Kings Re-Sign Beno

[UKF]

The Kings' prolonged point guard problem was solved on Monday, when they agreed to terms with Beno Udrih. According to numerous sources, Udrih received the full five-year deal for the entire midlevel exception (beginning at approximately $6 million in the first season with annual eight percent raises). The deal for the fifth-year point guard can officially be signed when the free agency moratorium lifts on July 8.

"It's good for everybody," said his agent, Marc Cornstein by phone from New York City. "They've expressed tremendous interest not just starting at 12:01 last night New York time but really from the get go. "They took a chance on Beno when he was really kind of an outcast from San Antonio, and put him in a fantastic position and believed in him and gave him a chance to run their team. I think he's great for Sacramento, and I think Sacramento is great for him."

Leading into free agency, the Clippers were always seen as the most likely team to keep Udrih from the Kings. He he met with Clippers coach Mike Dunleavy in New York City on Monday night and was offered an identical five-year, full midlevel deal that had already been put forth by the Kings. It came down to the Kings and the Clippers, with New York, Miami and Cleveland showing strong interest but unwilling to offer a five-year deal.

"I met with Dunleavy and he made a good impression on me," Udrih said by phone. "I really appreciate him coming all the way here to talk to me and tell me how he sees me.
"But I talked to (the Kings) early this morning, like 10 o'clock (Pacific time) and then I talked to them and to my family and my close friends who have been around the league. Every minute I was leaning to Sacramento."

Yet Udrih's early morning call to Kings basketball president Geoff Petrie left his future uncertain, enough so that the Kings moved down their wish list of point guards in anticipation of Udrih declining. According to the agent for Chris Duhon, Kevin Bradbury, they contacted him just hours before Udrih called back with his final decision.

"I'd never been in this situation before, so I just had to think about it," Udrih explained. "I didn't want to say anything. I was just quiet and listened and tried to go through everything. "Then I talked to my family and told them how I think and they all supported me. I called Marc and I was like, 'You know what, I see myself in more in Sacramento.' It feels like home, seriously."

[vtime]

Great move. Very inexpensive for a young point guard that can score and has championship experience, with two NBA titles and has been well-coached and learned under Tony Parker. i think he definitely still has upside.

[_SRV_]

How is the full MLE inexpensive for a 13/4 PG who doesn't do much else than his stats? The Kings overpaid and tied themselves to a long contract after barely one year, I hate this move.

[Ballings7]

Well I guess that's around the right deal... solid move

Beno
Kevin
Ron (likely)
Moore
Brad

That's a team that is going to win first, cater to younger players to a lesser degree (and then possibly moreso later in the year). Even if Ron's dealt relating to the primary, because John of course has emerged on another level as a player.

[AnDrOiDKing4]

How is the full MLE inexpensive for a 13/4 PG who doesn't do much else than his stats? The Kings overpaid and tied themselves to a long contract after barely one year, I hate this move.

Uhhh really ? did you watch him play all year... he plays the PG like how its suppose to be played.. he will always look for his teammates first... drives hard and actually finishes... plays really good man to man defense and is just a guy that goes out and gets it done... im glad we have beno back...

[SacTown Kings]

Good move. I wouldn't say we got Beno on the cheap but we didn't overpay either. Beno is about a 6 million dollar a year pg. We played much better with him than Bibby and Bibby was paid more than twice that amount. I have no problem at all paying Beno the MLE. I think down the rod it would not be hard to trade Beno. $6 million a year for a quality pg putting up 14 and 5 is not bad IMO, plus he is a team player. He stepped right into our system nad played well. Now that he doesn't have to worry about getting a contract/finding a home, and working with the team all summer I feel he will only get better. I think he will put up 14 and 6.5 as a stasrter.

[jfucsd10]

Clearly Jeff sees him as the Point of the future. Im not a particular fan of giving up this much money, but considering the fact that the clippers were making a push for the same money, this makes a great deal of sense. At least we can focus on getting an optimal return on Ron and not worry about getting a point guard.

Solid player, just wish we had a play maker there. I wouldnt be surprised in the least if we acquired a PG next year in the draft.

[Ballings7]

He's also a better than usual rebounder for a PG. Beno's an above-average mid-level player. Probably he's somewhat overpaid, but oh well.

I see Beno as more of a short-term guy, and he's going to have good value so we can eventually deal him.

[_SRV_]

How is the full MLE inexpensive for a 13/4 PG who doesn't do much else than his stats? The Kings overpaid and tied themselves to a long contract after barely one year, I hate this move.

Uhhh really ? did you watch him play all year... he plays the PG like how its suppose to be played.. he will always look for his teammates first... drives hard and actually finishes... plays really good man to man defense and is just a guy that goes out and gets it done... im glad we have beno back...

Yes, he looks for them and finds them 4 times a game, drives hard and goes to the line 2 time in 32 minutes, and his defense isn't "really good" really.

[rpa]

Don't like the move. I personally feel that Beno isn't good enough to be this team's starting PG long term (if the team wants to contend anytime soon) and he's already proven that he'll blow chunks on the court if not played as a starter (which limits his usefulness to a huge degree). It also hurts our 2010 cap situation yet again.

For 2010 the Kings currently have (definitely under contract): Martin @ around 11mil & Salmons @ nearly $6mil. Add in options to Hawes ($3mil) & Thompson (should be around $2-2.3mil), our 2009 & 2010 1st rounders (let's be conservative on the whole and say they combine to make $5mil). This doesn't take into account extensions for Douby, Williams, or Garcia. So just with those 6 guys we're at $27mil. Add in Beno (which will probably be around $7mil at the time) to put us at $34mil. Not looking like a good time for free agency when you consider that:
a) That doesn't include an extension for Garcia that I can see being MLE money (knock off another $6mil-$7mil off that free agent money)
b) That doesn't include any trades for young players. It assumes that we let everyone expire (including Artest & Miller first and foremost).

I view that $7mil as being huge for 2010 and using it on Beno when he's not even that good is just a huge mistake to me.


On the bright side this will stop the Pacer fans from trying to pawn off Tinsley to us in exchange for expiring contracts.

[Dustin5566]

How is the full MLE inexpensive for a 13/4 PG who doesn't do much else than his stats? The Kings overpaid and tied themselves to a long contract after barely one year, I hate this move.

Uhhh really ? did you watch him play all year... he plays the PG like how its suppose to be played.. he will always look for his teammates first... drives hard and actually finishes... plays really good man to man defense and is just a guy that goes out and gets it done... im glad we have beno back...

Yes, he looks for them and finds them 4 times a game, drives hard and goes to the line 2 time in 32 minutes, and his defense isn't "really good" really.

He's better than you think he is.. The only real problem I have with him is he tends to have poor shot selection at crunch time. All in all im glad to have him back

[AnDrOiDKing4]

How is the full MLE inexpensive for a 13/4 PG who doesn't do much else than his stats? The Kings overpaid and tied themselves to a long contract after barely one year, I hate this move.

Uhhh really ? did you watch him play all year... he plays the PG like how its suppose to be played.. he will always look for his teammates first... drives hard and actually finishes... plays really good man to man defense and is just a guy that goes out and gets it done... im glad we have beno back...

Yes, he looks for them and finds them 4 times a game, drives hard and goes to the line 2 time in 32 minutes, and his defense isn't "really good" really.

If you are just looking at stats than i dont know how to argue with that... if you actually watch him play... he is a very good passer... that plays with in the flow of the game... he doesnt try to get his 25 points by shooting away ... he will always drive first rather than pull up for a jump shot and he doesnt look to draw contact for foulshots... he is actually looking to make the shot ... his defense is good... he matched up pretty good with PGs last year and kept them in front of him... i cant say much else if your going to his NBA profile page and keep saying "oh yeah but he only averaged 12 points and 4 assists a game"

He clearly outplayed Mike Bibby as a PG from his passing to his defense... at 6 million a year... i will take it everytime....

[_SRV_]

He's better than you think he is.. The only real problem I have with him is he tends to have poor shot selection at crunch time. All in all im glad to have him back

I would've been OK with the move in other scenarios, but we keep collecting average players and fill our roster with them.
SAR, KT, Moore, Salmons and now Beno, every time one average player approaches expiring status, we add a new one, that's 5 ~MLE players that quite frankly we maybe need 2 of them, the rest are 20 millions of cap space going down the drain, next year we'd have for, Petrie will find some Jarret Jack to throw the MLE on and handicap the cap space more.
Anyway, good luck to Beno and the Kings, I hope you make me eat my hat, but I doubt it.

[Ballings7]

His defense definitely isn't insignificant or a liability. It's not all-nba-level, but I'd say it's respectably effective... like it was the opposite with Mike. Beno's proved to be better than I thought defensively. Most especially with us.

[KM44]

well, I can't say that I didn't see this coming, but it is frustrating that our team refuses to change. We are afraid to take a chance and make a move that might not be popular at first, but works for the best in the future. We should have signed a younger point with this money, and now we have lots of restrictions on what we can do in the trade market. Oh, and no one mentioned beno's injuries. What if he gets injured again with a nagging back or knee? Then what? I wanted beno back in my heart, but my head says that he is not the right choice in the long run. I hope everything works out for the best..

[_SRV_]

If you are just looking at stats than i dont know how to argue with that... if you actually watch him play... he is a very good passer... that plays with in the flow of the game... he doesnt try to get his 25 points by shooting away ... he will always drive first rather than pull up for a jump shot and he doesnt look to draw contact for foulshots... he is actually looking to make the shot ... his defense is good... he matched up pretty good with PGs last year and kept them in front of him... i cant say much else if your going to his NBA profile page and keep saying "oh yeah but he only averaged 12 points and 4 assists a game"

He clearly outplayed Mike Bibby as a PG from his passing to his defense... at 6 million a year... i will take it everytime....

What's wrong with using stats? I'm sorry, his play didn't translate in stats, it didn't translate in wins, but he deserves the MLE because he looks playing the PG.
He had injury with us, Popovich complained about him being supposedly injured IIRC, if he was the difference between 40 wins to 45 wins, splendid, take the risk, but he seems to be the difference between low 30s and high 30s, we had no need to sign him.

I'm not saying he's a bad player, he's a good player, very smart, detects the double teams and helps his teammates out of them unlike Bibby, and knows how to score within the flow of the game, where to be and how to play team basketball, but he's not a great scorer, his penetration isn't defense breaking and it doesn't always result in free perimeter shots, and his pull up game is so so, he is NOT a good finisher as you claim, his lift is weak, and his shots are usually contested, I watched him playing as a teenager in Israel and watched him with the Kings, using stats doesn't make me less of an observer.

Again, I wish I turn out wrong, we'll see what happens.

[Ballings7]

I would of preferred other options over Beno, also, but he still wasn't a bad option.

[longfellow44]

I'm really happy we resigned him. I didn't know if we would be able to if we had gotten another PG. Udrih is also a sign that petrie still wants to run the offense though the bigs. Udrih is a very nice PG that has the ability to do alot of different things he may not be great at any one thing but he's solid at everything.

This also means that we can trade Miller or Artest and not have to worry about getting a PG back we can just look for the best package available. However I don't expect to see Artest traded this year or Miller until the deadline at earliest and if we have a good win percentage maybe not until next offseason.

Udrih/Singeltary
Martin/Garcia/Douby
Artest/Salmons/Ewing
Moore/Thompson/Shelden/SAR/KT
Miller/Hawes/

From what I can see with this line up we just really need to move Moore. Thompson should be fine at PF with Shelden being his main backup. We probably also should move Douby or Salmons for future considerations. It looks like the goal is to compete now.

[deNIEd]

I agree with KM on that our organization refuses to make a change at all.

Don't, trading Bibby was a change, drafting Thompson was a change, yes...but all minor ones really.


I don't want Maloofs as the owners anymore, with them here, I really don't see the Kings winning anything within the next decade.

Lets take a timetrip to summer of 2010.

Lets play some scenarios out. If the Maloofs truly want to win, Artest will likely be extended. I hope it isn't the case for the team, but we want to "fight for the playoffs." Say Artest makes around 10 million. Garcia is also most likely given a new contract. Say 6 million. Hawes and Thompson I am sure the Kings will pick up their options. Say 2009 and 2010 draft picks aren't traded.

So that makes,
Artest, Martin, Garcia, Salmons, Beno, Hawes, Thompson, 09 Pick, 10 Pick
under contract
9 players = 49 million.

That is 49 million, without picking up the options of either Sheldon or Douby, AND not using the MLE next year (which I highly doubt) and not signing any of our second rounders.

Now, I may be wrong, but, from what I believe, 49 million, roughly 10 million under the cap, is not enough to sign any max star player. However, 43 million, (minus beno) is around the required salary threshold of being able to sign a max player.


Maloofs won't let us rebuild. We can't rebuild on the fly. It's no longer possible in the NBA. We could potentially attempt a Boston, sacrifice about 10 years of the future, for about 2 years of now. Even that is highly, highly unlikely for this team.

::banghead::

[AnDrOiDKing4]

If you are just looking at stats than i dont know how to argue with that... if you actually watch him play... he is a very good passer... that plays with in the flow of the game... he doesnt try to get his 25 points by shooting away ... he will always drive first rather than pull up for a jump shot and he doesnt look to draw contact for foulshots... he is actually looking to make the shot ... his defense is good... he matched up pretty good with PGs last year and kept them in front of him... i cant say much else if your going to his NBA profile page and keep saying "oh yeah but he only averaged 12 points and 4 assists a game"

He clearly outplayed Mike Bibby as a PG from his passing to his defense... at 6 million a year... i will take it everytime....

What's wrong with using stats? I'm sorry, his play didn't translate in stats, it didn't translate in wins, but he deserves the MLE because he looks playing the PG.
He had injury with us, Popovich complained about him being supposedly injured IIRC, if he was the difference between 40 wins to 45 wins, splendid, take the risk, but he seems to be the difference between low 30s and high 30s, we had no need to sign him.

I'm not saying he's a bad player, he's a good player, very smart, detects the double teams and helps his teammates out of them unlike Bibby, and knows how to score within the flow of the game, where to be and how to play team basketball, but he's not a great scorer, his penetration isn't defense breaking and it doesn't always result in free perimeter shots, and his pull up game is so so, he is NOT a good finisher as you claim, his lift is weak, and his shots are usually contested, I watched him playing as a teenager in Israel and watched him with the Kings, using stats doesn't make me less of an observer.

Again, I wish I turn out wrong, we'll see what happens.

you first opinion was just based on his stats... but hey we dont got 120 million to go after Arenas or Davis... we didnt have a pg to draft at 12... and with guys like Caldron off the market..what else should be do with our MLE ? go after who... we cant go into the season with Douby as our starting PG...

ofcourse he has flaws ... Udrich isnt a perfect pointguard thats why he is getting payed what average player in the NBA is getting paid...