Okay, so I pretty much had resigned myself to not seeing the Kings on any national TV this year, except for the chance that the Clippers might show them on KTLA, which I get with Dish Network, or maybe Boston or Chicago, when they come through there....   But what's this?   I see they are being shown on NBATV, the Knicks and Kings!   Yes!  

For a few moments, I was totally elated.   I missed the first couple of minutes, because my wife wanted to finish watching her Christmas show, so, whatever, no big deal!   Except when I turn back the channel, we are down like, sixteen points, in something like seven minutes....   WTF?

My wife goes to bed, and I watch the rest of the game.   I can't believe it.    I am just stunned.

Uncontested layups.   Players left wide open on the wing, on the top of the key, well, pretty much everywhere....   Are they playing man to man defense?   Or is it zone?   Or is it something in between, like, maybe I will be asked to help defend someone's man, so I better sag off my own guy so I can help when Robinson or Duhon fly past the defender and get into the paint....  

I can't believe what I am seeing.    Has this been going on all season?   This bad?   I mean, is this really the Kings?

The announcers on NBATV are just as speechless.   What can they say?   There is just nothing you can say, really.   They just ended up shaking their heads and questioning their manhood, you know?   They were happy when the Kings made the third quarter run, just to sort of hope the Kings were back in the ballgame, but no, it was an effort mirage.   It faded away quickly.

They didn't show any closeups of the Maloofs, or Petrie, but that is probably for the better.  And they didn't even show much of Theus, either, except when he was leaving, head down, off the court.  

I like Reggie, and I want him to take this team and turn it around.   I want to believe in the offense, too.   But man, there was no offense, really.   It was run down, shoot a three, and any ball movement looked totally confusing to the Kings themselves, not to mention totally ineffective.   It looked like a bunch of volleyball players out there, attempting to play basketball.   Not good.

I didn't realize that it was this bad.   That the team was this bad.   Is there anyone who can tell me what happened to this team?   Is there something wrong with the water or Gatorade?   Is it really that they hate Theus?   Is it something else?   Are they all just bad players?   What, what what?

Well, I guess we should all welcome our new coach, whoever he is, with open arms and hope to high heaven that he can get these guys going in some kind of direction.   Because it can't get much worse than this.   Can it?

Bye, Reggie.   We hardly knew ya.   Enjoy your paychecks for the next six months!  It might not be your fault, really, but we will never really know what happened in that locker room all season.    So much for the Uptempo offense.   So much for the defensive focus....   I guess Natomas is where my basketball dreams are going to die, like Tower Records or Merlinos.   Damn.