Some of the key cogs of the Beam Team are in the NBA Finals. Mike Brown, De’Aaron Fox and Harrison Barnes, just a few years removed from Sacramento are at the top of the league with the New York Knicks and San Antonio Spurs.
Does it hurt? Yes. Is it frustrating? Yes. Am I happy for all of them? Absolutely.
But it’s just another reminder of what a mess the Kings franchise is.
For all Kings fans – this is a safe space. Give us your thoughts in the comment section on the fact that our former coach (Coach of the Year) and former best player that broke the playoff drought in Sacramento are now facing off against each other in the NBA Finals.
There’s a set response and it’s reinforced here. The same three words. the same 11 letters.
SELL THE TEAM
Actually, the
pathhighway back to irrelevance was taken when Harison Barnes was dumped. Most of the focus has been on the trading of Fox and the firing of Brown, but this team’s balkance collapsed when the steady, defense minded and low usage cement of the Black Falcon was removed from the chemistry recipe of the Beam Team.In addition, I had no issue with trading Fox. I have issues with how the trade came about and especially with its return.
I’m still not sold on Mike Brown, but kudo’s to him for maximizing the talent of a loaded team in the East.
I am rooting for the Knicks.
But most of all, I am rooting for the national media mentioning these names and the idiocy of Vivek non-stop. He should be ridiculed. It is known.
It will never happen and Vivek does not feel shame -obviously.
Can’t feel shame if you never think you’re wrong.
Ego run amuck. It’s destroyed this team and he’s shit on Sac and the fans.
The Barnes / DDR trade was terrible at the time and even worse in hindsight.
The Kings just keep gifting other teams. It’s inexplicable.
At this point, the only thing relevant thing about this franchise left to discuss are the achievements of those who’ve gained their freedom.
Cauley-Stein’d?
…and photoshop Fox’s face onto Andy Dufresne’s body when he is standing in the rain.
De’Aaron Fox – who crawled through a river of shit and came out clean on the other side.
Fox got paid very well while being the main guy in a small market with modest expectations and a very mild local media.
Fox’s estimated NBA career earnings will reach approximately $238 million by the conclusion of the 2025–26 season. So he can cry me a river of
shitwhatever.Only the fans are crawling through a river of shit, and there is no clear view on a spot to crawl out of it. Wait, I see six pillars! Maybe they ar- oh no! All six just collapsed and got carried away by the current. I’m having trouble keeping my head above the excrement line. Above me I hear a vulture caw. Or is it a Black Falcon?
Yes, Fox got / is getting paid. That does not diminish the fact that he toiled for the very same team that you / we are appropriately complaining about.
I’m thrilled for him. He deserved better. He got it. We deserve better. We will likely not get it.
Those 3 would never have obtained a championship (or anything close) in Sacramento. It is a team game and they did not have the complete and necessary roster to accomplish that! And, most importantly, all 3 are role players and NOT the main reason for the success of their respective teams. There strength is in being complementary pieces that have worked well with the other pieces that are most responsible for the success of their teams! That said, the question is would they have been able to be more successful with better additions as complimentary pieces?
calling Mike Brown a role player is generous. dude couldn’t even get a single minute in the NBA
For Mike, it’s the Eastern Conference
For Barnes and Fox, it’s Wemby
For Malone, it’s Jokic
It’s like making fun of the Bulls for sending Steve Kerr to the Spurs….as if Kerr’s the reason why the Bulls descended and the Spurs ascended that year. But I’m not comparing Fox/Barnes to Kerr, or calling them coat tail riders…
That’s more or less my take. The Haliburton finals felt much more painful because he was THE dude for the Pacers. Sacramento knew Hali before it was cool.
Hali and Luka making the Finals felt similar to me. I still include Luka in any discussions of players the Kangz missed out on whether by trading or not drafting.
There is some truth to that. Fox went from being the big banana here is Sac to third fiddle in San Antonio. That’s just how much better of a team they have down there.
Still, the optics of it all is jarring, and should be brought up frequently by national media during the Finals. The Kings deserve to be mocked.
Fox also deserves a ton of credit for both what he’s meant to Castle/Harper, and his non-scoring impact on the team. He’s a tactician constantly pulling strings on both ends to sort out his teammates, and a reliable presence in crunch team even if he’s not the one taking shots
“It doesn’t matter. It’s not going to make anyone feel any better” -Fox
During the Ranadive error, we have drafted the following point guards:
Ray MacCallum, De’Aaron Fox, Frank Mason, Tyrese Haliburton, Davion Mitchell, Devin Carter.
Position needs in this upcoming draft: Point guard.
Six picks, including four 1st rounders, with all of the 1st rounders taking place over the past nine seasons.
You can’t make this shit up.
It’s truly comical.
You can almost also include Stauskas in the bunch as I think Vivek saw him as a combo guard lead ball handler.
The video footage is there, no one in the King’s brass seemed happy with that pick in the moment, it was all Vivek.
Nik Rocks!
Fuck ranadive. That is all.
With or without Fox / Brown / Barnes as part of the narrative, what was painfully evident as you watched the ECF and WCF is how many galaxies away the Kings are from this level of basketball. 5 years away? 10 years away? More?
They’re nowhere. Keegan is a fifth starter who can play defense and had one good year as a spot shooter. Can’t dribble, pass, create his own shot, or shoot off the dribble. He’s a fifth starter on a team with four actually good starters.
Raynaud is most likely an offense-oriented backup big, which is a credit to him as a second round pick, but the truth is that guys like that often aren’t even in the rotation on really good teams.
There is no other meaningful long-term talent on this team. They’re a luxury tax team pretty much building from nothing. A competent front office might be able to build a playoff team in 3-5 years. Vivek is going to keep chasing shooters, counting stats players and guys on their retirement tours, desperately trying to stay out of the bottom three and with no chance to build a winner outside of lucking into a superstar in the draft, which is a lot less likely than it used to be.
The Kings won’t reach this level of basketball as long as Vivek owns them.
Over the years I’ve almost always had something to look forward to with the Kings. Not much. But something. We’ve blown so many opportunities, gotten rid of so many pieces, made so many terrible decisions that there literally is nothing to believe in.
We can say Fox is only on a championship team because of Wemby. Or Brown isn’t the reason the Knicks are in the finals. But this trainwreck of an organization deciding Hali, Fox, Brown, Malone and others weren’t good enough to be here says it all.
We are literally the most incompetent major league sports franchise and we will continue to be until Vivek finally gives up.
+1 I think that once expansion happens this is possible. The NBA isn’t going to do anything to diminish values or discourage new pricey investors to add teams 31 & 32 to the rolling total. But when the ink is dry on that, Adam Silver would do well to take a leaf out of David Stern’s book and save the Sacramento Kings again. Expansion teams should be rolling in the 28/29 season. Vivek will have had half of the G1 Center contract at that point to turn this team into a winner. He’ll have seen the franchise value balloon 10x. Does ANYONE think the Kings will win a playoff series (or even make one?) by that time? IF not, Adam Silver should show him the door and find a proven winner to bring in.
Badge Legend