I was at the game Friday, but I needed a few days to think about how to put together my feelings about our fans, the game itself and the state of our beloved Kings as a whole.
Let's start with what I love about the Sacramento Kings. The fans. We are a unique group. We are a stubborn group of individuals who are willing to bear with a team and administration who simply refuse to improve because we love what it means to be a fan of this franchise. We may be a little more jaded than we used to be, but after over a decade of failure who can blame us. Nonetheless we won't budge from our stance as determined fans who honestly believe that one day this thing will turn around. I honestly believe it will if we manage to hold on to our big fellas and get a damn good coach and GM who can reinvigorate this franchise.
The game itself was more or less what I expected. We competed for stretches, but simply are not consistent enough nor talented enough on the defensive end to compete with a team like the Clippers. It also solidly affirmed my belief that Karl is burned out. His rotations are lunacy, his belief in veterans is painful to a fault, and his stubbornness are all difficult to bear witness to as a fan. Individually the only three who came to play were Curry, WCS, and Cousins. As a fan who still believes McLemore can make something of himself I really want Karl to be fired so we can stop playing Marco or two PG lineups and just take a good look at McLemore playing 35-40 minutes a a game. At worst we see he is not cut out for the league, but at best he can be regarded as a potential asset to this team on the court or as a trade piece. McLemore ramble aside, the game was a nice walk down memory lane. Arco will always have a special place in my heart.
The state of the Kings is an odd one. I along with most of you were quite optimistic to begin the year. I really believed we had it in us to be a playoff team. Adding Rondo, WCS, Koufus, Marco, Acy and Casspi to play with the likes of Boogie and Gay seemed like a team that could really surprise people. I still believe that talent is not the issue. The talent may not fit together correctly, but it is there. However, the morale, the chemistry and the mental attitude that comes with being a winner is not there. Most of that should be blamed on Karl and Vivek. A few specific players have been huge flops as well ( I am looking at you Marco). So with all that in mind. Where do we go? I am not in favor of blowing it up in regards to hitting reset with our players. However, I don't want to be stuck in a position of mediocrity. If we chase the 8th seed and get near we will be just that - mediocre. This team with this coach is simply not good enough. Thus it puts the Kings in the position of needing to basically punt the rest of the year while keeping team chemistry and spirits at a manageable level. I don't want to be the 10th best team in the West without the hope of being involved in the NBA draft. If we are better than bottom 10 our pick moves to Chicago and that would be a big blow to our chances of allowing a new coach/GM to reload (not rebuild). I only am truly concerned about making Cousins and WCS happy. I say keep those two, hope to get a nice player in the draft and put a logical team around them. Possibly even more importantly we need a coach and a GM who are on the same page and can get the best out of Cousins.
Go Kings and stay strong my fellow stubborn Kings fans!
Jordan and Mbah a Moute were stepping into screens and grabbing hold of defenders most of the game. There are already rules against a moving screen and holding the refs just need to blow the whistle.
