OK, as soon as I posted the link came up....
http://www.sacbee.com/content/sports/story/13345552p-14187456c.html
Petrie mostly mum about dealings
He reveals little, except to say the Kings have also signed guard Ronnie Price.
When the muzzle otherwise known as the NBA moratorium was finally removed, Geoff Petrie was hardly a man dying to unload a month's worth of pent-up thoughts.
The Kings president of basketball operations wouldn't say whether he was relieved about the signing of new
shooting guard Bonzi Wells or point guard Jason Hart, who were acquired in trades with Memphis and Charlotte that were already agreed to but not made official until Tuesday.
"I think it's more important how they're feeling," Petrie said.
Well?
"Both players are excited about coming," he said. "Both of them are coming in with something to prove." Any worries about Wells' sordid past, how he outwore his welcome in Portland and Memphis? "He's excited to show people that he's going to be a very fine player and a good citizen." And, by the way ...
"Oh yeah, we signed Ronnie Price today," he added.
The Kings' third point guard comes from under the radar, a little-known talent who needed only two games in last month's Las Vegas summer league to land a job. Price (6-foot-2, 190 pounds) entered the draft as a mystery man because he hails from the Timbuktu of NCAA basketball, provisional Division I college Utah Valley State. The school was a community college when Price transferred there from Nicholls State as a sophomore, and his scoring average as a senior (24.3 points per game) would have ranked third among D-I teams if not for the interim status.
All Petrie cared about was Price's ability to bury open shots, and the penchant for stiff defense he showed on every tape he watched. Petrie said Price was high, if not at the top, on his list for second-round picks in the June draft.
Price signed a two-year deal at the league minimum for rookies.
Though the Kings had only their first-round selection, they tried and failed to acquire a second-round selection.
Petrie was relieved when Price went undrafted, then called immediately to invite him to summer league, where Price played well but injured his toe after two games. Should he make the squad, Price could be priceless in helping Hart spell starting point guard Mike Bibby, who averaged a career-high 38.5 minutes last season when the Kings carried just two point guards.
"We had seen enough at that point to think that he has an exciting future and had a lot of qualities we'd like to see in a young point guard," Petrie said.
"We wanted to carry three points guards."
Hart wants to be No. 2. The Southern California native and Syracuse product said from Los Angeles that he'll do his best to be a quality backup, though he and Bibby have very different styles.
Like Price, Hart can lock up an offensive player on defense.
"Ever since (before high school) when I was little, and in college that's how I've been," said Hart, who - like Wells - will be introduced this week. "Defense is effort. Not too many people want that opportunity of doing that (San Antonio forward) Bruce Bowen job."
Hart will work his way into the spot like he's worked his way to legitimacy in the league, from playing 11 total games in his first two seasons in Milwaukee to his breakout season with the Bobcats in which he played 74 games and started 27 while averaging 9.5 points and five assists. He has two seasons left on his contract, and will earn $1.6 million in the first.
"I'm not expecting anything," Hart said. "I'll come in and earn the right to play through hard work. One thing about playing behind a great point guard like Mike, your game has to be A-ready every game."
The reported three-team deal that sent former Kings guard Bobby Jackson to Memphis for Wells was a precursor to a five-team swap that involved Utah, Miami, Boston, Memphis and New Orleans. Petrie's part is done, but he has plenty of other business to tend to.
The futures of restricted free agents Darius Songaila and Maurice Evans remain unknown. Songaila's agent, Mark Bartelstein, said he continues to talk regularly with Petrie about the forward.
"When you're a restricted free agent it makes things more complicated, because teams that want to sign you have to make it as difficult as possible for the Kings to match," Bartelstein said. "So we're having a lot of conversations.
"Hopefully something happens soon."
Petrie reiterated that he'd like to retain Songaila.
"Our preference is to keep Darius, and Maurice is still a restricted free agent," he said. "We'll see what shakes out here after this first wave of trading and signing." More opportunity may come before Aug. 15, the deadline for teams planning to utilize the amnesty rule of the new collective bargaining agreement. Teams can waive one player to avoid paying the luxury tax on his salary, though they still must pay his salary. That player could become a cheap addition for another club.
Despite being over the salary cap, the Kings have their early-bird rights available to sign Songaila and could use their $5 million mid-level exception on a free agent.
