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The Sacramento Kings, the National Basketball Association (NBA) and the 2011/2012 lockout. I have waited a few months before starting this post.

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In the midst of the damn lockout by greedy owners (I’ll get to greedy players later) that may push the growth of professional basketball back a good decade, I am starting a running post about the Sacramento Kings.

Twitters at:

@SacramentoKings

@kingsbuzztap

@boogiecousins

@jimmerfredette

@jtthekid

@TyrekeEvansNews

and a lot more that you can find for yourself.

Given the current situation(s) the team finds itself in, that may well include components about:

the lockout and state of affairs
the movement toward a new sports arena in Sacramento
whether the team stays in Sacramento or leaves
whether the current owners keep the team or sell
rumors as well as truths about these.

With the lockout, I can’t even link to players and stats on the official team site. There are none. As if there are no basketball players.

The article at this link is excellent. It is a 2007 rewrite of a 2004 article about “8 Common Profiles of a Bust”. Even the name brings a smile and I read it again. This guy is smart and funny and tags these players right on the chin.

Read it, you will enjoy it.

My guess? The 2011.2012 season is gone. Done. Dead.

What does Stern want you to think?

I was a manager and an Executive for a long time. I understand that folks on the line rarely see or understand the needs of the organization, they must focus on what they need to do today and not be cluttered with the rest of the bullshit.

So, in the NBA, the Exec (Stern) during the lockout wants you to believe that it’s all about the money, including what teams win & lose. Last year the Kings had money but chose not to spend it. So during the lockout, Stern points to the Kings low spending and connects their team struggles. As if they would be top-tier and blames it on the “soft cap.”

This year the Kings have money (cap room) but with the lockout can’t spend it and even if it ended today no one knows how or when teams can spend money.Even on their recent draftees, They can’t even talk to players. They are not even allowed to have their players pictures on the team website. They face huge fines if they do.

The projections are generated by Basketball Prospectus.

October 8th:

David Stern wants us (fans) to cry “Uncle” over the lockout and force the players to cave.

“The clock wasn’t always on David Stern’s side just because of the specter of missed paychecks for players. It’s also one hell of a public relations sword to wield. He sets the deadlines. He controls the clock. He decides when the crescendo hits and the bottom falls out of the lockout song. He can twist the players’ stomachs into knots heading into Sunday if there are talks underway — which there won’t be, because Yom Kippur is celebrated on Saturday. “

October 28th:

Today an article on “The Big 4″ steering the debate in the NBA including David Stern, Billy Hunter, Adam Silver and Derek Fisher. Read about each individual at the link.

“In their respective roles with the NBA (Stern, Silver) and its players’ association (Hunter, Fisher), the four will be asked to overwhelm the opposition – inside and outside their own ranks – with the brute force of Arnold Schwarzenegger and the gentility of Mother Teresa.“

Read about it HERE.

Fort what it is worth, the Kings page on NBA.com is HERE

And the Kings 2011/2012 schedule (before it gets reduced or eliminated) is HERE.

But, mostly, this will be about my views on the team, the players & coaches and the future of the team on the basketball playing side.

So, let’s get on with it:

The 2010/2011 year in retrospect

What a difficult year for fans of the hometown Kings.

What about the organization?

First the owners have talks with the city of Anaheim, California about moving the team there. Serious discussions to the point of renaming the Kings (as late as May 2011) and picking a time to move (the 2011/2012 season).

Understandable as Sacramento taxpayers have been unwilling to back any kind of plan for a new arena. I get that. But a 3rd team in Los Angeles?? I don’t think the NBA wants that, I’m not even sure the peeps in Anaheim wanted it.

So the NBA told the Kings “No”.

And Sacramento got busy. And thought BIG. Even Chris Webber tries to get involved.

Note that I say taxpayers are unwilling, not fans are unwilling.

Fans are also taxpayers of course and some unknown percentage of real game attending fans (even season ticket holding fans) are unwilling to pay for any part of a new arena. I get that too. Times are tough for most of us, but even in good times a lot of people would balk at public money being involved at any level.

That said, the Kings MUST have a new arena in order to consider staying. otherwise they will move. The business is so expensive that as owners you must have a solid expectation of what your future will be.

Besides the funding issue (and that is enough) the team has not been top-tier in the past few years and in the recent few it often seems the front office decisions are not well thought out and the owners no longer want to be a part of the community.

Sacramento had the best (most vocal) fans in the league because they saw the team as “their” team. It was part of the fabric of the community. Even Sacramentans who are not interested in the sport were interested in the fortunes of the Kings. Now it often seems the organization is just “visiting”.

So how did the season go?

Up & down and mostly down as far as wins & losses.

What was good? Another good crop of rookies, especially…..

C/PF DeMarcus Cousins. This young man just turned 21 in August 2011. He is 6’11″ and 270 lbs. A monster in the paint. He is immature though, and it showed in his freshman season on & off the court. He is a smart, likeable kid though and he has a huge upside to his career. With someone on the team with stature (some street cred) to mentor him he will be among the best in the league. Left on his own he may well explode.

Cousins averaged 18 PPG and 8+ RBs per game, and in many games he looked unbeatable at both ends of the court. An exciting player and I am looking forward to his 2nd year.

Cousins manager talks about what is is like to manage a future star.

However, I removed him from my list of tweeters cuz his tweets sometimes read like a 12 year old. I know he just has fun with them and I probably tweet like an old dude, but he does need to grow up and realize that what gets posted on the internet will live forever. I know if I was tweeting and blogging at 21 I would be embarrassed to read them now, I was that stoopid.

Marcus Thornton, G. Picked up from New Orleans and got minutes as Tyrke struggled. He really produced and became a fan favorite. But what will his role be with Evans healthy and two interesting guard draftees in Jimmer Fredette and Isiah Thomas? With minutes in Sacramento, Thornton started scoring and hit an average of 21 PPG in 21 games to finish his season with the Kings. Exciting and mature young player.

What were the problems?

An injury to G/PG Tyreke Evans. What a great draftee the Rookie of the Year Evans was. And how disappointing it was for the fans to watch him struggle through a full year of foot injuries. With his injury his stats dropped in every important category and he just was not the same player.

All the best to Evans for this coming year. I hear he is over his injury and from clips of some NBA player pick-up games he looks better than ever.

‘Reke’s half-court buzzer beater.

Jason Thompson, PF/C. 6’11″ and 250 lbs. Also needs a maturity check (and he isn’t even young, so what’s the excuse here?) and like many players without a consistent role, minutes & expectations Thompson often fails to produce. Another one with some childish tweeting issues but having fun.

How does the 2011/2012 season look?

The coming season looks very mixed.

First, the lockout. Players have no idea if they will get to practice or play or when. Will they go play in Europe? If they do, can they come back? Will they get injured somehow without a contract?

What about the rookies?

Drafted and now professionals. But no contract, not even any contact with their team.

My guess? No camp, no preseason, no first month or two….maybe the old 50 game season. But I worry there may be no NBA this entire year. Yes, I know. I am a fear monger.

How strange it must be to be a rookie this year. Strange for the fans as well because we can’t even guess at their potential impact on the team because we have no news on their contract status and we have no camp this year. No practice news. Nothing. At this point the league has postponed training camp and cancelled 43 preseason games.

But we have 5 reasons the Kings will be an up-and-coming NBA team:

5. Donte Greene and Tyler Honeycutt Will Fill the Small Forward Spot Admirably

4. Marcus Thornton Will Continue His Explosive Scoring Production

3. The J.J. Hickson Acquisition Will Pay Big Dividends

2. DeMarcus Cousins Will Grow as a Player

1. Tyreke Evans Will Develop into a Leader and Franchise Player

Those are tantalizing reasons to follow the Kings during this upcoming season. Read the details on each reason at the link above.

________________________________________________________________________________________

*****Negotiations*****

And so we find articles like these in the local news.

September 18th: Time running out in the NBA lockout.

September 25th: Kings can’t afford a cancelled season.

September 28th: NBA lockout heads into key stretch.

October 1st: NBA Players Union and the owners meet for a 2nd day of talks

and later that day: After two days of talks, “with no real progress”, the NBA season opener is now in doubt according to Pro Basketball Talk via Comcast Sports. “The NBA was going to open its new season (November 1st) in grand style .Now, NBA arenas will be dark.” Read the rest of the article at the link.

October 2nd:

The NFL ended their lockout without injury to the season, and the NBA?? It is time to end this lockout now.

“Pick Door No. 1, 2 or 3 and make a deal. Both sides need to stop playing games and start playing basketball or risk further alienating a fan base already disturbed by the game’s lack of fluidity, mostly outrageous ticket prices and arena situations that vaporized the Seattle SuperSonics and have threatened the ruination of the Kings.”

October 3rd:

Kobe working ‘intensely’ on Italy deal.

The NBA says that Tuesday will be a “HUGE” day in negotiations.

October 4th:

The “HUGE” day in negotiations resulted in the league cancelling the remainder of the 2011/2012 Pre-season. Stern says the league offered a 50-50 split in revenues (they defined ‘revenues’ as “basketball related monies, which is below the 57% currently the players share) and the union turned it down “unequivocally”. “They said, ‘We can’t do it.”‘ according to Stern.

If there is no labor agreement by Monday, the league said they will cancel the first two weeks of the regular season.

“ Players had offered to reduce their BRI guarantee to 53 percent, which they said would have given owners back more than $1 billion over six years. They say they won’t cut it further, at least for now.”

Today was Media Day until the season went PPFFFTTTT!!

“What we are missing today is the opportunity to collect new content. We are missing the bold proclamations of Marcus Thornton, the chance to see Tyreke Evans healthy for the first time in a year and Coach Westphal’s calm and positive message about new beginnings.”

More about what “should have happened” is it the link.

October 7th:

Today the NBA announced they refuse to meet with the players unless the Players Union agrees to a 50-50 split in “revenues” which is a signigicant reduction from the last agreement which had the players at 57% and a big reduction from the last offer the players made, 53%.

It certainly gives you a clue as to why the few meetings between the league and the players have had zero positive movement.

The outlook for a 2011/2012 NBA season just took a dismal turn.

For Sacramento Kings fans it means big trouble because getting any further positive footing on a new arena just became all the more challenging.

Thank you NBA and Mr Billionaire “Owner”.

October 8th:

Who is playing in Europe? So far the “stars” that have threatened to play in Europe have not made the move. Yet. But there are a lot of NBA players there now. You can find the list HERE updated to the signing of Tony Parker this week. The list is organized by League, so if you are looking for a specific player, just muddle through.

October 9th:

The Associated Press announces that the NBA Negotiators will meet Sunday night. “Top negotiators for the NBA and players’ association will meet Sunday night in perhaps the last chance to avoid canceled regular-season games, according to a person with knowledge of the plans.”

There has been no indication that the players caved to the NBA 50-50 demand, so it is surprising (and welcome) to see the league will meet with the players.

“No talks had been expected after Friday’s developments, when the league said it had been willing to meet on other issues but confirmed it wouldn’t go beyond a 50-50 split. Union executive director Billy Hunter had planned to fly to Los Angeles on Monday for a regional meeting with members.”

Read more from this AP article here.

November 27th:

This may be nearly the last group of entries in this post as we wait for final word on the status of the proposed deal.

But, god what a FLOOD of articles mostly in cities with NBA Teams.

Today we have articles in our newspaper in every section: front page, local, sports, business–everyone ids talking about the a”deal” or the Kings or both. Exciting after “nuclear winter”.

Front Page: Even someone from the Kings comes out to make a statement about the deal. It has been some measure of time since we have heard from the kings. Look for a comment here. Nope? Today, in this article we have folks from the Kings with some positive comments. Nice.

“The tentative agreement is great news for our fans, players and our organization,” Kings spokesman Chris Clark said. “We are very hopeful the NBA will be back on the court on Christmas Day.”

Local section: We have an article about Mayor Johnson’s ongoing push for a “stong Mayor” position. Many argue that if the Mayor held all of the power today his first action would be to call the Arena deal done.

Sports section: NBA Deal Lifts Kings Hopes: the article explains how difficuylt it would have been to sustain the push for a new arena if the NBA was on life support.

“The tentative deal reduces players’ share of league basketball revenues from 57 percent to somewhere in the 49 to 51 percent range over the length of a new contract, which is expected to be a 10-year deal, with an opt-out clause for both sides at six years.”

If the players are willing to accept this deal I will support them. It won’t hurt guys in their present deal and (depending on the language) maybe not even the guys on the verge of their “Deal”.

It impacts the rookies. And it really hurts the guys who are in the 7th grade today. The guys who will push thru their rookie contractg and then come out in their first “Free Agent” period at the end of this 6-10 year NBA contract.

Got a kid playing ball in your driveway? Practicing 500 free-throws a day? That is the guy that this NBA contract will impact.

Got a 7th grader who will be a billionaire and own a NBA team in six years? This contract will help the hell out of him.

Free Agents like the Kings Marcus Thornton are happy the deal is nearly done so that they can move on. They may not be happy with the specifics of the deal.

“Commissioner David Stern said training camps ideally will start Dec. 9, coinciding with the start of a compacted free-agency period. The season would begin with a Christmas tripleheader.

By then, the Kings will have had time to use the $25 million to $30 million under their salary cap to add to the roster, which would include re-signing Thornton and signing their three draft picks.

But until Thornton actually can speak with the Kings, he remains in limbo.”

Today we will end with one of the Sacramento Bee’s regular Kings reporters, Aileen Vioisin. I rarely agree with Vioisin and don’t much enjoy her writing. You make you own choice.

“…the small owners arm-wrestled their bigger colleagues for a reason: This is their league, too.

“You never can be sure how a new system will work,” NBA deputy commissioner Adam Silver said early Saturday, “but we feel ultimately it will give fans in every community hope that they can compete for championships, and that their basis in believing in a team will be a function of management of that team, rather than how deep the owners’ pockets are or how big the market is.”

Check out the articles at each link above for today. Good stuff!!!

There are also a TON of other articles out there.

We will start with this one since we are talking about Marcus Thornton. The article from the Royal Pain blog suggests that the new CBA will help the Kings retain Thornton The Free SAgency period will be shortened under this first year just because so much of the calendar is gone. The other thing on the Kings side (and a problem for them) is the amount of money the Kings have to spend.

With Jimmer on board I worried the team may trade Thornton, now there probably is not time to make a good trade. But if the Kings can package Thornton and some forward (Greene?) for a real Point Guard, I say pull that proverbiasl trigger. Evans is a great 2 guard, but he is not a point guard. Either is Jimmer.

November 28th:

Very very late: the NBA announced it will allow teams to start talkinking to their own players and to agents of players on other teams. The scramble will be on

November 30th:

The lockout is partly unlocked and the Kings decide to talk to their own free agent players: Dalembert and to Thornton.

“Since the NBA lockout began July 1, Kings coaches and executives had met numerous times to discuss how they would eventually approach free agency.

Wednesday, the talk was finally put into action…

…And with that, the Kings reached out to their free agents – Marcus Thornton and Samuel Dalembert – to begin what will be an important, compressed free-agency period.

Kings basketball president Geoff Petrie said the team will have to spend $16 million to $17 million to reach the minimum salary level and is about $25 million under the projected salary cap.

It is the biggest salary cap cushion of any team in the league.”

So, the Kings have the most money to spend of any team in the league. But will only spend maybe half of it this year. So they are not looking winning this shortened season right? Right. Nothing wrong with that. But they have to spend a ton of bucks just to reach the required league minimum. Almost amusing.

And with the lockout near an end, basketball is back on the focus as fall comes into view: “These are the kinds of negotiations NBA fans have been waiting for.

Teams began talking to agents Wednesday as the lockout inched closer to its end, and basketball moved back into focus. Dwight Howard and Chris Paul were linked to trade speculation, while free agents such as Tyson Chandler and Nene were in the news after months of attorneys getting all the ink.

Now, the players are taking over and the league was set to reopen its facilities for workouts Thursday.

Some may arrive out of shape, just as was the case in January 1999 after the NBA’s only other shortened season. But they’re anxious to get back, with a little more than three weeks until they start playing games.

Read more at the link…..As fans, we thought it was bad when players started getting millions to play basketball, football, basball….now attorneys get millions just to talk about it and sports writers get millions …not me :-( just to talk about it….

I’m glad as heck that we have players back where they should be. Playing.

I’m not so sure about owners owning. you may have figured that out reading my stuff.

Oh well, I am prejudiced FOR athletes.

This may be the last lockout I see. I am old enough that I may not make it to see another. They take a hecka lot out of you.

Read the Kings Season Preview (Part One of Three) HERE via SacTown Royalty.

“Hells to the jingle bells, yeah.

I am beyond friggin’ psyched and uber-stoked the NBA is back. I am as blisteringly pumped as Beavis and Butthead with front row tickets to an AC/DC and Metallica metal-palooza. We went from the possibility of no team in Sacramento, and to no NBA season, to a sounds-right total of 66 games played where the team belongs, beginning on a day when gifts are given. Seems appropriate, huh? My feeling can be summed by the opening salvo from front man of a no-name band I saw at a dark and drunken club with amazing acoustics two weekends ago.

Rock n roll, bitches.”

I don’t agree with everything the guys says, but the writing is spiffy and he is hopeful so it gives King’s fans some measure of optomism.

Part Two of Three is HERE

December 2nd:

NBA Players authorize the return of the players association. With the union reformed, talks with the owners will re-start on completing the Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) needed to get training camps open on December 9th.

The NBA allowed teams to open their facilities to their players, as well as talking to their own free agents.

What did it mean to the Kings? Besides opening discussions with the teams two free agents, one player came into the Kings practice facility on December st. That player? G/F Francisco Garcias. Garcia is a guy that spends a lot of time in the practice facility. But he is one of those gym rats who’s workouts don’t translate to on-the-court success. A couple of times in his career, fans and probably Garcia, have expected big years. Even his very big contract did not result in on-the-court success.

Garcia’s teammates seem to like him. He is the only King from the “old” days,, the glory days. The winning days when Sacramento was Kings. But he sure is not the one you would have expected to still be here.

A trade would be nice for a nice guy G/F who practices a heck of a lot of time.

Training camp starts December 9th. Two exhibition games have been announced: December 7th vs the Golden State Warriors in Oakland, and December 0th vs the same team here in Sacramento.

December 8th:

Team owners & players ratify the new Collective Bargaining Agreement so league business is open tomorrow, December 9th as are training camps and we will hear even more rumblings/grumblings about Free Agents and Rookies.

“The 10-year deal promises owners savings of perhaps a quarter billion dollars a year but largely leaves intact the soft salary cap system that the players fought hard to maintain.”

_________________________________________________________________________________________

The Kings team is sponsoring a Fun Run Saturday, October 22nd at Power Balance Pavillion. This is a 5k fun run/walk and a portion of the fees will be donated to physical fitness programs in the Sacramento City Unified School District. Special guest is former Kings guard, Doug Christie.

Registration starts at 9 am

Fun run/walk from 10 am to 11:30 am

Post-party starts at 11:30 and runs until at least 1 pm.

Pre-registration is just $15.00, includes a T shirt

On the day is $20, includes a T shirt

Kids 5 and under are free (but no T-shirt)

Come dressed in your favorite costume for Halloween and win prizes, plus activities for the family in the post-race party. Costume awards for Best Kings, Scariest, Best Individual, Best Kid and Best Team costumes.

Enter online HERE.

Doug Christie has dinner with Kings partners on October 21st at Spataro in downtown Sacramento:

TV station Fox-40 will be there.

__________________________________________________________________________________________
Join in the Sacramento Kings Fitness Clinic

When: Friday, October 28th

Where: Sacramento Kings Practice Facility

You can register at the link above. Only are available so HURRY!!!!!

______________________________________________________________________________________________

“SMALL MARKET. BIG HEART“

Eventually this is a full-length documentary Coming Dec. 2011. ”Small Market, Big Heart” is a full-length documentary designed to share the compelling 26-year story of the people of Sacramento and their battle to get and keep a professional sports franchise. See the article at the link above.

The Small Market/Big Heart website is full of a lot more detailed information.

So, mark your calendar for December…..They are also looking for sponsors so if you have ever dreamed of seeing your name on the big screen for a full-length movie?? Here is your chance!!!

______________________________________________________________

*************************************************************

This may be the best rumor floating out there during the lockout:

Magic Johnson may become the Kings owner.

Magic sold his stake in the Los Angeles Lakers so currently has no team attachment and has always expressed his desire to own a NBA team.

Magic has money, but not NBA sole owner money (I don’t think).

But he could be part owner and would be able to bring in others just with his name and reputation.

It certainly seems the Maloofs would like to exit stage right and the article at the link explains Magic’s connection toSacramento’s Mayor former NBA point guard his own self, Kevin Johnson. And Magic has connections with AEG, the arena & stadium “king makers” in Los Angeles who are drooling over Sacramento. (Look below and read the Arena section of this post)

Maybe Johnson & Johnson could be good for what ails the Kings?

************************************************************

Bobby Jackson, former Kings SG/PG and all around great guy off the court and in the lockeroom, announces that he will be a Kings Assistant Coach.

Channel 10 in Sacramento reports that Jackson tweeted, “What up tworld I have decided to join the Kings coaching staff as an Assistant Coach once the Lockout ends.“ More at the link.

November 16th:

B Jax comes back to the Kings as an Assistant Coach (assuming we have a season…and a Sacramento Kings. The kings will also add Keith Smart as an Assistant Coach with Jackson. Both are former Kings players and Smart was Head Coach for a bit o time leading the Golden State Warriors last season.

Smart broke my heart as a college player back in 1987 firing the winning shot against Syracuse giving the college crown to Indiana.

That was one of three times I got to see the Final Four in person. What a thrill even though Syracuse lost in the New Orleans Superdome.

*************************************************************

So, in the midst of the lockout we are stuck with articles like these:

September 22nd:

There was a rookie game. Fredette gathered fellow rookies for a game at Bringham Young University. Information about the game is at the link and actual rookie game coverage is here.

September 23rd:

The Kings rookies impressed the crowd during Jimmer’s game.

September 28th:

Kings Rookies Play the Waiting Game. At the link the Sacramento Bee talks about how different this season is for rookies. “Instead of looking for a place to live in Sacramento and preparing for training camp, Thomas is living in the same apartment and working out with players who would have been his teammates had he chosen to stay in college”.

In Sacramento what about an arena? Every day it’s something new and the owners continue to seem to be completely uninterested in Sacramento even though we have a previous All-Star PG as Mayor, working hard to get a new arena built.

And speaking of rookies, will they be any good? Will Cousins and Thompson mature? Will Thornton have a follow-up great year? Will Tyreke be recovered from the injuries?

October 12th:

A push for an Exhibition game in Sacramento:

Social Media played a major role to keep the Kings in Sacramento for at least one more year. And now, it’s playing a vital role to bring basketball back to California’s capital during the NBA Lockout.

Kings forward Donté Greene is organizing a charity exhibition game for the Sacramento region, thanks in large part to Twitter. A Sacramento Kings fan tweeted the idea yesterday to Greene, who took the message to heart and put the thought into action

October 17th:

If the NBA season is cancelled could the Kings get a Top 10 draft pick for the 2012 draft? Almost a tempting proposition since I nearly don’t care about this season anyway.

From Hoops World this morning “Re-running the 2011 draft order won’t fly with very many teams, although some have made the case the easiest way to insure the perennial lottery teams like Sacramento, Toronto and the Clippers get out of the draft lottery in the coming years would be another pass with the 2012 draft class.”

But they also note that a re-run of the 2011 draft slots would not fly with the upper level teams, although I would think the 2011 order would be pretty close to the 2012 order except those ping-pong ball teams because that can go a million different ways on any given day.

But another swing at the Top 10 would be good for the Kings, tho we will probably get there anyway. And the 2012 draft class certainly looks more promising talent-wise than the 2011 class.

Read more at the link plus vote for how you would want the draft to be conducted.

November 9th:

Donte Greene is at a time in his young career he should be solely focused on making the next step. On showing significant improvement so that he can get a big payday. If not, his chances for a really big deal dwindle and his opportunities for anything quality as a Free Agent a year from now go up in smoke.

He has talent and has made some growth as far as maturity but is still a bit of a head case. And has not yet shown consistency that equals more minutes on the floor.

All that was to happen this year. Now the lockout (I almost typed ‘strike’) threatens his future, not justhis pocketbook. He could wind up a career end of the bench big guy or out of the league in a year or two.

Now, instead of making those improvements and proving his worth, Greene has put together one “charity” game to be held at the University of California in Davis called The 2011 Goon Squad Classic scheduled for November 20th. The name kind of shows Greene’s level of immaturity.

If I was an NBA player during this lockout, the last thing I want associated with my name is “Goon Squad”. Even as a joke.

Some of the other goons are Jimmer Fredette, Tyreke Evans (not a goon), DeMarcus Cousins, Kevin Durant (no longer a goon), John Wall (not a goon), Jason Thompson, Hassan Whiteside (have not seen enough yet Hassan) and others.

Read about the game HERE and you can Twitter Mr Greene @dontegreeneCOS

November 22nd:

Before Sunday’s Goon Squad Classic you can watch this Channel 10 video of some current and future Kings as they prepare for the game. And even talk about the lockout.

________________________________________________________________________________________

*****The Sacramento Arena*************

What about a new arena?

This is the sticking point for all of the parties.

September 27th:

The new arena faces yet another critical vote. Actually 2 important votes, check the link.

September 29th:

The Sacramento City Council approved both measures and so the arena moves a few big steps closer to reality with money approved” $550,000 in spending for lawyers and consultants to “vet the project” and negotiate a proposed arena with the NBA and the Maloofs”.

October 1st:

Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson, a former NBA PG All-Star, continues to work hard to settle the issues surrounding a new arena and keep the Kings in Sacramento. A point guard does not want to lose an NBA team while Mayor. At the link you will find a September 5th USA Today article.

Mayor Johnson has been able to get key votes approved by the City Council since that article. More hard work is ahead of him (and us).

October 6th:

Sacramento officials have a “constructive” meeting about their arena plans with the NBA.

“The daylong meeting, held in Dallas, is expected to be the first of a series of discussions before the end of the year between the league and the city as the two sides attempt to agree on a financing and development plan for a new sports and entertainment facility in downtown Sacramento.“

“All sides expressed a desire to continue to work collaboratively. Our focus is on putting in place a public-private partnership that will put the taxpayers first and generating more than 4,000 jobs and $150 million in annual economic activity in the City.”

Read the article at the link.

October 9th:

AEG could help make the arena dreams come true.

“If all goes according to plan, Anschutz Entertainment Group (AEG) of Los Angeles will also be the operator and lead investor in the proposed sports arena in Sacramento’s downtown railyard.“

AEG is a multibillion-dollar enterprise owned by one of America’s wealthiest men, Denver oil tycoon Philip Anschutz.

3rd Annual Capitol City Car Show Parade Festival

The Sacramento Kings, the National Basketball Association (NBA), The Lockout and…..

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