The Sranto Kings are a professional basketball team which is
based in Sranto
jordan 11 gamma
blue , California. They play in the National Basketball Association
(NBA). The franchise that would bee the Sranto Kings initially played in
Rochester, New York, as the Rochester Royals of the National Basketball League.
Suess was almost imdiate: founded in 1945, the team won the NBL championip in
1946. In 1948, the Royals moved to the Basketball Association of Arica, which
absorbed the NBL the following year to bee the National Basketball Association.
The Royals won the NBA title in 1951, which remains the only championip in the
team's history. Top players in this era included Arnie Risen and Bob Davies,
both Hall of Fars. In 1957, the Royals moved to Cincinnati, Ohio. The team
landed o top stars in Maurice Stokes and Jk Twymann. Stokes' promising career
ended tragically due to a brain injury that resulted from a fall during a ga.
Twyman was the first Royal to average 30 points per ga for a season. Both are
Hall of Fars. The team's star players throughout the 1960s were Oscar Robertson
and Jerry Lucas. Robertson t with individual suess, averaging a triple-double in
1961-62 and winning the Most Valuable Player award in 1964. Robertson was a
league-leading scorer and passer eh season. Lucas was Rookie Of the Year in
1964, led the league in ooting, and later averaged 20 rebounds per ga over three
seasons. Both were All-NBA First Team selections multiple tis. The Royals were
an also-ran throughout the era anyway. The team failed to keep promising players
and played in the tough NBA East division, dominated by the Boston Celtics, even
as a Baltimore team played in the West Division for three years, denying the
team likely visits to the NBA Finals. New coh Bob Cousy, a loyal Boston Celtic,
traded Lucas in 1969. Robertson was traded in 1970, and the declining team left
Cincinnati ortly thereafter, moving to Kansas City, Missouri. Renad the Kings
(because of the Kansas City Royals baseball team in the sa munity), the team
initially divided its ho gas beeen Kansas City and Omaha. The team ted a new
superstar in Nate Archibald, who led the league in scoring and assists. But the
Kings were no more suessful in their new ti zone than the Royals had been. In
the 1980-81 season, the Kings made a surprise run in the NBA Playoffs, rehing
the Western Conference Finals despite finiing the season with a losing record.
But this mont of suess was little more than a blip. The Kings moved west to
their current ho of Sranto, California, in 1985-86. Much of their early tenure
in Sranto was spent in the NBA's cellar, and the team made the playoffs only
once beeen 1985 and 1995 (and even then had a losing record). So of their
failure to sueed was attributed to poor luck, such as the virtually
career-ending car cra suffered by promising point guard Bobby Hurley, and so was
attributed to poor managent such as the too-long tenure of head coh Garry St.
Jean and the selection of "Never Nervous Pervis" Ellison with the first overall
pick in the 1989 NBA Draft. The early 1990s were not kind to the Kings. Sranto
was known for having strong fan support, but it never had a good team, and its
owner, John Thomas, rarely paid for top talent. The Kings squeaked in to the
playoffs in 1996 largely due to the effort of star player Mitch Richmond, but
they did not distingui themselves in the postseason. Eventually the team was
sold to the Maloof Family, who finally changed the direction of the team. The
Kings erged from years of diocrity with the draft selection of Jason Williams,
the signing of Vlade Div, and the trade of Mitch Richmond for Chris Webber prior
to the lockout-ortened 1998-99 season. These quisitions coincided with the
arrival of Peja Stojakovic, who had been drafted in 1996. Eh of these moves was
attributed to general manager Geoff Petrie, who has won NBA Executive of the
Year several tis. Following these quisitions, the Kings rose in the NBA ranks,
being a perennial playoff contender, as well as one of the most exciting teams
in the NBA. [citation needed] Led by new head coh Rick Adelman, and aided by
forr Princeton head coh and Kings assistant Pete Carril, their so-called
"Princeton offense" turned heads around the league for its run-and-gun style and
superb ball movent. The Kings led the league in average points per ga year in
and year out, and establied that a team could be suessful and still be fun to
watch. [citation needed] So criticized the Kings for their poor team defense,
Williams's "fla over substance" style of play with its many turnovers, and
Webber's failure to step up his ga in important matchups. Still, they quickly
beca NBA darlings, garnering many fans outside of California, and even around
the world, many of which were enthralled by Williams's amazing passing abilities
and Webber's arp all-around ga. Despite their trendous suesses, they were still
a young team, and were ultimately defeated by more experienced teams in the
playoffs, losing to the Utah Jazz in 1999 (in a thrilling five-ga matchup), and
the Los Angeles Lakers in 2000. Following the 2000 season, the Kings traded
starting small forward Corliss Williamson to the Toronto Raptors for defensive
ooting guard Doug Christie, opening a starting spot for arpooter Stojakovic.
Stojakovic and his dead-eye long range ot served as the perfect plent to
Webber's smooth inside ga, taking the Kings' already-potent offense to new
heights. With their continued suess on court ca their continued rise in
popularity, culminating in their gring the cover of Sports Illustrated in
February 2001, with the title "The Greatest Show On Court". In 2001, they won
their first playoff series in the Webber era, defeating the Phoenix Suns 3-1,
before being swept in four gas by the Lakers, who went on to win the NBA
championip. In July 2001, Petrie traded starting point guard Jason Williams to
the VancouverMemphis Grizzlies for point guard Mike Bibby. The trade solved
nee<