Welcome Devin Carter

[SacTownKid]

I'm not so sure Kings suffered from Bonzi's agent's shenanigans. Bonzi clearly had All-Star (maybe even all-NBA) talent. He, more than even Ron, was responsible for our strong showing against the Spurs, despite our loss. But given his history, he did that only to try and earn a big contract. Likely, he would reverted to his uninspired play once he got paid.

Irrelevant now though.

Perhaps, but the identity of that team moving forward was obviously going to be Ron and Bonzi as a terror and mismatch nightmare in an era where individual and unique team makeup still existed. Well, at least it should have been and while Bonzi going for 30 and 10 a night shouldn't have been expected, teams picking their poison and getting beat up was likely going to happen most nights. Bonzi was guy that had never found the right situation for him, however regardless his per minute production was always right where it was going to be most years. In hindsight he didn't last much longer so the Kings might have known about his health issues and were gunshy. In hindsight though you definitely take the gamble if you're Petrie.

 

[kingsfan101]

Perhaps, but the identity of that team moving forward was obviously going to be Ron and Bonzi as a terror and mismatch nightmare in an era where individual and unique team makeup still existed. Well, at least it should have been and while Bonzi going for 30 and 10 a night shouldn't have been expected, teams picking their poison and getting beat up was likely going to happen most nights. Bonzi was guy that had never found the right situation for him, however regardless his per minute production was always right where it was going to be most years. In hindsight he didn't last much longer so the Kings might have known about his health issues and were gunshy. In hindsight though you definitely take the gamble if you're Petrie.

Petrie did take the gamble and offered him a reasonable contract. The fact that no one else stepped up showed that his own perception was inflated, biased by his super showing against the Spurs. The trouble was that league knew that he is likely to return to his uninspired ways once he got paid.

 

[kingsfan101]

Petrie did take the gamble and offered him a reasonable contract. The fact that no one else stepped up showed that his own perception was inflated, biased by his super showing against the Spurs. The trouble was that league knew that he is likely to return to his uninspired ways once he got paid.

For the record, here's a link to his stats
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bonzi_Wells#Professional_career

His highest scoring average during regular season was 17, highest rebounds 7.7, FG% 55%. By contrast, in that series against Spurs, he 23.2 points, 12 RPG, with a FG% of 60.9 and a 3P% of 62.5%. Right before an expected pay day.

 

[KingsFanSince85]

But that also doesn't mean he's dust either. To me, I give everyone 3 years to show me something and if they still haven't popped by that 4th year, it's probably not going to happen

I think 3 seasons is more than fair. You’d like to see signs during season 2, but if they haven’t really popped by season 3 then either the team is using them incorrectly or they just aren’t the player the team thought they’d be.

Having said that, I’m reminded of Steve Nash who didn’t really pop until season 5. Then went on to win a couple MVP awards a few seasons later.

 

[SacTownKid]

For the record, here's a link to his stats
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bonzi_Wells#Professional_career

His highest scoring average during regular season was 17, highest rebounds 7.7, FG% 55%. By contrast, in that series against Spurs, he 23.2 points, 12 RPG, with a FG% of 60.9 and a 3P% of 62.5%. Right before an expected pay day.

He wasn't seeking a max contract or anything lol. IIRC the numbers weren't actually that far off. Bonzi had a lot of years where teams didn't play him full starters minutes. His production was pretty dang consistent over the course of his career. His shooting was spotty though.

 

[kingsfan101]

He wasn't seeking a max contract or anything lol. IIRC the numbers weren't actually that far off. Bonzi had a lot of years where teams didn't play him full starters minutes. His production was pretty dang consistent over the course of his career. His shooting was spotty though.

He was looking to get paid. Nothing wrong with that. Just that teams saw through it.

As for numbers, not sure if you looked at the link I posted. At no other time in his career, both regular season and playoffs, were his numbers even remotely close to what he showed in that series, and that too, against an excellent defensive team. He may have had occasional games, or even a span of games in his career, but that series was certainly an outlier. I don't know how you can say it was consistent with his career, when he achieved career highs (by significant margin) in points, rebounds, FG% and 3PFG%. Even compared to that regular season, he scored 9.6 more PPG and pulled down 4.3 additional RBG, while increasing his FG% by 14% and 3PFG% by, hold your breath, 40%.

If you think these numbers weren't "that far off", I have nothing to say.