The Sacramento Kings trace their roots all the way back to the birth of the NBA. In 1949 the franchise was one of 17 charter members of the new league that was created by the merger of the Basketball Association of America and the National Basketball League. Originally located in Rochester and known as the Royals, the club has also been known as the Cincinnati Royals, the Kansas City-Omaha Kings, and the Kansas City Kings. The franchise moved to Sacramento in 1985.

It has been a long road for the Kings. The team won a championship in 1951, but since then the franchise has mostly known frustration. Since the 1955-56 season the club has been a sporadic visitor to the playoffs. From 1968 to 1978 the Kings made only one postseason appearance. In 1995-96, the Kings reached the playoffs after a nine-year absence.

But the franchise has had its share of bright lights, too. The club's all-time roster boasts NBA greats Jack Twyman, Oscar Robertson, Jerry Lucas, Happy Hairston, and Nate "Tiny" Archibald. And Bob Cousy, Cotton Fitzsimmons, and Bill Russell have all put in time as head coach.

The franchise's glory years are now a distant memory. In the late 1940s and early 1950s the Rochester Royals ranked as one of the powerhouses of professional basketball. The franchise joined the National Basketball League in 1945 and promptly claimed the NBL crown. The Royals' roster included future coaching legend Red Holzman, pro quarterback Otto Graham, major league catcher Del Rice, and Chuck Connors, who would go on to greater fame as The Rifleman. The next season Rochester broke the NBL's color barrier by signing Dolly King.

Kings Playas
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1. Predrag "Peja" Stojakovic
2. Chris Webber
3. Bobby Jackson
4. Doug Christie
5. Mike Bibby  
6. Vlade Divac
7. Brad Miller
8. Darius Songaila
9. Anthony Peeler
10. Tony Massenburg
11. Rodney Buford

12. Gerald Wallace

13. Jabari Smith

Adelman brings a record of 544-361 into the 2002-03 season, a winning percentage of .601 and in the playoffs his teams have posted a 53-50 record.

He reached the 300-win mark in 468 games, the seventh-fastest in NBA history. Only Pat Riley (416), Phil Jackson (419), Billy Cunningham (430), K.C. Jones (434), Larry Costello (445) and John Kundla (452) reached that plateau in fewer games.

Adelman, who first came to the league as a 6-2 guard in 1968, spent 14 years in the Trail Blazers organization, including three as a player (1970-73), five as an assistant coach (1983-89) and six as the team's head coach (1989-94). He compiled a 291-154 record as a head coach and took the Blazers to the NBA Finals in 1990 and 1992. He coached Golden State for two seasons, 1995-96 and 1996-97.

Adelman, who attended Loyola Marymount, was selected by the then-San Diego Rockets in the seventh round of the 1968 NBA Draft, the 79th overall player picked. He spent two seasons as a reserve in San Diego, where his teammates included Elvin Hayes and Pat Riley. Adelman was taken by Portland in the 1970 NBA Expansion Draft and was made the first team captain in Blazers history.

He averaged 10.1 points, 4.6 assists and 27.7 minutes in three seasons with Portland before being traded to the Chicago Bulls. He served stints with the Bulls, the New Orleans Jazz and the Kansas City-Omaha Kings before retiring in 1975 with career averages of 7.7 points, 3.5 assists and 22.6 minutes per game in seven NBA seasons.

Adelman began his coaching career at Chemeketa Community College in Salem, Ore. From 1977 to 1983, Chemeketa went 141-39 and won or shared in three Oregon community college championships and one regional title. He rejoined the Trail Blazers in 1983 as an assistant to Jack Ramsay and served as an assistant coach until Feb. 19, 1989, when he replaced Mike Schuler as head coach.

In 1989-90, his first full season at the helm, Adelman guided the Blazers to a 59-23 record and a trip to the NBA Finals, where they lost to the Detroit Pistons in five games. The following year, Portland went 63-19 and won the Pacific Division title before bowing to the Lakers in the Western Conference Finals, and Adelman finished second in balloting for NBA Coach of the Year award.

In 1991-92, Portland went 57-25, won its second straight Pacific Division title and advanced to the NBA Finals for the second time in three years, this time losing in six games to Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls.

On Nov. 22, 1992, Adelman recorded his 200th victory in the 288th game of his career. At the time, no coach in league history had reached the 200-win plateau in fewer games. Adelman left Portland after the 1993-94 season, departing as the second-winningest coach in franchise history behind Ramsay.

The Warriors posted a 36-46 record under Adelman in 1995-96, but did reduce their points allowed from 111.1 ppg to 103.1 ppg, the fewest for the franchise in 20 years. In addition, the 1995-96 Warriors outrebounded their opponents 3,458 to 3,406, only the second time in 14 seasons Golden State had enjoyed a season-long edge off the boards. After another losing season (30-52) in 1996-97, however, Adelman was replaced by P.J. Carlesimo.

At Sacramento, Adelman utilized the talents of veteran forward Chris Webber and rookie point guard Jason Williams and turned the Kings into the highest-scoring team in the league, going from 93.1 points per game in 1997-98 to 100.2 ppg in 1998-99, even though the league average dipped from 95.6 ppg to 91.6 ppg. The Kings posted a 27-23 record in the lockout-shortened season, their first winning mark since 1982-83, when the franchise was still in Kansas City. They stretched Utah to five games before bowing in the first round of the playoffs.

The Kings increased their scoring to a league-leading 104.9 ppg in 1999-2000, compiling a 44-38 record. It marked the first time in two decades that the team had posted consecutive winning seasons, since going 48-34 in 1978-79 and 47-35 in 1979-80. Once again Sacramento was ousted in the first round of the playoffs in five games, by the eventual champion Los Angeles Lakers and in the 2001-02 season in the Western Conference Finals .