The Sacramento Circus

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The Sacramento Kings have been a professional basketball franchise for nearly 70 years and the majority of their existence has been spent in futility. In 1951, the Kings won their first and only NBA Championship as they were known as the Rochester Royals. But in those days, the NBA only consisted of 11 franchises as it was easier for the Royals to navigate their way through the league. Since their time in Rochester, New York, the Kings have also called Cincinnati, Ohio and Kansas City, Missouri home before settling in Sacramento in 1985.  The Kings have seen their fair share of misses in the NBA Draft along with long stretches without a trip to the postseason. But in 1999, the Kings would make the playoffs which would begin a string of eight consecutive trips to the postseason which was highlighted by a trip to the Western Conference Finals in 2002. Rick Adelman was the head coach of the Kings during that era and when his contract was not renewed by the franchise in 2006, the brakes began to fall off in Sacramento.

Since 2006, the Kings have failed to make the NBA Playoffs while not posting a winning record. And over this stretch, the Kings have employed eight different head coaches along with two different owners which has paved the way for total dysfunction in Northern California.

DeMarcus Cousins

In 2010, the Kings used the fifth overall pick of the NBA Draft on center DeMarcus Cousins. Cousins came to the Kings with a ton of potential and he is living up to that as he is coming off of a season in which he earned his first All-Star Game appearance by averaging 24.0 points and 10.8 rebounds per game. And even though Cousins is an immense talent, he has developed a reputation as a coach killer.

Since Cousins joined the Kings, he has gotten four head coaches fired with another one that is currently teetering on the brink.

George Karl

George Karl agreed to be the Kings head coach this past February and he brought with him a stellar resume that included taking five different NBA franchises to the postseason. Karl currently ranks sixth all-time on the NBA’s all-time wins list for head coaches and typically when a man walks into an organization, he commands a certain level of respect which Karl hasn’t received in Sacramento.

From Karl’s first day on the job, he and Cousins have not been on the same page. During the off-season Karl attempted to contact Cousins on several occasions, but he never received a response. Karl wanted to trade Cousins prior to the 2015 NBA Draft, but he was rebuffed by Kings owner Vivek Ranadive who deems Cousins as his franchise player. The issues between Karl and Cousins over the summer almost led to the Kings firing Karl. And things have not gotten any better in Sacramento as Cousins cursed out Karl a few days ago. Once again Karl wanted to trade Cousins, but this time it was Kings general manager Vlade Divac that shot down the notion of shipping the man known as “Boogie” out of town. Cousins isn’t the only headache that Karl has to deal with on the Kings roster as point guard Rajon Rondo is known to consistently clash with his head coaches as he did it during his time with Boston Celtics where he repeatedly clashed with Doc Rivers and in his brief tenure with the Dallas Mavericks where he made life difficult for head coach Rick Carlisle. And the volatile combination of Cousins and Rondo is difficult enough to deal with that it could put any head coach (and in the case of Karl) on suicide watch.

But what makes matters worse for Karl is that from his first day on the job in Sacramento, he has not received the full support of the Kings front office as they have decided to side with Cousins which is a little disturbing given Karl’s track record as a head coach in the NBA.

I totally understand that Cousins is an immense basketball talent along with the fact that coaches get fired long before players, but there comes a point when talent and potential are not enough; especially when it doesn’t lead to that many wins. In Cousins’ time with the Kings, they’ve only won 131 games and this current NBA season hasn’t gotten off to the best start as Sacramento is 2-7. Karl is an old-school head coach that relies on his system, but he knows how to adapt to his players as he has adjusted at every step along the way which has included dealing with the egos of Gary Payton, Allen Iverson, and Carmelo Anthony. Cousins on the other hand has clashed with every head coach that he has played for which was illustrated by his one season at the University of Kentucky under head basketball coach John Calipari. And at some point, it solely can’t be everyone else as Cousins has to look in the mirror at himself.

Vivek Ranadive

But the Kings front office doesn’t see it that way as they continue to coddle Cousins instead of showing him the tough love that he probably needs. Cousins came to the aid of the embattled Karl last week as he doesn’t want the Kings to fire him, but he needs to show some respect for the man in charge while also looking to shed his reputation as a coach killer. And for the Kings, if they were to fire Karl who has a Hall of Fame resume as a head coach, there might not be a quality head coach left in the NBA that would be willing to touch Sacramento with a 10-foot pole. One is an accident and two is trend. But in the case of Cousins and the Kings, misery loves company as the losses continue to mount as Ranadive needs to hand out diapers to his head coaches as opposed to clipboards.

 

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By | 2015-11-15T14:27:49+00:00 November 15th, 2015|Categories: National Basketball Association|Tags: , , , |0 Comments

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