The Sacramento Kings are now tied for the worst record in the west with the New Orleans Hornets. They attempt to avoid falling any deeper into futility against the Charlotte Bobcats, the NBA’s worst team this season.
Updated at 12:40 am, April 21, 2012
Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson and the Maloofs are reviving talks after the proposal to build a new Sacramento arena collapsed one week ago in New York City.
The mayor returned from Las Vegas following an impromptu meeting Friday afternoon with Sacramento Kings co-owner George Maloof. He called the meeting, which lasted about an hour, with brother George “very productive” and stressed the importance of keeping the lines of communication open “in the spirit of Sacramento.” Johnson says the two sides agreed to a follow-up meeting on possibly Monday or Tuesday of next week.
Below video of the entire press scrum:
As first reported by the Sacramento Bee, Mayor Kevin Johnson flew to Las Vegas today to meet with Kings’ co-owner George Maloof in an attempt to revive talks on the proposed downtown arena deal.
Maloof Family spokesperson Eric Rose issued the following the statement:
This afternoon Mayor Kevin Johnson had a meeting at the Palms Hotel and meet with George Maloof for nearly an hour. The meeting was cordial; however, nothing definitive resulted from the meeting. The Maloof family will not have any further comments on the meeting.
According to the Bee, Johnson and Maloof had been exchanging texts the past few days, attempting to coordinate their schedules for a meeting.
Johnson is expected to be back in Sacramento to attend tonight’s Kings’ game against the Oklahoma City Thunder. The franchise is honoring the 50th anniversary of hall of fame guard Oscar Robertson’s triple-double season.
The Sacramento Kings play two of their next three games against the Oklahoma City Thunder. On the heels of the failed arena deal, Oklahoma City walloped Sacramento in their previous meeting just one week ago.
Last night, the Sacramento Kings hosted a panel discussion on issues related to the past, present and future of the NBA. Along with Geoff Petrie and Keith Smart, the “Generations Basketball” forum featured a duo of NBA greats – Bill Walton and Oscar Robertson, who is in Sacramento being honored tonight for the 50th anniversary of his triple-double season.
Among the topics discussed was this debate on the one-and-done athlete, with Walton and Robertson falling on opposing sides of the aisle.
Bill Walton: The NBA doesn’t want this to happen. The NCAA, they don’t want that to happen. It’s the Player’s Association. It’s Billy Hunter that’s arguing for players who aren’t even in his own union who are not paying dues. And I think that’s a huge mistake.
Oscar Robertson: First of all, that’s not a mistake. First of all, I think it’s illegal to tell a young man that he has to spend a year out (in college) after his 18th birthday for him to play basketball (professionally). He can go to the army, fight in Afghanistan?
Bill Walton: We don’t let them buy liquor. We don’t let them into night clubs.
Oscar Robertson: Can they smoke at 18?
(Walton is momentarily left speechless)
Bill Walton: I don’t smoke.
Oscar Robertson: All (these) rules about one-and-done and after your freshman year is to benefit the colleges. Tell this for me – (Greg) Oden, when he came out of Ohio State, it’s unfortunate he’s got all these problems, he didn’t need to go to Ohio State to play. Could’ve gone right in and played right away. But this is done so colleges can take advantage of a young person for one year if he’s a great player. And that’s all it’s for.
Keith Smart: I also think the year we won the championship, I made “the shot”, it never dawned on me that I wanted to come to the NBA. Many said, “You should’ve made the shot and ran straight out of the Superdome and straight to New York and waited for the draft.” But it never hit my mind – I loved college, I enjoyed college and I had fun in college.
Oscar Robertson: But that’s true because now there’s a vehicle (for) the players to take advantage of it. If the vehicle wasn’t there, they couldn’t go. And I don’t know why everyone gets so upset about it. If you don’t want a player who’s a one year and done, don’t take him. Don’t sign him because a lot of guys are not going to be great basketball players. And really what Procter & Gamble should do is give them all diapers.
After the jump, listen to audio of the debate.
Just five games remain in the Kings’ season. After breaking a seven-game losing skid on Sunday, Sacramento faces a San Antonio Spurs team completing a set of three games in three nights.
Updated at 3:39 pm
The city, Maloofs and NBA have had their say on the failure of the arena deal. Now Sacramento Kings fans are having theirs.
Here We Stay, one of the local grassroots efforts founded to keep the Kings, released a statement today requesting the Kings’ owners document their commitment to Sacramento.
“We appreciate that the Maloofs have stated that they are committed to Sacramento and do not intend to relocate in the foreseeable future,” the statement says. “However, we request that the Maloofs commit to Sacramento in actions rather than words by guaranteeing in writing that they will not file for relocation in the next three years.”
Update: Cowbell Kingdom reached out to the Maloof family’s spokesperson, who issued the following response.
“The Kings are not going to respond to every open letter sent to them,” said Eric Rose. “We appreciate your support for the Kings.”
The Maloofs have told fans they remain dedicated to the capital city in light of declining the public-private deal for a new downtown arena. When pressed last week by Sacramento reporters if relocation was back on the table, George Maloof responded “No, absolutely. Not right now.”
“I know we’re scheduling them into Power Balance Pavilion next year,” said NBA Commissioner David Stern in New York following last week’s Board of Governors’ meetings. ”And it just wouldn’t pay for me to talk about anything beyond that.”
Read the entire statement after the jump.
Their loyalty remains unquestioned.
Though uncertainty once again surrounds the Kings future in Sacramento, fans set aside their angst and willed their team to a 104-103 victory Sunday over the Portland Trail Blazers.
“The fans are one of a kind,” said Kings guard Isaiah Thomas of the crowd at Power Balance Pavilion. “These fans are the best in the NBA, I feel like.”
“You wouldn’t think with everything going on, they wouldn’t show up tonight,” The rookie guard added. “And then they did.”
In light of Friday’s unceremonious end to the downtown arena deal, Kings insiders wondered what the turnout of yesterday’s game would be. To their surprise, an announced crowd of 16,012 came to watch a Kings team in the thick of a season-high seven-game losing streak.
“I can’t thank the fans enough,” said Thomas, who plans on reaching out to mentor and Sacramento mayor Kevin Johnson sometime this week. “Because behind everything, the good and bad, they’ve supported us. The least we can do is go out there and play hard every night for them because they support us like we do them.”
Below, reaction from Thomas, Tyreke Evans, Marcus Thornton and head coach Keith Smart on the wave of support from fans in yesterday’s win.
by Jonathan Santiago & James Ham
Thanks to the heroics of Marcus Thornton and Terrence Williams, the Sacramento Kings ended a season-high seven-game losing streak by defeating the Portland Trail Blazers, 104-103, at Power Balance Pavilion.
“No matter who the opponent was, we needed this win,” said Kings head coach Keith Smart after the Sunday victory. “And the young men found a way to do it. Based on everything that happened with our franchise this week and the way it has been with our team in the past two weeks, we found a way.”
After climbing out of an eight-point deficit midway through the fourth quarter, Williams was subbed into one of the game’s final defensive possessions. The Kings reserve forward made a timely steal that led to a lay-up by Kings center DeMarcus Cousins. The Blazers’ Wesley Matthews responded with a corner three in front of the Kings’ bench to take a 103-102 lead. But Thornton would seal the game’s outcome by hitting a 17-foot jumper with 3.4 seconds left to seal the Kings’ victory.
For the second time this season, three Kings’ players tallied at least 20 points. Cousins recorded 23 while Thornton and Tyreke Evans finished 20 points each. Former King J.J. Hickson recorded his fifth double-double in a Blazers uniform, finishing with 10 points and a season-high-tying 13 rebounds.
With the win, the Kings improve their home record to 15-15 and their overall standing to 20-41. They host the San Antonio Spurs on Wednesday.
With seven consecutive games lost, the Sacramento Kings are riding their longest losing streak of the season. They attempt to buck the trend in a Sunday matinee against a familiar face and the Portland Trailblazers.
