The Issue for Sacramento Kings - To Trade or Not to Trade
For the last few years if anyone were to ask which team was the most dysfunctional in sports, you'd get a lot of cries for the Cleveland Browns. Heck, the Philadelphia 76ers, L.A. Rams, New York Jets, and Brooklyn Nets would receive votes. But for all intents and purposes it has to be the Kings of Sacramento.
Roll with me for a minute. How many TRUE stars can you name that are on the five other teams I mentioned? Maybe a defensive player or two here, a spot-up shooter there, but all-in-all not much to write home about. The Kings on the other hand? Well, the Kings have DeMarcus Cousins.
Oh, you mean the guy that receives all those technical fouls?
Yep. That's the one and you've started to hone in on one of the many problems. Cousins, while an obvious talent, has never developed into the type of leader that Sacramento can build a championship team around.
Let's back up, first, and go back to a better time. A time when the Kings were royalty in the NBA. Names like Chris Webber, Jason Williams, Mike Bibby, Peja Stojakovic and Vlade Divac donned the purple and slate grey. There were talks of an NBA Championship, but unfortunately for Webber and the gang; Kobe, Shaq, and the Los Angeles Lakers were standing in the way.
The Kings slowly started to drift backwards. After losing in seven games to the Lakers in the 2001-2002 Western Conference Finals, Sacramento proceeded to lose in the second round each of the next two years and then in the first round the two years after that. Since the 2005-2006 season, though, the Kings have watched the NBA Playoffs from the comfort of their own home including a year in which they had the franchise's worst losing season; dropping 65 games to the competition (2008-2009).
Enter the summer and the draft of 2010.
With the fifth overall pick, the Sacramento Kings select...DeMarcus Cousins, center, from the University of Kentucky. **cheers** **streamers** **fireworks**
From then until now, DeMarcus has developed into what many experts believe is the best center in the game today. When you look at the man's statistical numbers, its hard not to agree. Currently, Cousins is averaging 28.8 points and 10.7 rebounds per game. How many other guys in the NBA are averaging at least 25+ points and 10+ rebounds this year? Just two, Anthony Davis and Russell Westbrook. Not bad company. And just to show you this trend did not begin this season, Cousins has consistently been a 22+ point and 11+ rebound-a-night guy since the 2013-2014 season.
Sounds pretty good, right? The Kings, with the best offensive center in the game since Shaquille O'Neal, should be competing for titles and singing kumbaya. But instead the Kings have a combined record of 164-312 and have not finished better than 10th in the Western Conference - let alone made the playoffs - in the six seasons since Cousins arrival.
So what's the issue?
Attitude and chemistry. Period.
Two of the most important aspects of sports that are rarely talked about and even more rare is a GM's importance placed on them over supposed raw talent, potential, and what can get the most individuals in the arena.
Sacramento has been reluctant to part ways with the man affectionately referred to as "Boogie" because of his sway and dance-like athleticism near the rim. It is never an easy decision to part ways with an obvious star, but at the end of the day the goal of each team is to hold the Larry O'Brien trophy over their heads in June. If the pieces on the team do not fit (even as much as one would think that they could or should) it is time to move on.
How long does a franchise hold out hope and subject their fans to, at best, mediocre play? There is no better time to move a priceless asset than when his value is still at peak levels. Do not let the wave pass you by and end up with nothing for his services. At some point, Cousins will be fed up with losing and, at some point, will look for greener pastures elsewhere thereby leaving Sacramento with little more than a hope and a prayer. Heed this warning, Sacramento, do not get caught in the Oklahoma City Thunder or Miami Heat scenario of having your best player split for nothing in return. The time is now.
