What Will You Do If the Kings Trade Boogie?

[Bricklayer]

Premise: Assuming some significant part of the swirling and downright nasty rumors are true.

Alright, so here we go one more time with this ridiculous franchise. Draft quite possibly the single best center to come along in the entire 21st century and then spend half a decade squandering him, and cap things by hiring multiple fools who want to dump him.

I'm going to try to be fair and exhaustive with the poll options above.

 

[Letsgokings13]

Stop following the Kings permanently, and maybe follow Boogie to his next stop. I just can't do this anymore

 

[Dreadnought]

I got through the relocation, I can get through anything. Will keep following but I just won't spend my money until this front office pulls its head out of its ass.

 

[HndsmCelt]

What no "Heap ashes on my head and gnash my teeth" option?

 

[John Galt]

I said "depends on what we get back". I mean, if they stock up with youth and start over I will be happier than if they get Lawson Rondo Faried - that kind of stuff. And I will also be happier once Karl is gone I hate him for life unless he really steps up and forcefully denies all this.

 

[Larry David]

Stop following the Kings until they get a new majority owner.

 

[Bricklayer]

Stop following the Kings until they get a new majority owner.

originally had that as an option, but it seemed to clutter the choices especially since I could not say if that would be 3 years from now or 20 years from now

 

[Iced Espresso]

I have no idea.

What is most important to me priority numero uno is that these bs rumors and leaks stop.

I'm tired of them.

 

[NowImLost]

 

[rainmaker]

Stop following the Kings permanently. This franchise is going to give me cancer. This isn't what sports is about, supposed to be fun.

Will follow Cuz wherever he goes but the Lakers would be the only holdup there. Still, if it's Cuz on the Lakers vs this crap here, I'm probably going LA but it'll never be like my years of being a Kings fan. I'd also be rooting against the Kings more than any other team. The way I currently treat LA and GS? That'd immediately shift towards Sac and I'd be hoping beyond hope this organization goes up in flames. I will bash this team at every turn, every post I make elsewhere, every conversation I have.

If and when Karl is fired and a legit cornerstone, top 5 player brought in to replace Cuz, then I might reconsider. I'll likely be old and grey at that point.

 

[CruzDude]

26 years a Kings fan. And the first 7 years with no playoff. Then the Maloof up and down. Am a Kings fan.

 

[Gary]

I like the "Stop following the Kings permanently, and maybe follow Boogie to his next stop" answer. Remember how a lot of us acted when Peja was traded? A lot of Euro fans were lost that day and we seemed to think that they weren't even fans of the Kings if they let a player dictate who they're fans of.

Same goes for now. You're not a real fan of the team as a whole if you let a single player dictate your loyalty.

Sure this team looks to be dysfunctional, but when has it not been? I will stay through thick and thin.
"Keep following the Kings no matter what happens" was my answer.

 

[Larry David]

originally had that as an option, but it seemed to clutter the choices especially since I could not say if that would be 3 years from now or 20 years from now

At this pace, I'd bet on it being closer to 5 years from than 20.

 

[miltonap]

I put so much emotion in this team over the last 15 years. I though we already went through hell, but I guess not.

We don't deserve this, and I don't think it'd be worth the stress anymore. I think I'd be done with the Kings. I'll follow Boogie where he goes.

 

[KingsFanGER]

I survived relegation games for two consecutive years and the spin off of the professional football department with my hometown football club. I'll survive a Cousins-trade too.
So used to the FO mess, meddling owners, meddling patrons, meddling fan organisations it doesn't bother me all that much. I'll try to focus on the good things and look forward to next season, hoping for the Kings to win some games.

 

[Bricklayer]

I like the "Stop following the Kings permanently, and maybe follow Boogie to his next stop" answer. Remember how a lot of us acted when Peja was traded? A lot of Euro fans were lost that day and we seemed to think that they weren't even fans of the Kings if they let a player dictate who they're fans of.

Same goes for now. You're not a real fan of the team as a whole if you let a single player dictate your loyalty.

Sure this team looks to be dysfunctional, but when has it not been? I will stay through thick and thin.
"Keep following the Kings no matter what happens" was my answer.

Doesn't apply. Peja's fans arrived with Peja and left with him. Many of the people going with me have been fans of the franchise since before Boogie was even born. But if you know the game, enough is enough. Its abusive, and anyone staying in such a relationship is just enabling it further. If you can't recognize and make a winner out of a team with DeMarcus Cousins, the very player we waited 25 years to find in the draft, then its just not happening. Its an amazing betrayal.

 

[Spike]

Well, you know I live in Denver. Malone is here, and I think he can make it work. So that's a +1.

If they trade away Lawson and Faried, two overrated players, for Cousins, straight up, I'm saving up for season tickets.
Pete is truly 4 steps ahead.

 

[Hoovtrain]

I will just to do what i have done for the last 10 or so years....continue to lose interest in the team.

 

[Iced Espresso]

I like the "Stop following the Kings permanently, and maybe follow Boogie to his next stop" answer. Remember how a lot of us acted when Peja was traded? A lot of Euro fans were lost that day and we seemed to think that they weren't even fans of the Kings if they let a player dictate who they're fans of.

Same goes for now. You're not a real fan of the team as a whole if you let a single player dictate your loyalty.

Sure this team looks to be dysfunctional, but when has it not been? I will stay through thick and thin.
"Keep following the Kings no matter what happens" was my answer.

I've had 2 times since the Kings came to town where I was almost gone from the NBA as a fan of the sport at all.

1. Kings look like they are leaving. Lots life has to offer, close that chapter of entertainment
2. Being screwed by the refs in 2002. I was close to walking then.

This is way beneath those two. But I'm starting to get very very tired of this rumor fest, the drama. I just want to have a logical direction the front office is following to be visible to me. I'm not sure how much longer I can take the batcrap, what batcrap to believe. But it won't be too much longer if this place is still on fire another season or two from now.

 

[IfAt1st]

After 3 decades of being a die-hard Kings fan, I can safely say that I, for one, would never follow the team again if they trade Cousins this way.

However, no matter how the poll turns out, I predict that most fans will end up being "Stop following the Kings until they start winning again" kinds of fans.

I can easily imagine it playing out like this:
1) Cousins is traded for middling vets and picks. The Kings organization puts on the massive PR front of making the best of a tough situation, and Cousins puts on his act of "I just wanna go where I can win". Both sides inexplicably survive this crapstorm.

2) The Kings somehow start winning, even with the lesser talent on the team. Everyone is surprised (except me, knowing how the NBA as a business works), and magically the team will still be over .500 when the new arena opens in 2016. The answer (for people in the future wondering how it's possible) is that I'll let y'all in on a little secret - the Kings haven't wanted to win in YEARS. Once they want to win, and the NBA is copacetic with that idea (new arena and all, gotta point to a successful city ponying up the money for their jewel arenas) it's really not that hard to eke out enough wins to be "a winning franchise" but not make much of a dent in the playoffs. There's plenty of room in the NBA to allow for that kind of "success" to assuage the fanbase and stoke the fires of business.
The Kings fans will stop their howling once the team starts winning (because as I predicted back in December when they lost to the Lakers, the fanbase is so sick and tired of losing they will take ANY winning, they're so desperate, which caused the pressure which led to the kneejerk firing of Malone, which led to...). They'll express their amazement that the team "isn't so crapty" (in the immortal words of Major League) and the relatively meaningless late-season wins will placate the starving fanbase enough to get excitement back in the place just in time for the new arena.

3) The one part I can't guess is just how successful will Demarcus be in this future.
The NBA still hates him, and he still lacks the personality and wiring to play along with their bullcrap.
If he lands on a team that doesn't have much talent to compete, he's going to have a miserable time. He may well be talented enough to cause a team (that's actually trying to win) to succeed, but with the kind of control the NBA (thru the refs) has on his career, he could go either way.

Really, the Kings have much more prospects to succeed in the near future - Demarcus would be leaving at the exact wrong time. Why live through these 5 years of HELL, when the relief and balm of winning is this damn close?

 

[The_Jamal]

If he's traded, i'll be angry for awhile, but eventually creep back into watching what happens with the team. The young pieces we'd likely get back for him, natural curiosity and 10+ years of fandom aren't easy things to give up. I don't know how you just "start rooting for another team." Not that I disagree with anyone who would, just don't know how you do it.

If he's traded to the Lakers, I'm done with this team forever and will actively be looking to bash them at every opportunity. We as Kings fans hold on to the glory years and the Lakers still remain our rivals. A deal like that for us would be the equivalent of Larry Bird suiting up for the Lakers. It'd honestly be one of the most cruel things you could do to a fanbase.

 

[One and Done]

It's been a long, tough road...so many points where we've collectively had "this close to giving up" moments.

For me, it's been this everlasting rebuild. The post "Rattle Seattle" era was much shorter in comparison and thanks to my age, I missed the Derek Smith to pre-Richmond catastrophes as I was much more interested in Ghostbusters and Ninja Turtles, if you will.

It pains me to see this never-ending cycle of disappointment. From the Maloofs lying to us for years about "clearing cap room for summer of 2010" to "we're not moving!" to "basketball 3.0" and "Stauskas?"...to, as Brick said, trading one of the best centers to come along in a long, long time...you've got to be kidding me. I joke with my friends that someone bargained with the devil to keep the Kings in Sacramento, thus we're made to suffer.

"Reaction will depend on what we get back" is my answer. Am I hopeful? Yes. Am I optimistic? No. This is the Kings, after all. I really hate it's come to this, but sports fans following the NBA and other leagues will know that this kinda stuff always leads to discord, no matter if it was true or not. So someone's gotta go. But the fan in me hopes "it'll fix itself."

"Depending on what we get back", if it's bad, I might need to take a step back, for my own health. I'll always be a fan, and in my opinion, I've more than earned my stripes. But it may be time to be a more casual follower until the light reappears at the end of the tunnel.

 

[kingsnation]

Stop following the Kings permanently.

 

[gunks]

I like the "Stop following the Kings permanently, and maybe follow Boogie to his next stop" answer. Remember how a lot of us acted when Peja was traded? A lot of Euro fans were lost that day and we seemed to think that they weren't even fans of the Kings if they let a player dictate who they're fans of.

Same goes for now. You're not a real fan of the team as a whole if you let a single player dictate your loyalty.

Sure this team looks to be dysfunctional, but when has it not been? I will stay through thick and thin.
"Keep following the Kings no matter what happens" was my answer.

While I gotta give you props on your loyalty.... Enough is enough as far as I'm concerned.

It would be one thing to root for an unlucky team (which is what we were when Webber's knee exploded), or a mediocre team trying to be relevant (what we were when GP tried to keep us relevant post Webber injury), or even a crappy team on a rebuild (the early days of Reke/Cuz, which had many of us optimistic)...But to root for a team that somehow is able to **** itself in the *** over, and over, and over again? Because somehow despite all the relocation drama we managed to get an owner who is WORSE than the Maloofs? F that. As Rainmaker said above, sports are supposed to be fun.

Vivek is such an inept bumbling jerkass tool of an owner.

**** Vivek. **** PDA. **** Mullin. **** Fegan. **** LA.

Maaaaaybe, MAAAAAYEB if The Kings pull off some kind of miracle trade that gets us Towns + Noel or Wiggins + Russel + future top 5 picks, or anything of that nature that sets us up for a legit rebuild (you know, like the legit rebuild we had with Cousins before the Irritant ruined everything), than The Kings will remain my "B" team, after wherever Cuz ends up.

I live in Seattle, and was against relocation. Boy do I feel dumb now.

It wouldnt surprise me if all if the Kings franchise is revealed to be an elaborate, long running, social experiment on brand loyalty and masochism. Lakers being the control group.

 

[Big Cuz 15]

it'll show how intelligent this owner is. an old patchwork coach who'll be here for maybe 2-3 years over a franchise star? just so he can run more 'offense'. he can take that shaka sign and shove it up where the sun don't shine.

 

[rainmaker]

Same goes for now. You're not a real fan of the team as a whole if you let a single player dictate your loyalty.

Don't sit there and tell me what a real fan of this team is. I've been the only Kings fan I know, living smack in the middle of Warriors territory since 94. I used to do homework listening to KHTK everyday after school and since we didn't have cable back then, listened to every Kings game on the radio, pre and post game, since the days of Brian Wheeler and Positive Dave. I used to practice on my hoop wearing my Richmond jersey. As a teen I had Mitch, Edney, Corliss and Tisdale posters on my walls.

As I got older and got a drivers license, I'd trek up to Sac to attend games or show up in Oakland wearing Kings gear. I bought League Pass when it came out and have bought it every year since in order to watch every game. I've hooked up to illegal streams at 4am while in Eastern Europe to watch preseason games. I've stuck by this franchise through the mid 90's when poor, our golden era, then the long and putrid playoff drought since. Players coming and going, the Maloofs, relocation threats, one bad coach after another, letting Reke walk, being a laughing stock, even the firing of Malone and this tire fire of a season. I've been about as diehard as they come while living outside the Sac region.

But this is the last straw. Fandom is a two way street and when you've been beaten and abused enough, you've got to get out at some point. And I'll happily be cheering against you and the Kings when Cuz comes to town and drops 30/15 and destroys this team.

 

[iowamcnabb]

I'd still follow them but would probably spend more time following my Cubs and Eagles. Cuz is my favorite player but if the right group of players came along I could easily get excited about the team again. As others have said just tired of the drama, incompetence and backstabbing. It's so much fun to be a Cubs fan these days after the proper management teams was put in place. If only the Kings could follow suit...

 

[allrightythen]

I was a Kings fan before all this so not much will change. I really like Demarcus and I thought we had something there with him and coach Malone. I will remain a fan but I won't be holding much hope on becoming a winning team anytime soon.

 

[kingzallday]

It's going to hurt if we lose Cousins, but I was fan of the Kings before him and I'll be fan after, if he does get moved.

 

[ovrush]

Voted on it depends. If we trade cuz for medoicre vets (lawson/fareid) im done for a while. I can come to terms with pda and a brand new owner being bad and ruining the good thing we have.

As long as vivek doesnt get us stuck with faried and lawson and karl. At that point you aren't admitting you screwed up, you're pandering to Karl and ensuring the type of mediocre team thats neither young and promising nor a title threat thats dull to root for. Plus cutting the kegs from under your gm ensuring continued internal issues.

If we (karl/pda/maloofs/vivek) have screwed this up to where cuz must go, we need to admit the failure and missed opportunity of cuz. Not publically mind you, but restack the deck. Clean house of past problems including Karl. Let Vlade choose his coach (hopefully Thibs), acquire a ton of young resources, coach them well, eliminate the drama, kill the leaks, and keep stability on the coaching and gm front. Get the messaging consistant and get on the same page.

Ill never stop being a kings fan.. but if the former happens I wont have any desire to be an active fan or care. If the latter happens, even if it means less winning short term, I would at least be intrigued enough to watch/spend/care about the team.