Strike while the iron is hot!

[Emma]

That Orlando debacle was pretty hard to stomach. I feel like a die hard Kings fan deserves something to chew on, maybe some sort of post that will entertain at least a little better than the Kings have recently. I'll give it a shot:
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I have a few friends who are Raider fans, unfortunately, they are also Laker fans, but that's really beside the point. One lamented:

"Man it's bad to be a Raiders fan. We gotta watch Russell suck every game, Al Davis won't die, and Tom Cable is just giving us a bigger black eye. Next year, I'd be happy with 7 wins."

I say: "I kind of wish I couldn't relate. But my Kings suck too."

"Damn Rhino (they made that up, as well as some other colorful nicknames) I never thought I'd hear you say that about your Kings."

"Well, we have to deal with youth, a new coach every year, our front court is soft. On top of that, the freaking Arena thing is always up in the air. It kinda hurts to be a Kings fan right now, except for Evans and Casspi."

"Ron Ron's gonna take us back to the finals baby! You guys need a new GM."

"Hey, no job is secure on a 17 win team."

"You know what you need to do? You need to root for a winner. Just give up the Queens. I'll have you converted in two weeks. Two weeks is all it takes."

"Three refs is all it really takes. Asterisk."

"Look, that was a long time ago. Why you still mad? Move on man, that banner is ours."

"You make me sick. I hope Al Davis lives forever."
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Now, these types of conversations are always a bit telling. The perception of fans of other teams, I've found, is that the Kings are managed poorly. Being a homer, I drink the Petrie is a genius flavor-aid all the time. Around draft time it's tasty, it's my favorite flavor: red (hey, I grew up in the ghetto). But at trade time, it typically tastes like there's not enough sugar.

I suppose that the bad management perception, when you take a step back, is easily founded. There are alot of stories about Maloof trades and hires and Petrie trades and hires. The moves have been well documented and expanded upon ad nauseam.

With all of the recent trade chatter surrounding the team I've also taken an interest in skimming other team's sites to guage the worth of our trading chips. The opinions of other team's fans are varied regarding our players worth, but they all concede one thing: Petrie is not a GM that you go into a deal with expecting to "win" the trade.

I would normally say "good." But now I won't. I'm unhappy believing that nearly every other GM in the league is afraid to pick up the phone and deal with the Kings. I'm not happy believing that the only way we can get back to contention is slowly, through the draft. This situation could also lend the belief to a star player that the organization on the whole is not committed to their playing here. This trade deadline I want something interesting to happen. I have already witnessed safe and boring (see Armstrong). Geoff and the Maloofs will probably have to get together, establish a commonality, and sacrifice big time to get us a superstar. The city could even use one to help us get an arena.
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What is it exactly that scares a big time free agent away from Sacramento? I'll tell you right now: God-awful Arco Arena. They check out the town, say: "How quaint," get into the visitor's locker room, and their perception is forever shot. "No way I would want to play in this barn all the time." That's the impression I get from big market loving superstars as they get off the team bus to go into Arco.

It's not the market. The market is fairly large. It's the building. I have a feeling that if they commit to build it, stars will want to come.
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Luckily, I started to feel the momentum shift. It faltered in the past month with the frequent losses, but I think I smell something cooking. The real point of this post is to get across my feeling that the iron is hot. I mean, HOT. If the Kings don't strike now they may lose their window. The team is in desperate need of a ticket pushing, attention grabbing, win netting superstar. Not only for the team's own good, but for the good of present and future fans. It will raise attendance, garner national attention, lower objections to the arena proposal, and give me back my warm and fuzzy feeling.

I no longer feel like this is an appropriate time to experiment. We need new life. It's time to make some moves. I want a successful, exciting team in Sacramento, and I want it here tomorrow. For at least the next thirty years.

 

[BMiller52]

I agree with you man. 100%. Lets make some damn moves and get a guy to go with Tyreke and build around the 2 of them. Lets do it. Lets do it lets do it lets do it. We need a trade.

 

[Aenadin]

It's easy to be a fan of a winning team or a team with a long history of winning. it takes a whole lot more to appreciate a struggling rebuilding team. getting a new gm would just kill and i mean KILL the rebuilding momentum. and name anybody out there who is good enough? I dont see any one wait do they want us to get isiah thomas?

being a kings fan i knew during the playoff years that this wont last, that we wont always be in the 8 teams early april-late june games. there will come a time where we will struggle for let me see..3 years now? and a lot of us are impatient, we feel robbed in the 02 still bitter bout being cheated and what not..

I agree that some moves are questionable but its all in a fan's point of view
from us so called students of the game, would be experts, we can postulate all the theories we want but we dont know what they know and they dont know what we think we know

about striking when the iron is hot, well... you know what they say

strike too early and the metal will bend beyond your liking... strike too late and the metal will NOT bend...

i believe petrie is biding his time, if it is agonizing to us think how agonizing it is to the maloofs they are losing money, they need a winning product and fast. but we have to wait. for opportunities THEN TAKE IT.

btw.

you must have strong friendships to endure him being a laker

 

[Aenadin]

btw the lakers are no better swapping ariza for artest.. they are the same lakers only got older.

 

[BB_Fan]

Being a Fan Ain't Easy

It's easy to be a fan of a winning team or a team with a long history of winning. it takes a whole lot more to appreciate a struggling rebuilding team. getting a new gm would just kill and i mean KILL the rebuilding momentum. and name anybody out there who is good enough? I dont see any one wait do they want us to get isiah thomas?

being a kings fan i knew during the playoff years that this wont last, that we wont always be in the 8 teams early april-late june games. there will come a time where we will struggle for let me see..3 years now? and a lot of us are impatient, we feel robbed in the 02 still bitter bout being cheated and what not..

I agree that some moves are questionable but its all in a fan's point of view
from us so called students of the game, would be experts, we can postulate all the theories we want but we dont know what they know and they dont know what we think we know

about striking when the iron is hot, well... you know what they say

strike too early and the metal will bend beyond your liking... strike too late and the metal will NOT bend...

i believe petrie is biding his time, if it is agonizing to us think how agonizing it is to the maloofs they are losing money, they need a winning product and fast. but we have to wait. for opportunities THEN TAKE IT.

btw.

you must have strong friendships to endure him being a laker

Maintaining team loyalty isn't easy when the Kings lose - especially when they lose horribly like tonight's game. I am trying to think of another game this season that was worse, but I can't. The best part was Sergio - and that was doing garbage time. Pretty pathetic when garbage time is the highlight of the entire game.

 

[cwebb4]

We're not going to win anything this season, so everyone is just going to have to be patient. Any trade we make has to be focused on the long term before anything else.

 

[BMiller52]

We're not going to win anything this season, so everyone is just going to have to be patient. Any trade we make has to be focused on the long term before anything else.

Yeah and I don't see this KMart/Evans pairing doing anything in the long run. Therefor, we might as well get a guy with our best trading chip who can compliment our best player.

 

[SacTownGrantFan]

btw the lakers are no better swapping ariza for artest.. they are the same lakers only got older.

Plus we baited him into signing a contract and got Casspi and Greene out of it.

 

[Aenadin]

Plus we baited him into signing a contract and got Casspi and Greene out of it.

exactly and ryandty's friends say we need a new GM?

 

[cwebb4]

Yeah and I don't see this KMart/Evans pairing doing anything in the long run. Therefor, we might as well get a guy with our best trading chip who can compliment our best player.

I'm for a Martin trade as long as it makes sense and adds a key young piece to our core. It doesn't have to before the deadline though, we can afford to wait because we're not winning anything this year anyways like I've already said.

 

[rainmaker]

I'm for a Martin trade as long as it makes sense and adds a key young piece to our core. It doesn't have to before the deadline though, we can afford to wait because we're not winning anything this year anyways like I've already said.

I disagree. I we're going to trade him, do it at the deadline if at all possible. If we wait until the offseason, we waste half a season of developing Donte and Omri. They need to play.

 

[cwebb4]

I disagree. I we're going to trade him, do it at the deadline if at all possible. If we wait until the offseason, we waste half a season of developing Donte and Omri. They need to play.

Sure, there are always advantages and disadvantages to when you do things, but you have to properly evaluate priorities and what we do with Martin is a higher priority than that. There's still plenty of time for them to develop, what we do with Martin is going to have a much larger impact on our franchise than Casspi and Greene getting a little more burn over half a season.

 

[Aenadin]

martin was drafted at a time when we were still competing (or suppose to be) now that we are rebuilding. it appears he doesnt complement to this new brand of kings

martin would have worked with the old kings, sure he was a steal before, and that his talent on the offensive end is superb but both evans and martin cannot co-exist, two players who demand the ball wont exist harmoniously. well that's my take on it, there's something being patient on a project and investing time on an experiment that could harm the growth of other key players

now if we trade martin it better be for a player that is
1. young
2. wont demand the ball
3. will contribute with/without being involved int he offense

ergo we need some one who is young, and a defensive type of player.

 

[BMiller52]

Sure, there are always advantages and disadvantages to when you do things, but you have to properly evaluate priorities and what we do with Martin is a higher priority than that. There's still plenty of time for them to develop, what we do with Martin is going to have a much larger impact on our franchise than Casspi and Greene getting a little more burn over half a season.

Not really. Giving them their PT gives them a chance to establish a role on this team and find their niche. That gives us a better idea of our line up and FA needs next year. It gives them momentum going into next year. 10 minutes extra per game and 3 or 4 or 5 shots extra per game can make a big difference for a players development IMO.

 

[LA King Fan II]

I would expect to get very little for Kevin Martin. He simply isn't an 11 million dollar a year player, and teams aren't going to be blind to how sucky the team is since he cambe back. Nevertheless, trade him for anyone right now, never needed him with a healthy Garcia around anyway. They should have seen it years ago.

 

[Emma]

I'm kind of torn. I want to see a superstar in Sac. I want to see the Kings try to bring one in via trade. But I'm wondering if trading away Martin, Noc, et.al, for just a solid front court would cause the malaise to disappear. Would it be addition by subtraction? Do we already have superstar 1 and regular star 2? Is the earlier order established by the Martin-less Kings the correct one? Is the missing piece really an extra piece?

I'm worried that the experimentation is destroying the competitive drive and confidence of our youngsters.

 

[Bricklayer]

I'm kind of torn. I want to see a superstar in Sac. I want to see the Kings try to bring one in via trade. But I'm wondering if trading away Martin, Noc, et.al, for just a solid front court would cause the malaise to disappear. Would it be addition by subtraction? Do we already have superstar 1 and regular star 2? Is the earlier order established by the Martin-less Kings the correct one? Is the missing piece really an extra piece?

I'm worried that the experimentation is destroying the competitive drive and confidence of our youngsters.

As obviously am I. This should have been a feel good scrappy year where we came up short but had every reason to go into the summer with a "just wait till you see us next year" vibe. If this keeps up thoguh, it will jsut be us back to searching, and lacking that coihesiveness and belief can set you back years. Thses new kids barely know how to lose and quit. Let's not teach them.

Now the thing about the early season Kings is that whiel I thinnk we really could have many of the pieces in place, they were still going to need frontcorut scoring and frontcourt defense in order to take the step into being a serious threat.

 

[cwebb4]

Not really. Giving them their PT gives them a chance to establish a role on this team and find their niche. That gives us a better idea of our line up and FA needs next year. It gives them momentum going into next year. 10 minutes extra per game and 3 or 4 or 5 shots extra per game can make a big difference for a players development IMO.

I'm not sure exactly what you're disagreeing with, I didn't say it wasn't important, it's just that it's not more important than what we do with Martin. They have plenty of time to do all those things. Martin is our best trade asset and what we do with him is going to affect the direction of this franchise far more than Greene and Casspi getting more playing time for a few months. Using that as a reason is almost like we're dumping Martin, which would be dumb. If we're going to get as much as we can, then we can't just limit ourselves to trading him before the deadline. Things open up in the off-season, the draft and free agency becoming more clear helps teams to become more comfortable with giving up certain players and/or picks.

 

[upinsmoke]

Patience is the key. Yes the team is weak again this season, I feel the nice start maybe raised the expectation bar higher than what is realistic for our talent level. The team is so young it is a case of men v.s boys on the court.

 

[Bricklayer]

Patience is the key. Yes the team is weak again this season, I feel the nice start maybe raised the expectation bar higher than what is realistic for our talent level. The team is so young it is a case of men v.s boys on the court.

Thre are no more than handful of people on this board upset about it being men against boys. There are many people upset that the boys are no longer leaving it all on the floor and are rapidly developed the same dead passionless eyes the 17win crew from last season had.

Losing was fine. Not for the nitwits who can't see past their nose and think we should be a playoff team every year. But for most. But losing with fire and competitiveness. Pushing teams. Being dangerous and a team full of boys that the men had to take seriously in order to put down, and would give props to after the game as a team to look out for in the future. Of late we've been devolving into something that is none of that.

 

[Chupacabra]

that orlando debacle was pretty hard to stomach. I feel like a die hard kings fan deserves something to chew on, maybe some sort of post that will entertain at least a little better than the kings have recently. I'll give it a shot:
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i have a few friends who are raider fans, unfortunately, they are also laker fans, but that's really beside the point. One lamented:

"man it's bad to be a raiders fan. We gotta watch russell suck every game, al davis won't die, and tom cable is just giving us a bigger black eye. Next year, i'd be happy with 7 wins."

i say: "i kind of wish i couldn't relate. But my kings suck too."

"damn rhino (they made that up, as well as some other colorful nicknames) i never thought i'd hear you say that about your kings."

"well, we have to deal with youth, a new coach every year, our front court is soft. On top of that, the freaking arena thing is always up in the air. It kinda hurts to be a kings fan right now, except for evans and casspi."

"ron ron's gonna take us back to the finals baby! You guys need a new gm."

"hey, no job is secure on a 17 win team."

"you know what you need to do? You need to root for a winner. Just give up the queens. I'll have you converted in two weeks. Two weeks is all it takes."

"three refs is all it really takes. Asterisk."

"look, that was a long time ago. Why you still mad? Move on man, that banner is ours."

"you make me sick. I hope al davis lives forever."
-------------------------------------------------------------------------

now, these types of conversations are always a bit telling. The perception of fans of other teams, i've found, is that the kings are managed poorly. Being a homer, i drink the petrie is a genius flavor-aid all the time. Around draft time it's tasty, it's my favorite flavor: Red (hey, i grew up in the ghetto). But at trade time, it typically tastes like there's not enough sugar.

I suppose that the bad management perception, when you take a step back, is easily founded. There are alot of stories about maloof trades and hires and petrie trades and hires. The moves have been well documented and expanded upon ad nauseam.

With all of the recent trade chatter surrounding the team i've also taken an interest in skimming other team's sites to guage the worth of our trading chips. The opinions of other team's fans are varied regarding our players worth, but they all concede one thing: Petrie is not a gm that you go into a deal with expecting to "win" the trade.

I would normally say "good." but now i won't. I'm unhappy believing that nearly every other gm in the league is afraid to pick up the phone and deal with the kings. I'm not happy believing that the only way we can get back to contention is slowly, through the draft. This situation could also lend the belief to a star player that the organization on the whole is not committed to their playing here. This trade deadline i want something interesting to happen. I have already witnessed safe and boring (see armstrong). Geoff and the maloofs will probably have to get together, establish a commonality, and sacrifice big time to get us a superstar. The city could even use one to help us get an arena.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------

what is it exactly that scares a big time free agent away from sacramento? I'll tell you right now: God-awful arco arena. They check out the town, say: "how quaint," get into the visitor's locker room, and their perception is forever shot. "no way i would want to play in this barn all the time." that's the impression i get from big market loving superstars as they get off the team bus to go into arco.

It's not the market. The market is fairly large. It's the building. I have a feeling that if they commit to build it, stars will want to come.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------

luckily, i started to feel the momentum shift. It faltered in the past month with the frequent losses, but i think i smell something cooking. The real point of this post is to get across my feeling that the iron is hot. I mean, hot. If the kings don't strike now they may lose their window. The team is in desperate need of a ticket pushing, attention grabbing, win netting superstar. Not only for the team's own good, but for the good of present and future fans. It will raise attendance, garner national attention, lower objections to the arena proposal, and give me back my warm and fuzzy feeling.

I no longer feel like this is an appropriate time to experiment. We need new life. It's time to make some moves. I want a successful, exciting team in sacramento, and i want it here tomorrow. For at least the next thirty years.

lol

 

[upinsmoke]

Thre are no more than handful of people on this board upset about it being men against boys. There are many people upset that the boys are no longer leaving it all on the floor and are rapidly developed the same dead passionless eyes the 17win crew from last season had.

Losing was fine. Not for the nitwits who can't see past their nose and think we should be a playoff team every year. But for most. But losing with fire and competitiveness. Pushing teams. Being dangerous and a team full of boys that the men had to take seriously in order to put down, and would give props to after the game as a team to look out for in the future. Of late we've been devolving into something that is none of that.

I dont think the biggest reason for the L's stacking up is effort. I feel its a lack of depth and experience.