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[font=verdana,geneva,arial,helvetica,sans-serif]http://www.sacbee.com/content/sports/basketball/kings/story/12118089p-12988720c.html
This month in Kings history
Jan. 16, 1987
By Joe Davidson -- Bee Staff Writer
Published 2:15 am PST Sunday, January 23, 2005
Back in the day, the Kings would host "hot seat" luncheons when the team wasn't so hot.
It was a monthly affair when the Kings first played in Sacramento. One session -Jan. 16, 1987 -was especially lively and proof that Kings fans were already restless.
On this occasion, 143 fans and critics doled out the $10 cover charge and proceeded to grill Kings management, coaches and players. The Kings were 10-26, and one fan tried to rile LaSalle Thompson by asking if the Kings could beat the Harlem Globetrotters. Thompson thought for a moment and said, "Yes, I think we could."
Another asked Kings coach Phil Johnson why he "didn't use the Vince Lombardi method of coaching" and "start by describing a basketball to his players."
Johnson, never one to enjoy such events, offered the best line of the day.
"That's where I screwed up," he said. "I used the Vince Lombardi method, but I showed them a football."
Asked why rookies Harold Pressley and Johnny Rogers hadn't played more, Johnson said, "It's quite obvious, folks. I don't like them."
Kings general manager Joe Axelson discounted any trade rumors surrounding guard Reggie Theus, saying, "That's just newspaper talk."
Axelson also defended the release of guard Brook Steppe days earlier: "That was a very difficult decision made at the last possible minute after a lot of soul-searching."
Steppe had averaged 7.8 points in his 34 games.
Fans also asked Axelson why they were not allowed to sell their tickets in front of Arco Arena, with one saying, "We were threatened with arrest!" and another saying, "We're not scalpers!"
Said Axelson, "I didn't know that wasn't allowed. I'd never heard of that."
Kings center Joe Kleine was asked about his life as a newlywed, to which he replied, "It's kind of funny. I actually wear clean clothes now." It would be Johnson's last "hot seat" with the Kings. He was fired less than a month later with a 14-32 record.
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This month in Kings history
Jan. 16, 1987
By Joe Davidson -- Bee Staff Writer
Published 2:15 am PST Sunday, January 23, 2005
Back in the day, the Kings would host "hot seat" luncheons when the team wasn't so hot.
It was a monthly affair when the Kings first played in Sacramento. One session -Jan. 16, 1987 -was especially lively and proof that Kings fans were already restless.
On this occasion, 143 fans and critics doled out the $10 cover charge and proceeded to grill Kings management, coaches and players. The Kings were 10-26, and one fan tried to rile LaSalle Thompson by asking if the Kings could beat the Harlem Globetrotters. Thompson thought for a moment and said, "Yes, I think we could."
Another asked Kings coach Phil Johnson why he "didn't use the Vince Lombardi method of coaching" and "start by describing a basketball to his players."
Johnson, never one to enjoy such events, offered the best line of the day.
"That's where I screwed up," he said. "I used the Vince Lombardi method, but I showed them a football."
Asked why rookies Harold Pressley and Johnny Rogers hadn't played more, Johnson said, "It's quite obvious, folks. I don't like them."
Kings general manager Joe Axelson discounted any trade rumors surrounding guard Reggie Theus, saying, "That's just newspaper talk."
Axelson also defended the release of guard Brook Steppe days earlier: "That was a very difficult decision made at the last possible minute after a lot of soul-searching."
Steppe had averaged 7.8 points in his 34 games.
Fans also asked Axelson why they were not allowed to sell their tickets in front of Arco Arena, with one saying, "We were threatened with arrest!" and another saying, "We're not scalpers!"
Said Axelson, "I didn't know that wasn't allowed. I'd never heard of that."
Kings center Joe Kleine was asked about his life as a newlywed, to which he replied, "It's kind of funny. I actually wear clean clothes now." It would be Johnson's last "hot seat" with the Kings. He was fired less than a month later with a 14-32 record.
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