Last Updated 6:39 am PST Thursday, January 18, 2007
Story appeared in SPORTS section, Page C2
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[FONT=arial,helvetica,sans-serif]So, Tuesday evening, I'm riding back from In-N-Out Burger with my son
Phil and his boys --
Andrew and
Darryl -- when the cell phone rings.
Hmmm, the caller ID says it's
Eric Musselman, the Kings' coach.
Of course, I'm skeptical. I've never given the little dude my phone number because he never asked for it. And I don't have his phone number because when I asked him for it a couple of months ago, he said he didn't know it.
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Hmmm, he's the coach of an NBA squad, has two kids, and yet, he doesn't know his cell phone number and doesn't know where to find it, even though a public relations representative is five feet away?
Sometimes people don't realize how they come off to others, and Musselman appears to be one of those cats. And after that earlier exchange, my antennae went up, wondering if he really didn't know his number or was feeding me some garbage.
As a reporter, when you first meet someone you believe might not be telling the truth, you always question whether the honesty is present.
Which brings me to this
Jason Hart, agent
Bill Neff and Kings mess. It's only my opinion, but somebody is coming off looking like a liar.
Neff, Hart's agent, says Musselman told him as well as Hart that he had been directed by "upper management" to play pretty much everyone other than his client. Neff says Kings basketball president
Geoff Petrie told him he had not told Musselman that.
I've known Petrie for 15 years, and if he says he doesn't tell his coaches whom to play, he doesn't.
Neff said he went back to Musselman with that news, and the coach sang him the same song that was sung before. It's also extremely difficult to conceive of
Joe and
Gavin Maloof telling Musselman which players to use.
Musselman said Tuesday that the Maloofs and Petrie have been nothing short of great in terms of assisting him.
So, here's my take: Musselman is the cat who has dirt on his hands. What's even worse, it's as if Petrie and/or the Maloofs were set up to take the fall.
The fact that Musselman has not exactly been an X's and O's genius in putting together an offense of significance doesn't weigh well for him, either.