The sound of silence isn’t going to help the Kings make the playoffs; they need a new DJ
You learn a lot about a team if you spend enough time in an NBA locker room. Eventually, you hear the heartbeat. You feel the pulse. You see the swagger. You get a sense of the soul.
You’ll never see the future, so I can’t tell you if the Kings are going to make the playoffs. Even if everything goes right, it’s going to be very close – and very difficult – but I can tell you these guys have heart. They have soul. They want it as much as every fan who grew up and then grew old waiting for this team to recreate the kind of excitement that set this city on fire nearly 20 years ago.
One thing has been bothering me lately, though. Something the Kings have been missing in the locker room before games and after games, at home and on the road, whether they win or lose. Something they haven’t had since Iman Shumpert was traded to the Houston Rockets on Feb. 6.
That was the day the music died.
These guys used to have so much fun. You’d walk in to find them laughing and smiling, bouncing and swaying, singing and shouting, all while Shumpert bumped beats that filled the locker room with energy and life.
Now? Now they all just sit there, some listening with earbuds and AirPods, some staring at their phones, some conversing quietly while the pressure of this playoff race builds to the point of combustion.
“We need a DJ,” Kings point guard De’Aaron Fox said. “That’s what Shump was. That’s the way he got himself ready and he helped his teammates that way, but at this point we’ve got the playoffs on the line, so it’s all about motivating yourself.”
That’s the thing that’s bothering me. They started this wondrous journey together. Why go it alone now? Why do something yourself when you can do it as a team?
That’s what it’s going to take for this squad to get on enough of a roll to catch the San Antonio Spurs for the eighth spot in the Western Conference standings.
The Kings (32-32) are four games out as they embark on an East Coast swing to face the New York Knicks, Washington Wizards, Boston Celtics and Philadelphia 76ers. Then they’ll come home to play the Chicago Bulls, Brooklyn Nets, Dallas Mavericks and Phoenix Suns before going back on the road to play the Los Angeles Lakers, Mavericks, New Orleans Pelicans and Houston Rockets.
How many of those games can the Kings win? Seven? Eight? Nine?
If they go 9-3 during that stretch and the Spurs go 5-5 in their next 10 games – both of which are entirely possible – the Kings will be one game behind the Spurs when they meet in San Antonio on March 31. It’s not too late, but it’s now or never, and none of these guys are going to make the playoffs on their own.
So let the beat drop. Play that funky music. Bring the swagger back and have some fun.
“I know what you mean, and I agree,” Kings guard Yogi Ferrell said. “It does kind of set a mood.”
The sound of silence doesn’t seem to be helping anyone.
The Kings were 28-25 before they traded Shumpert. Fox was shooting 46.6 percent from the field and 36.8 percent from 3-point range. Hield was sizzling, shooting at 45.9 percent from beyond the arc.
Since then, the Kings have gone 4-7. They’ve lost six of eight. Fox is shooting 42.3 percent from the field. Hield is shooting 36.7 percent from 3-point range.
“Shump would play music that got everybody hyped up, so it was cool,” Hield said.
It was cool. And then it was quiet. So what’s it going to take to bring the noise?
“I think we just don’t have a speaker,” Kings center Willie Cauley-Stein said. “(Shumpert) used to take that damn speaker with him everywhere he went, so now somebody else has gotta bring the speaker.”
Bring the beat back. Sing and shout. Put away the earbuds, rediscover the swagger and have some fun. More rhythm, less blues.
It’s now or never.
This story was originally published March 9, 2019 at 2:40 AM.
