Sacramento Kings: One really good summer away from NBA relevance

How the Sacramento Kings can return to NBA relevance with one really good summer

Here are some things that happened in 2006:

• The Carolina Hurricanes hoisted the Stanley Cup.
• Cars, Casino Royale, Night at the Museum, The Da Vinci Code, and The Pursuit of Happiness came out
• SexyBack was a #1 hit
• Vince Young led the Longhorns to a national championship
• Wii Sports was one of the top-selling video games
• Kobe Bryant dropped 81 points on the Toronto Raptors in one of the greatest individual performances in NBA history
• Mario Williams was the #1 pick in the NFL Draft

Why am I referencing things from over 10 years ago? Because it was the last year that the Sacramento Kings made the playoffs.

10 years is a long time. If you take a look at all 30 NBA franchises, only the Minnesota Timberwolves have a longer postseason drought – dating back to 2004; and they have a young core that will be there soon enough (with stable leadership.) The next longest after Sacramento is Phoenix at 7, which really isn’t that long; and they too are building their way back to relevancy, which brings us back to Sacramento: what are they doing?

That’s a question that’s been asked time and time again of the Sacramento Kings. Their ownership has been described as dysfunctional at best, and compared to the scene in Moneyball where Brad Pitt describes the Oakland A’s cap situation.

Bottom line: it’s bad.

So when news broke hours after this year’s All-Star Game that out of some twisted dark fantasy the Kings traded DeMarcus Cousins and Omri Casspi for Langston Galloway, Tyreke Evans, and Buddy Hield (and some change in draft picks), Twitter exploded:

Well, you’re not wrong IT:

This next one is from current PF for the Kings, Anthony Tolliver:

And my personal favorite:

The general consensus around the NBA was that the Sacramento Kings were the Cyclops, and the Pelicans were Jason. While to many it felt like something out of mythology and storytelling, it was reality. With the rest of the league embracing the small ball trend, the Pelicans went all in on combining two of the most dominant big men in the league today as their frontcourt until the summer of 2018 and Boogie leaves for the Washington Wizards?

……(\_/) PREPARE THE HOT ……
( ‘_’) TAKE CANNON …
/””””””””””\====░▓█D
/””””””””””””””””\
\_@_@_@_/

While many a article will be and already have been written about the future of the Pelicans, the Kings have embraced the rebuild, and seem to be moving on from their state of pretending like making moves like signing Matt Barnes and Ty Lawson was going to help them break their postseason drought. With that being said, they still have a lot work to do.

My plan is to provide a step-by-step guide for the Kings to get back to being successful, and making the postseason. There is hope Kings fans! Follow me.