Hot Kings Takes! (At the All-Star Break)

Jan 7, 2014; Sacramento, CA, USA; Sacramento Kings center DeMarcus Cousins (15) smiles as a call is reviewed during the first quarter against the Portland Trail Blazers at Sleep Train Arena. Mandatory Credit: Kelley L Cox-USA TODAY Sports

It’s been a while so here goes a bunch of thoughts on the season.

• Pete D’Alessandro is exciting. His poker face, his willingness to pull off big splash moves and just drive Kings twitter into a frenzy and his nerd-looks are just exhilarating. Quite the anti-Geoff Petrie who was anything but… personable (maybe he’s working on his garden these days).
• I loved the Rudy Gay trade. Takes some big guts to pull that off and Pete definitely has them and thankfully now there is  an ownership group that can pay up for big time talents.
• I loved the idea behind trading for Derrick Williams. I’m not so sure he’ll ever be a great 6th man but if he can just be a good defender and thrive in the open court and not be awful from 3 point land, I would be more than happy.
• DeMarcus Cousins should have been an all-star but honestly its nothing to get mad over because there’s just too much talent in the West these days. I do believe people have got to stop counting All-Star appearances as some major validation of talent.
• Jimmer Fredette is so much fun when he’s aggressive. I will miss him dearly when he’s traded or signs with another team. It would be kind of fun to see him play with Isaiah more but such is life.
• I would hate to see Jason Thompson traded because I think the Kings are going to find a starter eventually that moves him to the preferred role of back up big but he’s clogging up long term salary that Pete is going to need to sign a defensive point guard and maybe re-sign Isaiah Thomas.
• How did Marcus Thornton forget to shoot open shots? I mean seriously, snap out of it already or GTFO.
• Isaiah Thomas has become more polarizing than Jimmer Fredette within Kings Twitter. While he does have issues on defense, he’s hardly the only person guilty on this squad. The biggest issue with him seems to be disappearing behind the bigs on screens and then if the rest of the Kings are slow to close out or rotate after the initial pass, it’s buckets all day for their opponents. Remember that awful defensive performance in the ATL that was purely due to pick and roll at the beginning of every possession.
• DeMarcus Cousins is the most entertaining player in the NBA on any given night. You literally could eat through bowls of popcorn watching dude blow up his teammates,  destroy his opponents, SHAKE HIS DAMN HEAD, dance on the bench, troll the crowd and his man, get into great beefs with the most random dudes (Mike Dunleavy Jr., Devin Harris, Andrew Bogut, OJ Mayo), take charges, let out primal howls, and try to lead fast breaks like he’s Magic Johnson.
• Quincy Acy has great bench celebrations and he’s just great for this team with his attitude
• I’ve done an excellent job this year of not listening to Grant Napear’s 3-7 sports talk show on 1140 unless a relevant interview is on (no offense to Napes but a lot of his callers…yeahhhh you get what I’m trying to say)
• I don’t really see the point in acquiring Andre Miller unless it helps the Kings get rid of Marcus Thornton (hahahahahhahahahaaha that’s a pipe dream).
• The future pictures of the new arena look wonderful. Is it 2016 yet?
• I trolled the @VoteOnTheArena twitter account because I was bored. You should too!
• Mike Malone looks like he’s losing his hair color and hair at an exponential rate. Lighten up bro, things will get better!
• I really enjoy Mike Malone’s press conferences and would definitely run through a wall for dude.

I have really enjoyed watching the Kings this season more than at any time I could remember because I can purely just watch games knowing there is always going to be another game or another season to look forward to. There is no lingering cloud of Maloofery hanging over the team and the fans and now the losses don’t bother me as much in general. I’ve started to watch these games and not get upset anymore about stupid defensive rotations or lack of ball movement. Maybe that’s because I’ve realized that this team is finally here for good and that everything about this year and maybe even the next two years is just icing on the cake. Maybe it’s also because I’ve come to the realization that sports will always leave you disappointed in the long run and you might as well realize that it shouldn’t factor in to your happiness level. There are far more important things in life to worry about than if the Kings will make the playoffs next year or two years from now (duh!) but the great thing about the Kings is that the team offers me the chance to just forget about all the challenges life brings such as this torn achilles I’m dealing with and having all this down time to think about where I am in my life and where I want to be in 2 or 3 years. Does that make me less of a fan? I don’t think so, but to each his own. I also spent 3 weeks in a third world country last year and learned that a vast majority of things that I worry about are nothing compared to what other folks are dealing with. We are blessed to be able to worry about a basketball team leaving a city. And yes, I know it’s all relative and I’m not trying to sound condescending to anyone or diminish the accomplishments of so many fans, politicians, whales etc., but the Kings leaving would not have been the end of the world. Yes it would have sucked, but we would be living. I guess what I’m trying to say is, don’t let another 30 win season upset you that much, if it is, in fact upsetting you that much. Just enjoy the game and make jokes on Kings Twitter! Realize, this is coming from a guy that used to get extremely upset over a stupid loss to the Bobcats some odd years ago.

I really enjoyed watching the team beat the Knicks the other night and didn’t care to revel in the fact that it was only win number 18 and the organization will be lottery bound for the 40th straight year or something. Watching the Kings is fun again (watching DeMarcus is a lot of fun!) and that is something in itself that is a major accomplishment that the fans and the ownership group should be proud of in year 1 of this new era. This team is probably going to be really good again, and its just a matter of when and that, is going to be really really exciting. But if they are never good again, then that’s okay, but they are here forever and that’s what I’ve found is most important in this hobby of mine. Ask yourself this, does whatever hobby you’re into give you a mental break from life? If the answer is yes, then the results of that hobby shouldn’t really matter but rather the hobby itself should be fulfilling.