FanHouse SpencerHawes

FanHouse previews a player to watch from each NBA team in advance of the 2009-10 season.

Spencer Hawes is many things to many people. Well, perhaps I should say the name "Spencer Hawes" is many things to many people. Folks who won't watch a losing team remember the skinny, pale kid (pre-Sunset Tan!) of the 2007 draft, and imagine another Chris Mihm-Todd Fuller-Raef LaFrentz-Paul Davis Great White Stiff. But Hawes isn't that.

Others remember the news that Hawes was a big (huge!) George W. Bush fan at the time it was least popular to be one, driving a car emblazoned with a W sticker around Seattle, a town where W stickers were not particularly popular. And so Hawes becomes a caricature, the prototypical big, white, conservative lug who can't get along with teammates.

Still others look at Big Spencer and see a future NBA Talisman, and evolutionary pivot whose name will demarcate avenues all over the world when his career ends. If you think this subset of the population is filled with lunatics, this post may not be for you.

FanHouse previews all 30 NBA teams in advance of the 2009-10 season.

Every season, the NBA is filled with a few abjectly awful teams. These squads trudge through their affairs, offering spirit in infrequent spurts while otherwise counting down the days until summer vacation. You take bad players and strip their motivation, their energy ... and it's ugly quickly.

And somehow, the Kings were even worse than that.

Despite having two NBA seasons under his belt, Spencer Hawes is a current University of Washington student, taking summer classes to finish the degree he began under the league's age minimum rule. Nate Robinson attended UW earlier this decade before becoming the NBA's favorite dunker. Saturday, as the Huskies knocked off No. 3 Southern Cal, Hawes and Robinson were there. Acting like high school kids. Which is really awesome. (Thanks to Ben Golliver for the vid.)

With nothing but pride to play for, the Kings had a worst-case scenario unfold Monday night in Denver, as Spencer Hawes landed hard on one leg -- his left leg, which already underwent microfracture surgery at age 14 -- and crumpled to the ground.

Hawes is OK. An MRI revealed a strain, and he'll miss Wednesday's season finale but shouldn't have further problems. But the Kings -- specifically Kings co-owner Joe Maloof -- are angry at the cause of Hawes' terrifying fall: Kenyon Martin.

As you can see to the right (or at the 15-second mark of this highlight reel), Martin shoved Hawes under the arm as the young center flew in for a fast break dunk.

It took longer than in seasons past, but the Kings have finally clinched the worst record in the league. As a reward for their (ahem) efforts, Sacramento will have the best chance of walking away with the No. 1 pick in June's draft. The draft lottery will be held May 19. The Kings will have a 25% chance of nabbing the top pick, and a 64% chance of getting one of the top three picks. Sacramento can pick no lower than No. 4.

The Kings' final home game of the season had wide-ranging ramifications, not just among the dregs of the league. Fans of Portland, Denver and Houston begged for Sacramento victory as the opponent was the Spurs. San Antonio sat Tim Duncan for a day of rest, and it almost killed them.

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Every night there are some stupendous, silly, stupid, or downright outlandish individual lines from around the "lig." Doing Lines lets you know which one tops the list.

The disappointments have appeared nearly across the board in Toronto. An undersold problem, though, has been the inability of one Jose Calderon to fully grasp his role as the full-time starter at point guard. Calderon has been good offensively ... but not as consistent as he had been sharing duties.

Every night there are some stupendous, silly, stupid, or downright outlandish individual lines from around the "lig." Doing Lines lets you know which one tops the list.

The Rockets have the (gulp) No. 2 seed in the West right now, thanks to Luis Scola. The monster outplayed Tim Duncan (!) on Sunday, turning out 19 points, 17 rebounds, four assists and three steals. Scola's defense (with help from the overall outstanding Houston barricade) limited Big Fundamental to 8-of-22 shooting and just six rebounds.

As teams get eliminated from the 2009 NBA playoff picture, Fork 'Em figures out what went wrong.

(Man, how long has that fork been in dude's back? Looks rough.) The Kings have not been above .500 since December 4, 2006. Officially eliminated from playoff contention earlier this week, Sacramento hasn't been able to put together a winning streak of even two games since the second week of November. The Kings boast (boast?) the fifth-worst defense of the modern era. To date, Sacramento has racked up an 0-24 record against the East.

Bad, bad, bad, bad, bad. What went wrong? What went wrong?! Wrong question, Holmes. Everything went wrong.

One of the few current players vocal and active during Clay Bennett's franchisal flight to Oklahoma City was Seattle native Spencer Hawes, a youngster who grew up watching Shawn Kemp and Gary Payton. Hawes spoke out against the relocation of the Sonics, and even showed up to a major "Save Our Sonics" rally wearing a Payton jersey.

In his first pro game in Oklahoma City Sunday, Hawes let his friends back home in the Emerald City know they wouldn't be forgotten by wearing this Sonics green and gold suit, complete with a Space Needle tie.

Mikki Moore has a lot to offer the hotblooded fan: his story is one of incredible perseverance and self-sacrifice, his body is electric with passion, and he's generally hilarious -- from the soundbite to the guttural yelps of glee to the fantastic "Double M" celebration after a big play. (For months, local fans thought the hand signal to be a gang sign.)

But Mikki Moore is not an incredible basketball player at the NBA level. He runs well in transition, has a sharp 18-foot set shot and knows how to take a charge. And that's about it. Consistently, he ranks among the worst power forwards/centers in rebound rate. Moore had 46 blocks in 2,400 minutes last season. Spencer Hawes has nearly that many this season in a quarter of the minutes. Moore also has turnover problems (a lobster would catch the ball more frequently near the rim) and scores only on a rare putback or when he is ridiculously open at the elbow or baseline. Basically, he's Eddy Curry without the post presence or the bowl full of jelly.

Sacramento struggled mightily with Moore at the starting power forward position. Hawes has played amazing basketball, given expectations. Reggie Theus fears for his job, and his bosses have made youth development a priority. Moore is 33 years old. Hawes is 20. Theus benched Moore last week.