Wednesday, January 19, 2011

Boring and irrelevant, the Kings have hit rock bottom

A friend of mine came up to me the other day and made a casual remark about the Kings.

"You know, at this point, it doesn't really matter to me whether the team stays or goes," he said.

Now this guy is a fan. He goes to games. He follows the team.

So that statement is truly indicative of the demise of this team.

The city has lost their passion. The Kings create no buzz. Apathy rules.

Losing is a lot of the reason. They are a mostly awful team, lacking in fundamentals, scarce in true game-changing talent

They are also boring. They give you no reason to root for them. They don't play as a team and they have no player who can ignite the fans on a regular basis.

Even off the court, the team has no personality. Tyreke Evans can barely mumble through an answer to a reporter's question. DeMarcus Cousins, who has the most potential, hasn't caught on to the fact that he can own this town by opening up just a little bit.

Even with all that, the Kings have become someting much worse than boring.

They have become irrelevant.

They mean almost nothing to the day-to-day lives of average Sacramento residents. Nobody rushes to read about them. Nobody clamors to get tickets. And nobody seems to care about the fortunes of the team.

Sure, there are still some diehards out there, but they are dwindling.

The franchise is in freefall and there is no solution.

Not with bankrupt owners who are fighting for their financial lives. Not with players who care more about personal stats than team play.

And not with a fan base that has lost its personal stake in the team's future.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Very narrow-sighted view of the Kings situation. A couple of points: (1)the recession has really hit this franchise and the city hard. (2)the fact that they're not competitive does not help. Both of these issues contribute to the lack of clamor over the kings and the lackluster results at the box office. Being a relatively young franchise dating back to the mid 80s, a significant amount of the fan base jumped on the bandwagon earlier this century and were spoiled due to the immediate success. True, there are some die-hard fans out there that love this team and root for them regardless. But a majority of the fans only come out while there is a winning product on the court and, more importantly, if the have the means to do so.

Ron Wenig said...

Not sure what you're arguing against.

You agree with me.

Unknown said...

Rock bottom doesn't begin to decribe how bad this organization has become. It has been a total failure from the front office down to the players in the locker room. Here are some of the possible reasons outside of basketball: 1) Many players are regularly seen at local nightcubs by fans and friends and aquaintances, and from what is being said is that some of our top players don't care to stay in Sacramento, and this is coming from the players mouths. Hard to have a passionate fan base if the players aren't passionate about playing for the community. 2) Loose lips sink ships: Seems that getting faded after practice is what some high profile players prefer to do rather than trying to become better on the court. This is the result of the organization not having any control over the players and how they live their lives outside of the team facility. For those who think this is hear-say, I understand how this could seem far fetch but this is coming from people in our community who personally know both current and former players, and have nothing to gain from saying this. 3) The organization's inability to establish a identity for the team that reflects the passion of this team's fans base and community. Instead we have players who want to go out on the town and drink rather than focus on how to become better player and a stronger team. This shouldn't come as a suprise if you look at what has been happening with the Kings recently. Players smoking pot, driving wrecklessly, head coach getting a DUI as soon as he arrived, players physically fighting in the locker room, players getting sent home from the team. It's become far worse than it's ever been, and the organization doesn't seem to care right now, it's been business as usual and business has been bad. This team has the most passionate fanbase in the NBA, nobody supports a perinnially awful franchise with more love and frustration than Kings fans. But it has become a farce, and there appears to be no discipline in the organization for the players, and the result is a horrible effort night after night on the court.