Mr. Amick talked to Kevin Martin on the Sac Bee Kings Blog after all of the particulars of the trade were finalized. With Kevin Martin on his way to Houston to be reunited with Rick Adelman, he had some very nice, professional things to say:

“But it’s just like anything, with these relationships you build up for so long, that’s the sad part. I’m sad to be leaving Sac. Just as Corliss referred to me as the Golden Child as far as the perception around here, how the older guys took me under their wing, taught me how to do professional job. I learned a lot from guys like Bobby (Jackson) and Corliss (Williamson), with how they did stuff in the community and how they were professional. I watched a lot of that my first couple years, and then once I got out there in the (lime) light I did a lot of that myself and took pride in it. The Maloofs set an example too – that’s the hard part of that deal when it comes to the community part.”

Click here to read the entire conversation. It’s really great stuff from Sam and Kevin.

For the Sacramento Bee today, Jason Jones is questioning why Kevin Martin sat all but the final 15.4 seconds of the fourth quarter in a three-point home loss to the Celtics.

When this game was close, and his coach called on him, Martin deferred to the group that gained so much confidence when he missed 32 games.

There was 5:52 left in the game and the Kings trailed the Boston Celtics 82-80. It’s the kind of victory the Kings have searched for all season – a win over a title contender at full strength (remember Denver was shorthanded in both trips to Arco Arena).

And Martin didn’t want any part of that?

Needless to say, that’s not a good look.

I’m okay with Kevin Martin wanting to let the group who was on a 10-2 run against a championship caliber team ride it out for a bit longer because you don’t want to disrupt the ebb and flow of your teammates on the court. According to Coach Westphal, the team was “rolling” and “clicking” during this time

Granted a 10-2 run in the middle of the fourth quarter is nothing to dismiss but it’s not like this Kings team was playing at a very high level. From the 7:33 mark in the fourth quarter to the 15.4-second mark when Kevin Martin finally checked back into the game, the Kings scored a total of 12 points on 14 possessions. That’s it. In case you were wondering, that’s pretty damn terrible. 12 points in 14 possessions. If you were to stretch that out in a 100-possession game, that’s 85 points and change.

I just find it hard to believe that it sounded like a good idea to leave out your $11 million shooting guard who is the best free throw shooter and purest scorer on the team when it was a one-possession game for the final four minutes of the game. When the unit on the floor that was reinventing the wheel started to struggle, why not bring Martin onto the floor? Why wouldn’t he demand to his coach to be put into the game to help out with a semi-bogged down offense? Why wouldn’t his coach decide that despite the player’s feelings that “things were going pretty good” his team needed Martin on the court?

It’s weird having one of your best players “not wanting” to get on the floor with a chance to slay a giant in the NBA. I know Beno Udrih’s four fourth quarter points (no points after the 8:15 mark) were extremely valuable but I don’t think he was left in for his defense. Why wouldn’t Martin be put in there to help save the day?

Also, this couldn’t have come at a more coincidental time with the trade deadline looming. It will be sure to fuel some fire for the rumor mongers on desperate contending teams that are praying one of the asinine trade rumors can turn into the Kings inexplicably deciding to help out one of these title hopefuls.

Rest assured, Kevin Martin still isn’t going anywhere except for the Kings locker room.

“Trade Kevin Martin!”

“We don’t need him!”

“He’s destroying this team and their continuity!”

Okay, so the Kings are 0-3 since Kevin Martin returned and it’s starting to bring about the Sacramento Apocalypse. I get it. Things were fun, new and exciting with Tyreke leading the team and now that Kevin Martin is back, the offense is sputtering, the team is losing and Kevin Martin isn’t scoring 30 points per game. In fact, he’s only scored 51 points in three games. But that’s not all.

Kevin Martin only has two steals in his three games back. He has as many assists as he does turnovers (six each). The Kings have only averaged 91 points per game in his three games back. Clearly, this team is suffering from his lack of usual numbers, which is leading to the utter downfall of Kings basketball, Tyreke’s eventual lack of growth and this franchise moving to Las Vegas where they’ll become the new Lakers.

Does that about cover it?

Please do me a favor: calm down and take a lap around the block.

Let’s check out some numbers that don’t suggest Kevin Martin is the reason for the downfall of Western Civilization.

- First of all, he has attempted 22 free throws in his three games back. And he made 20 of them. That’s insanely good.

- Despite the fact that Kevin Martin is assumed to be so ineffective offensively, he has a True Shooting Percentage of 55% during these three games.

- The Kings are 2-11 since they came back from 35 points down against the Bulls.

- The Kings are 0-11 against teams that aren’t the Denver Nuggets since they came back from 35 points down against the Bulls.

- Jason Thompson hasn’t been very good since the Bulls win. In fact, he’s been downright ineffective most nights. In the last 13 games, he’s only averaging 10.8 points and 8.1 rebounds per game. He’s also shooting 38% from the field and 74% from the free throw line. He’s still getting his usual attempts from the field (11) but he’s only getting to the line three times per game.

- Spencer Hawes also has been pretty poor. He’s eclipsed his season scoring average (10.7 ppg) during this stretch with 11.4 points per game. However, if you take away his outlier game of 30 points against the Lakers, it’s just 9.9 points per game since the Chicago comeback.

- Take those two big men, throw them in the middle for the Kings and you’re getting virtually nothing inside during this 13-game debacle. Now, I don’t think +/- is the best measure of how a player does necessarily but it does matter on some level. Jason Thompson’s +/- for the season is -2.2 per game. Spencer Hawes’ +/- is the worst on the team with a -5.3 per game. In this 13-game stretch, Jason Thompson is a -5.1 and Spencer is -5.8 per game.

So what does all of this mean?

I think that Tyreke Evans and Kevin Martin playing together is not the issue with the Kings problem during this bad stretch. Sure, the Kings are 0-3 since Martin came back but their team problems existed way before this. The Kings haven’t been great during the last month. Their inside presence has been nonexistent. They’re relying way too much on perimeter scoring and adding Kevin Martin to the team doesn’t negatively affect this team at all.

If anything, the problem isn’t with Martin’s reinsertion causing issues with Evans’ role. The two of them are fine together. The problem is that the rest of the team isn’t stepping up to join the party. The Kings need to force the issue with getting Kevin Martin comfortable again. Once he is back in his usual Kevin Martin scoring groove, the Kings can then start working on him deferring to Tyreke Evans, which I’m sure he’ll be happy to do. He’s not a number one guy and I don’t think he’d argue with that. Everybody knows Tyreke Evans is the future of this franchise and Kevin Martin fits in perfectly with his style of play. Martin doesn’t have your usual scoring ego that we’re used to seeing.

So cool it with the “Kevin Martin isn’t good for this team” grenades. He’s not the problem. At least, he’s not the problem yet. This team has to fill more of their holes before we decide if Martin and Evans are a match made in backcourt heaven.

(Photo by David Dow/NBAE via Getty Images)

From Kings.com:

“An MRI taken today on Kevin Martin’s left wrist revealed a non displaced hairline fracture of the navicular bone.”

There is no definite treatment option that has been decided on yet. As someone who has had a hairline fracture in the wrist before, I can tell you that it’s not the kind of pain that resonates all the time but when moved suddenly or in any kind of basketball motion, it hurts like hell. It took about two weeks for mine to heal and after that, I didn’t have any problems with it.

After last game when he was asked about the wrist Kevin replied, “It made it.”

He didn’t sound confident when he said it but that could have been from the frustrating fourth quarter he and his teammates had just endured.

My take on it is to sit out. It’s not like this team is going to miss the playoffs because he misses two weeks. They’re going to miss the playoffs even if he plays all 82. The important thing is to keep him healthy long term. If he tries to play with it, he could end up missing a lot more time when it breaks. With the hairline fracture and him sitting out a couple of weeks today, he’ll miss five games. That sounds better than missing 20.

UPDATE: I’m under the impression that it’s worse than a hairline fracture after this tweet from Jason Jones of the Sac Bee:

Martin can opt for surgery or a cast and miss about two months or play with a broken wrist. He’ll decide soon. #nbakings

Okay, I don’t really believe in moral victories. It’s fun to through the cliché around from time to time but in professional sports, you shouldn’t be content with losing no matter how bad your team is.

So I’ll still say there is no such thing as a moral victory. But I do believe in games of progress and this 97-92 loss in New Orleans was definitely a game of progress.

After the Kings looked like they were a lock to repeat as the worst record in the NBA in the loss to the Thunder, they turned up the intensity across the board on offense, defense, and rebounding. They didn’t just look respectable. They looked flat out good. Granted, the Hornets made a ton of mistakes and the Kings missed a ton of close shots. But overall, the Kings played a brand of basketball that should make themselves and their fans proud.

Let’s start out with the last couple minutes of the game. The Kings were not only in position to win but they also were in control of the game. With two minutes left in this game, Kevin Martin banked in a little runner to put the Kings up 91-88 and after a James Posey missed three, the Kings had a chance to really put the Hornets on their heels.

The Kings ran some disjointed play that ended up with Kevin Martin starting way too late into the shot clock (with about eight seconds left). He split a double team, took the ball to the baseline and instead of putting up a little jump shot, panicked and passed the ball with one second left on the shot clock cross court to Tyreke Evans at the right elbow three-point line. Evans caught the pass in the air and let it fly all in one motion (and actually banked it in for three). Unfortunately, for the Kings the shot clocked expired about two seconds before the ball even got to Evans and resulted in a turnover.

Chris Paul answered on the next possession by absorbing a lot of contact from a Brockman knee to the groin, made the basket and got the free throw to tie the game. Jason Thompson missed on the ensuing possession and the Hornets responded with an Emeka Okafor tip dunk off of a Chris Paul miss. Evans missed an optimistic three-point attempt to put them up one; Martin got the rebound and missed another shot. Jon Brockman was fouled on the rebound, made one of two free throws and Jason Thompson grabbed another offensive rebound.

The execution on the final sequence of the game was just unfortunate for the Kings. Tyreke Evans drove the lane, was out of control and had his desperate attempt knocked away by Emeka Okafor. There seemed to be some possible contact on the play but Evans was out of control and is not going to get the foul called in that situation.

After a couple of free throws, Kevin Martin received an entry pass in the corner and threw up a desperation three-point shot that was blocked by Okafor (this guy was everywhere). The problem I had with this play is the Kings had five seconds left on the clock and did not need to rush. If that was the play called, I think it was a bad decision by Westphal. Sure, the Kings don’t really have a better three-point shooter than Martin but he was having a terrible game and you trap him in the corner there with that pass.

Now here are some observations from the game about certain players with more analysis and number crunching to come tomorrow:

- Tyreke Evans. I mean, Tyreke. Freaking. Evans. What an incredible game by the youngster. He went toe to toe with the best point guard in the NBA and stood his ground. He took away Paul’s playmaking ability and made him work a lot on defense. Evans knocked down jumpers, pulled up for a three and nailed it, and got to the free throw line eight times. He finished with 22 points on 13 shots. He only finished with two assists but he had a lot of assists blown for him by his teammates misses.

It’s clear that Evans is not going to be kept from making it to the basket. He just went up against two of the better, young defenders at the point guard position in the league and got to the hoop whenever he wanted. And his decision-making in running the offense was really good until a sloppy stretch in the fourth quarter in which he recorded two of his three turnovers. One of them was a complete rookie mistake with throwing a poor pass cross-court to Kevin Martin. You could see the respect that Chris Paul had for Evans when he greeted him right after the game. That was a moment for the young Kings stud to remember.

(One quick note: I rarely get chills while watching a game at the beginning of the regular season. But when the Kings had Evans bringing the ball up the court and the camera was tight on him, I get a rush over me that was hard to quantify. You could just tell Evans was one of the special ones, the way he was already taking over an NBA game against the best individual competition he could face. Just a cool moment to witness.)

-  Jon Brockman, a.k.a. the Brockness Monster (see above), played the entire closing stretch of the game and it was well deserved. In 19 minutes of play, he grabbed 10 rebounds with five them coming on the offensive glass. He played really solid defense against David West and helped the Kings win the rebounding battle 52-43 (21-10 on the offensive glass). Sean May played much better in this game and I loved the effort of Jason Thompson. But Jon Brockman was one of the big reasons this team was able to take a playoff team in the West down to the wire.

- How killer was Andres Nocioni off the bench? He came in, ready to shoot, much like Omri Casspi did against the Thunder. This was the Noc that fans probably recall from last year. His 16 points off the bench were huge but he only grabbed one rebound in 24 minutes.

- Speaking of Omri Casspi, welcome back down to Earth. He got a dose of reality in the NBA early when he blew a defensive assignment that lead to a Peja three and then came down the court and took a rushed, mid-range jumper. Westphal pulled him from the court. It’s what a rookie should expect to experience more than the amazing success he had against OKC.

- And finally (again, there will be more breakdown tomorrow), let me briefly address Kevin Martin’s performance tonight. There seemed to be a fair amount of vitriol headed his way right after tonight’s performance. Some of it is justified. He played a mentally weak game tonight and forced some bad shots. But he also didn’t get the bounce on a lot of shots either. As the Kings best scorer (and not much of a playmaker outside of that), what do you want him to do on a poor shooting night? Personally, I’m fine with him trying to shoot his way out of it as long as they are good shots.

A 9/29 shooting night with just 2/10 from downtown is a BAD night. In fact, it’s a horrible night. I think the most alarming part of it is the fact that he didn’t attempt a single free throw, one night after attempting 14 in one half. He’s only had one game in his career in which he played more than 20 minutes in a game and didn’t attempt a single free throw. Just a weird, tough game for him against the Hornets.

That’s all for now. More analysis tomorrow. Perhaps, even a love letter to Tyreke.

Last season was the first year in which Kevin Martin was allowed to have the keys to the organization. He was coming off of a 23.7 points per game scoring season (good for sixth in the league) and shot over 40% from three-point land. He had a brand new contract extension of five years and just over $50 million and seemed to be ready to be the number one scoring option for this franchise. And when he was healthy, he handled that pressure just fine. He made over two three-pointers per game, got to the free throw line 10.3 times per game, and averaged a career-high 24.6 points per game. But he only played in 51 contests. In fact, over the past two seasons he’s missed 52 games and seen his season point total, field goal percentage, and efficiency field goal percentage decline each year of the past three.

He’s the cornerstone of the organization right now but there have to be doubts whether or not he should be the number one guy. And if you start to believe that his slight build will cause injuries, which overshadows his ability to rival Carmelo Anthony as the best pure scorer in the NBA, then is there a certain point you begin to consider dealing him in order to maximize the return? The Kings did something similar (although with a much different team makeup) years ago with Peja Stojakovic. At the time, the Kings were worried about having to overpay Peja. But the Kings aren’t locked into a bad contract by any means with Martin. His $44 million left over the next four years is a bargain for someone that can average the taller side of 20 points per game. But if you can get the type of return for Kevin Martin now, like the Kings did with Peja in acquiring Ron Artest, you have to entertain the option of trading him in order to keep the rebuilding process going.

Now, I realize how ridiculous this sounds. Why deal a guy with a manageable contract who scores this easily? There are two reasons. First, outside of Beno Udrih’s signing last summer, Geoff Petrie has been pretty good at acquiring guys through free agency. Assuming the Kings don’t overpay for a free agent this summer, they’re going to have an obscene amount of cap space in the vaunted summer of 2010. Adding an $11 million cushion to that already burgeoning cap space could be invaluable for someone like Petrie. Second, very few VPs in this league maximize the draft like Petrie has. So if you can acquire another high pick for Kevin Martin to go with the eventual cap space, why not do it?

I’m not saying that they absolutely should trade Kevin Martin. He’s obviously not over the hill or a part of the team that needs to be jettisoned. But in a situation like the Kings with the team having good picks, good cap flexibility and one of the best front offices in the league, keeping their options open to anything should be a must. And Kevin Martin is probably the guy that brings in the most value.

So I’ve come up with five potential trades that the Kings could do this summer in order to a) fix their issue at point guard, b) acquire more young talent to build with, and/or c) keep the cap space growing to add the bevy of talent available in 2010. These are not rumors by any means – simply ideas. And they’re all done with the assumption that Ricky Rubio is selected before the Kings are on the clock.

First Trade Idea: Wizards trade the 5th pick and Etan Thomas to the Kings for Kevin Martin.
This trade actually wouldn’t be able to happen until after July 1st due to a trade restriction with Etan Thomas’ contract. But the Kings could get the Wizards to draft whomever they wanted to get with the 5th selection and be able to rebuild their backcourt with two young players to grow and develop together. The Kings would take a definite hit in the first year of this deal in terms of talent, scoring and production. But they would benefit in the long run.

Sacramento would be able to select Jrue Holiday with the fourth pick to be their point guard of the future and put him side by side with James Harden. Harden is probably the best shooting guard in the draft despite the drool-worthy potential of guys like Demar DeRozan and Tyreke Evans. So the Kings would go into the 2009-2010 season with a young core of Jason Thompson, Spencer Hawes, Donte Greene, Jrue Holiday, Francisco Garcia, and James Harden. That’s not a bad core of six deep by any means and something the Kings could either let develop together like a young Portland team or trade away for veterans like Boston pulled off two years ago. Not to mention, they’d have well over $20 million in cap space next summer.

For Washington, they’d probably do it in order to jump at the chance of putting Jamison, Butler, Martin, and Arenas on the floor together.

Second Trade Idea: Bulls trade Kirk Hinrich and the 16th pick to the Kings for Kevin Martin and the 23rd pick.
This one seems a bit risky (and a bit of a stretch) but if the Kings believe that Tyreke Evans or James Harden is the best player available at 4 then they might be willing to take the steady hand at point with Kirk (along with his better contract) and moving up from 23 to 16. They’d clearly be giving up some talent by going from a good scorer like Martin to someone in Kirk Hinrich who has been one of the bigger disappointments in the past two seasons. But Hinrich’s defensive ability and solid passing could be big steps towards getting this team back towards respectability.

The trade gives the Kings one fewer year on the books and a declining cap figure, which would be easier to move in the future if Hinrich didn’t work out. Harden would probably be the smartest pick with the fourth pick then because of his scoring ability, which should make up some for the loss of Martin. Moving up from 23 to 16 could guarantee the Kings a much better player. Guys like Terrence Williams, Earl Clark, and Sam Young would definitely be in play. Or they could even load up their backup point guard option with Eric Maynor or Ty Lawson as some Kirk Hinrich buyer’s remorse insurance. That would leave this depth chart heading into free agency:

PG- Hinrich, Lawson/Maynor, Udrih
SG- Harden, Garcia
SF- Nocioni, Greene
PF- Thompson, Thomas
C- Hawes

That is not a bad roster to add on a veteran or two. Or they could fill with veteran minimum contracts and wait to spend their cash next summer.

Third Trade Idea: Cavs trade Delonte West, Ben Wallace, and the 30th pick to the Kings for Kevin Martin, Andres Nocioni.
This is a trade idea that is more about clearing long-term cap relief while acquiring yet another pick AND a potentially very valuable role player. This would just about decimate the Kings for next year outside of a solid draft and a free agent or two. This trade would alleviate $13 million from the Kings cap next summer and give them roughly $30 million in space, assuming that they don’t sign more than one-year filler contracts this year. It would also give them three first round picks and four picks in the first 31. They could easily package the 23rd and 30th to move up in the draft. Perhaps a deal with Phoenix (because you know how they love to safe money on draft night) or Detroit to move into the top 15 with their second pick of the night would work out.

With those moves, you could draft Jrue Holiday with the fourth pick and someone like DeJuan Blair or Gerald Henderson with the 14th or 15th pick. Throw in someone like Toney Douglas, Wayne Ellington or Patrick Mills with the 31st pick and they’d have another good core of players.

PG- Jrue Holiday, Beno Udrih
SG- Delonte West, Gerald Henderson, Wayne Ellington
SF- Francisco Garcia, Donte Greene
PF- Jason Thompson, Kenny Thomas
C- Spencer Hawes

Having those guys with roughly $25 to $30 million dollars at their disposal the next summer could build not only a playoff team but a Top 6 team in the West.

Fourth Trade Idea: Spurs trade Manu Ginobili to the Kings for Kevin Martin and the 23rd pick.
Okay, at this point I’m kind of pulling straws here. The Spurs are concerned about Manu’s ankle injuries. They’ve allegedly been shopping him around but they’re denying those rumors. So what do the Kings get out of this? Manu is only going to want to play for a championship and the Kings won’t be that next year. Manu’s deal is up after this coming season and he’d 100% leave for a shot at another ring. Well, it gives the Kings that cap space from dealing Martin for an expiring contract. But if they’re not getting young talent for him in addition to the cap space, would it even be worth it?

The only other value that would come out of it is for the Kings to be the major player/facilitator at the trade deadline with Manu’s talent and expiring contract dangling in front of hungry GMs. They could add a lot of young assets and draft picks for Manu or deal him for a good veteran or two from a deeper contender who is looking or a homerun. They would have the league at their feet trying to pry the most valuable trade piece from their grip. It would put them in a major power position, in which a guy like Petrie could really add some positive pieces to the organization.

Again, this is probably a terrible idea and just a laughable trade thought. But it works under the CBA.

Fifth Trade Idea: Raptors trade Jose Calderon to the Kings for Kevin Martin.
This actually seems like the most fair for both sides trade to me. The Kings would end up getting a very good point guard, who’s paid a very manageable and fair salary for the next four seasons. They’d then be allowed to gamble on a shooting guard like Tyreke Evans or even Demar DeRozan and allow that player to develop with a very good distributor. The Raptors would do it because they could probably pair Kevin Martin and someone like Jonny Flynn in their backcourt. It’s kind of a win-win situation.

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So one more time to clarify, I would highly doubt that Kevin Martin is being bandied about in trade discussions right now and probably won’t be for years to come. But at a certain point, a guy becomes injury prone no matter how hard he tries to fight through it (like Kevin does). And Petrie wouldn’t be doing his job properly if he didn’t consider every player’s value.

You are now free to rip these apart.