We don’t know how much cash was involved. The Kings were one of 28 teams not to make this deal. More interesting to me is why New Orleans would make this deal, unless they are receiving a substantial amount of cash. If this was just a cap space thing with the Hornets they could have drafted a Euro that’s not coming over this year. But I doubt that’s it, since the $977,000 guaranteed to the #27 pick is just a little more than the NBA minimum contract for this year of $442,000 for a rookie.

Are the Maloofs serious about building a winner? If people are out there giving away picks and we aren’t trying to get them, and yes 3 million for a pick is giving it away, then I don’t see how they can claim to be trying to improve.

And what the hell does Portland need another pick for, they already have like 25 players under contract.

Think of the value in terms of players we were putting into the possibility of the kings getting a mid-late first round pick. Around the draft deadline I remember posting that I would have been happy with an Artest trade that got the Kings a mid- first rounder and a throw away matching salary guy. Basically Artest for this type of pick. On that note BIBBY couldn’t even get us a first rounder, we got a second.
To find out we could have just paid a few million (obviously not my money), is a little dissapointing.

The Maloofs are in the NBA to make money, but that doesn’t neccessarily mean the Kings need to make money in the NBA. The advertising, marketing, and cross-promotion that comes with owning the Kings has made them celebrities (I use that term loosely) and is a big reason why The Palms is thriving. People want to stay there because the Maloofs, in their eyes, are cool. Plus, I believe that they are in the nba for money, but are equally in it for their own egos. To back up this statement you need to look no further than their attendance record when the kings are winning vs. their attendance record when the kings are losing. I don’t think they really enjoy losing, and if that is the case, then us as fans have interests that coincide with theirs.
Translation: BUY SOME PICKS!!!!!!

Petrie is hit and miss (more hit than miss, sure) when it comes to free agents and trades. But putting more draft picks in his hands is a no-brainer. Douby aside, he’s been pretty damn consistent in the draft.

Kevin Pritchard is always on the phone. There are two reasons why the Blazers are always buying picks: (1) Ownership has green lighted the money for it, and (2) Pritchard puts himself in the right place at the right time by always being active. There’s a strong possibility that he bought the NO pick simply because he was the first one to ask for it.

As Chad Ford said in his Simmons Mock: The guy is working on roughly 150 trade proposals as we speak. He has no qualms about calling up a team and saying, “How about Travis Outlaw and Sergio Rodriguez for Dwyane Wade.” He won’t blink an eye. ... Most trade talks fail. He decided to tackle that problem by tripling the trade call volume.

Part of being lucky is putting yourself in a position to get lucky. The flip side, obviously, is that what he wants is fairly out in the open. GP has a different strategy, which is keeping his cards hidden. This has different benefits, but it also has it’s negatives as well (this being a possible example).