I don't know any of these people personally and I don't care to speculate too far on who they are off the court. What I saw from a basketball point of view is that De'Aaron Fox and Mike Brown were the two guys who gave this team a chance to win, not just in the regular season but meaningful games in the playoffs. They were the two guys who wanted to win so badly it made them a little bit crazy. Our front office blowing that up leaves us rudderless and without a strong leader on the court or on the sideline.
Maybe Fox was playing for a new contract last Fall.. on some level, every NBA player is because of course they are, it's their job... but it was undeniable to anyone who watched our one playoff series of the last 19 years that we were only going to go as far as Fox could take us. When Mike Brown came in he made a point of saying that Fox was going to be the guy. And maybe some of the other players on the team didn't like that message and maybe they also didn't like having to practice defense for hours at a time instead of the loose run and gun brand of basketball which has become synonymous with Sacramento Kings futility, but being a little crazy like that is what it takes to win in the NBA.
It's possible that Doug Christie has the personality and knowledge to lead a winning team himself ... he did for a few weeks back in January ... I don't know that one way or another yet. But one thing is for certain, he's not going to win us any games himself. Brown and Fox were a duo, each needed the other and when Brown left Fox wasn't far behind. The big question we need to answer right now is who is going to be the guy for Doug Christie's Kings? I was pretty lukewarm on Kuminga when the idea was first broached but watching how this off-season has unfolded, yeah I'll take a pissed off and motivated 22 year old with incredible physical gifts who is so willing to bet on himself that he's willing to turn down $75 million to escape being a role-player for Steph Curry in Golden State. He may not end up being the guy himself, but he would help to shift the overall team personality in the right direction.
The main thing I'm worried about with this team is that guys will come in motivated and hungry and ready to work and then they'll get into our locker room and guys will look at them funny. "What are you working so hard for? We're the Kings, we coast out there and then shrug off the losses and say we'll get 'em next time." Who knows what's real and what is PR at this point, but if it's true that some players were bristling at the idea of extra practice while the team was in the midst of a losing streak, then I personally want all of those players gone. They can coast for some other franchise.
