A home game sell-out used to be a foregone conclusion for the Sacramento Kings.  19 out of 26 seasons, the Sacramento region flocked to Arco Arena to watch basketball – regardless of how well or how poorly the team played.  Of those 19 sell-out seasons, the Kings made the playoffs only 10 times, eight of those coming in one stretch beginning in the late 1990s.

The team has struggled mightily for more than half-a-decade now, lining up each season for NBA lottery handouts.  Last year was supposed to be the start of anew.  Armed with Tyreke Evans and DeMarcus Cousins, two top five picks in 2009 and 2010 respectively, the team mantra was Here We Rise.

The promise of improvement quickly faded as the Kings finished 2010 with six wins and 23 losses.  Gone was the Arco Thunder.  Gone was the crazy fanbase that carried this franchise through good times and bad.  And all of this happened before the fans learned the team was considering a move to Anaheim.

A normal fanbase would wane.  A normal fanbase would show disapproval for a team threatening to leave, by clearing out the building and leaving their team to play for a few thousand die hard loyalists.

But that is not the Sacramento way.

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For anyone still hoping for a big splash at the small forward position, this is going to be disappointing. The small forwards of free agency have been raided and are now being signed by any and every contender for next year.

While the Kings have Andres Nocioni, Donte Greene and now Omri Casspi at the small forward position, quite a few fans wanted the Kings to either bring back Hedo Turkoglu or go after a young player with a lot of potential like Trevor Ariza. Well, I have bad news — all of the small forwards have been signed this off-season.

Okay, not ALL the small forwards have been signed. But all of the small forwards that are interesting or intriguing to the Kings rebuilding effort have been scooped up.

- Hedo Turkoglu agreed in principle to a contract with the Portland Trailblazers. The deal is believed to be worth around $50 million over five years.

- Trevor Ariza has agreed in principle to sign with the Houston Rockets to play alongside Tracy McGrady’s ghost and Shane Battier’s underratedness. The deal is supposed to be for the full mid-level exception (roughly five years, $33.5 million).

And for the few remaining fans who wanted Ron Artest to be brought back to Sacramento (see: Carmichael Dave and his radio show production team):

- Ron Artest has agreed to sign with the Los Angeles Lakers to play alongside his best friend and idol Kobe Bryant. The deal should be around  five years and $33.5 million, just like the Ariza contract.

With all of the good small forwards gone, perhaps we should look to a bigger player for the addition.