Sactown Royalty

Napear's Wiki: Why "Peaches" gets nixed.

ogre lawless — Thu, 01 May 2008 22:25:09 -0000

So, like, when I got here to Sactown Royalty, I got a less than welcome reception. My first entry was a diary (back when these were called that) of the loosest sort; a stream of consciousness from the arena after a harrowing night when we hosted the Golden State Warriors and approximately half an Arco's worth of obnoxious, running-heavy GSW worth of fans.

Somone soon made the linkage to my persona here to that over at Wikipedia. I had, in fact, discovered StR trying to track down whoever was douching up Grant's wiki page with annoying tenacity. Any joke is funny once and while some jokes do indeed get funnier the more you hear them, I wasn't really seeing the point of the ongoing joke.

I take an interest in keeping up Grant's page in particular as these past few years I have been a pretty loyal fan of both the Kings and of NBA basketball. As *announcers* go, Grant is really not all that bad. Much of the animosity towards him I think comes from his style during his call in show. Its like two different Grants almost, and you can find any measure in cheese in either one .

This being said, I think Grant does indeed deserve an article. Someone had in a standing request for an article on Jim Kozimor which I thought was kind of cool 'cause here was someone I knew a little about, could do some easy research and chip one of the first notches in my Wikipedia belt: a new article. I noticed Grant didn't have a page either and it didn't seem fair that he was the only brodcaster except maybe Angela Tsai not to have a page.

Anyway, somewhere along the way I discovered that there are a lot of damned rules on creating biographical pages, especially when the person is living and liable to have lawyers on active duty to uphold their reputations.

I generall find Wikipedia a worthwhile project despite this. Certainly its the sort of thing I wish I'd had when I was younger and could have absorbed a lot more. Sadly, its strength -- user participation -- means that it is a resource that is out in the open commons. If someone wants to spraypaint "GRANTS TESTTTTICLES RESEMBLE LARGE STONE FRUIT" on the front of a page, it reduces everything attached to it.

Is that the sort of worthwhile resource I want my children to use? No. So when I see trash, I pick it up.

Part two is the less than warm reception I received when I started here. I had one user dogging me around the site asking if I was a parody account and then asking more directly in a thread whether I was -- their words -- the "nazi" involved with cleanup. A janitor nazi.

To me, this was pretty offensive: The Nazi's killed a lot of jews, gypsies, dissenters, artists, poets, basketball players, homosexuals, guys who didn't bathe enough, not to mention Anne Frank (reason enough). There are people who still think nazism is great; this town has its own "red and white" group to this day. So, anyways, fighting words, especially when I was trying to keep up the common resource.

Someone else has noticed the melee there and shut things down for a while -- good for him for doing so. It allows me time to share my peace on the matter.

Grant's page should always be as fair, impartial and libel-free as possible. For living people, the standard is pretty high -- any claim must be documentable. I'd hoped that Ziller's interview with him had been a little less combative and I'd love to find someone in print (old Marty Mac maybe?) who came out and directly pointed out Grant's shortcomings on the radio or on TV. Commentary in his balls is not germaine (and why are you guys anti-testicle, anyways?)

Blog commentary doesn't have enough weight typically but Ziller's interview qualified as original research and therefore was citeable if it had contained more meat. I think TZ should get some documentation on this Napes-Koz feud. Up and at 'er. I greatly enjoy's Tom's contributions to our developing knowledge -- I've seen some amazing stuff over the past few months and will be interested to see how things develop as the season approaches.

The Luckiest Season Ticket Holder

kingsTV — Thu, 01 May 2008 22:09:57 -0000

Probably one of the coolest ideas the Kings have come up with in several years. The voting has begun and i think we should all get involved. Im going with this Paul from section 220 dude. He seems to win all kinds of stuff. I thought we were going to get a Ziller sighting on here though? Or is he not a season ticket holder? Anyway i added a poll for people to put who we voted for so maybe we can see who might possibly win this thing.

via img.photobucket.com

The Price Of Bibby

section214 — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 21:24:36 -0000

I went to a fundraiser the other night and they had a silent auction. One of the items was a framed and autographed photo of Mike Bibby (running the Dallas Mavericks Steve Nash into a C-Webb pick). It is now hanging on the wall in my office, right next to the picture of the 2001-02 team flipping me off. The price? $10. Sorry about that Mike. At least they're lovin' you in Atlanta today.

On Tracy McGrady and the significance of a Rockets win

iashwash — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 10:52:22 -0000

From the Chron via FreeDarko, after game 2 (I'm certain everyone has already seen this, but from this comes later argumentation):

"You said it, man. That's it," McGrady said. "If we win that game (Monday) night — despite me scoring only one point in the fourth quarter — if we win that game, oh, I had an awesome game, an unbelievable game. If we win, I made my teammates better, I rebounded, I played defense. That would have been the story line. But because we lost ...

"I can't do nothing about it."

And today, the Rockets win, beating the oft-noted-how-good-they-are-at-home Jazz (with the ball poetic Skip to my Lou returning to the point giving the Rockets an offense that consists of more than centering on the Star). The result: T-Mac in the headlines (quick summary of all the press: T-Mac, he so good! his penis, so tasty!), and even on ESPN Daily Dime:

HOUSTON'S BEST:
Part II - T-Mac: So much for all of that Tracy McGrady fourth-quarter slump talk. He fired in seven of his 27 points in the final period as the Rockets avoided falling into a 3-0 hole in the series.

and, attatched to a vicious photo:

If it is so tough to win in Utah, someone forgot to tell Tracy McGrady who posted 27 points, seven assists and five rebounds in Houston's 94-92 win Thursday.

Now, 7 points as aversed to 1 point isn't that amazing. It's even less impressive when considering what happened in crunch time (note to reader: I did not watch the two games, as a result of weird scheduling and a cracked phone screen). From the game recap:

Kyle Korver hit a 3-pointer, McGrady was called for an offensive foul and Okur hit another 3 to draw the Jazz within 93-92 with 37 seconds left. McGrady missed at the other end and the Jazz had a chance to win, but Landry blocked Williams' shot from the lane and the rebound went to Luis Scola, who was fouled and went 1-for-2 from the line with 0.2 seconds left.

Hmmm, doesn't seem like very clutch to me. Excuse the ignorance of that statement - I love T-Macs game - it is a mock voice of what should have been in the media. We, the viewing proletariat, know that we cannot expect T-Mac to carry a team for an entire game. I rather see him as the cornerstone to a great team, but the media forces him to be in the same position of Lebron and Kobe - the team, not just part of the team. So, when his team wins, he's given the same superstardom. However, an offensive foul followed by a miss does not a clutch scorer make.

Yet, today he is venerated. Weird: McGrady's words are prophetic ("if we win"). The media? What role are they serving: the devil, the angel, the scripture?

What is the result of this inclarity: a pendulum of emotion, as profit is attempted to be made on a game and the presentation of the game to the plebs unaware of Senate debates (the media gets the information, then formulates it to a vantage point that will sell, not giving the reader the choice to pick the items of sale). Strangely, we have our own discussions (the blogosphere harkens), and we can point these out and uplift (the internet a tool that cuts at the power the Senate owns - education and information; if New Yorkers can read the Houston Chronicle, then everyone can draw their own conclusions rather than listen to Sportscenter). Traditional media is scuffled now, seeing its power basis being lost, so they push themselves even more strongly, trying to assert as much of what they have while they have it (minimize the storylines, focus on the emotional extreme, and avoid nuance because nuance allows interpretation, and with interpretation comes a quest for more information - a quest to the the very internet information they seek to hide). So what is happening? The media seeks to stupidify the masses to stupify their basis.

What would that be, then, metaphorically speaking, if in the religion of basketball the player seeks to reinvent the truth (he the prophet), the media is a conspiring elite intent on controlling this for their own profits (King Henry?), then would the bloggers be Calvinists? Hot with fury nailing redeclarations on the doors of those offending?

It would be easier to ignore, if the deemed prophet didn't announce his own self-sacrifice just prior to the realization of dissatisfaction with the status quo, from the very same article in which he announces his prophecy:

"It's my fault we missed free throws. It's my fault we lost both games. Blame me. It's my fault we fouled to tie the game up. That's my fault. It's my fault they get easy layups. It's my fault we're not executing well on the offensive end. It's my fault a couple people in the stands ordered Heinekens and they got Budweiser. It's my fault. I'm sorry."

Ha. God is dead, Neitzsche said, but he didn't realize that it was mock suicide. Now the confrontation between moralists and strategists must occur, and we see our frontlines waging. When the controllable traditional media loses viewers to those expressing independent thought, the dollar bottom lines will push the issue forward. Whether it is in Amick v Theus or Cuban v Every bloggger or Dolan v Anyone, the free dissemination of information is is creating dissension, and soon destruction.

The colosseums roar.

Ron Artest Has Surgery on Thumb

CAB — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 06:36:55 -0000

(From the FanPosts. - TZ)

ESPN notes that Ron Artest had surgery on his thumb. His recovery time line is 10 weeks. This is good news for various reasons. Most notably that Ron Artest was in fact injured rather telling Reggie when he would play or not.

I would have normally waited for this to show up in the bee and on StR tomorrow, but recent deprivation from this site has me looking for excuses to make up for lost time. Seeing E-Muss at Luna Loca in Danville for the Lakers game was the equivalent of loading up on StR crack. The downtime since has been nothing but a hangover and withdrawals.

From the Desk of Geoff Petrie

ogre lawless — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 17:36:41 -0000

We received the following form letter from Geoff Petrie yesterday giving his measure of the season -- couched, of course, in "please continue to support us" language (apologies for any typos):

Dear {name redacted}:

Our 2007-08 season has now concluded with a final record of 38 wins and 44 losses, resulting in a five-game improvement over the 2006-07 campaign. I hope you share with us, at least in part, the sense that our rebuiling efforts have forged some very positive potential going forward. There were 10 victories against first place clubs, with nine of those coming at ARCO. We were a much improved home team from a season ago, which is one of the important first steps in generating a winning record in the future.

A younger nucleus continues to devlop as Kevin Martin, Francisco Garcia, Beno Udrih, and Spencer Hawes all are 26 years of age or younger. We also saw the ongoing improvement of a dynamic new coach in Reggie Theus. Looking ahead, we feel the attrition we experienced last year was curtailed and we can add to that young nucleus through the ownership of all our draft picks in the coming years and future salary cap flexibility. I can assure you we will contiue to work as creatively as possible to support your enjoyment as a Season Ticket Holder.

In closing, I want to thank you for your past support and enthusiasm. There are obviously many alternatives out there for your entertainment resources. I believe the Kings, along with the rest of the NBA's teams, remain a vibrant choice for all of us who enjoy basketball played consistently at the highest levels the game can demand. I look forward to reuniting with you at ARCO Arena later this year.

Sincerely,

s/Geoff Petrie

Tutu's, Reggie, SpeedRacer, Peachosaurus Rex and Sam Amick

pookeyguru — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 01:25:31 -0000

So you ask, what's up with that title? Hopefully by the end of this tidy diatribe you will understand. I do mean hopefully. It's possible this thing takes one of the nasty HWY 1 on the NorCal coast type of turns. We'll see. I do hope, though, that this fills in some information gaps, which is a bunch of stuff that I noticed in the past 5 days, which hasn't been touched on once, in any medium, whether it be KHTK, or here on StR. (Not a knock on TZ. He has other stuff to do.) Disclaimer: This is a non trolling, Reggie shit-talking, Kevin was a baby forum. There are some interesting questions that remain to be asked, and I would like to ask those. This isn't another forum to continue the he-she said crap that KTHK and Peachosaurus Rex (P.R.) specializes in.

The whole aspect of this started with Sam Amick's article. It started with Reggie talking about the way the team finished the season, the context of the whole season up to a point, and some of the weakness this team displayed. There were some important points that got lost by the wayside just so Reggie could defend his standing with his "players", and quite honestly, I wonder why? Why did Reggie have to defend his relationship with "his" players through the media? I don't understand that.

For all the talk about what Ron is and what Ron isn't, and I'm sure there are other things that Ron will say, I find it interesting that Ron hasn't commented yet. I wonder why. I speculate that is silence is in part because the conversation is going in his direction, and it could help to convince a team to trade, or sign him, in the off-season. That doesn't seem to have stopped Ron before though. I think the biggest reason, perhaps, is that Ron isn't in town and probably doesn't spend a ton of time reading much of anything. On that note, however, it is interesting that the guy who can rely on in the clutch is sitting behind the Nuggets bench while the guy who scores 20 points a game, and is vastly improving improving every season, was still in Sacramento reading the papers. Very very interesting. I'm not sure what Reggie's spin control did for him. It sure proved the point he likes to talk, but I'm not sure that does anything for the fan's. I'm not sure they will ever even care at any point. What I do know is that Reggie's spin control seemed desperate to cover his ass on 2 major points: Ron's availability in the clutch, and that Kevin is an important player to him. I wonder why he had to say in the first place? What did he gain? Not much, but then again did he have anything to lose?

I think Reggie is at an interesting point in his coaching career. He saw how easy it was for the Maloof's to fire Musselman, especially after how poor of a search came about to get a candidate, doubly so when the Kings were the only team on the market ACTUALLY looking for a coach to begin with. I wonder if this has anything to do with Reggie trying to help the franchise gain value for Ron Artest in a straight up trade/sign & trade this summer. That doesn't make much sense, but then again the interview with P.R. and Theus didn't make any sense either..

One informational gap is the season grades Amick gave to the team as a whole. I'm sure TZ will have his take, but here's mine. There is some anti Theus information in here, and I'll try to go at it bit by bit. (Disclaimer: For Anti-Amickites, it's not as if he wrote this AFTER what P.R. and Reggie said on the air Friday afternoon. It was published Friday morning, and presumably written several days either, as it was a set piece that I'm sure Sam took some time to polish and write over.)

And there were the Kings as seen from within, where Theus' bosses were reluctant with praise and often wary of the way he handled his rookie season, where the players' opinions regarding their coach could change by the week and where in-house issues often overshadowed progress.

This is not a paragraph of quiet strength toward Reggie, and I also think is why Reggie lashed at Sam on Friday afternoon on Lamb/P.R's show. Reggie probably knows everything Sam printed was true. There was some anti Petrie/Maloof/Theus stuff in the whole column, and frankly, that's why Sam's credibility got attacked. That's the real issue of Reggie vs Sam. Sam didn't say it on Saturday, and Reggie didn't say it, but I think everyone knew that was the crux of the issue. Because Sam didn't misquote or misinform the public on what Reggie said on Wednesday. Sam gave Martin the opportunity to go to Theus first, which Martin didn't take advantage of.

Some more of the article:

The indisputable truths are enough to deem the season better than the previous one. A five-game improvement despite significant injuries to three starters and a midseason Mike Bibby trade that sent three players out and brought three in. A 20-21 home record in 2006-07 under Eric Musselman was followed by a 26-15 mark under Theus, with Arco Arena raucous again. Career years from numerous players and late development from some of the youngest up-and-comers. The penchant for beating some of the league's best, in the end, was nearly negated because of their knack for losing to the worst.

As I said Sam is fair. Why did I post the first paragraph first? Because it was written first. (That's the only reason. I'm doing this in pure chronological order out of respect to Sam.)

In regards to Artest:

When he played, he set career-highs in scoring, shooting percentage (45.3) and three-point percentage (38.0), often playing amazingly well while also dealing with his daughter's bout with cancer. Still, his unpredictably was distracting.

That, again, is not something P.R. wants to hear. He wants to hear Ron is a hero, so he can then say Geoff Petrie is God when able to trade him for (insert player "here" that P.R. likes).

In regards to K-Mart:

The skinny: For the second consecutive season, Martin – who finished sixth in the league in scoring – showed that he is not only capable of handling a heavier offensive load but that the load isn't heavy enough. He'll focus on defense and leadership in the offseason, necessary steps in becoming an all-around threat.

My only reaction is that, Sam's right. StR as a community is right. Those who think Martin shouldn't be handling that type of load next season are the type I disagree with at this point.

A side point about Shareef to prove why I like Sam:

The skinny: Two arthroscopic surgeries on his right knee within six months led to the looming question of whether the 12-year veteran can return, and the coming months should tell plenty. In the third season of his five-year deal, Abdur-Rahim was done after six games. He is still owed $12.8 million on his contract, although the Kings do have insurance in case of career-ending injury.

See, that's why I have respect for Mr. Amick. He throws in an important point about why the Kings PROBABLY wouldn't consider buying Kenny Thomas out. Because they won't have to if they can take all of Reef's salary off the books. Especially if insurance covers the payment of money to boot.

Quincy Douby:

The skinny: The guard went from playing in 42 games as a rookie to 74 in his second season, but he was unable to show enough to become relevant. Coach Reggie Theus played him more after ownership stomped its feet on the matter, but Douby's campaign left serious questions about his future.

Spencer Hawes:

The skinny: The rookie center had enough highlights to justify the logic behind the pick. His advanced offensive skills were obvious, and Theus' demand for defense sparked improvement. Management wanted to see Hawes more early on, but his finish was certainly solid when Theus finally got the message to let him loose.

So, let me get this straight. First off young players made improvement (I'm assuming this meant Garcia and Martin at the heart of that improvement--noting that Douby had a few moments, and Shawes had a solid overall year considering). If management/ownership has to prod Theus into playing Douby/Shawes how solid a ground is Reggie Theus on? And if so, wouldn't that be more criticism of Reggie than anything written 2 days earlier? Reggie's diatribe on Friday made little sense, but it was stoked by P.R. That's P.R.'s agenda, and not necessarily Reggie's. All Reggie proved by Noon Saturday is that talking out of both sides of his mouth is an Inglewood specialty.

Reggie Theus:

Reggie Theus GRADE: B- Up until the end, Theus found ways to irk his players and bosses with messages sent through the media. It made for a distrusting environment early which improved in the final months but still needs work. His unwillingness to discipline Ron Artest early in the season hurt him as well, as he had slapped fines on the likes of Moore and John Salmons for minimal transgressions while taking tongue-lashings without recourse from his small forward. All things considered, he avoided most potential potholes and managed to lead his team to an improvement few expected while playing a part in the career years of Martin, García, Artest and Salmons. From here on, Theus needs to make sure his vision for the future is something close to that of the front office and ownership. His ability to toe the company line and continue developing younger players will be key. The natural conflict comes into play when the coach with only short-term security is being asked to think long-term.

That, would be irksome if I was Reggie. I'm sure he knew privately he made mis-steps, but having them pointed out in such a public way, that is probably what set off Reggie to begin with. I don't see anything inflammatory about Sam said. It's his job to report, and not necessarily what the Maloof's/Petrie/Reggie/P.R. want Sam to say. His job is to report a story. When it's asked for to give an opinion. He does that well. I don't know why media censorship is such a popular spectator sport in Sacramento. I really don't. I really think too there is a strong under-current of what Petrie/The Maloof's want here. The Maloof's end is pretty simple. They want to win a championship, and make money doing it. They want to sell out seats, and want to "talk" about the greatest fans in the NBA. Ailene Voisin had an interesting column on what the Maloof's are doing to re-connect the Kings into the community, and how they've gone about changing how they sell tickets. It's worth a read.

Petrie's end of things? Now, good luck on that one.

Geoff Petrie GRADE: B In chronological order, the drafting of Spencer Hawes has all the signs of an eventual success. The offseason signing of Mikki Moore not only helped this season, but the structuring of his contract (guaranteed next season with a virtual $2 million buyout option for the 2009-10 campaign) gives them flexibility if he doesn't fit beyond next summer. Ditto for Reggie Theus, whose contract had two seasons guaranteed and a third (2009-10) as a team option. The signing of Beno Udrih was phenomenal for Petrie. The Bibby trade didn't solicit nearly as much in return as most would expect, but it will be a semi-success as long as Udrih returns. If Shelden Williams can go from bust to busting out, it makes that deal look even more respectable.

I agree with Sam pretty much on everything, sans Bibby, and I find it interesting that Sam mentions flexibility on the franchise's part when talking about 2009 and relation to Reggie's contract. Reggie knows next season is make or break for him, and again I keep pointing to this, as it was far more critical of the Kings, and Theus, than anything really said by Kevin Martin in Thursday's article. That's what was talked about, but really the strong under-current of P.R. and Reggie was talking about what's an appropriate thing to report on. Clearly P.R.'s whole issue was with Amick to begin with, and Reggie seized the moment to do so too. Then he kept on stating how good his relationships were with the media and his players. Which is it Reggie? Worse, the deafening silence of Ron Artest makes the whole scenario even more interesting.

To top it off, the Maloof's/Petrie were silent too. They clearly weren't sought out very hard to deny comment, because as far as I can tell, nobody asked them. Kevin Martin hasn't said anything other than what he told Sam, and nobody on P.R's show, as Jim Crandell said, mentioned that he said the same thing on his show on Wednesday, and who knows what he said after that, yet nobody mentioned him in the proceedings. (On a side note, since I do mention censorship, it is interesting, and probably a coincidence, that Crandell is the sports reporter on KTXL, Sacramento's FOX affiliate.) I really don't understand where this team is going, particularly with regards to Artest, but there is little choice since Petrie made Linas Kleiza a tipping point in a trade, and I really don't understand what the Maloof's expectation of the team is. I just hope it isn't to win a ring, or a playoff game by 2009.

I do know that after this diatribe, the silence by management/Artest is more intriguing than anything Reggie said. If you noticed everytime Reggie tried to define "throw the ball to" it changed. And it got worse every time he defined it. And he attempted to silence criticism by raising his voice, and raising it even louder than before, when a new criticism was raised. He would switch and bait every topic, and by the time I heard Crandall's interview end, I was just hoping Reggie's mouth wouldn't fall off after that talking.

I do know that amongst this diatribe this franchise is not in an enviable position. For the first time in many years, a team with 48 wins did not make the playoffs. That doesn't bode well for next season unless several teams drop off their pace this season. I do know that the team's main promotional arm amonst the media, KHTK, saw another instance where 2 radio hosts directly contradict each other, in part, because one has a better sense of where the media lies, and one has a total conflict of interest at all times on another slot. Gee, gotta love this EC don't we?

The bottom line, minions, is this. What we've learned is that Martin isn't down being looked upon as a 2nd option. Another forgotten thing was, that Martin said he agreed about Artest. Which means that maybe Kevin was being nice, but he, too, was talking out of both sides of his mouth. But if the Kings don't know where Kevin is at, and for the highest paid non Brad Miller player on the roster, is that a comforting feeling? What about Reggie? Does some stupid statements, and some foolish tongue in cheek statements suddenly negate the obvious land-mines that currently litter the Kings roster? Does Geoff Petrie deserve a free pass from all this when it's his roster? Do the Maloof's deserve anything at this point? Is it fair to blame Sam Amick? What do we as fans expect out of our local coverage if we don't force P.R. to change his tune? Or spam Mike Remy's email with Fire P.R. (or at least remove him from the 4-7 main slot) messages? What gives?

Last, but not least, I would like to say that we learned some things about this town's interest towards the Kings, and what interest's that KHTK and the Bee each have in covering the local team. Clearly, those interest's don't coincide, and what we learned is that in the last 6 days, nothing was said on KHTK that amounts to much on the Kings. As far as the Bee? The beat writer published 3 different' stories, all which pertain greatly to the Kings, and one included Theus' opinion on Ron Artest, and team weakness', another included (what seems like anyway) an honest opinion of where Kevin Martin stood after the season after Theus' end of the season comments to the Bee and local TV stations, and the third Amick story contained end of the season grades. Did KHTK do any such thing? Would P.R. or Mike Lamb, who does pre-game coverage for the team, ever CONSIDER such a thing? No, and for 2 reasons: 1) because talk radio doesn't do that type of thing, and 2) because P.R. and Fake Laugh guy don't criticize much of anything. They mostly aimlessly talk about some ESPN story, or some well covered national story, and they stick to the safe headlines for the team. P.R. won't allow criticism, and Lamb won't tell P.R. to fuck off. Meanwhile the Bee ran 3 pertinent stories relating to the team, and not some stupid multiple monologues on what throwing the ball means, a column about what the team is doing to change how it's viewed within the business column, and a column by a former beat writer who wrote how stupid the whole ordeal was in the first place. This of course doesn't include <a href=" Maybe, at this point, KHTK is winning the war, but if this battle means anything, and I think it does, the Bee won a major battle.

if you prefer a political analogy, the Bee sort of did, what I feel anyway, what Bill Maher does in covering politics. KHTK does what Fox News does. The real funny part is, that while KHTK was doing it's pretty ballet around the truth, and what truth is, the Bee simply walked in the room and said: Reggie Theus thinks Ron Artest is a guy who you throw the ball to in crunchtime. And that, in of itself, is why "Amickgate" is so funny to begin with. Real controversies are important. Fake contrived conflicts designed to make personalities feel comfortable are not. For once, I have to salute the Bee on their coverage. And that, perhaps, is the most astonishing thing I have written in quite some time.

Reggie stop talking to the media

richmond02 — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 23:08:54 -0000

I dont care if Reggie won more games than musselman did or that he didnt develop Hawes, Douby, and Williams more what i care about is his mistreatment of his players in the media. He repeatedly calls ron artest their best player yet he was dieing to be traded before feb 21 and who knows where he'll be next year, he knocks Kevin Martin over and over again by saying that he cant just throw him the ball, if this is how you feel you can keep it to yourself players have egos and reporters have the job of getting responses after statements like that are made. John Salmons a guy who just received a nice contract prior to the musselman season was seen in Reggies eyes as an excellent talent but someone who might not be playing in Sac next year, keep this to yourself because he could end up being the starting 3 if artest goes against his agent's wishes and opts out. He made a hypocrite out of himself by telling the media he was changing the culture with his curfews and no cell phone rules but after being the biggest offender of both he repealed them. He went to the media about Bibby, Martin, and Artest not starting after coming off of injuries before said players were notified, and Bibby in particular was perturbed by hearing this via the media. The great coaches are either quiet and mysterious a la Phil Jackson and (not to bring up taboo subjects but) Rick Adelman or are hardnosed, assholes with snide remarks for reporters like Bobby Knight, Pat Riley, Bill Parcells. Rarely does someone as candid and honest as Reggie is with reporters have a long career becuase they end up alienating players by giving honest evaluations publicly. And after this last little tirade that Reggie went on at seasons end its obvious that although he claims to have learned a lot this season he is still green as ever.

my other main complaint with reggie is why are you trying to have someone you can just throw the ball to. Ron artest and Kevin Martin are both capable but neither one will ever be kobe so lets devise an offense based on motion, screens, and passing a la the Kings under adelman. Obviously we dont have those same pieces we had back then but the number of iso plays that we ran last year was sickening. Franchise players are for lazy coaches, stop trying to be lazy reggie because neither martin nor artest constitute our franchise.

My Grade ... "P"

Kingspin — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 21:28:28 -0000

I can envision the title of Jerry Reynold's next book chronicling this mini era of Kings hoops, "From Musselwoman to Theus," cautionary tales of charlatans at the helm.

My grade for Theus, aka "The Theusocracy," is a well-earned "P," for 'phony.'

Until the inevitable conclusion of a season sans playoffs, Reggie consistently and arbitrarily chose expediency over development, wins now that mortgaged a potentially more viable future.

Granted, Reg navigated, er, manipulated a course that meandered through injuries, a seven-game league-induced suspension, and a big trade to deliver 38 victories .... but at what cost I ask.

This team won because of talent, not as a result of some magical "kavorka" infused by the Theusocracy. Dangerously, he chose age over beauty, NBA tenure over tenacity.

His goal was simply to surpass Musselwoman's tally last year, a gameplan void of prescient foresight and any semblace of an understanding of the future.

Cases in point: the guy shat on Douby's confidence all season and when the kid finally garnered 30+ minutes, he notched 32 points vs. an LA team needing a win to earn home court advantage.

We beat New Orleans on the 14th, but at what price? Hawes was blossoming to end the season, yet sat the final 11 1/2 minutes of that contest. Why not leave the kid out there and gain invaluable experience in a tight game?

The laundry list of such offenses can't be cited in one blog. And I just ate lunch, and choose not to rent my food so I'll end here.

The guy artificially raised expectations for next season, a season where we'll need a skipper that has the skills to adroitly nurture young talent (we have three draft picks), not a hedonist that continually mocks the notion of delayed gratification.

Old, but kind of interesting...

ogre lawless — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 18:21:26 -0000

Trying to find a published citation criticizing Grant, I came across this interesting article from the News and Review from back in '03. I'm sure everybody is aware that anyone announcing a Kings' game is on the franchise salary and a lot of this will be old news, but it had some interesting aspects that I was not aware of, such as:

The televised games are actually paid programming, like an infomercial. Under the deal, the Kings buy a block of airtime and shoot their own broadcasts.

Lots of "ZOMG, THEY AREN'T ACTUALLY JOURNALISTS COVERING THE GAME" that we've gone over before, but some interesting looks at the heavy-handed ramifications of not toeing the party line...

Artest sits courtside near Nuggets bench.

kingsfaninjapan — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 09:24:57 -0000

I thought this, which came from the recap of the Lakers-Nuggets game, was interesting:

"(Artest was sitting on the baseline near the Nuggets' bench Sunday. He said he still hasn't decided whether or not to opt out of his contract -- "My agent doesn't want me to," he said -- and not to read anything into his proximity to the Nuggets)."

My agent doesn't want me to???? I'm sure we can all fill in the sentence that follows that..."But I want to!" Gotta love this dude.

Theus Comparison

babasin — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 03:19:15 -0000

I saw a recent poll over at our very own Sacramento Bee asking for a grade on Reggie Theus' first season as head coach. Since people here know more about the game and the team I thought I would ask the same question, with a little comparison information to consider.

W L % Ortg Drtg

Sam Vincent 32 50 .390 104.6 (24th) 109.4 (20th)

Marc Ivaroni 22 60 .268 105.0 (22nd) 111.4 (28th)

Larry Krystkowiak 26 56 .317 105.3 (21st) 112.8 (30th)

Reggie Theus 38 44 .463 107.5 (13th) 109.9 (25th)

As you can see, compared to other first year coaches, Theus has the best record. But the defense leaves a lot to be desired (who knew?) Considering we were without key offensive players for a multitude of games this year, I am impressed with the 13th in Offensive Rating, though.

Poll

Grade Theus' First Season

NBA Announcer Approval Matrix

stankpalmer — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 23:20:12 -0000

via farm3.static.flickr.com

Thanks to Lang over @ SlamOnline, we have an NBA Announcer Approval Matrix. I can't say I agree too much with this list though. I live out in Jacksonville so I have to catch all of my games on "league pass". As a result oftentimes I'm subject to the opposing teams' announcers during Kings games.

I think compared to other color analysts, Jerry does a pretty good job of explaining what's happening on the court. Yes has too many "Jerryisms", but he's knowledgeable and objective for the most part.

My biggest disagreement with this list is the position of the the Clippers' announcer. I almost yakked at the ridiculous homerism going on during the Kings' midseason OT loss down in LA. The Al Thornton dickriding is going to get worse as Thornton develops into a quality NBA player.

Btw...if Grant is Peaches, does that make Jerry...Herb?

A look back of the year

pookeyguru — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 11:00:47 -0000

This isn't about the Kings, but more to do with the NBA in general. I'm going to look back at the year and offer some thoughts on the multitude of things that happened leaguewide, with one omission. Avoidance of any Clay Douchebag and his Sterness talk. That's been pretty talked out, yes?

Okay, so what about them Supes? What did we learn? That they suck, and more importantly maybe that Bennett wanted them too. (Okay I lied so I'll mention the lawsuit only because I think it ties into the basketball side of things. If the City wins their trial, scheduled to start on July 16th, then the Sonics stay for 2 years period. Then the tax passed in OKC may expire for Clay because a provision stated that a NBA team must be in OKC by 2009. Boy, that was a waste of 850 K eh Clay? Via Steve Kelley in 2006. If you like soap opera's watch Schultze's lawsuit. That may be the funniest thing since American Idol's existence. Unless you happen to like American Idol.

More likely, 2006-07 will be a lame-duck season. Bennett and his partners will go through the motions of negotiations before throwing up their hands and announcing they have reached an impasse with all of the local governing bodies.

This story seems to keep repeating itself, doesn't it? So, let's get back to the actual Supes. (When you find something funny you must pass it on/~~pontificate~~; regardless of the intention.) The problem as I see it is this. It's a roster filled with Forwards and 2 backup PG's. That's not a roster built to win 60 games in a league that saw a 49 win team miss the playoffs. So my question about Bennett is this: Will he allow Sam Presti to make the right decision for this franchise regardless of where it's located come October? If nothing else, that remains the pertinent question of the day regarding the team in the Pac NW.

One of the more interesting stories, and I'm surprised it got very little mention when the Shaq trade went down, was the fact that Amare Stoudemire was the player the Suns were actually banking on. In otherwords, Kid you're this superstar talent. Rather than be a superstar clown start playing like it. It's time. Put up or shutup. And for the 2nd half of the season Amare is putting up. For a change. The guy can get numbers, but it remains to be seen whether he can be a centerpiece of a championship team. The time is now for Amare. I don't need to toot my own horn, but this is what I said at the trade deadline. (I don't feel any smarter, but I did stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night. Haw!)

The Suns may have wanted to move Marion, but I don't really see how acquiring Shaq will make them better. In fact unless Amare Stoudemire becomes a better post defender I don't see how they will win anything period.

Okay, maybe I didn't say the key was Amare scoring 35 a game. I said better post defense. (I'm not on wrong on this. They need better defense from Amare, and I refuse to say anything about that here.) If the Suns end up winning the whole enchilada, and I put nothing past them or anyone else in the top 8 out West, except maybe Denver, then perhaps the trade ended up being useful for 2 reasons:

1) Selling more Jersey's and tickets with Shaq around

2) Amare's maturity kicked in kicking the Suns to greater heights

Interestingly enough, and no matter how important the first part came in with regards to the cheap A-hole, I mean Robert Sarver, it's also true the 2nd part was what the Suns were interested in. Could they say that when they made a national press conference. No, of course not. Why would you call out an immature player publicly? They told Amare internally, whether direclty or in-directly, there is no more excuses. If they win a ring, and it probably won't be because of Shaq, then Steve Kerr's moves of trading 2 draft picks with Kurt Thomas won't be brought up too often.

Towards the 2nd half of the season in the East some interesting things emerged. The Hawks weren't totally terrible, and Mike Bibby's health is critical to his play. Gee, who could have guessed that? However, of more profound importance, the team that made no move, and made one where it really counted, coincidentally or not, was the Philadelphia Sixers. Many people are saying Thaddeus Young has serious upside, yesterday David Thorpe listed him as 6th on his ballot for rookie of the year, and I wonder if Jason Smith will enter the mix on the upside tip. Apparently I'm not alone because Ed Stefanski, the guy who replaced that retard named Billy King, thinks highly of the kid too. Or he did some time back. The Sixers remain an interesting question. Making the playoffs this year, and after such little time after the Iverson trade, makes me wonder exactly what King did get fired for? If it's gross incompetence, why not fire the guy in 2005? Unlike Isiah Thomas who hasn't managed the cap in any way, King actually had the Sixers to be one of /TWO/ teams with cap space this summer. Even better he had a chance to add a key player from Free Agency with a young, talented and improving player set already. The only thing that confused me is this: Would Billy King trade Kyle Korver? If, the answer is no, and I could understand why it would be, then maybe it's understandable. But if that isn't the case, and I don't think anybody will know the answer because King won't say any of this publicly, other than saying he got shafted, is that if Stefanski ends up reaping the credit for bringing in players he didn't have any hand in scouting drafting trading for or signing in Free Agency, then you have to wonder what people are sniffing in Philadelphia. And glue shouldn't be the first answer.

The question of who will win between Boston and Detroit remains the prevalent predominant school of thought when most dare to tackle the boggling talent difference between Esst vs West. What doesn't seem to being mentioned very often, particularly in MVP talk, about how brilliant Dwight Howard is becoming offensively in the post. Just imagine if the guy can find somewhere in the realm of 5-8 shooters a game, and shoot 70% from the line. Dwight Howard is a stud, and it's almost sad that he's stuck on an awfully run team. I look forward to a Detroit-Orlando rematch in the 2nd round. I want to see how well the Magic compete. (Boston-Cleveland shouldn't be a bad consolation round either.) Speaking of consolation whether or not Jose Calderon gets a big contract in the off-season, or not, he had a great season. Why has he been forgotten so quickly in recent times? (It isn't his fault Chris Bosh missed a dozen games or so.)

If Kevin Durant isn't an all star by his 3rd season there is something badly wrong. At the beginning of the season he was constantly chided for not passing the ball (and to whom I might ask?) more often. The more interesting development is how quickly, and if PJ Carleismo can, Jeff Green and Kevin Durant can integrate their games. Because, if the season finale goes down constantly over the next decade, regardless of Seattle or OKC, this group will win a lot. Oui!

I got a simple question. Where is Andrew Bynum? And why did Waldo hide his knee so effectively?

Will the Jason Kidd trade go down as a mistake? Maybe, maybe not. Time is the only real judge, and not the posthumous entry of opinions that masquerade facts in many media outlets today can change that fact. What I do know is that the Mavericks, despite a nearly devastating Dirk ankle injury, may end up being the sleeper team come playoff time. It's always a mistake to count out 2 players like Kidd (and I think the guy's overrated, as far as overall impact in terms of franchise player levels, but.....he's never played with a guy the caliber of Dirk either) and Nowitzki. The West playoffs will be a wild ride.

Most of the talk surrounding the MVP race seems to center around 5 people: Kobe Bryant, Chris Paul, Kevin Garnett, Dwight Howard, and LeBron James in no particular order. Of these 5 Howard isn't going to get it. Of these 5 LeBron probably won't get a real shot despite having the best stats of any Guard Forward since Michael Jordan, because of how poorly the Cavs performed in the 2nd half of the season. So that leaves 3. Garnett missed so many games, and the Celtics still performed relatively well without him, that it's hard to imagine, even despite claim's that KG changed the culture. There's no doubt his point holds merit, but that only gets you so far. Kobe had a similar type impact, and one that Simmons underscores by saying that the teammates are better.

There wasn't anything different about this particular Kobe season than the past three Kobe seasons, except for two things: (A) He gave us a phenomenal soap opera from start to finish (B) His teammates were much, much, MUCH better. Statistically, Kobe's stats don't stand out from his numbers the previous four seasons, although there was a five-week stretch right after the Gasol trade when he played the most inspired all-around basketball of his career.

I clipped this down somewhat because the whole snippet is too long. But if you read the whole article, and the tone in which he injects Garnett's value, and downplay Kobe's, and says Paul is more valuable than Isiah Thomas but not enough to win this MVP, it's blatant homerism. He goes so far to say that Pierce had given up. This is the same Paul Pierce he mentions last season who was forced to give up on the season by Celtics management (perhaps he was hurt but wait for it) even though he would have played through the injury if it were up to him. I remember that, only because I do, and because I knew at some point it would be useful to remember. And it is. Simmons wants a Celtic player to be MVP for having the best record. He wants to give Garnett credit for things that have probably as much to do with winning as they do Garnett. People in Boston like Garnett, but don't most fans everywhere? He is, afterall, a popular player. He has been his entire career.

That being said, if you want to talk about a MVP candidate, and what he means to the culture, how can you exclude Chris Paul in that argument? (For the record I will sound off on the MVP if you let me get there. This must be said first.) If there's still a basketball team in New Orleans in 2009 and beyond, it will be because of Chris Paul. I'll admit I didn't think highly of Paul because of the groin incident he had in the ACC tournament. I thought it showed a lack of immaturity, that clearly didn't exist, on Paul's part. And I wrote him off. That was a mistake. But I know mistakes where I see them, and I don't think the Jazz have regretted for a moment drafting Deron Williams instead. Chris Paul deserves the MVP. He deserves the MVP for the type of season he's had, and under the pressure he's certainly under to perform for the Hornets, in arguably the greatest conference in the history of the sport. Do I think he's more valuable than Kobe? No.

I agree with Simmons about Kobe in that he's the best all-around player. I agree with Simmons that Kobe's soap opera crap was dumb. I agree that Kobe's mood changed when he saw the potential of the young players on his squad (which naturally brings into question why he didn't think about the whole perspective before he spouted off in the first place). I agree that Kobe got downright ecstatic when the Lakers "traded" for Pau Gasol. (I don't think it was a heist. I think it was a giveaway. There's a difference. The fact that Memphis was /GOING NOWHERE/ seems to be forgotten in all this. And Simmons loves to drum LA for, well, being LA. It's greatly amusing, but has no real merit. Especially for a writer whose sarcasm, wit and overall humor ranks him as the best sports writer of his generation. Whether or not you like him, you read what he writes.)

What I think is forgotten about KB24's season is that Kobe's endured more change than Paul, Duncan or Nowitzki. None of those guys didn't watch a 20 year old kid rise to All Star level status only to suffer a dehabiliting knee injury in the midst of it. Those guys didn't watch a valuable, and athletic wing like Trevor Ariza, so shortly after arriving, be lost for most of the season. They didn't watch Gasol come to the team, then be lost for 2 weeks. They didn't watch the silent consistence of Odom, being slotted in a far more natural role of 3rd scorer, thrive in a role, then have the same problems crop up when Gasol goes out with injury. Kobe endured, and sure he wasn't perfect, a season that could have gone badly wrong had he not played with a different tone to his season. (I realize that the Spurs faced injuries, but not the type of injuries the Lakers faced. The Spurs are also an older team, and that comes with the territory of being at an older age in a highly competitive physical game.) If you think Chris Paul is MVP good for you. You're probably not wrong. If you think any vote for Kobe will be done on a career basis, you might be right, and unfortunately the process will be as stupid as it usually is. Wrong, and for all the dumb reasons.

I think Coach of the Year is an interesting vote. Do you vote Rivers for keeping the Celtics at a high level despite missing Allen, Pierce and Garnett for substanially sized portions of the season? What about Adelman? Does missing Yao, and then winning 10 games after he goes down mean anything? Where does Mike D'Antoni fit in for keeping the Suns together after integrating Shaq, and allowing for a relatively large Stoudemire explosion post trade. Does Byron Scott deserve it for the job he's performed?

If you ask me Byron Scott is by far & away the most deserving. Adelman is deserving, but he's been deserving other years too. The guy has perfected the act of a martyr, and what's worse is he won't apologize for doing the best he can with the talent he has on hand. He isn't a media's dream, won't kiss their ass, and doesn't give a damn what they think of him. It's why he was so perfect in Sacramento. There was no media, or so few during most of Rick's time as the Head Coach, and he ignored them. Wah Lah! Doc Rivers did a good job keeping his young players prepared for the inenvibility of watching 3 older veterans go down with the injurys and helped the younger players stabilize the team. The greater question, though, is that did the injuries allow the Celtic's to peak at the right time. In many ways the subtle job that Rivers did over the course of the season deserves a strong Coach of the Year vote. But regardless of the argument, and regardless of whether Paul hurts his status here, Scott did well with a limited bench and rotation, and managed to get lucky no starter blew out a knee or anything. Byron Scott has won it before, and if anything, has proven that despite his spat with Jason Kidd, he belongs as a head man in the L.

It's amusing idea what award's are.Take Most improved Player for example. This year Monta Ellis probably had the most eye popping leap of any player that I've noticed get mention of MIP. And, yet, around here because of Martin being robbed in the wake of Ellis' win last season, there has been no mention of this. Partly I say this because Ellis is a god awful interviewer, who makes Charles Barkley sound like Jesus Christ, but more importantly Ellis is a player who improved across the board on a team that won 49 games. Ellis, whose winning of the award jobbed the award from Martin a year ago, who was more deserving, because of the incredible leap he took last season from a good season the year prior, Ellis is equally deserving of the same honor this time around. It's an amazing shame that awards rarely get it right. And awards don't deserve a celebration that validates their worth when the voters "manage" to get it right.

Last but not least here's the I told you section. (No pun intended 214.) Whom is more deserving of the Executive Award of the year: Mitch Kupchak or Danny Ainge. Frankly I think Ainge MUST win the award. Ainge was the guy who watched the original Garnett proposal be shot down because Garnett wasn't interested in playing on the Celtics. (I don't know if this is a factor, or not, but I wonder how much Allen being from South Carolina, as is Garnett, had anything to do with changing KG"s mind. Maybe the extension, maybe not, but I wonder what it was exactly about Allen that made KG convinced Boston was a great place for him.) Kupchak did alot of good things. The Ariza trade, sticking with Bynum and of course saying Yes to the Gasol extradiction. Kupchak, though, mostly though did minor tweaks to a roster with a franchise player. Ainge ACQUIRED a franchise player, through trade, and used a 5th pick to draw a near all-star. He also changed the whole tone of the franchise, from Eddie House, Scot Pollard, and James Posey. He kept Rajon Rondo. He brought in Sam Cassell, and waited for Cassell to get a buyout from the Clippers rather paying a dumb price in a trade that the Clippers nearly held out for. Ainge, put together a roster capable of winning a Finals roster, in about 6 months worth of moves. Kupchak kept together a roster that with a few tweaks, and one lucky exile, came into contention over night with an already gifted franchise player on it. That's why Ainge should get executive of the year.

The Bloody reality of doing business with Napoleon

pookeyguru — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 09:33:59 -0000

There is a lot of people out there who don't know what's going on when it comes to their team. Pete Nussbaum is not one of those people. He is, of course, one of the three proprietor's of SuperSonic Soul. He makes some interesting points that so many people out there really don't have a firm pulse on the whole story of what's going on in Seattle. I've been meaning to write this for awhile, but I'm going to do so tonight while I'm waiting for some clothes to dry.

The differences between Oklahoma City and Seattle are vast. I do think, however, that the biggest difference between the two is that Seattle is a major regional center of industry, tourism, and entertainment. Does OKC have any such claim? That's not Oklahoma City's fault for wanting a NBA team. If it was up to me Bennett could have the Grizzlies or the Hornets in OKC. Those are the teams that should be moving to Oklahoma City. But why aren't they? Because both have bought "new" arenas and Stern perceives that good business. Remeber that if you buy Satan whatever you want you will get a short term reprieve. Until he becomes bored and wants something new and better and more from you. That's the problem with this buying of new arena's. It's in similar fashion to the internal arguments we as Kings fans have had about Ron Artest. It's become a mass circle jerk of stupidity with very little being accomplished it seems. (With the possible exception of fostering long-term bad feelings.) However, if you want the biggest difference of where I have with this whole ordeal? The idea that there is another spot for a new Arena in Seattle. This isn't Sacramento. Space is limited in Seattle, which is why many 1/4 acre plots are filled with 2 houses that normally would see one in Sacramento. The amount of creative land use in Seattle has been use for decades because of a housing shortage here, and Clay Bennett, and David Stern, expects that Seattle will just spring up a new site just for the Sonics? Psshhawww! (I still think it's forgotten, even Henry Abbott pointed it out, that the offer of Steve Ballmer (CEO of Microsoft) and his partners, combined with the public money would have far out-dwarfed the offer of what OKC gave with their tax dollars. Everybody count. 300 million vs 121 million. Hmmm, Yogi?) The Sonics have multiple corporate opportunities that the Maloof's could only dream of. It'd be nice if that was true of the Kings, but that simply isn't the case.

I'm not thrilled that the Maloof's went to David Stern. I, still, think Cal Expo is not a very intelligent spot for a new arena. Unlike Seattle, which does not have the land space that Sacramento has, there are multiple spots to put a new arena. The best space is behind where the Amtrak/Light Rail station currently is. The 2nd best space is probably where Arco is now. Cal Expo is the 3rd best place. But the Maloof's want a subsidy. They want the taxpayers to improve their finances on the team. Because they're owners, and visible one's at that, they expect that the taxpayers do what other taxpayers have done. It's not hard to understand, but if you're on the other side, and I am, I don't particularly give a damn about billionaire problems. The reason I'm not interested in David Stern being involved in the process is how callous he's been towards Seattle for the entire process.

"Is there always some crime? Sure," Stern said. "But the rebuilding continues in a positive way and we think we have a contribution to make by calling attention to the opportunities that people have to pitch in, to make this into an American success story, rather than an American failure.

I don't really have a problem with that comment. But since when is David Stern interested in philanthrophy? After his speech in Nawlinz, this is what Steve Kelley wrote in the Times the next day. He called Stern "The Royal Smugness". He called Bennett and his ownership group "The Hijackers". And they are. I'm not interested in anything Stern has to say when he popped off about the state legislature approving money for UW. Udub is a state institution. It's a popular sporting institution that hasn't crapped on the state as a whole in the way the 3 professional sports team have tax wise. That's the problem in this whole scenario. Stern is holding onto a vendetta against Seattle, and because of that I don't want him in anything regarding a new arena in anywhere in the vicinty of Exposition and Challenge. That is not a soothing proposition.

For the record. I am opposed against public funding of the new arena. I voted against the 2 measures put to a vote in 2006. (I was annoyed with the flip smugness of the Maloof's against a parking structure. Nothing irritates me more than people who think the right to drive is more important than the greater good. Not a damn single thing. Suburbanites married to your car take it for what you will.) I don't like David Stern. He's Napoleon in charge of a PR Firm. I don't particularly enjoy that. I enjoy Mark Cuban making an ass of himself. I enjoy the fact that nobody in their right mind knows who Peter Holt is, but it's seemingly gone totally under the radar how more public funding is needed to make the Spurs work in San Antonio only a short year after winning their 4th championship in 7 years. That's pretty irritating. Not to mention greedy as all hell.

If the NBA is interested in me they have to stop treating with so much contempt and dis-ingenuity. I don't like it when somebody acts entitled to something when I answer them on the phone, and as such I treat them like shit. (After all I don't give a rat's ass if you ever get a cab. That is, after all, your problem.) I feel likewise towards Stern and NBA Owners. I'm tired of the circle jerk that these owners, and Stern in plying his trade, which is shilling the highest amount of public tax dollars for many wealthy men, many of whom who would be opposed to giving 400 dollars to a poor woman with 2 children to feed. If you want me to have total interest in the product stop insulting me. And frankly, I know I'm not alone, I don't think it's going to stop soon. That is the real shame. The real shame that as the country has real problems, and very serious decisions to make post Bush, the idea's of David Stern revolve around putting NBA franchiess in both China and Europe. That's David Stern's grand idea. Putting franchises on one continent, that's more than 7 hours in time zones, from the furthest eastern point of the US, to the furthest Western point of the European continent, and it's far worse in China. China is about 18 hours ahead of the West Coast, and Stern wants to put a live NBA franchise there? This guy is a clown, and because he's made so much money for tax payer gobbling assclown's like Clay Bennett, he will be dictator for life. I, for once, and maybe I'm alone, hope that the Sonics start a trend that, for a change, starts treating the fans with the respect they've earned after supporting the NBA enterprise for the better part of 6 decades now. Where is our multi-million subsidy? Where is our guarantee?

With the number one draft pick the Sacramento Kings select.....

kenji24 — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 08:45:18 -0000

....Michael Beasley!

via i10.photobucket.com

Let's keep our fingers crossed because the odds of this actually happening are slim to none. A strong power forward like Beasley would be Sacramento's missing piece of the puzzle to contend with the other elite teams in West next year. A starting 5 of Udrih, K-Mart, Artest, Beasley and Miller would be quite a force to mess with. On top of that, we'd have Garcia and Salmons there for backup!

Spencer -who-? Etc. (another rambler)

ogre lawless — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 07:44:34 -0000

I can't say that I was overly impressed with the young Spencer. There is only one player for whom bitching to the officials can save them, and he's number 24 for your Los Angeles Lakers. I think Spence's super powers come from being a nice guy. He needs to get his head right again in the off season, play the paint and with coaches who won't let him get that way.

Also, shit, Spence -- learn how to take a hit once and a while.*

The game got bad enough in the first half for my friend and I never to return from our trip to "check the hockey scores" at our friend's house around the corner. The Stanley Cup is big-time exciting and you might want to check it out in the next couple of days between now and when the NBA playoffs start.

The King's passing game sucked unless you were the Lakers. I saw more straight-ahead ditches to opposing players than I am accustomed to, and it wasn't because the Lakers were running any hotter than just average. Who was guilty? Williams a time or two, once for an assist? Am I remembering that correctly? Garcia as well, maybe Salmons. Salmons notches another few in his quest to lead the modern era in dribble and paint violations.

A glorious night it was, Kings fans. That is the Kings team everyone was scrambling to see since it was apparent that we would not be going to the playoffs. The young players and the underplayed.

Speaking of whom -- did you guys see Kenny Thomas get more screentime than he had all season during that pregame poker bit?

We switched from hockey to watch the meltdown in the final two and a quarter (that's :15 for those who can't do the conversion) minutes and I said it looked like an ABA game. I mean, look -- there was <A href="http://www.google.com/search?q=jabbar">Jabbar</A> courtside! Surewest cable's display covers the bottom third so it allowed us bet on the score before the truth was revealed. I guessed thirty points from how drag-ass everybody looked.

I wouldn't cry great huge tears if the ground opened up and swallowed Beno and Douby for the next three years, maybe turned John Salmons towards God for a month or more. Get your game right, fellows.

Last bit: The camera caught Mikki Moore in an unguarded moment looking like he was planning his vacation. It wasn't until the rebroadcast that I saw the House Party fools were likewise dressed for next week:

Koz: Chicago Sky [http://www.wnba.com/sky/]

HT: Ron Artest, #93, Home Jersey

Katee: Modoc jersey [huh? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kayte_Christensen]

Lafayette Lever: Sun Devils jersey [http://thesundevils.cstv.com/sports/m-baskbl/asu-m-baskbl-body.html]

Blah blah, I know -- I expect a forthcoming grilling as soon as y'all can figure out the interface. (What, no links?)

* - Hey, if StR made Ron Artest feel bad...

Welcome to the new Sactown Royalty and SB Nation

clockwerks — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 05:34:53 -0000

(Howdy, readers. TZ here. This post from Trei of the dev team behind 2.0 explains all you need to know about the new StR. Any questions or feedback, stick them in this thread and the dev team [or me] will try to answer. Cool? Cool. StR 2.0 is undefeated! Yeah! - TZ)

Hey Sactown Royalty,

Today is the big day. We've switched your community over to the new SB Nation sports blog platform. My name is Trei, and I'm here to help you get adjusted to the new home we've built for you. If you have questions or trouble with the new system, post a comment in this thread and myself or one of the team (lovitt, sixfoot6 or odacrem) will try to point you in the right direction.

Before we begin, I want to let you know that Sactown Royalty is one of the first blogs in the SB Nation family to make this transition. We still consider this a beta platform, so don't be surprised if you find a few bugs or if everything isn't exactly right yet. We hope you'll take the time to report any problems you encounter at bugreport@sbnation.com.

Please take a few minutes to read about what's new below. But if you just can't wait to jump in, here are some quick things to check out:

Sign up for your SB Nation network account and claim your old blog accounts
Once you're logged in, press your Z key in any thread with new comments
Explore your dashboard and setup your profile
Read the guide to the new FanPost editor
Install the FanShot bookmarklet and post videos to Sactown Royalty from YouTube or images from Flickr
Click the "Rec" button on posts and comments to help other people find the good stuff.

What Has Changed

SB Nation Network Accounts - the Big Change

Readers across all of our blogs told us they wanted one account to use on every SB Nation blog. To make this work, we're requiring that everyone create a new SB Nation network account. In most cases you should be able to keep your old username, but a few of you may have to choose something new, since every other community in SB Nation will be going through this same transition. We tried to be as fair as possible in deciding who gets to keep which name, using a formula that takes into account length of membership and frequency of activity.

We want to make it as easy as possible for you to participate on all of our blogs, but we don't want to encourage everyone to start visiting rival team blogs and initiating flame wars. To maintain friendly communities we ask that you explicitly join each blog in order to participate. It's a two-click process, but it does means accepting each blog's community guidelines. Just as you join each blog individually, you can be banned on each blog individually.

You can claim old accounts from multiple SB Nation blogs, and your new username will be retroactively attached to all your old comments and diaries. So now you'll be able to access all your writings from your single profile page... like magic.

To get started, click here to claim your old blog accounts and create a new SB Nation network account.

FanPosts (the Section Formerly Known as Diaries)

We changed their name. Why? Because we took this major upgrade as an opportunity to leave behind some vocabulary that never made much sense for a sports blog. SB Nation is the network of, by and for fans, and these are the blog posts we make. So we call them FanPosts. When you're at a bar telling someone to check out your online sports opinions, you don't have to suggest they read your diary.

FanPosts are displayed differently on the homepage - we include your avatar to give more credit for the time you spend writing great posts. The new post editor has a WYSIWYG view that provides easy formatting. It also auto-saves drafts so you don't have to worry about losing your work when you compose a post within the web browser. And you can now associate teams, players and games with your posts: these tools promote your FanPosts on our new team, player and game pages - across the entire network.

The new system does not work like the old diary editor. For example, in HTML mode the new editor doesn't auto-create a new paragraph from two line breaks. But it does offer a whole array of new features. Look for the blinking help button on the right side of the FanPost editor for quick tips, and take a look at our full guide to writing FanPosts on the new platform.

IMPORTANT - if you write your posts in Microsoft Word or some other off-line editor, you will get the most reliable behavior if you cut & paste your post into the HTML view of the FanPost editor. And if you do that, remember to wrap <p></p> tags around each paragraph so your text doesn't run together.

Visual Redesign

This one is probably the most obvious change of all. Like other major websites working to improve readability for their audience, we've adopted a fixed-width layout optimized for the 1024 x 768 resolution used by the majority of Sactown Royalty and SB Nation network users. Use the switcher below the user menu if you prefer the wider layout designed for 1280 monitors. We've introduced a top navigation bar with quick links into old and new sections of the site. We also polished a few edges, made some things larger, others smaller and moved a few boxes here and there. More changes and adjustments to come.

Search

We've completely replaced the old search engine with a new one. We're excited to make it easier to find old posts and comments, but we've only taken our first pass on the tools we're offering. We're focused on making search even better than what you had before, so please know that we're aware search is missing key features and we're working on it.

What's New

Schedule, Scores, Stats and Roster

Sactown Royalty now has all the basic information about the Sacramento Kings and hundreds of other teams. During games you'll see a regularly updated line score, and as the season progresses we'll track team stat totals and leaders. This is just our first step, so look for us to publish more detailed and archival stats in the future. The best part about all this sports data is that we've integrated it directly into the blog so. We now have special pages that aggregate all blog posts written about games, players and teams.

Recommending FanPosts

Some writing deserves more attention and more conversation. If you want to bump a FanPost up to the top and keep it there for awhile, just click the 'Rec' link under the body of the post. When a FanPost receives enough recommendations it will make the recommended list.

Auto-refreshing Comments

You no longer need to refresh the page to see new comments. If you're logged in, new comments will automatically appear on the page every few seconds. When you post a comment, the page will not refresh either. If you want to quickly cycle through all the new comments, you can press the C key on your keyboard. Unmark a new comment after you've read it with the X key. And use the Z key if you want to umark comments as you're cycling through them.

As you use these shortcuts to cycle through comments, press the R key to reply to the current comment. All these helpful keyboard shortcuts are listed at the top of each comments section for reference.

Recommending Comments

Now you can reward those folks who take the time to look up stats and make smart arguments in the comments. Next to each comment there is an 'actions' link that you can click to find the recommend and flag options.

Flagging Comments

To help the moderators on a site, we've built-in tools that let you flag comments that are spam, trolling or just plain inappropriate. Only moderators can see those flags.

FanShots

Many members of the community just want to post that one link, video, photo or quote, but don't need a full FanPost. We've got you covered: FanShots let you share YouTube videos, Flickr or PhotoBucket photos, quotes from articles, portions of chat transcripts, top 5 lists and simple links. If it's a video or image we'll put a thumbnail on the homepage when you post it.

For those of you who are experienced internet hunter-gatherers of Sacramento Kings material, install the bookmarklet onto the links bar of your browser and share FanShots with the community from wherever on the web you find that killer quote or photo.

Avatars

Upload an image so folks can see your custom avatar on your profile, your FanPosts, and all your comments.

Network Profiles

Now that we have unified SB Nation network accounts, your profile will be your central hub for all of your activity on any blogs where you are a member.

Network bar

The top bar stays with you on all SB Nation blogs. It's a quick way to login and logout. When you're logged in, you'll see your avatar and screen name which links to your profile. The icon to the right leads to your Dashboard area where you can edit your settings, profile, account details and any FanPosts or FanShots you've published. As we add more blogs to the new SB Nation network, the My Blogs menu will be a handy way to navigate between the blogs you've joined.

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There are plenty more small changes and additions we've made, so please take a careful look around and explore this new system. We appreciate your patience and hope you'll help us improve the new platform for this and all the other SB Nation blogs.

And in case you missed it, you'll want to start by claiming your old blog accounts and creating a new SB Nation network account.

Is this season a success?

Mityt — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 20:32:23 -0000

I've been intently watching the poll regarding the opinion of my fellow StR bretheren and am curious to hear some opinions on why they think this season was or was not a success. I'm especially curious on the opinions of those who voted this season a success "only if we beat the Lakers." I hate the Lakers as much as everyone else here but how can a team's barometer be measured on one game where the two best players for said team won't even be in uniform?

To add some fodder for debate I will add my opinion to the mix and we shall see what comes of it. I am obviously in the minority as I voted that this Kings season was not a success. You cannot deny that this year's incarnation of the Kings are a better product than last year's, but I think last year's squad was a complete disaster. How a few games improvement (but still under 0.500) can be measured as success I do not know.

I suppose the Kings' play of late has left some with a positive spin on the team and, I must admit, have been superbly impressed with their recent quality play against supposedly superior talent. Too little way too late. One can only hope that this carries over to next season, but who knows what will happen as we all know the current state of flux in the team's roster.

Don't get me wrong, I am optimistic for the future. Certainly much more so than I was at the end of last year's quagmire. We have quality swingmen and an emerging center and possibly a young talented point. There is much to be excited about. However, with all this potential it still has not been realized and may not ever be. To me, if you do not reach the playoffs and have a chance to compete for a championship you have had an unsuccessful season. There may be positive aspects of your season, but it was a failure nonetheless. Take the Warriors for example. They improved their record and had, by most measureable means, a phenomenal year. To me, it was just as much a failure, if not more so, than the Kings' season.

Granted I know, from the poll data, that about 50% or more of you do not agree with me and that is...OK. So tell me why I'm wrong and lets get this party started.

Observations from courtside

ogre lawless — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 20:12:15 -0000

On Friday we managed to win the Golden Tickets being handed out as schwag for the last fan forum of the year and ended up sitting in KR2, about eight feet from the floor.

I was kind of surprised to the extent to which Mikki Moore was working the team on the defensive end, mostly giving head's up as the play developed. Usually all I hear from him from my cheap seats or the TV is "oh SHIT" under the basket. Likewise, Francisco was working guys up for rallies on the bringback when he was working PG.

Sheldon Williams was perhaps the most troubling from that distance -- dude looked confused down there. Hawes's bitching at the refs seemed out of place as well. The NBA needs to bring back the "no talk" rule. I've seen far too many instances of guys running back down the court jawing over the last play with the refs instead of keeping their head in the play that's unfolding at the moment...