http://sportsillustrated.cnn.c...oved.teams/index.html



Sacramento Kings

A little more than a year ago, the Kings were coming off an NBA-worst 17-win season. People talked about a possible move to Las Vegas more than they extolled the exploits of the players on the roster. But team president Geoff Petrie spearheaded a stellar 2009 draft that brought in two rugged newcomers in Rookie of the Year Tyreke Evans and small forward Omar Casspi. Petrie then hastened the inevitable emergence of Evans as the team's alpha dog with a midseason deal that sent leading scorer Kevin Martin to Houston for power forward Carl Landry. Add in 2008 top pick Jason Thompson, and Sacramento had the makings of a scrappy team.

Petrie has maximized that identity with a couple of brilliant moves over the past month. A week before the draft, Sacramento sent soft, smooth-shooting center Spencer Hawes and waning veteran Andres Nocioni to the Sixers for 6-11 center Samuel Dalembert, a quality defender and shot-blocker equally capable of stolid on-ball deterrence and rapid help from the weak side. Dalembert is durable -- he hasn't missed a game in more than four years -- and possesses an expensive but valuable $13 million expiring contract.

Dalembert will also become a key mentor for Sacramento's top pick this year, Kentucky's DeMarcus Cousins, a 19-year-old man-child who weighs 292 pounds and has a 7-6 wingspan on his 6-11 frame. Cousins' skills are equally enormous but purportedly undercut by some arrogance and immaturity that are not uncommon to teenagers. This is exactly the kind of high-risk, higher-reward gamble a small-market franchise should take, especially because Cousins fits the Kings' black-and-blue blueprint meant to overpower foes with aggressive physical play at both ends of the court. (Sacramento also drafted raw 7-foot center Hassan Whiteside in the second round.)

The Kings still have an uphill fight to make the playoffs in the deep, competitive Western Conference. Casspi and 6-11 swingman Donte Greene both show promise as three-point marksmen, but Sacramento could use a more reliable catch-and-shoot scorer on the wing. Evans needs to be less ball-centric operating the offense out of the half court and, with the exception of Dalembert, the power rotation is not yet fully seasoned. But Evans and Cousins are monsters in the making, a pair of huge, yet deceptively mobile and coordinated performers to man the point and the pivot, respectively. They could resurrect the once-vociferous home-court advantage at Arco Arena, playing a rugged style that wears well in the postseason.





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Keep the Faith

Except they called Omri "Omar".  Good read.

Here's another SI article giving the Kings some love:

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2010/writers/britt_robson/07/12/improved.teams/index.html?eref=sircrc

I don't want to get over-enthusiastic, too pumped, etc... but even though it's just summer league, Cousins has got me very, very excited about next season, and especially for seasons to come.

The NBA needs an "overachieving" underdog to root for... don't see why it can't be the Kings!

That's the same article I posted, DT. LOL!

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Keep the Faith

Mind (and ears) still reeling from Tool.

Being at the arena gave me visions of alley-oops and blocked shots and 17,000 screaming fans, with no gold jerseys in sight.

 

Isn't Omar the tent maker???

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Boogie's night in Vegas:

22 pts, 12 rebs, 5 dimes, 4 steals, 1 block, game winner after DEMANDING the ball. 

 

Special things are on the horizon.....