Bricklayer
Don't Make Me Use The Bat
Ailene Voisin: A sigh of relief -- the end is near
By Ailene Voisin - Bee Columnist
Another season careens toward a merciful conclusion, with a court appearance in Auburn, a dysfunctional locker room at Arco Arena, another in an ongoing series of stunning home-court collapses and the man in charge very possibly in charge for, say, another 14 games. So, please, let it (and them) go.
The playoff streak and those futile postseason hopes. The players who persist in breaking hearts. The coach who works hard, yet can't coax his players to work together. The flawed notion that, season after season, a once-celebrated franchise can place a Band-Aid on a gaping wound and somehow make a full recovery.
It's over, it's history, it hurts, but it's not forever. Successful franchises invariably undergo root canals. This is the time for Geoff Petrie and the Maloofs to grind their teeth, take two aspirin, call it a season and call us in the morning ... of the annual draft.
"Brutal," said co-owner Gavin Maloof, his face flushed, as his players walked off the court Wednesday night to the sounds of a thousand boos. "Losing like this ... ah ... it's just awful."
See? Long gone are the days when Kings fans cheered for the home team while waving the white towel. In the distant past, winning and losing mattered less than the number of celebrity (see Kings) sightings at malls and movie theaters. But at these prices, in these seasons of parity and possibilities, championship prospects matter immensely. Offseason plotting should become an immediate obsession. Meanwhile, shouldn't the current product be at least mildly entertaining?
It's hard to clap for a bunch of guys who sit on their hands, and on most nights of late, these Kings appear almost catatonic. They speed things up against the Trail Blazers, Lakers and Pacers, then shower, board their charter flight and promptly become the Kings again. Slow. Selfish. Plodding. Uninterested. Cohesive only intermittently. No, if Petrie and the Maloofs seek a sign, a sense of direction from the basketball gods, they need look no further than the current stretch of seven losses in eight games, including Wednesday night to the visiting Timberwolves. "Everyone in our locker room knows that we have underachieved," Corliss Williamson said, "(but) we're like the kid who keeps putting his hand on the stove."
Instead of dressing up for a serious playoff push, the Kings are being stripped and exposed. Petrie is left staring at a wide-ranging series of issues that begins with a coaching dilemma, continues with an incompatible mix of on-court personnel and extends further to the problematic presence of the talented Ron Artest. A year ago, Artest was a season saver, one of the most dynamic, determined players in the league. As recently as three months ago, he was still more of a defensive stopper than a disruptive, divisive force.
But then he was accused of neglecting his dog, then accused of abusing his wife, and then Wednesday, preparing to be charged with four misdemeanor counts of domestic violence. No, regardless of whether he is found guilty or innocent, the organization's offseason to-do list should start with this directive: Artest either cleans up his act, or the Kings clear out his locker; they can lose just fine without him.
Or, perhaps, this season was doomed from the start? Numerous NBA observers have theorized that Eric Musselman's preseason DUI incident undermined the young coach's authority, was a fatal development for someone lacking physical stature and NBA playing experience. And, interestingly, the simmering anti-Musselman sentiment seems to have superceded all those early-season player conflicts. Unwittingly, and to his detriment, the coach has become the unifier.
So what happens next? Do the Maloofs swallow the final two years of Musselman's deal? That certainly must be considered, and indeed, there are ominous murmurings within the building. Yet for any coach to succeed here, the roster needs a serious overhaul, if not an outright implosion.
Progress can be painful, but it's not terminal.
http://www.sacbee.com/100/story/142178.html
By Ailene Voisin - Bee Columnist
Another season careens toward a merciful conclusion, with a court appearance in Auburn, a dysfunctional locker room at Arco Arena, another in an ongoing series of stunning home-court collapses and the man in charge very possibly in charge for, say, another 14 games. So, please, let it (and them) go.
The playoff streak and those futile postseason hopes. The players who persist in breaking hearts. The coach who works hard, yet can't coax his players to work together. The flawed notion that, season after season, a once-celebrated franchise can place a Band-Aid on a gaping wound and somehow make a full recovery.
It's over, it's history, it hurts, but it's not forever. Successful franchises invariably undergo root canals. This is the time for Geoff Petrie and the Maloofs to grind their teeth, take two aspirin, call it a season and call us in the morning ... of the annual draft.
"Brutal," said co-owner Gavin Maloof, his face flushed, as his players walked off the court Wednesday night to the sounds of a thousand boos. "Losing like this ... ah ... it's just awful."
See? Long gone are the days when Kings fans cheered for the home team while waving the white towel. In the distant past, winning and losing mattered less than the number of celebrity (see Kings) sightings at malls and movie theaters. But at these prices, in these seasons of parity and possibilities, championship prospects matter immensely. Offseason plotting should become an immediate obsession. Meanwhile, shouldn't the current product be at least mildly entertaining?
It's hard to clap for a bunch of guys who sit on their hands, and on most nights of late, these Kings appear almost catatonic. They speed things up against the Trail Blazers, Lakers and Pacers, then shower, board their charter flight and promptly become the Kings again. Slow. Selfish. Plodding. Uninterested. Cohesive only intermittently. No, if Petrie and the Maloofs seek a sign, a sense of direction from the basketball gods, they need look no further than the current stretch of seven losses in eight games, including Wednesday night to the visiting Timberwolves. "Everyone in our locker room knows that we have underachieved," Corliss Williamson said, "(but) we're like the kid who keeps putting his hand on the stove."
Instead of dressing up for a serious playoff push, the Kings are being stripped and exposed. Petrie is left staring at a wide-ranging series of issues that begins with a coaching dilemma, continues with an incompatible mix of on-court personnel and extends further to the problematic presence of the talented Ron Artest. A year ago, Artest was a season saver, one of the most dynamic, determined players in the league. As recently as three months ago, he was still more of a defensive stopper than a disruptive, divisive force.
But then he was accused of neglecting his dog, then accused of abusing his wife, and then Wednesday, preparing to be charged with four misdemeanor counts of domestic violence. No, regardless of whether he is found guilty or innocent, the organization's offseason to-do list should start with this directive: Artest either cleans up his act, or the Kings clear out his locker; they can lose just fine without him.
Or, perhaps, this season was doomed from the start? Numerous NBA observers have theorized that Eric Musselman's preseason DUI incident undermined the young coach's authority, was a fatal development for someone lacking physical stature and NBA playing experience. And, interestingly, the simmering anti-Musselman sentiment seems to have superceded all those early-season player conflicts. Unwittingly, and to his detriment, the coach has become the unifier.
So what happens next? Do the Maloofs swallow the final two years of Musselman's deal? That certainly must be considered, and indeed, there are ominous murmurings within the building. Yet for any coach to succeed here, the roster needs a serious overhaul, if not an outright implosion.
Progress can be painful, but it's not terminal.
http://www.sacbee.com/100/story/142178.html
