December 15th, 2019 was the last time I felt any sort of warmth towards this season. The Kings had clawed their way two games under the .500 mark without their two young stars, a task that skims the realm of improbability like it’s a shot from Buddy Hield playing 16 seconds of 1 on 1 skims the rim. They played the Warriors that night and the Kings womped them. The playoffs were in the picture and I had the privilege of calling someone a “seven feet of frozen green beans” to the delight of everyone but the green bean farmers of America (though to be fair, they rarely support such negative sounding hooliganism against the greenest, meanest and beanest of vegetables).