Tale of the Tape: Sacramento Kings vs. Cleveland Browns

Hello and welcome to another edition of Tale of the Tape. Last year we featured the Edmonton Oilers vs. the Oakland Raiders to see what franchise was much more irrelevant. We’re back with two more teams to determine that equation with the Cleveland Browns and the Sacramento Kings. These two teams have playoff droughts of a decade or more, have had bad players as well as bad ownership and bad personnel in the front office. So here we go with our Tale of the Tape…

The Front Office

The Sacramento Kings- Owner Vivek Ranadive trusts the personnel decisions to be made my general manager Vlade Divac,who is in his second season in that role. Divac had never held that kind of position prior to being hired to do it. He replaced Pete D’Allessandro who did not make the grade as the general manager of the team,making questionable draft picks and was unable to get along with coaches. Divac has had contentious relations with former coach George Karl and made confusing draft picks in 2016 (more on that later)

The Cleveland Browns- Owned by Jimmy Haslam and run by president Paul DePodesta and general manager Sashi Brown. DePodesta is probably best known for being in the front office of the Oakland A’s and was the general manager of the Los Angeles Dodgers. DePodesta is also a proponent of Moneyball and analytics,which may have led to his hire in Cleveland on the football side of things.

Advantage-Push

The Draft Picks

From left to right: Thomas Robinson, Nik Stauskas, Jimmer Fredette

Sacramento Kings- In recent years the team has drafted players such as Willie Cauley-Stein and Ben McLemore. They also have made questionable decisions such as Georgios Papagiannis and Skal Labissiere. Go back further and you can include Nik Stauskas, Jimmer Fredette,and Thomas Robinson to the list of questionable choices by this team in terms of selecting talent. Cauley-Stein is regarded as the best selection the team has made since DeMarcus Cousins

Cleveland Browns- While the team has had decent picks in recent years such as Joe Thomas, Alex Mack,and Joe Haden, the team has made some poor choices as well such as Brady Quinn, Barkevius Mingo, Justin Gilbert, Brandon Weeden,Trent Richardson,and Johnny Manziel. They even traded down in the 2016 NFL Draft by swapping the second pick with the Eagles and got their eighth pick. They eventually would pick 15th. The Eagles selected Carson Wentz, a quarterback from North Dakota St. and the Browns chose receiver Corey Coleman from Baylor. Wentz has had a nice rookie season while Coleman’s success remains to be seen. The point is,the Browns still need a quarterback and the Eagles have theirs.

Advantage-Browns

Attendance

Sacramento Kings- With the new Golden 1 Center opening up in October,the team is in the middle of the pack overall (16th) in the NBA,but games at home have been sell-outs so far,even if it doesn’t always look that way on TV.

Cleveland Browns- They are 20th in overall attendance this season despite being winless at this point in the year. At home,they have a 90.6-percent attendance rate,which means even the most loyal of fanbases (which Browns fans have been considered to be) can only put up with so much futility for so long.

Advantage-Browns

Toughest Bad Playoff Performance to Choke Down

Nearly 15 years later and it’s still not a fucking foul on Bibby

Sacramento Kings- Game Six of the 2002 Western Conference Finals. That was the best chance the Kings had to get to a championship and it was basically ripped from them by three NBA officials.

Cleveland Browns-The Drive in the 1986 AFC Championship Game against Denver

Advantage-Kings (it still hurts nearly 15 years later)

Good Guy on a Bad Team

Sacramento Kings-They have center DeMarcus Cousins who,while he is a solid player on the court,he does push the limits by arguing with officials and even criticizing them after games (a big no-no in any league) and he’s even alienated fans and other teammates alike and has even gotten into tirades with coaches behind closed doors.

Cleveland Browns-Cornerback Joe Haden. He seems to be the only guy that fans who aren’t fans of the Browns know about who’s any good. While he’s been productive in his NFL career, he has spent a lot of time on the injured list and that hasn’t helped his team in any way. Honestly,this dude deserves better because he is a good player and has been the best of a bad situation.

Advantage-Kings

How Fans Cope with the Futility

Sacramento Kings-A lot of them have become Warriors fans

Cleveland Browns-They have the Cavaliers and Indians to fall back on, I hear they had good seasons this past year

Advantage-Kings

This Team Needs…

Why can’t the Kings get good point guards like Isaiah Thomas?

Sacramento Kings-A true starting point guard, to trade Rudy Gay,competent people in the front office,and to find a way to lure their fans back from the grasp of the Golden State Warriors

Cleveland Browns-A quarterback,a running back,some wideouts,a tight end,the list goes on, but most importantly a quarterback.

Advantage-Push

Reasons to Believe Things Will Stay the Same

Sacramento Kings- Because the front office hasn’t shown they’re up to the task of bringing a winning team to this city and because of the team’s lack of knowhow to draft well and attract quality free agents to town. Also,DeMarcus Cousins may want out at some point and he’s your best guy. So…

Cleveland Browns- They’re in a tough division in a very tough conference. The culture there is far from a positive one and aside from the horrible roster and those hideous uniforms, this team just has the worst luck and they have for a while now.

Advantage-Push

Reasons to Believe Things Are Looking Up

Sacramento Kings- This team does have a sparkling new arena going for them and there’s always a chance that the front office will come around and find a path to a winning culture and winning ways. That may take longer than most people would like, but you never know when/if things will get better

Cleveland Browns-No comment at this time

Advantage-Browns

Yep,That Was Their Uniform

Sacramento Kings-The gold alternates uniforms from 2006. They looked a lot like candy bar wrappers

Cleveland Browns-Their current set

Advantage-Browns

So barely nudging out the victory is the Cleveland Browns in this edition of Tale of the Tape,sadly this may be the only thing they win from now until the time the NFL Draft rolls around when they have the inevitable first overall pick. That’s it for Tale of the Tape, see you next time!