MizzouKing
Starter
Hello everyone, longtime lurker here. I’ve been cheering VF21’s great viewpoints, valuing Brick’s insightful analysis, and laughing at all the great comments on this board for years as I try to stay connected from the east coast and now the midwest. But now seems as good a time as any to step out and add to the conversation.
So I’m HOPEFUL. Why??? Because we continue to lose…but not by much. Sure we have the occasional blowout, but these Kings have shown they can hang with some very good teams. This means we look forward to the great draft pick we need (hoowah!) and expect that new blood (along with shedding some dead weight) can really push us over that critical edge. The edge I speak of is about much more than the 5.6 ppg losses (or something close) that we seem to average lately. As Salmons said last night, it’s about “believing.”
Have you ever seen those people that hold the ropes at the end of a college football game to keep the crowd from rushing the field? As soon as one drops the rope, others soon follow suit. It’s human nature not to put yourself out there when your teammates aren’t holding up their end of the rope. I think some critical people have given up thinking they can win and simply aren’t holding up their end. Human nature is taking over with the rest. I think that’s what Coachie is noticing.
The only thing I would do with this team is to sequester them for a few days doing intensive teambuilding & challenge exercises to make them a team, build faith in each other, and get them invested enough in each other that they actually cared about not letting the others down (and no, we would not be singing koom-by-ya or hugging trees or anything
). Then I would focus on having fun and playing purely for the love of the game. But I really don’t care about “fixing” this team…right now I think things are happening as they need to happen.
I’m hopeful now in much the same way I was early in 2002 when my buddies on the east coast would look at my Kings hat, shake their heads, and say “the Kings aren’t going anywhere.” We were losing, but not by much, and I knew if we could get everyone healthy we could compete. I hope the coaching staff can keep this group’s psyches intact through all the losing so that they’re prepared to respond when actual talent is infused. Because once that happens and we start to fire on all cylinders, the future can be very bright indeed. As Driver of the Year Charles Barkley says, ‘it’s just my opinion…I could be wrong.’
So I’m HOPEFUL. Why??? Because we continue to lose…but not by much. Sure we have the occasional blowout, but these Kings have shown they can hang with some very good teams. This means we look forward to the great draft pick we need (hoowah!) and expect that new blood (along with shedding some dead weight) can really push us over that critical edge. The edge I speak of is about much more than the 5.6 ppg losses (or something close) that we seem to average lately. As Salmons said last night, it’s about “believing.”
Have you ever seen those people that hold the ropes at the end of a college football game to keep the crowd from rushing the field? As soon as one drops the rope, others soon follow suit. It’s human nature not to put yourself out there when your teammates aren’t holding up their end of the rope. I think some critical people have given up thinking they can win and simply aren’t holding up their end. Human nature is taking over with the rest. I think that’s what Coachie is noticing.
The only thing I would do with this team is to sequester them for a few days doing intensive teambuilding & challenge exercises to make them a team, build faith in each other, and get them invested enough in each other that they actually cared about not letting the others down (and no, we would not be singing koom-by-ya or hugging trees or anything
). Then I would focus on having fun and playing purely for the love of the game. But I really don’t care about “fixing” this team…right now I think things are happening as they need to happen.I’m hopeful now in much the same way I was early in 2002 when my buddies on the east coast would look at my Kings hat, shake their heads, and say “the Kings aren’t going anywhere.” We were losing, but not by much, and I knew if we could get everyone healthy we could compete. I hope the coaching staff can keep this group’s psyches intact through all the losing so that they’re prepared to respond when actual talent is infused. Because once that happens and we start to fire on all cylinders, the future can be very bright indeed. As Driver of the Year Charles Barkley says, ‘it’s just my opinion…I could be wrong.’
