Kings Blog and Q&A

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It wasn't a planned prelude, but it was fitting.

While in Las Vegas last week for the Kings-Lakers affair, I attended the Blogs with Balls Convention that anointed 12-year veteran guard/ESPN NBA analyst Jalen Rose as its panel headliner. And as much fun as it was to hear the endless discussions about the drastic decline of the newspaper industry and meet bloggers who surely expect to be at the forefront of the sports media landscape in the near future here, I figured I'd say hello to Jalen too.

Turns out that was a good thing for Kings fans. Because in stark contrast to this morning's teleconference involving Rose and fellow ESPN analyst/former Kings guard Jon Barry, there was something good to be said in our short Sin City chat.

Rose is predicting Tyreke Evans will be the Rookie of the Year.

"I watched him a lot of Memphis, and first and foremost the kid can play," Rose said on Friday inside room 228 of the Las Vegas Convention Center. "He's going to get a great opportunity to be on a team that knows it's not going to the playoffs. (Kings coach) Paul Westphal will be an up-tempo coach, and that means more possessions - and more room for error - but it will also give him an opportunity to have those nights when he gets going."

Rose said other things, too, like the fact that he couldn't make it to Chris Webber's recent wedding in Atlanta but that he approves of the bride/Webber's longtime girlfriend "with an exclamation point (Sorry Jalen, us sports writers just don't like actually using exclamation points)." What later became clear is that I had stumbled on the one and only ESPN NBA contributor out of 53 who saw the ROY award shaking out that way (No, really, see for yourself - and who voted for Thabeet?).

Thankfully for the folks in Bristol - and not so much for Sacramentans - Rose and Barry got back on the same page when discussing the Kings' overall outlook. They weren't alone there, either, as eight of 10 ESPN folks who predicted regular season finishes has them as the worst in the West.

The setup question was pretty basic, asking them to share their view of the Kings' current state of affairs after the changes made in the summer.

ROSE: "Wow, I don't see Chris Webber, Vlade Divac and Mike Bibby walking through that door anytime soon. Hmmm. I think it's going to be an uphill battle for that team, because they really haven't decided what direction that they really want to go in. And any time you're playing in the stacked Western Conference, the other teams aren't going to stand around and wait for you to get it in order. Tough sledding for the Kings.
"I hope for their fans that they can find a way to at least keep their franchise there. There's been a lot of talk that the franchise possibly will be moving - is forced to move, not forced to move, and what-not. I just hope that their fans can find a way to keep the team because they've had great teams in the past."

BARRY: "It's a real shame to watch to watch what's transpired in Sacramento over the past few years, when it was the most exciting place to play in the NBA, the best fans in the NBA for all those years. Then I'd seen a couple games last year, with a half-empty arena. It's difficult for me, because I obviously have a past there.
"This team is a long ways away. That's the bottom line. I think Tyreke Evans could be great, but anytime you judge a player who's (on a) team that's going to win around 20 or 25 games, who'll have an opportunity when his team is down to (score) big points, we don't know how great he's going to be...They just really don't have the talent level to compete, in any conference...especially the West. They've got some young talent. I think (Francisco) Garcia is out for the year, and he was coming along last year. They just don't have the talent level to compete. It's an ugly situation.
"Hopefully they can take some strides. They're going to get their younger players a bunch of minutes this year and with a few offseason moves - you've got to bring in some studs - and this team can get back. But it's certainly going to be a long season in Sacramento."

On how he sees the Kings' path that led to this point...

"The Vlade Divac tip to Robert Horry in the (Game 4) loss (of the 2002 Western Conference Finals). From that moment on, it was over. That seemed to do it. They were on the cusp of getting to the Finals. From that moment on, it's a piece here leaving, a piece here moving, some salary shaves, and this is where you get to. It's hard to get to the top, and it's a lot easier to get to the bottom. They've obviously found it a lot easier to get to the bottom."

Both guys weighed in on Kevin Martin as well, although I'm taking my chances that no one plans to publish that material as it will work well in an upcoming piece on the Kings shooting guard I'll be working on. Beyond that, there was plenty of chatter about the league at large. Among the most relevant was Rose's doom-and-gloom prediction that Cleveland may as well be known as the Mistake on the Lake again if LeBron James decides to leave this summer (that was me, and not Rose, bringing up the old nickname, for the record). Lucky for the Cavs' faithful, he doesn't see James going anywhere.

"I would guess that he would be staying in Cleveland," Rose said. "I just think that he can be everything to the fans in Cleveland for a long time, whether they win a championship or not. I also hope that he stays because their economy would take a huge hit based on the (context of the) other (pro) teams...If they don't have LeBron James selling that franchise and really being an ambassador for that town, a lot of people will suffer." - Sam Amick