The DeMarcus Cousins trade perfectly destroyed the hope and progress that the Sacramento Kings have built over the last few seasons
A few weeks ago, I wrote an article titled “Five Longtime losers beginning to trend up in 2016-2017.”
In the article I included the Sacramento Kings, a team that appeared to be on the way up as it builds around its franchise center.
Fast forward to Feb. 19.
On that dark, stormy night, I was driving home after watching the NBA All-Star game with family.
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That’s when news broke on my radio, saying the Sacramento Kings have traded DeMarcus Cousins to the New Orleans Pelicans.
Just like that, this drunk franchise made me reconsider everything I thought I knew about the future.
Instead of a three-time, 26-year-old All-Star center who I thought we can build around, we now have Buddy Hield, Tyreke Evans and about 10 million guards.
What the Kings do next is anybody’s guess. But as a Kings fan, it’s hard to be optimistic about what happens next.
All I can do is find some solace in what I’ve heard about Hield. No, I’m not saying I believe all that talk about Hield having “Steph Curry potential.”
But I do believe what I’ve heard about Hield’s unrelenting work ethic.
"[via NBA.com]Without a doubt, Hield’s gym-rat tendencies, work ethic and off-court intangibles are among the reasons why the Pelicans were excited to land him with the No. 6 pick in the NBA draft. The native of the Bahamas steadily progressed during his college career, averaging 25.0 points as a senior and leading Oklahoma to the Final Four."
As long as Hield has that type of drive, he can turn into a solid building block for the Kings. Still, it will take another three or four years for Hield to become an All-Star caliber player.
In the meantime, how do the Sacramento Kings build around Hield? I don’t think anybody knows the answer to that question, not even the Kings. In fact, we don’t even know if Hield is a player we can build around.
So here we are again – waiting and speculating and trying to be patient, as we have for the past 10 years.
At least in previous years, before we had a franchise center, we had no choice but to reset. In those times, the team clearly had no direction.
This time, the Kings were actually coming together. It was slow progress, but it was something.
The head coach, in only his first year with the Kings, needed time to see what he can do with current roster.
Recent additions like Garrett Temple, Anthony Tolliver and Ty Lawson have repeatedly expressed how much they love playing with Cousins, despite what the outsiders said about the All-Star center.
A Royal Pain
Especially with recent wins against the Cavs and Warriors, optimism was returning to Sacramento.
Apparently, the front office didn’t see it that way. So they pulled the trigger and set this franchise back a few more years.
The critics have said that the Kings weren’t going anywhere anyway, so it was time for a shakeup. For these critics, it wasn’t enough that the Kings are making a playoff push.
It doesn’t matter if the Kings make the playoffs and get swept in the first round, they said.
But the playoff push did matter. Whether the Kings get swept or not, it would have been a huge step forward if this franchise tasted the playoffs again. It would have been a valuable experience for many of the guys who have never even been close to the playoffs.
No matter what happens for the rest of the season, Cousins would have most likely extended his contract with Kings. And if Vlade could have pulled a solid off-season last year, the Kings could have made life a lot easier for for their franchise player.
At that point, you wouldn’t have to worry about Cousins losing his head everyday. All the guy needed was some stability and a team that can help him compete every night.
It was always clear that Cousins really wanted things to work in Sacramento.
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But now, the Kings have taken the air out of the building. There will be no cowbells ringing in April.
Instead we will continue with our annual draft research. We will pray that somewhere in that draft there is a Cousins-caliber player who the Sacramento Kings will respect.