Odds & Ends: Kings, Babby, Bynum, 2014
TNT's David Aldridge, writing for NBA.com, delivers a lengthy summary of the fallout from the presentations that competing bidders for the Kings made today before a group of owners. Aldridge concludes that the key issue has shifted from the size of the bids to how quickly each city can build a new arena. Ken Berger of CBSSports.com gives his take on the affair, noting that four of the 12 owners scheduled to attend today's meeting were not present. The Kings saga is the major story of the day, but there's plenty more happening around the Association:
- Even with Bradley Beal out for the rest of the season, the Wizards aren't planning to bring in another guard, reports Michael Lee of The Washington Post (Twitter link).
- Lon Babby's first three years as the Suns' president of basketball operations have included plenty of both hits and misses, but owner Robert Sarver likes the job Babby has done with the franchise, writes Paul Coro of the Arizona Republic. Babby was offered a two-year extension this past Sunday, and accepted the offer on Tuesday.
- Andrew Bynum isn't ruling out a return to the Sixers in the offseason, agent David Lee tells John Mitchell of the Philadelphia Inquirer.
- A roundtable of ESPN.com contributors debate the best free agents not in this summer's class but in 2014 — a group that apparently won't include Zach Randolph.
- N.C. State small forward T.J. Warren will return to school rather than enter the draft, his father tells Joe Giglio of the News & Observer. Opinions on Warren vary widely, as Jonathan Givony of DraftExpress had him as the 31st-best prospect, while Chad Ford of ESPN.com ranked him No. 62.
- Nerlens Noel remains atop many draft boards in spite of his torn ACL, and a Western Conference executive told Chris Mannix of SI.com that with so much medical information available these days, "it's easy to predict that he will be fine." Mannix has more draft-related updates on Steven Adams, Alex Poythress and Cody Zeller.
- HoopsWorld's Alex Kennedy provides further insight on why Noel is rated so highly, noting that scouts like Noel's upside while advanced statistics demonstrate his high value.
Luke Adams also contributed to this post.
Seattle, Sacramento Make Presentations To NBA
5:54pm: Commissioner David Stern and deputy commissioner Adam Silver addressed the media after both sides finished the presentations. Here are the updates based on their remarks, along with some more updates from Sacramento's side.
- Stern said the Kings' future may still be unresolved by the time the two-day Board of Governors meeting that's set to begin April 18th is finished, tweets Ken Berger of CBSSports.com. Still, Stern doesn't expect the decision will take too much longer, as TNT's David Aldridge points out (Twitter links).
- Stern spoke about the timelines involved for a new arena in either city, and Aaron Bruski of NBCSports.com believes it will be a hot-button issue (Twitter link).
- The 12 owners who met today will do so again before the full Board of Governors meeting later this month, Berger notes via Twitter.
- Deputy commissioner Adam Silver said the $30MM down payment the Seattle group gave to the current Kings owners "was a contingency deal" to buy the team, Aldridge tweets. The Sacramento bidders are operating on a different model, Silver added.
- Vivek Ranadive, the primary investor in Sacramento's bid, wouldn't say whether his group will match that $30MM deposit or the $341MM total that Hansen's group agreed to pay, Aldridge also reports (Twitter link).
- Nonetheless, when asked whether the Sacramento side needs to improve its offer, Stern said, "That is not one of the issues," tweets Cowbell Kingdom's James Ham.
- The Sacramento group was "extremely loose and confident" after their presentation, according to Brian Mahoney of The Associated Press (Twitter link).
4:55pm: Following their presentation to the committee of NBA owners, Sacramento mayor Kevin Johnson, prospective lead partner Vivek Ranadive, and Senator Darrell Steinberg spoke to the media about the meeting. Here are a few highlights, via TNT's David Aldridge, Ken Berger of CBSSports.com, and Jeff Zillgitt of USA Today (all Twitter links):
- The owners were "very open-minded" about Sacramento's presentation, according to Johnson.
- The Sacramento pitch promoted the market, the arena deal, and the potential ownership group, along with the strength of the fans. Johnson believes the group made a "compelling" argument.
- The Sacramento group described the atmosphere in the meeting as very positive, and felt that the questions from the NBA committee were all fair.
- Senator Steinberg said the state of California is willing to do whatever it takes to ensure there aren't any unnecessary delays in the arena construction.
- Ranadive on the Sacramento bid: "We feel like our offer is very, very good. I think all our stakeholders were pleased with the offer we made."
- Johnson noted that George Maloof was in the room for the presentation, and told reporters that the Sacramento group was happy to share its story for the Maloofs.
2:54pm: Sacramento's and Seattle's investment groups are each meeting with a committe of 12 NBA owners today, making their cases for why their respective markets make the most sense for the Kings franchise. Chris Hansen's Seattle group has already completed its presentation to the committee, with the Sacramento group currently making its pitch. We'll round up the highlights from the Sacramento meeting when it finishes, but in the meantime, here are a few tidbits from Seattle's meeting, via Twitter:
- Although King County executive Dow Constantine and Seattle mayor Mike McGinn were in Seattle's presentation to the NBA, it was Hansen that led the meeting on the group's behalf.
- George, Gavin, and Phil Maloof were also in the meeting, with George expressing that the family wants to move forward on its deal with the Seattle group.
- During the presentation, Hansen stressed Seattle's appeal as a "marketplace and destination for the NBA.
- Mayor McGinn called the meeting "very positive" and said there's still strong political support to bring the NBA back to Seattle, which was a question raised by the NBA committee.
- The Seattle group repeatedly suggested that the "pieces are in place" for an NBA franchise.
- The committee asked the Seattle group about environmental studies and lawsuits that could delay the process, but were given assurances that those wouldn't be an issue.
Odds & Ends: Draft, Carlesimo, Kings, Mbakwe
One general manager of a playoff-bound team tells Sam Amico of FOX Sports Ohio that he's happy his team won't have to deal with the draft lottery this season. While the GM stopped short of calling the 2013 draft class weak, he suggested that there won't be many immediate-impact guys, but that there could be some value picks later in the first round.
"This is the perfect draft for that type of situation — guys drafted later who go to good organizations and surprise," the GM said. "It always seem to happen whenever there’s a so-called 'bad' draft. That’s because the talent level among prospects seems to be very similar. No one’s really separated themselves."
Here are a few more Wednesday odds and ends from around the Association:
- P.J. Carlesimo and the Nets have yet to discuss a contract extension for the interim head coach, which is okay with Carlesimo, as he tells Stefan Bondy of the New York Daily News. "The impression from Day 1 is that when the year is over, we’ll sit down and talk," Carlesimo said. "There was no expectation (for me) given."
- Scott Howard-Cooper of NBA.com presents a primer on the current status of the battle between Sacramento and Seattle for the Kings. The two investments groups vying for the franchise are currently in the process of making their presentations to the NBA.
- Former New York Jets GM Mike Tannenbaum has joined Mark Bartelstein's Priority Sports & Entertainment agency. Tannenbaum will head the agency's new Coaches, Front Office & Broadcasters division, and will oversee contract negotiations for college and professional basketball and football coaches (Twitter links via Jeff Zilgitt of USA Today).
- Lang Greene of HoopsWorld takes a look at some teams still owing significant money to players who are on the decline.
- Minnesota senior Trevor Mbakwe has signed with agent Andy Miller of ASM Sports, according to Darren Wolfson of 1500 ESPN Twin Cities (via Twitter).
Latest On Kings, Sacramento, Seattle
It's a big day for the future of the Kings, as the Sacramento and Seattle investment groups vying for the team are prepared to make presentations to the NBA, explaining why their respective cities deserve the franchise. In advance of that meeting, let's quickly round up a few of the latest links on the fight for the Kings….
- David Lucchetti, who currently owns just 1% of the Kings, is the minority shareholder matching Chris Hansen's bid for the 7% currently owned by Bob Cook, reports Dale Kasler of the Sacramento Bee (via Twitter).
- According to Aaron Bruski of NBCSports.com (via Twitter), Sacramento's acquisition of Cook's 7% share could give them the right of first refusal on the Maloofs' 65% share.
- Bruski also reports (Twitter links) that environmental challenges could delay Seattle's arena plan, pushing it back to 2017/18, whereas Sacramento's arena proposal has it on track for 2016.
- Jeff Zillgitt of USA Today tweets the 12 owners on the joint committee who will hear today's pitches from the Sacramento and Seattle groups: Peter Holt (Spurs), Glen Taylor (Timberwolves), Micky Arison (Heat), Clay Bennett (Thunder), James Dolan (Knicks), Wyc Grousbeck (Celtics), Greg Miller (Jazz), Robert Sarver (Suns), Herb Simon (Pacers), Larry Tanenbaum (Raptors), and Jeanie Buss (Lakers).
- Tom Ziller of SBNation.com revisits an argument he has made before, writing that giving Seattle an expansion team is the most logical solution for the NBA.
Sacramento/Seattle Updates: Tuesday
Tomorrow, competing bidders from Sacramento and Seattle will convene in New York to make their pitches for ownership of the Kings in a joint meeting of the NBA's Relocation and Finance committees. Sacramento mayor Kevin Johnson has already been in New York for days, since, as luck would have it, he had a wedding to attend there over the weekend. As we get down to the business portion of Johnson's trip, here's the latest on the Kings saga:
- On the eve of Wednesday's critical meeting in New York, there is trouble on the homefront in Sacramento, as a citizens' group filed a "notice of intent" to sue the city in order to block the proposed downtown arena, reports Dale Kasler and Ryan Lillis of the Sacramento Bee. The "Coalition for Responsible Arena Development" intends to challenge last week's approval to finance the downtown arena on the grounds that it committed to construction and operation without completing environmental reviews.
- According to an Associated Press report (via NBA.com), Seattle fans have already requested 44,000 season tickets in the event that the team relocates. The prospective ownership group urged fans to join a "priority ticket waitlist" to display their desire for a team and the results have been "nothing short of stunning," according to Chris Hansen.
- State Senator and Sacramento native Darrell Steinberg will head to New York to join the group lobbying to keep the Kings in Sacramento on Wednesday, writes Dale Kasler of the Sacramento Bee. Steinberg will try to persuade the NBA's committees that the rallying effort of the city's political community is reason enough for Sacramento to keep their team. "There is political support for streamlining the regulatory process of environmentally sustainable and economically vital projects like the proposed Sacramento downtown arena," said a Steinberg statement released today.
Earlier updates:
- Lawyers for the longshoremen's union in Seattle are trying to expedite their appeal in response to a February ruling that rejected their lawsuit against a plan for a new arena in Seattle, reports Jon Humbert of KOMO-TV in Seattle (Twitter link). According to one of the union's lawyers who spoke to Aaron Bruski of ProBasketballTalk.com, there's strong public sentiment in Seattle against the arena plan (Twitter link).
- Johnson spoke to Sam Amick of USA Today about how he'll make his case on Wednesday, and explains how Vivek Ranadive became the primary investor in the group bidding to keep the team in Sacramento. Johnson also said he's not concerned about the notion that the Maloofs may decide to keep the team for a while if the league won't allow them to sell it to the Seattle group.
- Last we heard, a pair of Kings minority owners were considering exercising their right to match the offer for fellow minority owner Bob Cook's 7% stake in the team from Chris Hansen's group of Seattle investors. A source tells Ken Berger of CBSSports.com that other minority owners will indeed match the bid for Cook's share by Wednesday.
- In the same piece, Berger argues that while it may initially seem like a better financial move for the owners to approve a move to Seattle, the NBA should be worried about setting an unwanted precedent should the league ignore Sacramento's willingness to fund a new arena. Other cities may not be so eager to build if there's a chance their team will move away regardless.
- Tom Ziller of Cowbell Kingdom believes the presence of the Maloof family, which owns the Kings and has a deal in place to sell the team to Hansen's group, could be a negative for the Seattle bidders, considering how clumsy the Maloofs have come off in past presentations.
- In response to a source who told TNT's David Aldridge that the Seattle investors would announce an additional $20MM for improvements to Key Arena, Bob Condotta of The Seattle Times reports Hansen and city officials are still negotiating over the arena upgrades, and no one has made an announcement yet. Still, a spokesman for Seattle mayor Mike McGinn says the city officials present at Wednesday's meeting will make it clear that the arena will be ready for an NBA team in time for next season.
Sacramento/Seattle Updates: Monday
The next major step in determining the future of the Kings is slated for Wednesday, when competing bidders for the team will make their presentations before a dozen NBA owners. There's sure to be plenty of news in the next 48 hours as we wait for that, and we'll round up today's latest right here:
- Sactown Royalty's Tom Ziller identifies the owners who'll be present at the meeting, which is a joint session of the league's Relocation and Finance committees, and speculates on which of them might be leaning toward either side.
- TNT's David Aldridge, in his Morning Tip column for NBA.com, provides plenty of detail about the meeting, which is in advance of a pair of votes the Board of Governors will take on April 18th. The first ballot will be on whether to approve the deal in place to sell the team to the Seattle group headed by Chris Hansen. Approval of that measure requires a three-fourths majority, meaning eight "no" votes would nix the sale. If that passes, the next vote is on whether to OK the franchise's move to Seattle. That would require a simple majority. Conceivably, that means the Kings could stay in Sacramento but wind up being owned by Hansen's group, though Aldridge doesn't address what would happen in that case.
- Aldridge hears from sources who give him conflicting word on whether the owners are leaning toward the Seattle group or the Vivek Ranadive-led Sacramento bidders.
- Ranadive would have to sell his minority share of the Warriors before assuming control of the Kings, and it's unlikely he'll have unloaded his stake in Golden State by April 18th, Aldridge writes. But the league is likely to give him sufficient time to do so if his group wins control of the Kings, and Aldridge hears that Ranadive likely already had a deal in place to unload his Warriors stake before he got involved with the Kings effort.
Odds & Ends: Meeks, Kings, Clippers, Wolves
Jodie Meeks has been a critical role player for the Lakers this season under coach Mike D'Antoni after sitting on the pine for much of Mike Brown's tenure. The Lakers hold a team option on Meeks and he believes that it will be exericsed. “Yeah, I think so,” Meeks told Shams Charania of RealGM when asked if he believes he will be part of the Lakers next year. “You can’t really worry about that right now, just finish out this year. I’ll do that and see whatever happens.” Here's more from around the Association..
- If Timberwolves coach Rick Adelman winds up walking away this summer due to family issues, J.B. Bickerstaff won't be considered a candidate for the job, according to Ric Bucher of 95.7 The Game (Sulia link). There are still hard feelings in the Minnesota office when Bickerstaff followed Kevin McHale to the Rockets that would keep him from being considered.
- Ben Bolch of the Los Angeles Times rounds up the week's news on the future of the Kings, noting that Sacramento City Council's approval of an arena plan is non-binding, just like their endorsement of an ill-fated arena proposal last year (link via the Sacramento Bee).
- The Clippers retooled bench worked hard in the offseason to become arguably the league's best bench, writes Derek Page of HoopsWorld. In order for everything to come together for L.A., it was essential for Jamal Crawford to check his ego at the door and accept being the club's sixth man.
- While we have heard that the Wolves are set to exercise GM David Kahn's option for next season, owner Glen Taylor says that he hasn't made a decision yet, writes Kent Youngblood of the Star Tribune.
Western Links: Maloofs, Rush, D’Antoni
Scott Howard-Cooper of NBA.com hears more and more that the Maloof brothers could keep the Kings rather than sell the team to the Sacramento-led group if the NBA declines the Seattle bid, adding that it's not a total longshot at this point. Howard-Cooper also says that whether the possibility could drag on into this summer or next season, the Maloofs may step back and re-assess their options (All Twitter links). Interestingly enough, Aaron Bruski of USA Today tweeted that league sources "have maintained without any equivocation that the Maloofs will not own an NBA franchise next season."
We've got more to share out of the Western Conference tonight:
- Howard-Cooper reiterates that he's not saying the above scenario will happen, but it's still a possibility. He also clarifies that the Maloofs keeping the Kings would be a way for them to start a bidding war and evaluate at the type of offers they can receive (Twitter links).
- Rusty Simmons of the San Francisco Chronicle says that Brandon Rush plans to do some light running and jumping in three weeks, and that the Warriors guard/forward should be ready by the start of the 2013-14 training camp (Twitter links).
- Steve Kyler of HoopsWorld tweets that he thinks Mike D'Antoni's job is safe for next season at least, being that the Lakers coach is still owed a lot of money and hasn't had a healthy roster.
- Ray Richardson of the Pioneer Press writes that Timberwolves coach Rick Adelman has a tough challenge of trying to evaluate upcoming free agents Mickael Gelabale and Chris Johnson without enough playing time to find for them.
Sacramento/Seattle Updates: Saturday
Just a few days remain before competing bidders for the Kings go before the NBA's Board of Governors on Wednesday to make their cases, so news regarding the future of the team won't be in short supply. Here's the latest, with any updates added to the top of the page throughout the day:
- Marc Stein of ESPN.com doesn't agree with Sacramento mayor Kevin Johnson's assertion that Sacramento has a 90% chance of keeping the Kings, but a source tells the ESPN scribe that Sacramento is "gaining momentum" in its effort to keep the team. Stein, who was told that the battle between Seattle and Sacramento is too close to call at this point, also hears that the determining factor will come down to simply how much money Sacramento bidders can pony up in their counteroffer to Chris Hansen's Seattle group.
- Minority owner John Kehriotis has ended his bid for the team after a critical financial backer withdrew from the effort, reports Tony Bizjak of the Sacramento Bee. Kehriotis, like the primary Sacramento bidding group led by Vivek Ranadive, aimed to keep the Kings in town.
- Hansen's group has filed court documents confirming their deal to buy minority owner Bob Cook's 7% share of the team, Bizjak reports in the same piece. Four other minority owners have a right to match the offer, and two told Bizjak they're considering doing so.
- Johnson is nearing his goal of having 10,000 Sacramento-area residents pledge to buy Kings season tickets in advance of Wednesday's meeting. More than 9,000 pledges are in at HereWeBuy.org as of Saturday afternoon, up from about 7,500 a couple days ago.
Western Notes: Kings, Pekovic, Grizzlies
After the Lakers and Mavericks lost their respective games on Thursday, the Jazz will look to take advantage tonight in Portland against a Trail Blazers team that's expected to be without LaMarcus Aldridge. If Utah can get a victory, the club will pull even in the standings with the 37-36 Lakers, tied for the eighth playoff spot in the West with just nine games to go. While we wait for the Jazz/Blazers game, which will be the last on tonight's schedule to tip off, let's check in on a few items from around the Western Conference….
- Appearing on the Dan Patrick Show, Sacramento mayor Kevin Johnson expressed plenty of confidence in his city's chances of keeping the Kings, as Chris Fedor of Sports Radio Interviews writes. Asked about the chances of Sacramento's bid succeeding, Johnson likened the city's odds to "Steve Nash on the free throw line": 90%.
- Restricted free-agent-to-be Nikola Pekovic is also speaking in percentages, telling Charley Walters of the St. Paul Pioneer Press (Twitter link) that he "100%" wants to remain with the Timberwolves beyond this season. Pekovic has said in the past that he likes "everything about Minnesota," so his latest comments don't come as a surprise.
- Zach Lowe of Grantland has published an entertaining interview with Grizzlies head coach Lionel Hollins, a conversation that touched on January's Rudy Gay trade. According to Hollins, while he wasn't on board with trading Gay, he was looped in during the process, having discussed the Tayshaun Prince/Ed Davis return with the front office before the deal was agreed upon.
- More Hollins on the Gay trade: "They asked me my opinion, and I'd say, 'I'd rather take this over that,' or, 'I'd rather not do this until the end of the season.' But that's what they get paid to do — to make those decisions. And I'm not sure that if I were in their shoes, I wouldn't have made the same trade…. But as a coach, you're thinking about right now, and so your mind-set is different."