As the beginning of the free agency process approached Tuesday, Kings basketball president Geoff Petrie said the club would not extend qualifying offers to reserves Ike Diogu and Rashad McCants.
Both players were scheduled to become unrestricted free agents and able to sign with any team after Tuesday's 9 p.m. deadline.
While the Kings have no interest in re-signing McCants, they plan to approach Diogu about returning. The 6-foot-9 center-forward spent most of his time on the bench after being acquired at midseason. In his final five games, however, he averaged 20.0 points, 7.8 rebounds and 29.3 minutes, and provided a physical presence at both ends.
"We need to add at least one more big guy," said Petrie, who is precluded from commenting on specific players until the league releases the official list of free agents. He also added that any significant signings would have to involve a trade.
The free-agent class this offseason is thin – and the offers are not expected to be particularly enticing. The troubled economy is a factor, as is the fact that several marquee players such as LeBron James, Chris Bosh and Dwyane Wade can become unrestricted free agents on July 1, 2010. Teams coveting their services are intent on maintaining salary cap flexibility and reluctant to assume hefty, long-term deals.
Call The Bee's Ailene Voisin, (916) 321-1208
What You Should Know About Comments on Sacbee.com
Sacbee.com is happy to provide a forum for reader interaction, discussion, feedback and reaction to our stories. However, we reserve the right to delete inappropriate comments or ban users who can't play nice. (See our full terms of service here.)
Here are some rules of the road:
• Keep your comments civil. Don't insult one another or the subjects of our articles. If you think a comment violates our guidelines click the "report abuse" button to notify the moderators. Responding to the comment will only encourage bad behavior.
• Don't use profanities, vulgarities or hate speech. This is a general interest news site. Sometimes, there are children present. Don't say anything in a way you wouldn't want your own child to hear.
• Do not attack other users; focus your comments on issues, not individuals.
• Stay on topic. Only post comments relevant to the article at hand. If you want to discuss an issue with a specific user, click on his profile name and send him a direct message.
• Do not copy and paste outside material into the comment box.
• Don't repeat the same comment over and over. We heard you the first time.
• Do not use the commenting system for advertising. That's spam and it isn't allowed.
• Don't use all capital letters. That's akin to yelling and not appreciated by the audience.
You should also know that The Sacramento Bee does not screen comments before they are posted. You are more likely to see inappropriate comments before our staff does, so we ask that you click the "report abuse" button to submit those comments for moderator review. You also may notify us via email at feedback@sacbee.com. Note the headline on which the comment is made and tell us the profile name of the user who made the comment. Remember, comment moderation is subjective. You may find some material objectionable that we won't and vice versa.
If you submit a comment, the user name of your account will appear along with it. Users cannot remove their own comments once they have submitted them, but you may ask our staff to retract one of your comments by sending an email to feedback@sacbee.com. Again, make sure you note the headline on which the comment is made and tell us your profile name.
About Comments
Reader comments on Sacbee.com are the opinions of the writer, not The Sacramento Bee. If you see an objectionable comment, click the "report abuse" button below it. We will delete comments containing inappropriate links, obscenities, hate speech, and personal attacks. Flagrant or repeat violators will be banned. See more about comments here.