Just sent in via press release from the Kings:

 The Sacramento Kings today renounced the rights to Samuel Dalembert (center), Pooh Jeter (guard), Marquis Daniels (forward/guard) and Darnell Jackson (forward), according to Kings’ President of Basketball Operations Geoff Petrie.

So what does this mean?  NBA Salary Cap Expert Larry Coon has the answer:

By renouncing a player, a team gives up its right to use the Larry Bird, Early Bird, or Non-Bird exceptions (see question number 19) to re-sign that player. A renounced player no longer counts toward team salary, so teams use renouncement to gain additional cap room. After renouncing a player, the team is still permitted to re-sign that player, but must either have enough cap room to fit the salary, or sign the player using the Minimum Salary exception. The exception to this is an Early Bird free agent who is coming off the second season of his rookie scale contract. Such players, when renounced, are treated as Non-Bird free agents.

Further explanation from Cowbell Kingdom’s James Ham:  Samuel Dalembert had a free agent cap hold figure of $19,045,250.  The combination of Darnell Jackson, Pooh Jeter and Marquis Daniels had an additional cap hold of approximately $4.8 million, taking the Kings’ cap figure from roughly $32 million, to close to $56 million.  By renouncing the rights to Dalembert, Jackson, Jeter and Daniels, the Kings freed up their cap holds, enabling the team to sign the contracts of Marcus Thornton (estimated 5-yr/$40 million) and Chuck Hayes (estimated 4-yr/$21.3 million).

What does this mean?  The Kings no longer have Larry Bird rights to any of the four waived players.  All four could be retained as unrestricted free agents, but the maximum length of any deal signed would be four years, instead of five.  The Kings also relinquished the right to use any of these players in sign and trade transactions.

Darnell Jackson is headed abroad.  The free agent big man, who spent last season with the Kings, signed with BC Donetsk in the Ukraine, according to Sportando (via HoopsHype).

BC Donetsk officially announces the signing of Darnell Jackson. The forward has played three seasons and 138 games in the NBA. In the regular season 2010-11 he wore the jersey of Sacramento Kings averaging 3.2ppg and 1.6rpg.

Jackson’s departure makes three overseas defections by Kings players.  Pooh Jeter signed in Spain with FIATC Joventut Badalona in August.  J.J. Hickson left for Israel’s Bnei HaSharon late last month.

Also worth noting, that BC Donetsk’s official website says Jackson is expected to make his debut this Saturday (thanks Google Translate).  If true, that likely means his participation in the Goon Squad Classic is in doubt.

With the offseason schedule agitated due to the NBA lockout, pro-am leagues have received plenty of attention this summer.  No two have garnered more recognition than the Drew League, played in Los Angeles and the Goodman League, based in Washington DC.

On Saturday, August 20th, the two leagues collide.  The contest, dubbed Capital Punishment, takes place at Trinity University in Washington DC and features some premium talent.  Here are the rosters via The Mars Reel:

The Goodman League:

Kevin Durant (OKC Thunder), John Wall (WAS Wizards), Tywon Lawson (DEN Nuggets), Gary Neal (SA Spurs), Tyreke Evans (SAC Kings), Michael Beasley (MIN Timberwolves), DeMarcus Cousins (SAC Kings), Josh Selby (MEM Grizzlies), Sam Young (MEM Grizzlies), Donte Green (SAC Kings), Hugh “Baby Shaq” Jones (AND1 Mixtape Tour), Emanuel “Duce” Jones and Warren “D-Nice” Jefferson.

The Drew League:

James Harden (OKC Thunder), DeMar DeRozan (TOR Raptors), Nick Young (WAS Wizards), Dorrell Wright (GS Warriors), Brandon Jennings (MIL Bucks), JaVale McGee (WAS Wizards), Craig Smith (LA Clippers), Pooh Jeter (SAC Kings), Bobby Brown (Aris BC), Marcus Williams (MEM Grizzlies) and 3 players TBA.

The trailer below features highlights of Kings DeMarcus Cousins (53-second mark) and Donté Greene (1:20 mark).

Tickets went on sale Friday with general admission tickets priced at $25 and floor seats (in limited quantity) at $60. If you’re in the DC area mid-August and would like to attend, you can purchase tickets online here.

(H/T TBJ via SLAM)

The best part of waking up, is Kings youtube videos in your cup.  Today we’ve got a double dose of rookie point guard Isaiah Thomas out of Washington.  Last season, the Sacramento Kings brought in world traveler Pooh Jeter to mix up the tempo off the bench.  Unfortunately, Jeter got lost in the shuffle, leading the Kings to decline the second year option on his contract.  Isaiah Thomas will get a chance to fill this role for the 2011-12 Sacramento Kings.  Although similar in stature, there is a huge difference in play style between Pooh and Isaiah.  Where Jeter liked to use his mid-range game, Thomas is an attacking guard who can score inside or outside.

Like yesterday’s star, Tyler Honeycutt, Isaiah Thomas fell into the second round of the 2011 NBA draft, so he has an uphill battle in front of him.  During the NBA combine, players are measured with and without shoes.  In Isaiah’s case, they may need to measure him with and without the chip on his shoulder.

Video after the jump…

Read more…

Just a bit of house keeping to take care of here for the Sacramento Kings:

The Sacramento Kings have exercised the rookie contract options on guard Tyreke Evans, forward Omri Casspi and center DeMarcus Cousins for the 2012-13 season, Kings’ President of Basketball Operations Geoff Petrie announced today.

Really no surprise here.  Both Evans and Cousins appear to be building block type players for the Kings, while Omri Casspi has been a nice contributor in his first two season.  So far, the Kings have announced a qualifying offer for Marcus Thornton and now the option years being picked-up for Evans, Cousins and Casspi.  Last week, the Kings waived guard Jermaine Taylor, per his request and the Kings have yet to extend the $1,091,100 qualifying offer due former Kansas Jayhawk big man Darnell Jackson or announce if Pooh Jeter’s $788,872 team option for next season has been picked-up.  All in due time.

Paul Westphal is a completely likable guy.  On January 6, 2011, he won the 300th game of his career, a feat that he was unaware of until after the game.  Unfortunately, as the coach of the Sacramento Kings, Westphal has lost more games than he or anyone else would like.  There are certainly many reasons for the losses, outside of his coaching ability, such as the team’s youth, lack of talent, injuries and even bad luck.  The losing aside, if there is one thing that Westphal does as a coach that drives people crazy, it is the constant line-up changes.

So far this season, Coach Westphal has used 16 different starting line-ups in just 39 games.  Of those 16, only five of those line-ups have been used more than two games in a row and none more than four games consecutively.  Not all of these changes have been by choice.  Tyreke Evans was suspended one game and missed another four due to injury.  Samuel Dalembert began the season injured, missed a game due to a funeral and hasn’t been the impact player the Kings hoped he would be when they traded for him in the off-season.  Rookie DeMarcus Cousins has been erratic both on and off the court, but he is showing flashes of the brilliance the Kings hoped for when they made him the fifth pick in the 2010 NBA draft.  In short, the Kings have had to deal with injuries and growing pains to go along with an imperfect roster.  For some unknown reason, this particular blend of veterans and young players, each with their own strengths and weaknesses, hasn’t meshed as well as expected.

Many fans would like to blame Westphal and his tinkering for the inconsistency of this group of players, which is probably fair on some levels.  Westphal has started 13 of the 15 players that have appeared on the Kings’ roster this season, leaving only rookie second round pick, Hassan Whiteside, who spent most of the last two months playing in the NBA D-League, and Antoine Wright, a player who was waived November 29th, as the only two players not to start a single game.

Is the tinkering over?  I doubt it with the trade deadline looming in February and injury issues that are bound to come up again.  Has the tinkering slowed?  It appears so.

Over the last ten games, a clear rotational pattern has developed.  Due to injuries facing Evans and Garcia, changes have occurred, but they are clearly injury replacements and nothing more.  It appears that not only has Westphal decided on a rotation of players, but he has cut the rotation to nine and stuck to it.

The same starting five, when healthy, has started six of the last ten games since January 1st, and barring a major turn of events, will continue to start for the foreseeable future.

Here are the lucky winners:

 

Tyreke Evans (Guard)- Last season’s rookie of the year and the new face of the franchise, Evans is the player the Kings hope to build the franchise around.  His numbers are down across the board, but he has struggled with plantar fasciitis and personal off-court issues.  Coach Westphal would call these struggles “reasons” and not “excuses” and Tyreke is still considered the player most likely to deliver the Kings from the hell they have been mired in for the last half decade.

Stats since Jan. 1:  38.7 min., 17.7 points, 6.7 assists, 4.8 rebounds.

 

Beno Udrih (Guard)- Once considered a minor albatross because of his contract, the Slovenian native has become the Kings’ most consistent offensive weapon.  The Kings will continue to look for the perfect backcourt mate for Evans, but until then, Beno will do.  Udrih is shooting 50.4% from the field and averaging 14 points a game, both career highs.

Stats since Jan. 1:  34.5 min., 14.7 points, 3.4 rebounds, 3.2 assists.

 

Francisco Garcia (Small Forward)- From opening day starter, to bench player, to DNP-CD and back to starter, Garcia is the Kings’ best pure shooter and the team’s undisputed leader.  When Garcia is on, the Kings’ offense opens up; when he is off, the Kings see a lot of zones.  After missing all but 25 games last year due to a horrific arm injury, Cisco has only missed four total this year including coach’s decisions.

Stats since Jan. 1:  30.9 min., 11.6 points, 3.7 rebounds, 1.1 assists.

 

Jason Thompson- Considered a building block a year ago, the third year big man out of Rider is just now figuring out how to play alongside rookie DeMarcus Cousins.  Sometimes lost in the rotation of quality big men, Thompson does a lot of things well.  JT is not the shot blocker that Dalembert is, a pure scorer like Landry or the post force of Cousins, but he is a more versatile player than any of the other three at this point in his career.

Stats since Jan. 1:  22.6 min., 10.0 points, 6.4 rebounds, 0.8 assists.

 

 

DeMarcus Cousins- The rookie big man out of Kentucky has had his ups and downs, but over the last 10 games he has been dominant.  At this point of the season, only Blake Griffin has been a better rookie and Cousins’ best days are clearly ahead of him.  DMC is showing an uncanny ability to not only improve week by week, but quarter by quarter and he looks like a pretty good bet to be the Kings’ second all-star caliber player along with Evans.

Stats since Jan. 1:  28.8 min., 17.4 points, 7.9 rebounds, 2.2 assists.

The starting five isn’t all that is set.  Westphal has pared down the rotation off the bench as well.  For most of the season, Westphal has used 11 or 12 players in almost every game.  In the last 10, he has, for all intents and purposes, cut that number to nine players, the five starters and four players from the bench.

Meet the second unit:

 

Pooh Jeter- Jeter is the primary back-up guard behind Evans and Udrih.  He is a change of pace player who pushes the ball with incredible speed.  If you want to know about his impact on the floor, just ask Omri Casspi who raves about the little man out of the University of Portland.  Beyond his offensive prowess, Jeter has shown an amazing ability to guard some of the league’s elite point guards, even with his size limitations.

Stats since Jan. 1:  18.3 min, 4.1 points, 4.3 assists, 1.5 rebounds.

 

Carl Landry- Landry is the Kings number one weapon off the bench.  Last season, before the trade that brought him to Sacramento, Carl Landry was in the running for the NBA’s sixth man of the year.  Up until the last 10 games, he had struggled to find his rhythm, either as a starter or bench player this season for the Kings.  Carl now has a role and Coach Westphal has decided to use him in tandem with Samuel Dalembert, which seems to be a good pairing of offense and defense.

Stats since Jan. 1:  27.0 min., 14.0 points, 4.8 rebounds, 1.7 assists.

 

Omri Casspi- Omri’s path is similar to Francisco Garcia’s.  He has been the starter and a bench player and even received the dreaded DNP-CD this season.  Casspi also shares two other traits with Garcia, he is a fighter and he can really shoot it from behind the three point line.  The Kings’ second unit is at its best when Casspi is hitting his perimeter shots or running the floor with Pooh Jeter.

Stats since Jan. 1:  24.7 min., 8.6 points, 5.3 rebounds, 0.9 assists.

 

Samuel Dalembert- The veteran center has just recently started to figure out his place with his new team.  In his last four games, Sammy D has put up 8.8 points and 6.3 rebounds, which are major improvements over his season averages.  More than the numbers, Dalembert looks comfortable, especially on the offensive end where he has really been absent all season.

Stats since Jan. 1:  16.2 min., 5.4 points, 4.1 rebounds, 0.9 assists.

The other five players on the roster- Donté Greene, Jermaine Taylor, Darnell Jackson, Hassan Whiteside and Luther Head, are the odd men out as of today.  When the Kings have been healthy (six of the last 10 games), these five have combined to play a mere 47 of a possible 1440 minutes, or 3% of the total action over those six games.

Surprisingly, three of the five players completely out of the rotation have started during this 10 game stretch due to injury, keeping with Paul Westphal’s policy regarding the importance of continuity in both the starting and second units as well as having quality players coming off the bench.

Donté Greene was the latest of the out-of-the-rotation players to get a start, playing 35 minutes in the Kings’ Martin Luther King Day loss to the Hawks.  It will be interesting to see if his play will merit yet another change in the rotation.  For now, I would think that it is unlikely.

There are reasons that each and every one of these players aren’t getting the playing time that they so desperately desire.  Greene was given his chance.  Starting a total of 19 games this season, the third year player out of Syracuse just hasn’t been able to find a consistent stroke, shooting just 37.2% from the field and only 28.9% from three.  Jermaine Taylor is new to the club, arriving from Houston on December 15th via trade.  Hassan Whiteside is faced with the duel challenge of being a second round pick who missed all of training camp due to injury and also having a very similar skill set to Dalembert.  Luther Head has fought a myriad of injuries and illnesses, while Darnell Jackson, a player Coach Westphal thinks very highly of, is lost in a numbers game with the crowded front line.

So there you have it.  Many fans have asked for a solid nine man rotation, and after trying 16 different looks, Westphal seems locked in to group that he feels comfortable with.  The team has responded with quality play, but they are still struggling to translate that into consistent winning on the court.  Hopefully with a little bit of time, this unit will grow together and start seeing the fruits of their labor pay off because be it a reason or an excuse, the rotation issue looks to be solved.

I must warn you – I can’t speak of Pooh Jeter without obvious bias trickling out in every word.

He was by far the most entertaining bro on my beloved Hapoel Jerusalem squad last season, and personally speaking, he was my second favorite player (the first was Uri Kukia, an undersized, unathletic forward with no discernable basketball skill except for the fact that he was clearly the smartest player on the court at all times). It wasn’t your idle, “OH GODZ BRIAN SCALABRINE IS SO AWESOMEZ” kind of love, either – Pooh is a baller, in every which way, and if he had another 3-4 inches, he would have never gotten to Israel in the first place.

However, to me, Pooh is also a representative of a system. Being an international NBA fan, I am constantly faced with both the need to defend the NBA against FIBA enthusiasts, who say the NBA is just an iso-laden, defenseless, sorry excuse for a pick-up game, and the need to defend European ball to NBA xenophobes, who say Europe is the kindergarten playtime to the NBA’s varsity.

The truth, as always, is in between – the leagues sport differents style of play, but while the NBA is obviously better, and Europe more team oriented, both display very high quality basketball, and a true fan of the game will find himself fascinated watching any one of the two.

There is one type of transition between the two leagues, though, that is rarely seen. Many European players have made the transition to the NBA, and almost every European team boasts multiple American key components. However, to my memory, there have been very few cases of American players moving to Europe to start off their pro careers, developing overseas, and then returning to the NBA as better players. Only Anthony Parker immediately comes to my mind – had a few uneventful NBA seasons out of Bradley, dominated in Europe, then returned as a key component on the Raptors before age caught up. While truly smart international basketball men such as ShamSports‘ Mark Deeks or Ball in Europe’s Os Davis (and dozens more who I’m regrettably forgetting) will probably find you more, I would like to hope that I know world-wide basketball well enough to successfully point out that this transition is rare.

However, the fluidity of trans-Atlantic basketball development seems to have become more of a two sided affair. Guys like Brandon Jennings and Josh Childress have already spent time in Europe during their careers, and promise to be good (Childress) to great (hopefully Jennings) going forward. Again, though – these aren’t players who made a name for themselves in Europe, but guys who made both the trip from and to the States as pretty much the same guys.

Pooh is of that other breed. He who spent his early years in the Old Continent, and returned in his prime. A breed that I don’t see too much of around the league.

Which is why what Pooh does for this team can go a long way. I’ve gone on record here before saying why I like the signing, and that hasn’t changed. Pooh is a great fit for this system because of his similarities to Beno Udrih, and while he is inferior to Beno, I think one can ably plug him in for the Slovenian without experiencing your typical “backup’s backup” drop off. And even in another system, this is a lightning quick guard who has the ability to be a strong change-of-pace scorer off the bench (think Will Bynum).

The upside, though, extends beyond the realms of Pooh Jeter. Europe is still very much an untapped market basketball wise, in the sense that most imports come through the draft. Returning American players who improved at their trade, or international guys who slipped under the radar when they were draft eligible and have since improved are much rarer. It might be because some recent cases were unsuccessful – Sarunas Jasikevicius, who was among the best point guards in Europe before moving to the NBA in 2005 and flaming out in Indiana, is a prime example. However, to me he was always an outlier, choosing a team who was an abysmal fit for his break neck style of play (the mid-decade Pacers. I’m telling you, had Saras gone to the Cavs instead of Damon Jones, the NBA would be very different right now).

And it’s a shame, because even through the very narrow perspective of Israeli basketball only, I can tell you for certain that there are many NBA level talents working their tails off overseas just to get into Sternville. Pooh is a step in the right track – even though I suspect that most of the Kings’ scouting of him came from his summer league stints. Moving ahead in that path could give the Kings more cheap talent to help round out a roster on the cheap. With the minimal resources needed to successfully watch European basketball in this day and age, there is no reason not to.

Keep this in mind when you watch Pooh this season. Whether he gets his shot at major minutes or not is a storyline of it’s own – it also depends greatly on whether Beno Udrih will be a starter or will come off the bench. But it’s the journey that brought Pooh to Sacramento which makes him an interesting case. A similar player with a similar journey will always be available if the Kings look hard enough.

Okay, sorry.

There’s no need to bring back the “on a boat” jokes/memes but there’s only a 45-minute window during each day that I can be clever and it isn’t at 8am.

Here are a couple of videos of Kings’ backup point guard Pooh Jeter talking about his time in Spain, Israel and the NBA path. Pooh seems like a really good guy who is very aware of everything going on in his life and journey to the NBA. You get a sense of confidence and work ethic in hearing him talk about his experiences.

Also, he’s captaining the boat while he does the interview! Multi-tasking point guard!

(Via Cavs: The Blog and the incomparable John Krolik)

Today might end up being Pooh Jeter Day if people keep writing about him.

Sebastian Pruiti (who is in the process of taking a stranglehold over NBA blogging) from Nets Are Scorching and NBA Playbook has been breaking down the games of guys with international pedigrees who are on their way over to the NBA this summer. He did one for today on Pooh Jeter and what he does well and doesn’t do well on the basketball court.

Check out the the post here. It’s a great breakdown and if you’re not reading NBA Playbook on a regular basis then you need to slap yourself for doing this internet thing wrong.

It’s amazing to me that Pooh Jeter has been around for so long but he’s never played a NBA minute. He’s been in the D-League or off in Europe proving himself to international scouts who probably came to see somebody else play.

Well our good friend Alex Kramers from When Kingdom Come decided to take a look back at the history of undrafted rookies who have played for the Kings.

I want to be excited about the Sacramento Kings signing undrafted rookie free agent Eugene “Pooh” Jeter to a guaranteed contract.  The speedy 5’9″ point guard averaged 14.4 points (48% FG, 80% FT) and 5.4 assists on the Cleveland Cavaliers’ 2010 Summer League team after honing his skills in the NBA Development League and everywhere else, from Ukraine to Jerusalem over the last four seasons.  A solid playmaker and an improved outside shooter (40% 3PT last year), Jeter, who actually began his professional career on the the Kings’ Summer League squad in 2006, drilled a game-winning three-pointer in the closing seconds against the Chicago Bulls on July 16 to cap off a fantastic 20-point, seven-assist outing.

But the Kings, like most teams, have been down this road many times before.  An NBA training camp invite, even one with a partially or fully guaranteed deal, doesn’t always lead to a regular season nod for a fringe player, with names such as Nik Caner-Medley, Rashid Byrd, Lanny Smith, Chen Hsin-An, and Zhang Kai, among others, appearing on Sacramento’s preseason rosters.  The Kings haven’t had much luck with signing undrafted free agents either, rarely striking gold while declining to keep several solid role players.  Here’s a look back at recent notable rookie signees, none of whom, of course, hold a candle to the legendary Michael “Yogi” Stewart, the one-time team ball boy who ranked seventh in the league in blocks (2.4 per game) and was named to the All-Star Weekend Rookie Game in 1997-98.

Alex does great work here as always. Check out the rest of the piece here.