Tyreke Evans...Rookie of the Year

Today Tyreke Evans was officially named the NBA's 2010 Rookie of the Year. While it's not big news on a national level, it is pretty big here in the Sacramento area. This award is the culmination of a season that has once again brought hope to all Sacramento Kings fans. I can still remember when the Kings were title contenders in the early 2000's. They would give the Kobe & Shaq Lakers all they can handle for several years. There was hope and promise of one year getting past them and moving on to the NBA finals. That year was supposed to be 2002. I'm not going to revisit the playoff match up between the Kings and the Lakers that year...because Games 6&7 still get me fired up, but we all know what happened. In that series the Kings organization and it's fans did not only lose the series versus the Lakers, but it was the beginning of a downward spiral. A downward spiral that included a couple more years of disappointing playoff appearances, losing the star players that almost took us to the title, a rebuilding process that resulted in multiple losing seasons, rumors about the Kings leaving Sacramento and the worst record in the NBA in 2009. After having the worst record in 2009 the Kings were in position to win the draft lottery. It seemed that the Kings bad luck once again laughed at all it's fans because the Kings ended up with the 4th overall pick..."the worst possible scenario". Little did we know that 4th pick was going to bring us, not only the future Rookie of the Year, but also new hope for all Kings fans. Hope of one day bringing back the glory that we lived through in the early 2000's. Congratulations Tyreke! Today you lifted the trophy for Rookie of the Year...in 2012 we hope that you can lead the Kings in a realistic journey to lift a different trophy...an NBA Championship.