Every move the Kings made this off-season was met with
stifled laughter at best and outright guffawing and derision at worst. How can
this team, owned by a meddlesome technocrat, built by a first-time GM, coached
by a legend coaxed out of a cushy TV gig, and headed by a head case superstar, possibly
be successful? Every time the Kings made news, their actions were framed by
this narrative in the national media.
Granted, they made a lot of unconventional moves. They
traded two massive contracts, their first round pick, a future first round pick
and the rights to swap two further first round picks to the Philadelphia 76ers
for an end-of-roster guy, some draft rights and a massive hole in the salary
cap. They threw eight figures Rajon Rondo when nobody else was vying for his
services. Vlade gave Seth Curry a player
option for his second year on a small contract, which means it’s likely he only
exercises it if he isn’t playing well. They traded Ray McCallum for a Spurs
second-rounder, which means for essentially nothing.
They also shored up the bench with Quincy Acy, Marco
Belinelli, Kosta Koufos and Caron Butler. They also drafted an incredible
defensive force in Willie Cauley-Stein. They also jettisoned two of their
biggest albatross contracts to give them roster flexibility in the future. But
that isn’t funny, so nobody cares. The national media will only look at the
Boogie of it all, the powder keg situation that they won’t believe no longer
exists between Cousins, Rondo and George Karl. Zach Lowe put them at five in
his annual League Pass rankings for the rubbernecking factor, to watch the
Hindenburg in slow motion.
Nobody wants to believe in the Kings, and that’s fine.
Before the introductions in their season opener, Sleep Train
Arena was filled with a supercut of audio clips of pundits mocking the Kings’
moves. Players were named specifically. Fuel was added to the fire, and the
flames stoked. It’s clear where the 2015-16 Kings are getting their drive. As owner
Vivek Ranadive put it:
“It’s an ‘us against the world’ mentality.”
The Kings can’t turn around without finding prime bulletin
board material. They aren’t turning away from the criticism, they’re leaning
into it. They’re embracing it. They’re a team of ill-fitting head cases and
underperformers, or so you say.
They were one of the best starting lineups in the league
last year, and their bench let them down. They vastly improved their bench. They
had one of the most tumultuous head coaching stories last season, and they
settled with a Hall of Famer as their leader. They still have a top-three big
man in the league in DeMarcus Cousins and a dynamic scorer in Rudy Gay. There
is a lot to be excited out about this team, but nobody wants to see it.
In their opening game, the Kings fell down early to the Los
Angeles Clippers, going down double digits based on numerous turnovers. All the
work done, for nothing. Same old Kings. But they showed they weren’t the same
old Kings. They came storming back and made it a game, they lost 111-104, but
it was closer than that, as they even took the league in the fourth quarter.
They ended up losing to a team that will be in the race for the Western
Conference Finals, led by a modern-day Stockton and Malone. They showed that
the moves may not have been rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic, a
Titanic that was declared by those outside the team. These Kings have a direction and a purpose. These Kings will get to the playoffs.
They don’t want your belief, they want to earn your respect.
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