My Crappy pATHETIC Season Preview

Lord I've really been real stressed Down and out, losin ground Although I am black and proud Problems got me pessimistic Brothers and sisters keep messin up Why does it have to be so damn tuff? I don't know where I can go To let these ghosts out of my skull My grandmas past, my brothers gone I never at once felt so alone I know you're supposed to be my steering wheel Not just my spare tire But lord I ask you To be my guiding force and truth For some strange reason it had to be He guided me to Tennessee

(Chorus) Take me to another place Take me to another land Make me forget all that hurts me Let me understand your plan

Since preview's are always the crapola flavor of the month in October regarding the NBA, and that's just the way it is, I'd thought I'd throw my green crap upon the pile. But, it's going to have too many words (no 75 word count just barely reached here), and it's going to contain bad analogies and maybe a quote from somebody that will seemingly have nothing to do with anything related to a preview of a NBA team many have picked to be amongst the 5 worst NBA teams.

First Portion: (The Part about the Future)

"Any man who can drive safely while kissing a pretty girl is simply not giving the kiss the attention it deserves."--Albert Einstein

It's almost funny, and amusing as hell, when I read the above quote today eating at the local 24 hr mexican joint down the street from my cardboard box (they technically call it a room here), while eating a burrito with mildly hot sauce on it. But the point in the book makes plenty of sense; it's about Traffic, and the reasons we drive the way we do. I find it fascinating since my college major is traffic engineering, but since this is about the Kings (I hope), I wonder what analogy it has to the Kings. And I believe I've found it. With almost all our pre-season talk focusing on Spencer Hawes, there's an almost important point that has been entirely left out of the whole discussion. Why? Spencer is young. His flaws have been a constant and consistent state of discussion.

Why isn't there any of this discussion being dedicated to Donte Greene or Jason Thompson? Is it because they are rookies? No, I don't think that's the case. If JT had the same notoriety as Greg Oden would we be discussing him all the time? Yes, I believe so. I think the whole reasoning of discussion that has surrounded Spencer was that he ends up being a very "outspoken" guy whom many of us disagrew with politically, and hope physically on the court kicks the shit outta everybody else in his way. (One of the great definition of being a liberal though. No matter the heaps of irony that it represents.) One thing has become universal on StR in these past weeks: An almost perfect litany has developed in the things Spencer Hawes has to do be successful. Gain Upper & Lower Body Strength. Another is to pick his spots (Sorry HT) and do so appropriately. One other factor is to learn from his mistakes and apply them appropriately to the next situation. The problem, of course, is when you're 20, lessons are more common, and the application is a bit more difficult. I don't know what to expect from Spencer (a few weeks ago I said about 10 & 5 which I think is close to right, but maybe a bit higher now) but I do hope he makes the strides. I certainly agree that the level of competition, and the desire to be better, will suit him as he will find a challenge every night in some way.

I'm really not sure what to expect from Jason Thompson. Everything from Scrub to perennial All-Star seems right for him. I'm just not really sure. I know these for sure: He can handle the ball, he's a legitmately sized fellow, and he is as relatively mature as a 22 year old can be. He can rebound at a decent clip, and he has some energy. I don't know more than that which is why I suspect, and I suspect why the Shawes conversation has almost dominated the post-season, along with the Oden match-up's that have prompted a lot of it, that he hasn't played the full season with such a famous counter part to say," See, what we should have gotten!" There is nobody like that in the 08 draft to say that about, and Oden is certainly the man-child everyone wanted before the 07 draft for the Kings. (I wanted Durant then, now, and 15 years from now when Oden's won, if he's healthy, 3 or 4 rings.) What I would love to see from JT is a 10 & 5 type of season, only better than that, in the 2nd half of the season if he's getting 20 mins or more. What I would really be salivating over, if nothing else, is that he has displaced the need for Mikki Moore and the team mandated dumping of a veteran big, Kenny Thomas or Mikki works for me, at some point to open up a lot of time for JT. That would be the best case scenario. The worst case scenario would be, umm, Pervis Ellison I think. But that's perhaps a guess. And a reasonably awful analogy in just about every way. But when you're me, and I am, you say fuck it, and laugh maniacally listening to the Police and a song of their's you don't particularly care for. Especially when it's a Blue Oyster Cult (BOC) song you do like.

I don't particularly care about Donte Greene, or Bobby Brown for that matter. Greene's got talent, and so does Brown. But I've said this many times in the thread regarding Darius Miles, that I didn't want Bayless because I didn't think he filled a need. That's exactly the same feeling I have toward Brown. He doesn't truly fill a need because his skills don't exactly fit the needs the Kings have in the backcourt, with one notable exception, and that is to defend quick guards. Which Bayless is probably not going to be able to do. So in essence, good for Portland they got Bayless, but he's their problem. I like Greene because he's young, and once he develops, which is of course a huge key with him, and like every other young player, he could be a beautiful fit alongside Shock & Hawes at some point given his skill set and athletic prowess. That's of course all 3 develop to the point where you consider building the team around them as a tandem/trio, and I'm assuming that Martin is part of this conversation too, and all that. So the unknown of Greene is tantalizing, but so meaningless, and probably quite a bit down the road, that talking about G-Dub, and having him return, is, just, doo-doo-dumb. (I've said so many words about G-Dub that I'm just tired of the conversation at this point. Stop it. Petrie doesn't want him back, particularly at the enhanced cost. So if for nothing else, why not just settle for that?) Besides, Greene has a chance to be better than G-Dub, and THAT intrigues me to no end. Petrie has not soured on him yet.

Let's see, I've covered Shock & Hawes, and Greene and Brown. They're the 4 youngest players on the Kings. Which leaves me with everything else regarding the future of the roster. That fact leaves Mikki Moore, Brad Miller, Kenny Thomas, John Salmons out of the conversation alone. They're just too old, and since the first 3 have contracts that end in 2010, they won't be on the roster after that. Future is not in any of those guys vocabulary, and in Salmons case, who knows what will happen with him. Salmons is temporary, because if for no other reason, if Greene develops he will have to play somewhere, and Salmons is a SF like Greene will almost certainly end up being.

The other part of this conversation builds around Cisko and K-Mart. How do they fit in the future? First Cisko because his future is a bit easier to predict. The guy is pure 100% energy and most of the time. He's an almost perfect 6th man, the type of guy who can fire a lagging squad at any time with passion, clutch shooting, and general presence. His presence alone I think means that Artest taking a lagging squad along with him won't be necessary. If I had to play with Ron, and all the conodrums that exist playing with Bill, I would drag a lot too. I think Cisko's extension seems a bit high today, and could seem to be a bargain 2 years from now. Patience, minions, is today's magic word. Preach it, learn it, be it!

"Kevin Martin, line 2 is on hold for you. Your Destiny's calling." And for those talking about Ron as a loss, try being the 2007-08 Kings, and trying imagining this happening to your team. Then be glad you've got Kevin Martin, and be glad SpeedRacer is a quality nickname. Because it's better than "Can TOO Drive a Moped" Mon-tay, or "Mr Martyr" Corey Maggette. Kevin Martin is a better player than Monta Ellis, and if for no other reason, his success wasn't being augmented by a talented player taking a substantial part of the game (ball handling by Baron Davis) away by doing it himself. If anything, Artest contributed to the argument that Martin's greatness was being denied, not enhanced. Yes, the city by the Bay may be getting a lot of pub, but they inked a player, in Maggette, who does some things well, and has played on one playoff team to date. Yes, I think there is a great difference between Maggette and Durant, and the difference will be, ultimately, that Durant's team will win more. Maggette's disaffection had a lot to do with how well the Clippers play, and that just bothers me. I like to believe I know stuff about the NBA, but as True Hoop and Ball Don't Lie prove to me every time I read the blogs, there are plenty of others out there who know stuff too. The Warriors are a mess. The Kings are rebuilding. The Warriors signed Maggette to a significant amount. The Kings are recovering (and it takes a long time to recover) from their Golden Years where longer contracts were given to procure and satisfy players a championship level basketball team over about 3 seasons. The Warriors? They've done no such thing. Which leads me to Speed Racer.

Why is Speed (I hate copying TZ--umm, wait, no I don't) so fantastic? Umm, well, a lot of reasons!!!! (Like I can add "!"'s to the end of the sentence and it's okay.) He can shoot deep, and get to the line. He doesn't ride Moped's. He compares to Mitch Richmond in some aspects, and that's 7-8 All-Star years quality over a full career. That's borderline Hall of Famer depending on how you feel about Mitch. (Leave those somewhere else. This isn't the place for Mitch sentiments. There's a fanshot exactly for that.) So in essence, I like that idea with Kevin. After all, Mitch was the 3rd overall pick for the Kings in 1992 (that's what it ended up being--I'm perfectly aware he was the 5th overall pick in 1988--shutup dickweeds). Kevin Martin was the 26th overall pick, with Gerald Wallace departing, himself the 25th overall pick in 2001 for the Kings, for the Kings in 2004. That's fantastic quality for players who don't usually last for more than 2 years in the league (the league minimum for rookie contracts). If you top it out with Garcia, the 23rd overall pick in 2005, and Quincy Douby, the 19th overall pick in 2006, then you have some quality players with various abilities across the board without a single lottery pick among them. Spencer Hawes and Jason Thompson are both low to lowish lottery pick at 10th and 12th overall in the last 2 years. What if both, or one turns into a legitmate all-star? The point I'm making is that Martin's development has proven that hard work, and faith up to a point, makes a greater development standard than how many highlights, or needs, that the fans think you fill (Gerald Wallace step on down!). Kevin Martin's stardom is the future, and not the past. If anything, the folks who've predicted a regression, will end up pointing out how stupid they were vs the folks (those with faith--or in TZ's case--knowledge of numbers) always knew they were. That, is the greatest argument for the future, and against the tyranny of stagnation (Hello Ron Artest!).

Lord it's obvious we got a relationship Talkin to each other every night and day Although you're superior over me We talk to each other in a friendship way Then outta nowhere you tell me to break Outta the country and into more country Past Dyesburg into Ripley Where the ghost of childhood haunts me Walk the roads my forefathers walked Climbed the trees my forefathers hung from Ask those trees for all their wisdom They tell me my ears are so young Go back to from whence you came My family tree my family name For some strange reason it had to be He guided me to Tennessee

The 2nd portion of all this (Read: Management, Ownership)

Joe and Gavin are usually the people, if nothing else, the symbol that represents to many, who aren't familiar with the franchise, as the owners of the Kings. The truth isn't that simple though, as many of us know, and even better, many of us realize. The family, that is the Maloof family, control things, and even though George runs the Palms, do you honestly think that he has less input than Joe or Gavin? What about Coleen (I always call her Mama Maloof though) Maloof and her matriarchal status? Or the sister Adrienne (ummm--No comment) for instance? If they make decisions as a family, as I've heard Joe claim, then who has the most influence in these decisions? If you asked me, it's George and Mama. But that's me, and I'm not the only person here. And if that's 5 people, that means technically every person shares 20% of the vote. Gavin has a better image than perhaps I think is suggested of him, and Joe's media dealings have gotten better, but the information is still easy to gleam when you want to get after it. George, Mama and Adrienne don't do many interviews, and I'm pleased with it. I hate ownership that does interviews. Especially when there is nothing to say. What I do know about the Family in general, is that their expertise runs towards the more entertainment side of things. In that area the Kings do well. The basketball side? That's a bit more tricky, obviously, and the people who SHOULD be running it, the basketball folks, appear to be.

So my question is: Who is running the Kings? I say Petrie is, and the Maloof's get input as to how the money is spent. Which is EXACTLY the way it should be. I still think the non-option picking up of Douby/Williams was as much as the potential loss of money the franchise will lose over the course of the 2008-09 season. Nasty recessions tend to change owners thinking. I still think that with Douby being an expiring contract, moving him to the Magic would be easier, particularly if the Kings could move Kenny Thomas that way as well. It would be better, for Sacramento, than moving Mikki Moore to the Magic instead. That all having been said, and I say this knowing that the Maloof's can always increase involvment at any time, the franchise seems to be moving quite along at a reasonable, and brisk, rate if I may say so. The most amount of drama, these days, is generated by a 20 year dipshit (loopty loop batshit republican at that) whom is making some of us will match up with Greg Oden 3 years down the road. That is a good thing. When your ownership makes news, as the Maloof's did when they traded for Artest, that's very bad. Particularly after the first time the trade got nixed, they revived it. The Maloof's didn't trade Bibby or Webber. They traded Peja. It almost seemed to me then, as it does now, that they traded him due to fan pressure, not to actually improve the team. The fans wanted something different, and the Maloof's being wealthy fans, acted as such.

There's a reason why Petrie is a professional. He isn't guided by his emotions in these matters, and neither should have the Maloof's. But they did, and the franchise has been a bit off since. Or, it was until they traded Artest away. Now the balance has seemed to restore itself in small doses, and it's seemingly all there for the team as a whole to balance itself nicely for the future with all young players locked up (Garcia, Martin, Udrih), and the more than reasonable opportunity to lock every other young player on the team (Hawes, Thompson, Greene, Brown, and, Williams) to deals if the team so wishes. That's always a reasonable opportunity, as opposed to another small market team whose having identity/salary cap issue's, and is hamstrung by them. The grass is always greener on the other side, and as fans, well I'll get to that later. Let's just say that the Maloof's did something their way, and realized, well, it's not that just simple. If that is in fact what happened, then the team, long term wise, will be far better. When basketball people run it with a clear directive of what they can & can't do from ownership, basketball teams run far more smoothly. And while TZ hasn't said anything about this, I certainly don't blame him for not saying anything, and nothing has come from the magnificient vault on 1140 about such, as far as I can tell, there hasn't any been comments from the Bee as far as I can tell either. Nobody seems to have noticed it. So I ask, and meaningfully I think, if a tree falls in the forest, and no-one hears it, did it actually happen?

Petrie did something very important in trading Artest and Bibby. In Bibby's case he created so much salary cap relief in the off-season that it meant the team didn't have to sell off a cheap asset to get under the luxury tax. That's a big thing to have not be able to do that. It also allowed the team to absorb Martin's huge contract increase (1.8 to 8.8 million) without going over the LT limit too. As Thomas, Miller, and Moore are approaching the end of their contracts, it increases Petrie's assets here too. There's little Petrie can't accomplish because he has many asset's. Unlike a year ago, there wasn't much flexiblity because Artest was blocking such. Any decision with the roster had to be made in mind with Ron Artest first and foremost. And now that decision is out of the way, and now big contracts like Miller, Thomas and Moore become more expendable, especially if young players develop quicker than expected, then it increase's Petrie's ace's in the hole. Cap relief is nice, but it's not everything. Just ask Jerry Krause what he thinks about having cap room available year after year. The bottom line is that this team has a future without Artest dominating the conversation, and while beating a very dead horse, it puts this team toward a reasonable basketball arc of success. That, in of itself, is reasonable cause to celebrate. Which is why, I suspect, so much elation happened after the Artest trade. I personally felt, when Artest was around, on the end of a teeter totter, and that's not a particularly comforting feeling when it's a basketball team you put so much time & energy into. If nothing else, Petrie saved the Kings, by trading Artest, long term by giving them a reasonable future.

Now I see the importance of history Why people be in the mess that they be Many journeys to freedom made in vain By brothers on the corner playin ghetto games I ask you lord why you enlightened me Without the enlightment of all my folks He said cuz I set myself on a quest for truth And he was there to quench my thirst But I am still thirsty... The lord allowed me to drink some more He said what I am searchin for are The answers to all which are in front of me The ultimate truth started to get blurry For some strange reason it had to be It was all a dream about Tennessee

The 3rd part of this crappile (Us, the fans, remember us?)

So what do we do now? We sit back and wait, and take simple pleasure in the little things. A well executed pick & pop by Spencer. A coast to coast dunk by JT in the first month of the season. Cheering far too loud for Donte Greene garbage time in the first week of the season. That sorta thing. Petrie won't listen to the fans, and if Petrie was inflicted with death tomorrow, he still wouldn't give a shit. Ever. That's part of his job. As fans, and I am one I do have to admit (sniffy sniffy sniffaroo!), we have the luxury of talking shit. Petrie doesn't. We can afford bad mis-steps. Petrie cannot. We can say we always knew that JT would turn into the next Karl Malone. Petrie has to let JT do it. The beauty of being a fan is we get some distance from the truth. The reality is that having no power means no ability to make decisions, and no matter how many of us believe we could be effective running a NBA team, there is only a handful of fans out there who even could attempt it. So that is that.

On the other hand, we also provide the ability for the Maloof's to make money on the team (I'm assuming they still can). We still allow the team it's "homecourt" advantage that Arco gives at it's loudest, and a high pitched splitting/raucous headache levels of insanity. We buy jersey's, and tickets, and spend significant portions of time and energy thinking about a team that, when at it's pinnacle, we will have a very cursory stake in. Yet, as many times over as the situation in Seattle has proven, things change. If you read this fanshot, there are many, and varied, opinions on that very subject. However, and this is a rather important but (I prefer that to writing but, and this is a blah blah blah), as fans we also get to sound our approval & disapproval too. Normally I think previews are stupid. Especially for a pretty much mediocre Kings team as a year ago. That probably should have been worse at that. Some of that was luck, and some of that was, well, something. I do know that every one of these high 20 to mid 30 something wins will be appreciated by the fans this time around. This team will beat who can they beat, and won't beat who they can't beat. Which will be pretty much the entire upper echelon NBA. There will be no "how can we beat San Antonio and lose to the Clippers" the next night type fo analysis with this team. That's because this team won't go as Artest does. Artest was mercurial, but more importantly, he wasn't very consistent. It was true he played hard, it's also true he didn't have the same focus all the time too. When he focused, he brought a different style of play that changed the Kings option. When he gets into a pissing contest with fans, well he isn't focused. He's not one of those guys who has on/off ability in this area either. He can't not focus for 20 mins and then focus for the next 28. The Rockets have the talent, and coaching staff, to fetter out that ability to somre respect. The KIngs don't. Particularly in the talent department. Yao Ming is the top dog in Houston. Ron Artest is the 2nd or 3rd dog depending on McGrady's health. And he's more talented than McGrady or Ming. He's not nearly as focused as either, which is saying something in Tracy Mac's case, though, which is why he isn't making 10+ million a year. He's also not as popular for that matter.

At the end of the day how we look at this time this season will end up, in all probablity, shaping up how we view the 2009-10 team won't it? If Shawes fails, to our expectations, what's the likelihood we will expect him to meet or exceed our expectations for the following season? Isn't that also true of Greene and Thompson too? What about Udrih, Martin or Garcia? Or Bobby Brown to a much lesser degree? Where do we draw a line of remaining pragmatic and unemotional, and where do we let our emotions drive us? Fans always walk that fine line because we're always searching for information I think. (One reason I love True Hoop and Ball don't Lie so much. There is so much information there that you're choosing to leave stuff out, rather than look for more information. Picking and choosing is far better than having 3 things to look at, and only those 3 things to look at.) That's essentially it for me, and why I like Blogs, including StR, but not necessarly all. I don't prefer a few views on the Kings, but many. Which is why I'm going to suggest getting shit faced. Like at every game you go to, and every game you watch. It's going to be ugly, and while I don't necessarily believe drinking analogies work for sports, I do believe it will work appropriately here. Beer Goggles will work well with this team. After 10 beers for example: Donte Greene will be the next Gerald Wallace with better hops, shooting ability, and more E's!!!!!!!!! Okay, that was stupid, but you get my point. (Or you better. Otherwise he's coming to get you.) Alkiehol makes everything better. Even for those who don't drink. (In which case you're drunkyness will be cheaper.) What's the bottom line? Expect the team to be bad in several area's, particularly defense. Expect them to be up & down at pushing the ball. Expect Kevin Martin to score lots of points. Expect his assists to go up, but not too far up because no one else can finish inside on this team that well, except for maybe JT by the end of the season. It's going to get ugly, and no matter how bad the bitch is, at the height of all she will look like this. Now I say to you neener neener, and leave you suckers with this glutton of punishment delivered by the spiked hair genius himself.

A person who never made a mistake never tried anything new.

I am a deeply religious nonbeliever - this is a somewhat new kind of religion.

Intellectuals solve problems, geniuses prevent them.

Logic will get you from A to B. Imagination will take you everywhere.

Reality is merely an illusion, albeit a very persistent one.