Kings Trade for Tubby White Guy, Foreigner

by Ziller on Feb 23, 2006 3:07 PM PST in News Comment 11 comments

Rejoice Greg Ostertag fans, rejoice!

The Kings have acquired Vitaly Potapenko and Sergei Monia for Brian Skinner in a deadline-day trade, various sources are reporting.

As for Skindog, the first of the Philly Three to be peddled: We'll miss ya, dude. Not in a Bobby Jackson, Chris Webber way. Hell, not even in a Maurice Evans, Eddie House way. But we'll miss you. Your block on Marion in Albuquerque was the highlight of the 2005-06 preseason. Thank you.

Now, on the the new parts. Here is the only sentence I should have to post on Vitaly Potapenko to give you an idea of who he is: Seattle coach Bob Hill benched the Ukraine Train for being overweight and out of shape. Flashbacks, anyone?

That said, Pomme-Frites (yes, that is our first attempt at dubbing Vitaly) is damn near a 7-footer, so we have a tall guy not named Jamal Sampson we can actually stick in for Brad. (Skindog was 6'9 in heels.) VP is making $3 million this year, and will make $3.3 million next season. After that, the contract is over.

Now about this Sergei Monia fellow. You want to know how hard it is to find information on him? I'm not even sure his name is spelled "Sergei Monia." Sports Illustrated spells it "Sergei Monya," and HoopsHype calls him "Sergey Monya." He's a Russian rookie, seeing very limited in Portland. A profile on NBADraft.net said Sergei "hs a nice midrange jumper and is a solid 3pt shooter, but his best attribute is his team defense, he knows how to help teamates and he's a pretty good one on one defender too." The stats say differently, as Sergei's FG% is around 37% for the season. He has, however, been trapped on the bench of a cruddy Portland team.

No word on whether he and now-estranged Russian Blazer buddy Viktor Khryapa had a Franchise-Cuttino relationship that could lead to some issues.

I don't expect either newbie to make a major difference immediately - I mean, has Skinner been making a difference? Sergei is a bit younger than Kevin Martin and Francisco Garcia and much more raw (it would seem), so I don't anticipate him affecting their PT any. Monia seems like a solid Petrie chip, though.

Pomme-Frites could get some minutes in relief of Brad, though he is actually allergic to the ball on offense. Some blocks and a decent rebound percentage when he's in is all we should hope for.

(he most disturbing part of all this is that if someone asked me which NBA player I most resemble, I'd probably have to say Sergei Monia. Except less Russian looking.)

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Salary Dump?

Potapenko isn't going to give us anything Skinner didn't, except being listed an inch taller. Skinner had two years left on his deal, so there's some dollar savings to be had since Potty's contract is up next season. RealGM says Monia has a 4 year deal. Meh. Maybe they miss Darius, so they got his cousin. I say we call him "Darius Jr."

by Carl on Feb 23, 2006 3:27 PM PST reply actions 0 recs

That works

Darius Jr is good for me. And yeah, Vitaly isn't a whole lot of cost savings in the long run, but it's more immediate flexibility. And even though there's a logjam at the swing position, Sergei could get showcased in the offseason and packaged with a contract like Kenny for a nice piece. Monia is young and promising enough that someone will seek him, if he gets a chance to show his stuff. (Of course, that won't happen this season barring injuries.)

by Ziller on Feb 23, 2006 3:47 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

Monia

i remember him being in the same draft as Kevin Martin, and him being ranked slightly above where we were drafting. The commentators were pretty high on him, going so far as to compare him to Andre Kirilenko. Naturally, i rooted for him to fall to us. Seriously, though, the simple fact that this guy is a young European player and Geoff Petrie evidently wants him can't be anything but good.

by sactown257 on Feb 23, 2006 3:59 PM PST reply actions 0 recs

You got it

We dropped salary, got bigger in the frontline AND picked up a solid European prospect when we have a top three judge of European talent as our GM. I consider that a good trade.

(I think the Spurs and Pacers might be better at working Europe. That's it.)

by Ziller on Feb 23, 2006 4:07 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

Vitaly

His officially sanctioned nickname is "Potato."

by Matthew Powell on Feb 23, 2006 4:06 PM PST reply actions 0 recs

It's a new era for The Train

He should get a new nickname.

Anyone know how to say "lardass" in Ukrainian?

by Ziller on Feb 23, 2006 4:09 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

Potato is pretty good

Potato is a pretty good name. I was hoping for "Potty" or "The Potty Man," but I can live with Potato.

by Carl on Feb 23, 2006 5:59 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

Skinner didn't have to go

What the ** is going on with Petrie? Is he trying to sabotage the Kings roster for next year? I can already visualize the headlines in the Bee, "New coach, same Kings". I'm sorry, but I do not have faith in the "all knowing" Petrie. He has assembled fantastic talent through the years, but I get the feeling that he knows his buddy is gone next year, and he will probably go too. He doesn't want anyone to come in here and be able to put together a serious playoff team for a few years, thus solidifying the notion that we are better off with Jeff and Rick. Attention Joe and Gavin, "FIRE THEM NOW", before everyone wants to leave.

by dccamp on Feb 24, 2006 6:48 AM PST reply actions 0 recs

Why be angry at Petrie?

Adelman wouldn't let Skinner out on the court consistently.

I don't get the level of angst this trade is generating in some Kings fans. All of these guys are end-of-the bench players.

by otis29 on Feb 24, 2006 8:34 AM PST up reply actions 0 recs

The angst is more unreleased frustration

In Skinner we had yet another, in a long line of players, that were good enough to spell our "stars" for a minute or two, but were underused until they were shipped off somewhere else. In the old days, Kings starters were a farm team for the rest of the NBA. Now our bench is the farm team for the NBA. Why trade 1 player who isn't getting PT, for 2 players that probably wont get any PT. I am tired of changing players. Lets change coaches. The only way Rick leaves is if Petrie goes.

by dccamp on Feb 25, 2006 1:51 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

Nuts

I had given Sergei the nickname "Pneu" Monia, because he was so sick, but it never really caught on. I'm sure he'll be another in the long line of Blazer players who blossom after they leave Portland.

by LanceUppercut on Feb 24, 2006 8:59 AM PST reply actions 0 recs