Almost 80% of you knew it was coming after only one week of Kings basketball -- Sacramento has hit the bottom of Marc Stein's ESPN.com Power Rankings.
It's a long way from Heaven to Hades, for sure. I thought it'd be interesting to take a glance at how this decade has played out for the Kings -- how low the franchise sinks now in comparison with the highs of years recent. So starting with the 1999-2000 season, I charted the aggregate points margin of the decade at the conclusion of each game. For example, the Kings began the 99-00 season with a 5-point win against Minnesota, so the aggregate margin moves to +5. The next game was a 13-point loss, so the margin goes to -8. And so on. Playoffs included. Here's what it looks like as of today.
The Kings sucked last year... but it was nowhere as bad as the clear inverse of the early decade success... which you might expect to come at some point. Roller coasters don't go up forever, do they? (Shut up, San Antonio.)
If the Kings get outscored by 400 points this season (27-win territory), it will look like the opposite of the 2001-2002. That's terrible, but it also means there's still plenty of room to fall -- five years worth... unless Geoff Petrie, Kevin Martin, and/or Spencer Hawes rescues us. You said your prayers this morning, right?