This happened once the defending champions traded away almost every piece of his squad that led his team to the Promise Lands. The inevitable aging of the Super Central Duo of the Hawks and Raptors, as well as the potential luxury tax, also began to take shape. They are still hanging around the top of their division, but they are being looked over. There's no fear that tags along with their name.
The old powers are dead.
Let them rest.
This is an exciting time for teams in the play for the playoffs, and why not? It's being said around the league that the championship can be had by almost anyone in contention, and we in Sacramento agree. We are past the 90s in which the biggest, baddest, and best players ever played in their prime (Magic, Malone, Kemp, Penny, etc.) and we've all read ku's talent evaluation of thr league over our history. The times of the OPs are over, and the league is leveling off thanks to the aging decline of the past superpowers.
This is why we, as an organization, had to make a tough choice. We have had a set plan for several seasons and we didn't stray one bit, and we feel our plan put us in a great position to slowly grow our team into a powerhouse. But then, the 2004-05 season began. Our division rival Lakers blew up their championship team and the owner ran out of town, with the team moving onto their third GM in three seasons. Not only did the Pacific division open up, the rest of the West did as well.
Trade deadline quickly came up on us and we have had many, many talks with teams from all over about the Knicks 05 pick in order to upgrade the team. The hardest part wasn't negotiating with other teams, it was convincing myself that trading a potentially great pick would put the Kings in the best chance to succeed. Four hours before deadline, while drinking a beer and enjoying time off by eating delicious food, I made up my mind that I was comfortable in trading the pick away for the right player.
We were so close on another trade with someone else, but it was not meant to be. Luckily, the Grizzlies owner had just returned from his vacation during the All Star break and we were able to bring in Shawn Marion. We have always been enamoured with Marion and his toughness on the boards at the SF position. He is also a very efficient scorer who doesn't need his usage percentage to be inflated in order to put up big games.
The Kings organization is not known for takong gambles and risks, instead opting for a conservative approach of patience with players and picks. Moving the Knicks pick was uncharacteristic of us, but the reality is:
Championships for Kings = 0
Last time we advanced past 1st round of playoffs = 1999
Last divisional championship = 1999
Last time in Finals = 1991
Ugly and pathetic.
What's the point of winning so many regular season games when you can't get past your first matchup? There is no point.
We will take the remaining two sims as seriously as possible. We want to finish strong and with momentum, and it starts with winning the Pacific division. We are hopeful to finish on top the West, but the Mavs look strong and are closing the season on a strong note as well.
That about wraps up our impromptu press conference. We are open and look forward to questions or comments if anyone has any.
Sent via Morse code
