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When the months of tension-filled preparation ended and the Kings were finally on the NBA draft clock Thursday in New York, they had the same five-minute allotment as the rest to deliberate their pick.

But Madison Square Garden officials needn't bother with the clock. The Kings had their man.

The team so badly in need of a talent boost opted for Memphis guard Tyreke Evans with the No. 4 pick, taking him without hesitation or concern for the popularity of the pick because they simply see him as special. With the Clippers taking Oklahoma forward Blake Griffin at No. 1, Memphis choosing Connecticut center Hasheem Thabeet at No. 2 and Oklahoma City selecting Arizona State guard James Harden third, the Kings were left to choose from all four players believed to be on their short list: Spanish point guard Ricky Rubio, Davidson guard Stephen Curry and Syracuse point guard Jonny Flynn.

But none of them, as Kings basketball president Geoff Petrie and his staff saw it, compared to Evans.

Some saw Rubio as a better fit, his passing skills needed on a team that ranked 27th in assists per game last season.

Evans is a wholly different player, a 6-foot-5 talent who has impressive penetration skills, is a good defender and can play both guard positions.

Last season at the University of Memphis, he led his team to 27 consecutive wins after coach John Calipari moved him from shooting guard to point guard. Even in defeat, Evans' play had some scouts predicting he would eventually be the best player from this draft as he scored a season-high 33 points against Missouri in their NCAA Tournament Sweet 16 game.

"I think he can be the best player in the draft," an elated Kings co-owner Gavin Maloof said. "A (6-5) point guard who's 220 pounds, and that can score, who can defend the (point guard, shooting guard and small forward) positions with a 7-foot wingspan who's really, really fast. I don't know where you find those guys. They're one in a million.

"I think early on we all kind of liked Jonny Flynn, and I still think he'll be good. But this guy was just another dimension. He's an anomaly."

Maloof said there was no push from ownership to take Rubio.

"I think (Rubio) will be a good NBA player," he said. "I don't think he's going to be as good as Tyreke Evans. I'll say that right now. This guy has the potential to be great, and we are very, very lucky to have this guy on our squad."

The selection was made despite draft day controversy surrounding Evans as well, as there was a grave element to the Kings' prospect evaluation process that had gone largely unnoticed among fans and media in Sacramento Tuesday. In 2007, Evans was the driver in a shooting in which his cousin, 18-year-old Jamar Evans, killed 19-year-old Marcus Reason from the passenger seat of the car.

Tyreke Evans was not charged after a police investigation, but the story resurfaced Tuesday when Jamar Evans - who court testimony indicates was shot at in the Chester Township, Pa., incident before he fired back - was sentenced to nine to 20 years in prison after pleading guilty to third-degree murder and firearm charges. The Kings, according to Petrie, were well aware of the incident throughout the draft process. They conducted an investigation into the matter that gave them the confidence to not be concerned.

"In Chicago, one of the interview questions that we asked all the players was, 'What's the biggest adversity that you've had to overcome in your life?' " Petrie said. "Some people might have ducked that, but he was very upfront about that. He talked about that situation, explained it, all the things that went on around it. He was very up front and candid about it."

Evans raised his stock in his second Kings workout on Sunday that came after his individual workout earlier.

"I felt (the Kings) were pretty interested in me, and I knew there was a couple guys they were looking at, and I was one of them," he said. "I went there with the other guards, and they were saying I was a lot stronger, I was physical, I could get to the basket anytime I wanted. I think it fit the bill."

Evans, quite clearly, is prepared to push for minutes at the point guard position currently held by Beno Udrih.

"I think if you put the ball in my hands to run the point, I think I'll do good at it," he said.

Defensively, he has a chance to be an outstanding defender with his length and his size and his strength. His shooting needs to improve. That's pretty common knowledge.

"He considers himself a point guard. They put him at point guard at Memphis this year, and they won 27 games in a row," Petrie said. "Does he have to get better as a point guard? Absolutely, but he thinks of himself as a point guard. … He's just too good of a talent to pass on."


I am very happy with this pick..

The Kings didn't draft the conventional, creative point guard, the charismatic Spaniard who would have spurred season-ticket sales and whose presence immediately would have addressed the club's most glaring deficiency: someone to pass the ball to everyone else.

So this is a lousy pick, right? Combo guard Tyreke Evans instead of Ricky Rubio? Instead of Jonny Flynn or Stephen Curry? Not if Evans plays to his reviews.

Not if he can make his point.

Not if the Kings win more than once in a while.

This was a classic, definitive Geoff Petrie selection, and as close to a unanimous decision at Arco Arena as the last Urijah Faber-Mike Brown World Extreme Cagefighting match. That 6-foot-5 size. That exceptional length and reach. The abilities in the open court. The physical strength and versatility. The upside that caused Kings officials to scream when Oklahoma City drafted James Harden at No. 3, leaving Evans for them at No. 4.

Whereas I have a particular affinity for players who push and pass the ball - for the pure point guards who amass double-digit assists and involve their teammates - Petrie drafted the guard who dominated the individual workouts, whom many NBA scouts and executives regarded as the most intriguing prospect after Blake Griffin and, more important, who he believes is a clearly superior talent to the higher-profile Rubio.

The Maloofs swallowed hard here. These past few days, they probably even choked up a little. Rubio would have meant fannies in the seats, at least initially. But Petrie, whose draft history is hard to quibble with unless someone wants to mention the occasional Quincy Douby, must know something about sales.

He spoke. The Maloofs listened. They bought in.

"We loved Ricky Rubio," an almost giddy Joe Maloof said midway into Thursday night's festivities, "but Tyreke is the player Geoff thinks is going to help get us back to where we want to be. Geoff, coach (Paul) Westphal, all the scouts, everybody felt this was the right guy. It's about winning. Winning sells tickets. Believe me, the room erupted when David Stern announced that Oklahoma City took … Harden."

Asked whether Rubio's complicated and unresolved buyout issue was a factor in the decision to pass on the DKV Joventut star, Maloof shook his head. "Everyone just thought Tyreke was the best player."

If not a completely safe pick. There were matters besides his playmaking skills to investigate. In November 2007, Evans was driving a car from which his cousin, Jamar Evans, shot and killed 19-year-old Marcus Reason in Chester, Pa. Tyreke Evans was neither arrested nor charged, and according to Petrie, any concerns about maturity were allayed after conducting an intensive background check and interviewing the Memphis star during the predraft game in Chicago.

Petrie and Westphal were no less forceful when discussing Evans' prospects as a starting point guard. With only fleeting mention of incumbent Beno Udrih's return, they spoke of Evans' ability to attack the basket, to post up and draw double-teams, a willingness to find open teammates and defend aggressively. They repeated the words "tough" and "physical." And they deviated from the NBA habit of squeezing players into specific roles.

"He's a basketball player," Westphal said, with a slight smile. "You can just … feel it. He has that something about him."

There is no doubt. They have no doubts about this selection. They wanted Evans.

Evans wanted the Kings. He thinks of himself as an NBA point guard. They think he'll get there, too. And if the youngster develops as expected alongside a nucleus that includes Kevin Martin, Spencer Hawes, Jason Thompson and Francisco García, they'll be right. Thursday will be recalled as a fine, perhaps fateful day for the Kings.

TUALATIN -- Yaaaawwwn.

In one of the franchise's dullest, most uneventful and least interesting draft days in recent memory, the Trail Blazers ditched their trade-happy ways Thursday and selected four players who are not expected to contribute next season.

General manager Kevin Pritchard has made the NBA draft a roller-coaster, you-never-know-what's-going-to-happen-next event the past three years, engineering 15 trades that helped remake the Blazers into a playoff team. But this time, Pritchard turned the draft into a snoozefest, landing one player few Blazers fans had heard of -- Spanish forward Victor Claver -- and three second-round prospects.

The nondescript night signaled two themes: The Blazers' rebuilding process has reached the point where the team no longer needs to invest heavily in the draft, and the Blazers will be a factor this offseason in the free agent and trade market.

"There's no doubt about it," Pritchard said. "We want to add the right pieces ... we've talked a lot about it. We're going to target some guys, we're going to talk to people and we are going to try to help our team with free agents."

For a brief moment, Pritchard did offer Rip City a tease that the Blazers would have another active draft night. Just before the Los Angeles Clippers selected Oklahoma's Blake Griffin with the No.1 overall pick, the Blazers traded backup point guard Sergio Rodriguez, the No.38 pick and cash to the Sacramento Kings for the No. 31 selection.

The move provided a twofold benefit. Rodriguez, who endured an up-and-down three seasons with the Blazers, openly lobbied for a "change" the day after the season ended, so the Blazers were able to ditch a disgruntled player. And perhaps more important, they also were able to free additional cap space -- Rodriguez will make $ 1.57 million next season -- to help their offseason goals.

The Blazers had considered the trade with the Kings since at least the first week of June.

"We all felt like it was Sergio's time," Pritchard said. "He had struggled with his role. I don't think there was a doubt about that. We never faulted Sergio for wanting to play more. We want guys to (want to) play. It was just his time (to go)."

Blazers coach Nate McMillan said the team will "definitely" need to acquire another guard before next season, but Rodriguez's departure potentially opens the door for last year's first-round pick, Jerryd Bayless, to step up.

"Now Bayless will slide in that position and we will look to give him a ton of minutes at the point guard position in summer league and develop him and get him ready for the season," McMillan said.

The Blazers used the 31st pick from the Kings to acquire the draft rights to Arizona State senior Jeff Pendergraph. The 6-foot-9 forward, a first-team All-Pacific-10 Conference selection, was one of two college seniors the Blazers drafted. They also selected Villanova senior Dante Cunningham, a 6-8 forward who is one of six players in school history to finish with at least 1,300 points and 800 rebounds.

The Blazers settled on the rugged duo for one overarching reason: to partially satisfy the team's need for toughness.

"Pendergraph and Cunningham ... were both in the same (predraft) workout here ... and it was war," Pritchard said. "And it was at the tail end of workouts and those guys get really tired during those times. It was all-out war. And we need to bring that to our team. We need to bring that toughness."

Pritchard did manage to throw one curveball by drafting Claver with his only first-round pick, at No. 22. Even though college prospects such as DeJuan Blair (Pittsburgh), Wayne Ellington (North Carolina) and Sam Young (Pittsburgh) and international prospect Omri Casspi (Israel) were still on the board, Pritchard drafted a player who did not visit Portland for a predraft workout.

Claver will not play for the Blazers next season -- he'll stay with Pamesa Valencia of the Spanish ACB League -- but Pritchard said he "loves" the Spaniard's ability and envisions the 6-9 prospect developing into a starter. Claver, who contemplated entering the draft last year, participated in a workout for the Blazers last summer before withdrawing his name.

Pritchard compared Claver's potential to that of two Blazers from Europe -- Rudy Fernandez and Nicolas Batum. Claver, who has a "significant" buyout clause in his contract and probably will remain overseas for at least two years, could play for the Spanish national team this summer.

"He's a guy we've targeted a long time," Pritchard said. "He's an athletic swing guy (and) can really shoot it. I really thought that he had a chance to go pretty high in this draft and ... with him falling (to No. 22), we're really happy to get him."

Claver fractured his leg in December and missed most of the ACB League season, but has played his entire professional career in Spain. Before his injury, he averaged 8.4 points and 4.4 rebounds in 15 games.

In the Blazers' final move Thursday, they used the No. 55 overall pick on Patrick Mills, a 6-foot guard from Saint Mary's who averaged 18.4 points, 3.9 assists and 3.4 rebounds last season as a sophomore. A native of Australia, Mills competed in the Beijing Olympics last summer.

The Blazers' second-round selections will add some intrigue to their summer league plans, but Pritchard said it's probable that Pendergraph and Cunningham will make the regular-season roster, a rare occurrence but not completely unheard of with the Blazers. Jerome Kersey (46th pick in 1984) and Clifford Robinson (36th in 1998) are perhaps the most prominent second-round picks in team history, and recent picks such as Josh McRoberts and Taurean Green made the regular-season team as rookies.

It might not have been Pritchard's most exhilarating draft day, but he left the team's "war room" in Tualatin pleased nonetheless.

"We do feel like we've helped ourselves today in the draft," Pritchard said.



Can I ask why the Kings did this trade? why???
Or are They going to keep him or let him go?