Kings get the point

Sacramento selects Memphis' Evans with fourth overall pick

By Greg Beacham
The Associated Press

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SACRAMENTO — The Sacramento Kings began rebuilding their roster by drafting University of Memphis guard Tyreke Evans and Israeli forward Omri Casspi in the first round Thursday night.

The Kings selected Evans from a crop of solid point guards with the fourth overall pick. They used the 23rd pick on Casspi, the first Israeli player to be chosen in the first round in NBA history.

The Kings hope the 6-foot-5 Evans will mature into a star point guard and a foundation for rebuilding a club that finished last season with the NBA's worst record. The 19-year-old left Memphis after just one season, but he already is a natural scorer who led the Tigers with 17.1 points per game while also running their offense at the point.

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"Sacramento's a nice place, and I'm excited to be here," Evans said by phone from New York. "I thought they were pretty interested in me. I knew there were a couple of guys they were looking at, and I was one of them. I just wanted to do anything I could to get there."

Sacramento has been without a strong point guard since trading Mike Bibby to Atlanta in February 2008. Beno Udrih struggled in the role last season while the Kings finished 17-65, the NBA's worst record.

Evans already was among the draft's top handful of guard prospects, but he thoroughly impressed Geoff Petrie and the Kings' basketball braintrust during his draft workouts in Sacramento.

Several days ago, Evans dominated a workout featuring Stephen Curry and Jonny Flynn, among other high draft picks.

"I thought I had a lot of advantages because of my size, my strength and my length," Evans said. "When they jumped, I was jumping over them. ... I never really talked to (the Kings) about positions. I just knew they were interested in me with my size and my length. I just went out there and showed them what I could do, and I guess I shocked them."

The Kings chose Evans over Spanish sensation Ricky Rubio, who went to Minnesota with the fifth pick. Sacramento had two recent visits with the 18-year-old Rubio, but apparently preferred Evans' superior strength and physical play to Rubio's flashy playmaking.

Evans, who's from the Philadelphia area, also averaged 5.4 rebounds and 3.9 assists with Memphis.

Evans' basketball career has been promising since he became a high school varsity starter in the seventh grade, but it could have been derailed by an incident in November 2007, when Evans drove a car from which his cousin, Jamar Evans, shot and killed 19-year-old Marcus Reason.

Jamar Evans pleaded guilty to third-degree murder in January, but Tyreke Evans wasn't charged with a crime.

The Kings used their second first-round pick, which originally belonged to Houston, to select Casspi, an athletic 21-year-old forward with a slashing offensive game. Casspi played at Maccabi Tel Aviv last season after withdrawing from the 2008 NBA draft, but his offensive skills drew the attention of Petrie, who has a history of success with overseas players.

Later in the draft, the Kings acquired Sergio Rodriguez and draft pick Jon Brockman of Washington in a trade with the Portland Trail Blazers. In exchange, the Kings gave the Blazers forward Jeff Pendergraph, a draft pick out of Arizona State.

Rodriguez, a 6-foot-3 guard from Spain, has played three seasons in the NBA, all with the Blazers. Last season he averaged 4.5 points and 3.6 assists in 15.3 minutes per game.

Brockman averaged 14.9 points and 11.5 rebounds for the Huskies last season.