Sacramento Kings Blog and Kings Schedule with NBA News

Sacramento arena group calls for federal…

info — Fri, 18 May 2012 02:50:57 +0000

[unable to retrieve full-text content]What do Faye Vincent, George Steinbrenner, and David Stern have in common? They’re each relevant characters in the relocation saga of the Maloof family, owners of the Sacramento Kings, who are increasingly becoming a liability for the NBA. That’s because Chris Lehane, executive director of arena group Think Big Sacramento and big-time political consultant to…

What are your opinions.

DeMarcus Cousins Should Get a Chance at the…

info — Wed, 09 May 2012 03:17:00 +0000

The Sacramento Kings have one of the top big men in the NBA. DeMarcus Cousins showed great signs of improvement and played very well during the 2011-12 NBA season. His improved play had Cousins under discussion recently for the 2012 U.S. Olympic team roster. With the injury to Orlando Magic center Dwight Howard, a spot was open at his position and for some reason another center from Kentucky was chosen. Collegiate player Anthony Davis was chosen over Cousins to fill the vacant spot. Even the talk of Cousins being selected to the Olympic squad shows the progress the young center has made in just two NBA seasons.

Cousins finished the 2011-12 season averaging 18.1 points, 11.0 rebounds, 1.6 assists, 1.5 steals and 1.2 blocks per game. He also shoots 45% from the field and 70% from the free throw line. I always thought he could be a very good player, but even I was surprised at home dominant DeMarcus was at times this season.

I think it’s a big step in DeMarcus’ development that he active sought out an invitation for the Olympic team. the only thing standing in the way of him being a great player is his attitude. To become an All-Star and dominant force on the court, Cousins still has to work on the defensive end and needs to limit the excessive amount of personal and technical fouls he receives. Playing alongside so many star players and for coach Mike Krzyzewski would have been huge for Cousins’ growth as a player.

As a fan, I can only hope that DeMarcus still puts in the work this offseason to become the player he started to show signs of this past season. He’s already one of the best big men in the game and is only going to get better. Sacramento fans deserve to have a winning team and if they are going to get back on the wining track, it all starts with DeMarcus Cousins. I think he should be on the Olympic team, but even though he wasn’t chosen, DeMarcus should use that as extra motivation to improve his game this summer. Sacramento fans everywhere hope that he sees it this way as well.

Kyle Rapoza is a Featured Contributor for the Yahoo! Contributor Network and a lifelong fan of the Sacramento Kings. He started going to Kings games at age six and has attended hundreds of games since.

Source:

Kings’ Cousins eyes Olympic shot

That’s all the news for today.

Sacramento heads into uncertain offseason (again)

info — Sat, 28 Apr 2012 04:08:51 +0000

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) The Sacramento Kings are planning to play in California’s capital city next year.

That statement alone might be enough to label the 2011-12 campaign a success for Sacramento fans considering the relocation fears that surrounded the franchise entering the season. When it comes to the Kings, things are never that simple.

Sacramento is saddled with all the same problems and uncertainty as a year ago.

A new arena is still needed to keep the Kings from leaving town. A talented young core has yet to blend together, and the roster still needs significant upgrades.

Kings coach Keith Smart, who replaced the fired Paul Westphal after a 2-5 start, had his contract extended for next season. Little else about the future – on and off the court – is that clear.

”I want to be in the playoffs with the best of them,” Smart said. ”I want to be there, this team wants to be there, this organization wants to be there. But we’ve got to be realistic. Are we a playoff team? No, not today.”

Not even close.

The Kings were horrible for most of the season and had more drama than any NBA team playing in the serene setting of California’s Central Valley ever should.

Westphal was fired two weeks into the season following a dispute with big man DeMarcus Cousins. Hyped rookie Jimmer Fredette flopped – his brother even oddly criticized Smart on Twitter before apologizing – and the emotional highs and lows of relocation chatter constantly swirled in a shortened season that never felt so long in Sacramento.

”This year, everybody wasn’t really on the same page,” said rookie Isaiah Thomas, one of the team’s few bright spots. ”The lockout, new coach, arena talk, all things like that. It was tough.”

Thomas should know.

On the night of March 6, after the City Council passed an arena deal brokered by the NBA for the Kings, he stood by the side of a gleeful Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson – a former NBA All-Star – and spoke on behalf of the team. He thanked the scores of fans and media in attendance and expressed how happy players were to see the situation settled.

What a joke that news conference turned out to be.

The Maloof family that owns the Kings backed out of the tentative $391 million deal for a new downtown arena with the city, reigniting fears that the franchise could leave for Anaheim or consider Seattle’s latest push. Johnson and the owners broke off talks again Friday after meeting at City Hall, and the two sides are sounding more and more like a couple headed for divorce.

Johnson declared an already dead deal dead again. He cited ”differences irreconcilable” on the core issues, and a Maloof family spokesman said there are no further plans to meet with the city.

”I’m disappointed for Sacramento,” Johnson said. ”When you do all that you can, normally the reward is a victory, and I think our community was planning to win.”

On the court, everything is also murky.

Sacramento went 22-44 and missed the playoffs for the sixth straight year. An up-and-coming group continues to show promise; however, such has been the case for years without taking that next leap forward.

This one was no different.

Cousins controlled his emotions better under Smart and is developing into one of the NBA’s best young big men, Thomas – the 60th and final pick of the draft – went from roster hopeful to starting point guard to a candidate for the All-Rookie team, and roster flexibility remains one of the franchise’s strengths.

That is, if it ever decides to spend big again.

Tyreke Evans, the 2009-10 NBA Rookie of the Year, stayed healthy for the first time but his transition from point guard to wing player did nothing to help Sacramento win – or improve a league-worst defense that allowed 104.4 points per game. Evans, ending the third year of his four-year rookie deal, is eligible for an extension this summer.

Whether he – or the Kings – reach an agreement is another story.

All hope is not lost.

A year ago, it certainly seemed so. At the Lakers-Kings season finale last season, the franchise appeared ready to move to Anaheim, and tears flowed everywhere in what felt like the final Kings home game ever in Sacramento.

The Maloofs, unable to generate enough support from the NBA’s Relocation Committee, decided to give the city another shot to approve a plan to help finance a new arena. While the Kings balked on the approved deal, fans at the Lakers-Kings finale ”this year were like, ‘We’re disappointed, we hope it works, but we’re not going to cry,”’ Johnson said. ”There was just a different mindset.

”We’ve been through this before.”

At the beginning of Thursday night’s win over the resting Lakers, Cousins took the microphone and addressed the crowd, thanking fans for their support and promising the team will improve over the summer. He ended with, ”See you next season.”

Nothing is promised after that.

—

Follow Antonio Gonzalez at: www.twitter.com/agonzalezAP

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Lottery-Bound Kings Vying For Good Shot At No. 1

info — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 04:33:26 +0000

POSTED: 3:13 pm PDT April 26, 2012
UPDATED: 4:25 pm PDT April 26, 2012

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (KCRA) — Entering Thursday’s season finale against the Kobe-less Lakers, the Sacramento Kings could be on track to have the third-worst record in the NBA — and the third best shot at landing the No. 1 pick.The lottery-bound Kings are currently in a three-way tie with the New Orleans Hornets and the Cleveland Cavaliers for the third-worst record in the NBA. The three teams are 21-44, and each team has one final game.But with a lineup of games, the teams in the NBA cellar are sure to shuffle. There is still room for movement.Both the Charlotte Bobcats and Washington Wizards, however, will have the best and second-best chance at landing the top draft prize, respectively, regardless of what happens in the final games.The teams have the league’s worst records and that will not change.The record is important because the team with the third-worst has a 15.6 percent chance of landing the top pick in the draft, considered to be deep with talent that features a consensus first pick in Anthony Davis.With a win in their final game, however, the Kings could fall as low as having the sixth-best statistical chance of landing the No. 1 pick.With a combination of a Kings win and other losses by teams in contention for a worst record, the Kings would fall to a lower statistical bracket.The team at the sixth slot has a 6.3 percent chance of landing the first pick for June’s draft.If the Kings lose Thursday night at Power Balance Pavilion, they would need New Orleans to lose against the Rockets and Cleveland to lose against the Bulls for a better shot of finishing with the third-worst record.

Copyright 2012 by KCRA.com. All rights reserved.
This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or
redistributed.

Gotta run!.

PBT: Kings will listen to offers for '11 ROY…

info — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 22:34:00 +0000

Tyreke Evans was the NBA Rookie of the Year, and attacking combo guard who seemed to have a bright future as an anchor for a rebuilding Sacramento Kings team.

But his game has stagnated. Part of that is due to injuries (he is now healthy again), part of it is how he fits in and gets his shots in the Kings offense. He was a point guard, but that wasn’t working out and now he’s being tried out at the three. In the seemingly rare moments he works off the ball or attacks in transition things go well, but he gets most of his offense in isolation and he is shooting just 33.7 percent in that situation (via mysynergysports.com). He wants the ball in his hands, the Kings want the ball more in DeMarcus Cousins’ hands.

So the Kings will listen to trade offers for Evans as he enters the fourth year of his rookie deal, reports Ailene Voisin at the Sacramento Bee.

“I don’t think it’s any big secret,” Princeton legend and longtime Kings consultant Pete Carril said the other night. “Tyreke’s got to learn to play without the ball. It’s all there. I see some games, and he looks very good. Other games … he just has to work harder. I’d love to see him develop a mid-range game.”

This season Evans shot 28 percent from 16 feet out to the arc and 21 percent from three. After his rookie year he hasn’t shot better than 33 percent in any area once he gets outside the restricted area around the basket (via Hoopdata.com)

Because of the flaws in Evans’ game teams are going to lowball the Kings with offers. It’s going to be hard to make a deal. The Kings will want return based on a guy who was the Rookie of the Year and can attack the rim with a vengeance, but other teams will face the Kings problem of trying to see where he fits in a roster.

The bigger problem comes in a year when Evans rookie deal is up. He will want to get paid like a Rookie of the Year but may find nobody really sees him that way anymore.

Not much else going on in the NBA world today.

Kings superb through three quarters, then the…

info — Wed, 25 Apr 2012 14:04:07 +0000

OKLAHOMA CITY — The Sacramento Kings looked good for three quarters.

Then came the fourth quarter, and five Oklahoma City reserves took over.

The Kings lost to the Thunder, 118-110, on Tuesday night at Chesapeake Energy Arena, controlling the action for three quarters against Oklahoma City’s regulars before succumbing to the backups.

Even though Thunder All-Star Kevin Durant already had 32 points, the Kings led 86-82 after three quarters.

With the second seed in the Western Conference playoffs clinched, Oklahoma City’s key players sat out the fourth quarter and watched the reserves rally for a win.

“We got selfish, trying to do it by ourselves, and stopped playing team ball,” DeMarcus Cousins said. “And that’s basically what it is.”

Derek Fisher, Daequan Cook, Royal Ivey, Nick Collison and Cole Aldrich combined to shoot 57.9 percent in the fourth, when Cook scored all 19 of his points. The Kings also fouled three-point shooters three times in the quarter.

“Cook really started cooking from three. They were getting fouled on three-point shots and things like that,” Jason Thompson said. “It didn’t go our way, but those are the lapses we can’t have going into the future.”

The Kings started with one of their best quarters of the season. They shot 81.1 percent in the first, their season high for a quarter, and led 40-35.

Sacramento moved ahead by 13 in the second quarter and led by double digits in the third before the fateful fourth.

“We broke down,” Kings coach Keith Smart said of the fourth quarter. “We made some mistakes turnover-wise on offense and some mistakes where we didn’t do the right thing … . Their reserves are pretty much NBA guys. Our guys are still growing to that position to where they can come in and close out a game on the road.”

Smart said he “loved” the Kings’ effort but said small stretches of the fourth quarter were costly.

Cook scored Oklahoma City’s first 11 points of the fourth in a 2:29 span to give the Thunder a 93-90 lead.

“That’s been our Achilles’ heel all year,” Smart said. “How we manage a game in three- to 2{-minute segments without making mistakes, without taking a forced shot (or) ’If I haven’t had a shot, it’s my turn.’ But that’s what young players do, and we’ll grow out of that.”

Forced shots and poor ball movement late in games has been a recurring theme for the Kings (21-44). That wasn’t a problem for the Thunder (48-16).

That’s all for today.

Oklahoma City Thunder Vs. Sacramento Kings:…

info — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 10:45:00 +0000

The Oklahoma City Thunder have locked up the No. 2 seed in the Western Conference playoffs and have two games remaining, both at home. The first is on Tuesday night, April 24, against the Sacramento Kings.

The Thunder head into the game without super sixth man James Harden. Harden was knocked out of the Los Angeles Lakers’ loss by a cheap shot elbow by Metta World Peace. Harden is out until a doctor clears him to play again, meaning he won’t play again until he can pass a series of tests without headaches or dizziness.

Luckily, the first game of the final two is against a team that Oklahoma City dominated the last time they played. On April 20, Oklahoma City beat the Kings 103-92 on the road in a game where Kevin Durant scored 29 points. It was the second win in less than two weeks over the Kings, as the Thunder also won 115-89 on April 13 at home.

Sacramento did win the first meeting between the teams back on Feb. 9 by a score of 106-102, but this Kings team is just coasting to the end of the season. With a chance they will only play one more game in the town of Sacramento before their owners move them, the off-court controversy is completely overshadowing the lack of performance on the court.

The Kings might also be without star DeMarcus Cousins, who picked up his 13th technical foul of the season, which should result in a one-game suspension. He will appeal the technical but there is a good chance he misses the game. Without him, the weak Kings are one star less against a Thunder team filled with them.

While Harden won’t play, Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook will continue to be the best one-two punch in the NBA and Serge Ibaka continues to prove that he is one of the best defensive forwards in all of basketball. Add in the amazing home court advantage at the Chesapeake Arena, and there is little to worry about in this game for the Thunder.

The next night, the division rival Denver Nuggets come to town and that is one game that might give the Thunder trouble. The game between the Thunder and Kings tips off at 7:00 p.m. CT.

Author Shawn S. Lealos has a bachelor’s degree in journalism from the University of Oklahoma (2000) and is an avid sports fan that has lived in Oklahoma for over 40 years. He used to religiously follow the Dallas Mavericks until Oklahoma City found a team to call their own.

Source: NBA.COM

Kings hand Bobcats 20th straight loss, 114-88

info — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 19:56:06 +0000

by Associated Press

WCNC.com

Posted on April 23, 2012 at 10:42 AM

Updated
today at 10:42 AM

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Jetlagged or not, the Sacramento Kings were determined not to be the team the Charlotte Bobcats beat to end their long losing streak.

The Kings made the most of a rare late-season cross country trip to the East coast and throttled the hapless Bobcats 114-88 Sunday night behind a dominant effort from DeMarcus Cousins, who had 29 points and 10 rebounds. It was Charlotte’s franchise-record 20th straight loss.

The Kings had lost nine of their previous 10 games, but this one was never in doubt as they scored 78 points inside the paint and led by 35 in the fourth quarter.

Cousins did most of the damage in the lane, but Tyreke Evans was masterful in slicing his way through a non-existent Bobcats defense, hitting 10 of 11 shots from the field — most of them on drives to the lane — and finishing with 22 points.

Jason Thompson flirted with a triple double, finishing with 14 points, 11 rebounds and seven assists for the Kings.

“We did a good job getting to the hole,” Cousins said. “They didn’t have a lot of size and we took advantage of it.”

Bobcats coach Paul Silas agreed.

“It’s difficult,” Silas said. “We only have three big men (because of injuries) and it’s been hard on these guys to keep going. That’s basically all we have. When a team comes like they have with big guys and they’re banging it is hard.”

Kemba Walker had 13 points and 11 assists for the Bobcats, who are nearing an NBA record for futility.

If the Bobcats (7-56) lose their final three games, they’ll finish with the worst winning percentage in league history. They travel to face Washington and Orlando before closing the regular season at home Thursday night against New York.

The 26-point win was the largest margin of victory this season for the Kings.

About the only thing that didn’t go right was Cousins was picking up his 13th technical foul, which comes with an automatic one-game suspension. Cousins appeared to exchange words with rookie Bismack Biyombo as the two ran back down the court after a Sacramento basket, drawing a double technical.

Cousins shook his head when asked about it after the game, saying, “It’s part of being DeMarcus Cousins.”

He said he plans to appeal to the league.

The Bobcats simply had no answers defensively for the Kings, who scored at will in the lane and made the most of their transition game, scoring 38 points on fast breaks.

Evans was almost unstoppable when he put the ball on the floor, seemingly driving to the hole as easy as a knife going through warm butter.

“When he is in an aggressive mode, there are very few people who can keep him in front,” Kings coach Keith Smart said. “And then if he doesn’t look to attack, he gets his teammates involved. I’m trying to grow him into a new position and he’s still going to have the ball in his hands 60 percent of the time. It’s only going to help him. It’s going to bring his whole game and career on top to where he wants it to be.”

The Kings came in with the NBA’s worst defense, giving up 104.6 points per game, but the Bobcats only shot 44 percent and managed 88 points. It was the first time in 39 games the Kings held an opponent to fewer than 93 points.

“The biggest thing now is having some pride as men,” said Bobcats forward Tyrus Thomas. “Not so much as basketball players. We’ve got to fight it out every second until the horn blows.”

This horn might as well have blown in the first quarter of this one.

The Kings started quickly, bolting to a 22-6 lead eight minutes into the game after shooting 65 percent from the field.

All but four of those points came inside the paint and 11 came in transition.

Sacramento didn’t let up, building a 59-44 lead at the half behind 55 percent shooting.

Cousins scored 20 of his points in the second half as the Kings pushed their lead to 26 in the third quarter.

“When we flew in last night, we knew a fast start was something we needed to do,” Smart said. “I thought we had the right energy from our starting lineup. We got off to the great start that we needed and we sustained it through the half. We were a little lethargic to start the second half, but I kept the starters out too long because the other guys were playing well. But they regrouped and got it back together.”

NOTES: Bobcats guard Reggie Williams had cleared his concussion test before the game and was ready to play, but his knee tightened up and he wound up sitting out. … Former Boston Celtics star Robert Parish, who lives in the Charlotte area, was at the game. … The Kings shot 55 percent from the field, their best effort of the season.

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Kings Hammer Bobcats 114-88

info — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 12:03:20 +0000

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) – Jetlagged or not, the Sacramento Kings were determined not to be the team the Charlotte Bobcats beat to end their long losing streak.

The Kings had lost nine of their previous 10 games, but this one was never in doubt as they scored 78 points inside the paint and led by 35 in the fourth quarter.

Cousins did most of the damage in the lane, but Tyreke Evans was masterful in slicing his way through a non-existent Bobcats defense, hitting 10 of 11 shots from the field – most of them on drives to the lane – and finishing with 22 points.