I'm not a million miles away, I'm 5 1/2 hours away by car or 1 hour away by air. I'm in Sacramento 3 or 4 times a year and I usually go to a game when I'm there. I buy Kings gear for myself and my family members. I'm the biggest fan in my immediate family so I'll take them to games when I'm there. I may not be a season ticket holder, but I know some of them. This season I sat through a shellacking by Portland in December -- or actually only 3/4 of it because it took that long for the ticket office personnel to sort out why my uncle's season tickets weren't scanning properly.
And I'm also not pounding my chest about anything, I'm making an observation to the people who are pounding their chests (namely, you) that every other team in the league tanks. Why are we somehow supposed to be above it? If you want to make an argument for why winning the rest of our games puts us in a better position to improve in the off-season have at it. I would listen to that with interest. But the whole "do it for the fans" routine never rings true for me. Fans are paying to be entertained. They're paying to watch good basketball, they're paying for the thrill of hope and sharing in the success of the team with the community. This season is already over but hope remains for the future of the team if we make
smart decisions from here on out. As a fan I understand that. Don't you understand that too? Are there fans who don't understand that?
And about your last comment... To equate
this season of all seasons -- the one where Vlade traded multiple picks (last year's first round pick, a future first round pick, and multiple years of swap rights) to clear out cap space for playoff tested free agents in an all-out bid to squeeze one more playoff series into ol' Arco for the season ticket holders -- to equate that to what's happening with perennial 9-win Philly is either disingenuous or naive. George Karl killed this season. You want to boo somebody, boo him. The rest of the organization tried their damnedest to give you what you want. Vivek let Vlade make the decisions this year and I supported the decisions he made. It didn't work out, not everything does, so now we move on and make the necessary adjustments.
I guess maybe the difference between my thinking and yours on this issue is that you seem to see this season as it's own distinct unit -- as 1 discrete monetary transaction -- and I only see a continuity of one season flowing into another. The end of Arco is a moment to celebrate, but other than that, it's just one more step in the journey. Who wouldn't lose 5 games here to win 50 more down the road? That's a pretty good trade-off isn't it? I thought the Golden State example would have made that clear. Maybe that's just my opinion but it's pretty black and white to me. I'll always take the lump sum payoff over the subscription service. I'd rather pay $8 for a CD and listen to it as often as I want, when and where I want and share it with whomever I want than pay $5 a month from now until infinity for a streaming service. This is the same thing to me. I've suffered through all of the horrible hair-pulling losses this season with all of you. I'll sit through a handful more for a better team next year. Small up front cost, better long-term payoff. Not chest thumping, just logic. Or what passes for logic in my brain anyway.