A mentor who has emerged for Cousins is former Kings forward Chris Webber, who played seven seasons in Sacramento. He has tried to offer sound advice, not criticism.

"I have the utmost respect for C-Web, he’s a real person,’’ Cousins said. "He just gives me advice, tells me how to handle situations. He went through similar situations so of course he has advice for me. I guess you can say a big brother looking over me.’’

1 year for 1.07 million dollars.

Kinda wish the Kings would have pursued him. I think he would given us that extra depth on size at the 5 we still need(IMO) AND it would have kept him away from the Whoriers.

Westphal says Chuck Hayes is due in Sacramento tomorrow....didn't say if it was re-sign with the Kings. Said team is thrilled about news

Geoff Petrie said the Kings looking to add a big man but "it's not a panic situation at all." Added most proven players already signed

"If things work out, everything structurally (with the contact), it will be Sacramento,’’ Dalembert said in a phone interview with FOX Sports Florida from his Boca Raton, Fla., home. "It’s close.’’

The Rockets on Monday made inquiries about the prognosis of former Rockets forward Chuck Hayes to determine if his medical condition might allow him to be a free-agent option again, a person with knowledge of the talks said.

With Kirilenko playing coy, why not drop a cool million down for Outlaw on the cheap. Outlaw could fill that 3/4 hybrid forward for us.

Chuck Hayes' agent says Kings & Wolves still favorites but Rockets "begging" them to wait. "I think they've got something up their sleeve

Hayes' agent says Adelman factor is "huge," add it's not just about $, but "money has to be similar." Kings reportedly offered 4-yrs, $20M

Rumor has it another BYU offensive starter is too. Apo?

With 3 teams in the mix, all above the salary cap(I believe), we got ourselves a bidding war for a SnT. I don't think we'll get a ton of value, but an expiring deal of a semi-decent quality vet with a late 1st rounder or B level prospect might do the trick.

If they added that western division. I think I'd actually pull the trigger, barring the TV deal is palatable.

WARRIORS 124, KINGS 92: Golden State led wire to wire. The Warriors went on a 24-4 run behind strong bench play in the second quarter and blew out the Kings for their first win of the season. Golden State got strong performances up and down the roster, but of special note was the 10 points on 5-of-5 shooting by rookie Charles Jenkins. Kings rookie Jimmer Fredette fared better in his second start. After missing all six of his shots in his debut, Fredette scored 14 points on 6-of-9 shooting and made his first two NBA three-pointers. Of course, that's just 15 shots from the field in 56 minutes over two games for player about whom there are concerns over his ability to create his own shot at the NBA level.

STRAT-O-MATIC BOX SCORE
SACRAMENTO 22 16 35 19 92
GOLDEN STATE 30 31 39 24 124

----FG--- ---3PT--- ---FT--- REBOUNDS
NAME MIN MD AT PCT MD AT PCT MD AT PCT +/- OF DF T AS PF ST TO BK PTS
D.COUSINS 36 6 13 46 0 0 10 12 83 -18 3 7 10 2 2 2 4 1 22
T.EVANS 37 4 11 36 1 4 25 3 6 50 -18 0 3 3 9 0 1 2 1 12
J.HICKSON 30 6 10 60 0 0 3 5 60 -10 3 3 6 1 2 0 3 1 15
J.SALMONS 35 3 10 30 1 2 50 0 0 -13 0 3 3 4 2 2 3 1 7
J.FREDETTE 26 6 9 67 2 5 40 0 0 -17 0 0 0 4 3 0 1 0 14
S.DALEMBERT 10 2 3 67 0 0 0 0 -14 1 2 3 0 5 1 2 1 4
M.THORNTON 32 4 11 36 0 1 0 1 2 50 -27 0 5 5 2 1 3 2 0 9
J.THOMPSON 15 2 4 50 0 0 0 1 0 -20 1 2 3 0 3 0 2 1 4
F.GARCIA 12 1 5 20 0 3 0 0 0 -19 0 1 1 1 1 0 1 0 2
D.JACKSON 5 0 0 0 0 1 2 50 -2 1 0 1 0 1 1 1 0 1
I.THOMAS 2 1 1 100 0 0 0 0 -2 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 2
SACRAMENTO 48 35 77 45 4 15 27 18 28 64 10 26 36 23 20 10 21 6 92
----FG--- ---3PT--- ---FT--- REBOUNDS
NAME MIN MD AT PCT MD AT PCT MD AT PCT +/- OF DF T AS PF ST TO BK PTS
M.ELLIS 38 14 27 52 2 4 50 2 4 50 31 0 4 4 7 1 1 1 0 32
D.WRIGHT 33 6 10 60 0 4 0 2 2 100 12 1 2 3 6 2 0 2 0 14
D.LEE 32 10 14 71 0 0 3 3 100 10 1 9 10 1 2 2 3 0 23
S.CURRY 30 5 10 50 2 4 50 2 2 100 12 1 3 4 7 5 0 3 0 14
A.BIEDRINS 15 1 3 33 0 0 0 0 8 2 2 4 2 5 2 0 2 2
R.WILLIAMS 14 2 4 50 0 1 0 0 1 0 19 0 0 0 1 2 0 0 0 4
V.RADMANOVIC 3 2 2 100 1 1 100 0 0 3 1 0 1 1 0 1 0 0 5
E.UDOH 26 3 4 75 0 0 3 4 75 18 3 2 5 0 5 2 1 1 9
L.AMUNDSON 21 3 7 43 0 0 1 3 33 25 4 5 9 0 1 0 1 1 7
A.THORNTON 1 1 2 50 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2
K.THOMPSON 13 1 5 20 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 3 3 3 1 0 2 0 2
C.JENKINS 14 5 5 100 0 0 0 0 20 0 2 2 3 1 3 2 0 10
GOLDEN STAT 48 53 93 57 5 16 31 13 19 68 13 32 45 31 25 11 15 4 124

SACRAMENTO GOLDEN STATE
Fast Break Pts 24 Fast Break Pts 38
Second Chance Pts 13 Second Chance Pts 8
Points in the Paint 32 Points In the Paint 32
Biggest Lead 0 Biggest Lead 35

BASKETBALL PROSPECTUS BOX SCORE
SAC (0-2)...........PLY% USG PCP +/- GR GSW (1-1)...........PLY% USG PCP +/- GR
cousins,demarcus.....75% 27% 1.00 -18 20.5 ellis,monta..........79% 33% 1.17 +31 33.7
evans,tyreke.........77% 18% 1.21 -18 17.9 lee,david............67% 24% 1.29 +10 18.6
fredette,jimmer......54% 16% 1.56 -17 14.8 wright,dorell........69% 15% 1.38 +12 16.0
hickson,j.j..........63% 22% 0.96 -10 12.5 curry,stephen........63% 18% 1.38 +12 13.6
thornton,marcus......67% 18% 0.81 -27 9.6 jenkins,charles......29% 20% 1.79 +20 10.7
salmons,john.........73% 15% 0.85 -13 8.4 amundson,louis.......44% 18% 0.99 +25 7.8
thompson,jason.......31% 18% 0.56 -20 2.8 udoh,epke............54% 9% 1.49 +18 7.6
dalembert,samuel.....21% 21% 0.66 -14 2.6 radmanovic,vladimir.. 6% 28% 3.27 + 3 5.8
garcia,francisco.....25% 21% 0.39 -19 2.1 thompson,klay........27% 22% 0.66 + 1 4.2
thomas,isaiah........ 4% 21% 2.03 - 2 1.8 biedrins,andris......31% 6% 1.76 + 8 3.8
jackson,darnell......10% 15% 0.66 - 2 1.1 williams,reggie......29% 12% 0.88 +19 3.4
greene,donte.........(DNP) thornton,al.......... 2% 90% 0.80 + 1 1.5
PACE: 97.8 ORTG eFG% oRB% TO% FTA% PACE: 97.8 ORTG eFG% oRB% TO% FTA%
KINGS............ 94.1 .481 .238 .215 .126 WARRIORS......... 126.8 .597 .333 .153 .086
---

"If everybody begins to dig into their respective positions, then I think the league will be decimated. It took us five years to recover from the 1998 lockout and there's probability that we may never recover [from this lockout]," Hunter told ESPN before Friday's sit-down with players. "I think there will be some teams that won't survive. Particularly if the season gets shut down, there will be teams that will not be around next year."

Hunter singled out the Sacramento Kings as a franchise that may fall victim to "forced contraction."

Over our collective dead bodies. Memphis and New Orleans would be first up to bat IMO IF it were ever going to happen - gotta love scare tactics.

Sam Amick nails it. He's easily one of the greatest sports writers today and to think, he worked for the Bee of all places!

SACRAMENTO KINGS GRADE: A
Round 1: Jimmer Fredette (10, obtained from Bucks)

Round 2: Tyler Honeycutt (35), Isaiah Thomas (60, obtained from Chicago via Milwaukee)

Analysis: I hated the trade the Kings made on Thursday. But I loved Sacramento's draft.

Jimmer Fredette was the perfect fit on a team that needed his shooting ability. (I would say the same thing if the Kings would've stayed at No. 7 and taken Fredette.) At a minimum, Fredette will come in and be a sharpshooting sparkplug off the bench, but he could be much more. He's replacing Beno Udrih, and Fredette should eventually be an upgrade over Udrih in almost every way.

My main concern is the fact that the coaching staff reportedly isn't in love with Fredette, which could be a problem. For him to succeed, he will need a coach who believes in him.

I like the Tyler Honeycutt pick, as well. Honeycutt has a lot of untapped talent, a high basketball IQ and good passing ability, which should allow him to stick in the league.

Isaiah Thomas has value as the No. 60 pick -- he's tough, he can get to the basket and he can play the point.

The Timberwolves agreeing to terms with Ricky Rubio on a contract means they are expected to move former Syracuse standout Jonny Flynn, who fell out of favor with coach Kurt Rambis and was replaced at the point by Luke Ridnour. Look for the Kings and Raptors to make bids for Flynn, who faltered in general manager David Kahn’s survival-of-the-fittest plan for his point guards . . .

"The Milwaukee Bucks reportedly would be open to listening to offers for guard Brandon Jennings."

Interested? What's would be your best offer?

As the trade deadline approaches, Petrie said "a quality player with some proven history" would appeal to the Kings.

"A first choice would be to fit some needs," Petrie said. "Another playmaker, another shooter to start with and then go from there. Again, when you're trying to trade like for like, it starts to narrow."

A source with knowledge of the situation said the Rockets "are going to try hard" to move Brooks before the Feb. 24 trade deadline. A separate source confirmed that the Knicks are interested.

The 6-foot guard was suspended by the Rockets for last night's game against the Nuggets after he walked off the court during a timeout late in Houston's victory over Memphis on Saturday. Brooks, the NBA 's Most Improved Player last season, has been upset with coach Rick Adelman about his playing time, which has been significantly reduced since his return from an early-season ankle injury.

The Rockets are expected to make a move. Carl Landry is available in Sacramento and the Rockets do have interest in bringing him back to Houston.

The Rockets have discussed Yao Ming with the Kings and Bobcats, according to Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle.

Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports reported on Monday afternoon that Houston was shopping the All-Star center.

Sacramento has the sort of young talent that Houston would seek as part of any deal, while Charlotte would likely have to include coveted draft picks in addition to players.

The Kings are against trading rookie DeMarcus Cousins, despite concerns about his character and the team's rough start.

Nothing is imminent, with a trade much more likely around February's deadline.

The NBA has assumed ownership of the financially struggling Hornets in New Orleans; and the Kings in Sacramento are looking for a new arena.

Louisville attorney Ed Glasscock, who also worked on previous NBA bids, called the Hornets and Kings "two prospects."

The Rockets would like it. Amick mentions it. Bill Ingram runs with it. However, this time I think his logic is spot on. A Brooks/Taylor for Landry type deal could make a lot of sense for both sides.

Interesting to see how this whole thing played out.