The mock drafts are out there ... everywhere. I even put one together for the lottery teams.
For the second year in a row I'm assuming the Kings try to fill their glaring need for a long-term small forward and select North Carolina sophomore Harrison Barnes.
There's no way to guarantee Barnes will be available when the Kings select with the fifth pick in next month's NBA Draft.
Bobby Jackson told me a little while ago that he will coach the Kings squad in the Las Vegas Summer League that begins on July 12. After working in basketball operations, BJax just finished his first season as an NBA assistant. While the roster won't be determined for a while, Jimmer Fredette and Tyler Honeycutt plan to participate, and undoubtedly will be joined by the team's draft picks.
"I've been getting ready," said Jackson. "I've been working on my plays, my play calls. Coach (Keith) Smart said I can run whatever offense or defense I want, and it's no secret what I want to do - get it and go. I don't want to see any pounding. You pass, cut, pick and rolls. I don't want to give them (players) too much to think about because you want them to play freely, without worrying about mistakes. Just simple basketball."
The Vegas Summer League returns after a one-year hiatus caused by the NBA's labor dispute. This year's schedule starts right after the men's U.S. Olympic team finishes its first week of training camp for the London Games. DeMarcus Cousins, as the Bee has noted, is among players chosen for the USA Select team that will practice and scrimmage against Mike Kryzewski's club.
Kings guard Isaiah Thomas was voted to the NBA All-Rookie by NBA head coaches.
Thomas received five first-team votes and 17 second-team votes. Coaches were not allowed to vote for their own players.
NBA Rookie of the Year Kyrie Irving of Cleveland was the only player that was a unanimous selection. Minnesota's Ricky Rubio received 21 first-place votes.
There was a tie for the fifth spot on the first team between San Antonio's Kawhi Leonard, New York's Iman Shumpert and Detroit's Brandon Knight so there are seven first-team picks.
I thought Thomas had a chance of making the first team but it's hard to argue against the picks.
Apparently Thomas helping improve the Kings on offense wasn't enough to get boosted to the first team. Thomas had the most second-team votes.
2011-12 NBA ALL-ROOKIE FIRST TEAM
Player Team First (2 pt) Second (1Pt) Total
Kyrie Irving Cleveland 29 - 58
Ricky Rubio Minnesota 21 7 49
Kenneth Faried Denver 19 8 46
Klay Thompson Golden State 16 11 43
Iman Shumpert New York 15 10 40
Kawhi Leonard San Antonio 14 12 40
Brandon Knight Detroit 13 14 40
2011-12 NBA ALL-ROOKIE SECOND TEAM
Player Team First (2 pt) Second (1Pt) Total
Chandler Parsons Houston 10 13 33
Isaiah Thomas Sacramento 5 17 27
MarShon Brooks New Jersey 3 12 18
Derrick Williams Minnesota 2 12 16
Tristan Thompson Cleveland 2 12 16
Other players receiving votes, with point totals (first place votes in
parentheses): Markieff Morris, Phoenix, 7 (1); Kemba Walker, Charlotte 7; Alec Burks,
Utah 2; Norris Cole, Miami 2; Bismack Biyombo, Charlotte 2; Enes Kanter,
Utah 1; Greg Stiemsma, Boston 1; Gustavo Ayon, New Orleans 1; Nikola
Vucevic, Philadelphia 1.
The NBA's crazy, compact season continues, but it no longer includes the Lakers. This is sort of hard to believe given their level of talent, but here are a few thoughts about the Western Conference semifinals that ended a few hours ago with the Thunder celebrating their 4-1 series clincher.
* The lusty crowds inside (18,000) and outside (an estimated 6,000 or 7,000 according to TNT's Ernie Johnson) OKC's downtown arena were reminiscent of the gatherings around Arco Arena a decade ago. Small markets tend to generate some of the loudest noise. And, yes, beating the Lakers has something to do with it.
* In contrast to the frisky old Spurs, whose stars also are well into their 30s, the Lakers throughout this series looked old, dispirited, discombobulated, and confused. What's the system? The style of play? Why the lack of energy and what happened to the free-flowing movement? Actually, I wonder what Jerry Buss is thinking about Phil Jackson and that triangle offense he was so eager to dump ...
* Lakers GM Mitch Kupchak was a lonely figure seated alone in the stands, but afterward, he was classy as usual. He stopped in the hallway after the game and endured a painful, informal interview session.
* Revealing stats of the night: Kobe Bryant, 0 assists. Andrew Bynum, 0 assists.
* The league should (and probably will) rescind the flagrant foul assessed to Metta World Peace just before intermission. That was ridiculous, based soley and unfairly on reputation.
* OKC and San Antonio finished a combined 15-1 in the opening two rounds. This should be a phenomenal conference finals.
* It's hard to believe that, only a year ago, OKC coach Scotty Brooks benched Russell Westbrook for his poor decision making. Westbrook was OKC's MVP of this series, though Kevin Durant continues to improve, and amaze with his overall skill and particularly his late-game shotmaking and defense. If he ever develops that superstar edginess? Becomes a little less accommodating? Scary thought.
* TNT's "Inside the NBA" was must-see TV when the studio cast consisted only of Charles Barkley, Kenny Smith and Ernie Johnson, but Shaquille O'Neal has been a terrific addition. Together, it works. They are insightful, hilarious, opinionated, and not afraid to offend their former peers. Mostly, they are simply too entertaining to miss, whether it's Shaq wearing his graduation outfit, Charles bragging about his weight loss, Kenny doing the robot walk behind the set, or Ernie interrupting the banter with a pithy transition ... Great stuff. Too bad they don't work the Finals.
Kings center DeMarcus Cousins is among 13 players named to the USA Select Team that will train against at will train against the 2012 USA Basketball Men's National Team during its July 6-12 training camp in Las Vegas.
Former Oak Ridge High School, Cal standout and 2011-12 NBA Most Improved Player Ryan Anderson is also on the Select team.
Anderson had a breakout season for the Orlando Magic.
Kings guard Isaiah Thomas finished seventh in the 2011-12 Rookie of the Year voting.
Cleveland guard Kyrie Irving won with 117 of a possible 120 first-place votes.
Minnesota guard Ricky Rubio was second and Denver forward Kenneth Faried was third.
Thomas received six second-place votes and 10 third-place votes. I had Thomas third on my ballot behind Irving and Rubio.
Below are the results (five points for first place, three for second, one for third).
Rookie, Team 1st 2nd 3rd Total
Kyrie Irving, Cleveland 117 2 1 592
Ricky Rubio, Minnesota - 49 23 170
Kenneth Faried, Denver 1 30 34 129
Kawhi Leonard, San Antonio 1 9 15 47
Iman Shumpert, New York 1 7 7 33
Klay Thompson, Golden State - 5 15 30
Isaiah Thomas, Sacramento - 6 10 28
Brandon Knight, Detroit - 6 3 21
Chandler Parsons, Houston - 3 5 14
MarShon Brooks, New Jersey - 1 1 4
Kemba Walker, Charlotte - - 3 3
Josh Selby, Memphis - - 1 1
Excuse me for being a homer in this post
Kings assistant general manager Shareef Abdur-Rahim will receive his degree from the greatest public university in the world Monday, May 14.
Abdur-Rahim will receive his degree in Sociology from the University of California at Berkeley with a 3.8 grade-point average.
Abdur-Rahim played a season at Cal before entering the 1996 NBA Draft.
It's only May 9, but pieces of the Kings' preseason schedule are coming together.
The Kings will play the Lakers October 25, in San Diego.
The game will be played at the Valley View Casino Center.
For my own personal travel plans, I wonder if this means the Lakers won't host the Kings in the preseason in Las Vegas?
How big of an impact were injuries on the Kings' 2011-12 season?
The Kings actually had it better than most teams.
According to Harvey Pollack, director of statistical information for the Philadelphia 76ers, the New Jersey Nets were hit hardest by injury/illness.
The Nets led the NBA with 16 players missing time for a total of 248 games.
The Kings were tied for the sixth-fewest games lost at 73, along with Detroit. The games lost were spread out among 10 Kings.
Marcus Thornton accounted for 15 of the lost games. Thornton led the Kings with 18.7 points per game and the Kings were 3-12 without him.
DeMarcus Cousins missed only one game due to illness. Tyreke Evans missed only three games.
So for most of the season, the Kings' two cornerstone draft picks were available and healthy.
The Kings saw their top-2 offseason additions miss a chunk of games because of injuries.
John Salmons (illness, sore hip) missed 20 games and Chuck Hayes (dislocated shoulder, food poisoning) missed 10 games.
J.J. Hickson was the other offseason acquisition expected to make an impact, but instead fizzled before being bought out. He missed eight games.
Without getting too deep, I think the data shows Evans and Cousins alone at this stage of their careers was not enough to turn the Kings around.
Yes, I'm stating the obvious.
Below are the totals for the entire league:
Now that I've enjoyed a little bit of time off, time to start looking forward.
The Kings (once again) will have plenty of room under the salary cap to make moves this offseason, with about $15 million to work with.
But it's also time for a free-agency reality check.
Magic Johnson's involvement with the new Dodgers ownership group comes as no surprise. The Hall of Famer has long been a huge (and knowledgeable) sports fan, and almost desperate to become more intimately involved on the management level. With the Buss family controlling the Lakers, that was never going to happen with his former club. What's interesting is that he met one of his new significant partners - Dodgers CEO and daily operations guy Stan Kasten - in the 1980s, when Kasten ran both the Atlanta Hawks and the Braves for former owner Ted Turner. Plus, these are two very accomplished men, with huge personalitiies. So, yes, it will be interesting.
It was funny, though, to see Magic in his lower level seats, standing during the seventh inning stretch in Monday's game against the Giants at Dodger Stadium- alongside his publicist and friend Lon Rosen, who has been with him since his early days in the NBA - and singing "Take Me Out To The Ballgame ..."
One more thought: Longtime baseball/basketball agent Arn Tellem, who I have known since his days as general counsel of the (gasp) San Diego Clippers, told me it took about him about three weeks to emotionally recover from his group's failed attempt to purchase the Dodgers. Tellem - like Kasten - is rooted in baseball.
The Geoff Petrie rumors continue to swirl as Petrie insists he is focused on the Kings.
In March the Kings denied a report Petrie was set to sign a contract extension. Since Petrie's name has been linked to the general manager position in Portland, where Petrie was a player and executive.
Joe Maloof told SI.com Portland had not requested permission to speak to Petrie (which would be required because he is under contract through next season) but added the team would not "hold" Petrie back if there was another offer job he chose to pursue.
Not every question I asked Kings basketball president Geoff Petrie made it into the Q&A that ran in Saturday's newspaper so here's some more from the interview.
A King has finally shown up in the voting for an award for the 2011-12 season.
DeMarcus Cousins received two second-place votes and five third-place votes for Most Improved Player.
Orlando's Ryan Anderson won the award.
I voted for Anderson, with Cousins second on my ballot and Ty Lawson third.
Cousins improved his scoring average by four points to 18.1 per game and his rebounding from 8.6 to 11 per game. Cousins averaged 1.2 blocks after averaging 0.8 as a rookie.
Cousins' turnovers decreased from 3.31 to 2.66 per game. Cousins also improved his field goal percentage (43 percent to 44.8 percent) and free throw percentage (68.7 percent to 70.2 percent).
The NBA announced the 66 players who have filed as early entry candidates for the 2012 NBA Draft.
There are 49 players from U.S. colleges and 17 international players.
I am still waiting to hear whether DeMarcus Cousins received his invitation to play with the Select Team during the pre-Olympic training camp - that was a mere formality - but was told earlier tonight that USA Basketball czar Jerry Colangelo and coach Mike Krzyzewski plan to add two players to the list of Olympic team finalists. Dwight Howard, Derrick Rose, LaMarcus Aldridge and Chauncey Billups have all been eliminated from the original pool of 20 candidates for the final 12-man roster because of injury. USAB officials plan to announce the Team USA 2012 roster on June18, but that's not a hard and fast rule. This is basketball. The NBA Playoffs are ongoing. Injuries happen. And USAB doesn't have to submit its official roster to the IOC until the day before the Games.
Ailene Voisin: Kings' Cousins eyes Olympic shot
As of late Tuesday, the plan was to add one wing player and one big man to the list of finalists. Now, while there are plenty of wing players to choose from, the choice of centers and frontcourt players remains thin.
Jerry Colangelo, the czar of Team USA's mens basketball program, told me a few minutes ago that DeMarcus Cousins will be invited to play for the Select team at the pre-Olympic training camps in Las Vegas and Washington, D.C. Colangelo and coach Mike Krzyzewski also planned to add a few players to its list of 20 Oympic finalists later today. The number of finalists had been trimmed significantly because of season-ending injuries suffered by Derek Rose, Dwight Howard, Chauncey Billups and LaMarcus Aldridge. Lamar Odom was bypassed for obvious reasons - he was dropped by the Dallas Mavericks after enduring a miserable season - though there been some speculation that he could be among the additions.
Cousins, 21, had hoped to be named to the Olympic team - which was highly unlikely - but last week said he would accept an invitation to play for the Select team. Consisting mostly of younger NBA players, the Select team's role is to practice and scrimmage against the Olympians. More importantly, Cousins' inclusion adds him to the national team's pool of candidates who will be named to the 2014 World Championship and 2016 Olympic squads.
"They haven't called yet," said Cousins' agent, John Greig, "but my expectation is that he would accept. He takes seriously the responsibility of representing your country."
