Sacramento Kings Notes, Quotes 2009-07-02 News Sacramento kings

--New Kings coach Paul Westphal hired his staff recently, adding longtime Clipper assistant coach Jim Eyen, former Dallas assistant Mario Elie and Truck Robinson. While Eyen and Elie have put in substantial time recently in the NBA, Robinson has never coached in the league. The longtime friend of Westphal's played 11 seasons in the NBA (1974-85), and was known as a physical rebounder and defender.

--The Kings had their pick of their prospects in the June 25 draft after the Clippers took forward Blake Griffin, Memphis took University of Connecticut center Hasheem Thabeet and Oklahoma City took Arizona State guard James Harden. Their list of top candidates for the No. 4 spot, according to the Sacramento Bee, was Memphis guard and eventual pick Tyreke Evans, Spanish point guard Ricky Rubio, Syracuse point guard Jonny Flynn and Davidson guard Stephen Curry. The decision to pass on Rubio was surprising to so many fans who had been fawning for the 18-year-old to come to Sacramento.

QUOTE TO NOTE: "I think (Spanish point guard Ricky Rubio) will be a good NBA player. I don't think he's going to be as good as (Kings' No. 4 pick) Tyreke Evans. I'll say that right now. This guy has the potential to be great, and we are very, very lucky to have this guy on our squad." -- Kings co-owner Gavin Maloof as told to the Sacramento Bee.