My two favorite sports clichés are “must-win game” and “rebuilding year.”
Back when I was a young Sacramento sportswriter, I avoided those phrases. They were trite. But I always smiled when local TV and radio pundits rolled out “must win” and “rebuilding.” Still do.
With the Kings, the first mention of a “must-win” game usually arrives around the third week of the season. This makes little sense, given that NBA campaigns stretch across 82 games. How could a team face a “must-win” situation in November with 75 games to play?
Easy, because the Kings aren’t just any team. They are the NBA’s biggest losers.
Just watch. By the third week of the season, the Kings will have lost two or three consecutive games. Doom pounds on the door.
Local experts will regard an upcoming match against a mediocre opponent as a last, best chance to plug holes in a ship that’s sinking before it clears harbor.
Hence, a “must-win” game.
As for “rebuilding year,” that curtain falls across the Kings between New Year’s Day and the NBA trade deadline in February. By that point, the Kings are miles behind the conference leaders. While not mathematically eliminated, history confirms any chance for success is theoretical.
Declaring the season a “rebuilding year” is a nice way to say the situation is hopeless without upsetting too many fans. The words cauterize the embarrassment and introduce a whisper of hope for the future. When players recently hailed as saviors are jettisoned in trades, the rebuilding campaign is officially underway.
I mention this in anticipation of a new Kings season.
In most other NBA towns, the first few weeks don’t mean much. Fans are focused on football. Sacramento is different. Here, the opening weeks are decisive, a time when anything seems possible if you close your eyes and fantasize.
This season is interesting because the Kings have another new coach, Mike Brown, whose most recent job was helping Steve Kerr guide Stephen Curry and the Golden State Warriors to their fourth championship in eight years.
Brown has bounced around the NBA for 30 years. He knows there’s no comparison between the Warriors and Kings. But many Kings fans, lacking reference points, think he sneaked some Golden State magic into his suitcase.
If nothing else, Brown will benefit from low expectations.
Kings fans, media pundits and stockholders would be thrilled to reach the playoffs. Notice how nobody talks about winning any playoff games? After a 16-year drought, getting swept in the first round sounds glorious.
The NBA is a meritocracy. There are only about 400 people in the world with full-time NBA player contracts. None of them rely on connections or donations made by rich parents.
Curry’s little brother Seth has played on eight teams, the Kings included. Seven teams didn’t consider Stephen’s brilliance when they waived or traded Seth.
The problem is finding the right four or five players. For the Kings, this means finding people eager to play for a team with a miserable track record and microscopic ambitions. Who wants to work for that company?
In 37 years in Sacramento, the Kings blundered into a truly winning formula just once, in 2002. Success was like quicksilver, here and gone, impossible to replicate.
Today the Kings have no clue how they did it.
Sadly, the NBA’s meritocracy doesn’t extend to management and ownership. Climb the front-office food chain and talent counts for less and less. Relationships and personality matter more than brains and skill.
The Kings haven’t had a proven, successful general manager since Geoff Petrie was fired in 2013. They staggered through losing seasons, bad trades, wasted draft opportunities and coaching upheavals under Pete D’Alessandro, Vlade Divac and now Monte McNair.
Meritocracy evaporates when you reach the owner’s suite. If managing partners were judged on wins and losses, Vivek Ranadive would have been bounced years ago. Unfortunately, Sacramento is stuck with him until the real estate market prompts him to cash out.
Meantime, let’s call every Kings game “must win.” The rebuilding year starts opening night.
R.E. Graswich can be reached at regraswich@icloud.com. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram: @insidesacramento.
