This is a bunch of nonsense. I appreciate the team staying, but I don't believe much of anything Joe Maloof is saying right now. Please don't insult my intelligence.
Yes. That interview was terribly insulting to the fans. The first time I heard, I was angry, but when they replayed it I found it humorous in its ridiculousness.
What Joe Maloof did was feed the fan the same lines the Maloofs were feeding the fans when in reality they were working with Anaheim and Samueli. Why he expects the fans to buy it now is insulting.
His whole voice and persona sounded like a man worried there was a mob of angry citizens outside his castle, but his reaction was to say the same sort of golly geewhiz nonsense that the mob had grown tired of. This was a "Baby, I'm sorry" moment for the Maloofs, but I am not sure they understood that fully.
And his last, farewell line about "What would you do?" is a PR disaster. No manner of ostriching by Napear is going to fix that. I predict the press will have a field day with that. What would the fans do? Hopefully not blow all of your dad's money, not BS the fans and not take a team that looked to be a new winning franchise and dismantle every pillar it was built on. Not move the team to a rival city just because you need the bailout money. Hopefully they would own up to their business mistakes and face the fate others have to.
Which gets to Joe's denial of their business troubles, spoken in a very conditional truth. "Will you be able to spend money on free agents and build a competitive team?" "Sure" (Sure is ever the dismissive affirmative.) What that removes is the question of whether the Maloofs can stay out of bankruptcy while waiting for an arena, how near they are to bankruptcy and whether they really are hanging on to the Kings as their last real asset. Nevermind the loan defaulting rumors, their having to try to renegotiate their Palms loan, their total lack of acknowledging the condo disaster, and trying to pass off the idea that they've always spent money. Yes, they said they were always spenders and were offended by the idea that they got cheap. When you're feeding that BS to your customers, you aren't going to get the makeup sex you're looking for.
And thats what this is, a chance for the Maloofs to own up for their wrongs and ask forgiveness, but they don't seem to realize it.