2014 FIBA World Cup thanks to a dominant 37 point win over Serbia. The United States hit 15 of 30 three pointers in the victory and were led in scoring by Tournament MVP Kyrie Irving's 26 points.

Serbia came out strong, getting an early 8 point lead and even getting USA star Anthony Davis into early foul trouble.  That left it up to Sacramento Kings big man DeMarcus Cousins to come in and anchor the defense, a job in which he filled admirably.  Cousins was a force on both ends, and he finished with 11 points, a game-high 9 rebounds, an assist, a steal and 2 blocks in 17 minutes.  Cousins was also a +31 in his time on the court.

Cousins was garnering praise all over social media for the way he stepped up, including from David Thorpe:

If this DeMarcus Cousins is the guy who plays for the Kings, the West will have a new "best center" in the conference. MVP of the finals

— david b. thorpe (@coachthorpe) September 14, 2014

Rudy Gay played despite the jaw injury he sustained against Lithuania, and he scored 11 points himself on 5 of 9 shooting to go with 3 rebounds in 15 and a half minutes.

Thus finishes a dominant FIBA World Cup for the United States.  Cousins and Gay have a couple weeks off before training camp begins, and hopefully they can bring their winning ways back to Sacramento.

The Kings made waves last year with their trade of Rudy Gay. Will they go for another home run this year?

In Sacramento Kings history, the biggest team improvements have almost always come about because of big trades.  In 1991, the Kings traded for Mitch Richmond.  In 1998 they traded Richmond for Webber.  In 2006 the Kings sent Peja Stojakovic to Indiana for Ron Artest.  And last year the Kings sent John Salmons, Chuck Hayes, Greivis Vasquez and Patrick Patterson to Toronto for Aaron Gray, Quincy Acy and Rudy Gay.

That last deal can't be considered anything but a success for the Kings.  While the Kings didn't make huge improvements as a team, they increased their talent base and added another legitimate All-Star talent.  The Kings were banking on Gay reverting back to his Memphis form and he ended up exceeding those expectations by averaging a career-high 20.1 points per game on a career-high 48.2% from the field to go with 5.5 rebounds, 3.1 assists and 1.2 steals.  The Kings even managed an above .500 record with Cousins, Gay and Isaiah Thomas all played at least 30 minutes together.

Now with Thomas gone, Gay becomes even more important to the Kings, but in the deep west, more help is needed.  During the draft we heard a lot about how active the Kings were in shopping their #8 pick for a proven player, but nothing came of it and the Kings opted to stay put and draft Nik Stauskas instead.

The two big names that consistently have come up in trade rumors for the Kings are Josh Smith and Rajon Rondo.  Trade talks reportedly broke down with the Pistons regarding Smith after Stan Van Gundy (wisely) didn't want to trade Smith just to trade him.  Unfortunately for fans hoping for another Rudy-like deal, that's an issue that's probably going to keep popping up.  The Kings are not an asset heavy team, which is one of the reasons I was so opposed to the Kings not matching Isaiah Thomas' contract; Even if they didn't consider him part of their future plans, he still had a lot of value as a potential trade asset.

If we were to rank Sacramento's top trade assets it would probably look something like this:

1. DeMarcus Cousins (as close to untouchable as you're going to get on this team)

2. Rudy Gay (because of Gay's contract he could slide from 2 to 6 depending on the team)

3. Nik Stauskas

4. Ben McLemore

5. Ray McCallum

6. Darren Collison

7. Derrick Williams

If you're thinking about potential stars that may be available, there just isn't much there that Sacramento can offer.  McLemore, McCallum and Stauskas are all about potential rather than production.  Collison is a productive and affordable young veteran.  Derrick Williams offers some potential but probably is more valuable because of his expiring contract at this point.  The Kings also don't have any extra assets like future picks that are really valuable in making big trades, and they're still handicapped by the J.J. Hickson trade with a pick owed to Chicago.

If you were a team like Boston, would you want to trade Rajon Rondo for the package of players Sacramento would offer?  Think back to the beginning of this summer when the Kings reportedly said they would have traded for Kevin Love even without an assurance that he'd re-sign.  The Kings basically had the same assets then that they did now.  Minnesota didn't even come close to biting, and the offer they did end up getting ended up being the last two #1 picks in the draft and a guy who would probably be the 3rd best player on the Kings in Thaddeus Young.

The Kings also don't have any space in which to make lopsided trades to take back more salary than they give, partly due to Gay's massive contract.  Ironically, one of the more realistic ways I can think of the Kings making a big trade this year is by trading Gay, especially if he doesn't sign an extension and the Kings aren't sure he'll re-sign.  It would be a tough move to do however because of Gay's contract, and the money coming back to Sacramento would be equally high and possibly longer term.  I don't think that's a preferred scenario here.

One way the Kings can take advantage of their poor asset base is the same way they did last year: by taking a risk on a player that hasn't been performing to their usual standard.  How many of those guys are out there?  We know Smith is one and that's why he's been talked about so much.  Ersan Ilyasova is another.  But these are all guys with bad contracts that you have to really hope pan out because otherwise you're stuck in a worse situation than the one you started in.

The Kings might be better off playing it a little safe this year and seeing what they have in their young players and how Collison is handling the PG duties.  The Kings will be in a much better position if any of Stauskas, McLemore and McCallum develop into good NBA players.

Any big move the Kings make will be fraught with risk, and fortunately last year's move paid off.  They don't always do so however.  I definitely don't envy Pete D'Alessandro his job.

Occasionally, I live-tweet my experience while reading pieces I find entertaining. Adrian Wojnarowski, the bell tolls for thee.

You can find the full article here. Please click it. I want articles like this around until Woj draws his last breath.

My thoughts are in italics. We begin:

"The confetti falls, the star-spangled banner plays and the USA Basketball illusion plays itself out again and again. Here come the Duke and Syracuse coaches hugging the NBA stars, primping for pictures that they'll rush through texts and Twitter to star recruits."

Strong opening. Pull the scales from mine eyes, Woj, for I am blind. Only you see Team USA Basketball for what it truly is.

"Pity poor Serbia, the silver-medalist props to a college recruiting video."

This is a perfect sentence. In just twelve words, Woj reduces an entire nation to a punchline in only the way an American sportswriter referencing something outside of American sports truly can. Do not pity Serbia because ethnic Serbians were attacked trying to vote last year. Of the reasons to pity poor Serbia, forget that former president, Serbian Slobadan Milosovic perpetrated genocide, the Kosovo War, and a whole slew of other not-so-important "ish," the real lament is that Serbia only has the second best basketball team in the entire world right now.

"The World Cup of Basketball is a wonderful event, a well-run, well-coordinated tournament with pride and history and gravitas."

First of all, S/O to "gravitas." One of my favorite words. But this is weird because Woj is being nice. Something bad is about to happen.

"It is something else, too: beneath the threshold of worthiness for NBA stars to participate."

Sometimes to enjoy his articles fully, it helps to imagine what Woj is doing while writing. I like to imagine Woj, midway through his fifth cup of coffee, giving himself a spirited fist-pump when he turned that phrase. The phrase "beneath the threshold of worthiness" is so incredible. You just know he read it out loud to himself. It's almost as if NBA stars didn't willingly choose to participate in this event. Oh wait, they did. But then again, who are the NBA stars to determine what is, and is not, worthy of them.

I'll say this much about Woj. When he throws patriotism under the bus, he doesn't tap the brakes out of deference.

"For Indiana Pacers star Paul George to have broken his leg in a televised pick-up game on the Vegas strip never felt as senseless as did watching the United States hang 129 points on Serbia in the gold-medal game Sunday at Palacio de los Deportes."

I've read this sentence three times, and I get lost halfway through every time. It's a game of Jenga after the penultimate move.

"Outside of Derrick Rose using FIBA as a Double-A rehab assignment and some sportswriters beefing up on Marriott points for post-summer vacations, this tournament was a waste of everyone's time and resources."

Yahoo must have booked Woj at a Motel 6 or something.

"They used to call it the World Championships. Now it's the World Cup of Basketball. This is certain: It has outlived its usefulness for the NBA, and owners and executives will be wise to petition FIBA to reshape the future of international basketball."

The World Cup of Basketball has outlived it's use for the NBA. Yet it was televised largely on NBA TV. Even when the NBA is not profiting off of something they manage to profit off of it.

As one GM told Yahoo Sports, "[Outside of the U.S. team], there's more talent and more interest from basketball fans in the NBA summer league than this event."

I'd like to solve the puzzle: the unnamed GM is Billy King.

"For all the inspiration the U.S. coaches and players tried to drain out of George's injury, understand something: It was in vain."

Sort of like your ability to write cogently.

"He lost a year of his career for the chance to play in a tournament that few watched back home, and even fewer felt mesmerized by across the world. The risk-reward for NBA stars participating in FIBA tournaments has never been so low, the gains of the Mike Krzyzewskis and Jim Boeheims on the bench so high."

I suppose Woj is right, although he either means the "risk-reward" ratio has never been so high (not low), or that the gap between risk and reward has never been so high (not, you know, the word he actually wrote). Let's not allow that to get in the way. Woj is on a roll. He's pissed his editors sent him to a crappy Motel 6 in Madrid, to eat crappy tapas, and to cover the barren wasteland known as "basketball in the rest of the world."

"[Paul] George will be the impetus to end the full participation of NBA stars, but far from the reason. After the 2016 Olympics in Rio, the World Cup of Basketball and Olympic Games are destined to become an under-22 developmental tournament."

The part that Woj leaves out is the actual reason: NBA owners are pissed they aren't making money on Team USA and someone else, you know, is. As Woj would say, the risk-reward for NBA owners has never been so low.

"We need to get our vets out and move our younger players in," one NBA general manager told Yahoo Sports. "The support's there for the change, and it's getting stronger."

The strange thing about all of this is that Team USA was largely comprised of younger players. Only two players over age twenty-five were on the roster, and one of them was brought in to replace Paul George, himself twenty-four. If you were to rank the most talented American players, less than half of the top ten are playing in this tourney (and one of them is using it, to quote Woj "as a Double-A rehab assignment"). The best player on the team is twenty-one.

It takes a special kind of cognitive dissonance to argue that you have to bring younger players into the international team when you've already done exactly that. The "Under 22" term is code for "more college players." NBA owners are ticked that their players can get hurt playing games they don't profit from.

I don't blame them in the least. But let's call a spade a spade instead of using amorphous code language about making the team "younger."

"No more grinding down of Pau Gasol and Manu Ginobili and Tony Parker as thirty-something stars for countries that desperately need them to compete, no more Yao Ming dragging a battered leg up and down the floor for China. Rival countries to the United States don't have the depth of Team USA's talent, nor the reinforcements to let stars sit out qualifying events, to excuse them to nurse injuries."

In this paragraph, watch as Woj disproves his own point before he even makes it. Manu Ginobili sat out. So did Tony Parker. Yet these countries won't excuse their stars from playing. How evil of other "talent-poor" countries to require their star players to play (even though, you know, they didn't).

"Sooner than later, people will understand: Those most stridently touting the irreplaceable value of USA Basketball are those profiting the greatest from it."

Clearly, Woj hasn't seen one damn penny yet. And he IS PISSED!!! Hide yo kids, hide yo girl! WOJ COMIN!!!

"As much as ever, USA Basketball has been co-opted into a Krzyzewski leverage play for the Duke Blue Devils."

For this section, I'm imagining Woj blaring Tupac's "Hit 'Em Up" while furiously typing in the Madrid Airport. He's not wearing headphones. That's how little of an eff he gives.

"If that doesn't rile Kentucky's John Calipari, wait until the Duke coach is credited for DeMarcus Cousins' maturity with the Sacramento Kings this season."

You know who definitely, definitely, DEFINITELY will deserve no credit for the hypothetical future in which the maturation of Demarcus Cousins is credited to Coach K: John Calipari, the coach whose recruits signed a special non-binding letter of intent with the University of Memphis specifically so he can steal them away should he ever leave to another school.

It's been over four years since John Calipari has coached Demarcus Cousins, and I use the term "coached" loosely.

"The end's coming for USA Basketball's grip on the game in the States, but once change goes into effect come the 2018 World Cup, it won't matter much to Krzyzewski anymore."

Woj drops an interesting tidbit. Singling out the 2018 World Cup sounds like Woj has heard that the NBA owners have set that as the timetable for change. Probably not coincidentally, The NBA owners have an opt-out in the current Collective Bargaining agreement for 2017. Which means they will probably take it. Which means we'll probably have another lockout.

Eff.

"He still has two full summers of USA Basketball access left to him, and that'll make it a full decade of control."

Just stop talking for a second, bro. I'm still bummed about the 2017 lockout you just #WojBombed on me.

"As one Duke alumnus would tell you: There is a USA Basketball storefront selling patriotism and duty with a backroom reality that peddles the Blue Devils and Nike swooshes."

Bonus points to Woj's final sentence, in which he paraphrases the Atlanta Hawks racially insensitive scouting report for Luol Deng. I'm sure Luol Deng is happy he did this. For those scoring at home, Woj has turned both Luol Deng, and the entire country of Serbia, into punchlines. Yet this was a necessary evil to bring the "seedy underbelly of elite basketball talents volunteering to play for their country for free" to justice.

Or railing against Coach K.

Or whatever it is we're doing here.

"When Team USA goes to the U.S. Military Academy to practice on its pre-tournament tour, guess what the stories are: Krzyzewski returns to his West Point roots. There's Coach K with the cadets. There's Coach K in the mess hall. There's Coach K teaching those rich NBA players about sacrifice and selflessness. People call Calipari the greatest self-promoting coach of his time, but Krzyzewski doesn't get nearly the credit due him. USA Basketball is a machine with its tentacles deep into every level of basketball, and Krzyzewski taps into every element."

Man, Calipari must be so pissed he has to cheat to recruit the best high schoolers while Coach K has tricked USA basketball into doing it for him legally. The Usurper, Coach K has dared to lay claim to Calipari's rightful place atop the  "greatest self-promoting coach of his time" throne. It is Calipari's right by birth. He has chartered far too many private planes to far too many NBA Drafts to see his work undone by the likes of Coach K!

Karl Towns. Remember that name. More on him in a minute.

"USA Basketball managing director Jerry Colangelo has set it up for Krzyzewski to have a free run, and he's been strategic and shrewd in its use."

BREAKING: Jerry Colangelo is a puppet controlled by Coach K. #WojBomb

"NBA commissioner Adam Silver gave Krzyzewski a big hug on the floor Sunday night here – another Dukie thrilled about how this partnership has closed the gap on Calipari and Kentucky, and gone a long way toward burying the North Carolina Tar Heels."

BREAKING: Adam Silver and Jerry Colangelo are both puppets controlled by Coach K. #WojBomb

"Krzyzewski never violated an NCAA rule when he climbed aboard a flight, flew cross-country and addressed the 2013 under-19 USA Basketball national team at its Colorado Springs training camp.

While Woj rails agains Coach K for benefiting from the Team USA gig, he fails to mention that Coach Calipari coached the Dominican Republic from 2011-2012, helping them qualify for the very 2014 FIBA World Cup.

No one can argue that coaching the DR would carry the same perks as coaching Team USA. If you ask Calipari why he did it, he will give you answers about promoting the game in a country dominated by baseball (he did so here). He will talk about what a joy he has to lend a helping hand.

What he won't mention is Karl Towns. Ever heard of him? If not, you will.

Karl Towns is Dominican. He is also one of the best amateur basketball players in the world. Draftexpress.com has him projected as the 3rd pick in the 2015 draft.  He will be a Freshman at UK next year. On September 12, 2012 UK self-reported Level 2 NCAA infractions surrounding the Dominican Republic national teams training. Karl Towns was invited to try out for the Dominican team... as a sixteen year old. The try outs, of course, were held on University of Kentucky's campus.

The only difference between Coach Calipari and Coach K is that Calipari is more brazen when he uses a national team for his own purposes.

"...For the record, Krzyzewski is USA Basketball's senior national coach and the visit gave him an opportunity to personally welcome those young men into the program's feeder system..."

You know how you might run into your friend's ex-girlfriend, and she may talk your ear off about how big of a dick your friend was because he cheated on her all the time, only you know that she was cheating on him at the same time.

This is beginning to sound a whole lot like that.

"The roster of college stars happened to include two 17-year-old prep phenoms: Chicago's Jahlil Okafor and Houston's Justise Winslow. When Krzyzewski makes his triumphant return this week, two freshmen stars will be awaiting him on Duke's campus: Okafor and Winslow."

Basically, Calipari is pissed Okafor and Winslow aren't Dominican, because then they'd be headed to Kentucky.

"Every four years, Colangelo and Krzyzewski deliver that well-rehearsed routine of the coach wanting to step down only to have the managing director convince him of a return for four more years. Every time, we fall for it."

And yet, we're not quite dumb enough to fall for this article, Woj.

"As long as Krzyzewski needs recruits at Duke, he needs USA Basketball. Why sit in the steamy summer-circuit AAU gyms trying to make eye contact with 16-year-olds, when you can use the media to write about all the close, personal relationships you've developed with LeBron and Kobe, 'Melo and Kevin Durant?"

Speaking of college coaches using the media....Karl Towns.

"...Krzyzewski is a great coach. After the 2006 World Championships debacle, he's done an excellent job with these United States teams. He commands respect and sells a vision."

Wait, I thought he was a self-serving prick who used USA basketball for his own gain. WHAT ARE WE EVEN DOING HERE WOJ!?!?!

"Yet once the top players were willing to play again, the United States was never losing – and it hasn't. The gap has grown in the world again, and the romance of the Dream Teams is slowly, surely dying."

This sentence never exists if Team Spain doesn't get upset in the quarterfinals. Related: the best American players aren't playing. Is this a game where Woj sees how much reality he can ignore in the space of a paragraph?

"Under-22 is the way to go, the best young NBA players and a college superstar or two for introduction into the global market."

Oh, I was lost for a second, but we're back to trumpeting the NBA Owner's agenda, instead of the former Domincan Republic's head coach Kentucky's head coach.

"The beginning of the end for USA Basketball had come on that August night, when George crumpled to the court and a bone blasted out of his flesh. It was a sick, sobering moment, and the USA players were still talking about it on Sunday night in Madrid."

Amongst the consonance of bones blasting, sick and sobering, Woj lingered a little too long (see what I did there) on this sentence, and not enough on this doozie two sentences later....

"As the hours passed that August night, Krzyzewski changed the conversation about his involvement in the NBA losing a $100 million star in a worthless scrimmage."

This is one of those sentences that doesn't mean anything. Like, I've seen all these words before, but when they're in this order they just don't make sense. Whose involvement? Coach K's? George's? Changed it from what? And why would he change it to losing a star in a worthless scrimmage?

This sentence is a game of Jenga after the game is over.

"At the foot of George's hospital bed, someone had been waiting to snap the photo of the U.S. national coach reaching down and embracing his stricken player. Suddenly, this most private and personal moment turned out to be anything but that. Within minutes, that image would be flying through Twitter and Instagram for all those moms and dads to see the compassion and caring of Duke's coach."

We've pivoted back to Coach K being a prick.

"So the NBA stars climbed onto the podium on Sunday night at the Palacio de los Deportes, and there was Mike Krzyzewski making his move to the far end, framing himself with the gold medalists."

Coach K sounds like the kid in high school who wins all the awards that everybody hates for no reason at all. He's a prick in the nicest way possible.

"The flashes flickered, the confetti swirled and the NBA had a chance to take a long, long look at the photo and ask itself: Who benefited the most in this picture, and why the hell would we keep doing this?"

The extent to which the NBA can dictate whether their players play in international tournaments is debatable. I'm sure they will try to leverage clauses that prohibit reckless behavior like riding mopeds. Would the NBA dare to attempt to classify playing basketball for country as dangerous? How can they construe putting a basketball through a hoop for country is somehow dangerous, while doing it for the NBA is not?

Maybe there is other language the NBA could leverage their players into pulling out of international basketball. I don't know. I'm not a lawyer, and I don't pretend to be one when I write.

Maybe the best way to imagine Woj is as two Wojs. There's the news-breaker we all obsessively refresh Twitter to catch the next #WojBomb. But then there's the second Woj: the character whose skin he occasionally slides inside. This character delivers performance pieces dripping with mock outrage. He starts with a reasonable opinion: the NBA will re-examine how they allow their players to play in non-NBA games. Then he'll throw in a dash of someone he despises (in this case, Coach K). He'll make jokes no one finds funny. He finds reality inconvenient.

The second Woj has one concern, and that is whatever agenda the first Woj gave the second Woj moments before disappearing.

Vote Joseph James Johnson.

It's the Americans in a rout! USA wins gold at the FIBA World Cup with a blowout of Serbia.

Who has the brightest future among the NBA's 30 teams? It's not the Suns. But ESPN's "Future Power Rankings" say that things are looking up in Phoenix.

Any informed Suns fan is updated on this by now, but in case you've been living under a rock: Zoran Dragic just may be joining his brother in Phoenix.

This Western Conference guard may be receiving a contract offer similar to the one that Eric Bledsoe turned his nose up at.

Here's an update on those cheating, lying Aussies we introduced you to last week. (Note: Not all Aussies are lying cheaters.)

NBCSports gives you 5 takeaways from the FIBA World Cup.

The Suns will open up 2014 training camp September 30th, on the campus of Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff.

And you can see them, for free, on October 4th.

Zach Lowe of Grantland weighs in with his thoughts on Phoenix's new court design. Spoiler Alert: he was not kind.

More than 20 years later, the Dream Team and the 1992 Olympic Games in Barcelona continue to have an impact on today's NBA.

Want to be part of the Phoenix Suns gameday entertainment experience? Here's a slew of opportunities open to the fans.

Is the NBA promoting promiscuity? What would most NBA rookies do if their girlfriend cheated on them?

Joseph James Johnson, the younger brother to Phoenix Suns announcer Eddie Johnson, is one of five people listed by the Secretary of State Office as a write-in candidate for governor of Arizona.

Sacramento mayor Kevin Johnson was successful in preventing the Kings from moving to Seattle. His next goal is securing an MLS team in Sactown.

When the Kings drafted Omri Casspi with the 23rd pick in the 2011 draft, it was hope that the athletic Israeli forward could be part of a new youthful resurgence along with Tyreke Evans.  For the first 29 games of his career, he even looked like he could be a future star, averaging 12.1 points on a very efficient 49.4% from the field and 44.1% from three.

Unfortunately for both Casspi and the Kings, his hot shooting fell off after that and his lack of improvement on defense or any sort of consistency offensively led to a diminished role.  His production fell further in his sophomore year and eventually he was traded to Cleveland along with a protected pick (that has yet to be conveyed due to the extent of the protections) for J.J. Hickson.  Casspi became another victim of Sacramento's black hole of a Small Forward spot.

A few years later, and the Kings are giving Casspi another chance, signing him to a one-year deal after a bit of a revival year with the Houston Rockets.

So what's different now than back then?

For one, there's not as much riding on Casspi.  Back in 2009 and 2010, we were pinning a lot of our hopes on Casspi being a solution to our Small Forward problem.  He was also trying desperately to live up to not only our expectations but the expectations of his country as the first Israeli to play in the NBA.  Now the Kings have a more than solid starter at the position in Rudy Gay, and Casspi will not be expected to do anything more than his role, just as he was in Houston.

One thing that we should hope stays the same as in Casspi's first stint here is his outside shooting.  Casspi's best shooting years came in Sacramento, particularly when it came to hitting the corner three.  Casspi shot 50.9% from the corner in his rookie year and 45.9% from there in his sophomore year.  The Kings were one of the worst outside shooting teams in the league last year, and even if Casspi only shoots at the same rate as he did last year in Houston (34.7% from three and 42.2% overall) he would still be among the better shooters on the team.

Casspi is also well suited to play in a fast paced offense such as the one the Kings are hoping to have in place here.  Houston was 3rd in the NBA in Fast Break Points per game and it was in Houston where Casspi finally seemed to embrace the fact that he was best suited to be a roleplayer.

The Kings aren't looking for Omri Casspi to be a game changer, but as long as he can be a consistent contributor off the bench in a small role, that will be better than most others that have tried to do the same in the last few years.

The Sacramento Kings announced they will retire Peja's jersey, with the ceremony held on December 16th.

The Sacramento Kings announced today that the will retire the number 16 in honor of Peja Stojakovic. This move was hinted at when Ben McLemore changed from 16 to 23 this offseason, but is now official. The Kings will retire Peja's jersey on December 16th (16 on the 16th, get it?) when the Kings host the Oklahoma City Thunder.

In the press release, Kings owner Vivek Ranadive praised Peja as being "instrumental in putting Sacramento on the map on a global scale."

Peja was drafted by the Kings with the 14th pick of the 1996 draft, to cries of "who???" He went on to be the Kings (Sacramento-era) all-time leader in three pointers made and attempted, as well as the leader in free throw percentage. He's second all-time in Kings scoring, third in field goals made, and fifth in steals.

There's been debate in these parts over whether he should have his number retired. We can still debate the merit, but now it's happening. If nothing else, it gives us a fun excuse to once again remember some of the best teams Sacramento has ever seen.

We continue our countdown of the best individual seasons in Raptors history with a look at Kyle Lowry's stellar 2013-14 season.

 
In case you missed it, we're doing a countdown of the best individual seasons in Raptors history. So far, we've taken a look at the pros and cons of win shares as a measurement, took a deep dive into Chris Bosh's 2007-08 season at number five, and admired Jose Calderon's extremely efficient and often overlooked campaign from the same year at number four. Today, we look at the third best individual season in team history without having to go too far back in time.

Here’s a good reason to be excited for the 20th anniversary season of your Toronto Raptors: Kyle Lowry put up the third best individual win share total in team history last year with 11.7 and he signed on this summer to try and top that at least four more times.

That 11.7 mark also placed him eighth on the NBA win share leaderboard last season, trailing only Kevin Durant, LeBron James, Kevin Love, Stephen Curry, James Harden, Blake Griffin, and Chris Paul. Lowry never made the Eastern Conference All-Star Team last season, nor did he make the cut for any of the All-NBA teams, but seeing him finish among that group of the league’s absolute elite in win shares certainly reinforces the belief that he was snubbed on both accounts.

Reminder:

Joe Johnson over Kyle Lowry is a complete joke.

— Zach Lowe (@ZachLowe_NBA) January 31, 2014

Regardless of which accolades are or are not attached to it, Lowry’s 2013-14 campaign was a career year for the Philadelphia native. His averages of 17.9 points, 4.7 rebounds, and 7.4 assists per game all represented personal bests. Also, his combined 42.3 percent shooting from the field, 38 percent from long range, and 81.3 percent from the free throw line resulted in a 56.7 true shooting percentage, the most efficient mark of his career. The team finished a franchise best 48-34 with Lowry at the helm, winning their second division title and making the playoffs for the first time in six years.

Of course, Lowry’s path to his breakout season and leadership role with the Raptors wasn’t always a clear one. He was mostly deployed as a backup point guard during his stints with the Memphis Grizzlies and the Houston Rockets, before Houston traded him to Toronto for a draft pick during the summer of 2012. He was projected to start for the Raptors at the beginning of the 2012-13 season, but a variety of ticky-tack injuries and conditioning concerns led to Lowry being used in what was basically a time share with long-time Raptor Jose Calderon that year.

Then, two blockbuster trades happened between the middle of the 2012-13 season and the early part of the 2013-14 campaign, with Rudy Gay both coming to and going from Toronto in the span of less than a year. Both moves shook up the roster considerably and questions about where the team should turn for leadership and an identity were looming large. It may have been DeMar DeRozan who emerged as the team’s leading scorer and de facto All-Star, but it was Lowry who set the tone for the team’s identity.

DeRozan had this to say about Lowry shortly after that critical trade juncture (via TSN’s Josh Lewenberg):

"Look at the stat sheet after he plays. Any given night he gives you 16 points, 11 rebounds, nine assists, somewhere around that margin every game. That's just what he [does]. He goes out there and plays hard, he's scrappy, he's a bulldog when he's out there on that court. He's definitely a leader, he definitely wants to win, I see it in his eyes."

That scrappy bulldog mentality is what fueled the Raptors to turn a disappointing 6-12 start to the 2013-14 season into a division-winning finish, going 42-22 after Gay was dealt to the Sacramento Kings. For an idea of just how important Lowry was to the turnaround, just look at his pre- and post-trade splits.

The five percent bump in usage rate really tells the whole story, as Lowry was given more responsibility on the offensive end and he responded with inspired play on both ends of the floor. He finished the season ranked seventh in the league in assists per game, perfectly striking the balance between the point guard responsibilities of scoring and distributing. The 190 three-pointers he nailed also ranked him eighth in the Association and set the Raptors franchise record in the process. He really did it all.

Lowry is only 28 years old and with a new four-year deal, he is locked in to play out the rest of his prime years in a Raptors uniform. He just finished having the third best statistical season in franchise history according to win shares, but he could very well place even higher on this list by the time all is said and done.

To reminisce a bit more about Lowry’s fantastic 2013-14 season, check out the highlight compilation below and let me know what you think in the comments section.

Appreciating Cousins, because he's pretty great.

Last week I wrote that we shouldn't praise DeMarcus Cousins for not throwing a punch.  I didn't think it was that crazy of an idea, but it sparked a firestorm.  Somewhere along the way, a lot of people got the impression I don't like DeMarcus Cousins, and am looking for any opportunity to tear him down.  I'm fine with people disagreeing with me, but the idea that people might think I dislike Boogie upset me.  I love Cousins.  And there a plenty of reason to praise him.  I just didn't think a lack of assault was one of them.  But let me share some reasons why I do love Boogie.

DeMarcus Cousins just played an incredible FIBA World Cup.  He contributed across the board in limited minutes.  He came in, played hard, and played well.  Look around the interwebs today and you'll find multiple articles praising his play in the tournament.  And it's all deserved.  The questions we heard before the tournament were about how Cousins could fit in with the team.  Could he focus on team defense?  Could he defer to the other scoring options?  The answer was a resounding yes.

Cousins has overcome questions every step of his NBA career.  Could he stay in shape once he hit the NBA?  He's currently in the best shape I've ever seen him.  Can he control his temper?  Despite my column last week, yes, he's made huge strides.  His temper doesn't hold him back like it once did.  Is he worth a max contract?  Hell yes.  The Kings look brilliant for locking up DeMarcus and building around him.  How far you can go when building around Cousins remains to be seen, and plenty will still question whether you should build around him, but nobody questions his value as a max contract anymore.

And what about Team USA?  Cousins was rumored to be on the verge of being cut in favor of Mason Plumlee.  Well, Cousins made the team, played exceptionally on both ends of the floor, and earned himself a long-term future with Team USA.  Cousins will be considered a lock for the Olympic roster in 2016.

Cousins isn't perfect.  His flaws are, like all things Boogie, in your face.  But make no mistake, the progress is there.  He hustles back on defense more often.  He blows up at refs less often.  We don't need to focus on punches that haven't been thrown.  We can focus on the progress that's all around Boogie.

And in a month that has been full of terrible sports news, it's important to recognize that Cousins has never been in the news for a legal issue.  This week has taught us that there could always be issues that haven't come to light, but Boogie has been a good citizen to Sacramento.  He loves kids.  He's the 6'10" Santa taking kids Christmas shopping.

And he's funny.  One of the highlights of the FIBA tournament was Cousins' response to a snarky report asking if Cousins knew where Slovenia is.  "Do you know where Alabama is?"  He's a bit of an asshole, but he's OUR asshole.  And I love it.