Sacramento Kings Officially Introduce Maxime Raynaud

Former Stanford big-man Maxime Raynaud has officially signed with the Sacramento Kings after being selected by the team with the No. 42 overall selection in this year's NBA Draft. On Thursday, they formally introduced him and first rounder Nique Clifford to the local media.

You may notice that in the picture above, both draftees are wearing similar suits, but GM Scott Perry made sure that the media knew that the team didn't put them up to that. "Before we open it up for questions, I just want to give one footnote. I promise you we did not send a memo to have these guys in matching suits. This is just one further piece of evidence of the class that these two have."

Perry also mentioned that both players are exactly what they're after with any new additions the Kings make.

"As you've heard me say many times since I've come here, it's important that we establish a real identity here. What it means to be a Sacramento Kings basketball player. These two guys represent that. What that means, [is] we want people that are competitive. Tough. Team-oriented. Professional. Accountable, and disciplined.

"These two young men have exhibited that not only in their play throughout their careers in college basketball, but in how they've conducted themselves as young men off of it."

The Kings GM, during his introduction of each player, also referred to Raynaud as a "double-double machine with Stanford" while also pointing out that the team feels he has a lot of growth and development in front of him. Raynaud has never been seen as a finished product throughout the draft process, but he has made leaps in his development each and every year at Stanford, and the Kings appear to be expecting a bit more development from him, too.

Head coach Doug Christie said that these two picks by the Kings were everything that the GM had said that they were after and what the team is about, and for Perry to follow through on what he was preaching was huge for him. In regard to picking the guys that exemplify what Kings basketball is all about, Christie said of Perry's draft, "he crushed that."

During the question and answer portion of the press conference, Raynaud said that he's, "excited, and blessed by the opportunity. I was extremely excited to join the franchise that drafted Nique too. We saw each other in a workout in the draft process, and we had this 45-minute conversation in the hot tub after practice. It was good to see him drafted there too. It's close to what's home for me here, at Stanford."

The 7-foot-1 Frechman was also asked how being closer to Stanford may make it easier for him to transition into being in the NBA, and Raynaud quipped, "Well it's going to make it easier to move my stuff, that's for sure."

He continued, "as you may know, in college, we have like 48 hours for Christmas to go back to your families and stuff. I don't necessarily have the opportunity to go back to Paris because of the travel. So two years ago, Isael Silva, who was one of my teammates who is from Sacramento hosted me there for Christmas, and we had the chance to watch one of the Kings' games.

"Being drafted here two years later made it kind of full-circle."