By Marcos Bretón -- Bee Sports Columnist
Published 2:15 am PST Friday, November 11, 2005
There are some things that just don't make sense, important points overlooked in moments like these when much of Sacramento is screaming instead of listening. So, listen. You're being way too hard on the Kings.
You're losing your minds over a lackluster 1-4 Kings start when instead you should be asking yourselves: What did I expect? Did I really think that NBA success was as simple as tossing five disparate pieces together - a new Kings starting lineup - and that wins would flow as easily as the Kings' bad taste in pregame entertainment?
Come on, now.
Boo if you will for spineless play and lack of focus, but we all know the river of angst flooding Arco Arena runs much deeper than that.
This is about delusions, a basketball version of a delusional Governor of California - who also got whacked this week while trying to pretend that he didn't.
Fine. Arnold can make believe all he wants, but a life in B-movies beckons. And Sacramento can pretend, as well, but the truth is: The Kings are not an elite team anymore, though many of you have not accepted that fact in your hearts and minds.
Indeed, many of you - based on the white-hot passion coursing through various fan Web sites, local talk radio and these pages - are stuck in 2003.
You haven't yet made the break intellectually that this franchise isn't reloading, it's rebuilding. It seems to have been forgotten that the Kings arrived at the doorstep of greatness in '02-03 after preaching continuity over quick roster fixes.
In coaches, players and ownership, the Kings' core remained intact for several years - as opposed to now - while stumbling, growing and flowing to the brink of the NBA Finals.
Even after losing to the Los Angeles Lakers in the Western Conference finals of '02, it was still there to be had - the big prize - until Chris Webber's knee exploded in Dallas in the spring of '03.
Therein shattered a $123 million meniscus and a dream of J Street parades and City Hall trophy-hoistings.
So earlier this year, probably more than a year too late, the Kings finally turned the page, tearing up their roster and starting over again.
Yet Kings fans didn't follow suit - didn't turn the page. You're still clutching the old page, though it has grown yellow and is shredding from the vice grip of your white knuckles.
You think you can shake Arco Arena as loudly as ever and thereby propel a new cast of Kings to victory against legitimate titans, such as the Detroit Pistons.
Understood. The new Kings need to be shaken up if they fail to summon a consistent sense of purpose.
But even if they do, the new Kings are what they are: a team of strangers and players unaccustomed to the grind of winning (Shareef Abdur-Rahim), players trying to shake the past (Bonzi Wells), players struggling to find their way (Kenny Thomas and Brad Miller), kids still learning the game (Francisco García and Kevin Martin) and a coach (Rick Adelman) who could reach lame-duck status with no contract beyond this season.
It's not enough to simply take comfort from the two previous Kings teams that also stumbled out of the gate, because they weren't elite, either - you just thought they were.
No. Last season's first-round blowout to Seattle and the previous year's playoff choke job against Minnesota signaled an end to a dream that was never buried by the fanatical region of Kings worshippers.
That's why it's so rancorous in Sacramento today, why tonight's game against Denver is framed in far more important terms than a mid-November matchup.
Time to get a grip. To refocus the rose-colored glasses and see things for what they are, and not what they used to be.
This team could be good, maybe very good, but only after a road test of bruises like the ones handed Sacramento in four of five games this season.
What's that you say? Didn't I predict a Kings championship this season?
Yeah, that was a good one, a gentle poke at a concept worth debunking. The idea of a team that looks great on paper.
Sacramento should know by now that there is no such thing.
Published 2:15 am PST Friday, November 11, 2005
There are some things that just don't make sense, important points overlooked in moments like these when much of Sacramento is screaming instead of listening. So, listen. You're being way too hard on the Kings.
You're losing your minds over a lackluster 1-4 Kings start when instead you should be asking yourselves: What did I expect? Did I really think that NBA success was as simple as tossing five disparate pieces together - a new Kings starting lineup - and that wins would flow as easily as the Kings' bad taste in pregame entertainment?
Come on, now.
Boo if you will for spineless play and lack of focus, but we all know the river of angst flooding Arco Arena runs much deeper than that.
This is about delusions, a basketball version of a delusional Governor of California - who also got whacked this week while trying to pretend that he didn't.
Fine. Arnold can make believe all he wants, but a life in B-movies beckons. And Sacramento can pretend, as well, but the truth is: The Kings are not an elite team anymore, though many of you have not accepted that fact in your hearts and minds.
Indeed, many of you - based on the white-hot passion coursing through various fan Web sites, local talk radio and these pages - are stuck in 2003.
You haven't yet made the break intellectually that this franchise isn't reloading, it's rebuilding. It seems to have been forgotten that the Kings arrived at the doorstep of greatness in '02-03 after preaching continuity over quick roster fixes.
In coaches, players and ownership, the Kings' core remained intact for several years - as opposed to now - while stumbling, growing and flowing to the brink of the NBA Finals.
Even after losing to the Los Angeles Lakers in the Western Conference finals of '02, it was still there to be had - the big prize - until Chris Webber's knee exploded in Dallas in the spring of '03.
Therein shattered a $123 million meniscus and a dream of J Street parades and City Hall trophy-hoistings.
So earlier this year, probably more than a year too late, the Kings finally turned the page, tearing up their roster and starting over again.
Yet Kings fans didn't follow suit - didn't turn the page. You're still clutching the old page, though it has grown yellow and is shredding from the vice grip of your white knuckles.
You think you can shake Arco Arena as loudly as ever and thereby propel a new cast of Kings to victory against legitimate titans, such as the Detroit Pistons.
Understood. The new Kings need to be shaken up if they fail to summon a consistent sense of purpose.
But even if they do, the new Kings are what they are: a team of strangers and players unaccustomed to the grind of winning (Shareef Abdur-Rahim), players trying to shake the past (Bonzi Wells), players struggling to find their way (Kenny Thomas and Brad Miller), kids still learning the game (Francisco García and Kevin Martin) and a coach (Rick Adelman) who could reach lame-duck status with no contract beyond this season.
It's not enough to simply take comfort from the two previous Kings teams that also stumbled out of the gate, because they weren't elite, either - you just thought they were.
No. Last season's first-round blowout to Seattle and the previous year's playoff choke job against Minnesota signaled an end to a dream that was never buried by the fanatical region of Kings worshippers.
That's why it's so rancorous in Sacramento today, why tonight's game against Denver is framed in far more important terms than a mid-November matchup.
Time to get a grip. To refocus the rose-colored glasses and see things for what they are, and not what they used to be.
This team could be good, maybe very good, but only after a road test of bruises like the ones handed Sacramento in four of five games this season.
What's that you say? Didn't I predict a Kings championship this season?
Yeah, that was a good one, a gentle poke at a concept worth debunking. The idea of a team that looks great on paper.
Sacramento should know by now that there is no such thing.
