Kings impressive rookies can't overshadow familiar predicament

Look at these two summer league beasts. Maxine Raynaud and Nique Clifford are showing out in a win.

I’m not sure it matters.

I would like to call attention to two things.

When Vivek Ranadivé bought the Sacramento Kings, he inherited a team that had missed the playoffs seven years in a row. Vivek came from the Warriors' ownership group, which, as you may remember, is light-years ahead of everyone else. There was a certain level of hope that maybe a new, forward-thinking tech guy could jumpstart a return to something akin to the early 2000s glory years.

Then 10 years passed. Sacramento did not make the playoffs in any of those years. Ranadivé really liked Nik Stauskas. What if Sacramento played with a cherry-picker? (I’m for this idea, I should say.) Mike Malone finally got the most out of DeMarcus Cousins. Let’s fire him. Just further indignities, year after year. The difference between these ten years and the seven that preceded them were that the indignities of this decade were much weirder.

But!

In 2023, it seemed like things, somehow, were turning around. A team lead by De’Aaron Fox, Domantas Sabonis, and (I dunno) Kevin Huerter (I guess?) won 48 games in the Western Conference, grabbed a three-seed, and took the defending champions, the Golden State Warriors, to seven games in the playoffs. Were it not for a Fox thumb injury, that series could easily have gone the other way.

This season was a surprise, but somehow the Kings found consistency. They found an identity. Everyone loves dribble handoffs. There was high-level coaching from Mike Brown. Fox was still an athletic marvel and one of the most clutch players in the league. Who needs Tyrese Haliburton when you have Sabonis? Sure the idea of getting a three seed in the west with 48 wins makes the year look strange, but it still counts!

This seemed like it was the beginning of a bunch of good things.

Actually, the good things were over.

It’s difficult to get excited about Nique Clifford and Maxine Raynaud when… *gestures broadly*

Mike Brown, who won coach of the year, was fired midseason because that’s good, I guess. Tyrese Haliburton took his team to game seven of the NBA Finals this year, while some people ask if Sabonis is worth even factoring into future plans. De’Aaron Fox is gone, and in his place are DeMar DeRozan and Zach LaVine — two-thirds of a core that couldn’t bring a team out of the Eastern Conference Play-in. Now they’ve just been imported to the West. That should go well.

So, as well as Raynaud and Clifford might play and as positive indicators they might be for the future, exactly what future are they joining? It’s hard to give the primary Sacramento decision makers much grace when they had one “successful” season since Vivek took control of the team. It takes a certain level of whatever the opposite of skill is to miss a dartboard eleven out of twelve times. The Kings have that.

Sorry to not be able to instill much hope. Sometimes things just feel very useless.