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From owner to general manager to coach, no other NBA management team has had as little time to prepare for the draft this year as the Sacramento Kings.
The Kings have had so much turmoil and turnover since the season ended that focusing on the future has been an ever-present process of acceleration. The uncertainty that clouded the franchise for so long hit its peak May 21, when Keith Smart represented the Kings at the draft lottery at the request of the Maloof family.
Smart has since been fired as coach and replaced by Mike Malone. Pete D’Alessandro took over as general manager for Geoff Petrie last week. And new owner Vivek Ranadive has wiped away just about every memory of the Maloofs inside Sacramento’s suburban arena as part of the franchise’s ”new era.”
The Kings can begin adding to that next chapter on the court come Thursday night, when they have the seventh and 36th overall picks in the draft.
”I see real potential in this draft,” D’Alessandro said.
Reported by Antonio Gonzalez of the Associated Press
