KingsFans.com - Sacramento Kings Forums

With the announcement of the Kevin Martin trade to Houston, the future of the Kings just got a lot more interesting.

While most Kings fans have been looking for Petrie to make a move for a "superstar" caliber big, it seems instead he might now be showing his hand - building a team of youth and determination that will be a departure from what we've been seeing for the past few years.

The excitement we saw early this year, before Martin returned from his injury, could be in evidence again as our roster just got tougher and more defensively oriented.

As we wait for the All-Star weekend to unfold, we Kings fans have a lot to be thankful for, especially when you compare this year to the past few.

We have two young and exciting players in the Rookie game, and another rookie who is rapidly winning the hearts of Kings fans with his grit and determiation. We have more wins right now than we had all last season and we have more road wins than we managed to eke out in all of 2008-2009.

We have a new coach, we have a new attitude and we have a new look to Kingsfans.com!

I personally am a very happy Kings fan. We're seeing a team grow together, despite a few setbacks, and we're seeing young players who simply don't know the meaning of the word "quit."

Saturday night (Jan. 9) may not have felt like there was a shift in the universe. Of course, there was the 6.5 earthquake off the coast of Eureka, CA, but that was at 4:27 p.m. A bit too early to be a definitive portent of things to come.

It wasn't a good game. The Kings looked flat, turning the ball over and unable to hit water out of a boat. Fans sitting in front of their TVs were faced with a couple of choices - stick with it even though they didn't have much hope, watch something else and switch back once in a while to see how bad the carnage was, or just turn it off and wait to read the board after the game.

Regardless of what you did - or if you were planning on recording the game on DVR and watching it later - you will not forget Monday, Dec. 21, 2009 for a long, long time.

With Arco rocking and fans at home all over the world cheering their loudest, the Sacramento Kings battled the Washington Wizards and came away the winners. And they did it on national TV.

This is a young team, a team that is just now finding its identity. The game wasn't perfect and it wasn't without heart-stopping moments of panic. But, in the end, it was just what Kings fans needed it to be. It was a win against a team of seasoned veterans and it showed the world what heart and hustle looks like. And on this night, heart and hustle were wearing the uniforms of the Sacramento Kings.

Thanks to Geoff Petrie for finding the pieces that have started to turn this team around. Thanks to Paul Westphal for being willing to accept a job coaching a team coming off a season so thoroughly mired in the cellar they needed a telescope to spot daylight.

This is the beginning, fellow Kings fans. All the pieces aren't there yet, but we're on our way. Tyreke Evans is so good he scares me. And Omri Casspi is right there, too.

It's about energy and it's about passion. And our young team has it all...and they're at the beginning.

Get your seat on the bandwagon early, fasten your seat belts and get ready for the ride of your life. It's gonna be a whole lot of fun!