dont know if this has been brought up yet but i thought it was a very interesting read.
http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=keown/090407&sportCat=nba
http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=keown/090407&sportCat=nba
Keown: The Fall of the Kings
- Thread starter MoneyMike916
- Start date
I didn't find it interesting, the writer is a gloom and doom pessimist. He's also a closet Warrior fan who's watched the Kings dominate his beloved team for years.
His column may be factually accurate, but it is easier nowadays, with the ease of trades and signing free agents, to turn around a team a go from abysmal to respectable with a few shrewd moves. As bad as we are, we are two or three solid moves from a 500 team, and that can happen this off season. And I'll take the Kings front office of Petrie and Maloofs over the bumbling Warriors front office any day. As far as attendance, less than 1% of the Sacramento population would have to be turned on to the Kings to fill Arco. If the product improves, the fans will return.
His column may be factually accurate, but it is easier nowadays, with the ease of trades and signing free agents, to turn around a team a go from abysmal to respectable with a few shrewd moves. As bad as we are, we are two or three solid moves from a 500 team, and that can happen this off season. And I'll take the Kings front office of Petrie and Maloofs over the bumbling Warriors front office any day. As far as attendance, less than 1% of the Sacramento population would have to be turned on to the Kings to fill Arco. If the product improves, the fans will return.
Thought this article was spot on. So were the ESPN comments. This league is in the state it is in because of the way they market players and not the teams.
Sac is just being hit by extremely bad luck. Horrible economy, bad product, bad arena and no new arena in the near future. We just gotta catch a break.
Sac is just being hit by extremely bad luck. Horrible economy, bad product, bad arena and no new arena in the near future. We just gotta catch a break.
Yeah, as a matter of fact it was.
Although obviously things there got attributed to me that could not be -- sitting in the stands every night and all that. That was actually why I started that poll about the economy and its effect on season ticket holders. He had asked me if I knew of any people who were giving them up due to the economy. So all of you who did not respond to that poll -- missed your chance to be a star.
In any case, guess once he did not find that person, he just used me as proxy. Don't mind. Just worth noting. We talked for a long spell there, and he was really good about putting in many of the things we talked about throughout the article. Guess he worked in Sacramento for a couple of years when he was young in the late 80s, so he knew how it used to be int he early years. He had some thoughts about how he was going to construct the article and some of the things he was going to put in (the ticket office being closed, the award for the first season ticket holder to renew etc.), and he just plucked my brain for the rest. Now some of those quotes are...well not quite what I think I said, and a bit fudged. But he got most of it and I think made a real effort to write an article with some local insight. Wasn't really expecting it to be focused so much on our conversation though -- thought I was just giving him some background info and might get a mention or something.
Yeah, as a matter of fact it was.
Although obviously things there got attributed to me that could not be -- sitting in the stands every night and all that. That was actually why I started that poll about the economy and its effect on season ticket holders. He had asked me if I knew of any people who were giving them up due to the economy. So all of you who did not respond to that poll -- missed your chance to be a star.
In any case, guess once he did not find that person, he just used me as proxy. Don't mind. Just worth noting. We talked for a long spell there, and he was really good about putting in many of the things we talked about throughout the article. Guess he worked in Sacramento for a couple of years when he was young in the late 80s, so he knew how it used to be int he early years. He had some thoughts about how he was going to construct the article and some of the things he was going to put in (the ticket office being closed, the award for the first season ticket holder to renew etc.), and he just plucked my brain for the rest. Now some of those quotes are...well not quite what I think I said, and a bit fudged. But he got most of it and I think made a real effort to write an article with some local insight. Wasn't really expecting it to be focused so much on our conversation though -- thought I was just giving him some background info and might get a mention or something.
Although obviously things there got attributed to me that could not be -- sitting in the stands every night and all that. That was actually why I started that poll about the economy and its effect on season ticket holders. He had asked me if I knew of any people who were giving them up due to the economy. So all of you who did not respond to that poll -- missed your chance to be a star.
In any case, guess once he did not find that person, he just used me as proxy. Don't mind. Just worth noting. We talked for a long spell there, and he was really good about putting in many of the things we talked about throughout the article. Guess he worked in Sacramento for a couple of years when he was young in the late 80s, so he knew how it used to be int he early years. He had some thoughts about how he was going to construct the article and some of the things he was going to put in (the ticket office being closed, the award for the first season ticket holder to renew etc.), and he just plucked my brain for the rest. Now some of those quotes are...well not quite what I think I said, and a bit fudged. But he got most of it and I think made a real effort to write an article with some local insight. Wasn't really expecting it to be focused so much on our conversation though -- thought I was just giving him some background info and might get a mention or something.
Sounds like you were misquoted. Doesn't surprise me.
Oh, a bit, but there were only one or two spots when I thought the meaning got distorted (and it was quite a long conversation, so that stuff is going to happen). Mostly, the biggest thing I think was just stuff that we were talking about 3rd person got attributed to me personally to give the article a more character study feel. Like I say, don't really mind. Most of that stuff is more or less accurate in the abstract, and I hardly gave the interview wanting to give a 100% accurate portrayal of me personally. It was an article about the state of the Kings, not me, so as long as he got the situation of the Kings and their fans in the ballpark making me into sort of an catch all Kings fan is no big deal really.
Maybe this is April 1998 all over again? Mitch, the best King in the 90's and one of the 5 best all time, is fed up and mopes until he gets traded for a very disgruntled CWebb for the 98-99 season. Corliss has a breakout year at SF, 27 wins with Eddie Jordan as the Coach!!! We had a great rookie in 6-10 Michael "Yogi" Stewart, Funderburke just finished his rookie year as a great role player. Lots of similarities.
Then 98-99 happens. (2009-10????)
Peja shows up and plays behind Corliss, we get Vlade, and Jon Barry and Jason Williams and CWebb and Rick Adelman. They go from 27-55 to 27-23 (strike shortened year).
Who knows, could be Deja Vu all over again.
Then 98-99 happens. (2009-10????)
Peja shows up and plays behind Corliss, we get Vlade, and Jon Barry and Jason Williams and CWebb and Rick Adelman. They go from 27-55 to 27-23 (strike shortened year).
Who knows, could be Deja Vu all over again.
Just read the article, great job Brick, even though you were misquoted quite a bit. I really like the 'nuclear wasteland' feel it gave of our city. When in all actuality our city is one of the few in the country that actually will be on the upswing in the next year or two for both jobs and housing. Yes, we have the worst record in the NBA, but what he also didnt mention was that perhaps we're in a similar situation Portland was in just 3 short years ago, worst record...low attendance in a city that sold out games FOREVER...but yet no mention in the article of our young nucleus of talent like Spencer, Kevin, Cisco and Jason, not to mention our abundance of upcoming offseason money, to go along with 2 1st round picks. Remember Portland a few years ago?? Back then THEY were getting the same articles written about them in national publications. I love his CalExpo take, that it's totally impossible, and the Kings are just itching to pack their bags to Anaheim, San Jose and Las Vegas. C'mon Tim, how soon you forget how bad teams in Portland, Charlotte, and SACRAMENTO(1985-98)were. We still have the same crew in place we did back then, the Maloofs are taking a more vocal approach to managing their team, but I'm not so sure that will be totally the case this year. Let's see how this plays out...the next 2 months or so will be VERY busy ones for our team...we'll see what articles are being written about us then, rather than worry about the ones being written about us now.