Kings Season Ticket Fan Forum

[ZZE916]

I just got back from the Kings Season Ticket Fan Forum where there was a surprisingly frank Q&A session with the Maloofs, and Petrie. I'll post a full report later, but they answered questions ranging from a new arena, to the future of Artest. Quick highlights (all paraphrased):

• What's the status of a new arena? - We'll know more in about two weeks. We can't say anything until then.
• What's in the future as far as player aquisition is concerned? - We are rebuilding, and it's going to be a slow process. We'll have a lot more flexibility in 2010. Quite frankly, we overpaid a lot of players during the glory years because we thought we were on the brink of a championship.
• Will Artest be on the team next year? - He has the option to opt out. If he doesn't opt out, he'll be a King. If he does, we will talk to hima and his agent to see if we can work something out. (Petrie then asked for the audience to vote if they wanted Artest back. The response seemed to be about 50/50. He said something to the affect that Ron was a problem wrapped up in a question).
• Why is the halftime entertainment so bad? - We haven't noticed. I guess we haven't been there to witness it. (Joe and Gavin's response).
• How are you (Petrie) going to make this team faster and more athletic? - If you want to get faster, you draft faster players. During the glory years, the only starter that could be considred fast and athletic was Christie...but it worked because of the sum of the pieces. You can't surround a single athlete with players that have low B-Ball smarts and expect it to work. (He then said something to the affect that they have recently found that out).

All in all, very interesting stuff. These are not direct quotes, but this is the message they were sending. These guys are not fooling themselves, they know times are desperate and it will take a long time to return to elite status and regain their Arco fan base.

 

[Warhawk]

Thanks for the report. I'm sure others like me are interested in the full report when you get the chance.

 

[ZZE916]

A couple more nuggets:

• I used to love going upstairs to the Skyline Lounge after the game for Kings Rap while the parking lot cleared out. Why did you stop broadcasting the show from there? - We loved going up there for the show - answering questions and talking to fans. We loved it. Did they move it? Really? (Translation - We haven't been there for two years and we are out of touch with the fans).
• From Gavin - We have permission from the league to bring a "Super Fan" to NY to make our pick in the lottery to determine our draft position. If this "Super Fan" gets us the first overall pick, we don't what we'll do for them. (The Super Fan will be a hand-picked, long-time season ticket holder and will appear on camera during the lottery selection).

 

[Bricklayer]

• What's in the future as far as player aquisition is concerned? - We are rebuilding, and it's going to be a slow process. We'll have a lot more flexibility in 2010. Quite frankly, we overpaid a lot of players during the glory years because we thought we were on the brink of a championship.

And...?

There is only one player remaining on the Kings who could be considered part of the "glory years" spending spree, and that is Brad. That's it. The rest of our bad contracts are post-glory years run up the credit card impulse buys.

 

[AleksandarN]

[/list]And...?

There is only one player remaining on the Kings who could be considered part of the "glory years" spending spree, and that is Brad. That's it. The rest of our bad contracts are post-glory years run up the credit card impulse buys.

I think they are talking about Webber contract that we are still paying for in "flexible contracts".

 

[ZZE916]

And...Petrie went on to say how rebuilding will take time. He said that trading Bibby was an example of how they are moving in the right direction. It had to be done to free up cap room, and the Kings will still need to be lucky in the draft. He thinks they will get the 12 - 14 spot, and would not speculate past that.

 

[ZZE916]

After further consideration, there's not much more to add. I could post pictures and describe the sumptuous buffet, but I think not.