SB Nation User Blog: longtimelistenerfirsttimecaller

Donte does it all...

longtimelistenerfirsttimecaller — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 17:58:10 -0000

Besides his versatile game on the court... he is also a life-saver as reported by the AP today:

(12-10) 09:40 PST Sacramento, Calif. (AP) --

Sacramento Kings forward Donte Greene says it felt "like it took forever" for a boat to reach him after he dove into a dark and chilly river to help a woman who had fallen from a boat. Greene and friends were boating on the American River near Discovery Park at about 7 p.m. Monday when the unidentified female passenger attempted to pull up a ladder. The pilot put the boat in gear and she fell off the back as the boat lunged forward.

Greene says he heard yelling and "a big splash." When he saw the woman flailing in the current, he dove in after her. The basketball star says he had to dodge other boats to get to the woman as their boat circled around to pick them up. The woman did not need medical attention.

Greene, who played for Syracuse University, was the 28th overall pick in the 2008 draft.

And yes, I know this should have been a fanshot, but it was easier to cut and paste. My apologies... but what the hell was he doing on the river after dark and in the cold anyway?

Hollinger's Painful Analysis

longtimelistenerfirsttimecaller — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 20:03:11 -0000

John Hollinger's analysis of the West has our beloved Kings firmly planted in the basement. Here's what he says:

Shell-shocked by increasingly horrific economics in Sacto and the woefully outdated Arco Arena, the Kings locked down financially while they wait to find out where their next home will be. If it's a new building in Sacramento, great, but if not, San Jose, Anaheim, Kansas City and others await with open arms. Either way, they won't spend a nickel without some certainty on this front.

The Kings did pick up a potential star in the draft in Tyreke Evans and a low-budget breakout possibility in Sergio Rodriguez, plus Kevin Martin should be healthier. That should keep them run-of-the-mill bad rather than historically awful, but optimists won't find a lot of ammunition here.

For those of you with Insider access, he has a very interesting story on the falling luxury tax line and how it is going to impact next year's free agents. In essence many more teams are facing serious tax problems next year and he predicts another buyers market for the free agent crop and for quality players under contract with teams trying to get under the tax line by the very small number of teams likely to have cap space.... Kings are in that small class.

Is GP too respectful of other GMs?

longtimelistenerfirsttimecaller — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 22:40:52 -0000

Today the Denver Nuggets traded Stephen Hunter ($3.6M one year contract) and a protected first round pick to Memphis for a second round pick. This is reminiscent of the famous Suns/Sonics trade of a few years ago... clearly a salary dump by Denver. Why couldn't we have gotten the same deal? While I have no illusions that Hunter would add a single win to our total, we do seem to be a little thin at the 4/5. Spending $3M for a first round pick and a serviceable player on a one-year deal seems pretty good to me --- though its not my $3M. If it wasn't for the Grizzlies making the deal, I'd say finances probably made it cost prohibitive, but for God's sake if the Griz can afford it, surely the Kings can.

All of this got me thinking that I don't ever recall GP making a trade when everyone thought he "put one over" on some other team. Am i wrong? I mean, Kupchak had the balls to call the Griz and say "how about i give you a bunch of crap and take that Pau Gasol guy off your hands?" More recently, the Spurs traded a bunch of crap for Richard Jefferson. There are perhaps 6-10 deals in the last decade in which the consensus was that one GM stole somebody for nothing from some idiot GM. I just don't recall GP being one of those guys.

The good news is that he is also not one of those guys who gets taken advantage of and makes a stupid deal. I think most of his deals have been reasonably fair on their face. Maybe it became one-sided after the fact (e.g. due to injury) but for the most part the consensus was that the trade was "fair" to both sides. That's not a bad thing and shouldn't be undervalued.... but,

GP, pick up the phone... make the ridiculous offer... who knows what you might hear on the end of the line.

Don't underestimate the stupidity of the Clippers

longtimelistenerfirsttimecaller — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 19:09:58 -0000

Last week I posted a Beno for Camby deal. Many blasted the idea saying the Clips would never do it. Today, Chad Ford says in his ESPN Chat that the Clips (apparently the owner Stirling) rejected a deal for Darko's expiring for Zach Randoph's mammoth contract! I guess you can also say "don't underestimate the stupidity of the Grizzlies" because I think the proposal was nearly as stupid as turning it down. Thus, I repeat, you don't have to offer equal value to some teams to make trades (e.g. Paul Gasol to Lakers).

The hand-checking rules have been changed since 2001, but it has taken a few years for the rules to...

longtimelistenerfirsttimecaller — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 22:31:00 -0000

The hand-checking rules have been changed since 2001, but it has taken a few years for the rules to evolve into a different loooking game.

As of 2009, it's officially clear that super-fast guards can do serious damage in NBA defenses. Tony Parker, Chris Paul, Aaron Brooks ... the quick guys who can get into the lane at will have become little one-man wrecking crews at times.

The old way to guard them was to bump them off course with an arm or a body. The new way ... not sure there is a new way yet.

I had been assuming that every team would basically have to have a speedy defender to throw out there in those situations. (Somebody keeps blowing by Steve Blake? Bring in Jerryd Bayless!)

But assumptions are always dangerous, and Kurt from Forum Blue and Gold makes a great point: If nobody can stop those guys consistently without drawing a lot of fouls, why carry a player who specializes in trying?

And what's more, why play a tiny guy, when long ones are generally more effective?

The Lakers have had their best success not with small and quick but with bigger and longer. Look at it this way, under today's rules Tony Parker could not defend Tony Parker, Jameer Nelson could not stop Jameer Nelson. Defending these guards with bigger, longer players allows some room for mistakes with good recovery. They Lakers had some of their best success this season when Trevor Ariza was switched to cover a point guard. Just something to think about.

Beno for Camby?

longtimelistenerfirsttimecaller — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 18:00:13 -0000

I've lost track of where we will be re: the cap after July 1, but the Clips need to get rid of a big to make room for Griffin and lack a competent back-up to Baron (especially with his injury history) and it was widely reported that Dunleavy was going to make an offer to Beno last year. Beno's deal is nearly $6M and Camby's is about $10M with one year left. Think the Clips would do it to cut some money and move Camby?

Extreme Makeover

longtimelistenerfirsttimecaller — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 17:26:02 -0000

The blogosphere is ripe with rumors preceding the draft...that's not unusual. At the end of the day, a few trades involving picks are made and every team moves towards the next phase of summer activity in July. But this year has a different feel, and I would argue is ripe with opportunity. Already, Richard Jefferson has been moved for spare parts (i.e. cap relief), the Wiz traded away the #5 pick, Minny now has a bunch of first round picks, but most importantly many teams seem to be interested in moving pieces, either for financial relief or in anticipation of the 2010 "summer of love."

Just a few of the names frequently tossed around: Rondo, Ray Allen, Bosh, Shaq, Amare, Josh Smith, Josh Howard, David Lee, Tyrus Thomas, Kirk Heinrich, Sessions, Villanueva, Rafer Alston, Chandler, not to mention the FA's that are beyond our cap space as our roster sits today - Ariza, Hedo, Boozer, Gordon, etc.

So, is this an opportunity for an "extreme makeover" as opposed to "building for the future." It appears that the plan is to hope Spencer is a pretty good center, hope JT is a pretty good 4, hope Donte is a pretty good 3, know that KMart is a pretty good 2 and hope Draft #4 is a pretty good PG. We won't know the answer to any of those 4 questions for the next two or three years (and maybe longer as it relates to this year's draft pick). So we lose a bunch of games for the next couple years (continuing to get good draft picks along the way) and hopefully either the team grows into something pretty good (the current portland model), or the assets are moved for in a couple years to make a big play for veterans (the boston model). Both are viable options.

But with the state of the league right now, my question is whether there is an opportunity to change course and make a move now? It would certainly require the Maloofs to open the wallets and allow GP to take salary up to at least near the luxury tax threshold.

I think it might be time to strike. I like the guys on our team, but I honestly don't think we have the makings of a 60 win team in the next two or three years. Isn't that the goal? (I say that because I think the goal is to be a contender, I think its a false goal to say "win the title" because its clear to me that 9 out of 10 times the title is one by one of the 3 or 4 best players in the world, and we don't have any of those).

I am not making any proposal here, but am intrigued by the possibility of getting a complete makeover: So if we had to move KMart and JT and Cisco and expirings and picks to end up with Rondo, Allen, and Tyrus Thomas and Tyreke Evans, or maybe D. Lee, I would go into next season a lot happier than wondering how our 18 or 19 year old point guard is going to do next season as we win 26 games.

If it wasn't for those meddling kids...

longtimelistenerfirsttimecaller — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 20:44:40 -0000

So what if Chad Ford's sources are correct and the basketball people within the organization are not sold on Ricky... would the Maloofs step in and insist that GP turn in his card to the Commish? In other words, we all assumed that during the coaching search that the boys had learned their lesson and stayed out of the final hiring decision. Would they be smart enough to stay out of the draft selection process too? My sense is that until this year, they probably had no reason to involve themselves in the draft decision-making process, but this pick is clearly different. We've all discussed the immediate marketing/financial benefits choosing Ricky would bring the Kings... and I believe that those benefits are significant. Are they significant enough to have the boys veto GP's preferred selection of say Flynn or Evans? I raise this, because I get the feeling that the basketball people think maybe Brandon Jennings had it right... RR might be more hype than talent. (See Hollinger analysis posted today). That is not to say he isn't talented, he clearly is. I just don't believe there is a smoke-screen out there designed to secure RR to us at #4, I think there is real indecision.

If this is the scenario facing GP right now (i.e. he feels strongly that taking Ricky is a mistake) what might he do?

1) convince the boys to go with Curry as "Ricky-lite" from a marketing perspective?

2) make the pick and walk after his contract expires?

3) try to make a trade either involving the pick or getting an established PG so that he can sell that the trade result is better than getting RR (any reason to believe that GP sniffing around the Boston Rajon Rondo rumors is part of this strategy?)?

4) hand the Flynn/Evans card to the Commish and dare the boys to fire him?

Thorpe Rates the PG Prospects

longtimelistenerfirsttimecaller — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 19:53:14 -0000

On ESPN's podcast today, Chad Ford says nothing (no surprise there) but David Thorpe rates the PG prospects. He has Rubio as the best in the class (based on his pure instincts for the position) and has Curry and Jrue Holliday ranked equally as the next best group. He has worked out Holliday and comments on his intellect, personality, strong family and desire to play defense... I repeat, his desire to play defense. Thorpe also says that while Jrue had a bad year shooting at UCLA, he thinks his shot is fine mechanically and that he shot lights out in his gym. Thorpe thinks that Jrue's defensive prowess is to be highly valued by teams since point guards so easily blow by their man on most teams. As for Curry, he simply says his offensive game is just so much better than everyone else's that his is the top group.

I wonder if Jrue is really our back-up plan if Rubio is gone.

the wrong Calathes?

longtimelistenerfirsttimecaller — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 23:56:18 -0000

posted today on HoopsHype: According to superbasket.gr Pat Calathes (2.09-SF/PF) has exercised a certain term in his contract and he is now a free agent. The greek/american small forward will be taking part in the Las Vegas Summer Camp with the team of the Sacramento Kings in his attempt to secure another contract in Europe.

Last summer he signed a contract with Maroussi for 3 seasons but he didn't get much playing time. This summer he will probably the 3rd player to leave Maroussi after Mavrokefalides returning to Olympiakos and Glyniadakis who has already declared he has offers from other teams. This season he averaged 3.5 points and 1.7 rebounds in 31 games in the greek A1 league.