Jersey Sure, or How I Spent the Lockout of 2011, Episode No. 7

#24

section214: Episode no. 7 of this Putz-litzer prize-winning series begins with a number that has offered a wide array of talent, from Coach Fuller to Top Hat. Without further ado:

A heart the size of California...and he tastes like Strawberry Twizzlers!

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section: Before Reggie Theus was Coach Fuller, he was the lead guard for the first three seasons that the Kings were in Sacramento. Theus averaged about 21 points / 8 assists for those teams. Theus was also a lot tougher than advertised. After hitting the floor face-first after a nasty fall under the basket, Theus returned the next game. Reggie’s good looks and bravado would likely have made him a mega-star in today’s NBA. Fun fact: Only two players in NBA history have doled out 750 or more assists in a season while being 6-6 or taller: Magic Johnson and Reggie Theus.

Pound for pound, Bobby Jackson may have been one of the strongest men that I have ever seen play in the NBA. The strength that B-Jax would exhibit getting shots up inside the lane was truly a sight to behold, and he would take on anyone at anytime. One of Geoff Petrie’s most brilliant free agent acquisitions, B-Jax was the perfect 3^rd guard in the Bibby/Christie/Jackson rotation, and the prototypical pace changer coming off the bench. A sixth man of the year, a pillar in the community, and now front office manna. Theus may have been the best to wear #24, but Jackson is my favorite.

Geoff Petrie math: 23 (Kevin Martin) + 1 equals 24 (Carl Landry) -1 eqauls 23 (Marcus Thornton). We do not yet know whether 23 = 23, 23 > 23 or 23 < 23, but we do know that Top Hat was responsible for one of my favorite all time posts/threads. 

Anthony Bonner was the fourth and final 1^st round draft pick from 1991, the draft that was going to turn around the franchise. Little did we know that it was going to be a 360 degree turn and we would wind up right back where we started.

Anytime that Terry DeHere did anything, my fellow fans in section 215 would shout "Dehere of DeDog!" It wasn’t all that funny, but at least we didn’t get the opportunity to shout it out all that often.

Maurice Taylor and Desmond Mason both wore the number 24. And that’s really all I have to say about that.

Aykis16:  Unfortunately for me, my only memories of Reggie Theus are as a coach where he was essentially the opposite of how he was as a player. 

Bobby Jackson on the other hand is one of my favorite players of all time.  When we first signed him, I thought he'd be an adequate replacement for Tony Delk, but he ended up being so much more than that.  He was a bundle of energy that could come in, run a team, and also fill it up when need be.  Jerry Reynolds use to call him a "Power Guard" because he'd like to go inside and mix it up with the big fellas, and then there'd be the times when a shot would carom off the iron and it would be Bobby who would rise up and grab the rebound.  He was a leader, on and off the court, and one of the toughest hombres to ever play.  I remember in 2008-09, Bobby's last season, he broke a bone in his face and needed to wear a facemask to play.  The team was terrible, essentially locked in the worst record in the league, and there was absolutely no reason for Bobby to play, but he did anyway.  Then when the facemask grew too uncomfortable, he didn't quit, he just took it off and kept playing.  That showed a lot of heart.  Needless to say, I'm very happy that Bobby is now working in the Front Office.  He's a good person to have in the organization.

I don't remember watching Terry Dehere live, but in one of the first basketball videogames I owned, I used to roll with a 3 guard lineup of him, Richmond and Abdul-Rauf for three pointers galore.

Carl Landry, for better or for worse, will likely only really be remembered for the trade that brought him here and the trade that sent him away.  When we first had him, I think most of us loved that we finally had a legitimate post scorer, and Landry was tough as well.  Last season though, his lack of rebounding and defense really grew apparent, and with DeMarcus Cousins, Samuel Dalembert and Jason Thompson on board, the frontcourt was pretty crowded.  Off the court, Landry was a reporter's dream and one of the nicest guys you could ever hope to meet.  He always had a big smile on his face, and always gave full, honest answers to questions.  I wouldn't be surprised to see Carl win a 6th man of the year award before his career is out (he probably would've won the year we traded for him if we hadn't traded for him).

I also will never forget all the awesome StR memes and nicknames inspired by Carl "Top Hat" Landry in his short time here.  Just because he's not on the team anymore doesn't mean we can't continue right?  Meet Dramatic Carl.

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Priceless

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betweentheeyes: Brent Price. He got a number and a lot of paycheck money. He played 89 minutes as a King. He was a player who was broken and couldn’t be fixed.

Aykis:  For some reason I never liked Nick Anderson and wasn't sad to see him go.  Looking back, the Kings gave up way too much for Anderson.  Tariq Abdul-Wahad wasn't great, but he offered about the same value on the court as Anderson at the time, and we also lost the draft pick that became Kendrick Perkins (with Leandro Barbosa and Josh Howard taken right after).

Brent Price is Jimmer's worst case scenario.  His brother Mark might be the best case.

Darius Songaila is definitely my favorite Lithuanian to play for the Kings and probably better than his countryman Donatas Motiejunas will be (Yep I went there).

section: How did we go from talking about Tisdale, Martin, Theus and Jackson to discussing the merits of Darius Songaila vs. Nick Anderson? Songaila played two seasons for the Kings, averaging about 6 points and less than 4 boards a game. And he is probably the best at this number. Guh. Anderson did average almost 11ppg in his one full season here, so I suppose the argument could be made for him. Others to do the number 25 wrong proud include Brooke Steppe(!), Mike McGee, Marty Conlon and Brent Price.

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No one has worn the number 26 since the great Hub Reed in 1960. For a time, the NBA steered away from the numbers 16-19, 26-29, 26-29, 46-49, and 56-up, as these numbers forced NBA refs to use their hands more while relaying foul information to the scorer’s table. This would be pretty funny to think about were it not for the current state of NBA officiating.

The number 27 was retired for Jack Twyman. Twyman never committed any fouls, so the refs were OK with him wearing that number.

No one in Kings history has ever worn the numbers 28 or 29.

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Still looks wrong

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section: From my 2007 post, regarding Kenny Smith – "I never realized he averaged 16 pts. and 7 asts. on almost 47% shooting while he was here. Maybe I never noticed that because I always compared him to Kevin Johnson and Marc Jackson, two points that came out the same year we took Smith at #7. I take it back, Kenny. You weren't great, but you didn't suck." Smith was the first player to wear the #30 in Sacramento, and he still the best at this number.

Alaa Abdelnaby is the first player listed in the Kings alphabetical all time roster. It’s a fact!

Kurt Rambis averaged about 3ppg and 3rpg during his 60+ games here. I had completely purged that from my mind.

I know that Billy Owens did us a favor by refusing to come here out of college, as we netted Mitch Richmond in trade for him. But that didn’t make me detest his presence any less during the two and a half years that he phoned it in while gracing us with his presence from 1996-98.

Justin Williams. 3-Will. We loved this kid’s raw athleticism, but unfortunately he could never quite grasp the concept of NBA basketball. He could block shots and rebound with the best of them, but he was simply unable to learn his role in the team’s defensive schemes, getting burned on rotations time and time again. When the story broke concerning Williams, his girlfriend, and a 3^rd woman supposedly held against her will (or was it against his "Will?"), the handwriting was on the wall that Williams would not be in Sacramento much longer (charges were never brought against Williams). He was waived after the Bibby trade to make room for incoming players, and he managed one game with the Rockets before washing out of the league. A cautionary tale as it pertains to putting too much stock into solely athletic prowess.

Aykis:  Billy Owens might've been the greatest draft pick in Kings history.  Not for Billy Owens himself, who was terrible, but because of the fact he didn't want to be here.  This led to one of the most lopsided trades in NBA history as Sacramento sent Owens to Golden State for Les Jepsen, the pick that would become Tyus Edney, and some guy named Mitch Richmond. You might have heard of him.

Fun Fact: Alaa Abdelnaby was Geoff Petrie's first ever draft pick when he was Portland's GM.  An inauspicious start to say the least, especially since Elden Campbell, Toni Kukoc and Antonio Davis were all available.

The only Kings memory I have of Kenny Smith is watching Youtube videos of him in the dunk contest.  He was good, but never great.  By taking Smith the Kings left Kevin Johnson, Reggie Miller and Mark Jackson on the board.  That's a pretty big miss there I think, especially considering Johnson was the hometown kid. 

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"Hello? Yes, this is Spencer Hawes. You're from what law firm? Why yes, I am wearing a 'Peaches' t-shirt...why do you ask?"

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Aykis:  Sorry Spencer, but this is Pollard's number.  He played a vital role as a defensive, scrappy big man for the glory-era Kings, and his off-court shenanigans and wacky personality endeared him to the city.  My personal favorite moment of the "Here We Rally" night was just meeting Scot Pollard in person.  Pollard knew his role on the court and played it perfectly.  You can't ask for a better backup center.

Spencer suffered from high expectations (he was following in the footsteps of Vlade Divac and Brad Miller after all) and a coaching carousel.  There was also the fact that he was never really allowed to be the kind of player he wanted to be.  He's a finesse player, who can shoot from the outside, pass better than most big men, and he runs the floor decently as well.  But coaches wanted him to be something he wasn't, a banger, a rebounder, a defensive presence in the middle.  It ended up being the same case in Philadelphia, which is why he saw his playing time take an even bigger dip over there.  Perhaps the only thing Spencer needs is to play against the Lakers 82 games a year.  For some reason he always seemed to have great performances against them.

section: Again, from 2007, this time regarding Scot Pollard – "I thought that I was going to have to go with Duane Causwell and his 1.6 blocks per game, but his 5.5 pts. and 4.7 boards bailed me out. Mind you he did much of this "damage" as a starter. Pollard went 6 pts., 6 reb., 1 blk. in limited minutes. And for whatever reason he absolutely owned Karl Malone. Drove the mailman nuts." Now, Spencer Hawes has been added to the mix since then, and you could argue that Hawes is actually the better player. You could argue it, but I’m not going to. Hawes was a stat filler for a bad team, while Pollard was a vital cog for a championship contending team. ‘Nuff said.

Duane Causwell blocked shots, but apparently all of those blocks numbed the feeling in his hands, as he had handles that would have embarrassed Mikki Moore. But he was better than Jamal Sampson, so he’s got that going for him, which is nice.

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section: Wow, that regressed quickly! We’ll hope for better results when we continue our way through the 30’s on Wednesday. Meanwhile, and oldie but goodie to tide you over -