The Kings (Part 2)

(11) 1979 Kansas City Kings (48-34) vs. (50) 1989 Sacramento Kings (27-55)

Remember that they used to be in Kansas City? We begin post two with our first Kansas team (in this tourney I mean…). Otis Birdsong (remember him from New Jersey….he had some pretty good years there, but some of his Kansas days were better…It feels weird saying Kansas when talking about the NBA….) had 22-4-3, Scott Wedman (he played most of his career here in Kansas, played for a year and a half in Cleveland, then ended it off in Boston….He was worst in Boston, but whenever someone says Scott Wedman ((if you say it to me, you’ll be the first!)), I think of Boston ((maybe because I’m a Boston fan…He was pretty good on the Kings….) had 18-5, Phil Ford had 16-2-9, Sam Lacey had 11-9-5, and Bill Robinzine had 13-8.

So many partial years…I’ll only give you the three best players….Danny Ainge was traded here from Boston and had 20-4-7, Wayman Tisdale was traded over from Indiana and had 20-10, and Kenny Smith stayed all year long for 17-3-8.

(12) 1980 Kansas City Kings (47-35) vs. (49) 1994 Sacramento Kings (28-54)

Pretty good team…Birdsong had 23-4-3, Wedman had 19-6, Phil Ford had 16-2-7, and Lacey had 9-8-6 (weird statline...), and Robinzine had 11-7….

…Not great…Mitch Richmond had 23-4-4 (one thing bad with the name “Mitch” is that it can cause problems…Example: When I was playing a game (I forget where…I think it was an organized league…) and the other team had someone I know ((name Mitchell, but we called him Mitch…and it was the first day of the league, or close to it…)), and I say I got Mitch….well, the other team thought I said something else….I think one of them was about to deck me also…….), Tisdale had 17-7, Lionel Simmons had 15-8-4, and Spud Webb had 13-3-7…Not a very good team….

(13) 1966 Cincinnati Royals (45-35) vs. (48) 1992 Sacramento Kings (29-53)

Some positives, but some negatives about this team…Oscar was great (31-8-11), as was Lucas (22-21), and Adrian Smith (18-4-3). But Embry slipped to 8-7 (and went to Boston for the next year…), and Twyman (in his last year) lost about 8 points, dropping to 7-2. But they were joined by Happy Hairston (14-8), and rookie Jon McGlocklin (5-2-1…he gets MUCH better…). 

Richmond had 23-4-5, Lionel Simmons had 17-8-4, Tisdale had 17-7, and Webb had 16-3-7….ho-hum….

(14) 1983 Kansas City Kings (45-37) vs. (47) 1987 Sacramento Kings (29-53)

Larry Drew had 20-3-8, Eddie Johnson had 20-6, Mike Woodson had 18-3-3, and Ray Williams had 15-5-8…

OK year…I guess. Reggie Theus had 2-3-9, Otis Thorpe had 19-10, Eddie Johnson had 19-4-3, and LaSalle Thompson had 11-8…The 17-4-4 of Derek Smith played 52 games…

(15) 1999 Sacramento Kings (27-23) vs. (46) 1982 Kansas City Kings (30-52)

Webber had 20-13-4 in his first Sacramento year, as Vlade Divac had 14-10-4, Corliss Williamson had 13-4, and Jason Williams had 13-3-6….Peja debuted with 8-3…he’s scoring twenty a game two years later…

Bad year…Cliff Robinson (20-9) was traded…Sam Lacey (in his last year) was traded for Mike Woodson (16-3-3…after two games….Lacey DID have 3-2-2 in them…but he’s a top 10 Kings player ever ((higher at that point)), treat him with respect…), Steve Johnson had 13-6, and Ernie Grunfield had 13-2-3…

(16) 1962 Cincinnati Royals (43-37) vs. (45) 1972 Cincinnati Royals (30-52)

Very impressive year for Oscar, who had a really legit triple double season, averaging 31-13-11. Now, let’s get into my Oscar rant (you knew this was coming…)…Oscar, is a very, very, VERY good player. It really is debatable whether or not he’s top ten all time or not (some even go farther…if you compare it to the political world, there are a fair amount of moderates ((they tend not to way overrate current players, but do have some bias towards them, they are kind of fair in balancing it…They probably try to find a balance between the eras…then there are the liberals, who tend to overrate current players, and do stuff like “Kobe’s Top 6!”, or “Bron is better than John Havlicek!”…A lot of bias, but not too extreme…There are more of them than moderates….…. Then there are the radicals, who are convinced current players are MUCH better than former ones, like “Kobe’s the best of all time!”, or “You know Wilt would suck today…”. The MOST uninformed fans. Thank fully there aren’t too many…Then on the other side, Conservatives believe former players are better than present ones, but generally go with “Jordan is the best”, or “LeBron has a CASE for top 15, maybe”. Then there are reactionaries…that’s me! They tend to think former players are MUCH better than today, and tend to rate players based on how they performed in their respective eras…Like “Wilt would crush the competition today, no question”, and “Jordan only has a CASE for greatest of all time”. Generally the most informed of NBA junkies…((You want to know who I think is the best player of all time? After we do this, I’ll be ranking the best players of all time!))…Why did I start that conversation? Oh yeah…), but the generally consensus is that, since he didn’t win, he isn’t top 10…Which I guess I believe, but I go back and forth. Yes, he had incredible stats, but he also happened to have pretty good teams, definitely better than Wilt, yet he never won a champ (and I don’t count 1971 as a championship. What I mean, he didn’t LEAD them to a champ….). Great player, yes. Someone you want to build around? Maybe. He was a great competitor, but was often hated by his teammates because of his perfectionist attitude. The really knocking thing is that he never won a championship. But there is a catch (kind of). I consider the 60s to be the strongest era of basketball, behind the 80s. In a weak era (70s maybe), he wins a few, but doesn’t put up those numbers. Numbers seem to be Oscar’s main legacy…Incredibly impressive, but as I say with Wilt, didn’t translate into Rings...But then there is this: Oscar Robertson or Jerry West? I’d go with West because of a better second half of his career. But West won only after Russell was gone (and Wilt was there), same with Robertson, won after Russell with Kareem…West is better in my opinion also because of defense, and just a general better experience playing with him….Give your opinion in the comments (if you even read it…)….Anyway, Twyman had 23-8, Embry had 20-13, Bucky Bockhorn had 16-5-5, and Bob Boozer had 14-10…

From one point guard who’s legend is built on stats to another. Tiny Archibald (his “legendary” season is next year….they won 36 games….) had 28-3-9 (and he’s playing 43 minutes….that’s who he led the league in points and assists in 1973, except it was 46 minutes next year…). Sam Lacey had 12-12, as Tom Van Arsdale had 19-5-3, Jim Fox had 12-9, and Nate Williams had 12-5….Not a good team….They’d move to Kansas City for the next year…and become the Kings (apparently there is a baseball team there named the Royals….I wouldn’t know, I know zero about baseball…). Too bad, this was a really good identity…Cincy should have a team probably….they deserve it more than Sacramento…….

(17) 1975 Kansas City-Omaha Kings (44-38) vs. (44) 1985 Kansas City Kings (31-51)

This is the last Kansas City-Omaha team (they would split the home games..), and they’d move full time to Kansas City…this happens to be the only playoff team there…Tiny had 27-3-7, as Sam Lacey had 12-14-5, and Jimmy Walker had 17-3-3. Scott Wedman had 11-6 as a rookie…Not a bad team…Of course, once they move fully to Kansas City, they morph back into a crappy team…

Next year, they’re in Sactown…Eddie Johnson had 23-5-3, Mike Woodson had 17-3, Theus had 16-3-8, and Larry Drew had 15-2-7, as Otis Thorpe debuts with 13-7, and LaSalle Thompson had 12-10…

(18) 2000 Sacramento Kings (44-38) vs. (43) 1978 Kansas City Kings (31-51)

Not the best Webber team, but not too bad either…Webber had 25-11-5, as Divac had 12-8-3, White Chocolate had 12-3-7, Nick Anderson (the same that played in Orlando) had 11-5, and Peja had 12-4.

Wedman had 18-6, Ron Boone had 18-3-4, Otis Birdsong had 16-2-2, Lacey had 9-8-4, Richard Washington had 13-8, and Lucius Allen had 12-3-5…not a good team….

(19) 2006 Sacramento Kings (44-38) vs. (42) 1976 Kansas City Kings (31-51)

The last playoff team to date…Bibby had 21-3-5, as Ron Artest was traded here (17-5-4) for Peja (17-5). Brad Miller had 15-8-5, Shareef Abdur-Rahim added 12-5, as Kevin Martin had 11-4.

Year one in Kansas….Tiny had 25-3-8, as Lacey had 13-13-5, Jimmy Walker had 16-2-2, and Scott Wedman had 16-7. Tiny Archibald was sent off on his merry way to the Nets after the year….

(20) 1963 Cincinnati Royals (42-38) vs. (41) 2007 Sacramento Kings (33-49)

Pretty good team this year…Oscar had 28-10-10 (9.5 assists…), as Twyman had 20-8-3, Embry had 19-12, Boozer had 14-11, and Bucky Bockhorn had 12-4-3…No matter how lowly rated some of Oscar’s teams are, you have to watch out, there are some dangerous teams on the 60s Royals.

Kevin Martin had 20-4-2, Ron Artest had 19-7-3, Bibby had 17-3-5, and they’re going to get destroyed by 1963…