So we’re on to our last full length team…This one will be pretty good too. Not only is there Oscar, but we can’t forget the early 50s, with Arnie Risen, and Bob Davies, while in Rochester (winning a championship…which we miss by ONE year….it is still basically the same team the next year though so….), then Jerry Lucas and Jack Twyman with Oscar in Cincinnati, then Sam Lacey and Tiny Archibald while in the Kansas City area, and finally Chris Webber, Peja, and Mitch Richmond in Sacramento…Should actually be good. Some really great teams, despite a lack of championships….
(1) 2002 Sacramento Kings (61-21) vs. (60) 2009 Sacramento Kings (17-65)
These guys WOULD have won if Game 6 against the Lakers wasn’t messed up. I’m not going to blindly blame the league…..though it is a possibility. Look at this team! They almost beat LA EVEN IF IT WAS RIGGED!!! With that said, on to the stats! Webber played only 54 games during the regular season, but was there all the playoffs. He had 25-10-5 when he was playing….Stojakovic had 21-5 (sometimes you forget how good he used to be considering how much of a scrub he is now….), Bibby had 14-3-5 (*gasp* What impressive numbers! You forget how mediocre he was considering how awful he is now…), Doug Christie had 12-5-4, and Vlade Divac had 11-8-4…Add in 11-3-2 from Bobby Jackson, and 10-5 from Hedo Turkoglu, this is a really impressive team…A lot of talented players in this bracket, no guarantees to win…
AWFUL year….Kevin Martin (25-4-3) played 51 games, and John Salmons (18-4-4) played 53….No one worthy of mention played more than 55……….
(2) 2003 Sacramento Kings (59-23) vs. (59) 1960 Cincinnati Royals (19-56)
Definitely not as good as 2002, but still, a pretty good team…Webber had 23-11-5 (and played 67 games….hey, better than next year…..if that makes sense…), as Peja had 19-6. Poor Bibby played 55 games (16-3-5), and Bobby Jackson played 59 (15-4-3). Vlade had 10-7-3, and Doug Christie had 9-4-5. Great team again….
The year before Oscar….Jack Twyman goes on a scoring rampage this year, averaging 31-9-4, after 26 last year and 25 the next year….Phil Jordon had 13-8, and Wayne Embry (before he was really any good) had 11-10…let’s not forget the incredible name of Bucky Bockhorn, a backcourt man that plays with Win Wilfong….
(3) 1964 Cincinnati Royals (55-25) vs. (58) 1959 Cincinnati Royals (19-53)
Our first Oscar team! This one is very good as well….Oscar averaged 31-10-11 (really 9.9 boards…but I rounded up….it’s almost a triple-double….), as rookie Jerry Lucas impressed everyone with 18-17 (though he is known for padding his board stats….), and Wayne Embry had 17-12. Jack Twyman (what he is REALLY famous for is helping Maurice Stokes after his head injury….What a team that would have been! Twyman, and Robertson (he was a territorial selection so he would have come regardless of how well the team was doing) in the backcourt, and the unstoppable Jerry Lucas (ditto to the territorial selection…), Stokes AND Wayne Embry (he’s the only really iffy one here…He was drafted in the 3rd round by St. Louis, and was traded here for Clyde Lovellette…do they still make that trade?). Incredible…) had 16 points. Bob Boozer was traded to the Big Apple…but he and Oscar would meet again on the 1971 Bucks….
Not a good year…Jack Twyman had 26-9……and among a bunch of partial season, Wayne Embry had 11-9 to debut….
(4) 2001 Sacramento Kings (55-27) vs. (57) 1990 Sacramento Kings (23-59)
Another Webber (27-11-4) team, and it has basically the same personnel, Vlade had 12-8, Peja had 20-6, and Doug Christie had 12-4-4…One difference from later teams is that instead of Bibby, Jason Williams is the point (9-2-5….wow! What fantastic numbers….He’s overrated because he made some impressive flashy passes…not much else…other than excitement, but still…..Memphis gets him for Bibby next year….).
Could it be? That’s right! It’s an awful 1990s Kings team! This one had Wayman Tisdale averaged 22-8, Danny Ainge (he really did bounce around a lot after Boston….) had 18-4-6, and Rodney McCray had 16-8-5….After half a year, Kenny Smith (15-3-7) was traded…”Never Nervous Pervis” Ellison (the number 1 overall pick) debuted with……8-6 in 34 games….(Then he goes to Washington and scores twenty points a game in one year…..then he goes to Boston and reforms back into a bust….). You know it’s a messed up year when Ralph Sampson (4-3) gets outperformed by Greg Kite (3-5)….
(5) 2004 Sacramento Kings (55-27) vs. (56) 2011 Sacramento Kings (24-58)
Not a great year…..Peja led the team (24-6) as Webber (in his final “full” year in Sactown) played only 23 games. Bibby had 18-3-5 this year, Brad Miller had 14-10-4, Divac had 10-6-5, and Doug Christie had 10-4-4…
Tyreke Evans had 18-5-6, as Marcus Thornton came over from New Orleans and averaged 21-5-4 in 27 games…DeMarcus Cousins debuted with 14-9 this year….
(6) 1953 Rochester Royals (44-26) vs. (55) 1988 Sacramento Kings (24-58)
Two years after the champ….This year wasn’t bad….but they were a bit older…They were known for their passing skills, and their team play…..Bob Davies had 16-3-4 this year, Bobby Wanzer had 15-5-4, and Arnie Risen had 13-11…The main core is there from the champs, and were joined by Jack Coleman (11-11) was a bit better than in 1951, averaging about 3 boards more than before….
Reggie Theus (in his last Kings year…he was in Atlanta for 1989…) led them with 22-3-6, as Otis Thorpe had 21-10-3. Kenny Smith had 14-2-7….Mike McGee and Derek Smith both played less than 40 games (while averaging double figures…).
(7) 1952 Rochester Royals (41-25) vs. (54) 2010 Sacramento Kings (25-57)
This is as close as we can get to the Royals/Kings only title…This really was a great team during this era (and if anyone thinks that this was a weak era…..your dead wrong…Look at some of these teams! The Royals, the Lakers ((Mikan/Mikkelsen/Pollard/Martin)), the Nationals (Dolph Schayes), and the Celtics ((Cousy/Ed Macaulay)), plus the Knicks ((Gallatin, McGuire….)). Just like you can’t tell me the 60s were weak…The 50s were very strong….). Bob Davies had 16-3-6 (very good year…He’s 32 this year, which is like 35 today, maybe even older. He stayed till an ancient 35…He’s VERY highly regarded, making 1st BAA/NBA team 4 straight years….), Bobby Wanzer had 16-5-4, and Arnie Risen had 16-13, as Jack Coleman had 11-11…..Very, very good year…I bet a Rochester team makes the Final Four for the Kings bracket…..
Tyreke Evans (20-5-6) won Rookie of the Year by default, as Griffin went down with a knee injury…Kevin Martin (20-4-3) was traded to Houston and Carl Landry (18-7) played only 28 games….
(8) 1954 Rochester Royals (44-28) vs. (53) 1993 Sacramento Kings (25-57)
Another good Rochester year…Wanzer had 13-5-4 as Davies slipped to 12-3-5. Arnie Risen had 13-10, and Coleman had 10-8….Not much to say now, I’ve given almost all my praises….
Our first glance at Mitch Richmond, one of the only really positive things in Sacramento during the 90s….Richmond played only 45 games this year (of 22-3-5), so Lionel Simmons (18-7-5), Walt Williams (17-5-3), Wayman Tisdale (17-7), and Spud Webb (15-3-7….his best year…he’s only remembered for dunking…Remember that…) led them….
(9) 2005 Sacramento Kings (50-32) vs. (52) 1991 Sacramento Kings (25-57)
Basically the end of happy times….Webber (21-10-6) was traded to Philly for nothing really…Peja would finish this year with 20-4, but would be shipped out the next year…Bibby had 20-4-7, and Brad Miller had 16-9-4…Cuttino Mobley was traded here from Orlando (he had 18-4-3 in 43 games…), but would be in LA to play for the Clippers next year…..Rookie Kevin Martin made minimal contributions…
Antoine Carr had 20-6-3, and Lionel Simmons had 18-9-4, as Tisdale played only 33 games….
(10) 1965 Cincinnati Royals (48-32) vs. (51) 1998 Sacramento Kings (27-55)
A great Oscar year….Oscar averaged 30-9-12, and if you think that that is the most impressive stat on this team, you should also consider the 21-20 of Jerry Lucas (yes, twenty boards…and yes, he was a statpadder…but still…). Adrian Smith had 15-3-3, as Jack Twyman (in his last good year) averaged 15-5. Wayne Embry added 13-10…
It seems that there is a Kings team in every matchup, whether they are the high or low team, or both….Mitch Richmond was in his last Sacramento year, next year he’d be in Washington, having been traded for Chris Webber….Richmond had 23-3-4 this year…Corliss Williamson had 18-6-3, and Billy Owens had 11-8….
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