Louisville's Earl Clark and Wake Forest's James Johnson are competitors by day, forwards facing off in workouts and attempting to prove their worth to various teams before the June 25 NBA draft.

But the two players who took part in a workout for the Kings on Friday have become travel pals by night, enjoying the process together if only because so many front-office types have scheduled it that way.

"We looked at each other's schedules and had a lot of workouts together," Johnson said. "We've got a lot more of them together, too, and it's nice to have somebody on the road who you can talk to instead of being in the hotel room by yourself. That kind of gets boring."

While there are certainly differences in their games, the 6-foot-9 Clark and 6-7 Johnson both are expected to be taken from midway to late in the first round. Both spent time playing small forward and power forward, and both showed an ability to score from the perimeter that could come in handy for teams needing frontcourt versatility.

The similarities continued at the recent predraft combine in Chicago, where their wingspans (Johnson's was 7-0 1/4 and Clark's 7-2 1/2) raised eyebrows.

In Johnson's two seasons with the Demon Deacons, he averaged 14.6 points and 8.1 rebounds as a freshman and increased his totals to 15.0 points and 8.5 as a sophomore while shooting 54 percent from the field.

Of Clark's three seasons at Louisville, his last was his finest (14.2 points, 8.7 rebounds, 1.4 blocks per game). He is considered the superior defensive player of the two, while Johnson's mid-range shooting game has proved more impressive.

But while the Kings surely spent Friday afternoon deliberating whether either player would still be there when they have their second of three picks at No. 23, the players were off to enjoy their Sacramento stop.

"We've just been hanging out, getting to know each other," Clark said. "When you're on another college team, you watch a lot of games, watch a lot of good players. It's just cool to bump into another great player. We've had a connection."

The Kings have a workout scheduled today that includes Pittsburgh forward DeJuan Blair and Marquette guard Jerel McNeal, and more sessions scheduled for Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday.

Coaching search stalls – As the Lakers prepared for Game 2 of the NBA Finals on Sunday, top assistant and leading Kings coaching candidate Kurt Rambis remained focused on the task at hand: winning a championship.

According to two sources with knowledge of the situation, neither Rambis nor his representative has negotiated potential terms of an offer. And while the Kings appear poised to do so, those potential discussions might not occur until the series against Orlando ends.

In the interim, fellow candidates Paul Westphal (former Phoenix and Seattle head coach) and Tom Thibodeau (Boston associate head coach) might be brought in for a second interview.

There is also the question of Westphal's patience, as he was interviewed May 13 and clearly could have been hired by now if he was the team's top choice.

The prospect of landing Rambis in eventual discussions may be daunting. The barometer set by Westphal – who has agreed to a potential contract that includes two guaranteed seasons at $1.5 million per season – likely is too low to get the deal done on both the financial front and amount of guaranteed seasons.

The recent local precedent was set by former Kings coach Reggie Theus (two guaranteed years and approximately $4 million combined), while interim coach Kenny Natt subsequently had agreed in principle to a one-year, $2 million deal if the Kings opted to bring him back.

On the league-wide front, Eddie Jordan received a deal from Philadelphia on May 29 for three guaranteed seasons and $8.1 million combined after interviewing for the Kings' job May 12.

Kings basketball president Geoff Petrie has said he needed to "circle back" with Joe and Gavin Maloof to convene on the matter. The Kings co-owners are in Sacramento this weekend to observe today's workout and attend the Monarchs' home opener today.

Read the Kings blog at www.sacbee.com/kingsblog.