Category: Sacramento Kings Blog

The Sacramento Kings today signed second round picks Sean Singletary and Patrick Ewing, Jr. to contracts, it was announced by Kings’ President of Basketball Operations Geoff Petrie. Per team policy, terms of the contracts were not disclosed.

Singletary, a 6-0, 185-pound guard out of Virginia, was the Kings’ 42nd overall selection while Ewing, Jr., a 6-8, 240-pound forward from Georgetown, was Sacramento’s 43rd overall pick of the 2008 NBA Draft.

The Sacramento Bee (Ailene Voisin) reports: Athletic with a spectacular 42-inch vertical leap, Patrick Ewing Jr., who transferred from Indiana after two unproductive seasons, emerged as the Hoyas’ valuable sixth man, though with modest averages of 6.1 points, 4.2 rebounds and 1.8 assists. Nevertheless, Geoff Petrie didn’t go shopping for stats or searching for Ewing Lite. He went for the athleticism and the defense and the intangibles, envisioning a player who could come off the bench and guard two or three positions. “Quick feet, quick hands, loves to defend,” said Petrie, offering an abbreviated scouting report. “Very aggressive. And a great kid.” The older Ewing, currently an assistant with the Orlando Magic, describes his son as a stubborn, active child who was drawn to the sport at a young age but who labored with expectations, comparisons and academics in later years.

The Sacramento Bee (Chris Macias) reports: At the Rain nightclub, go-go dancers are gyrating on platforms, flames are shooting above the crowd and the Maloof family is rolling the dice on an up-and-coming band it believes will successfully kick-start its record label. Rev Theory is rocking at the Maloofs’ Palms resort to promote the band’s major label debut, “Light It Up.” But more significantly, the concert earlier this month marks the inaugural release from Maloof Music, a partnership between the family and Interscope Records, home to such pop stars as U2 and Gwen Stefani. Risks come with this new territory, despite the backing of one of the world’s largest recording companies. The owners of the Sacramento Kings and Monarchs are venturing into the challenged music industry, where storied and long-established labels have seen overall revenue drop… Maloof Music is operating as a boutique label under Interscope. Along with Rev Theory, Maloof has one other artist on its roster: Ali Lohan, the younger sister of actress and gossip girl Lindsay Lohan. Ali Lohan is also the focus of “Living Lohan,” a reality TV show produced by Maloof TV that follows her burgeoning recording career.

On Friday (today) the Sacramento Kings will work out Kevin Bell (Fresno State), Malik Hairston (Oregon), Kosta Koufos (Ohio State), JaVale McGee (Nevada), Sean Singletary (Virginia), Deron Washington (Virginia Tech).

The Sacramento Bee (Martin McNeal) reports: Joe Axelson, the first general manager of the Sacramento Kings, bore the brunt of much criticism during his tenure, but little from those who worked with him. Axelson died Saturday at age 80 at his Coronado home, his son, David, also a former Kings employee, said Sunday. Joe Axelson was the team’s GM in 1985 when the franchise moved from Kansas City, Mo., and therefore ran the show when the Kings made the playoffs in their first season here at the old Arco Arena. Kings player personnel director and television commentator Jerry Reynolds said it became “a sad day” Sunday when he learned of Axelson’s death from Mike Duncan, the vice president of arena programming.

The AP reports: Over his career with the Royals-Kings franchise, he was responsible for some controversial trades, including swapping Oscar Robertson to Milwaukee in 1970 after Robertson squabbled with coach Bob Cousy and asked to leave Cincinnati. The Royals had to settle for Charlie Paulk and Flynn Robinson in the trade. Axelson at other times traded away Jerry Lucas, Nate Archibald and Norm Van Lier.

The Sacramento Kings and Maloof family today exercised the option on President of Basketball Operations Geoff Petrie’s contract for the 2009-10 season.

“We’ve had the privilege of working with Geoff for the past nine years and consider him to be the best general manager in the NBA,” explained Kings owner Joe Maloof. “He’s respected league-wide for his dedication to the game, innovation, scouting and diligence. We look forward to our continued work with Geoff as we bring the Kings back to prominence.”

A two-time NBA Executive of the Year award winner, Petrie has been a key figure behind the success of the Sacramento Kings over the past 14 years.

“I want to thank Joe, Gavin, and the rest of the Maloof family for their ongoing trust, loyalty and support,” said Petrie. “We are all committed to working diligently in the present so as to ensure a more productive, exciting and entertaining future for our fans, players and staff.”

Under Petrie’s direction, the Kings have qualified for the NBA Playoffs in eight of the past 10 campaigns and nine of the past 13 years overall, while winning Pacific Division titles in 2001-02 and 2002-03 and advancing to the 2002 Western Conference Finals. Between 2000-01 and 2004-05, Sacramento joined San Antonio and Dallas as the only teams in the league to register 50-plus wins in each of those years.

When Petrie was named The Sporting News NBA Executive of the Year following the 1998-99 campaign, he became the first person to win both the league’s executive and rookie annual awards. Petrie shared the 1971 NBA Rookie of the Year award with Boston’s Dave Cowens. Following the 2000-01 season, Petrie was named the Sporting News Executive of the Year for a second time.

Sacramento Kings forward Ron Artest underwent successful surgery today to repair a torn ligament in his left thumb.  Dr. Michelle Carlson performed the procedure at Hospital for Special Surgery in New York.

Artest will wear a removable splint for six weeks and return to full basketball activities in approximately eight to 10 weeks.