The crowd was standing on their collective feet and raising the roof from the time the Kings took the floor¦for warmups! Twenty minutes of insanity before tipoff. This team was razor wire.įun(!!!!!) fact: The first playoff game at ARCO was nuts. Richmond, Polynice, Brian Grant, Michael Smith, and the in-season addition of Sarunas Marciulionis. ![]() Sign of the times: This team was really more of an Avengers squad. The team was 32-21 when he played, 7-22 when he didn’t. Statistic of note: 1st, as in the 1st playoff game win in Sacramento Kings history. Sign of the times: Officer Polynice has a bit of a nasty streak, and the hometown fans like it!įun(!!!) fact: Richmond wins the NBA all-star game MVP award, scoring 22 points. Statistic of note: 39, the most wins for a Kings team since 85-86. He scores 10 glorious points to the delight and civic pride of a starved and adoring community. Sign of the times: Mike Peplowski saves Hurley’s life on that fateful, foggy December night in North Natomas.įun(!) fact: Kings fans watch a Kings player actually play in the all-star game! Richmond had been named the prior year but missed the game due to injury. The next two highest were Tisdale and Simmons, and they combined for 466. Also, Richmond hit 426 free throws that year. That is how many games the Kings had to try out the starting backcourt of Richmond and Bobby Hurley. They were bad, but they played fast! 1993-94 Jean’s first year as head coach saw the team lead the league in pace. It never looked right.įun(!) fact: Garry St. Sign of the times: Kurt Rambis played for the Kings. They were the only players to eclipse 2,000 minutes on the season. This would be the only season that you could even try to make an argument for another player as team best, but no one really can make the leap. The Kings were 17-28 with him, 8-29 without him. Statistic of note: Richmond missed 37 games to injury. The team went from snails to 3rd in pace for the season, but still finished 29-53, with a 23-win pace under Motta and a 32-win pace under Hughes. Chilcutt shot 1.000 from three in 91-92, a perfect two for two.įun(?) fact: Dick Motta was fired and replaced by Rex Hughes. The NBA was still figuring out what to do with tall, slow, big men that could stretch the defense but not much else. Keep this impending list in mind, think about how a team would fare today with the list of Dick Graysons that Richmond was presented with. For 1991-92, Lionel Simmons was the second-best Sacramento King. This was Simmons at the high point of his injury-shortened career. Robin (for this installment, we will note the player that attempted to be Robin to Richmond’s Batman): Lionel Simmons. ![]() Imagine what the number would have been had he been able to keep his danged toe off the line! Statistic of note: Shot 38.4% from beyond the arc, and his 103 makes were the first time that a Sacramento King had eclipsed the century mark from three. I will note that no player has logged more minutes or scored more points in a Sacramento Kings uniform than Mitch Richmond. If you want to see all of the Powerball numbers, go to the recent archives and check out Akis’ top ten Kings list. ![]() And for that reason, Mitch Richmond has been the best player on the Sacramento Kings for more seasons than any other player. It may have been only twenty some odd years ago, but it was also last century, in more ways than one. Bad timing hung him with a contract that was low at the time for a player of his talent, but there was no blue-fluing or using the media or agent strong-arming back in the 90’s. Players have leverage in today’s NBA, which is something that Richmond never enjoyed. Given the landscape of today’s NBA, you will probably never see the phenomenon of an elite player stuck on a bad team for seven years ever again. A lot of the time, he was the only good thing about the Sacramento Kings. For the seven seasons in between, Mitch Richmond was the best thing about the Sacramento Kings. In 1999 he was traded for Chris Webber, who swore at the time of the trade that he would never come to Sacramento. Mitch Richmond came to the Kings in 1992, in a trade for rookie holdout Billy Owens, who refused to come to Sacramento. ![]() In this installment we turn most of our focus to one player. In our first installment we waxed nostalgic over such Kings luminaries as Reggie Theus and Leon Wood (the dots, people.
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