Dubious Debut : Sacramento Kings Fail to Live Up to Promise Despite Top Talent

A season that began with the unprecedented promise of four first-round draft choices and the savvy of the winningest coach in the NBA has turned sour for the Sacramento Kings.

The situation reached such depths recently that Kings players sequestered themselves away from the media in a weight room for nearly 30 minutes after an 89-80 home loss--in which the Kings squandered a 15-point first-quarter lead--to the Minnesota Timberwolves.

“I don’t want to talk about the meeting,” said rookie forward Lionel Simmons, the Kings’ first No. 1 pick. “We just got together and talked about some things that were strictly among ourselves.”

The Kings’ frustration is statistically warranted. Fourteen games into Dick Motta’s first full season as coach, Sacramento is the lowest scoring team in the league and possesses a 1-13 record, the league’s worst mark.

“This hurts. It really hurts,” said Motta, who came out of retirement last January to coach Sacramento. “I just can’t understand why the adrenaline isn’t going 1 million miles an hour.”

Motta has 825 regular-season victories during his 20-plus years in the NBA. But the 59-year-old coach now has 801 career defeats, one more than the dubious plateau reached only by Gene Shue, who is now retired.

Veteran forwards Wayman Tisdale and Antoine Carr are generally considered the team’s leaders, but Motta said Simmons and rookie guard Travis Mays, the Kings’ second first-round pick, may be called on to take control of the team.

Despite the Kings’ overall poor play, Simmons and Mays have succeeded in their inaugural seasons. Simmons is the Kings’ second-leading scorer at 16.7 points per game and is averaging 8.1 rebounds. Mays, a shooting guard the Kings are gradually converting into a point guard, is averaging 14.9 points and 4.4 assists. Center Duane Causwell, the Kings’ third first-round pick, has played sparingly. Forward Anthony Bonner, Sacramento’s final first-round selection, has not played since suffering a foot stress fracture in training camp.