By R.E. Graswich
Special Assistant to Mayor Johnson
I can’t wait to meet Tyreke Evans when he visits Sacramento City Council chambers Tuesday (May 4, 2010).
Evans will be honored in special presentation by his adoptive city after winning the NBA Rookie of the Year award.
I’ve spent the last 25 years waiting to see what a Sacramento Rookie of the Year actually looks like.
My guys were not Rookies of the Year.
Their names were Joe Kleine, Kenny Smith, Pervis Ellison, Brian Grant, Walt Williams. Did I mention Harold Pressley? Vinny Del Negro? Anthony Bonner? Travis Mays? Ricky Berry? Duane Causwell? Billy Owens? Bobby Hurley? Corliss Williamson?
As a newspaper reporter covering the Kings in the late 1980s and early 1990s, my top rookies ran the spectrum from tragic (Ricky Berry committed suicide) to wonderfully limited, such as Joe Kleine.
Kleine could set the best screens in the NBA, but that was the limit of his talent. Other Kings rookies were simply unfortunate. Consider Bobby Hurley, who was never the same after getting into a car crash on Del Paso Road after a game.
Lionel Simmons, who led the Kings’ rookie crop of 1990, when they gleaned four first-round picks, came close to being Rookie of the Year.
Simmons finished second to Derrick Coleman of the New Jersey Nets. Ultimately Lionel’s career was highlighted by an affliction called “Nintendo Tendinitis,” a disease caused by excessive devotion to video games. At one point, his hands were so crippled he couldn’t play – basketball, not Nintendo.
As for the rest of the Kings’ top draft picks during the Sacramento era, the less said, the better. Sacramento’s luck with rookies has fluctuated between awful and well, maybe next year. Until now.
Tyreke Evans is the full package – humble, hardworking, devoted to family. He has been mentored by Mayor Kevin Johnson, a relationship positive in many respects. Evans’ horizons are without limitation.
I’ve looked back with zero regrets since leaving the NBA beat. But I can’t wait to shake the hand of a real, live Kings Rookie of the Year.
1 Comments
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Thank you!!!
I hope that Tyreke crew will wear the Mayor's belts.
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