Equating a character like Spencer Hawes to some sort of messiah seems out of touch, especially considering the star in opponents clothes tonight. But summary judgment leading to immediate knighthood will do the trick. Excuse us for our blind homer optimism and/or illness brought on by the rancid combination of Kenny Thomas and Mikki Moore.

I've been told Shawes has been promised a few minutes tonight; whether he's convinced the coaching staff he's OK or the franchise would like to give him some spotlight during the only national TV game of the year — I don't know. But it appears he'll be both in uniform and in some use. Take with a grain of salt until you see him in pasty glory, but do tune in.

It's been remarked how queer it is how vast the difference our collective opinion on Shawes has become with memories of our self-loathing hatefest on draft night. And yeah, it's been a rather stunning turn of bow. Outsiders — those who may not understand how singular the Sacramento Kings experience is — can't see this team is all we've fricking got in the sporting world. Others may prefer to see us as naive and irrational, or perhaps just dumb. They don't understand how much we always wanted to like Shawes, how silly things like the theme from Rocky IV have forced us into giving Shawes a chance many franchises wouldn't. We are a peaceable people; we want to love all our Kings.

A few months ago, Spencer was the animated version of everything we hated about these Kings — unathletic, slow, weak, soft, finesse. He's not any of those things, and he never was. We saw the Brad Miller comparisons, looked at Brad Miller, and shrieked. And now that we've stared Death in the face in the form of almost 0-4? He's everything we want. A big body who can score the post? An energetic guy with skills?! A young big man? It's amazing how much more attractive options are once desperation sets in.

When/if Spencer gets in the game tonight, we'll all be thrilled. Don't be cool and say you're not excited; we see right through you. If we're lucky, we'll be just as excited every time Spencer gets in the game this whole season. If we aren't? Well, we'll cross those rivers when we arrive at those banks…

And of course, if Spencer doesn't play, well whatever. If Kevin Martin is going to score less than 20 in any game this month, it could be tonight. Cleveland plays slow and plays excellent defense. Sactown's jump shots need to fall to win the game. And someone's got to push Drew Gooden away from the bucket.

Go Kings.