Tag Archives: kings

August 23, 2012

Bartolo and the Kings

By chappy81

Bartolo Colon’s suspension for testosterone wasn’t all that shocking to me. I like Colon, he seems like a nice guy that’s having fun in the twilight of his career, and in the end I don’t care that much that he used something that was banned. How else  could a 39 year old increase his velocity after having it be down for a few years? German surgery? I’m sure that helped, but not as much as the cream and the clear did. At least he said bye to his teammates which is more than Melky can say. I’ve seen a few people say the A’s are done, and I couldn’t disagree more. Of all the positions on the team, starting pitching is what they have the most depth in. Colon was only 10-9, so it’s not like the A’s lost a Cy Young contender or anything. This is a team that is used to moving on, and unless it’s Reddick or Cespedes getting popped, this team will take it in stride and move on like they have all year. If baseball really wants to stop the cheating, maybe they’ll introduce a new rule that gives teams the option to cut a players contract and guaranteed money to make all players who use something a little more weary of doing it. Imagine if the Yankees simply cut A-Rod one year into his contract after they found out he used steroids. Seems fair to me, you put the organization in jeopardy, you lose millions, and with millions on the line it would make them question their actions a little more. It wouldn’t deter everyone, but I think it would help.

The Sacramento Kings are heading to Virginia Beach!?! Not exactly a hot spot for basketball, but once again it shows how desperate the Maloofs are to get out of Sac since they’ve burned that bridge a few times over. The Nets, Wizards, Sixers, and Bobcats all reside in that general area, and are in the bottom of the league in attendance (aside from the Sixers), why would Virginia be any better. The only reason the Kings don’t draw in Sacramento anymore is because the fans hate the Maloofs so much they don’t want to give them any of their hard earned money. Can’t say I blame one of them. Oh, and they kinda suck, and are always spending the least they possibly can on team payroll, so that factors in a little too. Even if they do agree to a deal and everything seems set in place, the Maloofs are really good at backing out of a plan, so I won’t believe it until they’re breaking ground for the new arena in Virginia. The only hope for the Kings staying in Sac is that the Maloofs go broke and need to sell the team in order to stay afloat financially.

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February 1, 2010

The NBA Needs To Share It’s Revenue!

By chappy81

It’s a shame that in the NBA, or as Bill Simmons calls it, the No Benjamin’s Association that the rich do in fact get richer. No, this isn’t a rant on how the Lakers will probably land some stud at the trade deadline for a poo poo platter of expiring contracts or practice squad guys. This is about how the league is structured. Looking around it’s immediately obvious that teams stuck in small markets are going to lose money. Being a good team is supposed to raise you from financial destitute, but in a league strapped for cash, this isn’t happening anytime soon. With 40% of teams losing money last season, and the economy looking unlikey to turn around the NBA does have the most financial problems of all the major sports. Unless you count NBC, the NBA is probably the next closest organization in need of a Heidi Montag style face-lift.

It’s troubling to see how many NBA organizations are struggling to stay afloat without some good form of revenue sharing in place. It’s a travesty that teams like the Clippers, Knicks, and yes my Warriors make ten-million plus dollars profit each year, and field teams that would have a tough time beating the Washington Generals. Yes, these are the teams that I deem the greediest in terms of giving back to their fans. They do relatively nothing to improve their rosters, and they have plenty of income that could be spent to improve their respective teams. I don’t mind some of the teams atop the list, since the Lakers do deserve to make more money, because they do always put a good team on the court, but I feel that a teams revenue should be more driven by their ability to win. It’s been quite awhile since I broke down some financial situation, and most of this post is derived from Forbes numbers that they released on the teams earnings from last year. Continue reading

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July 3, 2009

Artest To The Lakers E-mail Thread

By mceezy

Andre: I hope the Lakers are thinking about letting Ariza go so they can spend
their money on Artest instead

Tony: YES…that’s what I’m talking about too Dre!!!!!!!!!! However, ask any
fan what they think of him, and people want to throw up. Just adds fuel
to fire for the laker haters and doubters out there.


Andre: We know the Lakers like Artest, he’s basically Ariza a few years down
the line and stronger and scarier on D as well.  Lamar knows he will
need to take that Mid level Exception id he wants to stick around, which
leaves Artest some room if they don’t extend an offer to Ariza.  It’s
too bad the Lakers seem to be ok with Odom, I’m not

Matt: Dude, Artest playing with Kobe is a soap opera no one will be able to
resist.  Ron has become a bigger black hole every year.  Kobe will be
yelling at him every game. There’s no way they work out.  Dj Mbenga and
Chris Mihm won’t be the only guys fighting each other in practice!

Tony: If Jordan could put up with Rodman something tells me Kobe and Artest
will find some good middle ground….Wins and championships seem to be a
good cure all.

Matt: Yeah, but Rodman wasn’t a black hole on offense.

rodman

Tony: Artest will adapt…shit he’ll be on a winning team for a change.

Brian: The Pacers were a winning team, that turned out well…

Tony: Really comparing the Pacers to the Lakers?

Brian: Only in the sense he had two other guys that were stars in Jackson and
O’neal and they were winning…

Andre: Ha, you’re saying Jackson was a star 5 years ago? And seriously, I’ll
repeat Tony’s words, are you really comparing the Pacers and Lakers?
Wow.  I think teams are always in for a surprise when it comes to
Artest, but magically teams keep taking a chance… wonder why if he’s
such a ball hogging black hole on offense

Brian: He had already won a championship with the Spurs, so yes he had earned
his All star status… I’m not comparing the teams, I’m just saying that
he was on a good team and it turned out well (pun intended)…

Andre: Ok, cause I’m still thinking Stephen Jackson is NOT a star and never has
been.  At least not of the caliber your trying to compare him with.  But
that’s a different argument for a different time, who cares about
Stephen Jackson, he needs a shower


Matt: Well how about this…
O’Neal = Gasol
Jackson = Odom  (neither are all-stars)

Andre: But then you would be drawing a direct line between the Kobe and Artest,
and there’s no way even Artest would agree with that, and that’s the
point.  HE would get the picture pretty damn quick on that team.  HE has
a great basketball IQ, and he’s been made the go to guy on all of his
previous teams.  No more of that if he comes to LA

Tony: Exactly….you take a write up for a guy who was the only offensive
player at time at Houston, and want to transport the analysis over to
how he would play as a Laker?

Brian: So Artest with Yao and Oneill is suddenly different than with Gasol?

Matt: I don’t think that’s the parallel being drawn, but now that I think
about it, Gasol would prob be the most frustrated sitting down there
wide open while Ron jacks up a 24 footer

Andre: Suddenly different? You’re talking about one of the best C’s in the game in terms of being active, having great hands, a smooth jumper,  and moving up and down court like a forward and not a C.

PLUS, You’re comparing Artest with KOBE to begin with.  This thought process is flawed from the beginning.  Artest wouldn’t be the ballhogging black hole if he made all of the pressure shots that Kobe makes.  He’s not Kobe on offense by far.  Just a bull in the low post with a great jumper and lots of opportunities to miss in his career because the guys around him were his support, he was a main cog on offense.

Brian: Yeah, just try and tell Artest that. He thinks he’s the best player in the league and doesn’t need help from anyone…

Tony: Say what you will…..but being life long kings and warriors fans your
indoctrinated to look at things from the bleakest and most negative
perspectives. Its in your bloods, us laker fans come from the
perspective of winners, and we can make it work school of thought.

Brian: Yeah, and you obviously haven’t watched him play more than 100 games…

Matt: Yeah, I’ve watched Artest on the Pacers when I hated him, I watched him
on the Kings and liked him, then I watched him on Houston where I was
unbiased.  Same shit, different toilet.

Brian: I realized that the matching him with a HOF coach wasn’t really
addressed. I can already hear Kobe crying over the phone to Phil when
Artest takes 25 18 ft jumpers with a hand in his face. (Since Phil won’t
be there to do anything for half of their games, that settles that)


Matt: I’d love to hear Rambis, “um Ron, er, Mr. Artest?  Umm, do you, uh, think maybe you could not take so many off-balance 22 footers?  I mean, it’s cool if you want to keep doing that, but we have Kobe on our team too.  He’s not just a decoy.  Thanks Mr. Artest.  Don’t hurt me”

Andre: Did Artest come over and personally pee on your rug or something?  IS
Artest a carpet-pisser??

Brian: HAhaha! No, no rug pissing, he’s just been devastating to the team
concept for every franchise he’s played for, so I really can’t stand
that type of player..

Tony: I’d say Houston did just fine this year?????

Brian: Definitely a fluke, I’ve never seen him make that many shots through two
straight series…

Tony: I was talking about the team killer aspect……

Matt: Yeah, b/c much like you said, but with a different intent, the Rockets
didn’t have a kobe or gasol.  You think Shane Battier or Von Wafer are
gonna get pissed at him for shooting so much?  No.


Tony:Lets just accept the fact your going to shit on him no matter what he
does…….I get that.

Matt: I’m not saying he’s gonna turn the Lakers into a lottery team.
Remember, I’m the guy who defended him and said over and over I would
never trade him for Lamar Odom.  I still feel that way.  ALL I’M SAYING,
is that he’s gonna be a ball-hog and Kobe’s gonna get pissed at him.
Not really going out on a limb

Tony: Good let him get pissed….to alpha-dogs going after the same thing is
great. Phil is in his element with that shit.

Brian: You want Kobe to get pissed so he passes less? That doesn’t sound like a
good thing…


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July 1, 2009

The Sad State of the NBA

By chappy81

With the draft wrapped up and the free agency about to kick into full swing (Highlighted by Ben Gordon and Hedo Turkoglu), it seems like the NBA is in a different state than it has been for most seasons with the vicious economic decline. Instead of hearing about the best players being traded, we hear more about hedo_300_080204the rumors on how so many NBA teams are losing money, and are definitely going to have even more troubles with their payrolls next season. Money is the most valuable part of every organization and it seems that more teams are interested in shedding cap space, than making their teams better to compete for a title. Trade offers aren’t even about talent as much as who is getting the player with the big contract that expires next year. 12 teams accepted the leagues offer to borrow between $13 and $20 million. I won’t completely blame it on players and situations like the highly chronicled Darius Miles who is still sucking cap space away from Portland and just violated the leagues drug policy again. large_DariusBut, he is definitely one of the reasons the league needs to review the collective bargaining agreement before the seemingly imminent lockout in 2011.

My biggest concern for the NBA is the shrinking cap space each season. If the economy continues to go the way it has, the cap will keep falling. In turn, this will make it impossible for teams to stay under the cap especially with the current contract constructions weighted at the end, and put some teams over the cap before the next season even starts. This year will only be the second time in league history that the cap has been lowered from the previous season. Teams know this, and it is making them thriftier than ever. Why do they want to risk hitting the luxury tax for making it one round deeper in the playoffs? They really don’t, and this is going to be the NBA’s biggest problem during the recession! The objective for mediocrity in the league is not going to keep fans around, and without the fans the league will obviously struggle. The seats are already empty in the smaller market areas and terrible franchises. I watched many Clippers games (more than I’d like to admit) this year and most of the time you could hear the other teams fans that happen to live in L.A. at the games cheering over the Clippers’ fans (if there actually were any).

So with Amare on the block, and few interesting free agents out there, what will happen this offseason you ask? I think it’s going to be a lot of low-balling, and there will definitely be a lot of teams giving away superior talent just to relieve their books. With all of the talks surrounding my Warriors, and Amare Stoudemire possibly going to them, I took a step back to see what could possibly be behind it. Sure Amare is a great player when he’s healthy, but even he felt that the Warriors are giving up too much talent for him to want to go to there. It makes me wonder if the Warriors original objective was to have Stoudemire for a one year rental and have a lot of money come off the books instead of having: Biendris (5 years), Wright (3 years), and  Bellinelli (3 years). brad-millerWere the Warriors making a money dump like the Kings did when they gave away Brad Miller to save themselves millions off the cap in the long run? I feel like I can’t trust any move my team is making this offseason without wondering, was this done just for the pocketbook or did they really try to improve the team to make them a contender…

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June 26, 2009

NBA Draft Reactions – California Edition

By mceezy

The 2009 NBA Draft featured something we haven’t seen since 1998: Three California teams picking in the top 10.  That year was highlighted by the Sacramento Kings’ selection of Jason Williams, an unfortunate swap of Vince Carter of Antawn Jamison (which didn’t really turn out that bad) and a Clippers’ pick we’ll touch on in a minute.  Once again this year, the San Diego Clippers chose first, the Kings picked fourth, and the Golden State Warriors held the 7th selection.

Los Angeles Clippers #1: Blake Griffin, Oklahoma

From the producers of Michael Olowokandi, in came the consensus #1 pick.  I’ve been a long-time skeptic of Blake Griffin.  This past season, I was finally sold on Griffin being a solid all-around player.  He’s been dubbed as the “can’t-miss” selection of the draft.  What I’m not sold on is him becoming a great player.  Most will agree he’ll be a “long-time NBA starter.”  What that will translate to, I’m not sure.  All we can go on is the facts.  They are the Clippers.  Elton Brand managed to lead the Clippers to one postseason berth in his time in LA.  He set the bar pretty high.  I’m not sure if Griffin can lead them to the postseason, but they do also have Baron Davis, Zach Randolph, Eric Gordon, and Al Thornton.  Problem is, the losing culture of the franchise will overshadow all, including Griffin’s performance.

Sacramento Kings #4: Tyreke Evans, Memphis

Local sentiment favored Ricky Rubio, for the simple fact that many around here saw him as the next coming of Jason Williams.  J-Will didn’t single-handedly turn the franchise around – he had some help – but he was probably the most responsible for generating excitement and fan support.  It seemed like a match made in heaven.  Sac needed a point guard, and Rubio wanted to come here.  The Kings, however, instead opted for Evans.  I have to agree with the pick.  I have stated for a while now that Evans probably has the most star potential in this year’s draft.  How he’ll work out at PG I’m not sure, but he gives the Kings a much-needed scoring threat.  While I definitely see them improving on their impressive 17 win total from a year ago, the possible outcomes are many.  His production will constantly be compared with Rubio’s, as many will wonder what could’ve been.

Golden State Warriors #7: Stephen Curry, Davidson

I have wondered for a long time if Curry would be able to succeed at the elite level.  I’m still not sure if he can.  He impressed everywhere he worked out leading up to the draft, but many of those workouts are based largely around shooting displays – something we know Curry exceeds at.  The Warriors’ front office proclaims that he is the perfect fit for their system.  His game is so similar, yet different from Monta Ellis.  He does give them a much needed shooter.  Regardless of what happens, I love this pick for two reasons.  He’s not Jordan Hill, who was probably the W’s backup choice.  Second, I loved it simply for the reaction it got from Knicks’ fans.  I loved seeing their player get snatched up right before their pick, and then watching them settle for Jordan Hill.  Many thought Curry would be dealt, most likely to Phoenix.  However, Don Nelson today stated on the record that Curry could “unpack his bags, even buy a house,” because he “ain’t going anyplace.”  Problem is, Nellie’s word doesn’t carry much weight.

Los Angeles Lakers #59: Chinemelu Elonu, Texas A&M

Does it really even matter?

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May 27, 2009

Warriors Make Kings Look Good?

By mceezy

Sacramento media and Kings fans are getting delusional.  The outlook is definitely bleak around these parts. Bill Bradley of the Sacramento Bee is clearly grasping at straws here, saying the Warriors’ mess makes the Kings look good.

http://www.sacbee.com/sports/story/1893998.html

That’s a bit of a stretch, Bill.  While it’s no secret the W’s front office has been making questionable moves, it’s ridiculous to suggest that one should be thankful to be a Kings fan.  For one, the W’s have a legitimate NBA roster.  The Kings look more like a D-League team.  Golden State has a fanbase, an arena, a coach, and could turn it around with a trade or two, or even their entire roster coming back healthy and gelling like they did during the We Believe era.  The Kings, on the other hand, have a long, long way to go.  This guy sums it up pretty well….

The Kings were last in the NBA this season in fan attendance at games. 30th out of 30.The Warriors were 9th out of 30, drawing more fans per game than teams like Boston, Phoenix, and Denver.— KingsFansBite

The more things unfold, the more the Kings are looking like the NBA version of Major League’s Cleveland Indians.  Instead of a Vegas showgirl desperately trying to tank and move to Miami, we have some Vegas hotel owners who may as well be moving boxes to Sin City.  I’m starting my script for “The Association”.  Here’s my cast of characters…

Charlie Donovan – Geoff Petrie.  The once highly-respected GM has been reduced to a meager budget and sub-par talent.  No matter how much he tries to put together a competitive squad, the resources available leave him with little to no options.

Lou Brown – the Kings’ next coach.  Whoever it is, it’ll be someone past their prime who can only sift through the excuses.  It’s either a knee thing, or an emotional thing, or a psychological thing, or a HEART ATTAAACCKKKKK

Let me get back to you, will ya, Geoff? I got a guy on the other line asking about some white walls.

Let me get back to you, will ya, Geoff? I got a guy on the other line asking about some white walls.

Roob Baker – Spencer Hawes.  Young guy with some promise.  Like Roob throwing lasers to second, but missing simple throw backs to the pitcher, Hawes can knock down the three, but… that’s about it.

Willie Mays Hayes – Donte Greene.  Say hey! I’m a 2 guard in a power forward’s body.

Pedro Cerrano – Jason Thompson. Thompson want to dunk ball!

Hats for bats. Keep bats warm.

Hats for bats. Keep bats warm.

Rick Vaughn – Beno Udrih.  Had a good season, got a contract, then got moved to the bullpen.

Roger Dorn – Shareef Abdur-Rahim.  Hey guys, great news…  Today, at 12:35 pm, I activated myself!

Harry Doyle – Jerry Reynolds.  Remember, fans, Tuesday is Die Hard Night. Free admission for anyone who was actually alive the last time the Kings won the title.

Take Over Napear. Im in the BAG

Take Over Napear. I'm in the BAG

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