Grade the deal: After striking out on Matthews, Kings sign Marco Belinelli
The Sacramento Kings have reached terms with Marco Belinelli on a three-year, $19 million deal, ESPN's Ramona Shelburnereported Friday. CBS Sports' Ken Berger added that the deal has no team or player options.
Belinelli, a native Italian, was drafted No. 18 overall by the Golden State Warriors in the 2007 NBA draft. In his eight seasons in the league the shooting guard has averaged 9.4 points.
During the 2013-14 season, Belinelli was fifth in the NBA in three-point shooting percentage, at 43%, although his 2014-15 three-point percentage regressed to 37%.
He has logged time with the Warriors, the then-New Orleans Hornets, San Antonio Spurs, Chicago Bulls and Toronto Raptors.
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The Kings were unable to lure one of their other main free agent perimeter targets, guard Wesley Matthews, on Friday when he agreed instead to a deal with the Dallas Mavericks. The team also lost out on guard Monta Ellis, who agreed to a four-year, $44 million contract with the Indiana Pacers.
[daily_cut.NBA]Sacramento was successful, however, at signing former Sixer James Anderson to multi-year deal on Thursday.
The Kings do not appear to be finished with free agency activities. The team met with Mavericks' guard Rajon Rondo Friday morning, ESPN's Marc Stein reported.
In a move purportedly designed to clear salary cap space so that Sacramento afford to sign Rondo, the Kings engineered a trade Wednesday that will send guard Nik Stauskas, forward Justin Thompson and forward Carl Landry to the 76ers in exchange for draft picks.
Analysis
The post-centric team that ranked 28th in the league in three-point attempts last season made a quick commitment to a willing shooter. Belinelli can be streaky from beyond the arc, though the very fact that he’s willing to bomb away from the perimeter while maintaining a good percentage (39.2% for his career) should help open up the floor for Sacramento. To put his gunning in context: Despite Belinelli playing just 1,388 total minutes for the season, his 230 long-range attempts would have ranked second on the Kings only to Ben McLemore (390). It’s a modest move for a team with deeper issues, but the addition of a role player needn’t solve all of the Kings’ problems. — Rob Mahoney
