Artest says he'll finish his career in Sacramento
- Thread starter KingKong
- Start date
BK_KingsFan7
G-League
You guys do realize he said the same exact thing when he was in Indy right? As of right now, I don't believe one word of it. If he signs an extension with us then I will gladly eat crow.
kennadog
Dog On It!
So far.....
kennadog
Dog On It!
To be devoutly hoped for. Of course, the pessimist in me thinks maybe no one is going to finish their career in Sacramento.
L-Train ended his career in Sacramento.
kingsfan101
Starter
Franchise players are not left unprotected. Bobcats not picking him up would have been worse. Do you really want the main player on your team consuming about 40% of your cap feeling insulted and unwanted?
SacTownKid
Hall of Famer
If there weren't good reasons as to why I guess that would be a bad thing wouldn't it?
Sptsjunkie
Starter
I'm not sure about this. True the Bobcats probably wouldn't have wanted him. However, Webber was still healthy and productive at this time and there are a number of teams who gladly would have traded assets to the Bobcats for him. One of the main reasons the Knicks didn't sign Webber away from us was because they did not have any cap room and we did not want any of their players. We were a contender and expiring contracts and picks would have been a step backwards for us. However, I could definitley have seen the Knicks making a deal with the Bobcats to trade them expiring contracts and draft picks for Webber. A number of other teams as well.
The same debate occured about Chritie at the time. People knew the Kings liked Wallace and speculated we might leave Christie unprotected since the Bobcats were unlikely to take on his high salary. However, the same rational that they could likely grab Christie and trade him to a contender was brought up by a number of experts as to why the Kings would not and did not do that.
It's easy to look at Wallace now, after he's started for two seasons and began to really develop on an expansion team, and to daydream that we had done things differently. However, people would have been much more upset back then if Webber or Christie was left unprotected and drafted-and-traded (almost like a sign-and trade) to one of our rivals. People would have been furious if we had given up a shot of at the title to play Russian roulette and protect a player who did not yet deserve to crack our rotation, despite the fact we knew he had a lot of potential.
Sptsjunkie
Starter
While I've also been frustrated by RA's unwillingness to develop young talent at times, Wallace simply did not deserve to crack our rotation. His second and last season with us was out best team (the one where we lost to LA in game 7) and our G/F rotation included Mike Bibby, Bobby Jackson, Doug Christie, Jim Jackson, Peja Stojakovic, and Hidayet Turkoglu. When some of those players were hurt, Wallace did get minutes. However, Adelman's priority was having team cohesion for the playoffs, which we definitley did.
Wallace really did not deserve to take minutes from the above mentioned players. He clearly had potential, but remeber, when he did play that year his D was very inconsistent, he couldn't shoot at all(team's literally left defenders in the lane daring him to shoot), and he could not pass. He had solid raw abilities grabbing boards and slamming alleyoops, but wouldn't have contributed to our success that season.
Not exactly true. If anything, RA never forgave Wallace for taking himself out of a key game because he thought he might be getting a cramp in his leg. I'm not going to debate whether Wallace's actions were right or wrong, but it seemed he never really came out of the doghouse after that.
And just how many young players have we had that Adelman failed to develop? You need to give credit to Martin for working hard to prove himself, regardless of what happened with Bonzi. And I'm serious - I want a list of "young talent" that we had that Adelman mistreated.
The argument can be made that Wallace actually only developed some work ethic AFTER he left here. It's been said more than once that it was the whole experience of being exposed to the expansion draft that got Gerald's attention.
love_them_kings
Starter
yes, fortunately we were able to get KT out of the Webb deal, so that was an equal exchange of talent...
love_them_kings
Starter
I agree. I think leaving Webb unprotected would have been bad for morale of the whole team. When you have a franchise player you should treat him with respect. Leaving Webb unprotected would have created a bad situation.
Evenstar
Starter
this in an intresting development. i'll certainly take this with a grain of salt, but it's nice to know he likes it in sacramento. i just hope it's not too much to ask him to stay sane 
i know these topics were earlier in the thread, but my 2 cents on the old players leaving, personally i think geoff knew exactly what he was doing. i know a lot of people were upset after vlade left ( considering he had such a great season prior to leaving) then he injuries himself and barely plays at all after signing with the lakers. doug shortly retired after leaving the kings. jackson has been all over the place after leaving, still causing some of the same problems he's known for. the gerald thing was ehh, but he never played! i agree with VF21 about the leg crap being the cause of gerald's banishment into rick's doghouse. i loved bonzi last year, but i don't think he was worth the money he's asking for. notice no one else in the league thinks that way either. kevin has earned a starting job, i can't wait to see him get it next year. he's going to be great.
i think waiting to give artest an extension is a great idea. with his shoddy track record, it would be great to wait and see if he can behave himself before handing out big time dollars.
i know these topics were earlier in the thread, but my 2 cents on the old players leaving, personally i think geoff knew exactly what he was doing. i know a lot of people were upset after vlade left ( considering he had such a great season prior to leaving) then he injuries himself and barely plays at all after signing with the lakers. doug shortly retired after leaving the kings. jackson has been all over the place after leaving, still causing some of the same problems he's known for. the gerald thing was ehh, but he never played! i agree with VF21 about the leg crap being the cause of gerald's banishment into rick's doghouse. i loved bonzi last year, but i don't think he was worth the money he's asking for. notice no one else in the league thinks that way either. kevin has earned a starting job, i can't wait to see him get it next year. he's going to be great.
i think waiting to give artest an extension is a great idea. with his shoddy track record, it would be great to wait and see if he can behave himself before handing out big time dollars.
macadocious
Starter
You should care that most of those points come off dunks on a terrible team. Look there is no way he could have thrived in any system we have had, the 2 guard has to make jumpers, even with as good as bonzi was last year, that was his detriment too.
Yes because all our shooting guards have been tremendous marksmen... Tariq Abdul Wahid, Nick Anderson, Doug Christie.... OH WAIT these guys were arguably the worst shooters among the starters even from 3 point range with Bibby/Vlade (Miller)/Webber/Peja surrounding them.
Our 2 guards during the Adelman years were athletic swingman types who played solid defense and added some penetration which we lacked from any of our other starters. In otherwords, Wallace was PERFECT for the role. He's turned into a great young player on the Bobcats one who we could certainly use, so bashing him just to defend a point of view that GP has made no mistakes doesn't necessarily work.
That being said GP really shouldn't be blamed for Wallace not being here. We had a veteran roster with 9 or ten guys who could have started or have started in the NBA. We were trying to win it all, and letting one of the vets be unprotected to protect a young guy who needed to be developed long term didn't make sense.
LPKingsFan
All-Star
I would have left Songaila unprotected, or have done my best to plan ahead and offer Peeler a 2 year deal so he couldn't opt out and leave him instead.
macadocious
Starter
Wahad sucked, Nick Anderson could shoot prior to the 94 finals breakdown and Christie could hit an open shot, much much better than Wallace.
SacTownKid
Hall of Famer
yes, fortunately we were able to get KT out of the Webb deal, so that was an equal exchange of talent...
Well it sounds like Philly would probably be willing to take back KT in a deal for Webber to me.
Yeah, that's great and all, but we got him in '99... when he sucked and couldn't shoot...
jon e
Bench
did anybody catch ron on cold pizza today? ron liked that sac gave him a chance to be a leader and show his strength with and without the ball and get a fresh start
Dana: You still have years to play but where do you want to end your career?
Ron: I want to end my career with Sacramento. Definately with the Sacramento Kings. Hopefully we can get a ring there, and go from there
Dana: You still have years to play but where do you want to end your career?
Ron: I want to end my career with Sacramento. Definately with the Sacramento Kings. Hopefully we can get a ring there, and go from there
