City of Seattle Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Pacific Notes: Hill, Frye, Kings, Lakers

February 8th, 2013 at 9:31pm CST by Chuck Myron

Whether or not the Lakers have what it takes to come close to fulfilling their promise this season, they've already outstripped all expectations for drama. Tonight was no exception, as they bounced back from last night's blowout loss, erasing a 20-point deficit in Charlotte to defeat the Bobcats. The win assures they'll finish better than .500 on their seven-game road trip, which finishes up Sunday with a visit to the defending champion Heat. We've got more on the Lakers and their Pacific brethren right here:

Clippers reserve Grant Hill has been hinting at retirement, but told Chris Tomasson of Fox Sports Florida "there's definitely a chance" he returns for the final season of his deal next year.
USA Today's Sam Amick checks in one of Hill's former Suns teammates, Channing Frye. The sharpshooting big man said he's 95% sure he'll be able to make it back next season from the heart ailment that's kept him out all of this year.
A hearing has been scheduled for later this month in a lawsuit brought by a Seattle longshoremen's union that contends the arena plan at the centerpiece of a potential Kings move violates Washington state environmental laws. The suit seeks to nullify the agreement on the building between local governments and investor Chris Hansen. Tony Bizjak, Dale Kasler and Ryan Lillis of the Sacramento Bee have the details.
Michael Lee of The Washington Post examines the conflicting goals of Kobe Bryant and Dwight Howard.

Western Notes: Burks, Carter, Lakers, Kings

February 7th, 2013 at 3:13pm CST by Luke Adams

Let's check out a few afternoon links related to Western Conference clubs….

In his report about Luke Ridnour's availability, Chris Sheridan of Sheridan Hoops mentioned Alec Burks as a player the Timberwolves have discussed with the Jazz. However, Darren Wolfson of 1500 ESPN Twin Cities tweets that Burks has been given some sort of assurance that he won't be moved in a deal for Ridnour.
A league source tells NBA.com's Jeff Caplan it's a "long shot" that the Mavericks will decide to trade Vince Carter in the next two weeks.
Lakers coach Mike D'Antoni expects to meet with GM Mitch Kupchak soon to discuss the team's roster, according to Mark Medina of the Los Angeles Daily News.
Dwight Howard is growing tired of people questioning his shoulder injury, telling reporters, including Dave McMenamin of ESPNLosAngeles.com, that his career and future would be at stake if he tries to play through it.
Although he said last July when he signed an offer sheet with the Suns that his heart was in Phoenix, Eric Gordon is happy to still be a member of the Hornets, as he tells Paul Coro of the Arizona Republic. "Whether I was here or there, I would’ve been fine with it," Gordon said. "It was nothing over the top that I wanted to be here or there."
Tom Ziller of Sactown Royalty is very pleased that commissioner David Stern seems to be suggesting the NBA's Board of Governors will be taking a holistic approach when evaluating Seattle's and Sacramento's bid for the Kings.

Seattle Group Officially Files Intent To Move Kings

February 6th, 2013 at 7:20pm CST by Chuck Myron

The investors who have a deal with the Maloof brothers to buy the Kings have officially filed with the league to move the team to Seattle, reports Tim Booth of The Associated Press. The group, led by Chris Hansen and Howard Ballmer, had been expected to do so before the March 1 deadline, but the news, delivered by commissioner David Stern, makes it official. Stern called Hansen and Ballmer's bid "very strong" in his comments to reporters in Minneapolis assembled before tonight's Timberwolves-Spurs game.

Hansen and Ballmer reached an agreement last month to buy a 65% stake in the Kings, investing $340MM of the $525MM value of the franchise. That value, a 75% jump from the value Forbes magazine determined last year, was set as part of the agreement. The city of Sacramento and mayor Kevin Johnson have been scrambling to put forth a counter offer, having found 20 local investors to pledge $1MM, with rumors that Ron Burkle and Mark Mastrov have interest in teaming up to spearhead the bid.

The Sacramento group is expected to make its case before the league at the board of governors meeting in April, so no resolution on the future of the Kings appears likely until then.

Odds & Ends: HGH, Kings, Gelabale, NBPA

February 6th, 2013 at 4:53pm CST by Luke Adams

On this day in 2008, the Shaquille O'Neal era began in Phoenix, when the Heat and Suns finalized a deal that sent O'Neal to the Suns in exchange for Shawn Marion and Marcus Banks. February 6th also represents Hoops Rumors' anniversary, as we launched our site a year ago today. Whether you've been with us from the beginning or just visited for the first time today, we'd like to thank you for reading, and we hope you'll stick with us longer than the O'Neal era lasted in Phoenix.

Here are this afternoon's odds and ends from around the NBA:

Commissioner David Stern told WCCO radio in Minnesota that he expects the NBA to introduce blood testing for HGH by next season, according to Ben Golliver of SI.com.
Sacramento mayor Kevin Johnson hopes to have a detailed plan to attempt to keep the Kings in Sacramento in place by the end of the month, according to Ryan Lillis and Dale Kasler of the Sacramento Bee.
Spurs coach Gregg Popovich acknowledged that French forward Mickael Gelabale, currently with the Timberwolves, is a player that's interested San Antonio in the past. "He's somebody we thought about a lot over the last couple of years," Popovich said. "We just never really had a position there" (Twitter links via Jeff McDonald of the San Antonio Express-News).
Eric Pincus of HoopsWorld takes a look at trade possibilities for Western Conference clubs, identifying which players on each team are most likely to be on the move.
Israel's Elizur Ashkelon has signed former NBA veteran Jarvis Hayes, according to the team's website (translation via Emiliano Carchia of Sportando). Hayes, who last played for the Nets in 2009/10, was drafted 10th overall in 2003.
The recently-formed five-man interim NBPA executive committee has hired the law firm of Orrick Herrington as advisors, tweets Liz Mullen of the Sports Business Journal.

Kings/Seattle Links: Tuesday

February 5th, 2013 at 11:18am CST by Luke Adams

There haven't been many concrete updates on the status of the Kings sale lately, as a Sacramento group appears to still be putting together a counter-offer. But rumors, rumblings, and speculation continue to trickle in, so we'll round up today's links related to Sacramento, Seattle, and the Kings right here:

If a Ron Burkle/Mark Mastrov-led group can finalize an ownership group whose bid for the Kings values the franchise at over $525MM, Sacramento should have a fighting chance to keep the team, writes Steve Kyler of Hoops World.
According to Kyler, Sacramento's counter-offer would have to include more than just a big-money bid — the group would have to present a concrete plan for ways to increase team revenues in Sacramento, since a move to Seattle is expected to yield major corporate advertisers and a big TV deal.
Tom Ziller of SBNation.com looks back at the SuperSonics' move to Oklahoma City, noting that Clay Bennett had more time and fewer roadblocks than Chris Hansen does, and was still tied up in legal proceedings for a few months. If the "right of first refusal" issue becomes a real factor, things could get messy, says Ziller.
Ziller argues that David Stern's best move is to open up a discussion about keeping the Kings in Sacramento and creating a new expansion team in Seattle.

Pacific Notes: Lakers, Gasol, Suns, Dudley

February 4th, 2013 at 7:54pm CST by Zachary Links

The Chris Paul-less Clippers are in action tonight against the Wizards and it's evident that they miss their star point guard. Eric Bledsoe is doing an admirable job in the starting one-guard spot and has 17 points off of 7-12 shooting through three quarters, but the Clippers are neck-and-neck in Washington. Here's more out of the Pacific..

If the Lakers want to get out of the graduated tax for next season, then dealing Pau Gasol this year makes sense, but Eric Pincus of the Los Angeles Times (on Sulia) writes that they can hang on to him for the second half, pay this year's tax, and then move him this summer. Earlier today, GM Mitch Kupchak made comments that seemed to imply that the big man will be staying put.
More from Pincus (on Twitter) who opines that if the Lakers wanted to sign players like Delonte West and Kenyon Martin, they would have done it long ago when players were hurt.
We haven't heard a lot of chatter surrounding the Suns' Jared Dudley, but he would make a great deal of sense as a trade candidate for Phoenix, writes Sean Deveney of the Sporting News. It's obviously a lost season for the Suns and Dudley could be valuable for a playoff team looking for a perimeter threat. The Sixers would be one such team that could use his services.
Sacramento mayor Kevin Johnson made a mistake by setting a self-imposed deadline for unveiling an ownership group for the Kings and not meeting it, writes Scott Howard-Cooper of NBA.com (via Sulia). In a recent press conference, Johnson said that he had a number of minority investors lined up but he has yet to reveal the big money behind a group to keep the Kings from moving to Seattle.

Kings/Seattle Updates: Thursday

January 31st, 2013 at 3:07pm CST by Luke Adams

We're likely a ways off from any sort of resolution on the future of the Kings franchise, but in the meantime, each day seems to bring some sort of development on the sale of the team. Here's Thursday's latest:

Attorney Donald Fitzgerald and trustee David Flemmer, who is handling the sale of Bob Cook's 7% share of the Kings, are negotiating with the Maloofs in the hopes of gaining access to the details of the Seattle sale, according to Dale Kasler of the Sacramento Bee. Fitzgerald and Flemmer believe minority owners should have the first right of refusal to match the Seattle offer, and say they need the Seattle documents to pursue their claim.
If Fitzgerald and Flemmer are successful in their claim, one of the existing limited partners or whoever buys Cook's 7% share could have the opportunity to block the sale to the Seattle group, says Kasler.
According to Kasler, the NBA expects to make a ruling on the Seattle purchase during the NBA's Board of Governors meeting in mid-April. Cook's share of the team is supposed to be auctioned off on the same day.
Sacramento's City Hall has launched a feasibility analysis of Downtown Plaza as a spot for a new arena, according to Ryan Lillis of the Sacramento Bee. Ron Burkle, who is reportedly putting together a counter-proposal for the Kings, has advocated directly to NBA commissioner David Stern for building an arena at Sacramento's Downtown Plaza.

Kings/Seattle Rumors: Wednesday

January 30th, 2013 at 11:23am CST by Luke Adams

As we wait for the NBA to review Seattle's bid for the Kings, Sacramento continues to move closer to preparing a bid of their own to try to keep the team. Here's the latest on Sacramento, Seattle, and the Kings, with any new updates added to the top of the page throughout the day:

While the conventional wisdom suggests that Seattle has the inside track on the Kings, the league is "clearly signaling" that it wants a counter-proposal from the Kings, a source tells Tony Bizjak, Ryan Lillis, and Dale Kasler of the Sacramento Bee. "Sacramento has a real fighting chance," the source said. "[The NBA] knows how the community has responded to the team. If a deep-pocketed group buys, if the Maloofs get the same amount of money, and an arena set up, it will be difficult for the board of governors to just dismiss that."
Sacramento mayor Kevin Johnson is expected to make a public pitch to the NBA Board of Governors in April, but the league figures to privately vet the Ron Burkle/Mark Mastrov group before that point, according to the Bee report. The Burkle/Mastrov group will have to submit their proposal directly to the league's finance committe, as opposed to the Maloofs.
The Bee report also notes that the NBA's relocation committee will be tasked with evaluating "the support of the [Kings] in the existing location by fans, telecasters, broadcasters and sponsors," which Tom Ziller of Sactown Royalty views as a positive sign for Sacramento.

Kings/Seattle Rumors: Tuesday

January 29th, 2013 at 6:53pm CST by Ryan Raroque

We'll keep any of today's Kings/Seattle-related updates below:

Scott Howard-Cooper of NBA.com says that even if Sacramento's legal challenges buy more time, he isn't sure it necessarily means an eventual victory against the move to Seattle (Sulia link). He also mentions that although the league would prefer to have the situation resolved by the Board of Governors meeting on April 18-19, it would be willing to carry on discussions into the summer, even if it meant having to prepare individual season schedules for Sacramento and Seattle.
Mark Mastrov made a strong impression on local investors yesterday after explaining his vision of building a new arena and keeping the Kings in Sacramento, wrote Ryan Lillis, Dale Kasler, and Tony Bizjak of the Sacramento Bee. Mayor Kevin Johnson described the meeting as a “positive step forward in our effort to keep the Kings,” while others who attended added that Mastrov has brought added confidence, optimism, and hope to the table.
Kasler also reports that a bankruptcy trustee who controls seven percent of the Kings will bring in “special litigation counsel” to help make the claim that the team's minority owners are illegally being denied the right to match the purchase offer from Chris Hansen and the Seattle group. While the Maloofs and Hansen view this claim as a non-issue, University of New Hampshire sports law expert Michael McCann thinks that litigation may interfere with the Seattle group’s plan to have the sale approved by mid-April and could possibly delay the franchise from moving for another year at the least.

Kings/Seattle Rumors: Monday

January 28th, 2013 at 6:37pm CST by Alex Lee

With the Kings in D.C. tonight to play the middling Wizards, the future of their franchise is still uncertain. As the news and rumors continue to pour in, let's keep all the Monday updates in this post with the latest up top:

Mastrov bid $420MM to buy the Warriors in 2010, tweets Ryan Lillis of the Sacramento Bee. The 20 Sacramento business leaders that Mastrov met with have pledged $1MM apiece in support of the bid to keep the Kings in town, Lillis adds in a separate story.

Earlier updates:

Ken Berger of CBS Sports provides some helpful information via Twitter. Berger says that prospective Kings buyer Mark Mastrov met today with 20 local investors that are committed to keeping the team in Sacramento. We got confirmation yesterday that Mastrov would be teaming up with Ron Burkle to make a bid on the team.
A league source described the Mastrov's interaction with the investors as an "informal meeting," Berger tweets, also adding that its purpose was to explain his vision for the team and a new arena in Sacramento.
Confirming much of what we know, Berger adds that the Seattle-based Hansen-Ballmer group has an "executed purchase agreement" for the Kings that is under consideration with the NBA and assuming its approval, would move to the team to Seattle next year. Sacramento mayor Kevin Johnson hopes that the city will have a chance to present an alternative option to the NBA Board of Governors in April (Twitter links here).