Mike Budenholzer looks over the throngs of cheering fans at Centennial Olympic Park, on a sunny June afternoon that was tailor-made for an NBA championship parade. A glistening trophy at his back, the triumphant Atlanta Hawks coach grabs the microphone, and queries the crowd:

“Say, any of you remember back in March, when we lost a game to the Sixers?... No?... Good. Me neither!”

The Hawks have put their Phlop in Philadelphia on Saturday in the rear view mirror, and immediately began preparing for the final home game for nearly two weeks, tonight’s affair with the Sacramento Kings (7:30 PM Eastern, SportSouth, CSN California).

The failure to execute the offense in Philly (84 points, 20 assists, 19 turnovers) without three starters was merely One to Grow On for the Hawk reserves that got extra floor time, particularly Kent Bazemore, John Jenkins, and Mike Muscala (combined 6-for-18 FGs). Jeff Teague and Dennis Schröder (ten combined TOs) will find less of a need to force the action with wings Kyle Korver and DeMarre Carroll back on the floor against Sacramento.

Up by 10.5 games on the entire Eastern Conference field with just 20 games to play, a loss to the Sixers while deliberately shorthanded is hardly a reason to panic. Panicking is what Sacramento Kings owner and former fourth-grade girls’ hoops coach Vivek Ranadive does, less than two months into the NBA season.

Mike Malone guided this long-dormant team to a 5-1 start and its first winning record (8-7) during a calendar month in eons, the fiery coach keeping a nice co-dependency thing going with volcanic center DeMarcus Cousins. The team began sagging first with injuries to Rudy Gay and Darren Collison, but Ranadive pulled the rug out from under Malone, the Kings sliding out of Western Conference contention while Boogie sat for a few weeks amid a bout with viral meningitis. Kings fans howled in disapproval, but the response from up top has essentially been, “You think you can find another dedicated owner around here?”

With his symbiosis with Malone severed, Cousins floundered at times upon his return. He has renewed struggles with his composure around the referees, but remains as dominant as any NBA pivot (37 double-doubles, 2^nd in NBA, 23.6 PPG, 6^th in NBA), earning his first All-Star trip as an injury replacement. While Rudy Gay (career-highs 20.5 PPG, 3.8 APG, 84.9 FT%, 27.0% of shots between 10-16 feet) still gets his obligatory buckets, the rest of the Sactown roster can’t seem to figure out whether they’re coming or going.

The Kings (21-40) have won fewer games in 37 contests (10-27) than they did during Malone’s short-circuited tenure (11-13). Ranadive turned to the hapless Ty Corbin to move up from his assistant spot to run the show, but Ty’s lack of preparation for this particular gig showed up nightly. Ranadive then found the guy who is more than happy to play the game the Vivek way.

After getting screwjobbed by the Nuggets, 2013 NBA Coach of the Year George Karl has been running around with a flashlight in the daytime in search of somebody, anybody, willing to get him back in the NBA coaching ranks. He didn’t have to look too hard before finding Kings GM Pete D’Alessandro, who worked with him as an assistant GM in Denver.

Now that Karl’s here, his job isn’t necessarily to turn anything around quickly. He has to build the trust of an understandably grumbling Kings fanbase, as Ranadive spends the next eight months rebuilding the roster in his preferred image. That means IDGAF’ing about defensive strategy (105.9 opponent points per 100 possessions through 9 games under Karl, 4^th worst in NBA) while fine-tuning offensive execution and maximizing chances by rebounding like madmen (52.6 Rebound percentage under Karl, 1^st in NBA).

Ranadive wants Grinnell System hoops to be translated into winning NBA basketball. To that end, he’s running the D-League affiliate Reno Bighorns as his own personal (non-Geoff) Petrie dish, turning to the son of Grinnell legend David Arsenault to get this minor league team ballin’ outta control. With jitterbug guards like Brady Heslip and David Stockton having led the charge, Reno (16-24) is putting up a ridiculous 133.8 points per game in the D-League... while allowing an equally absurd 134.6 points on the other end.

Karl is notorious for fielding run-and-gun teams, and while Corbin tried to follow directions and push the tempo (5^th in NBA for pace during Corbin-era), he didn’t know how to convert that energy into winning basketball (7-21). Karl (3-6) is essentially scouting to see who on the Kings roster will be capable of sustaining an elevated pace of play over the course of a full season… if anybody.

Cousins fouled out with under two minutes to go in overtime with the Kings up by a point in Miami on Saturday, a game the Kings went on to lose by five after blowing a 16-point second-half lead. Can Cuz, who played despite spraining his ankle Saturday but is likely to suit up tonight, perform at an optimal level with an elevated tempo? Or will he foul himself out of games just trying to slow things down?

Might Gay thrive in a system that isn’t defense-centric? Or would his efficiency take another tumble as the Kings do away with halfcourt sets? Even with virtually all of the Kings’ top players returning next season under guaranteed contracts, few appear to be equipped to play Grinnell-style basketball (Reggie Evans? C’mon.) This suggests a fire-sale is forthcoming this summer, even for Cousins and Gay, and hardly anyone on the current roster would be opposed to that.

With Collison likely sidelined for the season with a hip flexor, Karl has turned the point guard duties over to Ray McCallum, the Summer League MVP who is averaging 8.6 PPG, 4.1 APG, 1.8 TOs per game in nine games as a starter. Desiring a better veteran presence to handle the rock, Karl and D’Alessandro sent Ramon Sessions packing and brought in Andre Miller, the former Nugget who can’t feel too bad about leaving playoff-“contender” Washington right now. While he’s expressed a comfort level playing under Karl, Miller is likely in Sactown to get groomed for a post-retirement coaching gig.

Points from the field have been hard to come by for the Kings. After Cousins, Gay, and Rudy Gay Lite (guard Ben McLemore, 35.7 3FG%), Sacramento’s top active scorers consist of Carl Landry, Omri Casspi, and Derrick Williams, each around seven PPG. Rebounding starter Jason Thompson, who recently became Sacramento’s longest-tenured player (games played) of all time, contributes less than six points per game. Rookie Nik Stauskas gets occasional green-lights, but has been clearly stuck in neutral and has seen his floortime diminish once again under Karl.

Still, the bull-in-china-shop nature of Cousins’ game (12.2 PPG in-the-paint, 2^nd in NBA; league-high 9.7 FG attempts within five feet) grants Sacramento the most drawn fouls (24.3 personal fouls drawn per game; NBA-high 8.6 per game by Cousins), leading to the most free throws in the league by far (29.6 FTAs per game, 15% more than second-place Minnesota). Al Horford and Elton Brand will need to rely on their defensive guile to keep Cousins out of deep post position without fouling. If Cousins (also league-high 4.2 personal fouls per game) isn’t getting the whistles he believes he rightfully deserves, the unraveling for Sacramento will begin early.

The Kings remain in contention only when opponents have poor shooting nights. Sacramento is 18-5 when opponents shoot below 43 percent from the field, 1-27 (the sole win coming in overtime, at home, against the Knicks) when their foes shoot 47 percent or higher. Teague and Schröder must show patience both bringing the ball up the floor (avoiding turnovers when Ranadive’s Kings press full-court) and finding the open man on drives.

Horford had an offensive off-night in Philadelphia (6-for-16 FGs). While Cousins is nimble enough to come out of the paint and defend Al’s mid-range jumper, Horford (NBA-high 71.4 FG% on drives, min. 50 drives) may be able to exploit the Kings defense by working around Cousins on shot fakes to get to the hoop. Carroll, Paul Millsap, and Horford need to get their Grinnell on against the Kings frontcourt, as each are capable of beating their man down the floor in transition.

The Kings do defend the three-ball well (33.7 opponent 3FG%, 7^th-lowest in NBA, just behind Atlanta’s 33.3%). Ben McLemore has been effective guarding shooters around the three-point line, opponents shooting just 31.2 3FG% on the left corner and above-the-break with McLemore on the floor. Atlanta will want to pass up contested perimeter shots, swinging the ball around the horn and cross-court for better catch-and-shoot opportunities.

Let’s Go Hawks!

~lw3