Im new to the Kings guys, Ive always been more of a college guy since Im from Kentucky and UK has been my school. But Ive watched the NBA lately and wanted to go find me a team. I like the way this team looks. And I love my guy Cousins. Ive always liked Evans and I like how this team looks to be a future contender if they get another peice. So guys if you wouldnt mind, Id liek you to break the team down and how things have looked a few years back and how management is and what you expect in the future. I know thats alot, but guys when I follow a team I wanna know everything about them so I can have an input and it be and educated input. I dont like when people try and put input and act like they know things when they dont know alot of whats going on. So guys if you can, thanks for helping me out! Make me feel good about picking the Kings!
New to the Kings
- Thread starter Big Cuz15
- Start date
Bricklayer
Don't Make Me Use The Bat
First of all, breakdowns for the current players: http://www.kingsfans.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?23-Scouting-Reports
As for the history, in brief:
The Kings are an old old franchise that started out as the Rochester Royals back in the 50s. They started bouncing around from city to city and in 1985 a Sacramento developer named Greg Lukenbill bought controlling interest and moved the team from Kansas City to Sacramento, where they've been ever since.
For the first 15 years in Sacramento the Kings were basically bad every year, only made the playoffs twice in those years (eliminated in the first round both times) and never had a winning record in the entire time. Yet the fans remained crazy about them, and for year after year, whetehr they won 20 games or 30, they would always pack the house and make tons of noise. The best players form this era were probably Reggie Theus (who came back to give it a shot as coach a few years back) and Otis Thorpe in the 80s, and Mitch Richmond, who was pretty much the franchise player in the 90s.
In 1999 the Maloof family bought the team. The Maloofs are originally from New Mexico, but now their largest business is the casino industry in Vegas. Their father (deceased) used to own the Houston Rockets back in the 70s, and the sons (all currently in late 40s/early 50s I think) wanted to get back into the NBA, and so bought the Kings.
The purchase by the Maloofs coincided with the beginning of the franchise's "golden age". They had a lot of money at the time and really opened the wallets. Current GM Geoff Petrei was already with the team when they took over, but once they took the money constraints off he suddenly had a great run of 3-4 years where he did everything right and put together a championship caliber team. Key players were Chris Webber, Vlade Divac, Peja Stoakovic, Doug Christie, Mike Bibby, Jason Williams, Bobby Jackson, Hedo Turkoglu, Scot Pollard, and Rick Adelman as coach (now the coach of the Rockets). If you haven't heard about their rise and fall and the controversy about their close calls with a title and battles with the Lakers, just type in the search terms "Game 6" and "Kings vs Lakers" in google. That team won 50+ games for 5 straight seasons and was one of the best passing teams in NBA history, and became extremely popular around the world. It utilized a variety of the Princeton offense, and unlike the various pretenders to the claim, actually had the inventer of the Princeton, Pete Carrill, sitting over on the bench as an assistant coach -- GM Petrie, a former NBA star, had gone to Princeton and played for Carril, and brought him onboard after he (Carril) retired as Princeton's head coach.
The golden era abruptly ended when Webber suffered a disastrous knee injury in the 2003 playoffs which ended up requiring microfracture surgery. He was never the same, nor was the team. Worse, various egos, a souring public led by some real animosity from the local paper, and most importantly of all, a huge arena issue that has brought out all kinds of hate eroded the team's popularity (and is by far the biggest current threat to the Sacramento franchise -- the city and citizens can't/won't seem to get it built and the arena is just about the oldest in the NBA), and led to its breakup. And the front office, whether it be the Maloofs or Petrie, embarked on a long, futile, and soul sapping strategy of trying to hang on as a fringe playoff team, bringing in various middling vets, switching through various coaches, and putting together a series of seriously boring teams that played no defense and had no toughness or charisma. All of it really killed the fanbase, and the product on the floor kept on getting worse until a 17 win disaster two seasons ago. The best player from that era was Kevin Martin (now in Houston) who's departure may or may not be lamented depending on which corner of the fanbase you poll.
Then abruptly, and probably as a result of the awful year, a radically new approach was taken as of last year. The rebuild was fully committed to, and an entirely different breed of player was player was sought. Youth and toughness, and its revived the franchise. Webber and Divac also had their numbers retired last year which helped bring the fanbase together. Now we are clearly on the way up and have one of the league's youngest and biggest teams. Good time to come on board.
As for the history, in brief:
The Kings are an old old franchise that started out as the Rochester Royals back in the 50s. They started bouncing around from city to city and in 1985 a Sacramento developer named Greg Lukenbill bought controlling interest and moved the team from Kansas City to Sacramento, where they've been ever since.
For the first 15 years in Sacramento the Kings were basically bad every year, only made the playoffs twice in those years (eliminated in the first round both times) and never had a winning record in the entire time. Yet the fans remained crazy about them, and for year after year, whetehr they won 20 games or 30, they would always pack the house and make tons of noise. The best players form this era were probably Reggie Theus (who came back to give it a shot as coach a few years back) and Otis Thorpe in the 80s, and Mitch Richmond, who was pretty much the franchise player in the 90s.
In 1999 the Maloof family bought the team. The Maloofs are originally from New Mexico, but now their largest business is the casino industry in Vegas. Their father (deceased) used to own the Houston Rockets back in the 70s, and the sons (all currently in late 40s/early 50s I think) wanted to get back into the NBA, and so bought the Kings.
The purchase by the Maloofs coincided with the beginning of the franchise's "golden age". They had a lot of money at the time and really opened the wallets. Current GM Geoff Petrei was already with the team when they took over, but once they took the money constraints off he suddenly had a great run of 3-4 years where he did everything right and put together a championship caliber team. Key players were Chris Webber, Vlade Divac, Peja Stoakovic, Doug Christie, Mike Bibby, Jason Williams, Bobby Jackson, Hedo Turkoglu, Scot Pollard, and Rick Adelman as coach (now the coach of the Rockets). If you haven't heard about their rise and fall and the controversy about their close calls with a title and battles with the Lakers, just type in the search terms "Game 6" and "Kings vs Lakers" in google. That team won 50+ games for 5 straight seasons and was one of the best passing teams in NBA history, and became extremely popular around the world. It utilized a variety of the Princeton offense, and unlike the various pretenders to the claim, actually had the inventer of the Princeton, Pete Carrill, sitting over on the bench as an assistant coach -- GM Petrie, a former NBA star, had gone to Princeton and played for Carril, and brought him onboard after he (Carril) retired as Princeton's head coach.
The golden era abruptly ended when Webber suffered a disastrous knee injury in the 2003 playoffs which ended up requiring microfracture surgery. He was never the same, nor was the team. Worse, various egos, a souring public led by some real animosity from the local paper, and most importantly of all, a huge arena issue that has brought out all kinds of hate eroded the team's popularity (and is by far the biggest current threat to the Sacramento franchise -- the city and citizens can't/won't seem to get it built and the arena is just about the oldest in the NBA), and led to its breakup. And the front office, whether it be the Maloofs or Petrie, embarked on a long, futile, and soul sapping strategy of trying to hang on as a fringe playoff team, bringing in various middling vets, switching through various coaches, and putting together a series of seriously boring teams that played no defense and had no toughness or charisma. All of it really killed the fanbase, and the product on the floor kept on getting worse until a 17 win disaster two seasons ago. The best player from that era was Kevin Martin (now in Houston) who's departure may or may not be lamented depending on which corner of the fanbase you poll.
Then abruptly, and probably as a result of the awful year, a radically new approach was taken as of last year. The rebuild was fully committed to, and an entirely different breed of player was player was sought. Youth and toughness, and its revived the franchise. Webber and Divac also had their numbers retired last year which helped bring the fanbase together. Now we are clearly on the way up and have one of the league's youngest and biggest teams. Good time to come on board.
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bajaden
Hall of Famer
I think Bricky covered it very well. The Kings do have some great players banners hanging in the rafters from bygone era's. Oscar Robertson being one of them. A couple of players that passed through the halls while the team struggled in the early years here were Wayman Tisdale and Spud Webb. Wayman just died recently after a long battle. I think Wayman always liked music more than basketball, and was a very skilled jazz musician. He's mostly famous around here for his Tizzy Rules. I'll let someone else explain that to you.
For many years the folks around here thought that ARCO was built on indian burial grounds, thus explaining all the bad luck surrounding the franchise. I'm not entirely sure that they're wrong. This theory was at its highest point when first round draft pick, Bobby Hurley was almost killed in a car accident not more than a mile from the arena on his way home. Hope that helps a little...
For many years the folks around here thought that ARCO was built on indian burial grounds, thus explaining all the bad luck surrounding the franchise. I'm not entirely sure that they're wrong. This theory was at its highest point when first round draft pick, Bobby Hurley was almost killed in a car accident not more than a mile from the arena on his way home. Hope that helps a little...
kennadog
Dog On It!
Welcome to the board, Big Cuz15. Bricklayer gave a good synopsis of the team's history. If you'd like to learn more about the team, you could also peruse the Kings Media Guide. It has all kinds of stuff about the team from its very beginning in Rochester, NY. maybe more than you even want to know.
This is the 09-10 season version. I imagine they should have the 10-11 version up in a couple of months.
http://www.nba.com/kings/news/media_guide_2009-10.html
This is the 09-10 season version. I imagine they should have the 10-11 version up in a couple of months.
http://www.nba.com/kings/news/media_guide_2009-10.html
King Baller
All-Star
You gotta remember one thing:
Beat the Lakers!!!
Beat the Lakers!!!
Welcome to the board! It's always so much fun to see new Kings fans join the group.
Just so you know? We already have a long-standing member here whose name is Big Cuz 15, the only difference from your chosen name being the space between Cuz and 15. You might want to think about revising your name somewhat to avoid future confusion if you plan on being an active participant around here.
Again, welcome. Grab a chair, fasten your seat belt and HOLD ON TIGHT! You're in for an exciting ride as a Kings fan!!
Amory
Bench
Yes, if you can remember that then you will do fine.
The Kings are a great team to be fans of. Welcome!
CruzDude
Senior Member sharing a brew with bajaden
Welcome to the Kings and Kingsfans.com from one of the older timers (fan since late 80's season ticket holder most of the 90's and now resident of San Diego area down south. One major item about the Kings touched on by Brick were the type of fans we had during bad times then good times. Then the team and the economy followed each other down the rabbit hole in the mid 90's until Tyreke landed and now DMC (DeMarcus Cousins) and we' about to climb back up to the Yellow Brick Road to the playoffs and beyond. Get the NBA League Pass on cable or satellite or if your geek leaning then NBA Broadband online all ti see all Kings games. Have fun with our Kings. We do.
I reject this synopsis because you failed to mention Lawrence Fundeburke.
Bricklayer
Don't Make Me Use The Bat
Ok:
Sometime back around the time the Maloofs bought the team the Kings also had an undersized PF named Lawrence Funderburke on the roster. He had some offensive talent, was noted for his charitable works, but most amusingly belonged to a religious semi-cult that really and truly beleived that the world was going to end in the year 2000. Not sure whether that was 12:01am Jan. 1 2000, or some vague later date, but I was terribly amused during that entire era with what people who belonged to those groups must be thinking when they woke up the next morning. Lawrence hung on with us for a few more years, his role getting smaller every season, before abruptly asking for his releasse midseason one year right at the peak of our best years. I think he was still depressed about the world not ending myself. But maybe he'll get another shot at things here in 2012.
RookieOfTheDay
Starter
Nice to see all the Cousins fans who are now Kings fans.
King-Da-Yah
Starter
Excellent so far Brick... I am scared you will get to the Ron Ron years though, don't want to overwhelm our newest Kingfan!
I think that you truly had to have been a fan during the golden age to understand how superior Sacramento's fans were to the rest of the league. Hey Big Cuz, look at the bright side, you are coming on at a great time. Our team is definitely going to improve the next couple seasons, how far we go is up to our young talent.
I think that you truly had to have been a fan during the golden age to understand how superior Sacramento's fans were to the rest of the league. Hey Big Cuz, look at the bright side, you are coming on at a great time. Our team is definitely going to improve the next couple seasons, how far we go is up to our young talent.
bajaden
Hall of Famer
You just had to, didn't you? The only player on the Kings with the capability of illegally arresting himself.
You know, I had forgotten my self-imposed rule about never taking a sip of a beverage before reading a post. Now, thanks to you, I have a keyboard that is pretty well saturated with a chilled beverage. I think you owe me a new keyboard - which luckily is the portable one and not the one built in to my laptop.
bajaden
Hall of Famer
You know, I had forgotten my self-imposed rule about never taking a sip of a beverage before reading a post. Now, thanks to you, I have a keyboard that is pretty well saturated with a chilled beverage. I think you owe me a new keyboard - which luckily is the portable one and not the one built in to my laptop.
As always, I'm here to serve...
CruzDude
Senior Member sharing a brew with bajaden
Or as he was more affectionally known, "OP SUCKS".
