Nothing in this quote by Kevin is in any way whining or lacking of leadership. Perhaps you are just irritated with the team as we all are. Historically bad defensive efforts usually account for Historically bad quotes from the players in the aftergame interviews. Not much Martin can say about that mound of garbage the Kings shoveled onto the court last night other than “We will make a better effort”. The Statement " We are a JOKE right now is 100% Accurate. And it really has little to do with Martin. Miller, Moore, Beno, Salmons have their parts, but really Martin has been fairly consistent. My 8 year old can see that Miller is mailing it in internationally parcel post. He must know that he is the focal point of all the fans ire. I truly believe that the Refs in this league HATE Brad for some reason, because he NEVER gets a call. Whatever it is, we need to be rid of Miller in the worst way. He is no longer an NBA Quality player. Watch his defense and you will see why. Sad part is that his offense has gone south fast. Beno is a scrub. Popavich was totally right about Beno, now we are stuck with him. He was barely good for a 1 year deal, and we gave him 5. CRAP!

It was annoying.

I would have been equally disappointed if the Kings lacked the sportsmanship to know when to stop shooting three pointers. Probably more embarrassed.

As far as Kevin’s quote: Speed has never led the team, nor has he ever been eloquent. Unfortunately, best scorer often equals expected leader. So now Kevin has to experience the growing pains of becoming a professional leader, i.e. learning how to live up to his coach’s expectations, how to get the most out of his teammates, both of which require him to learn how to express his frustrations respectfully but accurately.

It’s no easy task. It’s hard enough to do in the privacy of our everyday lives, let alone with a gang of reporters trolling your locker room for a vulnerable soul frustrated that he is not fulfilling his professional expectations. Trolls who never give mulligans.

For example, KG, at least until last year, had been labeled as non-clutch, or liable to make mistakes in crunch-time, yet he is undeniably a great leader. I think leadership is really more about what you said first, radiating confidence, not showing fear and making full effort than it is about actual on-court performance.

That’s why I agree with Pookey. There was something annoying about his quote. Mainly, that it included elements of what a leader is supposed to say without really taking any responsibility for his past actions:
“I’m going to play hard, and it’s going to start with me.” – This isn’t something he should need to say. This is something he should always have been doing. By saying this, he acknowledges that he hasn’t been playing as hard as he could. This first line negates everything he says afterward:
“And if other guys aren’t playing hard, coach (Kenny) Natt is going to see that – including myself.”

This reads like: I haven’t been playing hard, but now I’m definitely going to do so, and everybody else should play hard because I’ve decided to do so starting now. And if they don’t then our interim coach will have to hold them responsible..er I guess I should too I suppose. What a joke. You lead by doing not talking.

You defined a leader perfectly

good leader shows no fear and radiates confidence. In basketball, the leader is on top on all phases of his game and excels at crunch time —others recognize it and become followers.

And, that’s why we don’t have a leader. No One excels in all phases of the game. That’s what a SuperStar does and we don’t have a SuperStar. Until we find someone to fill that position, and start to build a team around him, we will always struggle at crunch time.

This game wasn’t a personal failure, it was a team failure. A failure to play Team Defense. So, although Martin may feel bad about his performance and want to improve it. The failure falls on Natt. He has to be the leader, do to the lack of player leadership. And, when the players fail to follow the game plan, he needs to make an example of them in front of the entire world. His situation leaves him no other choice. If we had a team leader, he surely would have gotten into the grill of the players not following the plan and constantling leaving their man open.

Top 4 teams destroy bottom 4 teams.. I think the problem is, most Kings fans do not see the Kings as a bottom 4 team… but the evidence is there for all to see. Check the scoreboard mate! The Kings are having a bad season, period. The combination of dumping salary and starting rookies has caught up to them. That’s all well and good as long as the team is going in the right direction. I can’t tell if the team is or not because no one, I repeat NO ONE knows what is in the head of Geoff Petrie. He is either gonna earn his pay this offseason, or he is going to seal his fate with the Kings organization. Either way, we have to look at what the Kings have in the way of assets, and they are few. They do have quite a few pieces that do not fit or are broken. Really after Martin, JT, and Hawes (none of which are setting the world on fire) who else would you really want on a team that will win games in the National Basketball Association?

Three things I know for sure:

1) Geoff Petrie is entirely responsible for the current roster.

2) Geoff Petrie will be held accountable for making it work.

3) Geoff Petrie will be fired if he can not make it work somehow with FA’s and the draft.

I think Geoff is reaching the end of his tenure as the GM. He is probably SICK of dealing with the Magoof Side show, and he is manuvering his was out of town. You know he would rather be somewhere else doing his thing. More than likely he will leave the Kings in a state of disarray and bail. So that goes back to, what are the assets and what are the liabilities on this team. Better get out your checkbook Magoofs, it is gonna cost a small liquer distributership fortune to fix this mess…