Multiple sources have confirmed that the Sacramento Kings have won the amnesty bid process on former New Jersey Net Travis Outlaw.  Adrian  Wojnarowski of Yahoo! was the first to report the addition via twitter.

The 27 year-old Outlaw spent the majority of his career with the Portland Trailblazers before a mid-season trade to the Clippers in 2010.  Following the move to LA, Outlaw signed a 5yr/$35 million deal with the New Jersey Nets last season, but struggled mightily, shooting just 37.5% from the field.  Outlaw had his best seasons as a pro for Portland during the 2007-08 season, averaging 13.3 points and 4.6 rebounds in 27-minutes a game off the bench.

There is no word on what the Kings bid on Outlaw, but he comes to the team with a four year contract intact, much of which New Jersey will be paying.  As for what this means for the Kings other wing players, only time will tell, but the things just got a little crowded.

The Sacramento Kings have just sent out an official press release confirming the amnesty waiver claim of Travis Outlaw.

 KINGS AWARDED TRAVIS OUTLAW ON WAIVER CLAIM

 

SACRAMENTO, CA —- The Sacramento Kings today were awarded forward Travis Outlaw on a waiver claim under the NBA’s new amnesty waiver procedure, according to Kings’ President of Basketball Operations Geoff Petrie. Per team policy, terms of the deal were not disclosed.

The 6-9, 207-pound forward was waived by New Jersey on December 15, 2011, and designated as the team’s amnesty player. Signed by the Nets as a free agent on July 14, 2010, Outlaw averaged 9.2 points and 4.0 rebounds in 28.8 minutes per game in 82 games, starting 55 of those contests last season.

Outlaw is entering his ninth NBA season, having played in 482 career games with Portland, LA Clippers and New Jersey. His career averages are 9.5 points, 3.5 rebounds, and 22.9 minutes per game.

The Sacramento Kings just announced their training camp schedule for the 2011-12 campaign.  The teams practice facility doors open at noon on Saturday, December 10th for day one of camp.  On Thursday, December 15th, the Kings hold their official media day, followed by their annual Kings-on-Kings open scrimmage at 7pm.  Camp breaks on December 16th, the day before the Kings open their two game pre-season schedule (@GS 12/17 and @PBP 12/20) with the Golden State Warriors.

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Last season, the Sacramento Kings marketing team unleashed a can of worms with their season-opening campaign Here We Rise.  The slogan became Here We Stay, Here We Build, Here We Sit, Here We Purple, as Kings fans rallied to save their team.

Well, how does Back In Black sound for the 2011-12 season?  What does it mean?  It means that the Sacramento Kings will turn back the clock to their glory years with a re-invented black alternate jersey.

Today, the Kings rolled out their new look, complete with a promotional video that includes Kings legends Bobby Jackson, Scot Pollard and Doug Christie.  Although I am not a jersey wearing kind of guy, I had the privilege of seeing the new design last night and these things are going to fly off the shelf for Christmas.

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The Sacramento Kings have decided to add one more coach to Paul Westphal’s staff.  Jim Todd, who’s had NBA coaching stints with the Atlanta Hawks, Milwaukee Bucks, Toronto Raptors and Los Angeles Clippers, has been announced as the newest addition to the Kings coaching staff.  From the official press release:

Todd coached in China last season and also served as an assistant coach for the Canadian National Men’s Basketball team at the 2010 FIBA World Championship Games in Turkey. He has been involved in coaching at the high school, college and pro level since 1976. Todd, who is no stranger to coaching in the NBA, was an assistant coach for the Atlanta Hawks from 2008-2010. Prior to his assignment in Atlanta, he spent the 2007-08 campaign as an assistant coach for Milwaukee in his third stint with the Bucks. Todd spent three seasons as an assistant coach with Toronto (2004-2007), and the Raptors won a franchise-record 47 games and the Atlantic Division title in his final season. He began his NBA career as an assistant coach under Chris Ford with the Bucks from 1996-98. Todd followed Ford to the Los Angeles Clippers in 1998, and was named interim head coach of the Clippers on February 3, 2000.

An assistant coach at DePaul University in 2001-02, Todd then returned to Milwaukee as an assistant coach the following two seasons, helping guide Milwaukee to back-to-back playoff trips.

After graduating with a Masters in Education from Fitchburg State (his alma mater) in 1976, Todd led Notre Dame (MA) High School to a 26-2 record and the state title. From 1977-86, he worked as a head coach at Fitchburg State, an assistant at Columbia University and Marist College, and an associate head coach at Manhattan College. He helped lead Marist to its first-ever NCAA tournament appearance, and worked with future NBA center Rik Smits.

Todd was head coach at Salem State from 1987-96, recording a 192-57 .771) mark, including a 110-10 (.917) record in Conference play. He led the school to eight Division III NCAA tourney appearances, and was named NCAA New England Coach of the Year in 1990. He also coached Salem State’s golf team, leading them to three NCAA appearances.

A member of both the Salem State and Fitchburg State Halls of Fame, Todd was recently inducted into the New England Basketball Hall of Fame.

Todd joins Bobby Jackson and former Golden State Warriors head coach Keith Smart as new additions to Westphal’s staff.

It is official. The Kings open the 2011-12 NBA season Decemember 26th, the same way they ended the 2010-11 season, at home against the Los Angeles Lakers.  With the lockout killing more than seven weeks of the season, the NBA will play an impacted 66 game schedule, including some pretty hectic stretches for all teams.  After the jump is a quick look at some of the rough spots for the Sacramento Kings followed by the complete 2011-12 regular season schedule.

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Our good friend Tom Ziller over at Sactown Royalty broke this story last week, but today, the Kings and radio broadcast partner 1140 The Fan announced they will continue their relationship for another season of NBA basketball.

For the 19^th consecutive season, 1140 The Fan will serve as the home of the Sacramento Kings after both parties reached a long-term agreement extending their broadcast partnership.  1140 The Fan will carry all preseason, postseason and regular season games beginning with the 2011-12 campaign.

According to the press release, Gary Gerould, the radio voice of the Kings for all of their 26-years in a Sacramento will return for another season. Fat Lever will continue his work as the color analyst alongside Gerould, while Jason Ross and Henry Turner will return to work both the pre-game and post-game shows.

An NBA 2K12 screenshot of Marcus Thornton sporting the new alternate threads. (Via Sactown Royalty)

These uniforms have been in the works for a while.  But with the lockout over, the Sacramento Kings will finally unveil their black alternate jerseys in a press conference tomorrow afternoon.  The Kings were mum on the subject during the labor impasse.  But chatter began to heat up after gamers playing NBA 2K12, the popular sports video game franchise by 2k Sports, discovered they could suit up the Kings in the black alternates.

The press conference will be held at Power Balance Pavilion at 1:00 pm and will be announced by representatives from the Kings Marketing Team and Brand Development Departments.

Image: Kevin Fippin

The fight to keep the Kings did not end in May with the announcements by David Stern and the Maloof family that they would give Sacramento one more chance to get a new entertainment and sports facility built in the capitol city.  Mayor Kevin Johnson and his team have been busy putting together a financing plan that will hopefully take care of the pesky $387 million cost of a new building.  That plan needs to be in place by March 1, 2012, but the mayor’s office has to lay a lot of ground work before a definitive agreement is put into place.

During a December 13th Sacramento City Council meeting, Mayor Johnson is going to roll out a plan to lease 8000+ Downtown Sacramento area parking spaces to a private parking firm and possibly even take the idea to a vote.  Despite recent reports, we’ve confirmed through our own private sources, that the leasing figure is at least $200-million and possibly more.  In the past, we have talked about parking being the “magic bullet” in this deal, and $200 million of a $387 million stadium deal is exactly that.

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The Sacramento Kings have sent out an official press release to announce their two-game preseason schedule for this abbreviated off-season.  Kings fans who are desperate for some NBA action will have to watch the 2011-12 version of the Sacramento Kings tip-off in Oakland for a match-up against the Golden state Warriors.

KINGS ANNOUNCE TWO-GAME PRESEASON SCHEDULE WITH GOLDEN STATE

SACRAMENTO, CA —- The Sacramento Kings will kick off the 2011-12 preseason campaign on Saturday, December 17^th when the Kings travel to Golden State for a tilt with the Warriors at Oracle Arena (7:30 pm) in the first of a two-game preseason slate between the two teams. Sacramento will play host to Golden State on Tuesday, December 20^th at Power Balance Pavilion (7 pm).

 

Hooray basketball!

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