Ambassador Report - Sacramento Kings

by Blazerholic on Oct 7, 2008 9:00 AM PDT

Welcome to the first Sacramento Kings Ambassador Report, just in time for tonight's pre-season throwdown. Dave's previews haven't hit the Western Conference yet, so I'll steal a little bit of his thunder and bottle some of his lightning to give you a peek at the Kings.

First let's start with some background. The Kings recorded their second straight losing season after making the playoffs back in 2005-06. They charged hard at the end of last season and finished 1 spot behind the Blazers at 38-44. The Kings were lead by rising star Kevin Martin, who averaged team highs of 23.7 point/game (on 45.6% shooting) and 36.3 minutes/game, and the workhorse Brad Miller, who averaged 9.5 rebounds and 1.03 blocks/game. The Kings made a big mid-season trade, sending Mike Bibby to Atlanta for Sheldon Williams, Anthony Johnson, and Lorenzon Wright.

It was a busy off-season for the Kings. Ron Artest flirted with opting out, then chose to stay, then immediately regretted it, while letting the whole world know as the drama unfolded. Artest was finally dealt to the Rockets for youth and expiring contracts. Beno Udrih was courted by Golden State, but ended up staying with the Kings. SAR retired, and Francisco Gargia was given a contract extension. Fan favorite Bobby Jackson returned to the team. During the draft, the Sactown Royalty site imploded when the Kings, instead of making a move for a young PG, seemingly reached by drafting Jason Thompson, although some experts were ok with the pick. Lately the attention has been on the Spencer Hawes show.

Despite the off-season turmoil, the mindset at Sactown Royalty is now cautiously optomistic, flying in the face of most expert predictions that they will be, well, not very good. Considering they finished last season with 38 wins, without Bibby and Artest (for most of the season), you can see why they might be optimistic. They have talented guards, Miller at center, and a serviceable SF in John Salmons. However, their PF and bench are big question marks, and they are one Kevin Martin injury away from serious trouble.

According to Sactown Royalty, Martin and Miller will not play tonight (and possibly Quincy Douby as well), so don't read too much into a win if it happens. So far, no gameday preview or open game thread yet (I'll update if they post something), and their fanposts have been pretty quiet for the last month, compared to the explosion we've had here at Blazers Edge.

Thanks for reading my first ambassador post!

Update: Ziller's take on tonight's game...

2nd Update: Sacramento Bee on Portland and Sacramento rebuilding efforts...

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Comments

Thanks, Ambassador

He who laughs last thinks slowest.

by prezofdeath on Oct 7, 2008 9:04 AM PDT reply actions

I like this

Nice job Ambassador Blazerholic.

"You're really making me feel good about myself, little man," says Oden as he starts dancing after scoring a goal. "You better come harder than that."

by BlueBooYay on Oct 7, 2008 9:34 AM PDT reply actions

You are a worthy ambassador

Knowing what you know of the Kings, what odds would you put on the Blazers winning this game? Don’t answer if this question violates the Ambassador Neutrality Clause.

"...and that loud noise you hear coming is the Portland Trailblazers." - Charles Barkley

by RebelRogue on Oct 7, 2008 10:54 AM PDT reply actions

Blazers have a great chance of winning.

It’s basically going to be their bench vs. our bench, and I have alot of faith in our bench. If the guys fighting for that last roster spot get more time, it could get dicey.

Koponen - PG of the future. For Italy, that is. Book it.

by Blazerholic on Oct 7, 2008 2:22 PM PDT up reply actions

how is their embassy in Sac?

by 50backflips on Oct 7, 2008 11:01 AM PDT reply actions

hope there's not bum-trash around it.

"They are all human. There's nobody I'm really scared of, or worried about playing against." -- Bayless

http://www.myspace.com/y5k

by Y5k on Oct 7, 2008 11:04 AM PDT up reply actions

It's not bad. Plus this whole diplimatic immunity thing is pretty cool.

Not sure which laws I want to break yet.

Koponen - PG of the future. For Italy, that is. Book it.

by Blazerholic on Oct 7, 2008 2:24 PM PDT up reply actions

Excellent preview Mr. Ambassador!

Have fun breaking those laws, whatever they may be

the Spanish contributors on this board are hellah cool

by G_dubs on Oct 7, 2008 4:31 PM PDT up reply actions

Nice report.

"They are all human. There's nobody I'm really scared of, or worried about playing against." -- Bayless

http://www.myspace.com/y5k

by Y5k on Oct 7, 2008 11:04 AM PDT reply actions

OH YEAH!!

According to Sactown Royalty, Martin and Miller will not play tonight (and possibly Quincy Douby as well), so don’t read too much into a win if it happens.

It will be the Rudy, Bayless and Batum show tonight baby!!

The season cannot get here soon enough.

by SpyderRyder on Oct 7, 2008 11:30 AM PDT reply actions

Wow, the game just became pretty worthless as an indicator

No top scorer and starting center. If they don’t win that…

Odenied: If you're given lemmings—make lemming-ade (Bow4Meow)

by Norsktroll on Oct 7, 2008 11:34 AM PDT up reply actions

Keep in mind though

that this isn’t about winning, but about figuring out the roster and the chemistry. Preseason is not and indicator of the season. It’s the time to experiment and shake some rust off.

Ford: Bill, you're claiming victory already? Have you had a "Mission Accomplished" banner printed yet?

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/draft2008/columns/story?page=DraftDebate-080624

by ratbastird on Oct 7, 2008 2:49 PM PDT up reply actions

Yeah I would be kinda torn

on one hand you have to hit these games hard with the early season sched, but on the other hand with Oden, Blake, Roy and Frye all coming off some sort of injuries, you want to get them back slowly.

This could turn out good and get our 2nd team a LOT of PT to hopefully slot players on where they fit in the team and make decisions at the end of the year a little easier (not that you can make a definite distinction from a PS game ahyhow, but it never hurts to make a good 1st impression.)

The only worry would be Oden aas he will be in the starting lineup. With Roy, LMA Blake and Webster I do not worry so much about their PS playing time, but Greg is a different story. Hopefully even a 90% 1st year Greg is as good as a 100% 7th year Pryz which is not too much of a leap.

Let the white team get all the run and then in the last 2 games let the starters play 25-30mpg to get the rust off for the 28th.

The season cannot get here soon enough.

by SpyderRyder on Oct 7, 2008 2:57 PM PDT up reply actions

Good show, ambassador!

What’s going on with Thompson? What has he been in camp? Have expectations come up for him? Have the fans warmed up to him?

superfluous

by lukeyhere on Oct 7, 2008 11:41 AM PDT reply actions

The fans were really freaked over the Thompson pick at first,

but they seem to have really embraced it now and are excited about his potential.

It’s been pretty quiet regarding practice and media day as far as Sactown Royalty goes.

Here’s a link to a recent Sacramento Bee story regarding Thompson:

http://www.sacbee.com/kings/story/1289669.html

Koponen - PG of the future. For Italy, that is. Book it.

by Blazerholic on Oct 7, 2008 2:37 PM PDT up reply actions

Kings owned the Blazers last year

Without Artest I expect that to be changed this year.

by Sabonis4Ever on Oct 7, 2008 12:37 PM PDT reply actions

word.

I hated watching Artest and Kevin Martin shut us down last year. It made me wanna strangle them both. I’m usually not an angry veiwer but somethin’ about Artest man….grrr

by blazerbeliever on Oct 7, 2008 12:58 PM PDT up reply actions

Word is that Roy won't play on Wednesday.

Instead he should sit this one out and then trounce the Warriors on TV.

by CaptainSexyJacob on Oct 7, 2008 1:01 PM PDT reply actions

Watch tonights game on Direct tv

Free preview channel 753

by Spokanefan on Oct 7, 2008 1:05 PM PDT reply actions

for real?

"...and that loud noise you hear coming is the Portland Trailblazers." - Charles Barkley

by RebelRogue on Oct 7, 2008 1:40 PM PDT up reply actions

Update now posted...

Thoughts from Sactown Royalty on tonight’s game, click on the update link above…

Also, thanks for the kind words, this was really hard to do on my Palm while sitting down for breakfast at Carl’s Jr. this morning…

Koponen - PG of the future. For Italy, that is. Book it.

by Blazerholic on Oct 7, 2008 2:20 PM PDT reply actions

Way to set the bar!

Ford: Bill, you're claiming victory already? Have you had a "Mission Accomplished" banner printed yet?

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/draft2008/columns/story?page=DraftDebate-080624

by ratbastird on Oct 7, 2008 2:50 PM PDT reply actions

Do we have just one Ambassador for all the other teams?

or are there 28 more around here who will give us previews of the day’s matchup? I think a scouting report for every game by that team’s ambassador would be pretty spiffy. Yeah, I said spiffy.

Devil's Advocate or just argumentative?

by Magnum on Oct 7, 2008 5:52 PM PDT reply actions