Sacramento Kings : Royal Hopes, Routine Heartbreak (Ep. 17)

All right. Microphones are live, expectations are low, and optimism has officially been placed on injured reserve. Welcome back to Misery Sports Co, the only workplace where showing up emotionally unprepared is not just accepted, it’s encouraged. I’m Zach, I specialize in reviewing outcomes that were technically predictable but still somehow upsetting. And I’m Trevor here to translate fan panic into calm, professional disappointment. Last episode we stepped into the break room, a rare chance for reflection, regrouping, and pretending things aren’t totally broken. It was a nice break from the chaos, which is exactly why we can’t stay there for very long. But today we’re back on the floor. Same problems, new packaging, and just enough hope to keep everyone tuning in. Before we begin though, let’s hear from a sponsor who is about to learn exactly who our listeners are and why they should definitely keep sending us their hard earned dollars. This segment of the Missouri Sports Company podcast is sponsored by gas station Doritos. Why are there so many flavors? Why are they all weird? Who actually wants Mountain Dew Doritos or Locos Tacos? Oreo combination Doritos or people asking for this? You’re telling me Mr. Dorito and Dorito family are getting letters to please make roasted turkey Doritos? And why aren’t they widely distributed? What’s so special about the gas station? Why did we decide the gas station is a snack boutique? Nobody knows. But you know what I do know? When you’re walking in to put ten bucks on five, you’re going to pony up for two bucks for a snack bag of wasabi Tapatio Doritos. It’s gas station Doritos. Just try them. Thank you. Gas station Doritos. Those slapped in college, man. Oh my gosh. Just they hit the the nail on the head and now it’s just my body can’t take it. We stack. We padded some Dorito worker pensions with our dollars. And, uh, in undergrad, it was, I mean, every almost every single night walk across the street to the gas station. And I can remember cheeseburger. Those were a big one. Those were weird. It’s always the weird flavors that you find at gas stations. Oh, yeah. Well, thank you so much. Gas station Doritos. We appreciate your support. Let’s open up the weekly performance review where the numbers are confusing, the explanations are creative, and accountability is mostly theoretical. Think of it less as analysis and more as documenting an incident. And I have many incidents for you, Trevor. I don’t even know where to start. So I am going to go with the, uh, the Cleveland Browns. So Cleveland Browns have had this very long coaching search and it is finally over. So we interviewed what feels like dozens of people. We had final interviews with, I don’t know, seven or eight folks, and it was a wide spectrum that really came down to old school versus new school, right? So in school we had Jim Schwartz, our old defensive coordinator. We had Todd Monken, um, on the the younger side, we had Nate Scheelhaase, who I remembered was a mid Illinois quarterback like fifteen years ago. He was he was not any good. But that’s so random a good coach. Um, who’s going to be good though if you’re a quarterback? It’s like Juice Williams. Was that the one right. Like here at Illinois you’re probably going to be mid um and grant you udinsk udinsk less Verbinski. I kid you not. I watched that video this week. I kid you not, I watch it once a year and I die laughing. I watched that this week. I need a little less gore and a little more Verbinski. Verbinski. Which I assume is Russian for bad dialogue. Oh, he’s the offensive coordinator for the Jaguars. He’s thirty years old. Um, I thought it was between. Seemed like it was going to be between Shields and Schwartz. I was totally wrong. We ended up hiring Todd Monken. Okay. Uh, Todd is an established coach. He’s a retread. Uh, he’s never been a head coach, Trevor. And he’s turning sixty this year, so he’s never been a head coach. Wow. Never. Never. So we’re going to give him that that chance. And, uh. Boy, he better make the most of it because he doesn’t. He doesn’t have a lot left on the on the tires with this retread. So he can’t go be an assistant somewhere for a little bit and have another shot. This is kind of it. This is it. Um, you know, on top of that, we probably pissed off Jim Schwartz. So we’ll see how he reacts. He’s under contract. Yeah. Um, as defensive coordinator. So I don’t know. I’m not sure. I have I have no feelings on it. Similar to some trades we’ll talk about. Um, I’m somewhere in the middle. I mean, yeah, it makes sense. You want to fix the offense. Todd Monken is going to be great at that. Uh, he’s bringing a lot of the Ravens folks, which is fantastic. I mean, they’ve had a lot of success. Yeah. Uh, so we’ll see. Uh, jury’s out for me. Okay. Then we go over to the Cleveland Cavaliers. Right. So I’ve been saying they’ve been kind of middling. Right. And it’s beginning of the season. It doesn’t really matter. But recently they’ve started to gel. So they’re starting to pick up wins. And we hit the trade deadline. So we sent out DeAndre Hunter okay. He’s gone. We got um Schroder and Ellis from the Kings. Yeah apparently Ellis is some three and D guy I don’t know. Don’t know anything about him. I know Schroeder wants to fight Lucca. Oh, yeah. Look out for that. Should have signed that contract. Dennis. You fumbled. Yeah. And then the, uh, the stunner here was Darius Garland going for James Harden. Actually just announced yesterday. That’s crazy man. Um I again am in the middle with this trade. I don’t hate it. I don’t love it. Uh, Darius Garland, when he’s healthy, he’s an all star point guard. He’s fun to watch. He can shoot from anywhere. You know, he can give you fifty in a game. Um, he can set his teammates up, but he’s always injured. He’s small, so he’s six foot six, one. Um, you know, in the playoffs, they’re always hunting for him on the defensive end. And he just gets destroyed and he’s on a max contract. So when you have all three of those things I’ve been all aboard. You know, sending out Darius Garland for probably the last year or so. Um, but James Harden is, uh, you know, he’s ten years older. It’s never worked wherever he’s gone. Yeah. That’s tough. Uh, I don’t know. He he adds a lot offensively. He can take some of the pressure off of Donovan Mitchell. He’s still producing twenty five points a game eight assists per game. You know great big fellas are going to be uh you know they’re going to be fed on the pick and roll. So Allen and Mobley should be good. Mhm. I just the thing that bothers me about it is he’s a free throw merchant. So he’s always fishing for a foul. He is phenomenal. Like he he can cross over anybody. He can get to the hoop. He can do whatever he wants. But he’s not looking for a shot. He’s looking for a foul. Mhm. Um, everyone does it I know LeBron uh I mean SGA. A Luka Joel Embiid like everybody’s doing it. So I just need to get on board. But I don’t know man I’m in the middle. What are your thoughts on that trade. Yeah I I think the pressure that he takes off just being able to create is going to do wonders for like I don’t know, the team morale and especially Donovan Mitchell’s morale, just like the pressure’s not on you to kind of make everything happen. Um, so from that vantage point, that is great. Um. I don’t know, I’m curious to see what happens. I mean, it’s not like one of those trades where you instantly think like, there’s no way this is going to work, like when we’ll talk about here in a little bit. But, um, I think I think it could at least make for an interesting team. And I’m excited to see what he can do. Yeah. I mean, the window is open, right? The window is always going to be two to three years. Donovan Mitchell’s got a year and a half on his contract. He probably got hardened for like two to three decent years before the wheels completely fall off. Yep. Um, yeah. I guarantee you, next summer, if a certain person going into his twenty fourth year doesn’t retire, he is coming back to Cleveland. Guaranteed. It was crazy how that all, like, developed within a week. Suddenly it was like, oh well, this is definitely going to happen. That was crazy. Yeah. I mean, the Lakers have just like kicked LeBron to the curb. Once they got Luka they were like, hey thanks so much. We aren’t going to pay you again. So he might hang it up because he’s played forever. But if he wants that farewell tour LeBron’s got a spot on the Cavs next year. So we’ll just have a nursing home. We’ll be the Gary Payton Karl Malone Lakers. So come on over I I would love to see that I don’t know how you feel about it but I think it’d be great. It’d be a circus. Um I don’t know how it would work. LeBron doesn’t play defense anymore. Neither does James Harden. So we going to need some. Yes. Extra mobley’s on the team. Yeah yeah it’d be exciting. It would be. It’d be great to see it one more time. What do you got for us Trevor. Well meanwhile my department over here has delivered some classic showings, let me tell you. Um, when we left, I don’t think when we left, the Titans had a head coach. I think it’s been that long. Which, by the way, if you’re listening to this, we’re in the middle of Snowpocalypse or ice Pocalypse here where I am. Zach’s been able to dig out of the snow, but it’s been a crazy couple of weeks. Um, you know, like, when your team hires a head coach and our teams hire head coaches all the time. Um, and there’s always that period of time where you’re like, the fans are like, oh, my gosh. Dream scenario. Like, if we got this guy and he brought in X, Y and Z coaches and like, it’ll never happen. But man, what a great team. Like what a great coaching staff that would be. And then when the team falls apart later you get to whine and complain like, see I told you if they would have brought in whatever. For the most part, the Titans have done that. Like they’ve followed kind of the blueprint that the fans are like, we would love to see this, which is crazy that I can I can’t remember a time where this has ever happened before. Um, so it’s almost guaranteed to fail spectacularly now because they gave us what we wanted. And I’m sure it’ll I’m sure it’ll go up in flames. But Robert Saleh is our head coach, Robert Saleh of MSC fame. When we had the clip of him yelling at Lee and the Jaguars head coach that he would f him up and end his effing life after a game on the field like that was great. So that endeared us. Um, I think he’s just going to come back and establish a culture of grinding and hard work. Stories have been coming out about Kali and it just sounded bad, like it sounded lazy and uninspiring, and that was the product on the field. So I think, um, he made the New York Jets into a top five defense. So I’m I’m very excited to see what he can do with, um, the Titans because our talent is not anywhere close to, like, being better than the Jets. But we have pieces. We’ve got a good D line, but we’ll see. Um, brought in Brian Daboll to run the offense. Um, I like that. I like it to help develop. Josh Allen really wanted to draft apparently the bills um or not the bills. I’m sorry. The Giants kind of put on the full court press to get cam Ward, and we said no because Daboll was apparently in love with him. So, um, but it’s also been funny, all of our coaching staff that they’ve brought on, most of them, at least five or six are all bald. So we’re making the all bald team. Uh, so that’s going to be great, but I don’t know. Hope is high. We’re in that part of the, you know, circular trip where we’ve built up the hope. So then, you know, as long as the draft goes, even average hope will be super high. We’re rebranding our uniforms this summer. Um, next year we open a new stadium, so, like, could go well, or it could all fail spectacularly. And knowing the Titans, I have a feeling it’ll go one way versus the other. How do you like the hire? Uh, I like I like the hire. Um, I’m all about the culture. I’m all about accountability. Um, he seems like that guy, right? So, like you said, he’s going to work on the defense. He’ll get them up to speed. You get a good draft, you get some free agents coming along. Um, things can turn around very quickly. So you’re in the right division, right? I think the Browns are in a similar spot. There’s a lot of change going on in the AFC North. Oh yeah, AFC South. So um yeah I’m excited for it. Yeah we’ll see. Uh, yeah I think we’ve got a good chance. Um talk briefly about the Mavericks news drop today that we are moving on from Anthony Davis. Celebrate good times. Let’s get out of here. Uh, basically, functionally, we sent him away for five second round picks. Is what it works out to be. Um, but it’s fine. We randomly got players that will never play for us. Khris Middleton. Middleton will not see the court. He will get bought out. He will never be. He’ll never suit up for the Mavericks. Um, we did trade for, uh, Ohio State legend Malachi Branham. Still he’s still in the league. And funnily enough uh, Marvin Bagley, who, uh, was the pick before Luka. So how about that? Uh, I doubt I mean, they’re all expiring contracts. We’re really just trying to free up money and get some picks to start building around Cooper Flagg, who has been exquisite. But I had a friend text me today. He’s so good. I had a friend text me today and was like, you know, there’s assets and stuff to build around Cooper. So like, you know, do you feel any better? And I was like, I would trade it all back for Luka in a heartbeat. And I feel like I always will always. Yeah, it’s it’s so tough. But thank goodness for Cooper Flag because if he wasn’t there, can you imagine. No, I mean I, I was just looking his last three games thirty six points, thirty four points, forty nine points as a nineteen year old shoe. Um, it’s it’s fantastic. He’s getting that exposure right. It’s not leading to the wins yet, but he’s he’s got his feet to the fire. He’s responding. He’s getting buckets. He’s doing everything that you want to see from someone that you expect in the next two to three years to take an even bigger jump. And so you just need to figure out how do we get one or two more pieces. Maybe it maybe it is Kyrie. Maybe Kyrie comes back and he’s healthy and he can help him. Could be um just getting a few folks that can get some of that load off of him and support him. Um but the sky’s the limit with Cooper. He’s phenomenal. He’s so good. Speaking of Kyrie, do you know for how long Kyrie and Anthony Davis played together? I actually saw a tweet. It was not that many games over because there were like ninety potential games right. Or something like that. It was the equivalent of three quarters of basketball. That’s what we got. That’s what we got from that. So super right. You had both of them for like an entire season and it just never oh, yeah. It never came to fruition. No, no, it was it was terrible. So, um, I did see a tweet. I was gonna include this later, but I’ll just read it now that as of this was from January twenty first, so, you know, it’s worse, um, points this season. We’re in January now. End of January. Mhm. Anthony Davis has four hundred and seven points in the first quarter of games alone Luka has four hundred and eight. So great job Harrison. Thank you for that. We’re moving on. Yeah. And Lucas played in all the games. And uh we could go down that road but we’ll just we’ll let that lay bright future really excited about it. Yeah I guess yeah. As we look, it’s fine. As we look ahead, goals are being quietly adjusted and fans are already talking themselves back in. Come on Trevor, we’re getting back in. Oh my gosh. if I have to. And before this review requires signatures from upper management, we have our next sponsor. Are you tired of letting things like wins and completion percentage dictate your future? With the Dr. Sanders Pro Bowl system, performance is optional. Just pencil yourself in now and we’ll sort out the details later. Includes premature graphic packages, mock award debates, and commentators ready to say remember the name when whether you ask them to or not. Oh, thank you, Dr. Sanders. Pro Bowl package. Yeah, he’s a Pro Bowler. Are they going to do away with the Pro Bowl bowler? I think they have to. Right. I saw a story that they asked Justin Fields to be a Pro Bowl quarterback this year. No they got to Justin Fields. What are they doing down. We’re scraping the barrel. I mean cheddar was dead last in every stat. Um, it’s a joke. I you know, it’s not even worth playing. I didn’t watch a second of whatever they called that. Um, they should just get rid of it. Yes, I agree, they should. They need to. They need to just do away with it. But thank you. Uh, and your Pro Bowl package. Appreciate you. All right, let’s step into the mail room where emotional processing meets public Wi-Fi. Every message here was sent with confidence and almost no reflection. I will start us off, Trevor. This. Actually, it’s kind of lame for the show, but we’ll retweet it and it’ll be on our website, Missouri Sports. Com and you can follow us on Twitter at Missouri Sports Co or X, whatever they call it at this point we call it Twitter. Okay. The, the the Twitter, uh, Jaxson Hayes from the Los Angeles Lakers. Uh, it was pregame warm ups. So doing an introductions. And they’re playing the Washington Wizards and gee whiz the mascot of the Washington Wizards. It’s a good name. You gotta admit it’s pretty good. It’s running pretty good around with a giant flag. He’s trying to get the crowd pumped. The lights are dark. There’s a spotlight specifically on gee Whiz following him around the arena. And he’s got a flag, right? Yes. He goes into Jaxson Hayes vicinity and Jaxson Hayes shoulders him and he just goes down like down for the count. This poor guy, this gee whiz, he probably couldn’t even see him through the through the the mascot mask or whatever. Right. Um, so Hayes has been suspended for one game. We’ll be sure to share the footage. Good bit. I like the bit. I, uh, I would have preferred that you check with gee whiz ahead of the game to make sure he’s cool with it, but tackling mascots is a good bit I like it, I like it. Well, next up I have got a single entry as well. Um, this was from quite a while ago. Zack, do you realize that the College Football Playoff has had their final and concluded since the last time we met in Indiana, our national champions. Congratulations, Indiana. Congratulations, coach. SIG. Uh, congratulations, Fernando Mendoza. Well done. Um, you are a Missouri Sports Co participant, and you are working your way out. Yep. We hate and love to see you go. Moving on to bigger and better things. So congrats. Um, this was from Saint Zoe on Twitter. Uh, who said Fernando Mendoza? Looks like he makes his animal crackers fight each other before he eats them. He is so serious about everything that he talks about. There is just one way and it is Uber focused. Yes, he knows one level and it has been funny seeing him, uh, open up a little bit about Coach SIG in Indiana and everything now that he’s, uh, now that he’s out and won’t get yelled at. Good stuff. Raw, unedited, and probably therapeutic for all of these senders. Exactly what this segment was built for. All right, let’s step away before the inbox reloads. Trevor. Who do you have for our next sponsor? Hey, you sports fan. When was the last time your mascot got into a fight? Maybe ripped off the other mascot’s head. Ate a cheerleader whole. Pushed an opposing player around. It’s been too long, right? Well, let’s get him juiced. Maybe put your finger on the scale a little bit with Jim Bob Cooter’s mascot. Pregame. Fresh. Fresh. Fresh off his failed stadium experience venture. And I’m legally required to read that he’s super sorry about how insensitive the hospital thing was. The Iowa experiment did not go well. It’s already failed. Didn’t even break ground on the gym. Fresh off that, Jim Bob is ready to bring the juice via that full body mascot hanging from the goalpost with Jvc’s mascot. Pregame, your mascot can freebase a teaspoon of pure adrenaline. Whew. Kind of stuff they gave gladiators before they entered the Coliseum. What’s in it? You a narc? Why are you asking that? The man. Just be cool. You want Jaxson Hayes getting suspended or not? Yeah, that’s what I thought. With Jim Bob Cooter’s Mascot. Pregame. Thank you. Jim Bob, I was I was going to ask if he was behind. Gee whiz. And it sounds like he was. He was only makes sense. Kind of a guerilla marketing tactic. Yeah. You never know when this this show is really going to come together. We don’t share anything on, you know, what we’re going to present. And darn it, if gee whiz wasn’t a big part of today. Thanks, Jim. Bob, thank g. Thank you. Gee whiz, one thing we love it’s mascots. Oh my goodness. Time for moral victories. Because sometimes progress is just finding a less painful way to lose. Remember the scoreboard doesn’t always reflect emotional effort. My employee of the week is actually an entire team, and I didn’t cover them in my weekly recap because I wanted to save them for for right now. This team has won ten of the last eleven. They’re winning tonight. It is none other than your Columbus Blue Jackets. They’re on a tear. They’re making it. They’re making it happen. They’re not in the playoffs yet, but they are doing a great job. Hang in there. I think they’re like, you know, four or five points away from the wild card at this point. The East is just stupid. One spot, I think. Right. There’s one spot out. I mean, it’s it is several points, like you said, but one spot, man. So I mean, credit Zach Werenski for not literally jumping off whatever bridges in Columbus. He’s hanging in there. He’s pushing the young guys forty two assists, seventeen goals. Um, great job DJ. That’s what I, what I like to see. They are absolutely a candidate for a deep dive at some point, but glad to see that they’re doing well. Yes. With that new coach Rick Bowness, who took the stars to the Stanley Cup final in the Covid year. He’s great. He is great for. So happy to see that it’s working out. Man. Great. Great pick and good job jackets. Keep it up. Like Zach said we do not talk about you know what we’re going to discuss on the show. My employee of the week this week, uh, is none other than the kid who set the record for most points by a teenager in the NBA with forty nine against the Charlotte Hornets. It is Cooper Flagg. So there you go. I just go like we already talked about. The ceiling is so high with this kid. Um, you know he can he can do it all. It’s weird to see one of my favorite Mavericks play two ways he gets back on defense, which I’m not used to that. Um, he is fantastic in transition. Um. He’s just. Yeah, like everything you said, I second, uh, we’re developing him, want him to just. It’s great that we need to tank because he can just have a season to try stuff out like nothing’s off the table. Just go for it. Uh, I did want to play. I’ve got something to play real quick. When we did a deep, you did a deep dive on the Hornets and we talked about their play by play man, Eric Collins and how great he is. He’s basically the Gus Johnson of the NBA. And I loves me some Gus Johnson. I will not tolerate Gus Johnson’s slander on this show. Uh, we’re both big fans. So this was the other night. So when he went off for forty nine, uh, we were down by three. We ended up losing the game, which honestly worked out for everybody. Team tank. Let’s go. We’re Mavericks are inbounding the ball against the Hornets. And uh we’re down three inbounding the ball. 30s left. And this is what it sounded like on the Charlotte Hornets. Uh play by play TV station out for Dallas with Gafford, Christie Flagg and Thompson. The ball is going to end up in Flagg’s hands. Let him shoot a three. Yep. Go for it. Oh my goodness. Oh my goodness. Cooper flag ripping up the stat sheet. He shoots twenty eight percent from behind the arc. And he smokes that one. So great. I love the squeals and the yells and everything. Like Collins is so good. And yeah, when you have a twenty eight percent three shooter, you just say we’ll live with it. And he drained it the biggest moment. It was really cool to see. And that’s the thing, is a lot to work on. And he’s so good already. Like he’s going to work on his three point shot. He should be in college this year. Like the fact that he’s averaging twenty points a game he can hit. It’s just insane. It’s insane. Yeah, it’s fun to watch. Fun to watch. Yep. All right. Well awards have been issued. Compensation remains imaginary. We’re still waiting on payment from our sponsors. I was gonna say issued, but not mailed. Okay, that has not changed. Um, we’re not doing that. But morale, you know, we’re trying to improve it slightly for, uh, a few minutes even. It. All right. Deep dive where we zoom out and attempt to make sense of patterns that fans are desperately trying to ignore. I missed it, I did. It was a six or seven joke. Trevor, I’m so unhip. Gosh dang it. Uh, okay. Retake. Uh, but morale improved slightly for about six or seven minutes. Six. Six. Seven. All right. Deep dive time. Here we go. Where we zoom out and attempt to make sense of patterns that fans are desperately trying to ignore. Yes, I have the deep dive this week. Um. And I’m very excited about this one. I’ve got some personal ties to this next team, or I should say that my spouse does. So let’s see if you can guess this based on, uh, these clues. She is from the same town ish. The same. The next closest, larger town where this team originated from. She played, which is Rochester. There you go. She played with this team exclusively in NBA inside drive on the original Xbox and smoked me when we have played. And I, of course, am the Mavericks. I would say that this is probably her favorite team or like a favorite roster of all time. Um, she loves this team, and frankly, I’ve never met anybody who was like that specific roster. I don’t like them. Like they’re such a likable, fun team. There was a key cog to the Mavs NBA championship team, who was an all time great for this franchise from on that twenty eleven team in the twenty eleven team. Um, uh, didn’t play much in the finals, but we, uh, he had a great time. Just the Lakers. Okay, so we’re j. Kid. Yeah. Could could be could be another player who, uh, had, like, is she a nets fan? New Jersey nets? No. Is a different player. Didn’t play in the finals much, if any. I don’t think because was a defensive liability. Uh. I don’t know Trevor. He had I think he had seven threes in a game against the Lakers. Against the Lakers. I mean, I just remember I just remember Jake kid hitting some threes and saying some words. Um, I tell you what, this team, they had a chance to draft Luka, and they decided not to the Hawks. They gave us them right before the Hawks. He came up before they they instead they took Marvin Bagley. It’s the Sacramento Kings. Oh no it was Peja. Hit me up on my Peja. Peja Stojakovic had like seven threes. And the the oh two Sacramento Kings is just an all time fun team. Uh you’ve got Vlad, you’ve got Chris Webber, you’ve got Peja. Just a a super fun team. Unfortunately that franchise has suffered and the fans continue to suffer. So we’re talking Sacramento Kings tonight. I’m going to focus on a specific type of misery tonight, and that is getting to the biggest stage and then getting jobbed by the refs. So knowing that your team made it, your team had the talent. You finally got there and then it just gets taken from you in the most painful way possible. It makes me think of the. It was the same like there was a there was an NFL. Was it the Saints and Rams or something? There was a playoff game where there was like a clear pass interference call that did not get called. Yes. Yeah. And like they changed the rule like I think for a season maybe this was a fever dream. I feel like for a season we had review on pass interference because of that. Um, and so this is I’m going to say this is the NBA version of that. Um, and so we’ll get there. So we are going to build to the oh two Western Conference finals. But before we do that, let’s take a look at. Oh, and I didn’t even say Mike Bibby by the way. That’s her favorite player of all time is Mike Bibby. Okay just a great team. So before we get there, um, did you know that the Kings are a historic like, have a ton of history? Um, they go back all the way to, uh, the forties where they were the Rochester Royals. They were the Rochester Royals until fifty six, fifty seven. And Sacramento Kings fans, if you’re not claiming the fifty nineteen, fifty, fifty one championship, you should be because you want it. The better that you’re. I can check who I didn’t even look at. Who like what? Other plumbers and milkmen they were playing against. Uh, the Knicks in your face, Knicks. How about that? Uh, that was the NBA championship of nineteen fifty to nineteen fifty one. Um, interestingly enough, they move in fifty seven to Cincinnati. Cincinnati had an NBA team until seventy two. So they were in Cincinnati as the Cincinnati Royals for a while. They then moved to Kansas City in seventy two, where they’re the Kansas City-omaha Kings. They stay as the Kings until eighty four eighty five. And then they move to Sacramento, which was not thought of as a big market or a market that was, you know, could carry a large franchise. But the fans were ready. California itself is a really good market and was certainly, uh, displaying that it was ready for, uh, more basketball. And so they move in um, eighty five to Sacramento. I don’t know if there’s like a lot of Kansas City folks and like there I don’t know how old would they be now like their sixties that are like they took our basketball team. Uh, maybe there is, I don’t know, maybe there’s some bad blood there. But they’ve been in Sacramento since eighty five. And, gosh, I’m here to tell you that there has not been a lot of playoff success. Um, there was a drought from eighty five to ninety five where they don’t make the playoffs. They’re not getting deep in the playoffs when they do. Uh, it’s a lot of first round exits, but things start to change, um, when they bring in. When they bring in a new coach. So in ninety eight they hire Rick Adelman, uh, who was a lot of motion and spacing, um, kind of the same ball that the Warriors play where it’s a lot of passing, um, unselfish play. You can also think about like the Spurs back, Uh, back in the day, uh, really beautiful basketball. It’s it’s it’s a joy to watch. Uh, and then they are drafting and collecting the right pieces to where by the early two thousand, we’ve now got Chris Webber, we’ve got Peja, we’ve got Mike Bibby, and we’ve got, uh, Vlade Divac. Now we also have some other fun, uh, other fun players on here because I want to share some other names. Uh, we’ve got Doug Christie, we’ve got former, I guess, Ohio State. Great. Tell me if you’ve heard of this person, because I feel like I. This is a name you don’t forget. But Indiana and Ohio State great. Lawrence Funderburke I remember Funderburke. Yeah, yeah. Just by the name. Just by the name. Uh, so he’s on there, uh, Jabari Smith, uh, Gerald Wallace is, uh, a rookie in this year when we’re, um, in two thousand and two and, uh, in his second year from Turkey. Hedo Turkoglu is is on this Kings team. So it’s a good team. Uh, we have a great season. Um, and we get to the conference finals, and that’s when we’re going up against the Lakers. Um, this is a huge match up, right? We’ve got, uh, small market, big market. We’ve got Shaq and Kobe, which are quickly becoming the face of the NBA team or of the NBA and, um, trying to win another championship. It’s a it’s a it’s a huge series. And Sacramento goes up three to two. So all they need to do is win one more to go into the finals and break through. Uh, they take a third quarter lead into this Into the fourth. And that’s where things kind of start to fall apart in the final quarter. The Los Angeles Lakers attempted twenty seven free throws and Sacramento attempts nine nine. Uh, these are ticky tack calls. Um, called on all of the big players that I just mentioned. Uh, there was an instance where, uh, Kobe elbows Mike Bibby in the face, and he’s like, he kind of goes backwards and is like, bleeding from his nose. And that’s a foul on Mike Bibby. And Kobe goes to the line. It’s just really confusing. It’s it’s one of those games. All this was highlighted in the fantastic podcast series whistleblower. Uh, if our folks haven’t checked that out, um, it’s a few years old, but it talks about NBA reffing scandals. And so a lot of the Tim Donaghy stuff, um, really, really interesting podcast. But this is kind of the series that everybody watching this is like, oh my gosh, they just want the Lakers to go to game seven. Like they need the matchup. Like this is what’s happening. It’s unfolding before our eyes. We can’t do anything about it. And I mean they’re getting called for like basic moving screens that aren’t like they’re just it moves from like let them play to we got to get the Lakers to Game seven. Um, really tough. They lose that game. Um, they end up losing the next series or the next game and and lose the series. You could argue game seven like was theirs. And they just kind of, you know, they’re missing free throws. They’re not playing well. But like game six they were in control until you start getting hit with these whistles. Um, and it stuck with fans ever since. Like you talk to them to this day that is the biggest example in the whistleblower podcast. Several people talk about it. Uh, Mark Cuban talks about that series. Um, they actually beat the the Mavericks early on earlier to go to the conference finals. And even Mark Cuban was like, yeah, but they got jobbed in that that next series. And like that’s the I think he would I think he said oh six Dwyane Wade was up there maybe as his number one, but that this one was uh, easily number two. And. There’s nothing you can do when you’re the smaller market team. And I listen, there’s definitely a chance there exists a reality and maybe it’s the probable one. I don’t know where there was no wrongdoing. Uh, it was called that way because that’s how they actually saw it. I don’t think that’s how it was, but maybe that’s how they saw it. But when you have folks like Tim Donaghy, who is, you know, the one of the biggest cheaters in the game, he’s saying that they were the refs were told, we got to get the Lakers to the next game because that’s going to help revenue for the league. When you’ve got him saying that, it makes you wonder like, oh, maybe that was happening. Yeah, that was tough. And that’s right around the time when I started paying attention to basketball, honestly. So, you know, early two thousand, I can remember, you know, those games were always on NBC. It was like, yeah, it wasn’t even seven twenty P. It was like whatever’s below that on your, you know, rabbit ears. Uh-Uh. Um, that was a tough one. I mean, Sacramento deserved that series. Um, it does take the wind out of your sails, too, because as a small market team, it’s not a desirable location. So you got to start winning and you got to win titles, and you got to make it, like, appear to be bigger and better than it is. Similar thing with Cleveland, right? You gotta you gotta deliver championships or advance deeper into the playoffs. And as a fan, it just it’s it’s the worst when you have forty free throws like it’s just the free throw disparity is insane. And a lot of these games I remember that in oh six with Dwyane Wade as well. And it’s just like, what do you you can’t do anything at that point. They’re just giving them free points. It hurts their pain. Yeah it hurts watching that slip away. Um so they lose that and you think, hey, we’ll be back. And you know, they they were back in the playoffs, at least for the next four years with Rick Adelman at the helm. Um, so that made a run of, uh, eight straight years of playoffs, which is great. Um, but after the oh five oh six season, when they lose, uh, in the first round to the Spurs, they fire Rick Adelman And, uh, they do not return to the playoffs again until twenty twenty twenty two. Um, where they lose, uh, quickly in the first round to the Golden State Warriors. It was a great series. It went seven games. Uh, and they haven’t been back since. Also hurting this team is they made Vladi their GM at one point. And he had the twenty eighteen draft and the twenty eighteen draft. Um, at the time, this sounds crazy to talk about, but like it was consensus you have to pick DeAndre Ayton. Like um you have to pick him. He’s a big smooth man that can rebound, that can put up points. Uh like you have to take him. And he didn’t have like he wasn’t too tall that you worried about injuries. And it was just a clear number one. Um, and then, then the Kings pick and they end up picking Marvin Bagley who is now a Dallas Mavericks. So full circle. Uh, and then after that the Hawks draft Luka. And we draft, um Trey Young a few picks later and we swap and we’re good. And the rest is history. Until Nico took a dump on it. So you have, you know, one of the top three players in the league slip through your fingers. Uh, so that’s more heartbreak. And then I don’t know if you remember this, uh, but in twenty one, I think it was they trade uh Tyrese Haliburton for Domantas Sabonis. So then you have the heartbreak of watching Haliburton go lead the Pacers to Game seven of the NBA finals. And you had that on your team. Now that’s I don’t think that’s as painful as the Suns and the Clippers being like oh we had SGA. But I mean that’s you had them and you saw how good. Yeah there’s a lot of misses on this board in the draft. I’m just looking at it I mean like DeMarcus cousins was a good pick. He ended up being really solid De’Aaron Fox you know six seven years later. Mhm. Um. Everyone else is just bad. I mean it’s like the fifth pick the sixth pick the eighth pick. It just feels like in the NBA draft the top three are typically decent. Obviously Marvin Bagley wasn’t. But like you have a better chance. And then you get into the five through ten. And it’s just a total crapshoot. It is it is. And then you have guys like Jalen Brunson who are taking high second round. And right you never know. Usually there’s like one every couple years where there’s a really good second round player. But you gotta hit on those. And I tell you what they have not. They do have a really cool. Have you seen the light the beam thing after they win, where they hit the button and the beam goes up the light beam? Oh, no. It’s pretty cool. I mean, they have a fun after post-game tradition, so that’s been cool. They’re trying and like you know uh Sabonis is a fun player. Like you know it’s a fun team to root for. But it just sucks. Like you look back on your best season and feel like the refs took it away from you. Yeah it’s tough. Yeah it’s tough. Uh a little tease to next week we are going to debut a new segment where we take our deep dive teams and start to rank them in terms of misery so we can start to compare them. Uh, so we’ll see how Sacramento stacks up against some other teams like, uh, Charlotte or the Washington Wizards. All that to come uh, next week. But first, before we shut down the building for the week. One more sponsor. Zack. Do you need a help demanding a trade from your NBA team? Then enroll today at James Harden’s professional relationship exit Academy, where we teach elite athletes how to go from fully committed to the organization to I will never wear this jersey again in just three to five business days. Wow. Our curriculum includes visible sideline sighing, carefully leaked frustration, and the advanced art of making things uncomfortable enough that the front office starts apologizing to you. James Harden’s Exit Academy because nothing says leadership like updating your preferred destination before practice. And oh my gosh, yeah, James is kind of all time at that. I’ll uh, yeah, I’ll bring in a video of the the Mavs radio guy, his rant against James Harden. They let him do some wild stuff. The Clippers gave him a ton of concessions of like staying over late on trips, uh, letting him borrow the plane so he could go to Vegas. It’s crazy. It’s wild. And you look at all the destinations, and he has almost. I would consider it the worst luck. He goes to the Brooklyn Nets with K.D. and Irving, and Kyrie goes bonkers and just flat earths himself out of the league. That sucks and doesn’t help him. Joel Embiid just breaks himself. Kawhi Leonard never shows up to work. Until this year, it was just like every situation he’d try to bungee into. So what’s it going to be with the Cavs? It’ll be something we’ll see. Who knows. Should have stayed with the zombies. Should have stayed with K.D. and Russell. I really think that Thunder team wins a championship if they stay together. Completely agree. I mean, that’s three Hall of Famers that you have on the same team. Yes. It’s insane. Yep yep yep yep. Well that’s another week. Well first I’m sorry. Excuse me. Thank you. James Harden in your academy. We appreciate your sponsor dollars. Want to make sure I get that out. But that is another week. Logged Missouri sports company where the work is hard and the results build character. Follow us wherever you listen. Spotify, Apple, YouTube Pocketcasts wherever and send us the takes you felt great about until roughly five minutes later. We’ll be back with more reviews, more rationalizing, and more fans convincing themselves, hey, it’ll be different next time. That’s right. Until then, close the laptop. Step away from the highlights. And remember, you’re not the only one going through this because misery loves company.