FanHouse

NBA FanHouse walks through the Valley of the Most Likely; we shall fear no topic.

When the Kings hired Reggie Theus, you couldn't jump rope without getting tripped up by reference to Hang Time. Lady point guards, 'Coach Fuller' name drops, blah blah blah. It got old quickly. (And yes, guilty.) Months later, Reggie again came under comedic attack, this time due to his hilariously dubbed "Reggie Rules," which stated no cell phone chatter was allowed on the team bus and road trips came with midnight curfews. An interesting gambit, surely odd for a player who notoriously rocked the club in his heyday.

But seriously... why does every single team preview of the Kings on Earth have to discuss "The Reggie Rules?" There are a million more interesting storylines on this mediocre team than some off-the-court tough love. Like Theus' surprising insertion of on-the-court tough love. And the woe-begotten rebuilding scheme this team has yet to embrace. And the meteoric rise of Kevin Martin. And the asteroidial crash of Mike Bibby and Brad Miller. And how John Salmons has a chance to make his case for serial minutes. And how the team has three mediocre power forwards all over the age of 30 and all making at least $5 million for at least two more years.

There is plenty to discuss with this team, but Kings fans sadly won't hear a minute of it from national pundits. And it's not just Theus -- people will talk Artest and Bibby, too, albeit for decidedly non-Kings reasons. Maybe it's my small-team chip which rues the lack of attention to detail shone on my favorite team. Maybe I'm crazy for even wanting to hear Stephen A. Smith talk about the Sacramento rebounding crisis. I don't know; is it too much to ask that actual basketball be considered the main story here? Maybe so. It just seems like in basketball more than any other sport, the actual game is demonstrably overshadowed by the running side jokes. It gets tiring... and Theus' summer storyline embodies that pretty cleanly. No one cares if he can coach, we just want to talk about how crazy he is for challenging some of his player.

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Also Most Likely to Be Overplayed: Tyrus Thomas, Eazy Yi, The Rockets in the Playoffs.

View all of our "Most Likely" previews.