Sacramento Kings Media Session 1996

[NOLa.]

Vice President of Marketing: Welcome, everyone, to the Sacramento Kings press conference! It's been a very busy offseason for the team since the lotto, and we're happy to say we feel we have ended on a successful note, but I'll let our head coach and general manager NOLa. take the mic for this topic in a second. Questions are accepted at the end of breakdown of last season and the offseason. Please welcome our head coach to the stand!

NOLa.: First, I feel the need to briefly discuss last season. This time last sim year, I gave a small presser before the season began forewarning of our miserable season to come. The average casual NBA fan could look at our roster last season and tell us we were going no where. Instead, the front office and I focused on a complete rebuild plan and began selling any and all assets we had left for future assets, staying consistent with our 1994-95 season where we traded Karl Malone, Pooh Richardson, and others to start a new era in Kings basketball.

{Crowd begins getting chatty}

NOLa.: It was a rough season, but we pushed through the worst of it to finish the season. The key to our rebuild plan, the piece we decide to build around for almost a decade, rested in our luck in the lottery. Knowing previous lotto luck failures and utter disasters, us dropping to #5, the lowest possible outcome for us, didn't take our front office by surprise. It left a bitter taste in our mouth for certain, but that taste was later completely washed out when our #2 prospect on the board and #1 ranked center, Marcus Camby, dropped to us. We couldn't contain our excitement.

NOLa.: We also picked up wing Shandon Anderson and guard Erick Strickland in the mid-1st round to start stockpiling youth and potential around our new cornerstone. We really liked what Strickland could bring to our team in terms of defense, which we always pride ourselves on in Sacramento. Shandon Anderson was considered by Mr. Uter as a top pick initially, but no one seems to know why he was rated so highly. With five total picks in the 1st round, we rolled the dice on Anderson in hopes he develops into his own role.

NOLa.: After the draft, me made our biggest splash around the league in RFA when we won the bid of power forward Popeye Jones from the Chicago Bulls by giving him a 4-year max deal. The initial reaction around the league was mostly of "overpaying" and "bad move", but we really liked the growth of Popeye in his short career in the NBA and we also like the idea of partnering up Camby with Popeye. Other than that, we made no big acquisitions in unrestricted free agency other than some aging veterans. We made numerous solid bids on the talent that was available, but we didn't feel the need to overpay so severely to where it would be impossible to move the player if needed.


NOLa.: Initial reports from the staff at camp confirm that our younger players have had great camps. We're still working on a spreadsheet to post up, but Marcus Camby made the biggest jump expectedly and Erick Strickland is better than advertised. Popeye Jones also had another big jump across the board, and Shandon Anderson has improved. More later.


The floor is open for questions and/or comments.

[78]

What does the loss of Chris Morris back to the Rockets mean for your team?

[logpmess]

Gonzalo LeBetard, Miami Tribune. With a very strong starting lineup, who do you see as your primary contributor off of the bench?

[NOLa.]

Aug 26, 2014 6:22:34 GMT -6 78 said:

What does the loss of Chris Morris back to the Rockets mean for your team?

We were sad to see Chris Morris leave our team after we decided not to bid in him until the later round of free agency, which was a mistake. We lost our identity when we missed out on Morris, but at least he'll add to the insane luxury tax bill the Rockets will have to pay soon.

[NOLa.]

Aug 26, 2014 6:44:49 GMT -6 logpmess said:

Gonzalo LeBetard, Miami Tribune. With a very strong starting lineup, who do you see as your primary contributor off of the bench?

Thank you for the kind words, Mr. LeBetard, but the coaches and I feel that we are far away from having a solid lineup that can compete. We have many unprovens and undeveloped players, but if I had to guess going into the preseason who the 6th man would be I'd have to say Shandon Anderson or Reggie Williams. There's some competition at the SF spot.

[Conroy]

Sports Guy Bill Simmons here, with so many draft picks still available. Do you plan on keeping them or trying to flip them for some players to help right away. Will how you start the season affect your plan or do you have a vision and you plan to stick with it?

[NOLa.]

Aug 26, 2014 9:22:45 GMT -6 Conroy said:

Sports Guy Bill Simmons here, with so many draft picks still available. Do you plan on keeping them or trying to flip them for some players to help right away. Will how you start the season affect your plan or do you have a vision and you plan to stick with it?

Hreat question, because I've gotten a couple of offers already for particular draft picks. Simply put, I have a plan and I'm going to keep the picks. We'll of course entertain offers, but I got these picks for a reason and after a very successful training camp I am placing more emphasis on youth than ever before.

[IamQuailman]

Will Maukie, Milwaukee Tribune. What is a bigger surprise: Camby's weight gain or Erick Strickland's improvement?

[WigNosy]

Scuttlebutt around the league is that you made some strong plays for a number of Free Agents this season, only to have your heart broken when they signed elsewhere. What do you think was the biggest reason that your cap space wasn't gobbled up this offseason by players looking to earn paychecks?

[Nick Malone 77]

Nick Melon; Charlotte Observer: Whom do you expect to be the leading scorer on your team and over under on times the Kings crack 100 points per game this season... 15?

[TrayWithAnA]

Where do you see yourself in 5 years?

[NOLa.]

Aug 26, 2014 11:05:32 GMT -6 IamQuailman said:

Will Maukie, Milwaukee Tribune. What is a bigger surprise: Camby's weight gain or Erick Strickland's improvement?

I would have to go with Strickland on this one, because its not everyday for this team to have someone have the training camp Strickland had. Camby's weight gain was very good surprise, because he is still pretty thin for his natural position. Strickland has stepped up as a potential starting SG on my team so he gets the nod.

[NOLa.]

Aug 26, 2014 11:31:42 GMT -6 WigNosy said:

Scuttlebutt around the league is that you made some strong plays for a number of Free Agents this season, only to have your heart broken when they signed elsewhere. What do you think was the biggest reason that your cap space wasn't gobbled up this offseason by players looking to earn paychecks?

Ah yes, we had plenty of cap to spend and we made the biggest push in RFA where we won a total of 3 bids, two of which were matched and the other resulting in Popeye Jones as a King. In UFA, we placed several bids that we felt would give us a chance to land someone, but we struck out. This wasn't a good UFA pool to spend on, so we made sure not to do anything outrageous that would restrict our growth.

[NOLa.]

Aug 26, 2014 11:55:10 GMT -6 Nick Malone 77 said:

Nick Melon; Charlotte Observer: Whom do you expect to be the leading scorer on your team and over under on times the Kings crack 100 points per game this season... 15?

If I were to guess who the leading scorer would be, I'd have to consider Porter as my candidate. He lost a step compared to last season, but he still has the ability to knock down the jumper and we plan on him being our starting PG

I'd take under, personally. We will commit to defense and rebounding the ball, but I don't see the Kings offense clicking just yet.

[NOLa.]

Aug 26, 2014 12:00:11 GMT -6 TrayWithAnA said:

Where do you see yourself in 5 years?

Tanking for Lebron

[rpf]

Rancy Pants, The New Jersey Net: Where do you see the offense coming from on your team?

[NOLa.]

Aug 26, 2014 12:39:16 GMT -6 rpf said:

Rancy Pants, The New Jersey Net: Where do you see the offense coming from on your team?

We are hopeful that we can field a balanced scoring team and get scoring contributions from everyone. Our younger players got better in scoring, but we don't know who is capable of what just yet. We will find ways to score, we just won't be an explosive offense.

[Bowser]

Swaggy P From San Antonio Observer: What are your expectations for this season with your young team? What should the Kings fans expect this year?

[NOLa.]

Aug 26, 2014 13:06:47 GMT -6 Bowser said:

Swaggy P From San Antonio Observer: What are your expectations for this season with your young team? What should the Kings fans expect this year?

My expectations for this season is to compete within a reasonable amount. We are still lacking a true #1 scoring option and we have plenty of picks to address this issue later, but for now game planning will be a challenge.

Hopefully the fans are excited to finally see a young, promising team take the court. Compared to last season, this team looks like fireworks waiting to blow up. Camby has been a popular name around town and the fans can't wait to see him start his journey.

[J2]

Johnny Junior, The Washington Post: With the acquisitions of Camby and Popeye, is it safe to assume that defense will once again be the main focus of the Kings going forward into this rebuild? Also, take us deeper into your thought processes going into RFA. What made Popeye Jones "the guy" for you over some of the other names available?

[NOLa.]

Aug 26, 2014 14:57:27 GMT -6 J2 said:

Johnny Junior, The Washington Post: With the acquisitions of Camby and Popeye, is it safe to assume that defense will once again be the main focus of the Kings going forward into this rebuild? Also, take us deeper into your thought processes going into RFA. What made Popeye Jones "the guy" for you over some of the other names available?

Defense has and will forever be our team's focus.

We were very active in RFA and Popeye was just one of our targets we went after, but he was the only one who ended up as a King. We have kept tabs on Popeye and noticed a pattern of great camps, and thankfully he continued that trend this last sim. He still has room to grow and we think he can be a very solid PF.

[Soundwave]

Clark Kent, Daily Planet:
With so much drama in the LBC is it hard being Snoop D O double G?

Also with the large amount of money available how hard was it to temper the buying and not overspend on a bunch of players? How many RFA offers did you throw out?

[NOLa.]

Aug 27, 2014 23:39:55 GMT -6 Soundwave said:

Clark Kent, Daily Planet:
With so much drama in the LBC is it hard being Snoop D O double G?

Also with the large amount of money available how hard was it to temper the buying and not overspend on a bunch of players? How many RFA offers did you throw out?

I made sizeable offers to all RFAs and won 3, but only came away with Poeye Jones. After signing Popeye and heading into FA, I felt the player pool was very weak and was not worth straying away from my path of rebuilding around players I want. Teams have restricted their growth after drafting a superstar to try and competeas fast as possible by overpaying declining vets.

Another factor that played into that decision was my picks in the next few seasons. Choosing youth and potential over age and declination was an easy choice.

[IamQuailman]

Awarded 5 points (towards preseason presser 5pt cap).