Sacramento Kings

Amin Elhassan breaks down the Sacramento Kings' draft history, needs and potential 2013 picks.

Mar 24, 2013; Sacramento, CA, USA; Sacramento Kings fans hold signs during the second quarter against the Philadelphia 76ers at Sleep Train Arena. Mandatory Credit: Kelley L Cox-USA TODAY Sports It’s going to be a special offseason for the Sacramento Kings, one that will officially kick off tomorrow evening at Cesar Chavez Park in Downtown Sacramento during the “Long Live the Kings” rally. The guest list will not only include the new Sacramento Kings ownership group headed by Vivek Ranadive, but current and past King greats like Chris Webber, Mitch Richmond, Bobby Jackson, Tyreke Evans, Isaiah Thomas and more. Per the press release: Kings legends Chris Webber and Mitch Richmond are set to join Sacramento fan-favorites Scot Pollard and Bobby Jackson alongside dynamic backcourt duo Tyreke Evans and Isaiah Thomas as the rally’s special guests. The star-studded group joins an elite event lineup that also boasts Kings majority owner Vivek Ranadivé, Mayor Kevin Johnson and Kings general partners – including Dr. Paul Jacobs, Raj Bhathal, Mark Mastrov, Mark Friedman, Andrew Miller and Chris Kelly – as well as Kings broadcasters Grant Napear and Jerry Reynolds, Kings announcer Scott Moak, community organizer Carmichael Dave, Slamson and Kings Dancers. Acclaimed father-son pair Chord and Paul Overstreet will headline the celebration’s musical acts, as the star of the hit TV series “Glee” and the renowned country singer/songwriter perform a memorable music set, including the Grammy-winning single “Forever and Ever, Amen”. “When my friends from the Kings called and told me about the Long Live The Kings Rally, I couldn’t say no,” said NSAI Hall of Famer Paul Overstreet. “I have a great history in Sacramento, and it’s one of my favorite cities to perform. Great fans and, considering the theme of ‘1985-Forever’, I can’t wait to play ‘Forever and Ever, Amen’. It’s going to be an amazing night. Long live the Sacramento Kings!” The evening will also feature local rapper Alex Johnson’s anthem “NBA” and Tesla guitarist Frank Hannon performing “Love Song.” Nationally-recognized performance painter and the River City’s own David Garibaldi will be accompanied by Kings Breakers in another epic fusion of music and art. If you’re planning on attending and already have or intend to renew or purchase season tickets (assuming you do so by 5PM today), you’ll be able to win VIP access at the party as well. For those unable to attend, make sure to watch it live on Kings.com. Gates are open at 5 and it is of course free to attend.

One of the greatest players in Kings franchise history is returning to the capital city for tomorrow’s celebration in Downtown Sacramento.  Five-time NBA All-Star Chris Webber is among the guests scheduled to appear at the “Long Live The Kings Rally” taking place Thursday, May 23 from 5-9 pm at Cesar Chavez Plaza. Former players joining Webber are Kings legend and new minority investor Mitch Richmond along with Scot Pollard and Bobby Jackson.  The Kings current starting backcourt of Tyreke Evans and Isaiah Thomas will also be at tomorrow’s rally. Members of the Kings new ownership group are attending as well, including new Kings majority owner Vivek Ranadivé and general partners Dr. Paul Jacobs, Raj Bhathal, Mark Mastrov, Mark Friedman, Andrew Miller and Chris Kelly.  Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson will also make an appearance. The rally will include musical performances by a number of musical acts, including Paul and Chord Everstreet, local rapper Alex Johnson and Tesla guitarist Frank Hannon.  Acclaimed performance painter David Garibaldi, a Sacramento native, is also part of the program. Tomorrow’s rally was originally planned for today.  However, it was pushed back primarily due to scheduling purposes to ensure all guests could attend.  There was also the matter of the Downtown Farmer’s Market, which happens every Wednesday at Cesar Chavez Park. Alternative rock band Cake was also slated to perform at the rally according to the mayor last week.  However, their availability was not yet finalized due to “staff miscommunication” according to the mayor’s office. Gates open at 5 pm for this free, public event.

Cody Zeller -- that's Zeller -- is the pick at No. 7 according to the latest mock drafts from NBA.com's Scott Howard-Cooper and SI.com's Chris Mannix. Zeller is the 7-foot center from Indiana who was pretty much a disappointment as a sophomore but showed everyone in Chicago at the Combine that he can really jump well. Zeller is said to be highly skilled offensively, but had nearly twice as many turnovers as assists and attempted two (college) threes total in two seasons in Bloomington. He did score efficiently on two-pointers, though, and hit 75 percent of his free throws. He was only an average rebounder (which could spell doom at the pro level where there are lots of people his size) and iffy shotblocker. Howard-Cooper implies that drafting Zeller would mean farewell from DeMarcus Cousins, while Mannix argues that Zeller complements Cousins. Who knows? In case you're curious, Zeller is definitely The Player Ziller Perhaps Irrationally Mistrusts Because His Stats Don't Match His Narrative And Because Ziller Can't Stand Very Tall Men Who Can't Rebound At A Very Good Level.

So far we've taken a look at two areas where the Kings will need complete overhauls: The Front Office and the Coaching Staff. Now for some of the more fun stuff, as one of the first things that will occur under the new regime is the 2013 NBA Draft. The Kings have had a couple bad drafts in a row, something that lottery teams can ill afford to rack up. This year, the Kings have the 7th and 36th picks in what many experts are calling a weak draft. The way I see it, the Kings have a few decisions to make regarding their picks. 1. They could keep the pick and draft the best player available. 2. They could trade down in the draft for a later pick and acquire some other asset (another pick, a player, etc.) in the process. 3. They could outright trade the pick for a current player. All three of these choices have merit. This is a weird draft in that there really isn't star power, but there seem to be a lot of solid players who could be in the NBA for a long time. Since we're just focusing on the draft itself today, let's only look at options 1 or 2 for now and because the second round is a bit of crapshoot, we'll focus on the first round. Keep the Pick There isn't really a clear cut consensus on the top players in this draft but there are a few that I heavily doubt will be available by the time the Kings pick at #7: Nerlens Noel, Otto Porter, Victor Oladipo and Ben McLemore. I'm not saying they will be gone for sure, just that this is my feeling. This still leaves many options for the Kings. Anthony Bennett played Power Forward in College but would definitely be undersized in the NBA. He's very talented offensively but still needs to develop the other side of his game. His athleticism seems to suggest that he could make the leap to playing NBA Small Forward. Alex Len, Cody Zeller and Gorgui Dieng would add size and defense to Sacramento's frontcourt. Shabazz Muhammad had a rough year at UCLA but there is still some belief that he has the talent to become a star. Trey Burke, C.J. McCollum and Michael-Carter Williams will likely be there if the new Kings front office believes that one of them is an upgrade to Isaiah Thomas. Burke and McCollum have reputations as scorers, while Carter-Williams is a big pass-first point guard with excellent defensive fundamentals. Trade Down / Acquire Another 1st Round Pick If the Kings opted to trade down in the draft and/or acquired another first round pick, they could add young depth to multiple areas. Sergey Karasev is a lefty Russian Sharpshooter who can also handle and pass the ball. He reminds me of Hedo Turkoglu and is my favorite European prospect in the NBA draft. Steven Adams is a big dude with good athleticism and lots of potential on the defensive side of the ball. Glen Rice Jr. isn't as good of a player as his dad was but he's still very solid in all facets of the game and might be one of the more NBA ready players available. Dennis Schroeder will probably end up going in the lottery and also might end up being the best Point Guard taken in this draft. Schroeder is German and has been playing oversees for a while now. He's very athletic, unselfish and a good shooter to boot. He could be in play at the #7 pick. One option I didn't mention was the possibility of the Kings trading up in the draft. I don't foresee this occurring unless the Kings absolutely fall in love with someone that they know will not be there at 7. I'm also not sure what the Kings would give up in order to move up in the draft. I certainly wouldn't trade DeMarcus Cousins or Isaiah Thomas to move up a few spots. It will be interesting to see how the new ownership group handles the draft as they won't officially take over the team until the beginning of June. The hunt for a new GM will likely take a little bit longer than that, and before we know it the draft will be here on June 27th. The current Kings front office will likely do most of the legwork in scout

via www.nba.com By the time this goes to post we may know whom Vivek Ranadive intends to at least interview for the pivotal role of General Manager for the Sacramento Kings if not in fact hire. While there was some speculation that maybe Phil Jackson could become interested, I believe his recent public diss is because Phil has designs on a part owner/GM role with the Seattle Sonics whenever they eventually are awarded an expansion team or should the Sonics buy another team that lacks the support of a Sacramento (cough - Charlotte.) Until then I expect him to continue to travel to promote his book and spend time networking with other GMs, consulting, and reading Yi Ling to enhance his philosophical proficiency. In all seriousness Vivek is not likely to put out a cattle call for anyone and everyone to interview. There is too much to do and not enough time to do it. I expect Vivek will pluck from the pool that he is most familiar with, lives close to and can start executing with immediately. If you look at the Golden State Warriors front office roster it looks like this: Bob Myers - I won't waste time considering Bob Meyers, 38 years old, to be a candidate. The former Sports Agent with WMG originally from Danville, promoted to GM of the Warriors last season has been integral to their turn around from lottery bound to playoff contender. This from a team that didn't want to keep Jeremy Lin and wanted Carl Landry is now viewed by some as the team to watch in the NBA. No chance we steal him away. Larry Riley - Almost 40 years of coaching, scouting and front office experience at both the collegiate and NBA level including stints with the Bucks, Grizzlies, Mavericks and currently Director of Scouting with the Warriors after spending two seasons as the team's General Manager. Was originally hired as an assistant coach and then promoted to General Manager. Reading though the lines he helped show Myers the ropes and was kept on to focus on his strengths namely scouting. Doubtful he is selected by Vivek mostly because he is not a part of the new breed of money ball minded analytical minds likely sought out by Vivek. Kirk Lacob - Son of Co-owner Joe Lacob, 26 years old, works for Bob Myers as Assistant General Manager while assisting with all aspects of the team’s day-to-day basketball operations including player personnel evaluation, draft preparation and scouting, as well as helping to further the use of statistics and technologies in basketball operations. He has also served as the team’s player development representative with the league office, coordinating and implementing programs to aid in the overall development of players both on and off the court. He also serves as the General Manager of the Dakota Wizards, the Warriors-owned NBA Development League affiliate. Originally from Woodside, CA, graduated from Stanford with a degree in Science, Technology and Society. Because Joe is not looking to retire and loves being the front man for the franchise, it is possible Kirk who almost went to work for Steve Kerr of the Suns might be interested in being groomed for the GM role with the Kings. I could see a scenario where Vivek whom likely will be surrounding the Front Office with a significant brain trust could promote Kirk up to this role and possibly retain Geoff Petrie to help with the knowledge transfer. I conclude there is a small to decent chance Vivek hires Kirk. Travis Schlenk - The 39 year old Assistant GM for the Warriors has many fans that have worked with him in the NBA including Don Nelson, Pat Riley and Eric Spolestra "We lean on him heavily as to what he thinks of a player, how much the player will improve," GM Bob Myers said recently. "Usually, he’s the one on the staff that’s seen the player the most." He goes on to share, "He’s arguably the hardest-working person in the organization...he’s not afraid to travel. He’s up late. He’s on

In his first post-lottery 2013 NBA Mock Draft, Chad Ford sends Syracuse point guard Michael Carter-Williams to the Sacramento Kings. Ford notes that small forward is the team's biggest need, but then makes the case for MCW. While the Kings do have point guards on their roster, they don't have any that really make others around them better. Carter-Williams is a high-risk, high-reward player. He has elite size for his position, proved to be a terrific athlete at the NBA draft combine and sees the floor well. In addition, he's a rangy defender who averaged 2.8 steals per game last season. Otto Porter, the top-rated small forward, is off the board in this scenario. Ford has the Kings taking MCW over Anthony Bennett, who could end up going as high as No. 2. MCW has been compared to Rajon Rondo. Rondo averaged five assists and six rebounds per game as a sophomore at Kentucky. MCW averaged more than seven assists and five rebounds per game in about four more minutes per game at a sophomore.

The Long Live The Kings rally is Thursday night in downtown Sacramento. The rally, an event intended to celebrate the news that the Kings are staying in Sacramento for years to come, will be held at Cesar Chavez Park (910 I St.). from 5 – 9 p.m. New owner Vivek Ranadive, Mayor Kevin Johnson, current and former Kings players, Slamson, Kings Dancers and other special guests are expected to make appearances. There will be live musical performances and special guest speakers throughout the evening. You are going to want to make sure you get downtown for this, it sounds like it is shaping up to be a night you will never forget. Click here to join the Facebook event page. Below is a teaser video, which is a shortened version of the video that played in Times Square in New York City during the NBA Board of Governors meetings in April.

After more than two years of fighting to keep their team, Sacramento Kings fans put there money where their mouths were yesterday, overwhelming the team’s ticket sales staff when they opened for business at 9 am. “We don’t have enough bodies to handle the inbound requests,” Kings Vice President of Ticket Sales Phil Horn told Cowbell Kingdom.  “Our initial launch raced at one deposit every four seconds.” Tuesday marked the first day that new prospective season ticket holders could place a $200 deposit for the 2013-14 season.  With interest at an all-time high, the Kings are scrambling to hire up to 40 new ticket sales reps to handle the traffic. If the massive surge of ticket buyers wasn’t enough, the ticket sales team performed over 100 interviews Monday and another 80 yesterday to fill those spots.  They hoped to have a makeshift staff in place, ready to start the enormous task of finding homes for the massive influx of new ticket requests. The Kings are way behind the rest of the league in the ticket sales process.  With constant uncertainty surrounding the future of the franchise this year, the team withheld renewals until this weekend and then opened the floodgates to potential new seat holders on Tuesday. Vivek Ranadivé and his investment group agreed to purchase the Kings from the Maloofs late last week, causing phone lines in the ticket sales office to light up.  Sensing the surge in excitement, Ranadivé sent a letter this weekend to existing season ticket holders. “Today we begin a new era in Sacramento Kings history: new ownership, a new arena and a new Kings community,” Ranadivé wrote.  “We will do everything in our power to make this organization one that you can be proud of, both on and off the court.” There is a lot of work ahead for this group, but it appears that bringing the fans back after a dismal seven-year stretch is going to take care of itself.

Now that we know where the Kings will be drafting this year, and now know we will be staying in Sacramento, I figured it was as good a time as any to begin debating/berating/applauding/crying over trade ideas that could or should emerge over the off-season. As with past trade threads, please keep it civil and remember to use ESPN Trade Checker (link included below) to double check the viability and status of players mentioned in trades. Finally, please remember to "rec" this post to keep it elevated in the queue in the FanPost section so we can avoid several undue reposts with the same title/topic. ESPN Trade Checker 2013 NBA Free Agents Enjoy and let the thread begin... Now that we know where the Kings will be drafting this year, and now know we will be staying in Sacramento, I figured it was as good a time as any to begin debating/berating/applauding/crying over trade ideas that could or should emerge over the off-season. As with past trade threads, please keep it civil and remember to use ESPN Trade Checker (link included below) to double check the viability and status of players mentioned in trades. Finally, please remember to "rec" this post to keep it elevated in the queue in the FanPost section so we can avoid several undue reposts with the same title/topic. ESPN Trade Checker 2013 NBA Free Agents Enjoy and let the thread begin...