King Fans Rejoice – At Least We’re Not The Clippers

I’m not sure what was worse about last night – the Clippers broadcast team or the on court performance of the boys from down south. That was awful. Chris Kaman might as well have dressed up in a Santa suit and given Jason Thompson presents filled with easy baskets and rebounds. Baron Davis looked as interested in guarding Tyreke Evans as he is for joining Weight Watchers.

The Clippers are really bad. Worse than the Kings, and that my marshmallows, is saying something. Yes, they do have Blake Griffin coming back next year (who knows what he’ll do…I was never high on him pre-injury) and they do have cap room, but really – what level minded free agent is willingly going to sign there? Not to mention, the salary some of these guys have….yikes. Baron Davis on the hook for 13 million next season. Chris Kaman on the books for 11.3 million. I’m sorry, but, that’s not a good situation for any potential free agent to walk into and expect wins.

In addition, living in Southern California (and being a league pass subscriber), I get the privilege (if you want to call it that…) of listening to the visiting feed during Clipper/King games and while I’ve yet to figure out why, it’s obvious Clipper play-by-play man Ralph Lawler (BINGGGGGGGGGGGGOOOOOOOOOO!!!!) has a problem with the Sacramento franchise. Any potential opportunity to bash the club or its players, he pulls out his Louisville Slugger and goes Barry Bonds on it. Yes, he reluctantly will give props on a nice play and does give Tyreke Evans partial credit, but overall, it’s nothing but gloom and doom for the guys wearing purple and black. His continued march to attempt to give Stephen Curry one more chance at the Rookie Of the Year award was laughable. I like Ralph…for the most part. I just don’t understand his infatuation with crapping on the Kings.

As for the on court performance from the Kings, they were flawless…and really, with the way the Clippers played, it was hard not to be. The game was pretty much over in the second, and while the Clippers made a run, it was rare they got to within single digits before the Kings pulled away.

A couple notes:

Jason Thompson plays extremely well when Spencer Hawes is not on the court. Just an FYI.

What happened to Donte Greene and Omri Casspi? Somebody file a missing persons report…

And last, but not least, Tyreke Evans needs 51 points in the final 3 games (thanks to a near 30 point game last evening) to lock up the 20/5/5 season average. You can bet your bottom dollar the Kings are fully aware of that and will force feed Reke in the final two home games with hopes he can accomplish the feat in Sac-town, not LA.

Also – Bleed Black & Purple has a great piece on Tyreke and the marketing impact of the (hopeful) Rookie of the year. He even interviews Kings VP of Business Communications Mitch Germann. It’s a great piece and well worth your while.