A team in a market the size of Sacramento which cannot afford luxury tax has to suck for several years to get great draft picks. Our team could not afford to be a Dallas or Lakers and simply spend our way to the top. The income just isn't in this city and the corporate money isn't in this city for us to behave like Dallas.
The team, a middle to low media market team, had little money but had to find a way to get great players. So how do you do that? You have to be very bad and get great draft picks who will develop into stars. The team had to deliberately let the bottom drop out to get there.
This is what the Kings began to do when they gave up spending their MLE on decent ball players which prevented the team from sucking bad enough to get great draft picks.
This is the strategy. It seemed obvious at the time to me that people would quit going and that season ticket holders would not renew. I balked at the idea of letting the team collapse. I was wrong. Given that scenario, it only makes sense to keep salary low. It is predictable what the fan reaction would be. I personally hate to watch a team lose and lose and lose.
Well, look what happened. The Kings sucked, got Tyreke and Cuz, traded and got Dalembert and Thornton and are one great defensive minded SF veteran from being in the way to becoming a great team in a few years. This is the rebuild model. Now the team needs to mature.
There is no doubt that these draft picks that came out of the deliberate suckatude era have rough edges but it also seems like the players that came out of this deliberate suckatude era will be spectacular ball players. You can disagree if you don't believe that Reke, Cuz, and Thornton aren't going to get better and be great but I think the more likely scenario is that this team takes off. The oldest player is 29. They can stay together for a long time and I think they showed that this is a team that will get better and better as that is exactly what happened this year. They started bad with an easy schedule and as they all got used to each other, they got better and better even as the schedule got more difficult. They began to win on the road which can be a sign of good things to come.
Now if they had not gone through the suckatude era, they would have had to spend more money here and there and never quite be bad enough to get out of the hell hole that is the 10th to 20th pick where all you find are great bench players unless you get lucky. If they would have proceded in the old model, the Kings would have been perpetually average. As it is, they have the chance of being great.
It is difficult being a fan and I actually quit watching them even on TV a few years ago. With the drafting of Tyreke I began to watch again. With the drafting of Cuz, I have missed few. With the acquisition of Thornton, I missed none.
With the rebuild strategy mentioned by Bricklayer you have the possibility of being great. We have been great for about 1/4 of the years the team has been here. If you are satisfied with average, you should be upset at what they did. If you want a shot at an NBA title, you should be happy with what they did.
The team, a middle to low media market team, had little money but had to find a way to get great players. So how do you do that? You have to be very bad and get great draft picks who will develop into stars. The team had to deliberately let the bottom drop out to get there.
This is what the Kings began to do when they gave up spending their MLE on decent ball players which prevented the team from sucking bad enough to get great draft picks.
This is the strategy. It seemed obvious at the time to me that people would quit going and that season ticket holders would not renew. I balked at the idea of letting the team collapse. I was wrong. Given that scenario, it only makes sense to keep salary low. It is predictable what the fan reaction would be. I personally hate to watch a team lose and lose and lose.
Well, look what happened. The Kings sucked, got Tyreke and Cuz, traded and got Dalembert and Thornton and are one great defensive minded SF veteran from being in the way to becoming a great team in a few years. This is the rebuild model. Now the team needs to mature.
There is no doubt that these draft picks that came out of the deliberate suckatude era have rough edges but it also seems like the players that came out of this deliberate suckatude era will be spectacular ball players. You can disagree if you don't believe that Reke, Cuz, and Thornton aren't going to get better and be great but I think the more likely scenario is that this team takes off. The oldest player is 29. They can stay together for a long time and I think they showed that this is a team that will get better and better as that is exactly what happened this year. They started bad with an easy schedule and as they all got used to each other, they got better and better even as the schedule got more difficult. They began to win on the road which can be a sign of good things to come.
Now if they had not gone through the suckatude era, they would have had to spend more money here and there and never quite be bad enough to get out of the hell hole that is the 10th to 20th pick where all you find are great bench players unless you get lucky. If they would have proceded in the old model, the Kings would have been perpetually average. As it is, they have the chance of being great.
It is difficult being a fan and I actually quit watching them even on TV a few years ago. With the drafting of Tyreke I began to watch again. With the drafting of Cuz, I have missed few. With the acquisition of Thornton, I missed none.
With the rebuild strategy mentioned by Bricklayer you have the possibility of being great. We have been great for about 1/4 of the years the team has been here. If you are satisfied with average, you should be upset at what they did. If you want a shot at an NBA title, you should be happy with what they did.
