Requiem for Our Team

(A fantastic FanPost from Exhibit G. -- TZ)

The season is over, and we've survived.

Some of this team will remain intact, others will not be around next season.  Natt will probably receive an official pink slip in the near future.

I first want to explain the title of this post.  Every end of the season marks the end of every team.  Every team experiences changes.  The cast of characters changes.  Sometimes the changes are minor, other times they are drastic.  As bad as this season has been, this was our team.  For whatever reason, I feel closer to this team than any team since 2002.  The cycle begins again now, but we're now dealing with a different team.  We'll see players leave, we'll see new players enter our realm.  We grow to appreciate this team just as every other.  But I felt compelled to review and recap the season that just was. 

We've got a lot of ground to cover, so let's get to it.

First, the tearful goodbyes, in memory of those who have moved on.  Sorry if that sounded a bit morbid.  I'd be remiss if I didn't begin with the beginning of the end, Mr. Reggie Theus.  Amid rumors of unprofessionalism, Theus was uncerimoniously dismissed.  Had Reggie really been that bad?  At the time we considered the roster to be underachieving, but in hindsight perhaps they were just underachievers.  Or perhaps this just means that Natt was worse.  But we'll get to him in a minute.  Theus came in with optimism, but alas it was not meant to be.

Brad Miller and John Salmons were the finishing touches in a rebuilding process that began with Bibby and Artest.  We ushered out the old guard, the last major players of an era that passed us by.  The opportunity to win a championship is a small window, and our last window was officially closed.  At this point I'm referring more to Miller than Salmons. 

Quincy Douby and Mikki Moore were waived.  We hope the best for them both, but we all agree it was better than they go. 

Departing is such sweet sorrow, but every new beginning comes from some other beginning's end.  We welcomed new characters to our lives.  Most notably the new kids JT and Donte (more on them later).  We welcomed back B-Jax, welcomed in Nocioni, and said "I didn't realize you were still in the NBA" to Calvin Booth and Rashad McCants.  Too little, too late we got introduced to Ike Diogu.  Nocioni will be with us for a while, Booth, McCants and (probably) Diogu will join Drew Gooden under the "temporary layover" category.  Speaking of Gooden, nobody on craiglist has shown any interest in buying my #90 Kings jersey.  Weird.

I mentioned JT and Donte, and I want to spend a little more time on them.  I'm going to throw Spencer in here as well, since this was the season where he really began to emerge.  These three gave us hope.  Shock and Hawes earned their way into starting roles.  Hawes became the full-time starter at center when Miller got traded, but don't let that fool you.  Miller was gone either way, but Hawes earned the right to be the starter.  Same for JT.  I recall when he first started, um, er, starting.  He has earned the right to stay in the starting line-up.  If Blake Griffin comes to town this summer, he'll have to work hard to replace either of these fellas.  I think we all saw the glimpses of potential in Hawes last season, so it was less of a surprise.  Nobody on draft day -- nobody -- expected this level of production from Mr. Who? out of Rider.  JT surpassed our expectations, and won our support. 

Donte Greene gave us the Donte Greene show.  Oh yeah, he also played well in spots.  Buckets is the kind of guy you like having on the bench.  High energy, loves being a part of this team.  Let me say that again, he loves being part of this team.  I'm not sure how you put a price on that.  He needs to work on his shot selection, but this guy has a very high ceiling (which is good, cause he's tall and it would suck to be bumping your head on a low ceiling all the time).

Speaking of the rookies, we mustn't forget the laughs this season.  Specifically, JT and Donte both getting popcorn in their cars.  Er, sorry Spence, I meant to say "in their whips."  I'm also really happy that Donte survived the wrath of B-Jax.

It seems like I've gone a long time without mentioning Kevin Martin.  He had a good season, scored a lot of points in some games, but it seems like he wasn't a major contributor in this season.  Probably just my perception, and the stats may reflect differently.  But when I think of Speed's season I mostly think of a nagging ankle injury, missed games, and endless debates over his defense.  Mr. Martin, you have one job this offseason.  That job is to get healthy.

As much as I'd rather not discuss him, Beno Udrih was our starting PG this season.  Never quite aggressive enough, never happy with the offensive scheme, and never quite living up to the expectations we all had for him.  I honestly think he'd be a great guy coming off the bench as a back-up PG, but the Beno-as-a-starter experiment should be over.

We had a few high points this season.  We watched the young players getting meaningful minutes and showing us glimpses of how great they might be someday.  We snuck in a few wins against good teams (like the win over the Hornets).  And we learned how to use Natt as a curse word.

We certainly had low points.  From kicking off the season with B-52 on a pot suspension, to Martin's nagging injurt, to counting ping pong balls.  This was not a great season.  This was not a good season.  This was not a bad season.  This was a horrible season.  But we all kept watching.  We kept reading.  We kept caring. 

Sometimes we cared and quibbled about very silly things.  Seems like we've been talking about the draft since November.  We've had our endless debates about Griffin, Rubio, and Thabeet.  The debates will continue into the summer, but at least they'll take on a bit more structure.  Soon we'll know what players have declared for the draft.  We'll know for certain where we'll be picking.  Sometime this summer we'll know who our coach will be.

Until then, we know this: things will be better.  We went through the lowest low in franchise history.  It can only get better from here.  The future is bright, and we will once again return to being contenders.  It won't be immediate, but we're on our way.  I think even pookey and lttg can agree on that.