"Royal Roundtable’ is a new feature we’re trying out here at A Royal Pain. You can read the pilot episode on Rajon Rondo right here. Each week, we’ll throw out a topic to the writing staff, and see where the conversation goes from there. This week’s topic is “What were your favorite moments of the Sacramento Kings season?” Thanks for reading."
Tony Xypteras (@TonyXypteras): It’s been a tough year. There really is no denying that. We’ve had some ups, plenty of downs, and a lot of memorable moments in between.
The season is over. The playoffs will have started by the time this goes live. I’d like to relive some of the good, or maybe just memorable, before we truly say goodbye to 2014-2015.
What were some of your favorite moments of the season? It doesn’t even have to be an ‘on the court’ thing. As a matter of fact, most of my favorite moments happened off the court. Think of this as a 2014-2015 scrapbook. What did you guys bring to the party? I’m pretty sure scrapbook parties are a thing.
Kyle Robert (@notoriouskro): The George Karl hire gives me optimism even with the front office in flux. The potential for more than 30 wins feels realistic.
Sauce Castillo may be my favorite thing of the entire season. His new celebration after hitting a three is the “sauce on the burrito”. See what I did there!
Also, the start of the season was great. The Sacramento Kings were a threat for a couple of weeks. It was fun while it lasted.
Tony Xypteras (The Sauce Castillo hysteria was a great little distraction.
Everything surrounding Omri Casspi has been a highlight for me. I had fairly low expectation after he was signed, but his progress as a player since his first stint in Sacramento blew me away. And his genuine love for this city was so refreshing.
Who could forget how well he helped Cousins out with his headband malfunction? What a great teammate.
Kareem Gantt (I have two…
George Karl getting hired and the re-birth of Derrick Williams.
I loved Williams when he was at Arizona, and he has a tremendous skill set for a player his size. He has really flourished under Karl, and I hope that the Kings front office has the foresight needed to keep him at a bargain price. It will be worth it.
As for Karl, he is probably the best coaching hire the Kings have had in the past eight years. I liked Mike Malone (and I see him ended up in Orlando if they don’t get Mark Jackson), but Karl has gotten the most out of this group, and with better talent, he is going to bring this team back to respectability.
Kyle Robert (@notoriouskro): DeMarcus Cousins playing in the All-Star game was another one of my favorite moments. He is garnering more respect around the league between this and Team USA. It was awesome to see Sacramento represented in the actual game. It’s been a while.
Also, this:
Kareem Gantt (KGanttWrites): I’m with you Kyle. It was nice seeing Sacramento represented in the Big Apple. Now I want to see the city represented in the NBA Playoffs.
Tony Xypteras (@TonyXypteras): Good stuff, guys. The DeMarcus Cousins All-Star appearance was huge for not only the city, but for Cousins as well. He needed some sort of proof that despite the consistent losing, he’s starting to get some national respect.
I also have to shout out the removal of Chris Mullin and the addition of Vlade Divac. I’m not necessarily an anti-Mullin guy, but I’ll take that trade ten times out of ten. Despite all of the front office drama, Divac is the only one that gives me hope moving forward. If anyone can get these guys to play nice, it’s Vlade.
It’s been a wild season. Here’s to better days ahead.
The marathon continues, I’m out.
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