Richard III I am not, so pardon my morbid rendition of this famous line

TZiller’s excellent analysis and post (Worse Than It Looks… http://www.sactownroyalty.com/2008/12/4/681842/worse-than-it-looks) reveals the step-wise depression of the Kings from glory to sorry. Is this team building for an exciting future or paving the road to Perdition?

This is a rebuilding year and I am of the belief  that one has to go down before they go up. The Celtics and the Heat won championships after extended periods of cellar dwelling. The Heat in particular are an interesting example as they got Dwayne Wade started to upswing, gambled and mortgaged some rising future, acquired Shaq, won the title and then crashed hard and are again rising from the ashes (playing in the East helps). San Antonio hit the cellar, ate some excrement and became a mushroom cloud by getting the incredible Tim Duncan.  Cleveland and New Orleans are more recent examples.  For this team to pull out of the jaws of mediocrity they need to lose more in order to have a chance at winning more. A dull, hapless team with the first pick, or in enough years one of the first three draft picks, can be transformed into a vibrant exciting team with realistic potential to challenge for a championship ring.

How do we obtain such depths of disgrace?

-          Not to be overly cynical or mean but I would like to see Coach Theus remain; he is reacting to coaching pressure like Quincy Douby at the end of close game. His recent decisions are clanking off the rim some of the time, other times not even drawing iron.  The Eddie Jordan analogy is also valid – both wonderfully likable men with recent NBA player experience and solid knowledge of the game who are learning the ropes with their hands tied and failing miserably.  This will lead to a bottom 5 season record and heightened lottery chances. Painful to watch, but for this Kings franchise to make their way back to the promising (not promised) land a very high draft pick (and the right draft talent) is the most sensible solution.  Getting the 10th pick year after year is Ground Hog Day miserable.

-          Continue to acquire team oriented, positive presence players. We faithful fans will forever remember Spud Webb’s words to Mitch Richmond as he joined the Dick Motta coached Kings:

“welcome to hell”

Provide an atmosphere of hope to assure all that the future is bright in the Kingdom.

-          Dumping salary for the sake of dumping salary should be abandoned for the simple reason that every other team in the NBA is doing it.  Do you really think any of the top 10 FA’s for 2010 are going to happily come here rather than a winning “prestige” team? These are guys who are at the peak of their careers looking for their career paychecks. New York, New Jersey, Phoenix, Miami, Boston, Portland among others will have their checkbooks out for competing deals with the Kings, Thunder, Grizzlies and Timberwolves. If you were one of these FAs who would you pick? I love the area here – I live here too – but to these players who yearn for world market  and national exposure AND a title, right now Sacrament looks more ugly Step sister than Cinderella to these Prince Charmings. There are deals to be had by not following the herd, fortunately, this is a Geoff Petrie specialty (get well soon, GP), let him do his thing.