The Summer Scoop - August 3, 2005

[LMM]

The Summer Scoop- August 3, 2005
by Devin Blankenship


The Price is Right...
The Kings’ front office thinks it has really found a hidden gem in free-agent point guard Ronnie Price.

The soft-spoken, young man from Utah Valley State was named NCAA Division I Independents Player of the Year in 2004-05 after averaging 24.3 ppg, 4.2 rpg, 3.0 apg, and nearly two steals a game. Price’s play at the Las Vegas Summer League was one of the highlights of the Kings offseason, and earned him a contract for the upcoming season.

Price and his family have been in Sacramento all week to get the basics out of the way—finding a place to live, transportation, getting to know the city. His chances of making next season’s roster should be good thanks to the league-wide increase in team roster spots and the fact that the front office is high on Price’s potential.

Hanging Around…
Despite the fact that Bobby Jackson and Greg Ostertag are no longer members of the Sacramento Kings, the two have been regulars at the Kings’ Practice Facility as they get ready to head off to their new squads.

Both worked out on Wednesday morning, shooting around and going through their usual routines, as well as making their way through the facility to say hello to everyone.

If you see this truck coming down the road, get out of the way. </FONT>
Greg even showed off his new ride—a Ford F-650 Super Crewzer. Now for those of you that haven’t seen one of these in person, just imagine a regular pickup on a large amount of steroids. The thing is massive, with the bed of the truck sitting up five feet off the ground and a ladder practically needed to get into the cab, which is surprisingly cozy and comfortable.

The truck is a perfect representation of Greg—huge and fun-loving.

Although neither player saw much court action last year, their locker room influence will be missed. Ostertag had in only one season ingrained himself with the staff and his teammates, and as those who saw the clip of him dancing last year at a season-ticket holder function wearing little blue shorts can attest, he had the ability to keep things loose.

Bobby on the other hand was one of the elder statesmen of the team, a player that will probably always be considered one of Sacramento’s most beloved, thanks to his tenacity and grit on the court and his huge heart on and off of it.

But as is the case with the Maloof family, despite the fact that these guys will not be wearing Kings’ jerseys next year, they will always be a part of the Kings’ family.

Sifting the Remains…
Geoff Petrie and company continue to look at free-agents to fill out the roster, and have brought in players for workouts this week in an attempt to try and add more size to the team.

For those Kings fans looking for an earth-shaking move or a big name to get added to the roster though, it’s probably not going to happen. Word is that Sacramento would much rather go with the current squad than sacrifice cap flexibility for future seasons—things should get much clearer once Darius Songaila either re-signs or moves on.



You can e-mail Devin Blankenship at fanmail@kingsbball.com

 

[Andriod_KiNg]

That looks like a toy truck, and its nice to hear Bo-Jax still hanging around.

 

[Warhawk]

The Summer Scoop- August 3, 2005
by Devin Blankenship


Sifting the Remains…
Geoff Petrie and company continue to look at free-agents to fill out the roster, and have brought in players for workouts this week in an attempt to try and add more size to the team.

For those Kings fans looking for an earth-shaking move or a big name to get added to the roster though, it’s probably not going to happen. Word is that Sacramento would much rather go with the current squad than sacrifice cap flexibility for future seasons—things should get much clearer once Darius Songaila either re-signs or moves on.

In other words, quit dreaming.

 

[Kings113]

Petrie is the man. Not Devin Blankenship.

 

[The Freak]

Petrie is the man. Not Devin Blankenship.

Well I'd take his word only because he's @ the Practice Facility 24/7

 

[Kings113]

Petrie is the one making the deals and decisions.

 

[thesanityannex]

Well I'd take his word only because he's @ the Practice Facility 24/7

I'd take his word if he got me a ride in Oaftag's truck.

 

[VF21]

I am pretty much speechless.

Word is that Sacramento would much rather go with the current squad than sacrifice cap flexibility for future seasons.

...

 

[Padrino]

I am pretty much speechless.



...

as am i

 

[captain bill]

That truck definitely fits Ostertag. Oversized, ugly but a bit cute in its own way.

 

[The Freak]

Petrie is the one making the deals and decisions.

Well of course, but Devin is one of closest sources to the Kings. Knowing that, and Petrie's secretiveness, who else can we trust?

 

[D-Mass]

Word is that Sacramento would much rather go with the current squad than sacrifice cap flexibility for future seasons

Translation: Another first-round exit is perfectly fine with us!

 

[captain bill]

I am pretty much speechless.



...

I don't believe it. When have we ever worried about cap room? Besides, after next year we'll still have some monster contracts on the books and certainly not enough room to actually maneouver, if any room at all.

 

[LPKingsFan]

Eh, this is the same guy who got us all hyped for what turned out to be Courtney Alexander. I'll pass...

 

[Kings113]

Well of course, but Devin is one of closest sources to the Kings. Knowing that, and Petrie's secretiveness, who else can we trust?

Geoff Petrie.

 

[VF21]

Well of course, but Devin is one of closest sources to the Kings. Knowing that, and Petrie's secretiveness, who else can we trust?

I don't know if I'd go so far as to call him "one of the closest sources to the Kings." He works for the Kings organization. He's posting on the official Kings website. He isn't going to say anything the organization doesn't want him to say...

It's called walking the party line.

 

[1kingzfan]

The odds are not very good that a guy who writes stories for the Kings has any more insight about what Petrie is going to do (or not do) than you or me. In fact, he may be the mouthpiece to propagandize exactly what Petrie and the Maloofs want.

Sit tight.

We just lost 2 players and gained 3 others in the blink of an eye. And the "trading season" has only just begun. I think there are more fireworks to come.

 

[Kings113]

Exactly, 1KF.

 

[quick dog]

Why would anyone use a 2 1/2-ton truck for basic urban transportation? A Humvee is bad enough.

Anyone still believe that the Maloofs are not gutting the team and closing-out the books here in Sacramento?

 

[Mr. S£im Citrus]

I don't know about moving the team, but I do get the sense that the Maloofs are, in fact, gutting the team. I also get the sense that Joe is making most of the decisions, as opposed to Joe and Gavin together, and I'm not at all confident that that is a good thing.

Apropos of nothing, I'd probably mind it the least of all the people here if the Kings left Sacramento (well, Bricklayer probably wouldn't mind it, either); at least then I wouldn't have to stay up until the middle of the night to watch the games.

 

[Kings113]

Why would anyone use a 2 1/2-ton truck for basic urban transportation? A Humvee is bad enough.

Anyone still believe that the Maloofs are not gutting the team and closing-out the books here in Sacramento?

Nope.

 

[love_them_kings]

I don't know if I'd go so far as to call him "one of the closest sources to the Kings." He works for the Kings organization. He's posting on the official Kings website. He isn't going to say anything the organization doesn't want him to say...

It's called walking the party line.

so, if the party line is that we're happy sticking with the current roster, then, well, wow.... not what I was hoping to hear!

With all those "flexible trading pieces" we picked up in the Webb trade, you'd think we'd be able to make something else happen here.

 

[Bricklayer]

Its hard to imagine how much LESS flexibility we could possibly have than having three starters signed to long term mega-contacts and three tweener forwards eating up $18million of capspace unitl 2007 at least. Since Bonzi and his ending deal just arrived and is therefore presumably going to be here in the fall, the only cap "flexibility"we have on the whole roster is Peja, with his ending deal. And our "cap flexibility" there consists of having two choices: a) pay him the max; or b) let him walk. Some flexibility.

1) so what...we are planning for the wonderful "flexibility" we could have by 2007 just in time to move to Vegas if we let Peja and Bonzi walk this year, and then Corliss and Skinner the next? That would be neat. Flexibility by 2010 in another city! Yay!

2) Devin is a bit of an insider as an official employee type of the Kings -- that's kind of his position/job. I can't confirm, but he may have as much insight into the actual mood over there as anybody not actually in the know. He is also in the position to be fed information by the front office if they want to spead the word/prepare the fans. Then again, who knows where the real info, or even fed info, begins and Devin's own personal feelings on the matter end? He's shown in the past he inserts a lot of himself into these theoretically unbiased reports.

3) Since Peja is basically the extent of our tradeable "flexibility", is this just another way of saying Geoff won't trade Peja even if he is offered a guy who can walk on water AND come back from the dead?

4) Or is this the continuation of the infamous "flexibility" excuse hatched in the wake of the Webber trade? That somehow having $18 mil tied up in three untradeable random pieces was better than having it tied up in one untradeable long time King? That we have "flexibility" even though the contracts run for just as long, and we apparently are going to do nothing with them? Maybe the excuse reborn after efforts to trade one or more of our "flexible pieces" fell through or looks unlikely?

5) I do wonder who is calling the shots at this point. And I'm not even sure what I would want the answer to be. Geoff has done pretty well early IMO in picking up a couple of defensive/tougher guards. But while Bonzi theoretically COULD blow up (and you can take that either way), they don't look to be the level of moves to turn things around. If that's really all Geoff's got...well, he's going to get his good friend Rick fired for one thing.

 

[Rowdyone]

I think with GP's penchant for playing things close to the vest ensuring plausible deniability there probably isn't anyone in the organization who can say one way or another what will happen next except GP. Doubtlessly he and some of his people are scanning the waiver wires and "amnesty" releases and these bits of info may trickle down to this level. But remember, if we make a major trade with one of the "core" players sent packing it plays better for all concerned if the trade was one of those "gee, guys, we were happy until we were approached about ____ for _____ and we just couldn't let this pass because it fills so many of our needs" and "we weren't actively shopping ______."

 

[PFFFT!!]

Ya enough cap flexibility to sign Peja and STILL have the same team on the floor.....zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

 

[thesanityannex]

Why would anyone use a 2 1/2-ton truck for basic urban transportation? A Humvee is bad enough.

They are actually quite effecient because they run on diesel and not gasoline like a hummer.

 

[SacTownKid]

HA! This shows me that obviously the Kings organization checks this board out. Whats the surprise! Petrie has repeatedly said that he is going with Bibby, Peja, and Brad.

Don't expect any earthshaking moves? DUH! The only earth-shaking moves would involve the core, so...no surprise there.

I am sure the moves are not done, but I don't,and never did expect the team to switch out the new core of the Sacramento Kings. Of course, you never know, the T'wolves could call tommorrow....

 

[Kingsgurl]

Actually, what he SAID was he was going with Bibby, Peja, Brad and Bobby as our core, right before he bought Bobby a ticket to Memphis.

I doubt Blankenship is in the loop enough to know WHAT deals, if any, are going to go down just by hanging out at the practice facility. It's not like the PLAYERS know.

 

[VF21]

Actually, what he SAID was he was going with Bibby, Peja, Brad and Bobby as our core, right before he bought Bobby a ticket to Memphis.

I doubt Blankenship is in the loop enough to know WHAT deals, if any, are going to go down just by hanging out at the practice facility. It's not like the PLAYERS know.

Okay, now I'm stuck with "The Letter" in my mind...

 

[SacTownKid]

Actually, what he SAID was he was going with Bibby, Peja, Brad and Bobby as our core, right before he bought Bobby a ticket to Memphis.

I doubt Blankenship is in the loop enough to know WHAT deals, if any, are going to go down just by hanging out at the practice facility. It's not like the PLAYERS know.

I remember hearing mostly about Bibby, Brad, and Peja. I do however remember him mentioning Bobby, but I may have glanced passed it b/c he wasn't mentioned, at least to my knowledge, as signigicantly as the other three and as often.

I think more so the statement was saying that the Kings do not plan on shopping any of the core players. Like I said, that doesn't stop another team from calling, and proposing a deal.