Woof

As we are well aware, the Sacramento Kings have recently released our beloved Kenny Thomas. Yes, the whiny, round-headed, emotionless power-forward that, along with Sean May, had two roles this season: bench warmer and subject of many jokes here at Sactown Royalty. Since we have lost our beloved K9 (woof!), I thought it would be fitting to sum up his career.

Born on July 25, 1977 in Atlanta, Georgia, Kenneth Cornelius Thomas grew up as a rather round-headed child on the streets of Texas. He was a stud at Albuquerque High School and then continued his basketball career at the University of New Mexico. For his college, he was second all time in points (1931), blocks (239), and dunks (114). He led his school in rebounds, with 1032. He also led his school in fouls, with 383. Kenny's fantastic college play earned him a first round draft selection in the 1999 NBA Draft, with the 22nd pick by the Houston Rockets. He was only 34 picks ahead of Manu Ginobili. 

During his rookie year, Kenny led his team in rebounding, being one of two rookies to do so, the other being number one pick Elton Brand. Over his 2 1/2 year stay with the Rockets, Kenny was a team leader in blocks and rebounds. Midway through the 02-03 season, he was traded to the Philadelphia 76ers to make room for number one pick center Yao Ming.

Shortly after arriving in Philadelphia, GM Billy King (who is for good reason currently unemployed) signed Kenny Thomas to a seven year, 50 million dollar deal.

After being set for life with a 7-year deal, 03-04 was a great season for Kenny Thomas on the 76ers. He was one of eleven players in the NBA to average a double-double, and was the shortest one at 6-7. He seemed to make up for his height with a large wingspan that let him rebound and block efficiently. 

After showing so much confidence in Kenny Thomas at first, GM Billy King dealt him to the Kings in February 2005 in a huge deal that brought the 76ers Chris Webber. Since that trade, K9 has lived out the last 5 years of his massive contract as a Sacramento King. 

As a King, K9 had some decent games. In his first year with the Kings, he averaged 15 points and 9 rebounds, and registered a career-high season PER of 18.9. Over the next three years, he may be remembered as a whiner as he demanded to start at power-forward over Shareef Abdur-Raheem. In 08-09, for reasons unknown, he was benched for the entire season on a 17 win team. The only good moment he has had over the last two years was starting in one preseason game for the Kings this year. 

Our beloved Kenny Thomas is currently on the last year of his seven year contract, earning around 8 million dollars. Incidently, this is the most money he has been paid in his career. Over his 8 year career, K9 has averaged 9.3 PPG and 6.9 rebounds. His average PER is 13.9, similar to that of Andres Nocioni. Although he has scored nearly 6000 career points, he didn't make a 3-point shot in 5 of his 8 seasons, and didn't attempt one in 4 of them. 

Alas, our beloved and quite average Kenny Thomas is gone, sitting at home being paid 8 million dollars through the end of this season. Although he faded into mediocraty long ago, he will always be remembered by his fans on Sactown Royalty. Woof.