Well. Another year. Another apocalypse on Twitter, message boards and the like because the Kings didn't get the #1 pick. There is no controversy in the Kings getting a great player because, hell, what if they aren't that many great players in this draft to get? Also, don't you know the Kings are supposed to suck forever while we sell out anyway? This is what we wanted, remember?

Mwahahahahahahahahahaha.

I didn't even write a piece last year during last year's lottery because, well, I couldn't figure out a good reason to. I'm tired of listening to people complain every year about dropping in the lottery. "The NBA hates us." "The NBA is rigged." "The NBA doesn't want us to be successful." And the like.

Nothing new here to present. Smoke your bong, your homey or, hell, a vato in East LA (okay don't do that one). Wake up tomorrow and it's a new day like every other before it. It's amazing how often we forget that, and need to be reminded it no matter how often and prescient it remains.

Which is a surprise for no-one at this point I think. It's par for the course. The Kings drop in the lottery or stay at the same spot, and Kings fans go "This is our lot in life, how dare the NBA upset the balance!"

Which is the only way to think about it.

If you are truly bored, laugh at my 2009, 2010 or 2011 writeup's saying roughly the same thing.

Where do the Kings go from here? Who does Vivek Ranadive hire as a GM to replace Geoff Petrie? Who do the Kings hire to replace the almost certainly fired Keith Smart? Do they go analytical? Do they do other things with their front office? Who is their franchise player? Do they have a franchise player? What kind of cap room do the Kings have? What does the draft offer in terms of improvement? Are trades out there to be had?

Well there is a lot of do's in there isn't it?

Who replaces Geoff Petrie? Well, that's an interesting question. There are two schools of thought here: One is to give Petrie a transition period with new management. The other is to start completely fresh.

First off, here's what I think about the transition period: Hell to the fuck no. And this is why. James Ham had a nicer, far less offensive post about it, and while I disagree with a few things (mainly his MLE assessment--and have for many years I might add), I think James was spot on with his assessment otherwise. Thomas Robinson was drafted because of his readiness from the jump. He turned out to be less ready than Andre Drummond. Yes, seriously. 

What? 

Yes. You heard me right. 

In case you haven't noticed yet, that means the committee, that by most estimation has the recommendation that guides the other owners (after all that's why it's a committee) just voted against relocation to Seattle.

To be clear, what this is a recommendation to not relocate. The committee of 12 voted unanimously to deny relocation. This has nothing to do with the sale, but in fact has everything to do with the sale. The reason is two fold: One is that the sale will

What do you think the odds are that Chris Hansen can convince other owners that he will be willing to accept the term sheet that the city of Sacramento agreed to with Vivek Ranadive, Mark Mastrov, the Jacobs and whomever else they are trottiing out today to be the new public trophy.

On a more serious note, I'll just pass along 1 of the 8 billion places on Twitter and elsewhere in the universe you can find this news. I'll just save the time and embed a few of Aaron Bruski's tweets on the topic and add the 8 trillion pieces of reacton you're going to find at some point or another.

Wanted to keep the record intact.....CONFIRMED that the NBA relocation committee UNANIMOUSLY recommended NO to relocation of the Kings.

— Aaron Bruski (@aaronbruski) April 29, 2013

This Kings story has challenged me in so many ways.I'd like to thank @basketballtalk, @docktora, @mikesgallagher for helping me cover it.

— Aaron Bruski (@aaronbruski) April 29, 2013

The Kings are staying in Sacramento.THE END.

— Aaron Bruski (@aaronbruski) April 29, 2013

There are many people to thank right now, and I have no clue where to begin with that. Like everyone else, life is going to intervene for me in the next few hours but hopefully by tonight I'll offer my more in depth thoughts on the topic.

#HereWeMotherFuckinStayedBitches! #FuckWithSacEatSomeCowbell #HereWeStayed

Normally I'd break down the game, and what went right, wrong etc, etc etc.

Who cares? Tonight was about the end of an era, and barring a really stupid decision by the Board of Governors in New York a couple of weeks from now, perhaps the last game ever in Sacramento.

You know what? I don't care.

There was the game and here is the boxscore. Have fun with it.

This is the commercial that is already running in Times Square in New York City, that New York City, yes, that New York City. Partake, and enjoy. And then watch it over and over and over.

There is a term sheet. So there is that. Now it's onto the bid, which, if you believe David Stern and I do not, Stern said he expected the variances in bid (i.e. more money from the Sac bid) to be eliminated. In otherwords: We're not making the Maloofs take less money for what they sold the team for. 

Are the Sacramento Kings worth 525 million in Sacramento? Probably not, but there is more than one way to skin a cat and the city almost certainly proved that today with the term sheet they released just a few hours ago. 

Kevin Johnson kicked off the festitivites with a series of tweet I will embed so you won't have a problem seeing them. After the jump I'll discuss the term sheet.

I’m pleased to announce an agreement w/ Burkle-Mastrov-Ranadive group on a public-private partnership to build a new ESC at DT Plaza Mall...

— Kevin Johnson (@KJ_MayorJohnson) March 23, 2013

Consistent w/our core tenets, the deal avoids new taxes, protects the City on the Kings loan, and ensures no net impact to the general fund…

— Kevin Johnson (@KJ_MayorJohnson) March 23, 2013

For a comparable investment to the 2012 deal, we've secured more private investment & greater econ development potential at the new site…

— Kevin Johnson (@KJ_MayorJohnson) March 23, 2013

The new ownership, historic in its reflection of our city's diversity, will invest up to $1B in Sac - a strong sign of confidence in our mkt

— Kevin Johnson (@KJ_MayorJohnson) March 23, 2013

They will also make a 35-year commitment to keep the Sacramento Kings right here where they belong!....

— Kevin Johnson (@KJ_MayorJohnson) March 23, 2013

Once again, we're proving the strength of our market – both as host to an NBA team, but as an emerging region with global potential…

— Kevin Johnson (@KJ_MayorJohnson) March 23, 2013

I'm excited to talk further about the deal with my Council colleagues and the public...

— Kevin Johnson (@KJ_MayorJohnson) March 23, 2013

With all that said...I'm pumped!!Ron B & I officially closed the deal a few mins ago - maybe this pic says it best! twitter.com/KJ_MayorJohnso…

— Kevin Johnson (@KJ_MayorJohnson) March 23, 2013

True team effort! Props to City Mgr John Shirey + team, esp Dan Barrett & John Dangberg. All fought hard for City taxpayers & core tenets.

— Kevin Johnson (@KJ_MayorJohnson) March 24, 2013

I apologize for all that, but didn't want any of it to get lost in the shuffle as some of these things are wont to do. Okay discussion of the term sheet after the jump.

Rather than going on and on, I'll just say that the announcement of Ranadive has come in place of an announced term sheet that the city was hoping to have by today.

However, let me state a few things that are important. One is that the term sheet doesn't need to be released, technically, until Tuesday at 6pm. Which, in case you're wondering, is when the council meeting takes place. 

That said, John Shirey, the Sacramento City Manager, also knows that Steve Cohn, resident financial guru on the city council, won't approve of the measure without having seen the term sheet and having the opportunity to go over the details with a fine tooth comb. That's how Cohn works. Shirey knows Cohn will say yes if the deal works, and no if it does not. But he won't blindly approve this deal, and that's the good news for the city of Sacramento. Steve Cohn is nothing if not vigilant. 

So if the term sheet comes out tomorrow, it's not a big deal. Does Vivek Ranadive announcement outweight that reality?

Not really, no. But, it doesn't have to either. What matters is that the city is able to vote on the term sheet next Tuesday, and what really matters is that the public portion of a new arena is still there. Everything else is details, and as David Stern said so infamously during the 2011 lockout: "Everything is negotiable." 

So, if you're looking for more to read about Ranadive, check out the Wiki profile where the references are. That will give you a ton of reading material. 

Until then, I want to see the term sheet. Expect a profile of the city council coming sometime over the weekend along with analysis of the term sheet if and when it ever gets released. (I'm betting it's tomorrow. Hopefully I'm right.)

Alrighty then, until next time then. 

Well, this is going to be what it's going to be. A lot of geeky numbers blah blah blah, so if you're bored skip it. Otherwise, stick around for what people might bother to tell you in April (assuming the Kings are in Sacramento by the end of the month that is).

So I'm going to address a few things, One is set-off, one is how the cap picture now looks after Brooks being waived and what it means moving forward, and what the summer outlook might be towards free agents.

After the jump.....

It's been too long since I last wrote so I thought I'd release some bits of info and thoughts on the various topics of recent days.

First, last night, Mayor Kevin Johnson reported his whales to be Mark Mastrov and Ron Burkle. He also reported that Mitch Richmond would be a minority investor among the 25 or so that eventually came forward. There was also a note of corporate support said to be 50 million for 5 seasons in a new arena under new ownership. (That was how KJ stipulated it.) Additionally, we learned that 3rd graders struggle with literacy in Sacramento. All in all, it was a pretty positive night.

One interesting note was that despite the other real important news KJ had to announce, the Kings were what drew (by a very large margin) the most noise and response from the State of the City crowd as a whole. There was talk of some serious things that are incredibly important to Sacramentans (Green jobs, Farm to Fork program, raising kids literacy rates at a young age) but none of that seemed to matter as much as the state of the Kings and where KJ was at with regards to the bid and the NBA. That seems unbalanced to me, even as I write a Kings centric blog admittedly, as all these things are important. Frankly, the idea of adding more jobs is far more important than a NBA team in the grand scheme of things. Yet, at the same time, it didn't seem to hold as much traction as a basketball team for most of the crowd.

I find that both disturbing and amazing in equal measures. Moving on.....

Aaron Bruski has released a picture through a Tweet that explains how Bob Cook's 7% share might work now through the bankruptcy court. The link I just linked to in the previous sentence will take you to the picture you see below. Much thanks, yet again, to Bruski for his fine reporting and willingness to share what he's hearing (as opposed to what he wants). 

What if I told you I had one handy picture to explain the Bob Cook bankruptcy sales process?twitpic.com/c7tyia

— Aaron Bruski (@aaronbruski) March 1, 2013

The other night in Orlando was a rare moment of clarity for a bad basketball team. They shared the basketball, played pretty hard (presumably because things were going the Kings way for a change) and, well, Orlando is a very bad basketball team. One of the few worse than the Kings right now. I do not take much solace in it despite knowing that it is possible bad teams can blow other teams out. But, at the same time, the Magic did not have Jameer Nelson or Al Harrington, and that the young players on the Magic who are getting big minutes had fairly poor games (or worse). I'm not expecting a repeat of that performance against the Spurs who do not have any of those problems. Oh, and if you do not read Orlando Magic Daily consistently, you are missing out. Philip is one of the best writers on any platform for any team and/or sport there is. 

In of itself, this is not big news. Aaron Brooks has been released (or waived; I'm not sure yet) and whichever one is what I suspect is the best thing for the Kings in the long term. After all, I've said it before and I'll say it again: This Kings team has way too many small G's and adding Toney Douglas did not help matters.  On the other hand, letting Brooks move on and find a way to get his NBA career back on track elsewhere is the wise and simplest thing for all parties.

Having said that, I still think it's very likely the Kings consider trading two of Isaiah Thomas, Marcus Thornton and Jimmer Fredette. Having way too many small G's is something this Kings team has a real problem with, and  unless the meshing of all 3 players gets more effective I'm not sure exactly why keeping all 3 makes sense. 

Okay that's pretty much all I have. 

Rather than pointing out the obvious and saying the Maloofs are cheap pieces of craptastic amphibious lowlife shit, I'll just leave them out of this. We know they are worthless. Yesterday proved it yet again. The NBA was thrilled to hear they "agree" to sell the team to Hansen because if nothing else it illustrates one thing: They will have to sell to whomever the NBA ultimately decides they think this Kings franchise should end up. That's the good news. Which, in layments terms, is that the Maloofs are more than broke enough that they have to sell no matter what. That's really good news.

Yesterday is perfect proof why.

On the other hand, there are other things to discuss here.

Tyler Honeycutt was a long term project that never really had an opportunity to pan out here. Now it will happen in Houston or somewhere else, but not in Sacramento. What were the reasons for passing on Kawhi Leonard again? Remind me. Oh, John Salmoons, Honeycutt and Jimmer. Yeah, I love this team.

Last summer, I spent a significant chunk arguing for Drummond in futility. I knew it was futile then; I know it's futile now. The Kings took Thomas Robinson, and traded him for Patrick Patterson. Nothing wrong with Patterson, but downgrading assets are stupid. It's bad policy in any shape or form. I'm not opposed to having traded Robinson for something tangible that improves the team; how does acquiring Patrick Patterson do that? It doesn't. It was a money grab.

Which, brings me to Francisco Garcia. His career with the Kings has ended, and to the Cisco kid, I say: Block the shit outta everybody in a Rockets uniform, sir. Also, let's ride. Thank you for the good memories (what memories there were). As a side note, that exercise ball accident was just ridiculously terrible on every front. The exercise ball has for all intents and purposes ruined Cisco's career, unless going to a real franchise (which the Kings are not at the moment) helps revive Cisco's career. I hope it does.