Did you know that KT has a ETO at the end of the Year?

[CaminoChaos]

www.sacbee.com/static/weblogs/sports/kings/archives/007950.html

Which bigmen will get most of the playing time?

Question: Who do you think will get the majority time at the 4 and 5 spots with the overload (the Kings) have now? Let's count 'em down: Mikki Moore, Shareef, Corliss, K9, Justin Williams, Spencer Hawes and Brad Miller. Who'll play what, and for how long?
- Kameron, Roseville
Answer: I don't have a purple crystal ball, but it's certainly going to be competitive. For starters, I get the feeling Reggie Theus is going to have high demands of Brad Miller and not be afraid to call him out, nor will he be afraid to give the hungry young guys extensive playing time if they're producing. Meanwhile, Thomas and Abdur-Rahim know they didn't have great seasons in 06-07 and you know their pride is bruised a bit. The wildcard will be Moore, who can either prove that last season in New Jersey wasn't - as so many have said - a one-hit wonder or take the easy road and roll in all that cash he landed.
-Sam Amick
Question: I know a lot of questions surround Mike Bibby and Ron Artest, but I would like to know about the status of our - not so powerful - power forwards. Does it look like they are going to stay?
Jim M., Sacramento
Answer: Jim, it is looking like they're going to stay. Neither Kenny Thomas or Shareef Abdur-Rahim would mind being traded to a better situation, but I don't see it happening anytime soon. Thomas' deal makes him hard to move, as he will make nearly $8 million this season (more than Ron Artest) and is coming off a rough season. If they do indeed stay, Thomas is the first who could go on his own accord, as he has an early termination option after this coming season.
The best chance to move Abdur-Rahim seems to have come and gone already, as Chicago was looking for a veteran post presence but never got a deal done with the Kings.
-Sam Amick
Question: Are the Kings going to get Kevin Martin signed to a new multi-year contract or is that important to them? Do think they will just let him go too?
Rick Young, Houston
Answer: If I'm looking ahead, I say a five-year extension probably gets done that locks Martin up as one of the building blocks of the next era. I don't expect anything to get done, however, until maybe sometime in September.
-Sam Amick

 

[dude12]

and that is why KT shouldn't play a minute this year to force him out.

 

[VF21]

KT is no more going to walk away from guaranteed $8 million and change than Bibby did.

People who think sitting on the bench is worth giving up that kind of change are, in a word, delusional.

The Kings are going to have to either find some way/any way to trade him, buy him out or simply put up with his increasingly sour demeanor if he doesn't get the minutes.

That's just the way it is.

 

[pdxKingsFan]

KT is no more going to walk away from guaranteed $8 million and change than Bibby did.

People who think sitting on the bench is worth giving up that kind of change are, in a word, delusional.

The Kings are going to have to either find some way/any way to trade him, buy him out or simply put up with his increasingly sour demeanor if he doesn't get the minutes.

That's just the way it is.

I agree... but ummm... maybe he'll have a career year and opt out so he can snooker some other team? Talk about win-win!

 

[BMiller52]

Maybe we can pee him off enough to use the option. I say send him home.

 

[HndsmCelt]

IF KT could get more elsewhere he might take the ETO. IF he were even a top 15 PF in the NBA sitting him on the bench MIGHT hurt his pride enough to chase him away. BUT reality is KT will NEVER see another 8 mill year again and he would be hard pressed to start on almost ANY team in the NBA, heck the fact that the Kings were chooseing between him and the tarted remnets of SAR as a starter speaks volumes. Truth is on many teams KT would be on the bench behind the back up PF. He may pout, and he may have pride but I doubt he is so delusional that he would walk from and 8 mill contract to see what offers he might get.

 

[HndsmCelt]

KT is no more going to walk away from guaranteed $8 million and change than Bibby did.

People who think sitting on the bench is worth giving up that kind of change are, in a word, delusional.

The Kings are going to have to either find some way/any way to trade him, buy him out or simply put up with his increasingly sour demeanor if he doesn't get the minutes.

That's just the way it is.

I wonder if we could send him down to the develomental team?

 

[cfechter]

KT is no more going to walk away from guaranteed $8 million and change than Bibby did.

People who think sitting on the bench is worth giving up that kind of change are, in a word, delusional.

The Kings are going to have to either find some way/any way to trade him, buy him out or simply put up with his increasingly sour demeanor if he doesn't get the minutes.

That's just the way it is.

Very well put. Unless we buy him out, KT is a King for the next 3 seasons. I personally don't see him getting many minutes after last year's debacle of a season, which means no way he gets even an inkling of trade value.

 

[jcassio]

Somehow, someway, the Kings need to force a buy-out with KT. I don't see him opting out because he'll lose millions. He shouldn't take minutes from the young players we desperately need to develop. He's a negative asset in a backup role. And he's got the NBA trade value of a leper. Jeeze, there's only one decent option left, and that's to force a buy-out. ASAP.

And maybe 'force' is too strong a word, but whatever can be done to make it happen (short of foul play) is what I'm talking about. Then again, we shouldn't just rule out foul play until we've defined it. I think KT's performance last year could be called 'foul play.'

 

[Bricklayer]

This is just pretty pipe dreamy. The ONLY way KT would ever opt out of his deal is precisely if we played him 35 min a night all season and he put up numbers big enough that he thought he could get get some other sucker to drop the MLE on him. Otherwise, simply is not happening. "Foul play", wheedling, begging, sexual favors or whatever you want to try just ain't going to cut it when you are talking about $16mil dollars.

 

[ParniValjak]

KT is no more going to walk away from guaranteed $8 million and change than Bibby did.

People who think sitting on the bench is worth giving up that kind of change are, in a word, delusional.

The Kings are going to have to either find some way/any way to trade him, buy him out or simply put up with his increasingly sour demeanor if he doesn't get the minutes.

That's just the way it is.

Spot on!

KT does have that ETO but it really means nothing for us. He is not going to walk away from that much cash because he can't get anywhere near that from anyone else.

KT would be more than prepared to sit in the stands if need be (let alone on the bench) to get his coin!

 

[jcassio]

This is just pretty pipe dreamy. The ONLY way KT would ever opt out of his deal is precisely if we played him 35 min a night all season and he put up numbers big enough that he thought he could get get some other sucker to drop the MLE on him. Otherwise, simply is not happening. "Foul play", wheedling, begging, sexual favors or whatever you want to try just ain't going to cut it when you are talking about $16mil dollars.

The players who can still play and who agree to a buy-out are the ones who are desperate to play and realize that their only chance of playing is on another team - for which they can sign onto for cheap. Call it a pipe-dream, but I think KT fits into the desperate-to-play category. But, yeah, we could give him 35 minutes a night... (and hope for the best)...

 

[dude12]

People who think sitting on the bench is worth giving up that kind of change are, in a word, delusional. The Kings are going to have to either find some way/any way to trade him, That's just the way it is.

As delusional as people who think that we are going to be able to trade him. He is untradeable right now. He can rot on the bench for the next few years or stay home.