• Skip to main content
  • Skip to secondary menu
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to secondary sidebar
Pickin' Splinters

Pickin' Splinters

Rochester's Independent Sports Source

  • Home
  • RIT
  • Red Wings
  • Amerks
  • High School
  • RWU

Pucko: The Rochester Royals Reimagined

April 24, 2023 by Bill Pucko 1 Comment

Sacramento Kings guard De’Aaron Fox (5) dribbles against Golden State Warriors forward Kevon Looney (left) during the second quarter of game four of the 2023 NBA playoffs at Chase Center. (Photo: Darren Yamashita-USA TODAY Sports)

As originally aired on the Rochester Press Box

Give the Buffalo Sabres credit.  They missed the Stanley Cup Playoffs by just a single point and show every indication that the hockey franchise is moving in the right direction.  But facts are facts.  The team now owns the longest professional playoff drought at twelve years.  A dishonor they share with the New York Jets.  And that’s an association neither side is particularly proud of.

But it’s the team that relinquished the crown that interests us here.  The Sacramento Kings of the NBA.  The Kings ended their own playoff drought of sixteen years by not just qualifying but placing third in the NBA’s Western Conference.  Then, in a stunning turnaround, Sacramento claimed the first two games of its playoff series with the defending league champion Golden State Warriors.  It’s a basketball team with real promise, some young stars and a great future.  So now it’s time to work on ending the next drought.  A championship drought that extends back 72 years to 1951.  It’s the league’s longest.

The Kings are the Rochester Royals reimagined, thrice removed.  The team left here in 1957 for Cincinnati.  From there through Kansas City and onto California.  They didn’t leave Rochester empty-handed though.  They won the NBA title in 1951.  Rochester had the best basketball team in the world that year.  I never tire of saying that.  It is still the franchise’s only championship. As the Kings are taken more seriously, you’re going to hear more about the Royals.  Even if next to no one is left who actually saw them play at Edgerton Park Arena, this is in a very real sense, our team.  And it’s the perfect time to treat them as such.

Rochester’s Favorite Local Pizzeria Loves Rochester-Based Sports Teams!

Filed Under: Pine Pieces, Pucko's Unfinished Business

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Bill Pangrazio says

    April 24, 2023 at 10:05 am

    I saw George MiKan and Minneapolis Lakers play at Edgerton Park Arena I was 9 years old my dad took me there. He was friends with Bobby Wanzer.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Primary Sidebar

Partner of USA TODAY Sports Digital Properties

Secondary Sidebar

Copyright © 2025 · Magazine Pro on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in