--While the Kings have two games left on their season-opening road trip (Friday at New Orleans and Saturday at San Antonio), they continue to attempt to sell out their first two home games. To that end, a project dubbed "Sellout 2009" involved many of the Sacramento region's most influential business members, Sacramento mayor and former NBA player Kevin Johnson, and Kings co-owners Joe and Gavin Maloof. As of Wednesday, the Kings said there were less than 700 tickets remaining for the Monday opener against Memphis. The Kings -- who had just three sellouts last season after they were a fixture of Arco Arena for so many years -- host Atlanta on Wednesday. --To no one's surprise, the Kings started the regular season as one of the few teams who didn't carry the league limit of 15 players. Eighteen teams began with 15 players, while the Kings have 14. They intended to have 13 until the addition of Desmond Mason, the veteran swingman who became even more vital when fifth-year swingman Francisco Garcia was lost for at least four months to a wrist injury during the preseason.
The Kings continue to be far more fiscally conservative about their situation than before, having made a number of trades at last season's February trade deadline that were financially motivated and added cheap veterans during the summer in Mason and forward Sean May (both on one-year deals; May is guaranteed, Mason is not).
QUOTE TO NOTE: "I like these guys. They're going to get better. All we ever want to do is get better. And after that game, it should be pretty easy to see some improvement." -- Kings coach Paul Westphal, sarcastically giving his state-of-the-team address after Wednesday's 102-89 loss at Oklahoma City.
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