http://www.sacbee.com/content/sports/story/14274058p-15083990c.html
The problem is that there is only one ball, and that too often last season, the post-oriented Kings appeared to favor only one speed. In other words, you could look around Arco Arena, gaze downward, glance upward and probably miss neither a pass nor a shot.
Soap operas develop faster.
Yet before the Kings and their new coach can take their next step -- and the offseason plan is to implement a system that forces a brisker, livelier pace -- it is imperative to re-sign Bonzi Wells, the free agent who matters, who certainly mattered most during the playoffs. The Kings' options are both numerous and nonexistent.
They can sign him and trade him. They can sign him and keep him. They can sign him and decide, as Rick Adelman did for a while last season, that he is more effective as a backup to the fleet Kevin Martin. But they can't lose him without receiving something in return.
No, as the opening weekend of NBA free agency officially begins, Geoff Petrie should be standing at Bonzi's front door with a dozen roses and a bottle of his best chardonnay. He should have his lines rehearsed, his offer in hand, his pen in place. He should be ready to beg and borrow, and outbid the Denver Nuggets, Detroit Pistons or any other potential suitors.
And if this sounds like one of the more incongruous scenes in recent NBA history? A respected executive dropping a knee and romancing one of the more historically troublesome players in recent memory?
Yes, it's crazy.
Yes, the league has changed.
Of equal significance, so has Bonzi. Or for the sake of playing it safe, and mindful of the fact that a few months of good behavior neither erases prior bad acts nor projects future deeds, let's just say that the Bonzi balance sheet these days has more to do with rebounding and low-post scoring than oft-cited off-court issues.
"Bonzi is the first call we'll make," the tight-lipped Petrie said Friday. "Obviously, he did a lot of good things for us last year. … "
Months after being banished by Mike Fratello in a Memphis Grizzlies' housecleaning, the 6-foot-5 swingman came to Sacramento with a promise and pretty much kept to it. He arrived in terrific physical condition. He coexisted with teammates, quietly (and temporarily) accepted his role as a backup, and though again on the pudgy side when he returned from his groin injury absence, proceeded to torment the San Antonio Spurs in the playoffs. In the post, on the perimeter, on the boards. Bonzi was the constant, the Spurs' nightly curse, the Kings' most effective player.
"We had no answer for him," a relieved Spurs coach Gregg Popovich conceded.
But here's another factor in this Wells equation: If the 2006 postseason hinted at an NBA trend, it is a growing suspicion that every franchise's annual pursuit of the dominant center has been replaced by a desire to amass quickness, length, depth and versatility, mainly because a 34-year-old Shaq is more Clark Kent than Superman. Bigger and slower isn't necessarily more advantageous, not given the league's defensive rules.
That wasn't Shaq blocking those shots, intimidating underneath, driving the Heat in the clinching title game, but rather, a converted power forward -- Alonzo Mourning -- whose career remains in jeopardy because of a kidney transplant. Gary Payton converted open jumpers and compensated for Jason Williams' defensive deficiencies. Udonis Haslem was the durable, workmanlike power forward. Heck, even Antoine Walker found refuge.
The new NBA is a numbers game, the new obsession being to accumulate depth and durability, and quickness and athleticism, while scouring the globe for the next Dwyane Wade.
Suddenly, everyone thinks he has a chance at a championship, with continuity supplanted by an almost frenetic need for change. Exactly how long did it take Popovich to bench his unpolished center (Nazr Mohammed) or dump the lumbering Rasho Nesterovic? How eager is Scott Skiles to move Tyson Chandler?
Closer to home, with Eric Musselman eager to push the pace, create balance and open up the floor, it figures to be only a matter of time before one of the feuding power forwards -- Kenny Thomas and Shareef Abdur-Rahim -- is swapped. One can only wonder about the future of center Brad Miller, whose high post skills were of diminishing value in the playoffs.
But there should be no such debate about Bonzi.
Keep him or trade him. But definitely sign him.
The problem is that there is only one ball, and that too often last season, the post-oriented Kings appeared to favor only one speed. In other words, you could look around Arco Arena, gaze downward, glance upward and probably miss neither a pass nor a shot.
Soap operas develop faster.
Yet before the Kings and their new coach can take their next step -- and the offseason plan is to implement a system that forces a brisker, livelier pace -- it is imperative to re-sign Bonzi Wells, the free agent who matters, who certainly mattered most during the playoffs. The Kings' options are both numerous and nonexistent.
They can sign him and trade him. They can sign him and keep him. They can sign him and decide, as Rick Adelman did for a while last season, that he is more effective as a backup to the fleet Kevin Martin. But they can't lose him without receiving something in return.
No, as the opening weekend of NBA free agency officially begins, Geoff Petrie should be standing at Bonzi's front door with a dozen roses and a bottle of his best chardonnay. He should have his lines rehearsed, his offer in hand, his pen in place. He should be ready to beg and borrow, and outbid the Denver Nuggets, Detroit Pistons or any other potential suitors.
And if this sounds like one of the more incongruous scenes in recent NBA history? A respected executive dropping a knee and romancing one of the more historically troublesome players in recent memory?
Yes, it's crazy.
Yes, the league has changed.
Of equal significance, so has Bonzi. Or for the sake of playing it safe, and mindful of the fact that a few months of good behavior neither erases prior bad acts nor projects future deeds, let's just say that the Bonzi balance sheet these days has more to do with rebounding and low-post scoring than oft-cited off-court issues.
"Bonzi is the first call we'll make," the tight-lipped Petrie said Friday. "Obviously, he did a lot of good things for us last year. … "
Months after being banished by Mike Fratello in a Memphis Grizzlies' housecleaning, the 6-foot-5 swingman came to Sacramento with a promise and pretty much kept to it. He arrived in terrific physical condition. He coexisted with teammates, quietly (and temporarily) accepted his role as a backup, and though again on the pudgy side when he returned from his groin injury absence, proceeded to torment the San Antonio Spurs in the playoffs. In the post, on the perimeter, on the boards. Bonzi was the constant, the Spurs' nightly curse, the Kings' most effective player.
"We had no answer for him," a relieved Spurs coach Gregg Popovich conceded.
But here's another factor in this Wells equation: If the 2006 postseason hinted at an NBA trend, it is a growing suspicion that every franchise's annual pursuit of the dominant center has been replaced by a desire to amass quickness, length, depth and versatility, mainly because a 34-year-old Shaq is more Clark Kent than Superman. Bigger and slower isn't necessarily more advantageous, not given the league's defensive rules.
That wasn't Shaq blocking those shots, intimidating underneath, driving the Heat in the clinching title game, but rather, a converted power forward -- Alonzo Mourning -- whose career remains in jeopardy because of a kidney transplant. Gary Payton converted open jumpers and compensated for Jason Williams' defensive deficiencies. Udonis Haslem was the durable, workmanlike power forward. Heck, even Antoine Walker found refuge.
The new NBA is a numbers game, the new obsession being to accumulate depth and durability, and quickness and athleticism, while scouring the globe for the next Dwyane Wade.
Suddenly, everyone thinks he has a chance at a championship, with continuity supplanted by an almost frenetic need for change. Exactly how long did it take Popovich to bench his unpolished center (Nazr Mohammed) or dump the lumbering Rasho Nesterovic? How eager is Scott Skiles to move Tyson Chandler?
Closer to home, with Eric Musselman eager to push the pace, create balance and open up the floor, it figures to be only a matter of time before one of the feuding power forwards -- Kenny Thomas and Shareef Abdur-Rahim -- is swapped. One can only wonder about the future of center Brad Miller, whose high post skills were of diminishing value in the playoffs.
But there should be no such debate about Bonzi.
Keep him or trade him. But definitely sign him.
