Grant Napear: Somebody Needs To Tell Sacramento Kings Fans, Players What The Team's Plan Is

The following aired on The Grant Napear Show on Dec. 30, 2014. You can hear more from Grant here. 

When the Kings fired Michael Malone, I made the comment, I went on the air, I'm like, I didn't like it, I was not a fan of the move, but I said you've got to put your trust in the people making these decisions. And since that time, I've sat back, obviously, announcing every game, talking to a lot of people, looking at fan interaction on social media, and the one thing that is very clear not only to me, but I know to you as well is that this team has regressed considerably. And that's not an opinion, that's a fact.

The statistics bear that out, the won-loss record bear that out, and I said when they fired Michael Malone that we would have to wait and see what plan B was, similar to what we went through this past summer when Isaiah Thomas went to Phoenix, we had to wait and see who was going to be the new point guard, and that player has been Darren Collison, and regardless of whether you think he his better or not than Isaiah Thomas, it's actually worked out pretty well. I think Darren Collison has been a pretty good fit to this basketball team.

But here we are at the end of 2014, and I gotta tell you I've got a really bad feeling in my stomach about this, I really do. I was thinking about this on the airplane last night, I've been sitting in my hotel room all day thinking about this. I have a really bad feeling about what's going on right now. And I have a bad feeling because I can sense it with the fans.

Before I left on this road trip, whenever I was out in public, I had a lot of people coming up to me speaking about the Kings in critical terms. Last night, being in the Mecca or basketball, which is New York, there were many national beat writers that were at the game last night, and they were all coming up to me, asking, "Gosh, what is going on out there?"

And it's really difficult to be asked that by so many people that I respect. The same thing happened when the Knicks were in town the other night. I had a lot of people that work for the Knicks coming up to me, asking me, "Gee, what on Earth is going on?"

And I don't have an answer to that right now. And I think it's time that somebody from management comes out and talks to the Sacramento Kings fans and tells them what the plan is. Because there is no plan that I'm aware of. I know they've got a plan, but we'd I think we'd all love to know what the plan is. These people are way too smart to just fire a coach and not have a plan.

This isn't, "Oh well, gee, let's sit around a coffee table and have a cup of coffee and not have a Plan B." This team right now has no idea what is going on.

The Sacramento Kings players are confused. The Sacramento Kings players don't know what's going on. The Sacramento Kings players want someone to come into their locker room and talk to them and tell them what the plan is.

The comments after the Knicks game were very telling by DeMarcus Cousins and Rudy Gay. I think that speaks volumes of the confusion and the perplexed state that this team is in right now. This is not about winning a game tomorrow. This is not about winning a game against Minnesota. This is about where is this team heading.

This team right now is one of the worst teams in the NBA. If you can barely beat the Knicks at home with all of their starters missing with the exception of Carmelo Anthony and a few others, that tells you a lot. If you can't go on the road and beat a team like Brooklyn that had just lost by 25 points 48 hours earlier to a bad Indiana team, that tells you.

If you had seen DeMarcus Cousins last night and his frustration throughout the game, coming on and off the floor—this team right now is confused. And the fans are unbelievably confused, they're upset, they're disappointed and they are perplexed.

It is time for someone to come out and speak to the fans, and say "Hey, I want you to bear in mind that we're going through this together." Say whatever, but tell us what the plan is. Come out and tell us that you know it is difficult right now. "Please be patient; please trust us, this is where we're trying to head and this is how we're going to do it."

Because what's going on right now is sad. I got a pit in my stomach. There's nothing that I love more than the Sacramento Kings outside of my family. We've fought so hard to keep this basketball team in this community. We've got a brand-new entertainment and sports complex being built right now in Downtown Sacramento. I can't wait for 2016.

But 2016 is one-and-a-half seasons from now. And the fans that made this all possible—with their grassroots efforts and everything that went into keeping this team here—the great start this year, 5-1, 9-5, and then DeMarcus Cousins gets viral meningitis, and it's almost like the entire bottom fell out from the building and it collapsed. And it's collapsed and now it's in rubble.

And as we start 2015, I'd love to be able to come on the radio and talk with great optimism and say, "Don't worry, everything's going to be fine. Just hang in there." But, you know what, the fans don't want to hear that anymore. They're tired of me coming on the radio, saying, "Just hang in there and be patient." They don't want that anymore; they're done with that.

And I get that. We've been doing this year after year after year after year after year. I hear your frustration. I want you to know I understand, I get it. I also want you to know the I normally go on the radio and I have answers for you, and I normally will try to walk you through this, and walk us through this.

I don't have an answer right now.

It's my job to come on the radio and give answers. It's my job to come on and forecast where we're headed. It's my job to try to tell you that, OK, I see it from a different angle because I'm with the team, or I've talked to a lot of people.

I don't have answers for you today.

I want to come on the radio and sit here and I want to tell you that, "Yeah, you know what, here's the plan."

We need to know the plan.

Sacramento Kings fans are too loyal, they are too invested in this basketball team, in this community to see what is going on right now. And I feel awful for the players. Because it's anyone's right to make a change in management. It happens all the time in corporate America, and it happens all the time in sports. That's part of the culture that we live in. And I'm a fan of Michael Malone. In retrospect, I think we all can see that it was not the right move, at least not for this year. If you wanted to make the move, you should have made it before this season or you should have made it after this season. But just to pull the rug out from everybody is not fair. It's not fair to the players who busted their ass all summer, all training camp and started off so well, and were so into one another on the floor—the camaraderie, the chemistry—it's not fair.

Unless you have a Plan B, which is better than what you have. And I'm fine with that if you have a Plan B and it's better than what you have. I mean after all, if you can go out and get yourself a really, really good coach with a proven record, as much as I like Michael Malone, I can justify it. I can say, "You know what, I get it. I understand. I'm fully with you, I get it. I understand."

And I would have no problem coming on the radio and saying, "Hey, you know what, hang in there and be patient, OK? This is going to work." But it is not working right now. It's not working right now.

And I've talked to a lot of people in the organization and outside of the organization, and I will tell you that this feeling is not my opinion. It's not a couple of fans here. It's not a couple of fans there. This opinion of mine, I believe, is shared by the majority of people in and out of the organization.

And so as we sit here and we get ready for a new year, there has to be a disclosure of what is going to be the next move. It has to happen. Because this community and this fan base deserve it. Because they have fought too damn hard, and have been too damn loyal to watch what's going on now. You can't just sit here and go, "Well, gee everything's going to be fine."

It may be fine, and deep in my heart I actually believe it's going to be fine. I mean I really do. But it would make the feeling easier to digest if I knew what the plan was.

We heard the word uptempo. This team can't play uptempo, I mean come on. Tyrone Corbin is not an uptempo coach. Tyrone Corbin didn't coach uptempo basketball in Utah. These players aren't uptempo. These players were playing a certain style.

This team right now can't defend their shadow. They can't stop a terrible New York Knicks team. They can't stop a bad Brooklyn Nets team. They can't stop anybody. They can't even throw the ball in from out of bounds without it getting picked off. This team right now is in disarray. They're in disarray because they are confused. They are in disarray because they don't know what's going on.

Someone just pointed me a message from Jason Jones of The Sacramento Bee ... And Jason Jones just put out on Twitter ... It was at 2:59 p.m. It says that most players found out on the Internet social media that Tyrone Corbin would be their coach for the rest of the season.

Are you freaking kidding me? You're telling me that Tyrone Corbin is going to be the coach for the rest of the season, and the players in that locker room are finding out through social media? How about a meeting? How about a meeting where you get everybody together and say "Hey, I know that it appears the bottom is falling out. I get it. This is the plan. This is where we are going. I need you to buy in. I want you to understand where we are going."

I'm just telling you the Kings don't have any idea where they are headed. It needs to be changed. I'm not talking about the coach. I'm talking about the communication. I'm talking about the players that work their ass off all summer who were so excited for the start of the season, who started off playing so well. They had the talk of the town, 5-1, 9-5, competing with everyone. Even their losses were like good losses. The Memphis game, as tough as that was. Hey Memphis at that time was the best team in basketball and it was in Memphis and the Kings got screwed by a bad call.

And here's another something else—the Sacramento Kings have been competitive in almost every single game they've played this year. And now they go out on the floor, and I can see it on their faces. Plain and simple, they're confused.

And again, I got to preface this because I think it's important that you know where I'm coming from here. I've been doing this show since 1995. And I get a lot of people that call me up and yell at me, or send me bad messages on Twitter. And I always sit here and I go, "Listen, I get your frustration," and then sometimes I don't, and then sometimes I think fans are being unrealistic. And when I think you're being unrealistic, I come on the air and I tell you you're being unrealistic.

I don't think you're being unrealistic on this one. I don't think you're being unrealistic. I don't think you're being unrealistic.

And I think that the comments from the fan, and I gotta tell you, the national media, and everywhere I go, or I mean I was at CBS Sports Radio doing the Jim Rome Show, and I'm speaking—and I don't want to mention their names, they're very well-known names, they may have thought they were talking off the record, so I'm not going to mention their names—they're asking me, "What is going on out there? Boy, weren't you guys playing well? What's happened?" And I'm sitting there and I'm like, I don't know and it's going to get better and blah blah blah.

And we're all in this together. People say, well gee I announce the games. Hey, I love this team. I'm a fan of the Sacramento Kings. I've never ever shied away from going on the air and telling you I love this basketball team. Outside of my family, there's nothing more important to me than the Sacramento Kings, period.

But what's going on right now is unacceptable, period. It is not acceptable. And these players on this floor that are getting ready to play a game tomorrow deserve better. And these players do not need to find out through social media about anything that is happening with this team. They should be the first ones to know. It's not right. It's not right.

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