The California Legislature on Thursday night "approved a bill to streamline development of a downtown arena" for the NBA Kings, according to Laurel Rosenhall of the SACRAMENTO BEE. The California Senate voted 32-5 in favor as the bill "seeks to speed the judicial process for handling environmental lawsuits, limit the courts' ability to stop construction and change the way traffic impacts are measured in environmental reviews." California state Senate President Pro-Tem Darrell Steinberg said, "The NBA has said... if we don't meet this timeline, if we don't get this project started in 2014, we're at risk of losing it. The opponents are still out there." Steinberg and state Sen. Ted Gaines "showed team pride by wearing purple ties for the occasion." Kings President Chris Granger and other members of the new ownership "gazed down on the Senate from the viewing gallery above" during the session (SACBEE.com, 9/12).
PUZZLE PIECES: In Sacramento, Ailene Voisin wrote Kings Managing Partner Vivek Ranadive "is piecing together an impressive basketball operations department." The addition of former Warriors Exec VP/Basketball Operations Chris Mullin as Advisor to the Chair "completes a front office" that also includes Assistant GM Mike Bratz and Shareef Abdur-Raheem as GM for the NBA D-League Reno Bighorns. Mullin is "a gentleman," GM Pete D'Alessandro is "a scholar, and in today's NBA, their skill sets are complementary." D'Alessandro is "an attorney, a well-regarded front-office executive and a former player agent," while Mullin is a "basketball legend who can gain access to any gym in the world and has been itching for another front-office position" (SACRAMENTO BEE, 9/12).
