10 Reasons why the Sacramento Kings will win the NBA championship in the year…

The Sacramento Kings won their one and only championship in 1951, as the Rochester Royals. The streak of 55 seasons without hoisting a championship trophy is the longest in the NBA, and one of the longest in all of sports. The King’s faithful came maddeningly close in 2002 when Chris Webber, Mike Bibby and Peja Stojakovich and friends were on the verge of winning the Western Conference championship series and advancing to the finals, where they would have been prohibitive favorites. But Robert Horry, a fourth quarter Kings meltdown, and plenty of (cough cough) questionable calls by the referees saw the Kings sent home early. They never recovered, and have floundered as one of the NBA’s worst franchises over the last decade.

But things are changing in Sactown. The Kings are on the verge of taking a huge leap forward and eventually will compete for an NBA championship. Sound crazy? People said the same thing about the Cleveland Cavaliers before they broke their own drought and won it all last season. While we don’t have a player named Lebron James, we do have 10 compelling reasons why the Kings will win the championship. It won’t be this year (of course) but I do make my educated prediction that the end of this blog. So when will the Kings win the NBA championship? Read on, and GO KINGS!

10 Reasons why the Kings will win the NBA championship in the year…

1. DeMarcus Cousins

The Kings have not only the best center in the NBA but the best young center in the NBA in DeMarcus Cousins (he’s still only 26!), a rare and valuable asset. In fact, Cousins is the perfect centerpiece for building an NBA championship-caliber team and the scary thing is that he probably hasn’t even reached his prime yet. In 2015-16, Cousins scored 26.9 points per game (career high) with 3.3 assists/game (career high), 1.6 steals per game (career high), 1.4 blocks per game, pulled down a monstrous 11.5 rebounds per game and even shot 3-pointers at a respectable .333 clip. He ranked 4th in the NBA in scoring and 5th in rebounding.

Cousins is the consensus best center in the NBA. Outside of possibly Anthony Davis and Karl Anthony Towns (who are more natural power forwards) there really isn’t a big man in the NBA as talented, powerful, mobile and versatile as “Boogie” Cousins. Point blank the NBA is a star league, and Cousins is a generational talent.

Cousins also played admirably for the USA Olympic team in Rio in 2016, bringing home the gold. That’s helped him make great strides with his maturity, leadership and playing team basketball. New coach Dave Joerger is expected to be the stabilizing force and personality match that Cousins has long been looking for.

Will all of that add up to an NBA championship trophy on his mantle anytime soon? Sacramento Kings fans are betting on it.

2. An improving supporting cast

In the offseason, the King’s had some sneaky-good signings, including speedster point guard Ty Lawson (who’s been playing amazing so far and looks like a huge steal), Aaron Afflalo (12.8 points per game), feisty journeyman Matt Barnes and consistent locker room presence Anthony Tolliver. No one is saying the 2016-17 Kings will resemble an all-star team, but with Cousins leading the way, Lawson and Collison shoring up the point guard position, a backlog of talented young Bigs (see below), and plenty of role players off the bench, the Kings have potential to compete on any given night.

Also, don’t be surprised if the Kings trade veterans Rudy Gay and Kosta Koufus to NBA contending teams this year to shore up more young talent and draft picks. It seems like the Kings are only one more star from being perennial playoff contenders, and a rapidly-developing Skal Labissière or a pick in the spectacular 2017 draft could be that player.

In the NBA, great teams are built on 2 or even 3 superstars, but after that the right supporting cast is invaluable to making a championship run, with plenty of role players providing outside shooting, rebounding and tough defense to complement those stars (just ask the Spurs, Cavs, Heat, etc.). Sacramento still needs another star or two, but it looks like they supporting cast of role players who can do just that is coming along nicely.

3. New coach Dave Joerger

When the Kings named Dave Joerger their new coach in the offseason it was a signing that flew under the radar, but one that will pay huge dividends. Joerger is a hoops “lifer”, winning 5 minor league championships in the Developmental League before becoming the head coach of the Memphis Grizzlies in 2013 until 2016. In that time, he guided a team with decent but very limited players to a record of 246-147, a .599 winning percentage, that included three straight trips to the playoffs. Now at the helm of the Kings, he arguably has more talent and pieces to build around, and his focus on defensive principles and team basketball could very well add an additional 10 games to the King’s win total this season alone. George Karl was a mess and didn’t match with the King’s personnel, but Joerger will get full “buy in” from Boogie and his teammates.

4. Championship droughts can’t last forever

Like we mentioned, the Kings haven’t won a championship since 1951, the longest active title-less streak in the NBA. But statistics reveal that sooner or later, they will end that 63-year drought and come out on top. Remember that the Cavaliers hadn’t won an NBA championship for 52 years until Lebron and company hoisted the Larry O’Brien trophy. The same goes for the Boston Red Sox, who faced an 86-year drought before winning not one or two but three championships starting in 2004. Either the Cubs or Indians have a good chance of winning the World Series this year, ending their 106 and 66-year championship droughts, respectively. Every drought has to come to the end, and the Kings have the centerpiece superstar, committed and wealthy ownership, and the best arena in the NBA to help them start working towards ending that drought.

5. Young “Bigs”

The Kings find themselves with a glut of versatile big men, including the uber-talented Cousins, freakishly athletic defensive stalwart Willie Cauley-Stein, 7’1” young Greek center Georgios Papagiannis, pick-and-pop specialist Kosta Koufus, and especially Skal Labissière. In fact, Labissière might turn out to be the steal of the 2016 draft after a couple seasons of development, and his jump shot and outside-in game will be a perfect complement to Cousins, leaving opponents lamenting that the Kings have so many good young Bigs that can also interchange on defense and spread the opponent’s D with their jump shooting. Even if they don’t all get run with the Kings, trading one or more of these emerging big men can yield valuable assets on the way to a title run.

6.The western conference will cycle through

Things go in cycles in the NBA, and that’s also true for the strength and competitiveness of the respective eastern and western conferences. But if we take a look at the best teams in the NBA in the western conference where the Kings play (and their road to the championship finals every year), the Kings have the potential to make some noise a few seasons down the road.

There’s no denying that the Golden State Warriors are now one of the most talented teams ever, but time (and salary cap restrictions) will eventually end their run of potential championships. The Spurs have a superstar in Kawhi Leonard, but won’t be the same without Tim Duncan, and don’t have young talent once Ginobili and Parker retire, too. Who’s next in line? The Clippers? Chris Paul isn’t getting any younger and many think Blake Griffin will bolt in free agency if the Clippers can’t break through in the playoffs once again.

Who else is left? The Thunder have been grounded with Durant’s disappearance and no one expects the Blazers, Lakers, Suns or Nuggets to compete anytime soon, while the Rockets, Pelicans, Grizzlies, Mavericks, are all going in the wrong direction. Interestingly, the young and talented Utah Jazz and Minnesota Timberwolves may be the King’s biggest competition in the western conference down the line.

7. The NBA’s best arena

The moment the doors opened on the Golden 1 Center, Sacramentans witnessed a modern marvel of sports arena construction with iconic outward-facing windows, aircraft hangar doors and tree-lined balconies and plazas spanning four city blocks downtown. Not only will the Golden 1 Center reenergize the fan base but the Sacramento Kings as well. The Golden 1 Center is the greenest and smartest arena ever constructed, but still will be an intimate setting for fans to experience a game, as the 17,500 seat capacity for Kings games makes it the second smallest arena in the NBA (The New Orleans Pelican’s stadium holds only 16,867 fans, while most stadiums have 18-20,000+ capacity.)

But the new center does boast 34 luxury suites that are twice as big as the suites at the Sleep Train Arena, as well as three exclusive clubs and two Skyboxes with a view of the concourse below and a panorama of the city.

Suddenly, Sacramento goes from after-thought and second city to the proud host of the best NBA arena in the world, and that pride will echo throughout the city – and soon show up with more wins on the court.

8. Sacramento will become a respected free agent destination

It used to be a near-certainty that NBA free agent superstars sign with huge market teams like the Knicks, Lakers, Bulls or Heat, etc. But that’s no longer the case, as free agents are being smarter about positioning a good fit to maximize their play and the possibility of a championship. They’re also seriously considering their brand, which is no longer tethered to the city where they play. The Knicks and Lakers haven’t gotten a huge superstar free agent in a long time, yet the small market Spurs (Lemarcus Aldridge), Cavaliers (Lebron James), and even Bucks (Greg Monroe) have recently signed big free agents, while Kevin Durant decided to go to the Warriors instead of a bigger market team where he’d be the feature.

All of that fares well for the NBA when it comes to recruiting free agents in the future, especially after the entire fraternity of NBA players cycles through to witness the new arena in 2016-17. There will be plenty of quality players and even superstars that want to get on board with a new era of Kings basketball in the new arena, playing side by side with the best center in the game.

When it comes to the ever-important salary cap, Sacramento is in a great position, as well. DeMarcus Cousins is under team control for two more seasons at a very reasonable 16.9 and 18 million. It will be hard for any other team to sign him away from the Kings then since they’ll be able to offer him a more money and more years than anyone else on his next contract. Rudy Gay is the second-highest paid player at $13 million this year and $14 million next year, but that contract is highly valuable for a good second scoring option if the Kings decide to trade him and move up in this 2017’s stacked draft, or they can just keep playing him as a bargain contract. Ty Lawson is basically an NBA starting point guard playing on a risk-free rookie contract, and the abundance of rookies and young players means the Kings also have control over quality players at low salaries.

Since the King’s total team salary is only $99 million this season, they’ll have plenty of leverage and salary cap space to sign marquee free agents over the next few seasons.

9. Committed ownership and front office

The Kings front office has been a mess in recent years, defined more by power struggles, bickering and indecision than by putting out a winning product. But ownership is firmly in place with tech billionaire Vivek Ranadivé committed to blazing a trail into a more successful future. Ranadivé has put a strong front office in place with Vlade Divac now entrenched as our general manager (Vice President of Basketball and Franchise Operations) and several other former NBA players and plenty of seasoned NBA execs rounding out the Kings hierarchy. Ranadivé is a smart businessman and has owned a franchise before (minority owner of the Golden States Warriors, which he sold to purchase the Kings) and knows what it takes to win. With the new arena, he has a golden opportunity to build something special in Sacramento, and he won’t squander that. Similar to Mark Cuban in Dallas, Ranadivé will spend freely but wisely and do everything possible to ensure that the Kings become a championship-caliber franchise.

10. The best fans in the NBA

The #10 reason why the Kings will win the championship in coming years is YOU – and all of the other fans in Sacramento. When the Kings went through their successful run in the early and mid-2000s with Chris Webber, Jason Williams, Mike Bibby, Doug Christie, Peja Stojakovic, Vlade Divac, etc., the Kings fans came out in droves for every game, setting the NBA record for the most sold-out games in a row. Very soon the Sacramento faithful will have something to cheer for once again, with cowbells ringing and a new arena to celebrate. The energy, optimism and support of the fans will help launch the Kings to one of the elite teams in the NBA, and eventually a championship!

But when exactly will that be?

Ok, no more stalling. We promised you a championship prediction and we’ll deliver.

Based on these 10 factors, we predict that your Sacramento Kings will win the NBA championship in….

the 2019-20 season.

That’s less than 4 short years away, so get excited and enjoy the ride!

20 Facts about Sacramento's new iconic Golden 1 Center

1.     Early October 2016 will be engraved in Sacramento history as a turning point for the city’s downtown redevelopment efforts, starting with the highly anticipated opening of the Golden 1 Center. I’m sure you’ve seen it already as you’ve driven by, a modern marvel of sports arena construction with iconic outward-facing windows, aircraft hangar doors and tree-lined balconies and plazas spanning four-city blocks downtown. Not only will the Golden 1 Center be the new home for our reenergized Sacramento Kings, but it will also host concerts, other sporting events, conferences, college sports, private functions and other entertainment.

2.     The Golden 1 Center is the shiny prize in Sacramento’s new redeveloped business and entertainment district downtown called Downtown Commons, or “DoCo.”  

3.     The development includes an additional planned 1.5 million square feet of building including 475,000 square feet of office space, 350,000 square feet of retail, a 250-room hotel, and 500,000 square feet for residential housing units.

4.     While most people will just say the arena is at 5^th and L Streets, the official address for the Golden 1 Center is 500 David J. Stern Walk – named after the former longtime NBA commissioner.

5.     The positive impact on Sacramento will go far beyond selling out King’s games and fostering civic pride. In fact, a neutral third-party study determined that the presence of the Golden 1 Center alone would bring about 1.6 million new visitors to downtown Sacramento every year.

6.     They reported that those 1.6 million visitors were just a part of the expected $11.5 billion positive economic impact for Sacramentans over the next 35 years.

7.     Initial costs projections for the Golden 1 Center valued it at approximately $507 million. Funding included a $233 million contribution from the City of Sacramento, the sale of bonds ($212 million) and parking and economic development funds ($11 million) and the Kings team covering the remaining costs.

8.     Construction commenced as they broke ground on October 29, 2014 with an impressive team of architects, builders, engineers and general contractors including AECOM, ICON Venue Group, Thornton Tomasetti/Buehler & Buehler, Henderson Engineers and Turner Construction. Final costs are projected to come in at $556.6 million.

9.     13,500 parking spaces are planned within ½ mile of the Golden 1 Center to accommodating parking – almost double the 7,000 spaces at Sleep Train Arena.

10. City and arena planners estimate that 10-15% of visitors to the Golden 1 Center for games, concerts and events will either walk, bike or take public transportation.

11. There are five light rail stations within walking distance of the Golden 1 Center, and the Sacramento Valley Station is the hub for train, bus and taxi services only a few blocks away at 4^th and I Streets.

12. Considered a true “smart” arena, part of the state-of-the-art tech amenities at the new arena include lightning fast free Wi-Fi through Comcast. The arena is also an interactive, "smart" building that checks in with attendees offering contextual marketing, targeted offers and postgame information and events.

13. The Golden 1 Center will have seating for 17,500 fans for Sacramento Kings games, making it the second smallest arenas for capacity in the NBA (The New Orleans Pelican’s stadium holds only 16,867 fans, while most stadiums have a 18-20,000+ capacity.) For concerts and other events, it’s expected to accommodate 19,000 fans.

14. But the new center will boast 34 luxury suites that are twice as big as the suites at the Sleep Train Arena, as well as three exclusive clubs and two Skyboxes with a view of the concourse below and a panorama of the city.

15. The moment the Golden 1 Center doors open it will be considered the best Green and energy efficient public venue and sporting arena in the world. Not only will it be completely carbon and grid neutral (unheard of with a venue that large), the arena was developed with the highest standards in mind per the U.S. Green Building Council.

16. Some of these environmental zero-impact measures include regionally sourced and recycled building materials, FSC-Certified forest managed wood, special glass to negate solar temperature gain, smart climate controls that actually integrate the exterior delta breeze to help cool the building, smart lighting systems, an emphasis on mass transit for fans and employees, electric car charging stations, and bicycle valet for some events.

17. The food and drink at the Golden 1 Center will be special as well, with an emphasis on fresh food from local eateries and breweries, not just standard concessions. The farm-to-fork concept will be one of the first in a sports arena setting, and the arena will also integrate responsible food choices by accepting food bank donations and also featuring hydroponic gardens in the outdoor spaces, like hanging tomato gardens.

18. One of the signatures of the modern new arena will be its colossal 84-foot long scoreboard, longer than an 18-wheeler truck and only 10 feet shorter than the basketball court itself.  Developed by Panasonic, the scoreboard covers 6,100 square feet, which is seven times larger than the video screens at Sleep Train Arena. The Golden 1 Center will also greet fans with two 25-foot tall video screens at the main entrance.

19. The new arena will not jut be beautiful inside, but the design will flow with integrated indoor-outdoor spaces and the surrounding development. In fact, the stunning natural design will include a façade with metallic tree patterns to represent our City of Trees, a expansive tree-lined public plaza with gardens, a natural grandstand and grassy amphitheater.

20. The inaugural event at the Golden 1 Center is a free public practice for The Sacramento Kings on Oct. 1, followed by a Paul McCartney concert a few days later and 10 more events planned for the first month, including a Maroon 5 concert and WWE event. Aside from King’s games and concerts, the NCAA announced that a series of first and second round games for the 2017 NCAA Men's Division Basketball Tournament will be hosted at the Golden 1 Center in March.

How much will the new downtown arena really benefit Sacramento's economy?

If you’ve drive through downtown Sacramento lately, it’s impossible to miss the area’s signature construction project, a downtown arena to host the Sacramento Kings, called the Golden 1 Center and set to open in 2016. This ambitious $507 million arena build is already changing the look of Sacramento’s skyline, but will it have the same impact on the economic horizon? It’s hard not to welcome the arena to a city that desperately needs it on several levels – a new home for the Kings that ensures they won’t bolt to Seattle or Las Vegas, a chance to revitalize a shabby and underutilized downtown, and a chance to shed a reputation as a second city, despite being the capital.

But past all of the banner waving and encouraging rhetoric, what are the cold, hard, facts that display how the Kings new arena will affect the local economy?

Of course we can analyze the financials, but a better way to predict the economic impact of the new arena is to look at how similar arena projects across the nation have flourished – or floundered. .

First, the prognosis through rose colored glasses; despite a Sacramento city $258 million subsidy left on the books, Mayor Kevin Johnson and the Kings predict the new downtown arena – will spark the local economy to the tune of a $11.5 billion windfall, revitalizing the downtown and bringing renewed prosperity to the city’s business climate and citizens.

Critics of the arena deal, however, point to the imbalanced and somewhat ambiguous financials of this particular deal, as well as numerous studies that reveal that sports arenas help communities far less than thought. In fact, they say writing a blank check for the arena like that can even jeopardize the city’s budget and actually set the region back in the long run.

So who is right?

Only time will tell, but here are some key points to consider:

The city isn’t shy about citing an $11.5 billion economic impact, but it’s important to note that those numbers project over 35 years.

The fine print on the arena studies reveals that approximately 50% of that projected economic benefits is expected to come from bars, hotels, shops, real estate values, taxis, tourism, convention business, and other commercial development. Together, all of these are called “ancillary developments” and aren’t guaranteed.

Critics of the arena deal – not necessarily the arena – point to the uncertainty of those ancillary developments, as the term sheet approved by the City Council only guarantees the Kings will spend $189 million on the arena – not a cent to develop the rest of the Downtown Plaza or surrounding neighborhoods.

The city’s financing plan is largely based on borrowing against future parking garage revenue below the arena.

The huge bill pushed to the city’s side of the table after dinner will include $19 million a year in principal and interest payments. However, City Treasurer Russ Fehr predicts that the city will receive $2.7 million in new tax revenue once the project is completed –a meager return on investment that would have any first year economics student shaking their heads.

Numerous studies have analyzed the economic impact of new sports arenas and stadiums on their surrounding communities, including arenas in Atlanta, Boston, Brooklyn, Chicago, Denver, Indianapolis, and Cleveland, Milwaukee, San Francisco, and Oklahoma City.

Here is the short version of what they found: stadiums can and often do benefit the cities they’re built in, but so much depends on context.

For instance, NFL football stadiums, with only 8 regular season home games per year, offer the least economic returns for cities.

However, a well-placed baseball stadium in a downtown or industrial area in need of revitalization can provide a “major” benefit, probably the most of any sport. With 81 home games and 40,000+-seat attendance, baseball stadium builds provide the greatest immediate economic benefit.

However, basketball arenas sometimes provide the best combined returns, as there are at least 41 home games played in cold weather months when people usually otherwise stay indoors and don’t spend as much. Most importantly, the facility can be used for other venues like concerts, shows, events, and hockey and other sports.

Studies show that for a basketball arena to be a cash cow to the community, annual attendance needs to be at full capacity. The Kings only attracted 680, 049 people to their home games last year, one of the lowest in the NBA, although that could be a symptom of a bad arena and a bad team, not an indicator of a potential attendance cap. But the new Golden 1 Center is going to be one of the NBA's smallest arenas, with a capacity of 17,317 seats and only 30 luxury suites.

The Brookings Institution and Heartland Institute both back up research that shows that new pro sports facilities have “little impact or even a negative impact on net personal income of residents in the surrounding area.”

That’s because most of jobs created are minimum or low-wage jobs, the increase in real estate values prices many average people out of the rental and housing market, and dollars spent on sports games takes away from other events.  In fact, some research found that per capita income in cities with new arenas actually dropped by about $2,430.

Huge gains are expected for already-wealthy restaurateurs (Randy Paragary), hotel, commercial, and real estate developers – not the average Sacramentan.

Notable sports economist Roger Noll at Stanford University, thinks that a city the size of Sacramento can expect only $10 million to $15 million a year in new revenue from the arena.

Other comprehensive studies, such as the one conducted by Geoffrey Propheter of George Washington University and published in The Journal of Urban Affairs, indicates a half empty, half full glass when it comes to the question, “Do basketball arenas act as catalysts for economic development?”

According to Propheter, “The results suggest that basketball arenas do not add economic value on their own but instead are highly dependent on the local economic, social, and cultural context where they are located.”

Within that open door of “context” is where hopes for the King’s arena can enter.

Considering that Sacramento is the capital of California yet still just a big town compared to metropolitan areas like San Francisco, San Jose, Los Angeles, and San Diego, the city is sorely in need of a thriving professional sports franchise, a revitalized downtown, and a signature project to rally around.

The arena is expected to be a shot in the arm for the struggling hotel industry in Sacramento, which declined to an all-time low of 50% vacancies six years ago, but already on the uptick to a normalized average of 62%. Already, several luxury and big-money hotel projects are underway, and analysts predict a 6% increase over the next few years as the arena is built.

Along with a huge boost to hotel business comes unlimited potential to Sacramento’s convention and conference business and increased revenues for the region’s Sacramento International Airport, which is already planning expansion and a beautiful new hotel complex.

One independent study found that the Sacramento arena will attract 1.6 million new visitors a year to downtown, spending $230 million parking, eating, drinking, shopping, and yes – watching Kings games.

But more than just the arena, Mayor Kevin Johnson is most excited about the four-block, one-billion-dollar real estate development that will bring restaurants, new offices, hotels, and family entertainment downtown, bolstering his city.

"We’re in a new era called Sacramento 3.0,” says Johnson. “Where we do things differently and where we control our own destiny. It’s bigger than basketball. We’re revitalizing our downtown. It’s about civic pride."

So what’s the answer to the burning question, “Will the arena really benefit the economy of Sacramento?”

We’d love to hear your thoughts, opinions, and concerns, so email us or comment below: