5 Keys to Sacramento Kings ending their historically bad playoff drought
By Ryan Brennan
It has been 16 years since the Sacramento Kings last made the playoffs – the longest playoff drought in NBA history. They also haven’t had a winning record in 16 years and have gone through 11 head coaches in that span.
It has been a long and winding road – a royal pain, if you will. As a die hard Buffalo Bills’ fan, I can say that it does get better, eventually.
To make matters worse, after the Seattle Mariners recently clinched a playoff spot, they now own the longest active playoff drought across all MLB, NHL, NBA, and NFL teams.
Either way, the message is clear – the Kings need to get over this hump and finally end this 16-year rebuild. The team needs it, the city needs, and quite frankly, the NBA needs it because the league is better when Sacramento is winning.
With this being a crucial year for the squad, I’m going to provide five keys to finally ending this gruesome 16-year playoff drought. Let’s take a look:
1. Mike Brown needs to bring this group together
Last year, the Kings were 27th in defensive rating, 24th in offensive rating, 23rd in assist percentage, and 29th in rebounding percentage. For those who are wondering, that’s not a recipe for a playoff team and is, quite honestly, inexcusable for any team.
Mike Brown is entering his first season as head coach of the Kings. He isn’t inheriting the best roster, but he comes from a winning culture in Golden State – he was an assistant coach for the Warriors since 2016, winning three championships in the process.
With a 347-216 (.616) career record as head coach with the Cleveland Cavaliers and Los Angeles Lakers, I like what Brown brings to the Kings. What he needs to do now is get his players bought in on both ends of the court so they can start to change the culture.
It’s not that they don’t have the talent, they just haven’t found a way to put the pieces together – that’s what Brown needs to do for this team.