It turns out I had it half right.
Just last week, I speculated that Omri Casspi might "get a chance to team up with an old, out-of-shape team legend and a WNBA Monarch in the Shooting Stars Competition" next year, fully expecting Sacramento to yet again be snubbed in even the least exciting 2010 NBA All-Star Weekend event. Instead, Tyreke Evans was indeed selected to take part in the contest this season, joining team legend Chris Webber, whose last All-Star appearance interestingly enough came as a member of the Kings in 2003, and New York Liberty star Nicole Powell (RIP Monarchs!).
It's fitting that Webber will represent Sacramento on the court this season since it was ultimately his good fortune (watch his reaction at the 5:30 mark) which landed the team the fourth pick in the NBA draft and the opportunity to select Evans, the franchise building block and likely Rookie of the Year.
That's not to say that that the Kings don't have a history in this type of contest. When the league briefly experimented with the precursor 2Ball event, in which an NBA and a WNBA player from the same city alternated shots from seven spots on the court, Peja Stojakovic and Ruthie Bolton-Holifield defeated the Cleveland duo of Trajan Langdon (remember him?) and Eva Nemcova to capture the Kings' first (and the contest's last) trophy in 2001.
The prior season, Jason Williams — who would've performed marvelously if the contest required an off-balance, fastbreak three-pointer with three seconds gone off the shot clock — and Yolanda Griffith came in fifth, while Mitch Richmond and Bolton-Holifield finished an underwhelming fourth in the inaugural 1998 competition.
According to the Shooting Stars rules, the three players alternate shots from six spots on the court: one player takes a 10- and an 18-footer from the right side baseline; the second shoots a 15-footer and and a three-pointer from the left side angle; and the third contestant needs to make a straight-on NBA three-pointer. The key to victory — besides, of course, making the first five shots as quickly as possible — is the final, halfcourt heave, which has proven to be the most challenging in the past. But if the Sacramento trio has any hope of putting itself in a position to win, it must play to its members' respective strengths.
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