By Geoff Lepper
48minutes.net

STOCKTON — Prior to the NBA draft in June, the rumor mill was consistently churning out talk that Rider big man Jason Thompson would wind up playing an up-tempo style in Northern California.

But that was supposed to happen in Oakland, not Sacramento.

At 6-foot-11 and 250 pounds, Thompson had the size the Warriors lacked. And as a do-everything star for the Rider Broncos of the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference, Thompson showed the versatility — and range on his jump shot — that seemed to make him a natural big man for Don Nelson’s system.

Except the Kings stepped in at No. 12 and snatched him up, two spots before the Warriors. The Warriors, who were giddy about the prospect of having LSU’s Anthony Randolph drop to them at No. 14, did nothing to dissuade the impression that their interest in Thompson was meant to drive up his value and help them acquire Randolph.

But even though the 19-year-old Randolph may be the better player when both their careers are done, there’s no doubt that Thompson, 22, is the one who will contribute immediately to his NBA team.

“He’s been very good,” Kings coach Reggie Theus said. “He’s learning a lot, he can play multiple positions. I think he’s exactly what we thought he would be.”

Thompson said he wasn’t fazed by all the pre-draft talk.

“There’s always going to be rumors, but I just stayed focused,” Thompson said. “It would have been a great opportunity anywhere I went. I kind of had that up and down style, and people said I would fit in (with the Warriors), but we do the same thing here. Once we get the rebound, we’re out.”

This is a drastic change for a Kings team that had long been dominated by half-court specialists such as Mike Bibby and then Ron Artest. But with Bibby in Atlanta, Artest in Houston and a remaining roster devoid of significant post-up threats, Theus decided to dip back into his own history as a player, as chronicled by the Sacramento Bee, and speed things up a notch or three.

There were elements on display Wednesday against the Clippers that would be familiar to any Warriors fan: Fast breaks after made buckets by the opposition, big men dribbling the ball upcourt, a constant search for runners leaking out ahead of the defense for easy points.

“It’s a way I like to play, but it’s more (about) personnel,” Theus…

So, I trekked out to Stockton last night planning to sit down with Baron Davis before his Clippers played the Kings and discuss a few items, namely: how things are going with his new team, the departure from his former employer and his reaction to Monta Ellis’ remake of “Quadrophenia.”

Then I got to University of the Pacific and found out he’d bagged on the trip to stay home because of the flu.

That means you’ll be getting a story on the Kings and rookie forward Jason Thompson — the would-be Warrior, if you believe all the pre-draft talk — a little later today. But in the interim, some random thoughts from the Clippers’ 116-112 comeback win in the Spanos Center:

** Without Ellis, the Warriors are going to be hard-pressed to check Kings star Kevin Martin, who darted all over the floor en route to an extremely efficient 29 points (9-11 FG, 2-3 3FG, 9-12 FT). I like DeMarcus Nelson’s defense an awful lot, but I’m not positive he’s got the quickness to chase down Martin.

** Martin barely played in the second half (5:42) and not at all over the final 18 minutes, when the Clippers outscored the Kings, 55-34. Sacramento coach Reggie Theus rightly declined to bring a cold Martin back into the game to try and secure a meaningless victory, but it was kind of shocking to see how fast things slipped away from the Kings’ second unit.

** It would have been nice if Clippers rookie Eric Gordon would have passed the ball ONCE at some point during the proceedings (24 shots, zero assists). That being said, he proved he can fill it up in a hurry, with 21 fourth-quarter points and 33 on the night.

“The play sets we were running were designed to get him shots, because he had the hot hand, and we go with whoever’s got the hot hand,” Clippers coach Mike Dunleavy said. “You know, he’s been injured for us, so he’s only had about three practices. Guys were joking around in practice when he was blowing by people; ‘Well, it should be like that. He’s been off for two weeks. He’s got fresh legs.’ I don’t think that’s going to be the case (anymore). He’s really talented, he’s great off the dribble, he gets to the free-throw line and he makes 3s. And he’s a good defender. We were dying to get him in the…