The city of Sacramento has managed to keep a hold of their basketball team, at least for one more season. It was announced yesterday that the Sacramento Kings will not be leaving the city – as many presumed they would this off-season – but have plans to revisit any relocation packages at the conclusion of the 2012 NBA season.
Basically, the city of Sacramento has one year to try and make the Kings happy. If they cannot do so, the Kings will almost certainly bolt for greener pastures in twelve months, with Anaheim and Seattle the two most viable possible locations.
The decisive factor in this whole scenario is whether or not Sacramento can provide the Kings franchise with a new stadium.
Mayor Kevin Johnson – a former NBA All Star – has scheduled a feasibility meeting to try and determine whether it is possible to give the Kings’ a shiny new arena, that they so blatantly covet.
Johnson was pivotal in helping keep the Kings in Sacramento beyond the current season, as he spearheaded the push from the Sacramento community to keep hold of their franchise. NBA Commissioner David Stern has publicly stated that Johnson’s effort has been one of the main reasons why he changed his stance on the Kings relocation.
In February, it seemed a fore-gone conclusion that the Kings would leave Sacramento, especially when Stern declared that trying to build a new arena in Sacramento, was no longer an issue of importance for the NBA.
It seemed the bell had tolled for the city of Sacramento. But Johnson wasn’t willing to accept the loss of the Kings, and should be lauded for his efforts.
Yet unfortunately for Sacramento, if they cannot give the Kings franchise what they want, all his work will be for nothing.
Sacramento Kings co-owner Joe Maloof – with the support of Commissioner David Stern – has openly come out and said that a new arena is the requirement needed to make the Kings stay put. He claims that the Kings have spent “13 years and millions of dollars trying to get an arena built” and is now demanding that the city of Sacramento provide the stadium.
The Kings are basically holding the city of Sacramento to ransom.
It’s a sad turn of event for the Kings, who in the early stages of the last decade were a perennial powerhouse in the Western Conference.
In the 2001-2002 season, the Kings won an astonishing 61 games, before the would-be champion Los Angeles Lakers eventually ousted them in the Western Conference Finals in seven games.
The success led to Sacramento earning one of the strongest and most rabid fan-bases in the league. They at one point were able to sell out 497 straight games at the then named, Arco Arena, not bad for a supposed “small-market” franchise.
However, the situation for the Kings took a drastic turn for the worse, both on and off the court towards the middle of the 2000s. The loss of Chris Webber and Mike Bibby – both All Star’s and fan favourites – hugely hurt the Kings. The duo was at the heart of Sacramento’s squad throughout that period of success.
However, there does appear to be some light on the horizon for this once great franchise.
2010 Rookie of the Year Tyreke Evans is blossoming into a bona-fide superstar, and the Kings have given him some help. Coupled with explosive young big-man Demarcus Cousins, Kings fans would be hoping that they have another All-Star duo, almost a decade after their last pairing.
Throw in another high draft pick this year, and healthy cap space and the Kings should be able to build a solid roster around their young talent.
Marcus Thornton and Jason Thompson help fill out the young squad that given a few years to develop should be making a serious playoff push in the Western Conference.
Even as the Kings have struggled over the last few years, Sacramento’s incredibly loyal fan-base has been behind their team. This season their average attendance figures were just under 14,000, an absolutely fantastic achievement, when taking into account the maximum capacity of 17,317.
They’re just now starting to see the pieces of the puzzles fall into place. Fans can once again dream of going toe-to-toe with the NBA’s elite, something that must have seemed like a pipe-dream in recent seasons.
Hopefully for the Sacramento fans, the Kings will still be in town, so they can enjoy another well-deserved period of success.
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