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http://www.latimes.com/sports/la-sp-artest23feb23,0,7884933.story?coll=la-home-sports
A Royal Subject
Artest turns the generic Sacramento Kings into something more, and his reign creates a buzz missing since the almost-glory days
By Mark Heisler, Times Staff Writer
Artest turns the generic Sacramento Kings into something more, and his reign creates a buzz missing since the almost-glory days
By Mark Heisler, Times Staff Writer
SACRAMENTO — In recent NBA history, there were three great teams. Two won titles. This is about the third.
It's a new era for the Sacramento Kings, the reign of Ron Artest, however long it lasts.
Gone are their old monarchs, Chris Webber, Vlade Divac, Peja Stojakovic, Bobby Jackson and Doug Christie, who averaged 55 wins for five seasons and twice beat the Shaquille O'Neal-Kobe Bryant Lakers in the Pacific Division.
Their wizardry is a memory. Their highlight reel ran out and is on the shelves under "Requiem for the best NBA team that didn't win anything, 2000-05."
"It was a special team, I don't think there's any doubt about it," Coach Rick Adelman says. "Those guys won a ton of games. They were so much fun to watch play, but the way they got along, the way they interacted with each other, was, I think, really unique. That's what I really enjoyed about it."
Great passers, they eschewed the two-hand chest variety. They were more into looking away, going behind their backs or over their shoulders and topping each other.
O'Neal called them "Queens." In Utah, fans wore dresses and fake beards for Divac, the noted flopper. Webber, who was talking the talk long before he could walk the walk, might have been the most derided great player of his day.
Nevertheless, Brad Miller's arrival in 2002 gave them three big men who'd been All-Stars. With O'Neal and San Antonio's Tim Duncan and David Robinson, contenders had to be huge as well as good in the West, but the Kings were big enough and good enough.
They just weren't lucky enough. Their entire history led to May 26, 2002, two days after they beat the Lakers by 13 points in Staples Center to go up, 2-1, in the Western Conference finals.
The Kings blew the Lakers away in the first quarter, taking a 20-point lead. With nothing working, the Lakers spent the rest of the game clawing their way back, trailing all the way, until Robert Horry's three-pointer, launched just before the clock went to 00:00.0, dropped on the Kings' heads.
Tied, 2-2, instead of being behind, 3-1, the Lakers went on to win in seven games and sweep New Jersey in the Finals for their third consecutive title.
The Kings wound up … here.
"We're still going through it," says personnel director Jerry Reynolds, former King coach, assistant coach, general manager and still the beating heart, or at least the emcee, of the franchise. "I'm telling you, we're still going through it. I know it sounds hokey but it was a crusher, just an absolute crusher.
"And it was still a bad basketball play! The Lakers are down two, they need two to tie. Kobe goes baseline, shoots a 12- or 15-footer, misses. Shaq gets the rebound, misses.
"And where's your power forward? Standing 25 feet away from the basket. What's he doing back there, guarding the backcourt?"
Of course, Horry was waiting for the rebound to come loose and Divac to bat it out — right to him — so he could put up the shot that changed a lot of destinies.
Reynolds was going to put a new roof on his house with his playoff share if they won the title. He has called Horry "Robert Roof" ever since.
Westward Ho
Talk about humble beginnings. The franchise started in Rochester, N.Y., and headed west, stopping in Cincinnati, moving on to Kansas City (with games in Omaha) before arriving here in 1985.
Owner Gregg Lukenbill built Arco Arena on an empty plot north of downtown, where it seemed to pop out of the plain like Rock Hudson's mansion in "Giant."
Despite selling every seat for their first 12 seasons, the Kings operated on shoestring budgets and never posted a winning record. When Spud Webb arrived in 1992, his new teammate, Bobby Hansen, greeted him with, "Welcome to hell."
At decade's end, seeking money for a new arena, Mitch Richmond told the City Council, "If we lose the Kings, the city goes back to what it's always been, a dead city."
Improbably, with things bleak all over before the lockout-shortened 1998-99 season, the franchise's fortunes took a turn, or a lurch, for the better when Joe and Gavin Maloof, who owned a Las Vegas casino, bought the team. No shrinking violets — they had their own public relations firm — they were great owners: enthusiastic, willing to spend tens of millions but not meddlesome.
They retained General Manager Geoff Petrie, who signed Divac, traded Richmond for Webber and drafted Jason Williams. The team not only put on a dazzling show but posted Sacramento's first winning record, 27-23. By the Maloofs' third season, the payroll was $65 million — $6 million higher than the Lakers — and their wins went to 55-61-59-55-50.
"We were playing Phoenix, I never will forget this, we were down 17 or 18 at the half, and came back to win by 17 or 18," says Reynolds. "And it was just one of those total Showtime Kings at their best — Webb, Divac, making plays and Jason Williams in the open court just taking your breath away.
"That was early in the year when we broke through and became a 55-win team and it was like, 'Boy, we're good. We're really good.' "
But "good" didn't mean much in the presence of the greats in the West. The Lakers won titles in 2000, 2001 and 2002 and the Spurs in 1999, 2003 and 2005, but the Kings were right there with them.
A Royal Subject
Artest turns the generic Sacramento Kings into something more, and his reign creates a buzz missing since the almost-glory days
By Mark Heisler, Times Staff Writer
Artest turns the generic Sacramento Kings into something more, and his reign creates a buzz missing since the almost-glory days
By Mark Heisler, Times Staff Writer
SACRAMENTO — In recent NBA history, there were three great teams. Two won titles. This is about the third.
It's a new era for the Sacramento Kings, the reign of Ron Artest, however long it lasts.
Gone are their old monarchs, Chris Webber, Vlade Divac, Peja Stojakovic, Bobby Jackson and Doug Christie, who averaged 55 wins for five seasons and twice beat the Shaquille O'Neal-Kobe Bryant Lakers in the Pacific Division.
Their wizardry is a memory. Their highlight reel ran out and is on the shelves under "Requiem for the best NBA team that didn't win anything, 2000-05."
"It was a special team, I don't think there's any doubt about it," Coach Rick Adelman says. "Those guys won a ton of games. They were so much fun to watch play, but the way they got along, the way they interacted with each other, was, I think, really unique. That's what I really enjoyed about it."
Great passers, they eschewed the two-hand chest variety. They were more into looking away, going behind their backs or over their shoulders and topping each other.
O'Neal called them "Queens." In Utah, fans wore dresses and fake beards for Divac, the noted flopper. Webber, who was talking the talk long before he could walk the walk, might have been the most derided great player of his day.
Nevertheless, Brad Miller's arrival in 2002 gave them three big men who'd been All-Stars. With O'Neal and San Antonio's Tim Duncan and David Robinson, contenders had to be huge as well as good in the West, but the Kings were big enough and good enough.
They just weren't lucky enough. Their entire history led to May 26, 2002, two days after they beat the Lakers by 13 points in Staples Center to go up, 2-1, in the Western Conference finals.
The Kings blew the Lakers away in the first quarter, taking a 20-point lead. With nothing working, the Lakers spent the rest of the game clawing their way back, trailing all the way, until Robert Horry's three-pointer, launched just before the clock went to 00:00.0, dropped on the Kings' heads.
Tied, 2-2, instead of being behind, 3-1, the Lakers went on to win in seven games and sweep New Jersey in the Finals for their third consecutive title.
The Kings wound up … here.
"We're still going through it," says personnel director Jerry Reynolds, former King coach, assistant coach, general manager and still the beating heart, or at least the emcee, of the franchise. "I'm telling you, we're still going through it. I know it sounds hokey but it was a crusher, just an absolute crusher.
"And it was still a bad basketball play! The Lakers are down two, they need two to tie. Kobe goes baseline, shoots a 12- or 15-footer, misses. Shaq gets the rebound, misses.
"And where's your power forward? Standing 25 feet away from the basket. What's he doing back there, guarding the backcourt?"
Of course, Horry was waiting for the rebound to come loose and Divac to bat it out — right to him — so he could put up the shot that changed a lot of destinies.
Reynolds was going to put a new roof on his house with his playoff share if they won the title. He has called Horry "Robert Roof" ever since.
Westward Ho
Talk about humble beginnings. The franchise started in Rochester, N.Y., and headed west, stopping in Cincinnati, moving on to Kansas City (with games in Omaha) before arriving here in 1985.
Owner Gregg Lukenbill built Arco Arena on an empty plot north of downtown, where it seemed to pop out of the plain like Rock Hudson's mansion in "Giant."
Despite selling every seat for their first 12 seasons, the Kings operated on shoestring budgets and never posted a winning record. When Spud Webb arrived in 1992, his new teammate, Bobby Hansen, greeted him with, "Welcome to hell."
At decade's end, seeking money for a new arena, Mitch Richmond told the City Council, "If we lose the Kings, the city goes back to what it's always been, a dead city."
Improbably, with things bleak all over before the lockout-shortened 1998-99 season, the franchise's fortunes took a turn, or a lurch, for the better when Joe and Gavin Maloof, who owned a Las Vegas casino, bought the team. No shrinking violets — they had their own public relations firm — they were great owners: enthusiastic, willing to spend tens of millions but not meddlesome.
They retained General Manager Geoff Petrie, who signed Divac, traded Richmond for Webber and drafted Jason Williams. The team not only put on a dazzling show but posted Sacramento's first winning record, 27-23. By the Maloofs' third season, the payroll was $65 million — $6 million higher than the Lakers — and their wins went to 55-61-59-55-50.
"We were playing Phoenix, I never will forget this, we were down 17 or 18 at the half, and came back to win by 17 or 18," says Reynolds. "And it was just one of those total Showtime Kings at their best — Webb, Divac, making plays and Jason Williams in the open court just taking your breath away.
"That was early in the year when we broke through and became a 55-win team and it was like, 'Boy, we're good. We're really good.' "
But "good" didn't mean much in the presence of the greats in the West. The Lakers won titles in 2000, 2001 and 2002 and the Spurs in 1999, 2003 and 2005, but the Kings were right there with them.
