"So what happens if the Kings get really lucky and win the NBA draft lottery tonight? The party's on. In the streets. In the arena. In the railyard. In the Kings' front office. Perhaps most importantly, in the ticket sales offices. But the celebration wouldn't be strictly about Kentucky's John Wall, the consensus No. 1 pick among league executives at the moment. It would be about Joe and Gavin Maloof, about Tyreke Evans, and about a certain someone who is deciding whether to ditch his hometown Cleveland Cavaliers and start over elsewhere. Why not here? Why not roll the dice? You know the Maloofs. Of course they would. Now that they're emotionally reinvested and intimately involved with operating the franchise, they want to make a big splash in their small market. And the only way to do that in a single offseason is to enter the LeBron James sweepstakes. Sure, it's crazy. It's absolutely crazy. But the NBA is all about crazy. Salaries are crazy. Coaches are crazy. Ticket prices are crazy – or used to be. When confronting career-altering and free- agent decisions, players get crazy; the evaluation process is dominated by personal and professional factors, but never underestimate the power of romance." http://www.sacbee.com/2010/05/18/2757948/ailene-voisin-dont-be-surprised.html
The Maloofs can dream all the way but there is no way Lebron will be in a Kings uniform. Sacramento's market cap is way to small.
The Maloofs are ready to move out of Sacramento because they can't get their stadium deal done. Las Vegas would be their 1st option, but they've also explored moving the Kings to Anaheim/Orange County. SoCal is a large enough market to support 3 pro teams.
I think the Kings would be better off trying to coax mid-level guys like Raymond Felton and Brendan Haywood into coming to Sacramento, then just build around Tyreke. Hell, I could imagine them trying to land the likes of Joe Johnson, Dirk, or Boozer type guy w/ their cap. That would be a nice shot in the arm to the franchise.
What do you mean by 'family friendly' environment? Do you think something similar to what they have here in Sacramento?
Similar to what the Angels do with their baseball team. They market themselves as family friendly. They limit the amount of alcohol consumption at the games, promote family deals etc. Doing a lot of community events and charity work. I haven't been to a Kings game in over 20 years. I don't know how they market the team these days, but its family friendly then it would work in Anaheim.
Kings do a lot of this stuff with a lot of Meet n' Greet things in the local area where kids and fans can meet players, while also tons of family packages that are family friendly. Kings games are very affordable too, and are pretty fun to go to even if they aren't the greatest.
