Credit: Craig Mitchelldyer-US PRESSWIRE

With a void at small forward and money to spend, many assumed the Sacramento Kings would be interested in Blazers restricted free agent, Nicolas Batum. Geoff Petrie had all but spelled out their intentions on Batum and other restricted free agents, but the Kings’ desire for the Lisieux native apparently wasn’t mutual. While a handful of teams were on Batum’s radar according to his agent Bouna Ndiaye, Sacramento apparently wasn’t one of them:

Before the free agency period began, Ndiaye said they had four teams circled as potential suitors: Toronto, New Orleans, Minnesota, and San Antonio.

Granted, this was before the free agency period began. However, given Batum’s extremely quick interest in the Timberwolves (within two days) and the fact that they didn’t mention Sacramento prior to the free agency period, fully knowing the Kings void at the three and available funds, one could reasonably assume there was a lack of interest.

That all said, this shouldn’t be taken as the insult it appears to be on the surface.

Batum, who has strong relationships with both Ricky Rubio and Tony Parker, appears to have a desire to play with talent with whom he already has a relationship with. The same can be said for current Hornets head coach Monty Williams, who was an assistant for the Blazers during Batum’s first two seasons. In addition to a desire for close ties, their ease of access (Toronto, Minneapolis) to his home country of France seems to be a sticking factor as both have direct flights.

It was a long shot for the Kings to sign Batum, but now we have a better understanding of why the two sides never seemed to get much further than a phone call – and it’s tough to blame the Kings for this one.

Credit: Kyle Terada-US PRESSWIRE

Despite falling short on their free agent targets last season (Jamal Crawford, Andrei Kirilenko, Nene, etc), the Maloof family did pony up funds to make a small free agent splash – unfortunately, as is the case with most small market teams, overpaying is the requirement and none of the said options were worth the excessive spending.

A season gone by and the free agency period for the upcoming ’12-13 now open, it appears as if the Maloofs may have opened their tight purse strings yet again, assuming the Sacramento Bee’s Ailene Voisin got the right read on Kings GM Geoff Petrie:

But, interestingly, while most of the more intriguing free agents are restricted – meaning their current teams can match any offer – Petrie sounded as if the Kings planned to be aggressive. (They love Portland’s small forward Nicholas Batum, for example, but who doesn’t?) “Initially our thoughts are on Jason,” he said. “We’ll try to get an early feel on that. Then look around. There are a lot of players out there, a lot of restricted free agents. I think it will be a process over a number of days.”

Now, Petrie’s “aggressiveness” is subjective – is it an aggressiveness to get their own free agents (Jason Thompson, Terrence Williams, both of whom have already been contacted) re-signed? Or is he just generally speaking in reference to the entire free agent field?

Teams were knocking down agent doors soon as the clock struck midnight on the East Coast this morning, some potential King targets already receiving hefty contract offers (Minnesota has offered Nicolas Batum a 4 year, $50 million dollar deal) so if they’re being aggressive outside of their own free agents, it’s being done on the hush.