The Sacramento Kings are rebuilding their player roster as well as the coaching staff.

And, according to Sam Amick of the Sacramento Bee, Paul Westphal is going to be hired as the team’s new head coach: “Westphal, the former Phoenix and Seattle coach, was the second of four candidates to be interviewed by the job.”

In 2008-09 the Kings were the worst team in the league, winning 17 games and losing 65. Their star scorer, Kevin Martin, who averaged 24.6 points per game and not a lot else on 42.0% shooting, only played 51 games. They have a few promising young big-men in Spencer Hawes and Jason Thompson, and a very mediocre point guard in Beno Udrih, plus Francisco Garcia, Rashad McCants and Andres Nocioni. And that’s about it.

Westphal will have to help develop the young talent, though there is still a lot more rebuilding to do before he has anything great to work with.

InsideHoops.com will update this blog entry shortly.

Denver Nuggets guard Dahntay Jones underwent successful arthroscopic surgery on his right shoulder to remove a bone spur on Monday.  The surgery was performed by Dr. Steve Traina of Western Orthopedic Group.

Jones is expected to make a full recovery in 4-6 weeks.

From Philadelphia to Toronto, a bruiser has been traded for a shooter.

The Toronto Raptors announced Tuesday they have acquired forward Reggie Evans from the Philadelphia 76ers in exchange for guard-forward Jason Kapono.

“Reggie Evans will certainly add an element of toughness to our team,” said Bryan Colangelo, Raptors President and General Manager. “He has very good rebounding and defensive instincts, addressing two areas where we have underperformed.”

The seven-year veteran has averaged better than 6.5 rebounds in five of his NBA campaigns, with a career best of 9.3 per game (12th in the NBA) in 2004-05 with Seattle. He also averaged 7.9 rebounds during a four-year span from 2004-08.

Evans has ranked in the top-10 in the NBA in Rebounds Per 48 Minutes in each of the past six seasons, leading the league in 2006-07 at 19.7. He finished seventh in the NBA last season with an average of 15.3.

Evans has grabbed 20+ rebounds on three occasions, with a career-best 21 versus Charlotte on February 5, 2005. He collected a career-high 19 defensive rebounds against the Raptors on March 10, 2006.

The 6-foot-8, 245-pounder has appeared in 514 career regular season games with 270 starts. He owns career averages of 4.3 points, 6.9 rebounds and 19.6 minutes. He has seen action in the postseason four times, averaging 4.0 points, 6.0 rebounds and 17.1 minutes in 27 games.

Evans signed as a free agent with Seattle in 2002. He has played with Seattle (2002-06), Denver (2006-07) and Philadelphia (2007-09).

The native of Pensacola, Florida played two seasons at the University of Iowa where he averaged 15.3 points and 11.5 rebounds in 69 games. He was named Associated Press Honorable Mention All-American in both his junior and senior seasons.

Kapono signed with Toronto as a free agent July 11, 2007. He averaged 7.7 points and 1.6 rebounds in two seasons with the Raptors.

Evans is a short but rugged forward who adds rebounding to the Raptors frontcourt. Toronto up front has Chris Bosh, but Andrea Bargnani is not particularly strong, and Shawn Marion is undersized and not a lock to return to the team.

Kapono gives the 76ers a very badly-needed three-point shooter. With Andre Miller’s limited range, Kapono will help. He’ll be their best threat from deep range since Kyle Korver. He’d be a good first guard off the bench for them.

This trade helps both teams a bit.

Read fan discussion of the news and post your own opinion in this forum topic.

Scottie Reynolds has removed his name from the 2009 NBA draft pool and will return to Villanova for his senior season in 2009-10, it was announced today.

“The best decision for me is to return to Villanova for my senior year,” stated Reynolds, who averaged 15.2 points per game in helping lead Villanova to a school-record 30 victories last season. “I’d like to thank everyone who put their time into helping me get better during these NBA workouts. I especially want to thank my teammates and coaches here for all of their support. I felt like I learned a great deal from this process.

“I’m blessed to be in the situation I am in. I’m happy to be back at Villanova.”