Kings Willing to Spend
It's been three years since the Sacramento Kings have made the playoffs and the fan base is starting to grow impatient as the Western Conference playoff picture continues to get harder and harder to get into. There was some hope that with a top two pick and either Blake Griffin or Ricky Rubio that the franchise's fortunes would change, but the Kings ended up with the 4th pick despite having the most ping pong balls in the draft lottery. However, team co-owner Gavin Maloof was far from disappointed about the results of the lottery even though they're likely not going to end up with Blake or Rubio.

"We're going to get a great player at four, not good great. We're going to get another one at 23. Look at what Geoff with did Francisco Garcia, Kevin Martin, and Jason Thompson," said Gavin in an interview on KHTX in Sacramento. "Those are great picks. Everyone said why are you drafting a guy from Rider College? You gotta trust Geoff (Petrie)."

The saying goes that trust isn't given, it's earned and even after three down seasons there is still plenty of reasons to have confidence in Petrie. He's been relentless this offseason, working hard to be fully prepared for the draft in June and trying to get this team back to where they were earlier in the decade.

"Geoff (Petrie) has worked very, very, very hard.  He went to Europe twice in like two weeks.  He and Mike Dunleavy are the only two American coaches or scouts to see this (Ricky) Rubio kid.  He's done his homework and all of our scouts have done their homework and they've looked at all these players throughout the years since they were in junior high.  We know everything about them: psychologically, mentally, physically, so, we've done our homework.  We're gonna get a really, really, exciting player for this franchise."

Few owners in the NBA are as popular and well-known as Gavin and his brother Joe. The two are fixtures in the front row of Kings home games and they are eager to get back to their winning ways. They're not letting that eagerness get in the way of what's best for the franchise though. While they are willing to offer their opinion, they let the guy they put in charge of basketball operations handle personnel as they should.

"I just want to see the best player," stated Gavin. "It's always up to Geoff. He solicits the help and opinion of everyone, but in the end of the day he's going to make the final decision, which is the way it should be. Remember it's been 18 years since we've had the fourth pick, people should be thrilled about this. This is very exciting for me. To add that with a new coach that we're going to find with some NBA experience, we're exciting about this franchise and the direction it's moving in."

As much attention as the Kings' front office has been paying attention to the draft, there is still the very pressing issue of the team not having a head coach. While ideally they'd like to have a coach sooner rather than later, they're not putting any timetable on finding the next leader for their team.

"We're not going to rush into it," explained Gavin. " We're going to do our due diligence. We're going to check as many references as we can, we're going to interview as many coaches as we can, or possible candidates. In the end of the day we hope to make the right decision. There are some very, very qualified candidates out there."

While bringing in a new head coach and bringing in two quality draft picks are positive moves, they 're likely not enough to make the Kings a playoff team next year. This is a young team with really just one star on it in Kevin Martin. If they're going to contend with duos like Bryant-Gasol, Duncan-Parker, or Billups-Anthony they're going to have to get another big time player in there, which some Kings fans question their desire to do. However, Gavin feels strongly about the future of this team and did his best to erase any doubts about their willingness to do what it takes to win.

"I don't even know why they (the fans) should question that because we've done that in the past," said a frustrated Maloof. "We've paid the luxury tax in the past when we had a team competing for the championship.  That shouldn't even be a question so I'm not gonna answer it. If there's a good free agent available, we'll go out and get the free agent.  It's what we've done.  Know the future and know the past, and know this: that we're gonna turn this franchise around.  Everybody that's counting us out, well, count us out, you can go ahead and count us out, but don't count out the Maloofs, 'cause we're gonna turn this franchise around. Don't bank on us being down forever."

To listen to Gavin Maloof's interview in its entirety click here!

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"Mike and his staff did a good job this year," Rick Sund said to Sekou Smith of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. "We won 47 games and locked up a top-four seed. In our business, that's not something that can be dismissed."  

Woodson's become accostomed to talk like this over the years and isn't fazed by it in the least bit.

"There's always pressure, if you want to call it that," Woodson said. "I don't look at it as pressure because I'm not made like that. All these people talking about fire Woodson and all that stuff, it's never entered my mind. I swear. The chatter is what it is. But we're not going to do anything but keep pushing ahead trying to take another step next year."

That is the exact kind of mentality that Woodson and his staff need to have. If the team continues to improve Woodson will get his extension and eventually the talk will die down. Until then they just need to focus on being the best coaching staff they can possibly be. Woodson is going to have to continue to prove himself, but if his past is any indication of what his future is going to be then we'll likely be talking about a multi-year extension at this time next year.

Warriors Getting Desperate?
Like the Sacramento Kings the Golden State Warriors have a lot of disgruntled fans that are concerned about the future of the franchise. As Steve Kyler went over this morning the team recently held a conference call in which they went over a multitude of issues from possible trades to the development of Anthony Randolph. The posters over at Warriorsworld.net were less than impressed with some of Larry Riley and their comments were so negative that Warriors Executive Director of PR Raymond Ridder felt the need to chime in and try to steer the conversation in a more positive direction. As Ridder explained to Tim Kawakami of the Mercury News, he did so without direction from anyone in the management and was solely on his own in doing this.

Ridder is actually very good at what he does for the organization, but his attempts at calming the board down are unnecessary to say the least. There's nothing that Ridder can say that is going to get the posters over the fact that they went 29-53 last season. Until the team goes out there and makes the right moves and starts winning all his words are going to fall on deaf ears. Even if things do turn around, there will always be a group of people who are never content with what's being done. It's the nature of a fan that cares about his team to be critical of them. Ridder should take a look around some of the Cleveland Cavaliers and Los Angeles Lakers' message boards. They're full of negativity despite their chances at an NBA championship still being alive. 

While his efforts are admirable in a way, he's fighting an unwinnable battle until the team actually goes out there and produces. Until then he should just shake off all the negative talk and look back at it and laugh if the franchise gets back on the right track.

First Look At Tonight's Action

Orlando Magic @ Cleveland Cavaliers: The Orlando Magic shocked the Cleveland Cavaliers in Game 1 by coming back from 16 down to take home court advantage. It was the Cavaliers first loss of the postseason and now the big question becomes how do they respond? LeBron James and the rest of the starters were fantastic, but the bench provided just five points. The Magic on the other hand got 25 along with a dominant effort from Dwight Howard. Cleveland will have to get some of their bench players going and possibly give an opportunity to Sasha Pavlovic. Stan Van Gundy tried several different tactics in trying to defend LeBron, all to no avail. He's unlikely to find an answer, but this Magic team proved they can win anyway. After how dominant the Cavaliers were in the first eight games and two quarters of the playoffs it's hard to imagine them dropping two in a row at home. As great as this Cavalier team is, they by no means want to head to Orlando for two games in an 0-2 hole.

NBA Chats
Travis Heath held his weekly chat earlier today and you can read it in its entirety here. I'll be on the docket tomorrow, hosting my normal chat at 1 pm EST. You can drop your questions in to me here.