The Sacramento Kings continue to be at the forefront of media content and finding a way to feed the obsession and passion of their fans.

They’ve been ahead of the curve as far as all forms of team media. They have interviews by Andrew Nicholson at a very impressive rate. They have an impressive presence with YouTube videos. They have the Kings Connect website that gives you perspectives and voices from all types of people involved with the team and organization.

And now, they have a site dedicated to aggregating every single bit of Kings content from the web into one central hub.

Check out the Around the Net section of the Kings Connect site and be prepared to bookmark and drool. Your Kings information has been centralized.

And don’t forget to follow the some of the people responsible for it on Twitter. Mitch Germann and Andrew Nicholson.

While you’re at it, follow me too.

This video was found via With Malice:

Personally, I think that Reggie is generalizing here and it’s unfair.

It would be the same as me making the generalization that all former NBA players know the game well enough to coach at the NBA level. Clearly that was unproven over the last couple of years.

Evidence

The Kings just released their Summer League schedule and roster right now and it has some very interesting inclusions that I think could end up shaping the rest of the off-season for the Kings.

First let’s go over their schedule of which I’ll be able to attend two of their games in about 10 days.

KINGS SUMMER LEAGUE SCHEDULE

Day                      Date               Opponent                                           Time                 Arena                                          TV/Webcast

Friday                  July 10           vs. Detroit                                           3 p.m.               Cox Pavilion                               Webcast

Saturday             July 11           vs. Golden State                                5 p.m.               Cox Pavilion                               Webcast

Monday               July 13           vs. Milwaukee                                    7:30 p.m.          Thomas & Mack Cntr               Webcast

Wednesday        July 15           vs. D-League Select                         5:30 p.m.          Thomas & Mack Cntr               Webcast

Friday                  July 17           vs. New York                                      3 p.m.               Cox Pavilion                               Webcast

I’ll get to see the first game against Detroit and their second game against the Warriors, which could end up being a legendary Summer League showdown.

Now let’s go over the roster:

2009 NBA SUMMER LEAGUE SACRAMENTO KINGS ROSTER

No.           Player                                    Pos.          Ht.           Wt.            Born                          From                      NBA Exp.

42           Robert Battle                        F                6-8          230            05/05/1981              Drexel                                 R

40           Jon Brockman                      F                6-7          255            03/20/1987              Washington                       R

43           John Bryant                           C                6-11        275            06/13/1987              Santa Clara                       R

20           Pat Calathes                        G-F            6-10        210            12/12/1985              St. Joseph’s                      R

18           Omri Casspi                         F                6-9          225            06/22/1988              Israel                                   R

13           Tyreke Evans                        G                6-6          220            09/19/1989              Memphis                            R

20           Donté Greene                      F                6-11        226            02/21/1988              Syracuse                             1

31           Spencer Hawes                   C-F            7-0          245            04/28/1988              Washington                        2

16           Marcus Landry                     F                6-7          230            11/01/1985              Wisconsin                          R

25           Wes Matthews                     G-F            6-5          220            12/14/1986              Marquette                           R

22           Jerel McNeal                        G                6-3          200            06/01/1987              Marquette                           R

15           Brian Roberts                       G                6-2          175            12/03/1985              Dayton                                R

8           Victor Stowes                       G                6-2          215            09/29/1984              Reinhardt College            R

34           Jason Thompson                F                6-11        250            07/21/1986              Rider                                    1

7           Ryan Toolson                       G                6-4          190            03/21/1985              Utah Valley                         R

SUMMER LEAGUE HEAD COACH:                                 Pete Carril (College – Lafayette)

HEAD COACH                                                                      Paul Westphal (College – USC)

ASSISTANT COACHES                                                      Jim Eyen (College – UC-Santa Barbara)

Mario Elie (College – American International)

Truck Robinson (College – Tennessee State)

Shareef Abdur-Rahim (College – California)

Pete Carril (College – Lafayette)

ATHLETIC TRAINER                                                           Pete Youngman (College – Ithaca)

STRENGTH-AND-CONDITIONING COACH                  Daniel Shapiro (College – Seattle Pacific)

Now here’s where I think your next two roster spots will go for the Kings unless they can get a great deal on a veteran free agent — John Bryant and Jerel McNeal.

John Bryant was an intriguing big man prospect out of Santa Clara who is really big at 6’11″ and 275 lbs. In his senior season with the Broncos, he averaged 18 points, 14 rebounds, and 2.5 blocks per game. He shot nearly 60% from the field and 78% from the free throw line. He can play. The problem is that he’s limited athletically and is pretty slow. But I think you can expect the same type of interest in him that the Kings previously showed in Darryl Watkins.

And with Jerel McNeal, you’re getting the possibility of signing the best undrafted guard in this year’s draft class. He is a good combo guard who has battled some injury problems. He’s probably more of a longshot to make the team than Bryant is but he’s definitely someone who could be manning the offensive attack for the Reno Big Horns this year while he waits to be signed to a 10-day contract with a team like the Kings.

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.

Bee exclusive: Rubio reacts to Kings workout

Pretty interesting stuff by Sam as he catches Rubio at the airport to find out how he felt about his Kings workout. It seems like nothing went all that well (but not all that bad either) and the Kings could be even more confused about whether or not they’d take him if he’s available.

At the same time, it could all be posturing to keep Memphis from feeling like they have complete control with the second pick.

On Sunday, I went to the Kings practice facility to check out the second big point guard workout of the month for the Kings as they figure out which direction to go with the 4th, 23rd, and 31st picks in Thursday’s NBA Draft.

This workout consisted of Tyreke Evans of Memphis (Top 10 projection), Stephen Curry of Davidson (Top 10 projection), Jonny Flynn of Syracuse (Lottery projection), Nick Calathes of Florida (First round projection), Patrick Mills of St. Mary’s (First round projection), and Toney Douglas of Florida State (Late first round, early second round projection).

From the 20 minutes of action that the media was allowed to see, I took something away with each of the six players. All of them stood out at different times. Jonny Flynn’s quickness with the ball is something that YouTube videos, ESPN broadcasts, and the written (typed) word cannot properly describe or show. It’s something you have to see in person. Tyreke Evans was easily the biggest player on the court and when he wanted to, he was the most imposing figure. Toney Douglas’ confidence was definitely displayed and he never seemed intimidated to go against much bigger names than his. Patrick Mills could probably wake up out of a coma and knock down his first three-point attempt. Nick Calathes is much more athletic than I assumed and could definitely be a Steve Blake type of player with a better outside shot. And Stephen Curry seems to be better than advertised with his defense and ball-handling ability.

Coming away from this workout and judging the Kings’ situation by this display of six guards, I’d say that their best bet in the draft if Ricky Rubio can’t be had is probably Stephen Curry or Jonny Flynn.

Here are two videos with a lot of what I saw from the workouts followed by my observations of each of the six players:

- I don’t think you can draft Tyreke Evans if you’re the Kings because he doesn’t seem like the type of point guard that could feed off of Kevin Martin. Evans seems like someone who has to dominate the ball and live with some bad shots as he finds a rhythm. That doesn’t mean that he will be a bad player by any means but his skill set and talents would be wasted on the Kings and Paul Westphal’s philosophy.

- Jonny Flynn’s defense was average and his ball-handling was superb. He never tried to do too much on the floor, which showed me a lot in the fact that he still played the game the right way with the pressure of a higher draft position and millions of dollars potentially on the line in this workout. It’s an attitude on the court that could go a long way in giving the Kings confidence in a decision of grabbing him with the fourth pick when most draft boards slot him a few picks lower. But that’s the same type of situation that happened with Jason Thompson last year. Everyone on draft night thought Petrie had lost his mind. Those same people claim to have always loved that pick after they watched JT with the Kings this year.

- As for Stephen Curry, he’s a lot better point guard than I ever thought I’d give him credit for. Before this workout, I thought he was a glorified, better version of Eddie House. But after watching him in person Sunday, going against other top point guard talent in this draft, I’ve done a complete 180 on him (or a 360 as Jason Kidd once described it). He’s not just competent in dribbling the ball, he very efficient and effective with his movements. He can get by defenders and create space for his jumper. His defense was also very noticeable and not in the Mike Bibby way. He was adequate guarding the much bigger Evans at times and held his own against Flynn as well. His jumper is so effortless that it makes you hate him for it. I could definitely see the Kings grabbing him with the fourth pick or trading down to still select him if someone like Minnesota wants to move up to grab Evans.

- As for Patty Mills, he’s extremely quick and another effortless shooter that incites envy. His defense was good enough but you’ll never expect him to stop somebody consistently in the NBA. He’s probably no more than a backup point guard or a starter on a bad team but he could definitely be a valuable piece in this league. He’s somewhere between D.J. Augustin and Daniel Gibson. He isn’t as physical as Augustin in driving to the basket but he’s a much better basketball player than Gibson with pretty much the same outside shooting ability.

- Nick Calathes is someone who could be a steal on draft night. He probably isn’t going in the Top 20 and may even be selected towards the end of the first round because of his deal to play overseas. But anyone who retains his draft rights on Thursday will get a really solid point guard. He can see over his defender because of his height and he doesn’t make many mistakes with the ball while dribbling. He makes some rushed passes but that can be eradicated with some more seasoning (like overseas seasoning). He’s a good shooter from outside but a weak finisher inside. I don’t think it would be out of the question for the Kings to take him and stash him in Europe with the 23rd pick if they don’t want to add all three of their picks this summer to next year’s payroll.

- As for Toney Douglas, I’m really impressed with him and think he’ll be a steal at the end of the first round. If he drops into the second round, then he’s this year’s Mario Chalmers in terms of second round gems. He’s a competent shooter and a staunch defender. He can stay in front of his man and create space on his jumper. He’s athletic enough to make up for his lack of ideal height. He can probably defend a fair number of shooting guards and give point guards fits. If he’s available at 31, the Kings need to select him. He’s the type of role player that teams will crave.

Cowbell Kingdom is a Sacramento Kings blog that is currently working with the ESPN TrueHoop Network (as you can probably tell from the ESPN THN navigation bar above and the strategically placed ESPN video player and Stub Hub advertisement to the right). The goal of Cowbell Kingdom is to provide unbiased coverage of the Kings that will hopefully lead to interesting and thought-provoking discussion amongst the readers.

The site is created and run by me, Zach Harper. Some of you might know me from my general NBA site, Talkhoops.net. Now, by trade I’m not a Kings fan. I’m actually a T’Wolves fan. But that doesn’t take away any credibility for me to cover the Kings on a daily/hourly basis. I’ve lived in Sacramento for pretty much my entire life. I’ve followed this team from when Rory Sparrow was wearing powder blue through Duane Causwell’s missed dunks through the Jason Williams/Chris Webber/Vlade Divac revolution and now to the rebuilding of a proud franchise to satisfy a rabid fan base.

Our plan for covering the Kings will be to add to the already great content produced by Tom Ziller at Sactown Royalty, Sam Amick and other Sacramento Bee writers, and the Kings Full Court Press blog. I believe in accumulating as many opinions and viewpoints as possible for forming your own feelings about your favorite NBA team. I believe that we’ll add relevant and intriguing coverage about the Kings to hopefully make your fan experience even more fun as we both sit and watch the resurrection of this franchise.

We’re very excited to be jumping on board with the Kings coverage at this point in team history. With the burgeoning salary cap space situation and the exciting and valuable Kings draft picks, Sacramento should be back in the national spotlight in a relatively short amount of time. We’re excited to cover this time in Kings history and hope you’ll be happy to add your viewpoints at all times.

Feel free to comment on the posts or email me at zharper@cowbellkingdom.com.

Sincerely,
Zach Harper

P.S. — This post is actually the “About” section of the site. We’ll begin our coverage this morning and continue throughout the day and beyond.