It's all about relationships. The marriage between the Sacramento Kings and the Sacramento region grew strained over the costly prospect of building the Kings a new arena.
The relationship between the Kings owners and their basketball brain trust has been affectionate but fruitless of late. Big-name Kings players couldn't click while here but contributed greatly to rival teams in the recently concluded NBA playoffs.
From title contender to the worst record in the NBA: So goes the team, so goes the region.
Downtown development is stagnant on K Street because key landlords chose lawsuits over making deals. The Downtown Plaza withers while Westfield, the mall landlord, fiddles around. Clueless local unions make expensive demands while essential government services look to be eliminated. The same old politicians play musical chairs with money from the same old special interest groups.
Sacramento needs a game changer. The region is mired in a slump, but all slumps eventually end. The Kings are trying to end theirs with a 19-year-old named Tyreke Evans, who is sweet natured in person and a 6-foot-5 bull on the basketball court.
This lad is highly touted, but he inherits the heavy expectation of playing a key role in restoring an essential regional franchise.
The young man is only a year removed from high school. In November 2007, not long after his father died, he was behind the wheel of a vehicle involved in a fatal shooting.
Two days before the Kings drafted him, his cousin – the shooter – was sent to prison. Evans was cleared by authorities, starred at the University of Memphis and is the hope of his entire family from suburban Philadelphia.
"My brothers put a basketball in my hands when I was 4 years old," he said. "I haven't tried to hide what happened to me from anyone. I'm going to try to be a good guy and have a good career in the NBA."
The Kings are banking on it. "We're going to put him front and center," said Kings co-owner Gavin Maloof. "When he gets the ball in his hands, no one is going to stop him."
Maloof's words could be a pipe dream or prophetic. Nobody knows
Evans joins a team of fresh faces with something to prove. New Kings coach Paul Westphal is trying to revive a dormant career. Team president Geoff Petrie is searching for his Teflon suit after some flawed decisions stuck to him. The Maloofs are being more positive than they have in years.
"I'm tired of all the negativity about this franchise," Gavin Maloof said. A lot of people are tired of local negativity – of 11 percent unemployment and the baggage that goes with it.
Sacramento yearns for federal stimulus money and fears that a broke state government will rob local budgets. The Kings yearn for winning chemistry from winning relationships – something missing for years.
It's called hope. A region and its team pray to catch a break.
Call The Bee's Marcos Breton, (916) 321-1096.
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