The NBA Draft is a lot like a game of checkers. There isn’t a ton of strategy involved. You basically take what is given to you and just try to jump everybody on the board. You hope that the end result is you as the victor and screaming, “King me!” throughout the game.

But now that the draft is over and the checkers pieces are put away in a thin cardboard box, it’s time to bust out the chess pieces for the next 11 months and get back to battling wits with all of the smart GMs and coaches in the league and Mike Dunleavy, Sr. Free agency is the next calendar item on the agenda of this NBA off-season and with that comes big decisions for how this Kings team will be shaped. Geoff Petrie has come out and told everybody that the Kings want to get bigger and more physical. They showed a lot of that in this draft by grabbing the biggest point guard prospect, a big small forward who draws comparisons of Matt Harpring, and a strong power forward that is a good rebounder in spite of his 6’7” frame.

But do the Kings really need to go big? Tom Ziller just made a case that the Kings don’t really need another center. And he makes good points. The Kings have a versatile frontcourt that plays multiple positions and can be long or strong enough to grab boards and challenge shots. But what the Kings don’t have is a depth of shooters and wing positions. Let’s take a look at the depth chart:

PG: Tyreke Evans – Sergio Rodriguez – Beno Udrih
SG: Kevin Martin
SF: Francisco Garcia – Andres Nocioni – Omri Casspi
PF: Jason Thompson — Donte Greene – Jon Brockman
C: Spencer Hawes – Kenny Thomas

Okay, really the Kings have a dearth of shooters from the outside and a depth in the frontcourt. Technically, you could say that Francisco Garcia is the backup shooting guard and Andres Nocioni should be starting. And Kenny Thomas is too short to play power forward so why put him in the center slot? Well, K9 probably still isn’t going to play and it just looks more even to put him there for aesthetical reasons. The point guard position is stacked with two bright young prospects (Tyreke and Sergio) plus whatever Beno does for the team. Sacramento has 12 players under contract for next year (once the rookies get signed) and will probably only add two small contract filler types to the roster to round out their squad for next season.

So where do the Kings need to add depth and help?

Well, let’s assume that Petrie will want to do three things: 1) keep the 15th spot on the roster open so he can remain flexible with any moves and/or trades that may come his way in the future, 2) add the big man to fill the need for size that he believes the Kings’ roster needs, and 3) add a guard to the rotation so the Kings can remain flexible with where they play guys like Evans, Martin, and Garcia. So what are the options? Let’s look at them in descending order from “Unlikely” to “Getable” (Ike Diogu not include):

Unlikely

This is the group of players that will probably command more money than the Kings are willing to spend. The Kings want to remain cap flexible in filling out their roster so when the time is right, they can go after a top or second tier free agent and try to woo him with plenty of cap cash.

The most intriguing option to me in this big man group is someone like Zaza Pachulia. Zaza is only 25 years old (turns 26 during next season) and has enough size and strength to be the prototypical backup center. He’s competent around the basket and is a pretty good rebounder for his Per 36-Minute numbers and rebounding rate. He’s also in line to inherit around $100 million in assets from a family member as long as he gets married in the near future. So you don’t only get a family trust-toting perfect backup center who could be relatively cheap and allow you to maintain your cap flexibility but you also get all of the Chris O’Donnell comparison jokes with it.

The problem with trying to sign Pachulia is that he’s likely to either re-sign in Atlanta or find more of a contender to play with. The Kings are not a contender yet and will have to live with free agents passing them by for more winning pastures.

As for the guards, the perfect fit for this team would be someone like Eddie House to stretch the defense and keep help defenders honest. He’s not a guy that needs a lot of attention. He just needs a few open looks per game to get himself and the crowd going. Unfortunately, he’s had a taste of championship basketball and would much rather matter on a grander NBA scene than what Sacramento is right now.

And the only reason I have Steve Novak on the guards list is because he doesn’t do anything forward like and shoots the three better than most. Plus I wanted to even out the lists.

Risky Picks

This is quite the interesting collection of players right here. Signing guys like Fred Jones, Stromile Swift, and Chris Mihm is enough to cause a fan revolt against your owners and personnel department. But at the same time, SOMEONE has to fill out the roster and these guys are just good enough to get a crack at the regular rotation.

For adding size, Sean May could be the most intriguing. He’s like a fatter, taller, worse version of Marcus Fizer only fatter. But he does have quite a bit of basketball skill. He can knock down the outside jumper with some regularity and range out to a comfortable 18-feet. He actually has some pretty decent per game and Per 36-Minute numbers across the board. The problem is that he doesn’t have a good total of games player under his expanding belt. In three professional seasons, he has only played 82 games due to various injuries and conditioning issues. In the season he played his most games (35), he had averages of 11.9 points and 6.7 rebounds in just under 24 minutes per game.

Since they already have a number of interchangeable parts at the power forward and center positions that could make due playing multiple positions, Sean might be worth the risk. If he’s healthy, he will be a valuable weapon off the bench. And when he isn’t healthy, it isn’t a huge loss this season. Plus, with his history of missing games, he can probably be had for the veteran’s minimum.

As for the guards, outside of Jones the other two guys are questionable projects that risk giving you nothing but headaches and head scratches. Von Wafer is someone that fans will trick themselves into being happy about because they saw him dunk a few times in the playoffs. Gerald Green is someone who people still hold out on as being the next Tracy McGrady. But both guys have glaring holes in their games. Both guys are bad outside shooters. Both guys are probably a Vernon Maxwell jumper away from being tolerable. Both guys would probably end up being bad pickups and not worth the time or money.

Getable Guys

NOW, we’re talking! This is the list of players at both positions that are not only likely signings if pursued but also fill the voids in the Kings rosters.

I know what some of you are thinking right off the bat – why is Ricky Davis on the list of possibilities? It’s simply to make sure you’re still awake and reading. He should never be a free agent option for any team.

For the big men, we know what a player like Shelden Williams can give the team. He’s a tough defender and a nice rebounder. He can clean up the offensive glass on occasion and you don’t have to call a single play for him. He’s pretty much the prototypical third or fourth big man in the rotation. But he isn’t a sexy pick by any means. Guys like Melvin Ely and Chris Wilcox are still perceived to have more upside despite the fact that they’ve reached their actual ceiling as players. Ely can be a decent enough scoring option in the post for about 15 minutes per game. He doesn’t kill you defensively and is big enough to bang with true centers (the four remaining ones we have). Wilcox is more athletic but less reliable from game to game. His rebounding is suspect and he isn’t a good or bad defender. He’s just a neutral defender.

The benefit from grabbing Wilcox with the bi-annual exception could be the fact that he’d be cheap and is versatile enough to run the floor for the Kings. The benefit from grabbing Ely is he’s a better big man and the fact that he looks exactly like Oprah Winfrey gives me great joy.

As for the guards, I think Luther Head or Morris Almond could end up being a steal for the Kings. Luther Head is able to play both positions and knock down outside shots. He’s a good ball-handler and makes good decisions with the ball. He doesn’t require you to play him for 25 minutes per game to be effective and will blend in perfectly with any attack. He’s got enough size to be competent anywhere on the floor. He’s basically the perfect backup combo guard. Almond is strictly a pure-shooter who can fill it up from the perimeter. He could fill a Kyle Korver-type of role for the Kings. He’d be a cheap, non-guaranteed contract who could split time between the Kings and the D-League affiliate.

The two other intriguing options are Maurice Ager and Kareem Rush. With Rush, you know exactly what you’re getting — a smooth perimeter player that really shouldn’t be on the court for more than 14 minutes per game. He fills a role as well as anyone without ever conjuring up feelings of should he be given more minutes? But Ager is potentially another Shannon Brown situation. He’s a powerful shooting guard living in a point guard’s body. He’s strong and aggressive. He’s tough and physical with the ball. He has a good-enough jumper. And he’d be cheap. There’s no guarantee that he can be an effective role player on a winning team in this league but he could be an instant fan favorite.

Question Mark
Hedo Turkgolu.

Or do you attempt a sign and trade to bring in someone like Hedo Turkoglu to take ball-handling pressure off of Tyreke Evans and attempt to make a run at the playoffs THIS year with a young roster and a playoff-tested veteran.

That’s probably a topic for another time…

The Sacramento Kings received their Big Brother program assignment yesterday for the NBDL and it will once again be the Reno Bighorns for the second year in a row.

Teams have the option of taking over the D-League affiliates basketball operations without having to actually purchase the team but the Kings haven’t decided to do that yet. They’ll be sharing the farm team with the Orlando Magic, instead of joining the Spurs, Lakers, Rockets, and Thunder as the only teams in the NBA to run their own NBDL team.

As for last year’s team and what type of player you can possibly expect to be readily available for the Kings? Well, each team will have a fair crack at the players whose rights are not owned by an NBA franchise but their were some significant players on least year’s Bighorns squad that could be easily scouted and readily available to the Kings.

Last year’s Reno team featured players such as David Noel (best athlete in the 2006 draft class), Rod Benson (of Boom Tho Movement and Ball Don’t Lie fame), Richie Frahm (oh those crazy Gonzaga Bulldogs), Andre Patterson (Indiana Hoosiers last decent export before Ben Eric Gordon) and Cezary Trybanski (Grizzlies fans know what I’m talking about – all six of you).

The team last year went 25-25 and won 13 of their last 18 games after starting the season 1-12. That could mean something going into next season but it probably doesn’t considering they’re going to draft an entirely new roster before the season starts.

You can probably expect a couple of summer league standouts from the next month and possibly Omri Casspi or Jon Brockman to make an appearance or two in the biggest little city in the world throughout the year if they need more seasoning and/or to make room for a higher level acquisition.

It’s nice to have you aboard again, Reno. Go Big Horns.

We’re a couple of days removed from the NBA Draft and I thought it was time to let the dust settle and look back over what people/analysts/people who are analysts had to say to see what their reactions were to the selection of Tyreke Evans over Ricky Rubio by the Kings. So here goes, I’ll try to respond to each of the reactions whether they’re negative or positive or a Switzerland-esque neutral.

First off, Bill Simmons from his 13th Annual NBA Draft Running Diary:

“4:57: In desperate need of a point guard, Sacramento takes … Tyreke Evans. It’s as if these GMs are trying to hurt me. I feel physically ill.

Tyreke’s weaknesses, according to our ESPN.com Draft Card: “Can be selfish … over-dribbles … lacks consistent range on his jump shot … not a super explosive leaper … poor shot selection.” They left out, “Not a natural point guard,” and “drove a getaway car during a drive-by shooting but was not charged by police.”

4:58: Shaking my head.

4:58: Still shaking my head.

4:58: Bilas loves the pick but says, “He’s a little bit ball-dominant, he needs to have the ball in his hands, and he’s not a good shooter.” Ball-dominant … isn’t that a nice way of calling someone a ball hog? Where is my Jay Bilas Thesaurus?

4:59: Scott on Evans: “His nickname is ‘Hugo’ because he was born during Hurricane Hugo.” That pick was a natural disaster. Literally.”

Now, while I disagree more with Bill Simmons in the past two years than I would have thought I ever would, I’m not one of those guys that bashes whatever he does/writes while secretly waiting for his next article to come out on Page 2. I’m a fan of his and have no problem letting it be known. Despite the fact that he has confused me on many a topic in the past two years doesn’t mean I all of a sudden have to hate him.

Read more…

Found this from a Mr. Tom Ziller on Sactown Royalty.

I remember how Tyreke Evans was the prize of the 2008 recruiting class and then seemingly in the first two months of the college season, everyone had already forgotten about him.

Now? He was one of the more polarizing picks of the 2009 Draft and the potential savior of a small market franchise looking to get back to prosperity.

Founded in 1948, started with a bang, has undergone some impressive leaders and inspirational figures during the sixties, never stood on a stable ground, and suffered from depression in recent years, in part because of some painful failures. This description is adequate not only for the Sacramento Kings franchise, but for the state of Israel as well.

The Israeli people gathered into the state from all over the world – North Africa and South America, Eastern Europe and Western Asia – but generally found the common denominator in successes in international arenas. Events such as the first European basketball trophy in 1977 or the first Olympic gold medal in 2004, winning the European song contest several times or some magnificent military operations were able to arouse waves of optimism, support and pride along the country.

Up to this day, sports achievements raise the nation’s morale. But sticking an Israeli flag onto the NBA ground seemed like one desired but improbable mission, while even Iran and Lebanon, Scandinavian countries and tiny Caribbean islands did it before us. It seemed like this quest will never end.

It seems so appropriate for the Israeli people that Omri Casspi is going to be the one. He incorporates the Israeli spirit with some other ingredients. On the one hand, he’s the typical Israeli: Fights for everything without hesitation, energetic, want to be felt everywhere he goes (on the court), acts aggressively and fearlessly, in a way that can be seen even as arrogance and disrespect.

And, in the very same breath, he still expresses some kind of charming naivety, based on a feeling of self-confidence that cannot be shaken. “The message I want to convey to those who are watching now is this one”, the 21-years old man said today, “Do not let anybody, ever, tell you that you can’t achieve something”. It sounds almost like kitsch. But Casspi truly believes that.

On the other hand, when you’re searching for the worst aspects of the ‘typical Israeli’, some of them cannot be found in Casspi’s case. He didn’t leave anything to happen for itself, but impacted the situation so everybody would see his point. He insisted not to count on luck. He put a target on his wall and never took his eyes off it. This target included three letters: N, B, A, and Thursday was a giant step in that direction. And all of this comes even before we mentioned the athletic body or the wide shoulders, so far from generations of Israeli ballers who had to be super-smart, in order to compensate for physical inferiority.

Casspi wants to give every Israeli fan something to aspire to. In the same time, everybody can identify with him.

The Sacramento Kings will be introducing their three newest players (Tyreke Evans, Omri Casspi, and Jon Brockman) in midtown are of Sacramento on Saturday from 4-9pm. Here’s the info from Kings.com:

• Meet the Newest Kings at Their First Public Appearance in Sacramento!
• The newest members of your Sacramento Kings will be introduced and joined by other celebrity guests at a fun-filled party in Midtown.
• This must-see event takes place Saturday, June 27, from 4 – 9 p.m. at Marshall Park in Sacramento (28th and J Street)
• The event will feature live performances by bands Funkengruven and So What, the Sacramento Kings Dance Team and the Sacramento Breakers
• The event will also feature a Kings Zone complete with bounce houses and interactive contests and a beer and wine garden
• Kings draft picks Tyreke Evans (4th overall), Omri Casspi (23rd overall) and Jon Brockman (38th overall) will be in attendance
• Skateboarding superstar Ryan Sheckler will also be in attendance

The worry about the 23rd pick in the draft started to come about when the Portland Trailblazers leapfrogged the Kings by trading three picks to the Mavericks in order to move from the 24th pick in the first round to the 22nd pick. It was widely rumored that they did this in order to take Omri Casspi before the Kings could add him to their franchise. When the 22nd pick came up in the draft, there was a certain malaise throughout the minds of the Kings fans I was around and in contact with as they assumed PDX would screw over the franchise in the draft. But that didn’t happen. Surprisingly, the Blazers drafted Victor Claver out of Spain to be their international small forward of the future.

And that left the Kings with plenty of options considering how the night was playing out. They could go with Casspi, whom they loved in the workouts and pre-draft interviews. There were interesting players like Toney Douglas and Wayne Ellington on the board to add to the depth of the backcourt. They could have grabbed a proven commodity with the 24-year old Sam Young, who probably won’t get much better than he is now but can definitely add some consistent scoring off the bench at the small forward position. DeJuan Blair was still on the board due to issues with his knees (they’re shredded like barbacoa) but he would have brought some much-needed toughness to the frontcourt along with one of the best rebounding motors in the draft.

But instead they stuck with Omri Casspi as the guy. He was probably the guy all along. Casspi is a wonderful kid who is one of the trailblazers (not in the NBA team sense) in this draft. Along with Hasheem Thabeet (first Tanzanian), he is the first person representing his native country in the NBA. He’ll be the first Israeli born player in the NBA as he’ll come over to join the team right away, instead of waiting a couple of years in European play. He’ll add to the toughness mentioned in the Tyreke Evans analysis that this team has been desperate for. He reminds me of Matt Harpring, only he’s never been an American football player and he’s not quite the shooter that Matt is.

Casspi has a questionable jump shot and limited range on said-jump shot. But he’s a classic slasher at the small forward position who does a great job of getting to the basket and moving without the basketball. He’s a strong finisher around the basket and has the body control of Rudy Fernandez when trying to score around the hoop. He’s a staunch defender as well who is plenty physical with his opponents. His rebounding skills and instincts are also solid.

So the question is where does he fit in with the roster and depth chart? Some are concerned that this could stunt the growth of Donte Greene by creating a logjam at the position. First off, Omri Casspi is not going to play right away and will probably log the majority of his time on the bench. He’ll be asked to learn from Andres Nocioni and be a sponge as he figures out the NBA game and culture. As for him possibly stunting the growth of Donte Greene? I say that’s potentially a good thing. Having two young players at the same position, fighting for the same minutes will push the right player to the forefront. If Donte can’t handle the competition with Casspi for minutes then you don’t want him on the roster anyway (and vice-versa for Omri). If Donte is going to be come the player that Kings fans hope he will, then he’ll have no problem bettering his game and proving that he deserves to be the starting small forward of the future in Sacramento.
Grade: B+

Many thanks to Eran Soroka of the Ma’ariv Sports Newspaper for hooking me up with these quotes and pictures.

“I’m very excited and happy to be the first Israeli in the NBA. It’s every player’s dream. I’ve been through a long journey until I became a first round pick. The Kings weren’t ver successful last year in the league, and they’re trying to rebuild.” – Omri Casspi

Also from Kings Connect:

I genuinely love the excitement. Not many owners would show this kind of emotion.

From Kings Connect: