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Apparently, the Kings are highly interested in a defensive-minded center. Marc Stein of ESPN reports on TrueHoop that the Kings are in exploratory discussions with Philadelphia and Boston in a deal that would bring centre (boom!) Samuel Dalembert to Sacramento with Kenny Thomas and Andres Nocioni departing. Essentially, it brings in Dalembert, whose defense is well-reputed but whose offense and sometimes attitude is disastrous, for two seasons while cutting some salary off this season's ledger and freeing the team from Nocioni's longer contract. Here are the full contract details for the only three players who matter to Sacramento. (Boston, who would receive Nocioni, would also send a couple of dudes to Philly.) As always with matters of salary, thanks be to ShamSports (who you can also follow for pithy remarks, obscure transaction news and feuds with Sam Amick [no really!] on Twitter: @ShamSports).

The Kings would save a solid $4 million this season, give or take as roughly 10 percent of the season's salary has already been paid out. Next season, the Kings would have $46 million in payroll on the books instead of $40 million, and would be out of the running for a major free agent chase, barring something unexpected with the salary cap. The Kings would gain $6.7 million in space in 2011-12  (putting the team at $34 million in commitments without accounting for Spencer Hawes's extension) as the then-31 Nocioni would no longer be on the books. Nocioni's 2012-13 salary is a team option, which is unlikely to be picked up by any team, unless Bueno Aires grabs an expansion club and Dorothy Nocioni is the owner. So basically, the Kings would save roughly $4 million this season, spend an extra $6 million next season and save $6.7 million in '11-12. A net savings of roughly $4.5 million over three seasons.

That's the money situation. What about the talent?

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More photos » by Rich Pedroncelli - AP

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David Berri's point about the improvement of Jason Thompson got me wondering: exactly how has J.T. improved? What is he doing better this season? There are three key areas I see.

* Handling the ball. Last season, Thompson was basically a non-factor as a facilitator. For a non-featured scorer, he was actually a bit turnover-prone. He has fixed both of those items: he has 26 assists and only 11 turnovers this season. If he can sustain that type of efficient passing production without seeing his turnovers shoot up, that's a huge boon.

* Drawing fouls ... and hitting those free throws. Thompson is earning about two more FTAs per 36 minutes this year. But the bigger improvement has been his free throw stroke: he's gone from 69 percent to 82 percent from the line, which is an incredible jump. His senior year at Rider -- two years ago -- he only hit 58 percent on FTs. (He did hit over 70 percent in two other Rider seasons ... but nothing close to 82 percent.) Can J.T. keep hitting the freebies? Let's hope so. It's a big scoring boost for one of Sacramento's key weapons.

* Collecting offensive rebounds. We had no right to expect Thompson to improve on the offensive glass: he was already 7th in the entire league last year! He collected 11.8 percent of all offensive rebound opportunities as a rookie. This year, he's up to 15 percent, good for 4th in the league. He's averaging a cool five offensive rebounds per 36 minutes, which has helped him peak into the league's top 10 rebounds per game list despite no individual improvement on the defensive glass. J.T. is averaging a double-double right now.

There has been one other stand-out improvement, but credit for this one likely goes to Paul Westphal: Thompson is playing more minutes this season. Last year, J.T. averaged 28 minutes per game. Even after the All-Star Break, when Brad Miller, Shelden Williams and Mikki Moore were exiled, Thompson still averaged less than 32 minutes a game. Thompson's foul rate hasn't lowered significantly (4.9 per 36 to 4.3), but Westphal has decided to keep him on the court for longer stretches. That's helped the per-game numbers reach (to date) All-Star level. And that helps get J.T. the attention he deserves.

by Elise Amendola - AP

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Sam Amick of The Bee reports the Kings are discussing an Emeka Okafor-Kenny Thomas trade with the Hornets. Thomas's contract, as we all know, expires this summer. Okafor's deal runs through 2014. Here's a full salary breakdown, thanks to ShamSports.com.

That 2013-14 season has an early termination option for Okafor. Clearly, in losing Thomas the Kings would only be losing a spot bench forward and the opportunity cost of using his expiring contract in another trade. There are very few big names expected to be available for expiring contracts this trade deadline -- Carlos Boozer, Stephen Jackson, Elton Brand and perhaps Monta Ellis lead that class. (Despite what you may have heard, Toronto ain't trading Chris Bosh for anything less than a couple of Sacramento's top assets -- think Kevin Martin and Jason Thompson, or something like that. Pipe. Dream.)

The real question here is whether Okafor is worth the cost of his own salary for the Kings. That's also an opportunity cost issue: if the Kings take on Okafor without losing one of its longer contracts, the free agency periods of 2010, 2011 and possibly 2012 are essentially wiped out. And that really depends on what you think the Kings could get in free agency right now.

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by Rich Pedroncelli - AP

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Already the hyenas invade. I have noticed a sincere uptick in "Tyreke Evans is not a point guard!" talk since Kevin Martin got injured, Beno Udrih got inserted into the starting line-up, and the Kings have gone on a 3-0 string. I actually received a thoughtful email from a reader a few days ago stating that the Kings should trade Martin because "Evans clearly is not a point guard."

The assertion is that Evans's success has come with the switch to off-guard, which hasn't actually happened: Evans is handling the ball as much as he did with Martin on the court, if not more. Paul Westphal has instituted a duty-sharing system which had even Ime Udoka bringing the ball up as a shooting guard -- this is Ime Udoka, whose greatest successes have come as a Battier-like small forward and undersized power forward.

The Kings have been more successful for the last 10 days or so, definitely. But it has less to do with the Evans/Udrih backcourt than it does the addition of Andres Nocioni and Spencer Hawes to the starting line-up.

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More photos » by Rich Pedroncelli - AP

"Wait, Exhibit G said that? He's crazy. Don't listen to bananas." (AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli, File)

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The recent meteoric rise of the Kings to a record of 4-4 got me thinking.  In lietothegirls' entertaining post, pookeyguru made a comment about how there is no reason to believe that Paul Westphal has gotten through to the team this quickly.  My first thought was that pookey's statement was probably accurate.  Luckily for you, the reader, I have never allowed a reasonable idea prevent me from exploring a tangent in the complete opposite direction.

What follows is an unscientific exploration of ideas that cannot be proven true or false, only argued endlessly about.  I figure a few of us might be nostalgic for these types of arguments now that the offseason is over.

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Sorry I'm a day late weighing in on the Amick/Martin/Jackson/Peaches issue.

To the tune of AC/DC's "For Those About to Rock"

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Games Kevin Martin would miss if he had his fractured wrist surgically repaired or allowed it to heal, assuming the longest stated schedule for recovery: 29.

Games Kevin Martin is under contract for with the Kings: 323.

***

Would you rather have Martin miss 29 while letting a fracture heal, or would you rather he play injured for eight weeks, then spending the rest of his lucrative contract hobbled by arthritis? Are the next 29 games more important than the subsequent 294?

More photos » by Darren Abate - AP

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Kevin Martin's really in a pickle. The Bee reports that today Martin will decide whether to undergo surgery to repair his broken wrist (missing 6-8 weeks), sit 6-8 weeks in the hopes it will heal on its own, or slap on a soft cast and play through it, risking a full break (and a longer recovery).


The "smart" move would be to get the wrist fixed. You don't drive on a tire with a leak, and you don't play professional basketball with a wrist fracture that could turn into a full break. This isn't a Kobe's finger comparison. Kobe tore the ligament on his pinky. A broken wrist is just a bit more serious. If you doubt that analysis, go join a pick-up game with your pinky taped to your ring finger, and compare that with trying to play with one arm taped behind your back. Comparing this to Kobe's finger injury is disingenuous.

But Martin has an unfair reputation around here as being soft. Because, you know, men plays on crumbling ankles and shredded groins. It's as if it is Kevin's fault he experienced a bone bruise last year! Not to (again) draw someone else's name into this, but you don't see anyone questioning Francisco Garcia's toughness, and he will have missed more games than Martin over two years. Is it because we know what a broken arm looks like, but we can't quite envision a serious bone bruise in the ankle? Is it because a catastrophic exercise ball failure is more illustrative than a degenerative condition made worse by activity and better only through rest? Are we really that simple, Sacramento?

Because of that unfair reputation, if Martin decides to heal it, he will be pilloried on sports talk radio, by national yuks-yuks, by commenters everywhere. It's 100% bullshit, but it's what will happen. Hell, I wouldn't be surprised if some within the franchise turn on him. There's a lot at stake this season, and clearly -- clearly -- Kevin Martin is the most important King in terms of wins and losses. Those with jobs on the line (this means within the front office) could see Martin allowing the fracture to heal as a sort of betrayal, a lack of consideration for the own futures. Which is of course -- again -- 100% bullshit.

This is the pressure Kevin Martin faces today. It's unfortunate the situation has gotten to these depths locally, where a team's star player has to worry about his reputation when making a very serious medical decision. I hope he ignores the haters and does what he really believes he needs to do, whether that's to heal or to risk it. We're fans, and we support the team, and we all will be affected by his decision. But it's his decision, dammit, and it's Kevin Martin who has to live with it.