Earlier this week, Rajon Rondo opened up a little bit about what it was like playing for the Sacramento Kings. Now, a lot of the fans, media, and even us here at Basketball Society all had our suspicions about how the Kings organization was run from top to bottom. Our own, DJ Allen, even asked why anyone would want to coach for Sacramento. So, when Rondo shed some light on the situation, none of it really came as a surprise.
“There were too many distractions on and off the court. The organization as a whole, I don’t think was together completely. I think as a team you have to want the best for the next man beside you, and that wasn’t the case with the Sacramento Kings,” he said.
Of Cousins’ relationship with former Kings coach George Karl and his staff, Rondo said there was “a lot of tension at first.”
“Too much tension. I’ve never witnessed or experienced a thing like that in my 10-year career,” he said.
A lot of people are probably going to say that hearing this from Rondo is funny because of the rift he had with Rick Carlisle. However, his coaching feud was very different from that of DeMarcus Cousins and almost every coach that has come through Sacramento.
Rondo returned to his usual form while playing for the Kings, but the fact that he looked like one of the most determined players on the team is a problem. Sure, he has had a taste of a championship, so he knows what it takes to get there, but the rest of the Kings should be even hungrier to win so they’re not the butt of all the jokes about losing teams. Sacramento hasn’t made the playoffs since the 2005-06 season when they still had Mike Bibby and Peja Stojakovic, so all of these off-court issues should be dissolving if they really want to get back to winning.
The players are not the only issue with this team though. Ownership seems to be just as hopeless when it comes to making the right moves to put this team in a position to succeed. They have done things like fire a good coach in Mike Malone, and then replace him with one in George Karl who never even got along with DeMarcus Cousins from the get-go. A chicken with its head cut off is probably the best way I can describe the Kings’ front office, and Rondo was close to saying the same thing when he stated the organization as a whole didn’t seem to be together.
Sacramento still seems to be doomed to stay in this spiral of losing, and if Cousins finally decides that he wants to win, he’ll probably be on his way out the door as well. Rondo did say that he’d love to play with Cousins again, and I’m sure a lot of other players would too, but he didn’t seem to be too keen on the idea of staying with the Kings just to do so. I don’t blame him though because if you can get the same or more money from another team, why would you want to stay with the Kings?
