Tag: Kings

Kings rally Tuesday, Don G has details today UPDATE: Scot Pollard, Doug Christie, TESLA

Come party with these guys

Yesterday on KHTK’s Don Geronimo Show, Don G and Carmichael Dave shared the news that a “HUGE” Kings party/rally is being planned for Tuesday in Downtown Sac. Today on the show they will announce the exact location as well as some special guests planned. Fingers crossed for Chris Vlade and Peja. After the whole “purple tie” thing I think C-Webb is probably a lock. I’d tune in to Don G right off the bat if you want the details — Dave is promising to make the announcements at noon.

CBSSacramento.com has a clip of Don G interviewing Gavin Maloof on his show.

UPDATE: Scot Pollard, Doug Christie and TESLA are confirmed for the rally on Tuesday from 5-8pm downtown. I only know this from the Twitter pages because I had a meeting until just now. Did they talk locations?

Jason Williams retires (again)

I am just now catching up on the news and noticed that former Kings point guard Jason Williams announced his retirement last week.

The 6-foot-1 guard finished with career averages of 10.5 points and 5.9 assists. He is the Grizzlies’ all-time leader in assists with 2,069…Williams played for the Grizzlies twice and played for the Sacramento Kings, the Miami Heat and the Magic. He was the starting point guard on the Heat’s championship team in 2005-2006.

Those were the days. Here’s a cool video of the glory years on YouTube. Oh, and that the elbow pass, and more.

When is the last time you thought of Lawrence Funderburke?

If Burkle builds it, will they stay?

So I guess today is do-or-die for keeping the Kings franchise in town. What I’m wondering is whether anyone has talked about whether Ron Burkle couldn’t just make a big commitment toward the cost of an arena instead of making overtures about buying a team, which is just a contingency plan and would put him in the unfavorable position of stealing something from New Orleans, namely the NBA’s best player.

I have been trying to look at all the angles of this story but has that been discussed? If an arena is a good bet for a business and not necessarily for a tax base, wouldn’t it make sense for our billionaire benefactor to own a major stake in the arena?

Kings receive a deadline extension

This is some saga.

NBA Commissioner David Stern reported Friday that the league has decided to extend until May 2 the deadline for the Sacramento Kings to produce an application to relocate to Anaheim. Stern said the NBA Board of Governors’ relocation committee, headed by Oklahoma City owner Clay Bennett, will explore claims by Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson that he’s mobilized millions of dollars in community support to sponsor the team and purchase season tickets.

What? No love for Carmichael Dave?

C Webb working to save Kings?

This one isn’t a joke. I didn’t see this conversation on the TV, so thanks to Voisin for transcribing it. I still say the relocation isn’t a done deal, though I’m not sure what C Webb would be doing. And it is nice to hear kind words about Kings fans for once, though.

Though JoeSacramentoDotCom’s comment did make me chuckle:

So C Webb is trying to call a timeout and we don’t have any timeouts left. Where have I heard this story before?

Parting is such sweet sorrow, even in cow towns

…this is how an article about the pending Kings move begins at latimes.com. Sigh.

This article does bring up some interesting points, however.

Time Warner’s new $3-billion Lakers TV deal reportedly has a third-team clause, reducing it by $250 million.

Twist!

Does someone think Buss will watch $250 million fly away because someone set up a lemonade stand in Orange County, then say, “I’d be glad to kick in an extra $5 million to $10 million annually?” When the looming lockout complicated New Orleans’ sale, Commissioner David Stern swooped down, bought the Hornets and put talks on hold.

And Stern can’t sell the Hornets to save his life.

Here’s another interesting article from the Orange County Register… Continue reading “Parting is such sweet sorrow, even in cow towns”

State Senate to block Kings Anaheim move? Is this necessary?

CBS13 is reporting that State Sen Steinberg is planning to introduce a measure in the legislature that would “effectively prohibit a California city from signing a contract with a professional sports team unless that team has paid off all its debts to the other city.”

Putting aside the Onion News Network aspect of this kind of legislation, I was under the impression that the loan would already be due in full based on the Maloofs’ existing contractual obligations, and therefore that existing law would probably be sufficient to force the Kings to pay what they owe.

In fact, the way I read the Kings April 1 letter in response to the City’s letter requesting loan pay-off confirmation, the Kings basically agree to abide by the terms of the agreement. I think the media are stirring the pot to make this part of the conversation more saucy than it really is. One is left with the impression that the Maloofs basically said FU to the City when asked to honor their contractual obligations.

But I’m not one to champion the Maloofs grasp of business ethics. What do you say, Kings fans–am I wrong?

Blog: Kings move a done deal?

Matthew McGuire, who blogs at From the Capitol, seems to have info that the Kings move to Anaheim is a done deal. Other than The Wall, on which this has been written for weeks, I don’t actually see that news anywhere else so I’m interested to see what develops.

Also don’t you love hearing that the Maloofs are willing to pay “whatever it takes” to the Lakers and Clips to get them to sign off on the relocation deal?

Abu Dhabi do a number on Sactown

I’ve never read a more heartless editorial. Steve Dilbeck of Abu Dhabi’s The National seems to think that the Kings woke up last week in Sacramento after a bender and need to get the fuck out of Dodge.

Get this: free agents do not want to live in isolated Sacramento; they do want to live on a bluff overlooking the Pacific.

He sounds like some kind of median income Nazi who only knows about basketball from the dictionary and only knows Sacramento from the map. Don’t they have like, slavery in Abu Dhabi? I’ll take Sacramento, ocean view bluffs or not.

Do or die week for Kings?

Mayor Johnson is still sounding optimistic about keeping the Kings in town and apparently March 1 is the deadline for the Kings to file a relocation request. Notes from Bill Bradley and Voisin (interesting note about Stern’s Sacramento-is-Seattle reference) and Sam Amick are worrisome, while Ryan Lillis and the Here We Stay folks provide optimism on the subject.

If this goes the wrong way and we lose the team, will I regret agitating against raising taxes to pay for a shady deal to build the railyard arena? I spent some time this morning rereading some of my posts from that period of time and I maintain my stance. I am aware that Oklahoma City is somewhat of a success story, with the city now owning Ford Arena. I’m not 100% sure that there wouldn’t have been some kind of deal involving a tax increase in return for city ownership of the arena that I couldn’t have supported. But the amount of concessions Sacramento City and County leaders were willing to give the Maloofs made the 2006 deal a bad one for citizens, IMHO. And if we had known this situation would be a direct result it would have made that deal even more distasteful.

Surely you don’t lack for places on the Internet to answer this question but what do you think? How do you see this thing playing out?