What Do The Kings Mean to You?

[Spike]

I'm taking off my mod hat for this one:

We're all frustrated. I would imagine everyone here had a different opinion of what needed to happen in order for the Kings to take further steps toward the top of the Western Conference. Yeah, I get that the ultimate goal is a championship. That's the goal of every franchise. The devil is in the details. It doesn't look good right now, but consider the following:

• New players / new roles. I did not have DDR on my bingo card at the start of the FA period. We have two guys who are used to being "the guy", and it'll take a while (ask Dallas) to figure it out. Keegan is now the 4th option on a good day. Huerter is a bench player. They need to figure out how to make the most of their time. Keegan is doing it on defense. Both he and Kevin will start hitting their shots.
• Coaching. I think there's a legitimate issue in how to make all the cogs fit together. We don't come across 45 point quarters by accident - that has happened a bit lately, but we can't seem to seal the deal. Why is that? There are quite a few factors to choose from, but, in my opinion, Fox needs to say, and play, like this is his team, regardless of who else he's sharing the court with. And man, that 3 pt. defense needs some checking....
• Injuries. We've been snakebit more this year than in the past. That takes a toll in terms of creating cohesiveness. We've managed to be so healthy for so long, I guess we were due. Does that mean we burn the ship and jump into the Flaggstakes? Nah. We're actually too good right now to pull that off.

Emotaposting. Again, we're frustrated. I get it. But if you find yourself shooting off a post about launching whatever player had a bad game/week/month, maybe take a step back and think about it for a moment. Do you need a cooling-off period? Try, "Man, that sucked. I'm really mad at Colby Jones, but let me see how I feel in the morning." One thing I appreciate about this site above others is that we're a collection of pretty intelligent (and good-looking) people. Yeah, it's OK to be frustrated. It's OK to be mad at someone for starting their own Habitat for Humanity chapter in Golden 1, but I think we like to hold ourselves to a higher standard. This is not necessarily focused on recent threads, but instead of saying "Keegan blows", maybe say, "Hey, Keegan has had a bad year - what do you think the causes are? I think..." Something like that will get way more traction, and bring out the best in what we have to offer. We're not here for the clicks or the likes. We're here because we're passionate about our team and want to see them succeed, not fail. If it's hard to follow this ideal, maybe just do a quick gut check - "Am I making this board better by posting this?"

Which I guess, brings me to my last point. We're all here because we love the Kings. We want them to succeed. Even those who hate McNair and think he's a middle manager don't really want him to fail, because that is a failure of the organization. What does a fan mean to you? That's a loaded question, and I'm not here to answer it. (No true Scotsman, right Slim?) We all approach fandom in different ways. But even if we approach it in a glass-half-empty sort of way, which, if you've been here long enough, is totally justified, we want you to come in with reason. You'll be the lovable curmudgeon.

I'm not asking anyone to demonstrate blind faith. I wouldn't ever do that. I am asking us to live up to the reputation of being a place where thoughtful discourse and general attractiveness are commonplace. Go Kings. Hopefully, the team rises up to meet this challenge the same way our fans can.

Deuces.

 

[pdxKingsFan]

It's my connection to my hometown.

Fans right now are killing me. I can deal with us sucking again but the same people who tear it down are the first who will be impatient the next time it isn't moving fast enough for them.

I dunno. Really I wish we weren't so manic bipolar with this team right now. Win a game or two hell yes lose a game and suddenly we have to trade Fox and Keegan and Carter and take on a bunch of mid roleplayers.
eh...

I just want to root for the team to win every night, and we are at least that right now. I can't go back to rooting for "lins". or whatever the good scenario in a tank is. No.

 

[iowamcnabb]

I think the frustration is threefold:

1) for many, the first year of Beam Team was the best season in their entire fandom (myself included). It was just magical. Having a coach who could galvanize an entire organization. Players that are all easy to root for. The first playoff game in 16 years. We knew the come up is often the most sweet and are desperate to experience that feeling again.

2) as Carmichael Dave pointed out, one of the worst teams to root for is an underperforming team. So insanely frustrating to win one lose one with the level of talent.

3) our good looks make the rest of our lives easier, many of us wonder why that hasn’t translated to more wins.


I agree we all need to take a chill pill, that 16 year run has fans tweaking at ever turn.

 

[coolhandluke]

Fans are emotional idiots, myself included. The rollercoaster of emotions mirrors the rollercoaster level of play by the Kings. People need some space to vent out. KingsFans has always been more positive compared to other reactionary fan sites but expecting fans to be level headed is a tough ask. It maybe a little above our pay grade but we try.

 

[GWD]

The Kings sole purpose to exist is to entertain, nothing more.

However, beyond the actual on-court games, entertainment for some may include research, opinions, conjecture, forecasting, statistical analysis, arguing, belittling, and other related aspects of basketball that an observer may have interest or find amusing.

It is similar to movies in that movies exist to entertain. The genre may include romantic, horror, western, comedy, musical, etc. But not all people have the same tastes, or the perception of what is entertaining, in movies. Basketball can be viewed in the same light.

The OP seems to advocate for the narrowing of the acceptable modes of entertainment found on this forum. Rather, the forum should be open to what people find entertaining, as long as the interaction does not insult or demean others, as it generally does. However, the negatives occasionally slip by the moderators' judgement of posts of certain issues or of certain posters.

 

[BenchMob]

I lived in Sacramento since 87, been a Kings fan since then. Personally it’s the city connection and fans that is the fabric of the team. I want to see playoff runs and championships, seeing downtown lit up during the season. I am a Sacramento fan and if the Kings left, I would never follow the NBA. Sacramento PROUD

 

[Siranthony]

Edit: I decided to delete this post. I should not post immediately after a loss.