Kings Entertain STHs

The Sacramento Kings hit the ARCO Arena hardwood on Wednesday, but it was a night of fun, rather than hard work.

Kings players and coaches held an exclusive event for Kings Season Ticket Holders to show their appreciation for their most loyal supporters. Read more

Practice: Team Update

The Kings took to the practice court the day before their final contest against their rivals to the south.

With the Los Angeles Lakers coming to ARCO Arena on Tuesday, Kobe Bryant was the topic of defensive chatter for the Kings on Monday. Read more

Postgame Quotes: Kings vs. Hornets

Head Coach Kenny Natt

On the way the game played out:
“It’s just really sad to fight the way that we fight, to have gone through the diversity we’ve gone through all season in playing games, trying to come together as a unit and play hard. We finally do that and then little things just caused us to lose a basketball game tonight – it’s just very unfortunate.”

“That’s a very good basketball team we played against tonight. It just shows that the guys that we have are still hanging in and playing hard, playing together. We’re doing a much better job of executing and screening the basketball, moving the basketball, and passing. So yes, there’s a lot of positive to that from that standpoint because as I said, it’s a very good team that we played and we could’ve bowed out from the start. We’ve gotten off to some slow starts but again tonight we came out and really held our own. There were a lot of encouraging things that we saw out there tonight. It’s just unfortunate that we weren’t able to pull the game out.”

“We’ve had a lot of pain this year – it’s hard. A loss is a loss in my eyes and we’ve had a lot of them. Obviously it hurts a little more from the standpoint of playing as hard as we did, hitting that shot that Beno (Udrih) hit and then not able to execute a simple defensive assignment on our end of the floor at the end and its the ballgame. In that sense it is a little more painful, but it’s another loss.”

“I just believe that sometimes when the team is flowing we’ve made some great plays at the end of the game – (tonight) guys had a flow going; Francisco (Garcia) hit a big three. Sometimes you call a timeout and you break the rhythm of a team – I thought at that point we were set in our position, so why call a timeout – just go ahead and run with it. Fortunately enough we got a good look at it as I said. From the offensive standpoint we did a great job tonight – obviously our defense has to get a lot better and game playing discipline.”

Spencer Hawes

“The way we played that game and went back and forth with them and make plays like we did down the stretch. We thought we had it and that just shows you it’s not over until “she’s singing.” We have to wait until the final buzzer.”

On the last play by Rasual Butler:
“It’s just a breakdown, a defensive breakdown.”

On his emotions on Vlade’s retirement:
“It was great to see him and all the other guys come back and have him get the recognition he deserves for what he did for this town and especially for this community. Not even as a basketball player. I think the Kings honored him for his greater good than what he just did on the court. Part of it you watch as a fan and think that it is great that he is getting it and as a player part of you watches it and hopes that may be me one day.”

Rashad McCants

“We knew exactly what happened. If it wasn’t us putting ourselves in the hole early, its us making a foolish play at the end, to leave us saying that we should have done something different. Championship teams have never and will never have regrets on the floor. If you lose by a one second shot, it’s not because you made a mistake, it’s because they made a great play. It is the opposite for us.”

On Beno’s last shot and his confidence:
“It does a lot (to help his confidence), but it doesn’t really help it too much when you go down the court and we lose the game on the end. It really doesn’t mean anything.”

“It shouldn’t be a long term thing. I think it is pride, passion and determination to win with your teammates. When we have a scheme that we do and everyone understands how to do it. There shouldn’t be any reason why a guy hits a three wide open.”

On seeing the support for Vlade does it have effect on their play tonight:
“Most definitely, the crowd was into the whole game. I think we needed it and we rallied with it. We used their energy to take us all the way to the end.”

–
Hornets Coach Byron Scott

On the last play designed for Rasual Butler:
“Yes it was. I knew everyone would really focus on CP (Chris Paul). I just tried to make him a decoy and I told Rasual ‘your probably going to be wide open so get ready to shoot it.’ You just go for the win; we didn’t want to play overtime. He got a great look obviously. When I saw it leave his hand I had a good feeling it was going in.”

On being surprised Butler was open:
“Yes. I told David (West) as well, ‘if you think they are going to switch, screen your man as well.’ So I thought he did a (great) job of setting the screen. They didn’t switch it and he came out wide open. He pretty much screened two guys. We really let them back in the game and got lucky. Rasual bailed us out.”

On letting the Kings back in the game:
“They did a great job. They shoot the ball so well. They spread you out and make you defend them, and then they are good off the dribble. I thought the zone had a big time effect on them. But later on in the game, we were not getting up on the three-point shooters like we talked about. We were laying back then (Francisco) Garcia and (Rashad) McCants, all those guys started knocking them down.”

On the night by David West on a bad ankle:
“I knew if I took him out, he probably would not have come back in. Tomorrow we will just have to wait and see. Right now, I would say for tomorrow it does not look good.”

Hornets Guard Chris Paul

On doing whatever it takes to win:
“I said that right after the All-Star game, for the second half, whatever we have to do to win, we are going to do. If that means tough shots or just playing until the end, that’s what we are going to do.”

On Rasual’s game winning shot:
“Rasual is a shooter. I have the utmost confidence in him. It was a heads-up play for him to not shoot a two and go for the win and he knocked it in.”

Kings Ties to Big Dance

As Kings fans join sports fans across the country in filling out their NCAA Tournament brackets in hopes of predicting how the Big Dance unfolds, NBA players and coaches maintain focus on the final month of the NBA season. But, just as President Barack Obama took a few minutes to fill out a bracket and select his Final Four teams, Kings rookies Jason Thompson and Donté Greene made their Final Four prognostications, too.

On Monday, Thompson twittered his Final Four picks — Pittsburgh, Connecticut, Louisville and Syracuse. Although he has no connection to the Big East, he clearly has confidence in his rookie teammate’s former conference. Hailing from Syracuse, Greene predicted the same Final Four on Wednesday, also via Twitter, Panthers, Huskies and Cardinals to join his Orangemen in Detroit.

While neither Thompson nor Greene has tasted an NCAA Championship, they aren’t alone on the Kings roster. In fact, only North Carolina product Rashad McCants has the distinction, as he and the Coach Roy Williams-led Tar Heels claimed the 2005 NCAA Championship.

As the only player in purple and black to boast an NCAA ring, he is among just 30 current NBA players to maintain a League roster spot and a collegiate championship. Although his teammates can’t claim such NCAA success, they have reason to root during the 2009 gamut of 65 games. Seven of the team’s 14 players’ collegiate squads are in this year’s March Madness field:

Rashad McCants — North Carolina, 1-seed in South region.
Donté Greene — Syracuse, 3-seed in South region.
Ike Diogu — Arizona State, 6-seed in South region.
Will Solomon — Clemson, 7-seed in South region.
Francisco Garcia –Louisville, 1-seed in Midwest region.
Spencer Hawes — Washington, 4-seed in West region.
Bobby Jackson — Minnesota, 10-seed in East region.

Which Kings player’s collegiate program do you think will make the deepest run in March?

Jerry’s Take: Continued Development

In this month’s edition of Kings Director of Player Personnel Jerry Reynolds’ video blog “Jerry’s Take,” Reynolds analyzes the development of second-year center Spencer Hawes and rookie power forward Jason Thompson. He also shares what he’d like to see more of from rookie forward Donté Greene. Read more

Evaluating the Final Stretch

As Jason Thompson, Spencer Hawes, Andres Nocioni and Rashad McCants, among others, ran through sets and light drills on the Kings practice court Friday morning, Kings Director of Player Personnel Jerry Reynolds shared some insight with Kings.com on how Kings fans can evaluate the team during the season’s final stretch. Read more

Practice & Shootaround - McCants, Greene and JT

The team took to the practice court on Monday in preparation for its lone contest against the Indiana Pacers at ARCO Arena this season. Read more

Postgame Quotes - Kings vs. Clippers

Head Coach Kenny Natt

On the way the game played out:
“All of you have heard me talk over and over again about the importance of trying to get 48 minutes of playing time – come out and do our homework early; get our work done early. I think we did a better job of that tonight. We got off to a good start with these guys. We did a better job defensively; we were able to get ourselves going on the offensive end of the floor and keep our confidence up. I just told the guys again, it’s because of the fact that we decided to start the game the right way on both ends of the floor – playing offense and defense, moving the basketball, playing together on the offensive end and helping each other in playing better on the defensive end of the floor. So we just hope to continue to get those types of efforts. We had a number of guys who really stepped up tonight. Spencer (Hawes) has 15 rebounds tonight; that was really impressive on his part. Bobby Jackson stepped in and really gave us a lift at the point guard position. Just his overall leadership out there on the floor was phenomenal.”

On Bobby Jackson:
“He stepped up – I was hoping I didn’t have to play him 36 minutes but that’s just the way it happened. He stepped up to the challenge and was able to give us good production on both ends of the floor. Bobby’s a tough guy – that’s one thing about him. There’s no shortage of competing on his part. Whatever you want out of him, whenever you want it, that’s the type of leader that he’s been all season.”

Spencer Hawes

On Clippers:
“I think going against a team that’s pretty big with (Zach) Randolph and (Marcus) Camby inside and knowing Camby’s ability to get inside offensive rebounds, it was a point of emphasis to keep them off the boards and try and control that end. We knew we came out tonight with our backs against the wall and we really needed one (a win). We seized that opportunity.”

How the new guys are fitting in:
“It’s coming out everyday and seems to be getting better. The offense isn’t something that you pick up everyday. It’s a rhythm and react base that takes a little bit and I think the guys are starting to fit in well.

On their assists and team working together:
“Whenever you can get everyone involved early it makes the game easier on both ends of the floor.”

Andres Nocioni

On being aggressive from the start:
“We started the game stronger today. We played a little bit better and better defense. We also played a little bit better offense. It was good win for us, and we needed it after three losses in a row. We now need to think about tomorrow (at Utah).”

On the team defense:
“I think we played defense for a longer time. We played much better and played with more intensity and had more energy on the defense. This is what we need every night.”

On Rashad McCants’ play:
“He is a scorer, he can really shoot the ball and score the ball really well. I think that it is good for him coming off the bench.”

Rashad McCants

On fitting in:
“I thought I was at training camp all over again, being with a new team. I haven’t really played that much. I have always had a great basketball mind and I know where to be defensively. That stuff comes easily to me. It is just playing with the guys and playing in the system long enough. My adjustment is coming in and I’ll fit in with the team.

On the team’s approach to the game:
“I have been around enough losses, but I definitely told the guys when we came in here we have to take advantage of these wins. We can’t come in here and act like we lost another game. We need to cherish the win and hopefully tomorrow we will go to Utah and get another one.”

–

Clippers Head Coach Mike Dunleavy

On getting behind early:
“We started the game at a pretty good tempo then we let them out of the bag. We settled for a lot of long shots and had no board coverage. We let them get out in the open court and get a bunch of fastbreak points that put us so far behind. It was an uphill battle the rest of the night. We had a couple runs at it but couldn’t get it down to significant single digits.”

On being affected by injuries:
“This is one of those games where we miss Eric Gordon. He is a very athletic guy that can attack off the dribble, create easy buckets for us and play good defense. He was getting close to 25 points a game before he got hurt. He was playing great for us. Then (Al) Thorton came back for the first time in a while and he was not there tonight. We just didn’t play well. We missed shots. Defensively, the team defense was not there.”

On how they prepare for the Kings:
“(Kevin) Martin is a staple for them and is going to put up points. Garcia is an off the dribble guy and if you don’t contain him, he is going to hurt you with his scoring and his passing. Nocioni came in and had a really nice game for them and shot the ball well. He has always played hard and has toughness. Those are their strengths.”

On handling an often injured roster:
“It has been tough all year for us. Every time we get somebody back, we lose somebody. Prior to Eric getting hurt, we won a few ball games. Then Eric goes out and we have this tonight. It just puts more stress on your ball club the further it goes along.”

Clippers Guard Baron Davis

On getting down early:
“Yeah. They jumped on us. The first quarter they were playing into our hands. Then they went on that run and we were playing catchup ever since. We were not able to establish a lead and get a run. Every time we looked to make a run, they came down and hit a three. That was just because they had good spacing. Their transition offense and defense was better than ours too.”

New-Look Kings Roster

With the Kings recent activity trading, acquiring and waiving players, it may have been easy to lose track of who’s on the current Kings roster. To ensure you’re up to speed on the 15 players who’ll sport the purple and black, here are the seven new faces:

Read more

Kings Acquire McCants, Booth & Solomon - Updated

The Kings today acquired Rashad McCants and Calvin Booth from the Minnesota Timberwolves in exchange for Shelden Williams and Bobby Brown, according to Kings President of Basketball Operations Geoff Petrie — press release.

Updated:

Read more