| 20 May 2009
The Sacramento Kings had the best chance at winning the draft lottery on Tuesday night. They had a 25% chance of getting the top pick and a great shot at ending up in the top three. Their worst-case scenario was falling to fourth in a draft with only two sure things. Of course that was exactly what happened.
The Kings were a bad team this season. They dealt with injuries to key players and didn't have the talent or ability to win a lot of games. They were a team that tried hard and fell short night after night. The franchise needed to get a game-changer like Blake Griffin or Ricky Rubio, and they didn't tank to get one of them. Geoff Petrie cares more about winning than any other GM. The Maloofs only want to win and put a great product on the floor (which is clear when looking at their constant involvement). How are they repaid? The fourth pick.
Meanwhile two of the most poorly run franchises in professional basketball (Los Angeles Clippers and Memphis Grizzlies) both leapfrog the Kings into the top two spots.
The Clippers are a joke of a franchise, and Donald Sterling is without question the worst owner in the history of pro sports. He cares more about making money than putting a quality product on the floor. He has kept Mike Dunleavy employed despite Dunleavy's complete ineptitude. Dunleavy is the double-threat at GM and coach, and the Clippers have actually become an even more embarrassing franchise since he has taken the reins. Their team has malcontents and bad character guys. There is no way they deserved yet another top pick.
The Grizzlies have been doing their best to overtake the Clips in the bad team department. Their owner, Michael Heisley, moved the team from Vancouver to Memphis almost immediately after taking over ownership of the team and promising that he would keep the team in Vancouver. They were one of many teams involved in the magnificent tank job of 2007 in hopes of landing Greg Oden or Kevin Durant. They repeatedly make moves that make no basketball sense and are pure salary dumps. They gift-wrapped Pau Gasol for the Lakers and essentially took nothing back in return.
So two of the worst franchises going in pro basketball are rewarded with the top two picks while one of the best examples of a successful small market franchise gets the worst of it.
Not only does this have implications on which player they'll land (or are now incapable of landing), but it also essentially guarantees that any available coach becomes harder to sign. Would someone like Eddie Jordan even consider Sacramento now that they have no shot at a Griffin or Rubio? I think not.
Which takes me back to the title of my article: Karma doesn't exist. If it did, the Kings would be rewarded for still putting forth maximum effort despite their short-comings. They would get a guy like Griffin or Rubio to turn the franchise around because they are rebuilding around quality guys, and a top-notch coaching candidate would come to Sacramento knowing their newfound potential. Meanwhile the Griz and Clips would be stuck drafting whomever falls to them in a weak draft. But these things aren't going to happen, and Eastern philosophy has finally been disproved.
Or the Sacramento Kings are snake-bit and just can't get a lucky break to go their way.
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