As the unintentional tank rolls on this season with the Sacramento Kings, how it happened and why it is happening in the way it is will continue to be analyzed.
Sam Amick recently appeared on Run It Back and shared a tidbit about Scott Perry’s outlook on how long a rebuild effort might take.
“Vivek Ranadive is an extremely involved owner, I think to a negative degree with this franchise and right now, GM Scott Perry is trying to keep him at bay and convince him that this might take, 3, 4, 5 years to turn around,” he said.
The big question with that is will Vivek have that sort of patience? For the fans, I think most would be OK with that timeline as long as there was a recognizable path to a real rebuild in an effort to identify the future star of the team and good, young pieces around that player.
This franchise has been a pretty consistent loser. The fans are not impatient about winning, they are impatient about competence. More specifically, lasting competence. Not a good season here, or one good move there. Solid basketball decisions that make sense over an extended amount of time.
If a real, effective rebuild was in motion that included promising, young players who played hard and showed signs of development, and didn’t get pushed to the side by overpaid veterans because of a perceived fast track ticket to the “promise land” of the Play-In tournament, then the fans would embrace that, in my opinion.
Even if it took 3-5 years, Keegan Murray would be in his prime by then, and Nique Clifford and Maxime Raynaud would be entering theirs. I suppose Keon Ellis would be in his prime also (though with everything coming out about him likely being the top trading target, he would probably be playing out his prime somewhere else).
A disciplined and strategic rebuild is what the Kings need. Most of the fans want it, I believe. But will Vivek allow for the necessary steps to take place over an extended amount of time? The question remains.