But it never should have gotten this ugly this fast.
But I'm glad it did because of the uprising that this ugly situation is causing with the fans. Nobody really wanted to have another .500esque season, only to have another and another and another. I don't think GP will be able to get by with another "bandaid" acquasition. He's forced to be in the place right now where least wants to be and that's in the spotlight. All eyes are on him because he needs to get something done and really the only thing to do now is start over. End this bad relationship GP. If you really love her, you'll let her go. And the Maloof's need to let him do it. Sadly, this didn't happen last year. Don't get me wrong, Ron played great last year after we got him, but right now he's acting like a middle schooler who's mad that he's on the "B" team when it's his own fault he's there. If the losing had gone on last year, GP probably would have blown up the team and started over so that like everyone is saying, we can stomach, maybe even be excited about sucking because we see a purpose behind it. We could be one year into the rebuild.
Here's a couple more thoughts: Yes, Muss can be blamed for this. He should be doing a much better job than he is. Nobody cares how great the team is in practice when they are playing themselves, which seems to be the only thing Muss can find to say that's positive. What matters is the win/loss column. However, I don't think he's entirely to blame. I think that GP knew all along that Muss was not the right coach. He didn't particularly want to let Adleman go, but it wasn't his choice. In a way I almost feel that he's teaching the Maloof's a lesson about making rash decisions and forcing him into things.
As far as rebuilding on the fly, I think that is a Maloof thing as well. These guys aren't just basketball fans like they say they are, they're businessmen, and this is their investment. They're telling GP to keep the team at a point where there's going to be butts in seats at Arco instead of letting him do what he needs to do to make this team a contender like they say. So forcing GP to keep a certain product on the floor is like telling him to do his job with one arm tied behind his back. He doesn't have the freedom that so many of us assume he has. The Maloofs are gamblers and they pride themselves on that, but they haven't to this point placed a risky bet. Ron Artest? Not nearly as risky as keeping Peja around for another year. It's time for the Maloofs to put in all their chips and let Petrie start this thing over like he did before they took over the majority. If they don't like it, sell the team and buy another one so that we aren't worried about our Kings leaving Sacramento.
What I'd like to see for this team this year:
Keep Kevin, Cisco, Price, Douby, and Williams. Trade everyone else for young guys and draft picks. Let these five guys play big minutes together the next 50 games and let them run and be aggressive and ENTERTAINING and make their mistakes in a season that is already lost. Kevin's PPG will go up even more. Cisco can hopefully rebuild the confidence he hasn't quite recovered from the infamous ankle incident. We got a flash of what Douby can do last week. Ronnie's a good player with a lot of promise who's going to be really good, but needs more court time, and I don't know squat about williams, but he's big and a hell of a rebounder and shot blocker. I don't know about Douby yet, but the rest of these guys are pretty good defenders too. Then with these last 50 games under their belts, maybe they can lead the charge next season and win at least as many games as our current team would/will win this year. And then win a few more the next after a couple more trades and first rounders...
To the rest of the team, thanks for the memories. There were some really good times and I won't forget them.