Sac Fan in Clipper town wrote:My background with the Kings goes back to 1987 and my then employer underwrote the bonds for Arco. I had dealings with Joe B and Greg L in those days. I helped broker the deal to sell them to my long term client, Jim Thomas, and have always hoped the franchise would do well.
It did in the mid late 1990's/early 2000 era but has floundered in recent years....I no longer live in N Cal (unfortunately), and not close to the organization, though I have met the brothers socially.
It is painful to watch the team resemble a Rex Hughes coached group and the 1-40 road record era. So be sarcastic if you like, a moderator's privilege, but if I were a Kings owner, I would do everything in my power to get the team to Las Vegas, and rebuild the franchise value and even sell once there. These guys want a return on their capital, and that's the most logical way to do it. An NBA owner has no real community responsibility, it is a private business and they must act accordingly, unless they see the team as a tax write off, which I doubt, the Maloofs are too competitive for that.
No conspiracy theory, just good business sense.
As for Geoff, the indecison of the last 2 seasons has come to haunt him, and now the product is barely watchable. He has fired 3 coaches in just over 4 seasons, and soon the arrow must point to him?
I wish the Kings and its fans well, but this can't last indefinitely. No point in having cap space if you draw 9000 at home.
Yeah, it's pretty excusable for a franchise to flounder for a little bit when they basically lose their franchise player, to whom they still owe (at the time they lost him) almost $100million over the course of the next decade. You'll probably say the Webber situation could have been handled better, and that's true, it probably could have. But that kind of bad luck is going to make keeping the franchise respectable nearly impossible. But the franchise did remain respectable. They made the playoffs for the next two years.
I think most here agree that with the way that team was going, it would have remained respectable for the following years if Adelman had stayed around. So then blame Geoff for that, right? I mean after all, you said that he fired Adelman. Except--oh wait, he had nothing to do with Rick's contract being renewed. That was a Maloof family decision--as was hiring Musselman. If you really think that Geoff was the one that decided that Rick would be staying in Sac, then I frankly just don't think you're well-informed enough to speak on this topic.
But most important is the fact that you seem to forget that when these fans have something to cheer for, they are arguably the best fans in the league. Even now, Arco gets very loud when the team has something to cheer for, and I would be willing to bet a whole lot of money that with a playoff-caliber team (8th seed), this arena would be back to selling out every night. Right now, the team is rebuilding, so people aren't going to pay to see them. That's what it boils down to. The Maloofs still charge a lot for the tickets, and people just can't afford to go to the games. But yes, the team is rebuilding. It's okay to have veterans while the team rebuilds. The young guys are developing just fine. The idea that that rebuilding teams clear out all veterans and just give young guys starter minutes to "develop" is a complete fallacy. Young players improve in practice and develop chemistry in games.
This team will be a playoff caliber team again in a couple years. Until then the Maloofs will just have to be a little patient, and ideally charge less for seats (I honestly don't understand why they don't do this right now. They'll make less per ticket, but more people will buy tickets and it will make for a better home arena).
